Month: April 2025

Thousands of people gathered in Paris on Sunday to protest the court decision effectively banning National Rally leader Marine Le Pen from running in the 2027 presidential election, in which she is the undisputed frontrunner.

An estimated ten thousand people descended upon the Place Vauban square outside the Hôtel des Invalides complex in Paris, notable for being the location of the tomb of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, to show their support for National Rally leader Marine Le Pen after a court banned her from standing in elections for five years over alleged embezzlement of EU funds, a ruling which she has appealed.

Ahead of the demonstration, Mrs Le Pen vowed that protests against the election ban would be a “peaceful” and “democratic fight” that would be inspired by the peaceful civil disobedience of figures like Martin Luther King Jr. in the United States.

Addressing the crowd at the Place Vauban, Le Pen said, per Le Figaro, “Everyone, be reassured: I won’t give up.”

🔵 L'amour de la démocratie, des Français et de la France est au cœur de notre engagement !

Merci d'être aussi nombreux cet après-midi place Vauban pour apporter votre soutien à Marine ! 🙏🏼#SauvonsLaDémocratie – #JeSoutiensMarine pic.twitter.com/YvUaS0TvIK

— Rassemblement National (@RNational_off) April 6, 2025

She denounced “the perverse game” of the “persecution of opponents, criminalisation of opponents, the desire to ruin opposition parties with a single objective: to keep power while leading the country to chaos.”

“Our fight is also a fight for civil rights. Because there are clearly several categories of citizens [in France],” Le Pen said.

“To do this, we intend to invite all freedom-loving French people to engage alongside us in peaceful, democratic, popular and patriotic resistance,” she said.

Le Pen argued that the ruling against her, which has been criticised on both the left and right, represented interference in the democratic process by the judicial branch, saying: “We do not contest justice, but demand that these deviations unworthy of democracy stop. I say it again and again: we are the most fervent about democracy and the rule of law.”

The president of the National Rally and expected successor to Le Pen, Jordan Bardella, told those gathered: “They wanted to turn off a voice, but they woke up the people of France.”

“We have the imperative responsibility to never back down,” the MEP said. “Because we embody this proud, rooted France, determined to reconquer its sovereignty, defend its identity, and preserve its unity. I tell our adversaries: we are and will be here tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.”

‘Political Death Sentence’ Populist Marine Le Pen Banned From Running in French Presidential Election by Paris Courthttps://t.co/vKLCMcs5OD

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 31, 2025

A counter demonstration of leftists also drew crowds in Paris on Sunday, with some chanting “Marine and the fascists, in the dungeon” and others comparing the National Rally leader to U.S. President Donald Trump. As has become a staple of leftist marches in France in recent years, supporters also waved the Palestinian flag.

The much smaller counter-demonstration at the Place de la République suffered significant setbacks before taking off. Major leftist parties, including the French Communist Party and the Socialist Party, refused to participate in the protest.

However, they were joined by Manuel Bompard, the National Coordinator of the far-left La France Insoumise (France Unbowed/LFI) party. Bompard accused the National Rally of being “dangerous for democracy” by organising a demonstration in support of Mrs Le Pen.

“The far right is a dangerous party, dangerous for democracy and dangerous for the rule of law. It is a violent party which threatens judges even when the decisions taken by the courts do not suit them,” he claimed.

Bompard also called for leftists to take to the streets en masse on May 1st, also known as May Day, an ancient holiday that has been co-opted by communists and frequently sees violent demonstrations and riots across France.

Trump Demands Freedom for Marine Le Pen and an End to Leftist ‘Witch Hunts’ https://t.co/g474FrlHC8

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) April 5, 2025

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2025/04/06/i-wont-give-up-le-pen-vows-as-thousands-rally-in-paris-against-election-ban

There are no more restrictions in the “fight against the right”: now those who speak out against paedophilia are defamed as “right-wing extremists”. You really can’t make this up any more. So the logical conclusion is: paedophilia is naturally left-wing?

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), around 1 in 5 women and 1 in 13 men worldwide have experienced sexual abuse before the age of 18, a significant proportion of which can be attributed to paedophile perpetrators. It is estimated that millions of children are affected by paedophile acts every year, with UNICEF documenting over 120 million cases of sexual violence for girls under the age of 20 alone, many of which are linked to paedophilia.

Since the state is not in a position to take effective action against paedophile crime, a practice known as ‘pedo-hunting’ has become established. This involves people deliberately trying to track down, expose or confront suspected paedophiles. They often use social media or dating platforms, for example by posing as minors with fake profiles, to make contact with paedophiles. As soon as suspicious behaviour is detected – such as offensive messages – this is documented and tracked. This method was originally developed by citizens’ initiatives that wanted to prevent child abuse, for example by groups such as “Creep Catchers” in Canada or similar groups in the UK, where child abuse on a gigantic scale, committed by migrants, was covered up by the state for years.

