Migrant boat crisis: the story of the Greek hero on the beach

Helena Smith in Athens Sunday 26 April 2015

One compelling image has come to represent all the Greek people who treated desperate migrants like fellow human beings

Antonis Deligiorgis saving Wegasi Nebiat: ‘I was having trouble lifting her out of the sea, then instinctively, I put her over my shoulder.’ Photograph: Argiris Mantikos/AP

It was an image that came to symbolise desperation and valour: the desperation of those who will take on the sea – and the men who ferry human cargo across it – to flee the ills that cannot keep them in their own countries. And the valour of those on Europe’s southern shores who rush to save them when tragedy strikes.

Last week on the island of Rhodes, war, repression, dictatorship in distant Eritrea were far from the mind of army sergeant Antonis Deligiorgis. The world inhabited by Wegasi Nebiat, a 24-year-old Eritrean in the cabin of a yacht sailing towards the isle, was still far away.

The boat disintegrated in a matter of minutes. It was as if it was made of paper

Antonis Deligiorgis

At 8am on Monday there was nothing that indicated the two would meet. Stationed in Rhodes, the burly soldier accompanied his wife, Theodora, on the school run. “Then we thought we’d grab a coffee,” he told the Observer in an exclusive interview recounting what would soon ensue. “We stopped by a cafe on the seafront.”

Deligiorgis had his back to the sea when the vessel carrying Nebiat struck the jagged rocks fishermen on Rhodes grow up learning to avoid. Within seconds the rickety boat packed with Syrians and Eritreans was listing. The odyssey that had originated six hours earlier at the Turkish port of Marmaris – where thousands of Europe-bound migrants are now said to be amassed – was about to end in the strong currents off Zefyros Beach.

For Nebiat, whose journey to Europe began in early March – her parents paid $10,000 for a voyage that would see her walk, bus and fly her way to “freedom” – the reef was her first contact with the continent she had prayed to reach. Soon she was in the water clinging to a rubber buoy.

“The boat disintegrated in a matter of minutes,” the father-of-two recalled. “It was as if it was made of paper. By the time I left the café at 10 past 10, a lot of people had rushed to the scene. The coastguard was there, a Super Puma [helicopter] was in the air, the ambulance brigade had come, fishermen had gathered in their caiques. Without really giving it a second’s thought, I did what I had to do. By 10:15 I had taken off my shirt and was in the water.”

Deligiorgis brought 20 of the 93 migrants to shore singlehandedly. “At first I wore my shoes but soon had to take them off,” he said, speaking by telephone from Rhodes. “The water was full of oil from the boat and was very bitter and the rocks were slippery and very sharp. I cut myself quite badly on my hands and feet, but all I could think of was saving those poor people.”

In the chaos of the rescue, the 34-year-old cannot remember if he saved three or four men, or three or four children, or five or six women: “What I do remember was seeing a man who was around 40 die. He was flailing about, he couldn’t breathe, he was choking, and though I tried was impossible to reach. Anyone who could was hanging on to the wreckage.”

I’ve never seen anything like it, the terror that can haunt a human’s eyes.

Babis Manias, fisherman

Deligiorgis says he was helped by the survival skills and techniques learned in the army: “But the waves were so big, so relentless. They kept coming and coming.” He had been in the water for about 20 minutes when he saw Nebiat gripping the buoy. “She was having great problems breathing,” he said. “There were some guys from the coastguard around me who had jumped in with all their clothes on. I was having trouble lifting her out of the sea. They helped and then, instinctively, I put her over my shoulder.”

The rescue operation on the Greek island of Rhodes. Photograph: Xinhua /Landov / Barcroft Media/Xinhua /Landov / Barcroft Media

On Friday it emerged that he had also rescued a woman who gave birth to a healthy baby boy in Rhodes general hospital. In a sign of her gratitude, the Eritrean, who did not want to be identified, told nurses she would name her son after him. While Deligiorgis’s heroism has raised the spirits of a nation grappling with its worst economic crisis in modern times, he is far from alone. All week there have been stories of acts of kindness, great and small, by islanders who rushed to help the émigrés. One woman stripped her own child to swaddle a Syrian baby, hundreds rushed to donate food and clothes.

“They are souls, like us,” said Babis Manias, a fisherman, breaking down as he recalled saving a child.

“We couldn’t believe it at first. We thought it was a tourist boat, what with all the hotels along the beach. I’ve never seen anything like it, the terror that can haunt a human’s eyes.”

 

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Alexander Betts

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The incident has highlighted the extraordinary sacrifice people on the frontline of Fortress Europe will often make as the humanitarian disaster unfolding on the continent’s outer reaches becomes ever more real. Last week close to 2,000 migrants were reported entering he country with the vast majority coming through its far-flung Aegean isles. Most were said to be Syrian students and other professionals able to afford passage to the west.

“As long as there are crises in their own countries and desperation and despair, they will look to Europe,” said Giorgos Tsarbopoulos, who heads the United Nations refugee mission in Athens. “And as long as there are no legal alternatives they will take these great risks to get here.”

Like other passengers, Nebiat, who would spend most of the week in hospital being treated for suspected pneumonia, has no desire to stay in Greece. Sweden is her goal. And on Thursday she boarded a ferry bound for Piraeus, the continuation of a journey that began in the Eritrean capital of Asmara, took her to Sudan and from there to Turkey travelling on a fake passport. “I am lucky,” she said as she was reunited with those who made the journey with her. “Very lucky to be alive.”

Deligiorgis falls silent at the mention of heroism. There was nothing brave, he says, about fulfilling his duty “as a human, as a man”. But recounting the moment he plucked the Eritrean from the sea, he admits the memory will linger. “I will never forget her face,” he says. “Ever.”

Migrant boat crisis: the story of the Greek hero on the beach | World news | The Guardian

Most migrants crossing Mediterranean will be sent back, EU leaders to agree

Alan Travis in London, Ian Traynor in Brussels, and Patrick Kingsley in Zuwara

Thursday 23 April 2015

Exclusive: Confidential draft from summit reveals that only 5,000 migrants will be allowed to resettle in Europe with at least 150,000 likely to be repatriated

Migrants wait to disembark from an Italian navy ship in Salerno. Theresa May and Philip Hammond believe such rescue operations create a ‘pull factor’ and lead to more deaths by encouraging migrants to risk the dangerous sea crossing. Photograph: Ivan Romano/Getty

Only 5,000 resettlement places across Europe are to be offered to refugees under the emergency summit crisis package to be agreed by EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday.

