India-EU News & Analysis

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UlanBatori
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Post by UlanBatori »

Jo Karachi mein gandoo, woh Berlin aur Munich mein bhi gandoo
Germany in a state of SIEGE: Merkel was cheered when she opened the floodgates to migrants. Now, with gangs of men roaming the streets and young German women being told to cover up, the mood's changing.

On the busy shopping street in Giessen, a German university town twinned with Winchester, migrant Atif Zahoor tucks into a chicken dish with his brother and cousin at the curry restaurant Chillie To Go.

They have left good jobs back in Karachi, Pakistan, and now want to be Europeans.

In late July the three slipped into Germany with their wives and children, using illegal documents. They live together in a five-bedroom house, rented for them by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government, a 40-minute drive away from Giessen, which is home to the biggest migrants’ camp in the country.

‘We paid a trafficking agent for false visas to fly here to Germany,’ says 34-year-old Atif. ‘We claimed asylum and came to Giessen camp with other migrants. Three weeks ago, because we had families, they gave us a proper home.’

Atif is well-dressed and speaks perfect English. He used to be a transport manager at Karachi airport and is from a well-to-do family. Between mouthfuls of curry, he adds: ‘But there is violence between political gangs in Karachi. Lots of people are leaving for Europe. The trafficker decided that Germany was the place for us because it is welcoming refugees.’
There is violence between political gangs in Karachi. Lots of people are leaving for Europe.
Atif, 34, from Pakistan

Yet the raw truth is that Atif is not fleeing war or persecution. He is one of thousands of economic migrants getting into Germany as the EU’s immigration crisis grows bigger each day.
SSridhar
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A love story that cost GVK its international reputation and stopped India-EU FTA Talks - Vidya Krishnan, The Hindu
International medicine agencies sought to inspect GVK Biosciences’ Hyderabad facility and alleged manipulation of data by the organisation. The European Union banned 700 drugs tested by GVK Biosciences in July this year after which the Indian government suspended the EU Free Trade Agreement (EU FTA) talks that were to resume in August after a two-year break.

A GVK Biosciences spokesperson, in a written statement to The Hindu , confirmed the developments. “Based on the anonymous emails received, a joint inspection was triggered by various International Regulatory Authorities at GVK Biosciences, Hyderabad, Clinical Unit between June 25 and July 4, 2012.

“It was found that the employee, though married and blessed with two children, had an illegitimate affair. He resigned from GVK Biosciences in September 2011 to sort out/resolve this issue but started blaming GVK Biosciences for his personal issue,” said Dorothy Paul, the company’s spokesperson.

The employee did not respond to email queries sent by The Hindu on October 6.

Between January and October 2013, the whistle-blower sent 15 emails to the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) and the National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety (ANSM), requesting them to audit the facility. The emails have been seen by The Hindu .

“After thorough internal investigations on the anonymous emails, GVK Biosciences filed a police complaint,” added the spokesperson. Citing his reasons for the revelations in one of the 15 emails to USFDA, the employee wrote, “cruel politics of selfish senior employees” prompted him to complain against GVK Biosciences.


Reacting to the ban by European drug regulators, the Commerce Ministry said in a release that it was “disappointed by and concerned” at the ban on “one of the flagship sectors of India”, as the story snowballed into the latest setback to the reputation of India-made generic drugs.

The ban had come in the backdrop of increasing tensions, with multinational pharmaceutical companies accusing India of having a hostile intellectual property climate. The Indian generic drug-makers had countered by accusing big pharma of using patents as an excuse to keep affordable Indian medicines from the access of poor patients.

“The IPA is deeply concerned about the damage it has caused to the reputation of the Indian pharmaceutical industry as a reliable supplier of safe, effective and quality medicine at very competitive prices to the EU Member States and their people. The banning of these 700 drugs merely on a suspicion of “manipulation” of ECGs of healthy volunteers and without sufficient evidence was uncalled for. The inspector had erred, yet the Agency did not intervene, in spite of the error being brought to its notice by the government. It only leaves doubt about its intention,” said D.G. Shah, secretary-general of Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA), a lobby of domestic drug-makers.

G.N. Singh, Drug Controller-General of India (DCGI), confirmed that he knew about the whistle-blower. “We do not know why the whistle-blower — if that was his intention — did not approach the Indian regulators first. Having said that, one must understand that there is a bigger game being played out here. I have repeatedly stated that multinational pharmaceutical companies constantly use incidents like this to bring disrepute to Indian generic drug makers,” he said.
Phew . . . the reign of Jaichands continues.
vasu raya
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well, there is the VW scandal ... and the premium they charge for that brand
Philip
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The growing mood in Deutschland.More is yet to come!

'F**k US imperialism': Germany's ex-finance minister slams defense secretary's Europe visit
https://www.rt.com/news/269206-us-imper ... -minister/
Published time: 23 Jun, 2015

German politician and former finance minister Oskar Lafontaine had some harsh words for the US on its politics concerning Russia and Ukraine. He has also called on the EU to oppose Washington.

In a Facebook post which cannot be quoted fully quote due to strong language, Lafontaine, whose latest political post was co-chairman of the democratic socialist party The Left, called US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter the "Secretary of War", and Washington's policies "imperialism."

"The US Secretary of War calls on Europeans to confront the Russian 'aggression'," Lafontaine writes after a strongly-worded introduction. "The Europeans have every reason to oppose the US aggression."

Ashton Carter has paid a visit to Tallinn, where he pledged a new batch of 250 tanks and armored vehicles to European nations near the Russian border. His counterparts from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were eager to accept the deployment, indicating they see it as a message to Russia over what they call its "aggression."

Lafontaine then cites the “Grand Master of US diplomacy" George Kennan, who served as US ambassador to the Soviet Union in the 1950s and to Yugoslavia in the 1960s. Kennan "described the eastward expansion of NATO as the biggest mistake of the US foreign policy after the Second World War," Lafontaine writes, "because they have resulted in a new Cold War."

"The US diplomat Victoria Nuland said, we have spent more than five billion dollars to destabilize Ukraine," Lafontaine's Facebook post goes on, presumably referring to Nuland's February 2014 statement that since 1991, Washington invested $5 billion in "democratic institutions" in Ukraine.

The EU recently agreed to extend economic sanctions against Russia for six more months. The introduction of those sanctions was highly encouraged by the US, but according to a recent study, they are hurting the EU more than initially expected, threatening some 2.5 million jobs.