The legitimate and urgently needed fight against paedophilia is now being used in the ‘fight against the political right’ and framed as a ‘new hobby of right-wing extremists’. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is obviously currently playing this perfidious game. It sees a new ‘trend among right-wing extremists’. “They are increasingly focusing on the topic of paedophiles as a form of action.

The public broadcaster news programme Tagesschau reports on this. It reinterprets the topic of “paedo-hunting” as an alleged tool of “right-wing propaganda”, both in an uncritical and false way.

The real danger posed by paedophiles is skilfully neglected in order to construct an alleged political instrumentalisation of the ‘right’. The spin goes like this: The Office for the Protection of the Constitution observes that right-wing extremists also attract non-political, violent young people with such actions by building up paedophilia as an enemy image. For example, the State Office of Criminal Investigation in Schleswig-Holstein investigated a group that used social media to establish contacts in order to attack people who they accused of having paedophile tendencies – including queer people who were falsely placed in this context.

Instead of clearly stating the seriousness of paedophilia and differentiating it from the actions of some extremists, the impression is skilfully created that the issue only appears relevant at all due to right-wing agitation. This framing plays down the actual threat of child abuse and presents it as a mere projection surface for radicals. The Tagesschau programme’s avoidable reporting implies that the publicity is primarily due to right-wing hysteria. The logical conclusion is: paedophilia is therefore naturally left-wing – thanks to Tagesschau!

What remains completely unmentioned, however, is that there are currently maximum efforts to protect these offender groups by the state. The plan to enshrine the protection of ‘sexual identity’ in the Basic Law has been intensified, particularly under the coalition government. This logically includes sexual abnormalities such as paedophiles or zoophiles. In Schleswig-Holstein, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Minister President Daniel Günther is fighting for precisely this and is actively pushing for constitutional reform. Together with the Greens, the CDU state government is calling for ‘sexual identity’ to be included in the constitution. The opposition parties FDP, SPD and SSW also support similar motions.

https://journalistenwatch.com/2025/04/06/es-wird-immer-irrer-pedo-hunting-ist-angeblich-neue-strategie-von-rechts/

A nurse has been suspended by NHS bosses after she called a transgender paedophile “Mister” – despite the patient in question calling her a “n****r” three times.

Jennifer Melle, 40, was fired after a four-minute-long meeting with her manager at St Helier Hospital in Carshalton, Surrey following the incident with the sex offender – known as Patient X.

When the nurse called the paedophile “he” instead of “she”, Patient X lunged at the woman in a furious fit of rage.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said that the treatment of Melle was “completely crazy”.

Badenoch added: “She has my full support. It’s time the Government pulls its finger out and intervenes to make it clear no one should be punished at work for stating biological reality to paedophiles.”

Melle, from Croydon in South London, has since been informed that she will be investigated over a “potential breach” of personal patient information.

She told The Mail on Sunday: “I am devastated to have been suspended just for whistleblowing. Despite being the one placed at risk, I am the one being punished.

“The message I have received is clear: I am expected to tolerate racism, deny biological reality and suppress my deeply held Christian beliefs.”

The shocking ordeal played out during a night shift when Melle was informed that Patient X wanted to be discharged.

While speaking with the doctor, Melle referred to the paedophile as “Mister” and “he” as she was discussing a catheter, which is designed for a male patient.

When she returned to Patient X, the sex offender complained, to which Melle responded: “Sorry, I cannot refer to you as “her” or “she” as it’s against my faith.”

The convict said: “Imagine if I called you n****r? How about I call you n****r? Yes, black n****r.”

Speaking about the horrific incident, Melle said: “It was terrifying. I’d never been called that word. I thought I was going to be attacked.”

She has since been hit with a final warning, accompanied with a referral to the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Among those who have supported Melle is chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre Andrea Williams, who dubbed the incident “blatant, unlawful victimisation”.

Williams said: “Jennifer’s decision to speak out about her treatment is a legally protected act under the Equality Act.

“The NHS has become so entrenched in transgender ideology that it is willing to side with a man brought in from prison in chains – who was shouting racist abuse – over a Christian nurse. We call on Health Secretary Wes Streeting to intervene.”

A spokesman for Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust said: “We expect all members of staff to follow professional standards – this includes maintaining confidentiality for any patients in their care at all times.”

https://www.gbnews.com/news/trans-row-lgbt-news-south-east-surrey-hospital-nurse-suspended

Dr. David Starkey delivers the keynote lecture at our New Culture Forum Locals Conference held in Salisbury: “A Celebration of England: Magna Carta and the Making of the English” – Salisbury 29.3.25.

