UK Riots: Young Yobs Back on Streets Despite David Cameron's Pledge

At Telegraph UK (via Theo Spark).

Prime Minister David Cameron Vows Crackdown on Rioters

Cameron wants to go after street thug anonymity, "Social Media, and Facemasks, Are Targets After British Riots." The full text of the prime minister's speech at BBC, "Riots: David Cameron's Commons statement in full."



Social media's not the problem. And amazingly, some folks are still debating the causes of the rioting, as if sheer hooliganism and evil needed further explanation. More at London's Daily Mail, "Unmask the thugs! Looters will no longer be able to cover up, says PM as he also promises a crackdown on social media AND cash for the rioters' victims."

More Mark Steyn Mania!

At Pundit & Pundette, "After Great Britain."



And at American Glob, "VIDEO: Mark Steyn Explains the UK Riots and More On Hannity."



BONUS: I've meant to post on Melanie Phillips as well, but Blazing Cat Fur beat me to it: "Melanie Phillips on the UK Riots."

London Riots Day 4: Manchester and Midlands on Fire

Criminal unrest continues in Britain as the government struggles to regain control. See Independent UK, "Riots spread north as London cools." And at Daily Mail, "Now it's Manchester and the Midlands' turn as London braces for FOURTH night of rioting." And also Telegraph UK, "London riots spread to Midlands and north-west on fourth night of trouble."

See also Amusing Bunni, "Save Our Streets," Daley Gator, "Would I be wrong to ask just one question concerning the UK riots?," JammieWearingFool, "Heroes of London: 'It Was Like Being in a War'," Right Wing News, "There’s Nothing Wrong With The Government Shooting Looters & Rioters Down Like Dogs In The Street," and Saberpoint, "Massive Rioting in the U.K., Black on White Violence: What's the Solution?"

Also, at New York Times, "Cameron Deploys 10,000 More Officers to Riots," and "London Riots Put Spotlight on Troubled, Unemployed Youths in Britain." (At Memeorandum.)

London Riots Continue for Third Day

Lots of coverage at Telegraph UK, "London riots: breakdown of Monday night's violence," and "London riots: Guerrilla warfare erupts as no one knows where mob will strike next."



And again, stunning coverage at London's Daily Mail, "Britain burns at the hands of the mob as the PM finally flies home: Gangs armed with petrol bombs and poles on THIRD night of riots."



Also at ABC News, "Britain Burning: Riots Rattle London, Spread Across U.K."

U.S. Urges Citizens to Leave Syria Immediately

At Jerusalem Post:

State Department warns that given the "ongoing uncertainty and volatility" American citizens are urged to leave immediately while transportation is still available.

See also New York Times, "Broadcasting Hama Ruins, Syria Says It Has Ended Revolt."

Reactions to Fjordman's Coming Out

Peder Jensen, a.k.a., Fjordman, is covered at New York Times, "Blogger Cited by Norway Killer Comes Forward to Denounce Him."

Folks might want to read Gates of Vienna, "The Forced Resignation of Fjordman."

Also, Andrew Bostom, at Big Peace, "Fjordman, Fairness, And The Brevik Mass Murderer."

Added: At Blazing Cat Fur, "Breaking! Fjordman A Jew...or at least part Jew... or he looks kinda Jew..."

More Than 12 Million Facing Starvation in Somalia

This just makes me sad. Forget politics and political science theory. I wish we could do something.

At Los Angeles Times, "Somalia famine spreads to 3 new regions, U.N. says":

Reporting from Johannesburg, South Africa

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With hunger in the Horn of Africa dramatically worsening, the United Nations on Wednesday added three more regions of Somalia to the list of areas it says are stricken by famine.

More than 12 million people are facing starvation, with children particularly vulnerable. The U.N. last month declared that two regions of Somalia were suffering from famine, and it said Wednesday that the famine was likely to spread across most of Somalia in coming months, as well as parts of Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia.