A confidential draft summit statement seen by the Guardian indicates that the vast majority of those who survive the journey and make it to Italy – 150,000 did so last year – will be sent back as irregular migrants under a new rapid-return programme co-ordinated by the EU’s border agency, Frontex. More than 36,000 boat survivors have reached Italy, Malta and Greece so far this year.

EU borders chief says saving migrants' lives 'shouldn't be priority' for patrols

^{Coastal fleet missions off Italy not mandated or resourced for full search and rescue operations, and nor is EU, says head of Frontex agency}

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The draft summit conclusions also reveal that hopes of a major expansion of search-and-rescue operations across the Mediterranean in response to the humanitarian crisis are likely to be dashed, despite widespread and growing pressure.

The summit statement merely confirms the decision by EU foreign and interior ministers on Monday to double funding in 2015 and 2016 and “reinforce the assets” of the existing Operation Triton and Operation Poseidon border-surveillance operations, which only patrol within 30 miles of the Italian coast.

The European council’s conclusions said this move “should increase the search-and-rescue possibilities within the mandate of Frontex”. The head of Frontex said on Wednesday that Triton should not be an operation primarily aimed at search and rescue.

Instead, the EU leaders are likely to agree that immediate preparations should begin to “undertake systematic efforts to identify, capture and destroy vessels before they are used by traffickers”. The joint EU military operation is to be undertaken within international law.

^{Fabrice Leggeri, the head of Frontex, the European Union’s border-control agency, said: ‘Triton cannot be a search-and-rescue operation.” Photograph: Czarek Sokolowski/AP}

The statement describes the crisis as a tragedy and says the EU will mobilise all efforts at its disposal to prevent further loss of life at sea and to tackle the root causes of the human emergency, including co-operating with the countries of origin and transit.

“Our immediate priority is to prevent more people dying at sea. We have therefore decided to strengthen our presence at sea, to fight the traffickers, to prevent illegal migration flows and to reinforce internal solidarity,” it says, before adding that the EU leaders intend to support all efforts to re-establish government authority in Libya and address key “push” factors such as the situation in Syria.

But the detail of the communiqué makes it clear that the measures to be agreed fall far short of this ambition.

In particular in terms of sharing responsibility across the EU the draft statement suggests only “setting up a first voluntary pilot project on resettlement, offering at least 5,000 places to persons qualifying for protection”, it says.

The EU leaders also make a commitment to “increasing emergency aid to frontline member states” – taken to mean Italy, Malta and Greece – “and consider options for organising emergency relocation between member states”.

Emergency teams are to be deployed to Italy to help register, fingerprint and process applications for asylum protection as refugees. Increased support is also to be given to Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Mali and Niger to monitor and control their land borders to prevent potential migrants getting to the shore of the Mediterranean.

UK cabinet split over EU plans to expand sea search and rescue of migrants

^{May and Hammond still holding out for deterrent and action against traffickers as PM shifts his position after TV coverage of tragedy in Mediterranean}

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EU leaders are expected to stress their determination to fight the traffickers and will promise to bring them to justice, seize their assets and make a concerted attempt to take down any online material likely to attract migrants and refugees.

On Monday, ministers and the European Commission agreed to bolster the Triton mission, to increase its funding and assets, and to expand the operational area of Triton, which is run by Frontex. But the head of Frontex, Fabrice Leggeri, said on the eve of the summit that saving migrants’ lives should not be the priority for his maritime patrols despite the clamour for a more humane response after the deaths of 800 refugees and migrants at the weekend.

He flatly dismissed turning the Triton mission into a search-and-rescue operation and voiced strong doubts about new EU pledges to tackle human traffickers and their vessels in Libya.

“Triton cannot be a search-and-rescue operation. I mean, in our operational plan, we cannot have provisions for proactive search-and-rescue action. This is not in Frontex’s mandate, and this is, in my understanding, not in the mandate of the European Union,” Leggeri said. Instead, he appealed for planes to conduct aerial surveillance so they could anticipate more disasters.

^{Vigil to commemorate migrants who died at sea in Sliema, outside Valletta. Photograph: Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters}

The summit comes as a joint letter to EU leaders signed by more than 50 former European prime ministers, foreign ministers and business leaders, condemned the death toll of migrants in the Mediterranean as a “stain on the conscience of our continent” and demanded the immediate restoration of expansive search-and-rescue operations. Signatories include the former EU commissioner and Conservative party chairman, Chris Patten; the former Swedish prime minister, Carl Bilt; French former foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner; and George Soros of the Open Society Foundation.

The letter appeals to EU leaders to go beyond the 10-point plan agreed by foreign and interior ministers on Monday and instead calls for an immediate restoration of expansive rescue operations “with a mandate and level of funding that match the humanitarian emergency that confronts us”. The letter says the decision to withdraw support last October for Italy’s Mare Nostrum operation had only succeeded in vastly increasing the number of deaths.

Patten said: “Today’s crisis summit must be clear on its first and most urgent priority, increasing search and rescue back to at least previous levels. Addressing the drivers of migration, from conflict to human trafficking, climate change to human rights abuses is also critically important but will take a longer term strategy to address. My message to EU leaders is clear – history will judge you harshly if you fudge this.”

David Cameron made clear on Wednesday his intention to support an expansion of search-and-rescue operations when he and the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, declared that the “coastguard policy” – a reference to Triton – that replaced Mare Nostrum, had not worked. “Now we need to make sure we do more to save lives. That will involve more search and rescue, and there is a contribution I’m sure we can make to that,” Cameron said.

But it is understood that the British prime minister was facing stiff opposition from his own home secretary, Theresa May, and his foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, in his intention to support the expansion of search-and-rescue operations at the summit beyond the limited Triton measures agreed on Monday.

May and Hammond were said on Wednesday not to be budging from their belief that such rescue operations would create a “pull factor” and lead to more deaths by encouraging more migrants to risk the dangerous sea crossing.