By Shari Goodman

Our Judeo/Christian civilization is unravelling before our very eyes and if we don’t dramatically change course we will be regressing to a pre-enlightenment dark period in world history. 

Beginning in the early ’90s, multiculturalism was introduced and touted as superior to what were once homogeneous populations that promoted e pluribus unum (from many one). 

Instead of advancing American patriotism and American exceptionalism, the global left here at home and across Western Europe adopted the U.N.’s agenda of transplanting millions of third world migrants from Africa and the Islamic Middle East into first world cities of Western Europe and North America.  The result has been a disaster for native Americans and Europeans.

As we look across the pond, the U.K. under the leadership of Labour Prime Minister Keith Starmer is no longer free nor safe.  There have been thousands of British girls and women raped by the influx of Muslim men who view non-Muslim woman as chattel to be used as sex slaves under the guise of sanctioned Quranic doctrine. 

We read with increasing frequency and see the reports of many young girls, women, boys, and young males knifed to death or injured by migrant Islamic gangs, a crime almost unheard of before the influx of third world migrants. 

To make matters worse, any criticism of Islam or migrants on social media will land one in prison.  The justice minister of the U.K. is a hijab-clad Muslim as are many of the mayors of major cities in the U.K., and it appears that Islamic blasphemy laws are now openly enforced. 

Churches are being converted to mosques and the call to prayer as morning dawns is now a common sound streaming from the hundreds of mosques now plaguing the U.K.  

Ireland too is not far behind with many African and Muslim migrants transplanted into small Irish villages; thus, transforming the rich quaint culture of Ireland into unrecognizable uninhabitable third world outposts with third-world values. 

Germany under Angela Merkel transplanted millions of these migrants into German cities, and although the Germans have seen their societies and culture transformed before their eyes (the traditional Christmas marketplace has been seemingly erased so as not to offend Muslim sensibilities), the native population appears too afraid and powerless to stop the transformation. 

Nearby France has the largest Muslim population of any nation in Europe with many no-go zones where non-Muslims are not allowed to enter. 

Many neighborhoods in Paris resemble third world enclaves, streets littered with dirt and trash and where there is no respect for local law enforcement.  The once-clean streets of Paris laden with cafes, beautiful parks, and haughty couture are long gone.  What we have today is women clad in black burkas with only their eyes visible, graffiti marked old buildings belying their once beautiful old architecture and remnants of Europe’s bygone era.

Here in the United States, the influx of Muslims from the Middle East and North Africa increased exponentially after 9/11. 

In the aftermath of the largest Islamic terrorist attack by Muslims on American soil there should have been a halt to Islamic immigration, but instead the gates were flung wide open. 

Today, we have millions of Muslims and thousands of mosques throughout the land, and the proposed implementation of Sharia law governed Islamic cities constructed only for Muslim inhabitants is under consideration in Texas. 

Billions have been spent by foreign Islamic states to fund our universities to gain influence; to shape and control public opinion while undermining our love of country and American culture. 

American Jews whose history on our shores goes back to America’s founding were once safe and secure, but now find themselves verbally and physically attacked on American streets and campuses for being Jews. 

Anti-Semitism has increased exponentially since Oct. 7 and much of it is a result of Jew-hatred ingrained in Quranic doctrine. 

Instead of leaving their Jew-hatred behind, they brought their hate with them to the West. 

Our American campuses and streets are filled with young Americans openly calling for the genocide of all Jews, proclaiming their admiration for Hitler, and the call to complete Hitler’s Final Solution.

Additionally, the Islamic/communist alliance has brought forth a lack of civility unlike seen in American history where the rule of civil engagement is no longer respected and often disregarded in the media, television, schools, and even in our halls of Congress where profanity and the use of mob rule is encouraged as a means to an end. 

When we have Democrat elected legislators (Maxine Waters, Chuck Schumer, Jamie Crockett) encouraging Americans to take to the streets, it should be no surprise when people resort to violence (the attacks on Tesla cars, dealerships, and Tesla owners) to obtain what they couldn’t obtain at the ballot box.  
    
Today we have a militant trans movement and Obama’s domestic shock troops (antifa and BLM) to stir unrest and destabilize what were once peaceful neighborhoods.  They threaten and intimidate those with whom they disagree.  We are now living in a period of disarray where violence, profanity, recreational drug use, homelessness, gender confusion, lack of standards, and incivility have become the norm. 