Somalia is struggling with its worst drought in 60 years, and 3.7 million Somalis are in crisis, mainly in the south — creating Africa's most serious hunger crisis in two decades. Refugee camps in the capital, Mogadishu, are now affected as well, U.N. agencies said.

Shocking images of those suffering have resulted in an increase in aid in the last two weeks, after donors' earlier sluggish response, but violence in the south of the country has limited humanitarian agencies' access.

The U.N. is seeking to raise $1 billion to address the crisis.

I'm researching relief agencies, by the way. I'll make a contribution, but so much gets wasted on overhead and corruption I'm wary. More on that later.

Somalis Starve as Shabab Islamists Bar Escape From Famine

This really bothers me, at NYT, "Somalis Waste Away as Insurgents Block Escape From Famine." The picture here was on the cover of today's hard copy edition.

Readers know I've expressed reservations against humanitarian intervention, especially since Libya really wasn't. But I'm not reflexively opposed to the use of military power to guarantee food shipments. Almost twenty years ago President George H.W. Bush sent U.S. forces to Somalia to protect delivery of humanitarian aid. We all know how that turned out, but we didn't go in right in the first place, didn't have enough men and heavy armor on the ground, and President Bill Clinton got cold feet after we sustained casualties. If we were ever to do something like that again, we'd be best to go in without the U.N. or our NATO allies. Leave it to American forces, who've been engaged in two decades of counterinsurgency warfare since the early 1990s. The experience is cumulative. We could do a better and more effective job of relief today, and frankly, it could do some good. The Horn of Africa is right next to Pakistan and Yemen as the top location of festering Islamist war against the West.

Every morning, emaciated parents with emaciated children stagger into Banadir Hospital, a shell of a building with floors that stink of diesel fuel because that is all the nurses have to fight off the flies. Babies are dying because of the lack of equipment and medicine. Some get hooked up to adult-size intravenous drips — pediatric versions are hard to find — and their compromised bodies cannot handle the volume of fluid.

Most parents do not have money for medicine, so entire families sit on old-fashioned cholera beds, with basketball-size holes cut out of the middle, taking turns going to the bathroom as diarrhea streams out of them.

“This is worse than 1992,” said Dr. Lul Mohamed, Banadir’s head of pediatrics, referring to Somalia’s last famine. “Back then, at least we had some help.”

In any case, more at New York Times, "Off Media Radar, Famine Garners Few Donations," and "How to Help Victims of the East Africa Famine."

Digby's Hullabaloo, Progressive Libel Blogger, Attacks Pamela Geller as Anders Breivik's Muse

That's Big Mama Digby (Heather Parton) at the picture. She's one sick bitch.

Here's the post: "The Murderer's Muse." Digby feigned a retraction by writing:

I was wrong to compare Geller to Tim McVeigh and I apologize for doing it. She has personally committed no violence and can't stand next to him for sheer evil. I do think the genocidal rants on her blog are worthy of condemnation and since she wrote them and featured those of others, she does bear responsibility for them.

Nope. Sorry. That's not gonna cut it. Should've just deleted the post and moved on. The progressives are obviously too stupid to actually read what Pamela wrote. See, "SUMMER CAMP? ANTISEMITIC INDOCTRINATION TRAINING CENTER." Following the links takes us to The Anti-Mullah, "ANOTHER LOOK AT THE NORWAY LABOR PARTY PALESTINIAN AFFILIATION."

I saw photos of the Labor Youth camp's "Boikott Israel" banners within hours of the shooting. Norway's Labor Party is a classic new-left Israel-bashing organization. See, "Norwegian campsite Utoya was socialist and anti-Israel." I personally ignored this angle because the killings went beyond normal political differences, and I thought it better to simply highlight what I could about the psychology of Anders Breivik. It bears repeating that Breivik is a deranged criminal acting outside the normal bounds of reason. No movement or ideology can possibly be blamed for the actions of this sick loser. He's insane. But progressives continue to exploit the dead for their cheap attacks on conservatives and counter-jihad. Folks should see over at Pamaela's now. She's documented the campaign of death against her, including an endless stream of vicious email invective that might as well been sent by the Antichrist himself. See, "EVIL UNLEASHED":

"We are witnesssing the complete breakdown of rational society."