“May is still holding out for a deterrent approach. She wants to focus on action against the traffickers and a rapid returns programme,” one Brussels source said.

'We see more and more unaccompanied children on migrant boats'

^{Chiara Montaldo in Pozzallo}

^{Chiara Montaldo is working with Médecins Sans Frontières in Sicily, where 700 migrants have arrived in the past week, all in vessels unsafe for travel}

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“May and Hammond have been pushing back, partly for face-saving reasons, given that they were so involved in the initial decision last October to demand an immediate withdrawal of the Italian Mare Nostrum,” said another source.

Cameron is understood to have shifted his position this week as the extensive media coverage convinced Downing Street and Tory election strategists that voters see the tragedy in the Mediterranean as a humanitarian crisis rather than an immigration issue. He is now expected to override the objections of his home secretary and foreign secretary. “He will have to bump them into it,” said one source.

Most migrants crossing Mediterranean will be sent back, EU leaders to agree | World news | The Guardian

Islamic State: group releases video purportedly showing execution of 30 Ethiopian Christians

 

The Islamic State jihadist group has released a video purportedly showing the executions of some 30 Ethiopian Christians captured in Libya.

^{Photo: The video released by Islamic State purportedly shows militants executing 30 "followers of the cross from the enemy Ethiopian Church". (Supplied: Al Furqan)}

The 29-minute video purports to show militants holding two groups of captives, described in text on the screen as "followers of the cross from the enemy Ethiopian Church".

A masked fighter brandishing a pistol makes a statement threatening Christians if they do not convert to Islam.

The video then switches between footage of one group of about 12 men being beheaded by masked militants on a beach and another group of at least 16 being shot in the head in a desert area.

It was not immediately clear who the captives were or exactly how many were killed.

Before the killings, the video shows purported footage of Christians in Syria explaining how they had been given the choice of either converting to Islam or paying a special tax, and had decided to pay.

The video bore the logo of Islamic State's (IS) media arm and was similar to footage released in the past, including of a group of 21 Coptic Christians, mainly Egyptians, beheaded on a Libyan beach in February.

Several Libyan jihadist groups have pledged allegiance to IS, the extremist organisation that seized control of large parts of Syria and Iraq last year and declared an Islamic "caliphate".

IS has carried out widespread violent atrocities and won the support of jihadist groups across the region, including in chaos-hit Libya.

Attacks raise fears for Christians in Middle East

UN-backed efforts to form a national unity government have made little progress and officials have warned that Libya - awash with weapons after former leader Moamar Gaddafi's overthrow - threatens to become a haven for jihadists on Europe's doorstep.

IS has persecuted minorities including Christians and its executions of the Egyptian Copts prompted retaliatory air strikes from Cairo.

Egypt called for an international intervention against the jihadists in Libya but Western diplomats expressed reservations, saying a political deal must be the priority.

A US-led coalition of Western and Arab nations is carrying out an air war against IS in Syria and in Iraq, where pro-government forces have managed in recent months to retake some territory seized by the group.

The group's attacks have raised fears for Christians across the Middle East and been condemned by religious leaders.

The head of the Church of England, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, was in Egypt on Sunday to offer his condolences over the beheadings of the Copts in Libya.

He was to meet president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, grand imam of Al-Azhar, the highest Sunni Muslim authority, and Coptic Pope Tawadros II.

Almost two-thirds of Ethiopians are Christians, the majority of those Orthodox Copts - who say they have been in the Horn of Africa nation since the first century AD - as well as large numbers of protestants.

Many Ethiopians leave their country - Africa's second largest in terms of population with more than 90 million people - seeking work elsewhere.

Many travel to Libya and other north African nations for jobs, as well as to use it as a stepping stone before risking the dangerous sea crossing to Europe.

AFP

From other news sites:

• News.com.au: Islamic State 'executes captured Ethiopian Christians in Libya' in new video
• BBC: IS releases new 'killing' video of Ethiopian Christians
• Yahoo!7 News: IS shows purported executions in Libya of Ethiopia Christians
• Deutsche Welle: 'IS' video purportedly shows executions of Ethiopian Christians in Libya
• Chicago Tribune: Islamic State video appears to show beheading, shooting of Christians

Islamic State: group releases video purportedly showing execution of 30 Ethiopian Christians - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Mohammed Morsi sentence: Egypt's ex-president could face death penalty on charges of inciting protester deaths

Sunday 19 April 2015

^{Photo: Mohammed Morsi will be sentenced on charges of inciting the deaths of protesters on Tuesday. (AFP)}

Related Story: White House lashes out at life sentence for US-Egyptian citizen

Related Story: Egypt sentences Muslim Brotherhood leader, 11 others to death

Map: Egypt

Egypt's ex-president Mohammed Morsi could be sentenced to death on Tuesday on charges of inciting the killing of protesters, experts say, in the first verdict against him nearly two years after his fall from power.

Mr Morsi, who was Egypt's first freely elected president, also faces the death penalty in two other trials — including one in which he is accused of spying for foreign powers and escaping from prison during the 2011 anti-Mubarak revolt.

Separate verdicts in those two cases are due on May 16.

Experts say a death sentence on Tuesday cannot be ruled out, especially since judges have already passed harsh verdicts against leaders of his blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood.

Mr Morsi was toppled by the then army chief — and now president — Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on July 3, 2013, after mass street protests against his year-long rule.

The new authorities then launched a sweeping crackdown on his supporters in which more than 1,400 people were killed and thousands jailed.

Hundreds have been sentenced to death after speedy mass trials which the United Nations called "unprecedented in recent history".

The authorities have also targeted secular and liberal activists who spearheaded the 2011 uprising against long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak, Mr Morsi's predecessor.

Justice in Egypt 'highly politicised'

In November, a court dropped murder charges against Mr Mubarak in his own trial over the deaths of hundreds of protesters in 2011.

Mr Sisi's regime is widely popular among Egyptians tired of more than four years of political turmoil, but rights groups say it is more repressive than under Mr Mubarak.

Tuesday's verdict involves a case in which Mr Morsi and 14 other defendants, seven of whom are on the run, are charged with the killing of three protesters and torturing several more during clashes in front of the presidential palace on December 5, 2012.