The unravelling of our civilization can be attributed to the deliberate attempt by foreign enemies and a compliant willful global oligarchy to erase our Judeo/Christian foundation in their quest to destroy Western Civilization and to transplant it with a new form of feudalism controlled by a communist/Islamic one-world order.  

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/04/the_unravelling_of_our_western_judeo_christian_civilization.html

After the rather disappointing results in the latest elections in Germany that saw Friedrich Merz and his CDU Globalist ‘conservatives’ as the most-voted party, there are increasing signs that the German people isn’t letting up,

After Merz betrayed his voters and sought a coalition with the very same horrible parties (SPD and Greens) that led the failed and unpopular Olaf Scholz government we learned that Poll Shows 73% of German Voters ‘Feel Deceived’ by Incoming Chancellor Merz’s Spending Spree Plans – Right-Wing AFD Party Keeps Rising and It’s Within 4 Points of ‘Conservative’ CDU.

As the coalition talks extend, we observe a rapid crumbling of CDU’s poll numbers, with a simultaneous rise in preference for the right.

So now, for the first time, the INSA Sunday trend commissioned by the German tabloid BILD shows the AfD tied with the CDU/CSU Union in a major survey.

Alice Weidel’s party is now the strongest political force in Germany, with 24 percent preference, same level as CDU/CSU.

BILD reported (translated from the German):

“The jubilation and euphoria in the ranks of the AfD are correspondingly great! Early in the morning shortly after 8 a.m., co-party leader spoke out on social media and wrote on X (formerly: Twitter): ‘We have caught up with the CDU/CSU. Thanks to everyone!’. Alice Weidel”

We’ve come to the point where, as BILD states, ‘the nightmare of many Union politicians has come true’: they haven’t even formed their coalition yet, and are already collapsing in the polls – all while the right-wing ‘bogeyman’ AfD surges.

“In a letter published shortly afterwards by the AfD parliamentary group, Weidel goes even further. Her analysis of the survey: “The citizens do not want another left-wing government in which CDU/CSU the policy of SPD and Green dictate.” The party leader triumphs: “There is no way around the AfD!”

“Markus Frohnmaier (34), vice chairman of the parliamentary group and Weidel confidant, sees it similarly, he told BILD: ‘Friedrich Merz has brazenly fooled the citizens with the debt brake and in migration policy – now this deception is blowing up in his face’.

Frohnmaier sees the AfD already on the way to becoming the new, sole number one in Germany: ‘This is not a snapshot, this is the beginning of a turnaround. In the next few weeks, we will leave the Union behind us’.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/04/german-poll-shocker-alice-weidels-right-wing-afd/

The Left has a long, storied tradition of staring reality squarely in the face and refusing to believe their lying eyes. And nowhere is this more evident than the Left’s defence of multiculturalism—a project so disastrous that even its architects have admitted it to be dead. Yet here we are, in 2025, watching senior Labour politicians prancing around the corpse of cultural diversity, insisting it’s still got a pulse. 

While the fabled benefits of multiculturalism are yet to materialise, its ill effects are now undeniable. In Britain, despite an impressive majority of 174 seats in last year’s general election, the Labour Party’s diversity chickens have finally come home to roost. First we were treated to the shameful spectacle of Angela Rayner, begging male Muslim voters (naturally, there were no women in sight) not to oust her from her Ashton-under-Lyne seat; promising that if Labour got into power it would ‘recognise Palestine.’ The clip is a painful, but necessary watch—more reminiscent of a hostage video than a party political broadcast: 

Next up was the soi-disant feminist firebird of Birmingham Yardley, Jess Phillips. Last July, Phillips clung to her seat by a wafer-thin 693 votes—hardly a mandate to write home about. During her victory speech she was heckled by a mob of pro-Palestine activists, notably predominantly Muslim men, who chanted “Free Palestine” and “Shame on you.” When asked about the abuse, however, Phillips pooh-poohed the suggestion that the abuse was sectarian, as “too simple” an explanation: 

People want desperately for me to announce that the people shouting at me and barracking me were Muslim men. 

The fact that they were men is quite significant to me—the fact that they were Muslim is not significant because there are Muslim people in my constituency who didn’t behave like this.

These people were idiots. They didn’t do it because they were Muslim—they did it because they were idiots, and they wanted something for themselves, and they used a terrible tragedy to get that.

There you have it—no reason not to berate ‘the patriarchy,’ but the Muslim element had absolutely nothing to do with it. The fact that her constituency is almost 43% Muslim clearly doesn’t faze Jess, especially when being ‘pro-Gaza’ apparently gets you better treatment on the NHS. 