READ MORE: Anti-Russian sanctions hurt Europe harder than expected, threaten 2.5mn jobs – study

Lafontaine also reminds readers of a leaked phone call where Nuland allegedly said "f**k the EU" to the US ambassador in Kiev, and concludes: "You continue to play with fire, and Europe has paid with revenue declines in trade with Russia and the loss of jobs ... We need a European foreign policy that restrains the warmongering US imperialism!"
https://www.rt.com/news/318199-berlin-t ... est-rally/
#StopTTIP: Hundreds of thousands protest trade deal with US in Berlin
Published time: 10 Oct, 2015 11:31

Protesters from a range of political groups have gathered in central Berlin for a protest against TTIP, a trade deal between the US and the European Union that critics say will benefit large corporations at the expense of average Europeans.

Trade unions, environmental groups, charities and opposition parties were among the organizers of the rally, which went from the main railway station in central Berlin to the national parliament. According to activists, 250,000 people turned out for the event, while Berlin police claimed the number was closer to their initial expectation of 150,000.

Marchers banged drums, blew whistles and held up posters reading "Yes, we can – Stop TTIP." One group dragged a giant wooden horse – a reference to the Trojan horse of Greek legend – to demonstrate how the trade deal is being sneaked into law by corporate lobbyists and EU officials through subterfuge.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is meant to improve trade between the US and the EU, bringing tens of billions of dollars in extra profits to businesses.

Critics fear that it would lead to worse safeguards in Europe, bringing down standards for consumer safety, food and health or labor rights down to those in America. European nations have stricter regulations for things like genetically modified foods or workers benefits than the US does. There is also discontent with the secretive nature of the negotiations, which prompts skeptics to assume the worst about the document they would eventually produce.

A June opinion poll by Emnid showed that 36 percent of Germans saw TTIP as a bad thing, up from 25 percent in February last year, when the first such poll was conducted.

The protest also targets Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), a similar trade deal that the EU is negotiating with Canada, which would also be bad for Europeans, according to critics.
There is a growing mistrust with the US in Europe’s leading country amid the scandal over mass electronic surveillance of Germans’ communications and the escalating refugee crisis, which many see as a result of failed American policies in the Middle East.
]
kit
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Post by kit »

a divided Europe would certainly be more malleable ..remember a few years ago this was the same Continent that had the potential to be the united states of Europe .. now ?!
Haresh
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Germany's Sharia Refugee Shelters
"Bulk of Migrants Cannot Be Integrated"

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6614/ ... e-shelters
Agnimitra
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There's a theory floating around that Greece being brought to its knees and owned by the 'West' was a part of the Western strategy against Orthodox Christianity (Russia).
JE Menon
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJj1jcAffCM

Some humour from the Dutch. Immigrants routinely insist they don't want to go to Denmark, and prefer to go to Holland instead - partly because the Danish (with some foresight apparently) make it quite hard for immigrants to actually settle and live there.
Bhurishrava
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Post by Bhurishrava »

http://news.yahoo.com/nothing-down-ange ... 38500.html

Frau Merkel is having serious problems convincing germans about taking in migrants.
Viv S
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Re: India-EU News & Analysis

Post by Viv S »

Philip wrote:The growing mood in Deutschland. More is yet to come!

'F**k US imperialism': Germany's ex-finance minister slams defense secretary's Europe visit

In a Facebook post which cannot be quoted fully quote due to strong language, Lafontaine, whose latest political post was co-chairman of the democratic socialist party The Left, called US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter the "Secretary of War", and Washington's policies "imperialism."
More to come from whom? (Thanks to the perceived threat from Russia, US-EU relations are stronger than they've been at any time in the last decade.)

The Left (Germany) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Left_(Germany)

The party is the most left-wing party of the five represented in the Bundestag, and has been called far-left by German government authorities and different international media.[7][8][9] Some of its internal factions are under observation by some states' or the federal Verfassungsschutz (constitutional protection) authorities on account of suspected extremist tendencies.[10] In Bavaria, the entire party is under surveillance.[11]
Philip
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The td. includes the Vatican.Sone sensational news to hit the stands on the 5th of Nov.The Vatican has been at the centre of intl. scandals for decades.The Vatican Bank was alleged to have money laundered mafia money in the P-2 scandal,with the head of the bank ,the late Bishop Marcinkus a wanted man. The Pope,John-Paul 1 was also alleged to have been bumped off/poisoned by shadowy figures within and without the Vatican to prevent a clean up of its alleged shady financial dealings. Explained in graphic detail in Graham Yallop's book "In Gods Name",which was used as part of the plot in the Godfather 3 film. The current Pope has been trying hard to clean up the Vatican but faces a very powerful firmly entrenched Roman Curia,who are the real power behind the throne of St.Peter,not the Pope.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... chief.html
Vatican investigates mystery over hacked computer belonging to finance chief
The laptop belongs to the head of the Holy See's audit office, who was appointed by Pope Francis in June

Nick Squires GMT 01 Nov 2015

Vatican police are investigating whether an insider unhappy with Pope Francis and his drive for transparency hacked into a computer belonging to the Holy See’s auditor general.

The Vatican gendarmerie, which is responsible for security in the sovereign city state, is trying to find out who may have tried to steal information from a laptop belonging to Libero Milone, the head of the audit office.

There were rumours the person behind the attack could be someone within the Vatican who opposes Pope Francis’s reform of Holy See finances and his drive for more accountability.

That could include someone who has lost influence or power as a result of new appointments.

The prime suspect in the case was a monsignor working within the Vatican, according to Ansa, Italy’s national news agency.

Pope Francis appointed Mr Milone, 67, as the head of a new finance office in June, with the task of overseeing the accounts and financial statements of departments within the Curia and the Governorate, the twin arms of government.

Mr Milone has extensive experience in the field – he worked for the auditing firm Deloitte for more than 30 years.

The alleged hacking attempt comes amid an increasingly febrile atmosphere within the Vatican.

A recent story claiming that the Pope was suffering from a brain tumour was strenuously denounced as false by the Vatican and seen as an attempt to discredit and undermine him.

Senior figures suggested that the unfounded story was an attempt by “enemies” of the 78-year-old pope to insinuate that his judgment was impaired.

Victor Manuel Fernandez, a bishop from the Pope’s native Argentina, called the attempt to spread the rumour “the strategy of the Apocalypse”.

Pope Francis waves during his Sunday Angelus prayer in Saint Peter's square at the Vatican Pope Francis waves during his Sunday Angelus prayer in Saint Peter's square at the Vatican Photo: REUTERS

The hacking scandal comes days before the publication of two new books which are expected to lift the lid further on intrigue and skulduggery within the Vatican, especially regarding its finances, which in the past have been hit by allegations of corruption and money laundering.

The books are based in part on documents leaked to journalists by shadowy Vatican insiders.

The Vatican has been badly damaged by leaks in the past – in the so-called “Vatileaks” scandal, the personal butler to Pope Benedict XVI secretly handed papal documents to Gianluigi Nuzzi, an Italian journalist.

The sense of betrayal felt by the ageing German pope is believed to have contributed, in part, to his historic resignation, paving the way for the election of Pope Francis in March 2013.