The protesters were demonstrating against a Morsi decree that put him above judicial review when they clashed with his supporters.

Defence lawyers say there is no proof Mr Morsi incited the clashes, and that most of those killed were Brotherhood members.

Even if Mr Morsi escapes the death penalty, he could still face life in jail.

"Justice is highly politicised and verdicts are rarely based on objective elements," Karim Bitar from the Paris-based Institute of International and Strategic Relations told AFP.

Mr Morsi's supporters were the target of a government "witch-hunt", he added.

Death sentence unlikely to be carried out, analysts say

If a death sentence is passed, it is unlikely to be carried out, said H A Hellyer of the Washington-based Brookings Centre for Middle East Policy.

"The execution of Morsi would represent an escalation by the Egyptian authorities that they do not appear willing to engage in," he said.

"Internationally, it will be received badly that an elected president overthrown via a military incursion into politics, even if that military is popular, is then dealt a harsh judicial sentence."

The verdict is also open to appeal.

A harsh sentence will nevertheless be a nail in the coffin of the Brotherhood, as Mr Sisi has vowed to "eradicate" the 85-year-old movement that staged major electoral gains between Mr Mubarak's fall and Mr Morsi's presidential victory in May 2012.

Almost all of its leaders face harsh sentences, and in December 2013 the movement was designated a "terrorist group," with the authorities blaming it for near daily attacks on the security forces.

In a country where the army has been in power for decades, Mr Sisi's May 2014 presidential victory crushed hopes raised since the popular anti-Mubarak revolt of a civilian democracy.

Jihadists, mainly the Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State group, have claimed attacks on security forces in retaliation for the crackdown on Morsi supporters.

The Brotherhood itself denies resorting to violence.

AFP

From other news sites:

• Daily Mail: Egypt's Morsi faces possible death penalty in first verdict

Mohammed Morsi sentence: Egypt's ex-president could face death penalty on charges of inciting protester deaths - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Europe faces a 'real threat' from Russia, warns US army commander

By Justin Huggler, Wiesbaden 18 April 2015

The commander of the US army in Europe, Lt-Gen Frederick "Ben" Hodges, says that NATO must remain united "as insurance" against Russia

^{Alarming: Putin is positioning tanks across Europe Photo: EPA/SERGEI CHIRIKOV}

The commander of the US army in Europe has warned that NATO must remain united in the face of a "real threat" from Russia.

"It's not an assumption. There is a Russian threat," Lt-Gen Frederick "Ben" Hodges said.

"You've got the Russian ambassador threatening that Denmark will be a nuclear target if it participates in any missile defence programme. And when you look at the unsafe way Russian aircraft are flying without transponders in proximity to civilian aircraft, that's not professional conduct."

Gen Hodges spoke to the Telegraph on the sidelines of a military debriefing after an exercise to move live Patriot missiles 750 miles across Europe by road and deploy them on the outskirts of Warsaw.

The sight of a US military convoy crossing the German-Polish border more than 20 years after the end of the Cold War made international headlines and brought traffic to a standstill as people posed for selfies beside the troops.

The intention of such a highly visible deployment was to send a signal, Gen Hodges said.

"That's exactly what it was about, reassuring our allies," he said.

Gen Hodges pointed to recent Russian decisions to move Iskandar ballistic missiles to its Kaliningrad enclave, between Lithuania and Poland, and long-range nuclear-capable bombers to Crimea.

"I don't think a military confrontation is inevitable. But you have to be militarily ready in order to enable effective diplomacy," he said.

"The best insurance we have against a showdown is that NATO stands together."

Since taking over command of the US army in Europe last year, Gen Hodges has found himself on the front line of an increasingly nervous stand-off with Vladimir Putin's Russia.

Eastern European countries are looking to NATO, and the US in particular, for reassurance that they will not be left to face Russian aggression alone.

A year after it pulled its last tank out of Europe, the US is sending hundreds of tanks and heavy fighting vehicles back to the continent, and Gen Hodges is in the middle of talks over where to position them.

But he has also assumed command at a time when many Western European countries are cutting their military budgets, and relying ever more on the US for their defence.

"I think the question for each country to ask is: are they security consumers or security providers?" Gen Hodges said. "Do they bring capabilities the alliance needs?"

• What is the biggest threat facing the world today?

He declined to be drawn on the UK's defence budget, and the major parties' failure to commit to NATO's spending target of 2 per cent of GDP.

^{Russian President Vladimir Putin listens during an annual call-in show on Russian television "Conversation With Vladimir Putin" in Moscow}

"My experience of the UK is principally of the British army, and they are one of the best armies in the world," he said. "They have extremely capable officers and NCOs.

"The relationship between the US and the UK is as strong as ever and we are always looking for ways to strengthen it. We need the capability that the British bring. They've been by our side in everything we've done.

"We've got our own challenges in the US army. Globally countries are facing pressure on defence spending, including the US.

"I'm confident the UK will live up to its responsibilities."

In recent years, while Western countries have been cutting their defence budgets, Russia has been spending heavily on modernising its military.

"We're not interested in a fair fight with anyone," Gen Hodges said. "We want to have overmatch in all systems. I don't think that we've fallen behind but Russia has closed the gap in certain capabilities. We don't want them to close that gap."

The recent involvement of Russian forces in fighting in eastern Ukraine has shown that they have made huge advances, particularly in electronic warfare, Gen Hodges said.

But he doesn't think this is the start of a new Cold War.

"That was a different situation, with gigantic forces and large numbers of nuclear weapons," he said. "The only thing that is similar now is that Russia and NATO have different views about what the security environment in Europe should be.

"I don't think it's the same as the Cold War. We did very specific things then that are no longer relevant. We don't need 300,000 soldiers in Europe. Nobody can afford that any more.

"We want to see Russia back in the international community and cooperating against Islamic terrorism and on Iran's nuclear ambitions. That's different from the Cold War."

Gen Hodges has an easy manner with the men under his command, making jokes and asking the opinions of the most junior privates, as well as senior officers.

He has combat experience as a brigade commander in Iraq, but in his current role he has to deal with different challenges.