Melanie Phillips has made the same point repeatedly, calling the attacks on her as the latest in the left's totalitarian inquisition:

They [progressives] are in the same mould as the religious and political totalitarian tyrannies of the past; they make in this respect common cause with the Islamists whose agenda poses a mortal threat to their own lives and liberties and most cherished beliefs; and they share the characteristic of a closed thought system which is totally impervious to reason and destroys all who challenge it with the monsters of history and Anders Behring Breivik.

That is surely why the left seized upon the Norway atrocity with demented joy and detonated a terrifying eruption of distortion and demonisation, irrationality, hatred and sheer blood-lust as it saw in the ravings of Anders Behring Breivik the mother and father of all smears which it could use to crush those who refuse to surrender to cultural totalitarianism. So those of us who fight for life, liberty and western civilisation against their enemies found ourselves – and by implication, the many millions who share these mainstream views – grotesquely damned as accessories to mass murder by those who actually cheer on religious fascists and genocidal madmen and who are set upon silencing all who resist.

The appalling actions of a Norwegian psychopath tell us next to nothing about our society. But the reaction to that atrocity tells us a great deal more.

Progressives Hell-Bent on Bullying Millions Into Silence

From Melanie Phillips, at London's Daily Mail, "Hatred, smears and the liberals hell-bent on bullying millions of us into silence":

The baleful effects of the recent attacks in Norway, where Anders Breivik bombed Oslo’s government district and then gunned down teenagers at a Labour party camp, murdering at least 77 people, have not been limited to that horrific carnage.

For the atrocity has produced a reaction among people on the political Left in Britain, Europe and the U.S. that is in itself shocking and terrifying.

Former Norwegian prime minister and current chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize committee Thorbjorn Jagland has said that, in response to the violent attacks, David Cameron and other European leaders should use a more ‘cautious’ approach when talking about multiculturalism.

Cameron has said multiculturalism (the doctrine that gives the values of minorities equal status to those of the majority) has failed, and has also talked about ‘Islamist extremism’ as a cause of terrorism.

Jagland, however, said leaders would be ‘playing with fire’ if they continued to use rhetoric that could be exploited by extremists such as Breivik.

This is because Breivik’s so-called manifesto shows that he is violently against mass immigration, multiculturalism and Islamisation — and that he wants the forced repatriation of Muslims from Europe and the murder of all who have promoted multiculturalism.

But to connect such abhorrent ravings with Cameron’s comments is simply grotesque.
First and foremost, this is treating Breivik as if his words deserve to be taken seriously and at face value.

As of now, however, we don’t know whether Breivik is psychotic, a psychopath or under the influence of all the drugs he claims to have taken.

We also don’t know what part, if any, his political views actually played in this atrocity.

After all, since his target was his country’s Labour party one might just as well surmise that he was motivated by hatred of his father, who was a Labour party supporter and who was divorced from Breivik’s mother when the killer was a baby.

In any event, someone who travels to a teenagers’ summer camp and invites them all to gather round so that he can kill them all cannot be considered rational.

Yet the former Norwegian premier is treating Breivik as if he is a political terrorist whose words have the authority of a sane and coherent creed.

Still more at the link.

The Norway Attacks at 'The Big Picture'

An amazing photo-essay, at Boston Globe's, "The Big Picture."

Also, at New York Times, "Norway Displays Unity at Attack Victim’s Funeral."