Mr Nuzzi is the author of one of the books to be published, entitled Merchants in the Temple, which is expected to disclose new revelations about why Benedict resigned and to examine waste in the Vatican’s pension system and its charitable donations.

The second book is by Emiliano Fittipaldi, another journalist, and is called Avarice: Documents Revealing Wealth, Scandals and Secrets of Francis' Church.


Mr Fittipaldi writes for L'Espresso, a weekly news magazine that has published some of the most damaging leaks of Francis' papacy.

Both books are due to be published on Nov 5 and are likely to reveal fresh details of the trenchant opposition that Pope Francis has faced as he tries to reform the Vatican.
IN QUOTES
Pope Francis
Filippo MonteforteE/AFP/Getty

On free speech:
"You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others”
On gay priests:
“If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?”
On the environment:
"The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth"
On misogyny:
"The fact is that the woman was taken from a rib [laughs loudly]. I'm joking. That was a joke”
On birth control:
"Some think that...in order to be good Catholics we have to be like rabbits. No. We need responsible paternity"
On frugality:
"It hurts my heart when I see a priest with the latest model car. If you like the fancy one, just think about how many children are dying of hunger"
Philip
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More on the Vatican's financial misdoings.

Vatican hit by new claims of financial mismanagement and lavish spending
Journalists claim to have exposed millions in lost revenues and senior officials pouring church funds into their already-lavish apartments.
Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome

Tuesday 3 November 2015

Ever since his election as spiritual head of the Roman Catholic church in 2013, Pope Francis has always said he wants a church for the poor.

But two controversial new books describe a Vatican awash with cash that is woefully mismanaged, where senior officials pour church funds into their already-lavish apartments, and where even the office that researches candidates for sainthood has had its bank accounts frozen out of concerns about financial impropriety.

According to Gianluigi Nuzzi’s Merchants in the Temple, due to be published on Thursday, one high-ranking Vatican official, Monsignor Giuseppe Sciacca, was so keen on improving his apartment that he took it upon himself to knock down a wall separating his flat from his elderly neighbour’s. When the elderly priest returned from hospital, where he had been very ill, he found his things had been packed in boxes.

“As soon as he opened the door he realised something was wrong: his apartment had been modified, and was missing one room, but he was too old to fight back and seek justice,” Nuzzi wrote. The priest died a short time later. Sciacca was demoted a few months into Pope Francis’s tenure, with a new position at a tribunal that handles legal and administrative cases.

Nuzzi’s book is not the only publication to be raising eyebrows in Rome this week. Avarice, a work by journalist Emiliano Fittipaldi also to be released on Thursday, delves into allegations of financial shenanigans, including an allegation that the Vatican’s former secretary of state, Tarcisio Bertone, used €200,000 (£142,000) from a foundation meant to support the Bambino Gesù paediatric hospital in Rome to renovate his own apartment. Under an agreement alleged in the book, the “mega-penthouse” could, in exchange, be used for hospital functions.

According to La Repubblica, which published excerpts of the book, Bertone told Fittipaldi that he had paid his share of the renovation costs.

The embarrassing allegations were unveiled a day after the Vatican announced it had arrested two members of a former Vatican committee on suspicion of leaking documents that apparently formed the basis of the books’ key allegations.

Francesca Chaouqui, a public relations expert, and Monsignor Lucio Ángel Vallejo Balda, a Spanish member of the church bureaucracy, or curia, were questioned and arrested for allegedly stealing church documents. On her Facebook page, Chaouqui, whose profile picture captures a smiling Pope Francis shaking her hand, denied having betrayed the Argentinian pope.

Under the hashtag #MoreThanAnythingInThisWorld, she wrote: “I have not betrayed the Pope. Nor have I have given a piece of paper to anyone ... It will emerge soon that I have the full certainty and total trust in the investigators ... No pity please, I have my head held high, and [have] nothing to be ashamed of.”

Balda could not be reached by the Guardian.

In Rome on Tuesday the sensational story of the arrests was superseded by the new allegations of Vatican impropriety.

Pope Francis signalled when he was elected that cleaning up church finances was a top priority and the Vatican bank – just one arm of the Vatican’s financial empire – has since claimed that it has come a long way since the days when it was considered a pariah in the global banking system, a place where mobsters and corrupt politicians alike could allegedly launder their funds with impunity.
Can Pope Francis clean up God’s bank?
Read more

But the two books, citing confidential documents, describe intense resistance to Pope Francis’s reform efforts, even as international auditors warned the pope that there was a “complete lack of transparency in the bookkeeping of both the Holy See the Governorate”, and that costs were out of control, according to Nuzzi’s book.

The allegations are not entirely new. The most senior cardinal charged with overhauling the Vatican finances, the Australian George Pell, described earlier this year that the Vatican had $1.5bn (£1bn) in assets that had not been previously accounted for, telling The Crux associate editor John Allen that the accounts were “muddled”.

Nuzzi’s tell-all, which the Guardian has seen in advance of its release, describes how one of the tasks of the committee for which Baldi and Chaouqui worked was to get to grips with the Vatican’s $2.7bn real estate holdings, which the commission found were worth seven times more than previously reported.

It also examined the office within the Vatican that researches candidates for sainthood. What it allegedly found was astounding: even though the office is closely examining the records of hundreds of people for possible sainthood – an effort that costs about €500,000 per possible saint – the office told the commission that it had no documentation it could provide to back up its expenses, which run into the “tens of millions of euros”.

The Vatican bank did not include the closure of the account in detail in its annual report.

The Vatican declined to comment on the allegations contained in the books. “For now, we are not saying anything,” said Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman.

On Monday, when it announced the arrests, the Holy See said in a statement: “Publications of this nature do not help in any way to establish clarity and truth, but rather generate confusion and partial and tendentious conclusions.”
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Changes in Spanish Media Reflect New Era in Politics
Journalist Pedro J. Ramirez's career has had as many twists and turns as Spain's modern politics.

Once the young editor of a pro-civil rights newspaper after the end of the Franco dictatorship in the 1970s, he went on to found the conservative El Mundo daily that became a mouthpiece for the cozy political elite that long ruled Spain in its wake.

Now he is launching El Espanol, one of a crop of new media startups that, like a new young generation of Spanish politicians, challenge an establishment they say has become ridden with corruption and inefficiency.

"We want to influence politics through society, so that people don't think that corruption is just something that happens naturally," Ramirez, 63, said from offices housing 72 reporters focusing on investigative journalism.

Spain's harshest economic crisis since General Francisco Franco's rule ended in 1975 has laid the ground for what some believe will be a lasting shift in society — a shift that could be reflected in the outcome of a general election to be held Dec. 20.

The slump and a rise in poverty have shone a harsh light on long-standing cronyism in business and political circles and the inadequacies of a slow justice system.