^{A Russian Federation Air Force Su-27 Sukhoi fighter aircraft during a training exercise}

"I'm sure they're not going to line up Russian tanks and go rolling into another country," he said. "They don't want a military confrontation with NATO. Our alliance is the most successful alliance in history and it has a lot of capability."

Russia will not risk an open attack on a NATO member, he believes, for fear the alliance will invoke Article V of its treaty, under which an attack on one member is an attack on all.

Instead, the danger is that Russia will seek to put pressure on NATO members on its borders through other means.

"Russia doesn't want to let the temperature reach 100C, they want to keep the temperature at 90C, 95C, but they try to keep it under 100C," he said.

"There's information, economic pressure, border violations. There are different ways of keeping the pressure up. They don't want a clear attack, they want a situation where all 28 [NATO member countries] won't say there's a clear attack."

He pointed to the large Russian-speaking populations in the Baltic countries, and the economic power Russia has as a major consumer of eastern European agricultural produce, as possible avenues Mr Putin may try to exploit.

But he said that NATO remains united in the face of Russian aggression.

"If President Putin's objective is to fracture the alliance, then he's going about it the wrong way," Gen Hodges said. "At the Wales summit there was a unity of the alliance I have not seen before, and it came about because of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and its use of force to change the borders of a sovereign country, Ukraine. It was a direct response to Russia's behaviour in Crimea."

He points to recent moves by traditionally neutral Sweden and Finland to cooperate more closely on defence with NATO members Norway, Denmark and Iceland.

"Nobody's trying to join Russia. There's no country scurrying to get under Russia's protective umbrella," he said.

^{The Danish military said that it had scrambled its F-16 squadrons 58 times in 2014 to head off Russian aircraft}

"Why do so many countries want to join the EU or NATO? It's about values. They want security and prosperity.

"Russia wants to make it difficult for countries that were affiliated with the USSR or the Warsaw Pact to join the West. The way they see it they're entitled to a role, to a sphere of influence.

"I think the position of the West is that this idea of a sphere of influence is not applicable in the 21st century. In the 21st century countries have the right to decide for themselves what is right for them and what kind of country they want to be. They've made the European choice. That's what this is all about."

Since taking up his command, Gen Hodges has been outspoken over the Russian threat in a way that is rare for a serving general.

"I think I understand my role. I don't make policy for the US or the alliance. I carry out policy," he said.

He has chosen to speak out because he fears the Russia is going unchallenged in the information war, he said.

"We talk about DIME: diplomacy, information, military and economy. An important aspect of how Russia operates is how they use information.

"They use information the way they use infantry and missiles. They're not burdened by the truth. Most of the independent media has left Russia and a large percentage is government-owned or -dominated. They don't have to worry about congressional or parliamentary oversight. There's a constant bombardment of information."

In his last interview before his death on Monday, Günter Grass, the Nobel-winning German author, said he feared that humanity was "sleepwalking" towards another World War.

Gen Hodges disagreed. "I think we were sleepwalking a few years ago when we thought Russia wanted to be a part of the international community," he said. "They were with us in Bosnia. We actually have a mechanism for them to cooperate with NATO.

"But I think we're wide-awake now."

Europe faces a 'real threat' from Russia, warns US army commander - Telegraph

The Armenian genocide and Hagia Sophia

By Nikos Konstandaras

Pope Francis’s declaration that the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman forces 100 years ago was “the first genocide of the 20th century” will hasten the conversion of the Hagia Sophia museum into a mosque, the top Muslim official in Ankara responded. The Turkish government has long wanted to turn the symbol of Orthodox Christianity into a mosque, and last Friday – Good Friday for the Orthodox – verses from the Koran were recited at the opening of an exhibition at Hagia Sophia, 84 years after it was converted from a mosque into a museum by the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The statement by mufti Mefail Hizli, reported by the Hurriyet Daily News on Thursday, suggests that Turkey’s rage at its inability to stop a growing tide of recognition of the Armenian genocide is encouraging autocratic tendencies and bigotry. It is not only the country’s few remaining Christians who will suffer but Turkish society as a whole.

It is difficult to comprehend how a papal statement on the Armenian issue should weigh on Hagia Sophia, seeing as the roads of Catholic and Orthodox Christians separated nearly 1,000 years ago (in 1054). Today’s Turkish government shows the arrogance of a conqueror who believes that all he sees is hostage to his will. The Ottoman conquerors did convert the Hagia Sophia church into a mosque, but they also commissioned their best architects to build grand new mosques – the Fatih, Suleyman and Sultan Ahmet mosques – honouring Hagia Sophia by trying to outdo it. In his conviction that Turkey had to be built on secular foundations, Ataturk turned Hagia Sophia into a museum, acknowledging the building’s ecumenical significance.

Under the dominance of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was prime minister from 2003 until his election as president last year, Turkey is at the crossroads between East and West, between autocracy and democracy, between tolerance and bigotry. In next June’s parliamentary elections, the AKP party which Erdogan founded and still controls, could triumph with about 50 per cent of the vote, according to recent polls. After the election, Erdogan aims to strengthen the office of the presidency and will do all that is necessary to achieve this. Converting Hagia Sophia into a mosque will please the AKP’s religious voters and also make clear that the secular regime founded by Ataturk is dead.

Recently, Erdogan has shown increasingly autocratic tendencies. Now, the government’s inability to prevent international recognition of the Armenian genocide is driving him to greater displays of anger, arrogance, greed and envy. He will learn that he can neither ignore history nor subject an ecumenical symbol to his will.

ekathimerini.com | The Armenian genocide and Hagia Sophia

Italy accused of bringing in Islamist 'terrorists' after Christians thrown into sea

By Nick Squires, Rome 16 April 2015

Italian police are investigating claims by 100 other asylum seekers that Christian refugees drowned after Muslim migrants threw them overboard

Migrants wait to be identified after disembarking from an Italian Coast Guard ship Photo: Carmelo Imbesi/AP

A dozen Christian asylum seekers drowned in the Mediterranean after they were thrown overboard by Muslim migrants in a furious row fuelled by “religious hatred” on a smuggler boat sailing from Libya to Italy.

