Tag: Europe

Austrian crackdown on Palestinian NGOs signals slide into tyranny

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Austrian crackdown on Palestinian NGOs signals slide into tyranny

A third explanation seems to relate to the Austrian government’s commitment to US President Donald Trump’s forceful push for the “deal of the century“, which requires the rapid removal of all impediments, including the numerous pro-Palestinian NGOs that operate throughout Europe and the West.

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A favoured turn of phrase is that anyone who expresses support for the rights of Palestinians or works to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian refugees, or provides clothing for Palestinian orphans, must be pro-Hamas and subsequently seen as suspect. Besides violating the basic rights and freedoms of citizens, it is also highly dangerous, as it could potentially be exploited by extremists on all sides.

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For true stability, the scourge of extremism, all forms of extremism, must be overcome. To misdirect the struggle against the likes of Islamic State and far-right neo-Nazis, which all of society is united behind, to another struggle targeting peaceful elements that hold certain political views or carry out humanitarian and charitable work, is to divide society, and to hand an easy victory to extremists and terrorists.

$427 billion lost each year to tax dodging by corporations and the rich: landmark study

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

$427 billion lost each year to tax dodging by corporations and the rich: landmark study

To ensure countries around the world don’t continue to lose hundreds of billions of dollars each year which could go to strengthening their public health, infrastructure, and education systems, the Tax Justice Network said, governments must promptly take three far-reaching actions:

– Introduce an excess profit tax on multinational corporations making excess profits during the pandemic, such as global digital companies, in order to cut through profit shifting abuses.

– Introduce a wealth tax to fund the Covid-19 response and address the long term inequalities the pandemic has exacerbated, with punitive rates for opaquely owned offshore assets and a commitment between governments to eliminate this opacity.

– Establish a UN tax convention to ensure a global and genuinely representative forum to set consistent, multilateral standards for corporate taxation, for the necessary tax cooperation between governments, and to deliver comprehensive, multilateral tax transparency.

What Biden owes the Palestinians

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

What Biden owes the Palestinians

Fortunately, there are promising signs that Biden will take a very different approach from his predecessor. Resolution 2334 passed because U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration, then in its final days, decided not to veto it. The order came from Susan Rice, Obama’s national security adviser at the time, who is now said to be on Biden’s short list for secretary of state.

Of course, Biden himself was vice president in the Obama administration, and in 2014, he told Netanyahu, “I don’t agree with a damn thing you say.” Other projected Biden administration appointees — including incoming chief of staff Ron Klain — all oppose illegal Israeli settlement activity.

As Israel destroys EU projects in Palestine, European foreign policy remains impotent

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

As Israel destroys EU projects in Palestine, European foreign policy remains impotent

Yet, despite the fact that Israel has been on a crash course with the EU for years, Europe remains Israel’s number one trade partner. Worse, Europe is one of Israel’s largest weapons suppliers and also main market for Israel’s own weapons – often touted for being ‘combat-proven’, as in successfully used against Palestinians.