At the same time, corruption scandals eroded faith in both the ruling center-right People's Party (PP) and the opposition Socialists, helping the rise of new parties from the market-friendly Ciudadanos to the leftist Podemos.

While the PP should in theory be expected to benefit from the first shoots of economic recovery, the election will for the first time be a four-horse race and is likely to result in alliances.

Trust in media slips

Surveys show Spain's media establishment suffered a similar loss in trust during the crisis. Concerns have grown that the national public broadcaster is too politicized and that indebted newspaper groups are overly influenced by big advertisers, including the government.

"There's a second transition happening in politics, on the social front, in the economy — and the media has to be there too," said Braulio Calleja, co-founder of bez.es, a website aiming to produce six investigative stories a day on themes such as corruption or constitutional reform.

But sites such as El Espanol or bez.es are not just trying to push their credentials for independent journalism. Some are explicitly campaigning for the types of deep-rooted reforms advocated by the new parties gaining ground.

Ramirez even has a manifesto of sorts, which includes moving toward a more proportional German-style voting system, giving judges greater independence, and even changing the Spanish working day, which is longer than in many other countries but often involves a long lunch break and is less productive.

The veteran editor is in many ways a questionable exponent of this new trend in Spain, not least because he has been so deeply associated with the old guard in media and politics.
arun
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X Posted.

Apparent act of Mohammadden Terrorism in Paris with media reporting that the terroists were shouting Mohammadden religious slogans like Allah Hu Akbar. With that yet another European Capital city joins the list of being victimised by Mohammadden religion inspired violence after London (7/7) and Madrid (11-M).

Only yesterday our Prime Minister Modi at the UK Parliament had said:

“We must adopt a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in the UN without delay. There should be no distinction between terrorist groups or discrimination between nations”.

I hope that the carnage in Paris will at least goad all of the EU taking real punitive measures against all Mohammadden Terrorism sponsors including State sponsors of terror such as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan for fomenting Mohammadden Terrorism targeting India, without distinction:

Paris attacks: ISIS gunmen shouted 'Allah Akbar' as victims were slaughtered in co-ordinated attacks
krithivas
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Denmark wants to seize jewelry and cash from refugees

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... ugees.html

Bloody Pirates - Europe making money from the destitute.
Philip
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Spanish election likely to weaken the EU further with anti-austerity parties expected to make major gains.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... iza-greece
Spain’s election will be felt across the whole continent
Owen Jones


The country’s political convulsions and the rise of Podemos show that the fight against austerity did not die with Syriza in Greece

Thousands of people attend the Podemos main rally in Madrid. Photograph: Nacho Goytre/Demotix/Corbis
Friday 18 December 2015

“Yes we can!” – “¡Sí se puede!” – is the deafening chant that closes the rallies. Except they feel less like political meetings and more like rock concerts. On Sunday, millions of Spaniards will vote in their country’s general election – not since the death of Franco has Spain faced such a dramatic political transformation.

Podemos – Spanish for “we can” – is a party less than two years old, but a combination of discontent and optimism means the party and its allies could win dozens of seats in the Spanish parliament, a political ascent lacking precedent in postwar western Europe. A combination of economic crisis, a brutal programme of cuts, and disillusionment with a political elite widely regarded as corrupt and venal spurs on its support. This election matters – not just for Spain, but for Europe too.

Travelling across Spain – and full disclosure, I’m here to support Podemos – reveals a country with a huge level of political engagement. In A Coruña, Galicia, hundreds of young people cram into a room, debating violence against women, the democratisation of the economy, and workers’ rights.

Spaniards aim for a new democracy and end to Franco's long shadow.


I meet the mayor, Xulio Ferreiro, who was swept to power along with other Podemos-backed candidates in many cities in May’s local elections. Dressed in casual jeans, jumper and shirt, he is a far cry from the opulence of the city hall. It is a reminder that protesters have become rulers. In Asturias – where miners in 1934 revolted against a rightwing government before the civil war – thousands of people waving purple balloons chant “remontada”, or “comeback”, referring to Podemos’s apparent upturn in the polls. In a working-class district of Barcelona, supporters of Podemos’s allies En Comú Podem cheer Ada Colau, their new crusading mayor, who came to prominence as an anti-eviction champion.

Given what has happened to Spain, it would perhaps be more surprising if this political convulsion had not taken place. Unemployment peaked at a quarter of the workforce in 2013, and remains above 20%. The crisis was particularly ruinous for young people, nearly half of whom remain out of work, a total only eclipsed in the European Union by austerity-ravaged Greece. Many of those driven into the ranks of the unemployment were stripped of benefits, leaving them destitute.

Spanish elections: Podemos, Ciudadanos and the new politics.

For many of those in work, life is increasingly defined by precariousness and insecurity. According to the Financial Times, only 7% of new work contracts signed in July were for permanent jobs; before the crash, it was closer to 12%. In June, over a quarter of new fixed-term employment contracts lasted a week or less, up from just under 16% before the crash. This is the lot of middle-class and working-class Spaniards alike.

In 2014, nearly a hundred families were thrown out of their homes every day. The economic recovery has been accompanied by booming child poverty: according to the EU, one in three Spanish children now risk poverty or social exclusion. Services have been decimated too: Madrid cut 13.6% of spending on health between 2009 and 2013.

You might expect PSOE – Spain’s equivalent of the Labour party – to be the beneficiaries, but this technocratic outfit was in power when the crisis hit and began the process of cutting. PSOE shows the same signs of morbidity afflicting European social democracy: the fragmentation of its traditional base, and its acceptance of market economics and austerity at the expense of supporters.

P​odemos ​leader ​Pablo Iglesias on why he’s like Jeremy Corbyn: ‘He brings ideas that can solve problems’


Election speeches here are peppered with references to the indignados, a huge movement against the entire political elite which took to the streets in the run-up to the 2011 election that evicted PSOE. The movements had two major political outcomes: the creation of Podemos at the beginning of 2014, which went on to take five seats in the European parliament just four months later; and sweeping gains for anti-austerity movements in last May’s local elections, with so-called “mayors of change” taking power in cities across the country. Podemos’s rise was meteoric: months after its foundation, some polls put the party in first place.

The first thing you notice about a Podemos rally is a rejection of the style of the old left: no red flags, no speeches peppered with socialism. As one candidate for En Marea, an ally of Podemos in Galicia, put it to me, she doesn’t answer the problems of farmers by whipping out a copy of Das Kapital. The Podemos strategy appeared to be vindicated.

But the party suffered a number of setbacks. When Syriza swept to power in Greece at the beginning of 2015, Podemos’s leader, Pablo Iglesias, forged a close alliance with Syriza’s Alexis Tsipras. EU leaders were aware that any success for Syriza would boost similar movements elsewhere, and in Spain most of all – which partly explains their determination to impose a humiliating austerity agreement. The Greek capitulation damaged Podemos.