Italian police last night were investigating the deaths, which emerged from testimony provided by the 100 other asylum seekers on board the vessel. The boat was rescued by Italian ships and brought to Palermo in Sicily.

Fifteen Muslim migrants, believed to be from Senegal, Ivory Coast,and Mali, were arrested, accused of having thrown the Christians from Ghana and Nigeria into the sea after the fight broke out.

They are suspected of being responsible for “multiple aggravated murders, motivated by religious hatred”, police said.

“The threats then materialised and 12 people, all Nigerian and Ghanaian, are believed to have drowned in the Mediterranean,” they said.

The attackers were identified by other refugees, some of whom were in tears as they recounted the story to Italian authorities.

• Trafficking gangs tip off Italian officials so that rescue services can pick up people-smuggling boats
• Italians revolt against migrant 'invasion'

It appears to be the first case of deaths being caused by a clash between Muslim and Christian asylum seekers on board the boats that have so far this year brought 15,000 migrants to Italian shores from North Africa.

Conservative politicians accused the centre-Left government of Matteo Renzi of allowing “fundamentalists” into Italy and called for a blockade of the refugee boats.

“Intervention is now urgent because what has happened is extremely worrying,” said Maurizio Gasparri, a senator with Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party. “The Renzi government is bringing in Islamist fundamentalists and using Italian ships as taxis for potential jihadists.”

Ignazio La Russa, another centre-Right politician, said: “The government is not only bringing to its knees the social fabric of our cities [through immigration] but is allowing onto Italian soil fundamentalist terrorists.”

A further 41 migrants were reported yesterday to have died in a separate incident in which a small boat sank in the Mediterranean.

Four survivors told Italian police and humanitarian organisations that their inflatable dinghy sank not long after leaving the coast of Libya with 45 people on board.

The capsizing, which is being investigated, came just days after 400 people were reported to have drowned in another shipwreck north of the Libyan coast.

Paolo Gentiloni, the Italian foreign minister, said the influx of migrants could only be tackled if the unrest in Libya was addressed by the international community.

The breakdown of law and order following the toppling of Muammar Gadaffi in 2011 has enabled people smuggling gangs to act with impunity, making millions of pounds from sending migrants across the Mediterranean.

In an interview on Thursday with Corriere della Sera, an Italian daily, the minister said it might be necessary to take military action against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), which is worsening the security situation in parts of Libya, particularly the east.

Mr Gentiloni raised the prospect of “targeted anti-terrorist strikes” against Isil, as well as action against people smuggling gangs.

Libya desperately needed a unified government and “collaboration with neighbouring countries for the acceptance of refugees,” he said.

Time was running out, he warned, amid warnings from humanitarian agencies that up to half a million migrants may try to cross the Mediterranean this year - a figure that would dwarf the 170,000 who reached Italy last year.

“We don’t have months and months. The double risk of an advance of the Islamic State group in Libya and the waves of migrants means we are in a race against the clock.”

Italy accused of bringing in Islamist 'terrorists' after Christians thrown into sea - Telegraph

Asylum seekers arrested for 'throwing fellow passengers overboard' in religious row, say Italian police

By Europe correspondent Mary Gearin, wires Friday 17 Apr 2015

Photo: Migrants disembark from a rescue vessel as they arrive in the Italian port of Augusta in Sicily. (AFP: Giovanni Isolino)

Map: Italy

Italian police have arrested 15 Muslim migrants suspected of throwing a dozen Christians from a boat in the Mediterranean.

Police in the Sicilian capital Palermo said they had arrested the men on Thursday after survivors reported they had thrown 12 people from Nigeria and Ghana to their deaths.

The men were charged with multiple homicide motivated by religious hatred.

"The motive for the resentment was traced to their faiths," the police said in a statement.

The boat, which was carrying 105 passengers, had set out from the Libyan coast on Tuesday.

Witnesses allege a fight broke out and 15 Muslim men, from the Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal and Guinea, threw the Christians into the Strait of Sicily.

"The threats then materialised and 12 people, all Nigerian and Ghanaian, are believed to have drowned in the Mediterranean," police said.

The remaining passengers were rescued and brought to Palermo, where the 15 alleged attackers were arrested.

Police said the survivors told a "dreadful" story of their struggle to escape with their lives "by forcefully resisting attempts to drown them, forming a veritable human chain in some cases".

Almost 10,000 people have been rescued while trying to reach the Italian coast in the past week, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

Dozens 'missing' in new boat sinking

In a separate incident, as many as 41 migrants were feared drowned after their boat sank in the Mediterranean, Italian media reported.

 

Mission rethink 'could cost lives'

The end of the controversial Italian navy operation rescuing thousands of asylum seekers in the Mediterranean is likely to result in many more deaths at sea, according to human rights groups.

Four survivors told Italian police and humanitarian organisations that their inflatable vessel sank not long after leaving the coast of Libya for Europe with 45 people on board.

The four — a Ghanaian, two Nigerians, and a man from Niger — arrived in Trapani in Sicily on Thursday with 600 other migrants picked up by the Italian navy and coastguards.

The incident comes four days after a migrant shipwreck off the coast of Libya, in which 400 people are believed to have died.

Around 20,000 migrants have reached the Italian coast this year, the (IOM) estimates, fewer than arrived in the first four months of last year, but the number of deaths has risen almost nine-fold.

Italy pleaded for more help from other European Union countries on Thursday to rescue the migrants risking their lives to reach Europe and to share the burden of accommodating the arrivals.

"Ninety per cent of the cost of the patrol and sea rescue operations are falling on our shoulders," foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni told the daily Corriere della Sera.

"And then there is the difficult issue of knowing where to send those rescued at sea — to the nearest port? To the country where their boat came from?

"The EU has to respond clearly to these questions."

ABC/wires

Asylum seekers arrested for 'throwing fellow passengers overboard' in religious row, say Italian police - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Marco Rubio: Cuban heritage, American dream

 

As a child, Marco Rubio assured his exiled Cuban grandfather he would overthrow Fidel Castro and lead Cuba.

At 43, he harbours a new aspiration: to be president of the United States.

Photo: US Senator Marco Rubio speaks during a leadership forum in Nashville, Tennessee. (AFP photo:

The Republican senator from Florida told donors on Monday he was all in, ending two years of speculation about whether he would pursue a 2016 campaign for the White House.

