This morning's key headlines from
GenerationalDynamics.com:
- Protesters attack U.S. Embassy in Cairo Egypt
- U.S. consulate employee killed in attack on Libya embassy
- Catalonia demands independence from Spain
- Germany's Constitutional Court to rule on legality of bailouts
- Greece to determine WW II reparations from Germany for Nazi war crimes
Protesters attack U.S. Embassy in Cairo Egypt
About 2000 Salafi protesters, chanting "There is no god but Allah,"
protested in front of the United States embassy in Cairo, Egypt.
Several dozen of the protesters climbed over the walls of the embassy
and tore down a large American flag, replacing it with a black flag on
which it was written: "There's no God but God and Muhammad is the
prophet of God." What triggered the protests was an American made
film, "Muhammad's Trial," posted on YouTube in July, that portrays
Muhammad as a womanizer, pedophile and fraud. The controversial film
is reportedly being produced by US-based expatriate Coptic-Christian
Egyptians, including Esmat Zaklama and Morees Sadek, with the support
of the Terry Jones Church in the United States. Al-Ahram (Cairo) and The Daily News Egypt
U.S. consulate employee killed in attack on Libya embassy
An armed angry mob attacked and set fire to the U.S. Consulate in
Benghazi, Libya, killing a consulate employee. The Benghazi attack
followed the Cairo attack by several hours, and protestors claimed it
was in response to the same film. Since the film has been available
on YouTube for several weeks, there is speculation that both protests
were organized by the same Salafist group. The situation is
reminiscent of the "Danish cartoons" that depicted Muhammad. ( "Cartoon controversy explodes into worldwide confrontations between Muslims and Westerners") The
cartoons were published in September, 2005, but nothing happened until
January, 2006, when uncontrolled mobs in Syria and Lebanon attacked
the Danish and Norwegian embassies. Al-Jazeera
Catalonia demands independence from Spain
As Spain becomes more and more deeply mired in the euro crisis, the
Catalonia region is adding to Spain's problems by demanding
independence. In particular, Catalonia wants to collect its own taxes
and pay its own expenses. Catalonia has already requested a 5 billion
euros bailout from Spain, but says that Catalonians pay 20 billion
euros each year in taxes to Madrid, and so they should be able to get
the 5 billion euros for free. Catalonia was one of the biggest
benefactors of Spain's huge real estate bubble, and the region used
the money from the bubble to go into further debt to pay for expensive
new projects that it now can't afford. Irish Times
Germany's Constitutional Court to rule on legality of bailouts
By the time that you read this on Wednesday morning, Germany's
Verfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court) will probably have
ruled on an issue that has caused European politicians to hold their
breaths for weeks: Is the European bailout found (European Stability
Mechanism or ESM) legal under German constitutional law? A "NO"
ruling would send the markets into chaos, so it's thought unlikely
that the court will make that ruling. However, many analysts expect a
"YES" with restrictions: The ESM is OK so far, but if Europeans want
to expand it, then doing so will require a vote of the Bundestag
(Parliament), and passage there would be very seriously in
doubt. Deutsche Welle
Greece to determine WW II reparations from Germany for Nazi war crimes
Greece's finance ministry has set up a "working group" to scour
historical archives and determine how much Germany might own to Greece
in outstanding reparations for Nazi war crimes during World War II.
It's estimated that the total will come to $7.5 million, a small
fraction of the money that Germany and the rest of Europe are spending
to bail Greece out. Greek Reporter/AFP
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