‘The election campaign has transformed Podemos’s fortunes.’

Then there is the backlash against the burgeoning Catalan independence movement. Like David Cameron stirring anti-SNP hostility so successfully in Britain’s general election, so the Spanish government has tapped into anti-Catalan resentment, damaging the pro-referendum (though not pro-independence) Podemos.

After years of economic trauma, any sign of recovery undoubtedly benefits the incumbent government. And Podemos’s role as the new, fresh outsiders was robbed by the rise of Ciudadanos (Citizens), led by the telegenic Albert Rivera, who first came to prominence when he appeared naked in a campaign poster, cupping only his manhood.

Originating in Catalonia as a vigorously anti-independence movement, the party attracted derisory support in national opinion polls at the beginning of the year. Although portrayed as centrist equivalents of Britain’s Liberal Democrats, Ciudadanos blends free-market ideology and libertarianism on drugs and sex work, while in Catalonia it proposed banning the burqa. Some of its leading figures and candidates have suggested limiting abortion rights and removing healthcare from immigrants. Ciudadanos subsequently became the darlings of the mainstream media and surged past Podemos, apparently consigning Iglesias’s then-flagging party to fourth place.

Yet the election campaign has transformed Podemos’s fortunes. The latest polls put Podemos on 20%, four points ahead of Ciudadanos and just five points behind the ruling party, an indication of how much Spanish politics has fragmented. Though we must treat polls with scepticism, the old party system is on course to be dealt a crippling blow, even if a weakened Popular party clings on to power, possibly propped up by Ciudadanos.

Even if Podemos only wins, say, 13%, it would be a dramatic breakthrough for a party founded only last year. Let’s not get swept away: Syriza was the great hope of the left at the start of 2015. But Spain is not Greece, and Podemos shows there’s life in the movement yet. Europe’s rulers should take note.
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krithivas wrote:Denmark wants to seize jewelry and cash from refugees
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... ugees.html
Bloody Pirates - Europe making money from the destitute.
No big deal. On their way to the concentration camps, the Jews, Gypsies etc had to pay for their train tickets. They were encouraged to bring their valuables with them as they were being re-settled. After they were swiftly killed, their valuables were taken and even their body parts re-cycled. If you want to settle in Europe, you have to take the rough with the smooth. Alhamdulillah, the Momins may do much better than the Jews and the Gypsies on the long run and pay back everything with interest.
Gautam
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:)

Published on Nov 10, 2014
Marty McLain, a conservative pastor from Douglasville in Georgia, USA, visits the secular Nordic countries. What role does religion have in the Nordic society? How do the Nordic people relate to God, faith and spirituality, and how does it differ from the US? English subtitles. Host: Joakim Rundt.
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Terror attacks against France take a new twist. Similar style perhaps as was used to down the Russian airliner over the Sinai. Most stunning is that the bomb may have been placed aboard the aircraft in Mauritius,from where the flight originated.India and Mauritius have a security agreement ,with a defence adviser to the govt. there.That Islamist jihadis have penetrated Mauritius is a new development with serious implications for India too as we have many flights to and from Mauritius.


http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/d ... bomb-alert
France investigates suspected bomb on plane heading to Paris
Kenyan Airport Authority says suspicious package found in aircraft’s toilet is a bomb, which will be detonated at safe location
France plane investigated in Kenya after emergency landing
Haroon Siddique, Murithi Mutiga, in Nairobi, and agencies
Sunday 20 December 2015 12.36 GMT

An Air France plane on its way to Paris was forced to make an emergency landing in Mombasa after a suspicious device, which the Kenyan Airport Authority said was a bomb, was found in the jet’s lavatory.

Flight AF463, with 459 passengers and 14 crew members on board, had left Mauritius at 9pm local time on Saturday and was due to arrive in Paris Charles de Gaulle at 5.50am local time.

After the suspicious device was discovered, the plane landed at Moi international airport in Mombasa before 1am local time.

Air France and the Kenyan police both said investigators were working to confirm whether the package was a bomb.

The cabinet secretary for the interior ministry, Joseph Nkaissery, flew to Mombasa and promised a statement by the end of the day.

“A number of passengers are still under interrogation as part of the probe and we don’t want to talk more before we establish what and who was behind it,” he said.

However, the airport authority said unequivocally in a statement on its Facebook page that an explosive device was retrieved from the plane. “Bomb experts from the Kenya navy took the bomb away to safety,” it said.

“The Kenyan security is zeroing in on two passengers who appear suspicious.

“The Mombasa security team and airport security in Mombasa have also secured the airport and all critical facilities around.

“The bomb has been taken to safe destination for detonation in the morning.”

An Air France spokeswoman, who declined to be named, confirmed local authorities were interviewing passengers and that the airline had sent a substitute plane to pick up the passengers.

Kenyan police spokesman Charles Owino said of AF463: “It requested an emergency landing after a device suspected to be a bomb was discovered in the lavatory, an emergency was prepared and it landed safely and all passengers evacuated.”

“Bomb experts from the navy and the CID were called in and took the device which they are dismantling to establish if it had any explosives,” he said.

Passenger describes Air France emergency landing after bomb alert

The plane was still in Mombasa airport early on Sunday morning, he added. Kenyan television station NTV reported that at least one passenger was in custody. Kenyan website Standard Digital News quoted an unnamed official as saying: “It is a real bomb and it could have exploded airborne or on arriving in Paris. More will be disclosed but we have a suspect in custody.”

A passenger who identified himself as Benoit Lucchini, from Paris, told journalists: “The plane just went down slowly, slowly, slowly, so we just realised probably something was wrong. The personnel of Air France were just great, they were just wonderful. So they keep everybody calm. We did not know what was happening. So we secured the seat belt to land in Mombasa because we thought it was a technical problem but actually it was not a technical problem. It was something in the toilet, something wrong in the toilet, it could be a bomb.”

Scheduled flights to Mombasa were initially disrupted but normal operations later resumed.

Flight 463 is the third Air France plane to be diverted in recent weeks. Two flights from the US to Paris were diverted on 18 November after bomb threats were received but no bombs were found. France has been in a state of emergency since the 13 November attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead and hundreds wounded.