Back in February, 12 months ahead of presidential primaries, he was already an all-but-declared candidate, publishing a big ideas book and launching a tour of the states that vote earliest in the nomination process.

Mr Rubio was born in Miami in 1971, the son of poor Cuban refugees who fled the island 15 years earlier to escape poverty.

After Castro seized power in 1959, the family decided never to return to Cuba, a country Marco Rubio has never known.

But Cuba is a recurring theme for the first-term senator, whose ambitions reflect those of generations of refugees eager to carve out better lives in America.

"I am the son of immigrants, exiles from a troubled country," he wrote in his 2012 memoir, An American Son.

"They gave me everything it was in their power to give. And I am proof their lives mattered, their existence had a purpose."

Mr Rubio has chosen Freedom Tower, a Miami landmark known as the Ellis Island of the South for processing thousands of Cuban refugees, as the location for his campaign launch.

Rags to political riches story

The son of a bartender and a housemaid, Mr Rubio grew up in Miami's Cuban-American communities, although the family spent five years in Las Vegas where they converted briefly to the Mormon faith before returning to Catholicism.

Influenced by his grandfather who spoke no English, Mr Rubio developed a passion for politics.

Photo: US Senator Marco Rubio addresses the 42nd annual Conservative Political Action in Maryland. (AFP photo: Alex Wong)

He was a fan of senator Ted Kennedy, a Democratic icon, before falling hard for Republican president Ronald Reagan.

Americans learned about Mr Rubio in 2010 when as an underdog he spectacularly won election to the senate, riding the Tea Party wave that sent several small-government conservatives to Congress.

While some Republicans privately argue it is too early for a Rubio presidential run, many envision him becoming the nation's first Hispanic commander-in-chief, a rags to political riches story embodying the American dream.

Just two years after earning a law degree, he was elected in 1998 to the West Miami City Commission.

A year later, it was Florida's House of Representatives, where he rose to become speaker in 2006.

In his memoir, Mr Rubio offers inexhaustible detail of his political manoeuvrings that boosted his career, at the risk of appearing motivated more by power than political ideas.

Mr Rubio is a compelling package: handsome with an engaging smile and charismatic oratory, despite an occasional rapid-fire delivery and a visible impatience.

He breaks the traditional social conservative mould: he goes to church with wife Jeanette and their four children, but since childhood he has been a hip-hop fan, often hailing genre pioneers Grandmaster Flash and Tupac Shakur.

And he is bilingual, a major asset for the Republican Party, which has felt the sting of Hispanic voter abandonment.

'We need to reinvigorate American society'

On his arrival in Washington, conservatives traumatised by Barack Obama's election believed they had found their saviour.

But his Tea Party support plunged in 2013 after he helped craft comprehensive immigration reform that would have legalised millions of undocumented migrants.

Mr Rubio has sought to recover.

While backing off his immigration plan, he engages in other substantive legislative efforts, ostensibly to prove that beyond his formidable communication skills he can lead a conservative ideological renewal.

Mr Rubio has unveiled proposals to reduce poverty and introduced pension system reforms — without forgetting fundamental conservative values like traditional marriage.

"We need to recognise societal breakdown, the fact that too many Americans in childhood are not acquiring values like hard work and sacrifice and self-control," he said in a 2013 interview.

"We need to reinvigorate American society."

It was Mr Rubio's championing of aggressive foreign policy and a muscular defence that opened him to criticism from his party's isolationist camp, particularly from a 2016 rival, Libertarian-leaning senator Rand Paul.

"The world is at its safest when America is at its strongest," Mr Rubio said in September, invoking Mr Reagan.

On foreign affairs, Mr Rubio sometimes aligns with hawkish senator John McCain, arguing that global flashpoints including Iran, Syria and Ukraine require Washington to be more engaged abroad.

Such positioning has led him to place Cuba in the same category as Iran — isolate the regime at all costs.

Mr Rubio's kick-off notably comes just days after Obama shook hands with Cuban strongman Raul Castro at a Latin American summit, the visual symbol of a detente to which Mr Rubio is fiercely opposed.

Marco Rubio: Cuban heritage, American dream - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Reclaim Australia clashes with opposing groups at rallies around the country over extremism and tolerance

 

Video: Reclaim Australia clashes with opposing groups at extremism rallies around the country (Photo: AFP) (ABC News)

Photo: Protesters for Reclaim Australia rallied in Sydney despite heavy rain. (AAP: Mick Tsikas)

Related Story: Harmony Day event passes peacefully

Related Story: Reclaim Australia rally 'still on' in Newcastle

Map: Australia

Rallies and counter-rallies have been held around the country, with one man arrested as opposing groups of protesters confronted each other over issues of extremism and tolerance.

The Reclaim Australia group said its rallies on Saturday were a public response to Islamic extremism and a protest against minority groups who want to change the Australian cultural identity.

The group held 16 rallies in capital cities, regional and rural centres, speaking out against sharia law, halal certification and Islamic extremism.

Counter-rallies organised by opposing groups were protesting against Reclaim Australia, which they say is anti-Muslim.

A man at the Reclaim Australia rally in Hobart was arrested and charged with assault after his group clashed with the counter-rally supporting multiculturalism.

Clare Fester, who organised the counter-rally in Sydney, said Reclaim Australia was racist and divisive.

"It's quite clearly an attack on Muslims and Muslim communities in this country," she said.

"It's all about halal food, sharia law, banning the burka.

"[It's] something I think that's been encouraged by mainstream politicians as well, with Abbott attacking Muslim leaders and telling them they need to stamp out extremism that really doesn't exist, certainly not in Australia."

Reclaim Australia's John Oliver said it was wrong to label the group racist.

"We're not against any particular race or any particular religion," he said.

"We're against the extremists of one particular religion.

"I know in Sydney and Melbourne they've got Muslims already signed on to attend because they can see what's happening and they don't like what's happening."

Heavy rain in Sydney did not deter either group, with 500 Reclaim Australia supporters gathering in Martin Place and police having to remove opposition protesters after they stormed the group's stage.