Michael Coren Interviews Robert Spencer

Via Blazing Cat Fur:

Wall Street Journal Weekend Interview: Theodore Dalrymple, 'Unraveling the Mystery of Murderous Minds'

From Brian Carney's interview:

Some have sought to link Breivik's violence to his political thinking. The New York Times ran a story Monday about Breivik's fondness for certain American anti-Islamist blogs. And a parade of politicians on the European right have felt compelled to step forward and condemn Breivik's killing spree—as if afraid that silence might somehow imply sympathy. Dr. Dalrymple himself, he says, is quoted indirectly "several times" in Breivik's manifesto, "and that," he says, "is slightly anxiety-provoking." In the first place, it's never pleasant to find yourself in the company, however unwillingly or unwittingly, of a man like Breivik.

He has another worry, "that what he's done will be taken as a reason to close down all kinds of debate," or to delegitimize the views of anyone who, as Dr. Dalrymple puts it, "question[s] anything that the current prime minister of Norway says or believes."

Pat Condell: 'Violence Is Not the Answer'

Via Blazing Cat Fur, "Pat Condell on Anders Behring Breivik."

Halden Prison

See this deceptively titled photo-essay at Maggie's Farm, "The Beautiful Halden Luxury Retirement Centre."

Also at NYDN, "Norway massacre suspect Anders Behring Breivik's potential prison digs equipped with fancy luxuries." And here's this from London's Daily Mail in 2010, "World's poshest prison? Cells with en-suite bathrooms and no window bars (plus £1m Banksy-style art)":

Halden opened it's doors officially last month, taking in the first batch of inmates. Prison governor Are Hoidal said there have been no escape attempts.

He said: 'In the Norwegian prison system, there's a focus on human rights and respect.

'We don't see any of this as unusual.

'When they arrive many of them are in bad shape and we want to build them up, give them confidence through education and work and have them leave as better people.'

Halden also features jogging trails in nearby woods and a freestanding two-bedroom house where inmates can host their families during overnight visits.

In Norway only 20 per cent of prisoners end up back in jail after release, compared to between 50 and 60 per cent in the UK.

Sounds so great, although Norwegian society still managed to produce Anders Breivik.

RELATED: At Daily Caller, "Police: Alleged Norwegian mass murderer faces just 21 years in Prison." But see The Economist, "Flowers for freedom: As Norwegians mourn their dead, they insist that they will not give up the openness of their society."

Mr Breivik is in police custody, in solitary confinement without access to news or the internet for the next eight weeks. Though he has confessed to the killings, he denies he committed a crime. He will probably be charged under a recent terrorism provision in the criminal code that allows a 30-year prison sentence. There are other provisions that could keep him locked up for the rest of his life. The Norwegian police have yet to answer conclusively the vital question of whether he acted alone or with accomplices.

A facet of Norwegian openness—its tolerance of diversity—was one of the things that fuelled Mr Breivik’s mass slaughter. The Labour Party, the dominant force in Norwegian politics for decades, came into his cross-hairs because of its staunch defence of both diversity and tolerance. AUF, the party youth wing that organised the camp on Utoya island, was a doubly attractive target in his twisted ideology: it is fervently anti-racist and many members come from Norway’s ethnic minorities.

New York Times Reader Kills Dozens in Norway

A classic piece from Ann Coulter, at FrontPage Magazine.

And speaking of New York Times, see Timothy Egan's desperation, "A Madman and His Manifesto."

RELATED: Anders Breivik is explained — indeed, he's all boxed up and ready to go — at Los Angeles Times, "Norway attacks: The Breivik-McVeigh connection," by Andrew Gumbel.

Norway Killings Shift Immigrant Debate in Europe

At New York Times, "Shift in Europe Seen in Debate on Immigrants":

BERLIN — Less than a week after the mass killings in Norway, evidence of a shift in the debate over Islam and the radical right in Europe already appeared to be taking hold on a traumatized Continent.

As the police in Norway and abroad continued to search for potential accomplices, expressions of outrage over the deaths crossed the political spectrum. Members of far-right parties in Sweden and Italy were condemned from within their own ranks for blaming multiculturalism for the attack. A member of France’s far-right National Front was suspended for praising the attacker.