Islamic State extremists claimed responsibility for the attacks in Paris as well as for the 31 October crash of a Russian passenger plane in the Sinai desert that killed all 224 people aboard. Moscow says that crash was caused by a bomb on the plane and has demanded that Egypt increase security at all its airports.
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Images of the bomb found in the toilet of the Air France aircraft:
Haidar Sumeri ‏@IraqiSecurity now51 minutes ago
BREAKING: Bomb found on #AirFrance flight from Mauritius to #Paris. Plane made an emergency landing in #Kenya.
Image
Statement of Kenya Airports Authority:

Image
deejay
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^^^Further news on above:
Terrormonitor.org ‏@Terror_Monitor now11 minutes ago
#AirFrance Conforms Device Found On #AF463 In #Kenya Was Fake Bomb.
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Sanskrit fever grips Germany: 14 universities teaching India's ancient language struggle to meet demand as students clamour for courses

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/in ... z3uunvWpc9
Will Germans be the eventual custodians of Sanskrit, its rich heritage and culture? If the demand for Sanskrit and Indology courses in Germany is any indication, that’s what the future looks like. Unable to cope with the flood of applications from around the world, the South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg, had to start a summer school in spoken Sanskrit in Switzerland, Italy and - believe it or not - India too. “When we started it 15 years ago, we were almost ready to shut it after a couple of years. Instead, we had to increase strength and take the course to other European countries,” said Professor Dr. Axel Michaels, head of classical Indology at the university. In Germany, 14 of the top universities teach Sanskrit, classical and modern Indology compared to just four in the UK. The summer school spans a month in August every year and draws applications from across the globe. “So far, 254 students from 34 countries have participated in this course. Every year we have to reject many applications,” said Dr. Michaels. Professor Dr. Axel Michaels, Head of Classical Indology at the University of Heidelberg, says students from 34 countries have taken the courseLinking Sanskrit with religion and a certain political ideology was “stupid” and “detrimental to the cause” of its rich heritage, the professor said. “Even the core thoughts of Buddhism were in the Sanskrit language. To better understand the genesis of oriental philosophy, history, languages, sciences and culture, it’s essential to read the original Sanskrit texts as these are some of the earliest thoughts and discoveries,” he added. Francesca Lunari, a medical student who has been studying Sanskrit at Heidelberg University, agreed. “I am interested in psychoanalysis and must know how human thoughts originated through texts, cultures and societies. I will learn Bangla also to decipher the seminal works of Girindra Sekhar Bose, a pioneer of oriental psychiatry who has hardly been studied – even in India. Learning Sanskrit is the first step,” she said. “A significant part of the global cultural heritage will become extinct if major languages like Hindi and Bangla fall prey to Indian English which, in the process, has only got poorer,” he added. An expert in Bangla, Hindi and Urdu apart from European languages, Harder cautioned against such a disaster as more upwardly mobile families stop teaching their own language to their children. Studying ethno-Indology helps contextualise and link subjects to ancient texts. “One can better understand evolution of politics and economics by studying Arthashastra by Chanakya,” said Dr. Michaels. So this semester the institute is offering a course on ‘human physiology and psychology in the early Upanishads’ by Anand Mishra, an IIT mathematics graduate who took up the study of Sanskrit for his research on evolving a more grammatically suitable computing language. aid Mishra. Dr. Michaels feels that instead of indulging in a political and religious debate, Indians should try to preserve their heritage. “Don’t we conserve a rare, old painting or sculpture? This is a live language…and rich cultural heritage which might become the casualty of neglect just as great civilisations like Hampi, the art of Ajanta and temples of Konark got buried in oblivion. It was up to the British to discover them later. Sanskrit, along with its culture, philosophy and science might become similarly extinct,” he claimed, adding: “On the other hand, there is so much yet to discover through Sanskrit…details of Indus Valley civilisation, for example.” Germany has already been a storehouse of Sanskrit scholars to the world. “The majority of Sanskrit scholars, including those at Harvard, California Berkeley and the UK, are Germans,” he said. But why? “Probably because we never colonised India and maintained a romantic view about it,” quipped Dr. Michaels.
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Post by Karan M »

Great. Now we will be treated to more quasi racist shite on our heritage from these chaps abroad and the barking mutts and ghouses will be lapping up all the bilge.
member_27987
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Might be the Smriti Irani factor. Remember the German v Sanskrit debate a few months ago?
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There is a strong bond between many Indians and Germans that has existed for decades.An old-time close relative of mine was a homeo Doc,v.well recd. in Germany ,where he lived for a long time.He married a German lady from an aristo family,who was a v.good artist. She painted a PM's portrait,in some museum I'm told.Both died some time ago.She used to make great sauerkraut!
German fascination for Indian culture,philosophy,science,etc. has been there for centuries.Max Mueller took back with him huge amts. of Indian manuscripts,etc. Used to great advantage by the Germans. The fascination continues. We should leverage upon it.
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There can only be "leverage" is we are the authority in the interpretation of our culture and its symbols. But given our colonially enslaved elite trying to be more white than the whites themselves, I am pretty sure that most will just swallow whatever bullsheet even an amateur white "Indologist" spits out.

I dont think the west is ready to accept an interpretation of Indian philosophy that is different from their own carefully cultivated narrative. So lets disabuse ourselves of the notion of leverage. It may happen maybe 50 years down the lane, but certainly not now.
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Spanish politics heading for a major change,after the current regime fails to gain an absolute majority.New Leftist party makes huge gains.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... ority.html
Spain’s ruling conservatives win election but lose grip on majority
Popular Party (PP) of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy faces battle to cling to power as result heralds end of bi-party politics

Spain's Prime Minister and Popular Party (PP) candidate Mariano Rajoy reacts at the party headquarters after results were announced in Spain's general election Photo: REUTERS

By James Badcock in Madrid
20 Dec 2015

Spain's ruling conservative party was facing a battle to cling to power on Sunday night after the Popular Party (PP) of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy won a narrow victory in the country's general election.

The result dealt a blow to bi-party politics in Spain as gains were made by the far-Left Syriza-ally, Podemos party.
The PP won around 29 per cent of the total vote, falling well short of the parliamentary majority it has enjoyed for the past four years.

After 99 per cent of the votes had been counted, the PP was set to win 122 out of 350 seats in Congress, while its traditional enemy, the socialist PSOE party, was on course for 91 seats and 22 per cent of the vote.

Both of Spain’s historical parties lost ground to their newer rivals, the anti-austerity Podemos and the centrist Ciudadanos (Citizens), both of which have promised to clean up Spanish politics of endemic corruption.

Podemos (We Can) party leader Pablo Iglesias (2nd R) reacts with party members after results were announced in Spain's general election in MadridPodemos (We Can) party leader Pablo Iglesias (2nd R) reacts with party members after results were announced in Spain's general election in Madrid Photo: REUTERS

Formed less than two years ago and led by pony-tailed politics lecturer Pablo Iglesias, Podemos and its regional allies won 69 seats with more than 20 per cent of the vote.

Ciudadanos, running nationwide in a general election for the first time, fell short of the expectations generated by opinion polls during recent weeks, picking up 40 seats and 14 per cent of the vote.

