miniZibaldone

From Spiked Review        

Philippine Star  "A borderless war" As of yesterday, 14 people had died in the airport attack and 20 in the Metro train.  The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has claimed responsibility for the worst terrorist attack in the city that hosts the headquarters of the European Union.  The attack is just the latest warning about the borderless war that ISIS is waging, if not directly then through adherents inspired by its gospel of hate.  In the Philippines, security officials have downplayed reports of local extremists pledging to support ISIS. The group is said to be trying to gain a solid foothold in the Philippines. This shouldn’t prove too hard, considering that the country is already home to several of Southeast Asia’s extremist troublemakers: the Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiyah, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and other rogue elements of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front.   [full text] Manila Bu...

From Oasis journal The fate of Schengen and the Endurance of the European Pact The migration crisis put the EU to the test. In order to hold out, the Union must not be perceived as a service provider, but as a dimension of existence of its  citizens and residents Andrea Pin | 21 March 2016 The scenario that seems to be solidifying for some time now in the Mediterranean is disheartening. Hundreds of thousands of people literally adrift at sea; European  states are caught in a dilemma between financial sustainability, social stability and the need to save the human beings presenting themselves at their borders; the  added difficulty of distinguishing the crowds of desperate people leaving countries in the throes of civil war from economic migrants, while seeking to deter  economic migrants from making their way to Europe as every entryway and border have fallen. The European and international regulations distinguish the statuses of  those who reach the...

Philippine Star  "IS at the Door" Despite military denials about the terrorist Islamic State gaining a foothold in Mindanao, IS is seen to have at least inspired the assassination attempt on a Saudi  Arabian cleric and a Saudi diplomat Tuesday night in Zamboanga City. Mindanao is already plagued by several violent groups: the Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiyah, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and, in several areas, the communist New  People’s Army. The leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has promised to continue observing a truce with the government despite the failure of Congress to  pass a law creating the Bangsamoro. But IS can inspire adherents among any of the Islamic groups, including the MILF.   [full text] Sun.Star Cebu  "New Supplemental Budget" CEBU City Mayor Michael Rama is again putting the majority Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) councilors on the defensive after he submitted a proposed supplemental  budget, the first...

ISIS obliterates oldest Christian monastery in Iraq IRBIL, Iraq — The oldest Christian monastery in Iraq has been reduced to a field of rubble, yet another victim of the Islamic State group’s relentless destruction of   ancient cultural sites. For 1,400 years, the compound survived assaults by nature and man, standing as a place of worship recently for US troops. In earlier centuries, generations of monks  tucked candles in the niches and prayed in the cool chapel. The Greek letters chi and rho, representing the first two letters of Christ’s name, were carved near the  entrance. [link] In Wake of Bombings, Jesuit Calls on Indonesian Muslims to Fight Islamic Terrorism Says That Government Must Succeed so Youth Don’t Go Looking for Alternatives Such as ISIS “This attack should serve as an alarm bell for all Indonesians, and above all for Muslims. They need to recognize the danger of terrorism,” said a Jesuit based in the  world’s largest Muslim countr...

Looking at the Middle East with the help of  Oasis Journal [full text] [full text]

Inquirer  on  Imelda Marcos and wealth It was 1975, the fourth year of martial law, and Ferdinand Marcos was at the zenith of his power. All his opponents were in jail, Congress had been padlocked, and media offices were either shuttered or under new management by his cronies. [...]  While belonging to a distinguished clan, her family was not known to be particularly wealthy. Where did all that fabulous new wealth come from? There could only be one logical explanation: The Marcoses were using the Philippine treasury as their private account, and on such a scale that they would. [full text] Sun.Star Cebu   about Duterte, presidential elections, and criminal law DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has declared his candidacy for president in the 2016 elections, although the Commission on Elections (Comelec) still has the final say on that.  [...]  “If I become president, I advise you people to put up several funeral parlor businesses because I am aga...

Looking at the ISIS reality with the help of Oasis Journal [complete text] [complete text]