"We have an extreme ideology called Islam which is starting to gain a foothold in our societies," a man known as "the great Australian patriot" told supporters.

Anti-racist rally organiser Mel Gregson said Reclaim Australia was spreading "conspiracy theories", particularly by linking halal products with the Islamic State terrorist group.

"It's basically implicating good Muslim people in the political movements of a tiny minority," she said.

Ms Gregson said the coalition of community organisations, trade unions and left groups had chosen to hold their rally at Federation Square to directly oppose Reclaim Australia's message.

"We're not interested in holding our rally somewhere else and talking to people who already agree that racism is a bad thing — the vast majority of people in Australia agree with us on that," she said.

"What we're trying to say is that this is dangerous to allow hate speech to occur on the streets of Melbourne."

One Nation's Pauline Hanson addressed supporters in Brisbane, while opposition protesters booed and held signs saying "racists and bigots please go back to where you came from".

"My fellow Australians, we have people here today who stand against racism. Thank you for your support, so do I," Ms Hanson said.

"[The] media and some others have targeted this as a racist rally before any Australian has the opportunity to voice their concerns.

"For too long we have suffered trial by media and those with hidden agendas. Let my fellow Australians judge me on what I say, but don't deny me my right to have my say.

"I'm not a racist — criticism is not racism. I am a proud Australian fighting for our democracy, culture, and way of life.

"This rally being held across our nation today was called out of sheer frustration from ordinary Australians who fear for the future of our nation and the mindset of our politicians, who don't appear to be listening."

Photo: There was a significant police presence at the rallies in Brisbane's King George Square. (ABC News: Alison Middleton)

Danny Nalliah from the Rise Up Australia Party addressed the rally in Melbourne and said he was "not against Muslim people, but ... opposed to the teachings of Islam".

"We love the Germans, we oppose the Nazi philosophy. We oppose communist philosophy but we love the Russians and Chinese," he said.

"Likewise, we oppose Islam but we love the Muslim people."

In Tasmania, the Reclaim Australia protesters were outnumbered by opposition groups, with 40 turning out to protest against halal products and Sharia law.

They were met by about 100 people in a counter-rally calling for an end to racism and Islam phobia.

Photo: Police kept a close eye on protests in Hobart's Franklin Square. (ABC News: Linda Hunt)

There were several heated exchanges between groups, including pushing and shoving during the protest.

Likewise there was a heavy police presence in Adelaide as rival groups came face to face outside Parliament House in the city.

Hundreds of protesters rallied at Elder Park, then marched to nearby Parliament House carrying banners against Islam.

Some people were draped in Australian flags and some dressed as tubes of Vegemite.

Police cordoned off a rival group of supporters of multiculturalism, who protested against the Reclaim rally.

Protester John Bolton said his group was opposed to extremism but not Muslims in the wider community.

"What I'm not against is ordinary Australian people who happen to be Muslims who follow their faith, they don't need anybody's permission provided they comply with the Australian civil and criminal law and want to comply with our constitution," he said.

Photo: Police separate protesters from Reclaim Australia and the Socialist Party at opposing rallies in Perth, April 4, 2015. (ABC News: Marcus Alborn)

About 300 people attended the rally at Parliament Place in Perth, including men, women and children.

Some of the men had their faces covered with skull masks or flags.

In their speeches, Reclaim Australia advocates denied several times that they were racist and said they just wanted Australia to be a Christian-based society.

Those at the rally goaded and jeered at a counter protest about one-third the size of the Reclaim rally.

Socialists, unionists and Indigenous people were joined by others who opposed the sentiments of Reclaim Australia.

A heavy police presence kept the two groups separated across the car park.

Photo: Children were among those at the Reclaim Australia rally in Perth. (ABC News: Gian de Poloni)

Reclaim Australia clashes with opposing groups at rallies around the country over extremism and tolerance - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

ISIS Publishes A Map Illustrating Its Five-Year Plan For World Domination

Sean Levinson in Politics Jun 30, 2014

The Sunni militants fighting to take over Iraq issued a statement on Sunday announcing the creation of a new Muslim state spanning over two countries to be known as the Islamic centre of the world.

The statement also declares Abu Baker al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), as “caliph,” or the successor of the Prophet Mohammed. The group, currently fighting with Iraqi troops for control of the city of Tikrit, will now refer to itself as The Islamic State.

The announcement was made on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

It loosely describes the new state as running from northern Syria to the Iraqi province of Diyala, much of which is already under ISIS control.

The spokesman who issued the statement called on Muslims all over the world to pledge allegiance to al-Baghdadi.

It said:

The legality of all emirates, groups, states and organizations becomes null by the expansion of the caliph’s authority and the arrival of its troops to their areas. Listen to your caliph and obey him. Support your state, which grows every day.

The group also published a map outlining a five-year plan to expand their territory all throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. Spain, which was under Muslim rule for 700 years until 1492, is predicted to be under ISIS control by 2020.

The creation of a caliphate has been the goal of several Islamic groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda, but ISIS has come the closest to making it a reality.

“The time has come for those generations that were drowning in oceans of disgrace, being nursed on the milk of humiliation, and being ruled by the vilest of all people, after their long slumber in the darkness of neglect — the time has come for them to rise,” said the statement.

The caliphate will be governed by the same primitive justice that led to al-Qaeda’s disassociation with the group featuring beheadings, crucifixions and regular mass executions.

Anyone who swears loyalty to the caliphate would be declaring that he or she no longer recognizes the borders or laws of any other Muslin countries.

The announcement could spurn unrest from Sunni militants fighting for different political causes as well as al-Qaeda, which has subsequently had its reputation as the leading Islamic militant group destroyed.

Tikrit, the former hometown of fellow Sunni fundamentalist Saddam Hussein, is still technically under ISIS control but Iraqi troops accompanied by tanks and helicopters continue to storm the area.

ISIS also claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a hotel in Lebanon last Wednesday, killing one and injuring at least four.

Iraq has said that its most recent offensives to take back seized territories have been largely coordinated by the U.S. military strategists sent over earlier this month.

H/T: Daily Mail, Photo Courtesy: Twitter

ISIS Publishes A Map Illustrating Its Five-Year Plan For World Domination