The showing for Mr Rajoy was a far cry from the 45 per cent that gave the PP a majority in 2011, making it far from clear on Sunday that he would be able to muster sufficient support to stay in power.

Mr Rajoy’s speech to supporters from the party’s Madrid headquarters was meant to celebrate the fact that the PP had won the elections, but he admitted that difficult times lay ahead. “I am going to try and form a government,” he said, adding what sounded like a political farewell message. “My government and I always did what we thought was best for Spain as a whole”.

The fact that none of the four main parties have expressed any clear willingness to reach coalition deals will spark concern abroad that Spain is entering a period of political instability, just as the country’s economy had started to fire again.

Indeed, it will not be possible for any two parties to combine for a majority, heightening the possibility of a political deadlock.

PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez has consistently ruled out any possibility of a grand coalition between his party and the PP.

Centre-right party Ciudadanos leader and candidate for the general election, Albert Rivera (C) speaks at a hotel after the results of Spain's general electionCentre-right party Ciudadanos leader and candidate for the general election, Albert Rivera (C) speaks at a hotel after the results of Spain's general election Photo: AFP

As leader of the biggest party in Congress, Mr Rajoy will be asked by the king to form a government. But the prime minister could well be defeated in an investiture debate by the combined votes of Left-wing parties PSOE and Podemos.

It was unclear on Sunday night whether Podemos, PSOE and other smaller parties could form a sufficiently powerful bloc to push the Rajoy government out of power, even assuming they prove able to work together.


Mr Iglesias described Podemos’ result as “historic” and appeared to lay down conditions for any possible pact. He said his party would insist on the incorporation into the Constitution of the right to housing and health care.


“A new Spain has been born,” Mr Iglesias said. “The bipartisan political system is over.”


Supporters of Podemos party follow the partial results of the Spain's general elections in MadridSupporters of Podemos party follow the partial results of the Spain's general elections in Madrid Photo: AFP

Speaking a little later, Mr Sánchez appeared to accept the challenge of attempting to form a Left-wing alternative to PP rule, saying that he was prepared for “dialogue and debate to reach agreements”.

Mr Rivera, who has revelled in his anticipated role as kingmaker in the next legislature, has said he would oppose a “losers’ group” of Left-wing forces, mainly because of Podemos’s policy of holding a referendum on independence in Catalonia.

Even if the PP does manage to stay in power, it will face complex negotiations in order to govern, as well as demands for reform from all of the other parties.

Ciudadanos, for example, wants electoral reform, a depoliticised judiciary and compulsory primaries for party selection processes.

PSOE and Podemos have said they wish to repeal the Rajoy government’s labour reform, which made it easier to sack workers on permanent contracts, and the so-called “gag law” limits on the right to protest.

A People's Party (Partido Popular) supporter waits for the results during the Spanish general election outside the party's headquarters in MadridA People's Party (Partido Popular) supporter waits for the results during the Spanish general election outside the party's headquarters in Madrid Photo: Bloomberg

After five years of contraction or stagnation, the Spanish economy grew by 1.4 per cent in 2014, and is set to grow at over three per cent this year. Unemployment, which almost reached 26 per cent last year, now stands at 21 per cent.

At just over 73 per cent, turnout in Sunday’s election was slightly higher than in 2011.
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Post by johneeG »

Max Muller was also a German. Somehow, Germans seem to be very interested in ancient Bhaarath and its heritage.
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Curiosity is a large part of it, but one cannot (and must not) discount the rampant subscription of the Germans towards racial theories. It is bound to have an impact on the thinking of even the most "objective" German student of Indian philosophy.
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Post by Philip »

Lokesh,in recent times I've found more individuals from the West who are taking our culture v.seriously.They're not neo-hippies who're coming here because of the Beatles,etc.,but genuinely interested in discovering for themselves Indian culture,religion,etc. Yoga is now international as well as Ayurveda. Both have been so for decades.
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Jhujar wrote:Sanskrit fever grips Germany: 14 universities teaching India's ancient language struggle to meet demand as students clamour for courses

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/in ... z3uunvWpc9
Will Germans be the eventual custodians of Sanskrit, its rich heritage and culture? If the demand for Sanskrit and Indology courses in Germany is any indication, that’s what the future looks like. Unable to cope with the flood of applications from around the world, the South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg, had to start a summer school in spoken Sanskrit in Switzerland, Italy and - believe it or not - India too. “When we started it 15 years ago, we were almost ready to shut it after a couple of years. Instead, we had to increase strength and take the course to other European countries,” said Professor Dr. Axel Michaels, head of classical Indology at the university. In Germany, 14 of the top universities teach Sanskrit, classical and modern Indology compared to just four in the UK. The summer school spans a month in August every year and draws applications from across the globe. “So far, 254 students from 34 countries have participated in this course. Every year we have to reject many applications,” said Dr. Michaels. Professor Dr. Axel Michaels, Head of Classical Indology at the University of Heidelberg, says students from 34 countries have taken the courseLinking Sanskrit with religion and a certain political ideology was “stupid” and “detrimental to the cause” of its rich heritage, the professor said. “Even the core thoughts of Buddhism were in the Sanskrit language. To better understand the genesis of oriental philosophy, history, languages, sciences and culture, it’s essential to read the original Sanskrit texts as these are some of the earliest thoughts and discoveries,” he added. Francesca Lunari, a medical student who has been studying Sanskrit at Heidelberg University, agreed. “I am interested in psychoanalysis and must know how human thoughts originated through texts, cultures and societies. I will learn Bangla also to decipher the seminal works of Girindra Sekhar Bose, a pioneer of oriental psychiatry who has hardly been studied – even in India. Learning Sanskrit is the first step,” she said. “A significant part of the global cultural heritage will become extinct if major languages like Hindi and Bangla fall prey to Indian English which, in the process, has only got poorer,” he added. An expert in Bangla, Hindi and Urdu apart from European languages, Harder cautioned against such a disaster as more upwardly mobile families stop teaching their own language to their children. Studying ethno-Indology helps contextualise and link subjects to ancient texts. “One can better understand evolution of politics and economics by studying Arthashastra by Chanakya,” said Dr. Michaels. So this semester the institute is offering a course on ‘human physiology and psychology in the early Upanishads’ by Anand Mishra, an IIT mathematics graduate who took up the study of Sanskrit for his research on evolving a more grammatically suitable computing language. aid Mishra. Dr. Michaels feels that instead of indulging in a political and religious debate, Indians should try to preserve their heritage. “Don’t we conserve a rare, old painting or sculpture? This is a live language…and rich cultural heritage which might become the casualty of neglect just as great civilisations like Hampi, the art of Ajanta and temples of Konark got buried in oblivion. It was up to the British to discover them later. Sanskrit, along with its culture, philosophy and science might become similarly extinct,” he claimed, adding: “On the other hand, there is so much yet to discover through Sanskrit…details of Indus Valley civilisation, for example.” Germany has already been a storehouse of Sanskrit scholars to the world. “The majority of Sanskrit scholars, including those at Harvard, California Berkeley and the UK, are Germans,” he said. But why? “Probably because we never colonised India and maintained a romantic view about it,” quipped Dr. Michaels.