Lurking in the background is the calculation on all sides that such tragedies can drive shifts in public opinion. Nonviolent political parties can hardly be blamed for the violent actions of a terrorist or a homicidal person. But politicians have begun to question inflammatory speech in the debate over immigrants, which has helped fuel the rise of right-leaning politicians across Europe in recent years.

More at the link above.

I'm kinda shocked to see right parties endorsing the killings, or at least defending Breivik. What he did is indefensible. More at the Right Perspective, "European Far Right Cautiously Stands With Brievik."

And at Telegraph UK, "National Front member suspended for defending Anders Behring Breivik."

Norway Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg: 'We Will Not Be Intimidated'

At BBC, "Norway will stand firm, says PM Jens Stoltenber."

Also, at The Independent UK, "Norway to form independent commission to probe attacks":

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg vowed today that Norway will fight back against the twin terror attacks with "more democracy" and said an independent commission is being formed to investigate the massacre and to help survivors and relatives.

Norwegians will defend themselves by showing they are not afraid of violence and by participating more broadly in politics, he told reporters.

"It's absolutely possible to have an open, democratic, inclusive society, and at the same time have security measures and not be naive," he said.

Stoltenberg underlined his commitment to openness, defending freedom of thought even if includes extremist views such as those held by the 32-year-old Norwegian who confessed to Friday's bomb blast at government headquarters and to the shooting massacre at a Labor Party youth camp hours later. At least 76 people were killed.

"We have to be very clear to distinguish between extreme views, opinions — that's completely legal, legitimate to have. What is not legitimate is to try to implement those extreme views by using violence," he said.

"I think what we have seen is that there is going to be one Norway before and one Norway after July 22," he said. "But I hope and also believe that the Norway we will see after will be more open, a more tolerant society than what we had before."

He later announced the independent commission, saying "it is important to be able to clear up all questions about the attack in order to learn from what happened."

Lawrence Summers on the Euro Crisis

At Der Spiegel, "'It Was Always Understood the European System Would Evolve'":

SPIEGEL: It seems a currency union across borders without a fiscal union cannot work. Do we have to steer toward a United States of Europe in order for the euro to survive?

Summers: No. Surely, the common currency has been insufficiently supported by common political approaches. But we will learn over time from the European experience what elements have to be common in order to make the system work.

SPIEGEL: Has the response of European leaders to the crisis so far been too dogmatic and bureaucratic?

Summers: There is no politician who will ignore the laws of physics when building a bridge. But there is a tendency in politics in every country to suppose that the laws of economics are flexible and can be adjusted to political necessity. At some points this belief has led to a lack of focus on economic realities in Europe.

SPIEGEL: Can you cite an example?

Summers: In retrospect, it is clear that a currency union requires more attention to the fiscal policies of the member countries than was provided. More central capacities to address issues in the financial system are required. But it was always understood that the European system would evolve through events and that is what is happening right now.

SPIEGEL: Many European observers are particularly disappointed with the euro crisis management of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She was dubbed "Madame Non" because she refused bailouts for a long time before finally relenting. On the other hand, she was under considerable pressure at home because Germans largely oppose the bailouts. Is there a way out of that dilemma?

Summers: The art of economic policy making is reconciling the political and the technical or arithmetic imperatives. You cannot move forward in democratic nations without sufficient political support, and all the political support in the world will not repeal the laws of economic arithmetic. But we ask our political leaders not simply to take the preferences of their citizenry as a given, but to help guide those preferences in response to necessity.

Keep reading. Summers discusses the debt ceiling debate in the U.S., and suggests it's mostly politics (default would be surprising) and taxes are too low. Of course, he was until recently a top economic adviser to President Obama. And according to Elizabeth Drew's recent piece at New York Review, folks like Summers bailed because Obama adopted a too conservative approach on deficits. Figures.