BI book and talks by RMji says a few things about german fascination of India.
During 17-18 century there was facsination of India and its culture- romantic period of India. Lots of stuff were translated to european languages. lot of stuff were taken out of India. Later came the period of knowing oneselves- peroid of who we are what we came from etc. germans had trouble at that time- were known as barbarians and uncultured by other euopeans etc. Duriung this time , knowledge came thru that german languagae had lot of commonality with sanskrit ~60% or more. Hence a new look on Indian culture. At period of time India had lot of respect for its knowledge and economy. It was turned around to german advantage to their "who we are and what they came from " etc feelings.
fast forwarded onto aryans superior race etc anbd many others came about down the line.

later the facsination died down with world wars and Indian economy taking a tumble.

No other european country has had this facsination like germany which cointiues to this day.
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Philip wrote:There is a strong bond between many Indians and Germans that has existed for decades.An old-time close relative of mine was a homeo Doc,v.well recd. in Germany ,where he lived for a long time.He married a German lady from an aristo family,who was a v.good artist. She painted a PM's portrait,in some museum I'm told.Both died some time ago.She used to make great sauerkraut!
German fascination for Indian culture,philosophy,science,etc. has been there for centuries.Max Mueller took back with him huge amts. of Indian manuscripts,etc. Used to great advantage by the Germans. The fascination continues. We should leverage upon it.
Sir, you write that "Max Mueller took back with him huge amounts of Indian manuscripts". Back from where? He never visited India. He learned Sanskrit in Europe. It is my opinion that it is not possible to learn the Vedas without a Guru. The text does not give the real meaning, it has to be learned from the Guru. He was financed by the East Indian Company, and he to a great degree propagated their views. He was a man of his times, 19th century: Europe is the center of civilization, Christianity is above all religions, West will bring civilization to Asia and Africa, etc, etc, we should not look at him from a 21st century view point. Yes there was a '"bond" between India and Germany. There are only two countries that claim to have "Arya" civilization in their background. One is India and the other in Persia. Some how Germany got mixed into it, as they were looking to manufacture a new history for themselves that was apart from the Christian one. It is a long story, and I will not get into it here. But it was the National Socialism and its interest in inventing a race called Aryans, who were a Nordic race, what ever that means, that created the interest in some Germans about India. but ask any Indian who has lived in Germany for some time, and he will tell you that the common Indians are not considered to be Aryans there. Most Germans have a racist view point. So, where is that bond? Yes, there was an interest in India after 1945. For two reasons. One, Germans were disliked everywhere in Europe after the carnage that they caused. And they lost the war, so they were also blamed for all the destruction. But this was not the case with India, Indians did not hate them. India was quite willing to do business with them. Germans exported and gave India credit on easy terms to build industry and they did good business. This declined in the 70s. When import substitution became the common theme in India and Germany was plagued by the Oil crisis. When I lived there from 1977 to 1987, this bond had disappeared. Indology classes were going empty at most universities. The in thing was interest about China, as they were starting to do great business with them. Chinese history, language and culture was the in thing. And why not? Germans are a practical people and a lot of money was to be made selling to China and the large Industrial houses were pushing China. Thousands of Chinese students came and were enrolled in German universities at that time. India may be back in picture now, as India is opening up again for business. So, the bond is that of making money. Let us not get emotional about that.
Gautam
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Germany is a sneaky country IMHO. They fluctuate between eastern mysticism and german racial pride. There was a period before or in between the Nazi rule where they relied on some eastern occult mysticism to justify their right-to-rule. They are reading up Indian manuscripts in Sanskrit to dream up their own history and re-inforce their racial pride. They attempt to go on their own path and do not think twice about double-crossing 'allies' in some pretext. In current context they are neither with USA nor are they with Russia. They keep issuing contradictory sound-bytes fequently. They are nobody's allies.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35202280
Media watchdogs in Europe have voiced alarm about a Polish draft media law which, critics say, threatens to politicise public news channels.
The public service broadcasters TVP and Polish Radio - which have a huge audience - would be controlled by a national media council close to Poland's new conservative government.
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Post by devesh »

Poland and western Ukraine have effectively become Atlanticist puppets. Poland is on its way to developing the same kind of delusions as Turkey. And the Atlanticists are actively encouraging it. The George Friedman fantasy w.r.t. eastern europe seems to have deep resonance among the US-UK-France deep state.
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Post by devesh »

http://m.sputniknews.com/europe/2015123 ... shortening


Turkish and Arabic mercenaries (at a later time to formally unmask themselves as jihadis) in Ukraine.
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Re: India-EU News & Analysis

Post by NRao »

Slow night. Yeah new years eve.

Max M was a very devout Christian at heart and although he did translate a lot, he put a Christian spin on Indian history.

However, the fascination for Sanskrit is mainly because of the high similarities between Sanskrit and German. If you know one, it is rather easy to pick up the other.

And, Germans have always been interested in spiritual aspects.
KLP Dubey
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Re: India-EU News & Analysis

Post by KLP Dubey »

Karan M wrote:Great. Now we will be treated to more quasi racist shite on our heritage from these chaps abroad and the barking mutts and ghouses will be lapping up all the bilge.
The subjects mentioned in the article seem more practical and culture-oriented, rather than history and historical (cunning)linguistics.
NRao
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Re: India-EU News & Analysis

Post by NRao »

On barking muts, in the 80s Univ of Tokyo and Harvard duked it out on who among the two was the authority on Sanskrit pronunciation. LoL.

They came to some compromise.

But, they *never* suggested that they could approach a simple Pundit in India who would be able to teach them how to pronounce Sanskrit words. :)

Go figure. After ALL those years they missed out on perhaps the most fundamental stuff in Sanskrit!!! What a joke.





BTW, there can never be a spelling bee contest in Sanskrit.
shiv
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Re: India-EU News & Analysis

Post by shiv »

NRao wrote: However, the fascination for Sanskrit is mainly because of the high similarities between Sanskrit and German. If you know one, it is rather easy to pick up the other.
CunningLinguists will get angry but German has a huge "substrate" of non IE language especially (IIRC) toponyms and hydronyms (To use Witzel's words for land and water body names) . That earlier language probably was heavily influenced by the influx of some Indo European speakers. The languages really similar to Sanskrit are eastern European and Russian languages and those links have genetic and archaeological evidence that goes back 6000 years.

CunningLinguists do not like the idea that Sanskrit may have moved from somewhere east (or worse east and South) and influenced Europe.
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