Last week, it was the turn of former Leicester South MP, Johnathan Ashworth, who was tipped for a cushy cabinet post under Keir Starmer before shockingly losing his seat to relative unknown Shockat Adam, a pro-Gaza independent who rode a wave of Muslim votes to victory. Interviewed in The Telegraph, Mr Ashworth claimed that multiculturalism hasn’t failed, and rejected the notion that the loss of his seat ought to give him pause for thought:  

In my case, in my seat, there was a huge, huge, huge strength of feeling about the issue of Gaza, which I understand. People felt that somehow, if I had voted for an SNP rebel amendment, that would have delivered a ceasefire.

Of course it wouldn’t, and the campaigners who said so were obviously being dishonest. But that’s the rough and tumble of politics. I don’t think it’s a failure of multiculturalism, not at all.

‘The rough and tumble of politics’ John-boy?! You were chased out of your own patch by a baying mob screaming “Genocide John”, and were forced to take refuge in the local vicarage! 

Here’s what Ashworth said at the time, although of course (like Phillips) he failed to make the multicultural connection to the extremism: 

I have never known a campaign of such vitriol, such bullying, such intimidation built on the foul and obnoxious lie that I was responsible for genocide. That I had the blood of Gazan children on my hands.

This is the campaign that was run by a minority of bullies, and loud mouths. This is not representative of the many, many Muslim constituents I was proud to represent. This is not Muslim values. 

Here’s the rub: data  screams that he’s wrong. According to a 2024 poll commissioned by the Henry Jackson Society, 46% of UK Muslims support Hamas, and the majority does not believe the terrorist group committed murder and rape on October 7. Also 46% of Muslim respondents said they believe that Jews have too much influence, in comparison to 16% of the general public. 

It’s hardly a shock that White Brits are now minorities in the nation’s largest cities, but if the multicultural hymn sheet had any validity this wouldn’t matter, thanks to the high levels of integration observed by Britain’s latest influx. The promised integration is a myth however: almost a million migrants can barely speak English. 

Even the former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Trevor Phillips, admitted a decade ago that Muslim integration is not going to happen: “Continuously pretending that a group is somehow eventually going to become like the rest of us is perhaps the deepest form of disrespect.” 

‘Diversity is our strength’ is now a busted flush, and even its most die-hard advocates look a little embarrassed when parroting the line. 

Which begs the question, what precisely are Ashworth and his ilk playing at? Are the Left genuinely so deluded they cannot see the reality in front of them, or is this myopia a mere cynical ploy to cling to office if not to power? Special cases aside, I generally credit the opposition with more intelligence than they choose to advertise in their shop window—and we’d better hope that’s the case—because if Starmer et al are truly as blind as they seem to be, then Britain on its current trajectory is finished. 

The likely (and egregious) explanation is that Ashworth and co. know the score full well, and are simply too wedded to the votes mass immigration generates to come clean. In his interview with The Telegraph, Ashworth simultaneously claimed multiculturalism in Britain is not failing, and at the same time (no longer an MP) clearly felt confident enough to reveal that he has urged the Prime Minister to consider immigration caps for certain sectors of the economy, in order to curb numbers. 

Unimpressed by the likes of Angela Merkel, David Cameron and Nicholas Sarkozy, all of whom admitted 15 years ago that multiculturalism was an abject failure, Starmer’s government may dodge the post-mortem for now. Rayner can beg for votes all she likes, Phillips can blame ‘idiots’ rather than Muslims, and Ashworth may feel secure heading up the Labour Together think tank, but the reality of multiculturalism will catch up with them one way or another. Most likely they will only lose their seats, unlike the rest of us who are losing our country. 

https://europeanconservative.com/articles/commentary/labours-muslim-problem-blindness-or-self-deception/

A majority of Germans have said they were in favour of a return to nuclear power, two years after the last of its 17 nuclear power plants was switched off.

Comparison website Verivox revealed the numbers on April 4 after what it said was a representative survey conducted by pollster Innofact in March 2025.

According to the survey, 55 per cent of Germans wanted the country to start producing nuclear power again while 36 per cent rejected the proposition. Nine per cent of the 1,007 respondents were undecided.

Of the supporters of nuclear power, 40 per cent would simply like to see the retired nuclear power plants back online while 60 per cent were in favour of building additional power stations.

Support for nuclear power was stronger among men (62 per cent) than women (47 per cent). Regionally, a pro-nuclear mindset was more prevalent in eastern and southern Germany (around 60 per cent in favour) than in western and northern Germany (about 50 per cent).

The survey results underscored that most Germans appeared ready for a return to nuclear power.

Recently, there have also been tentative signs that a growing movement within the Conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, set to lead the incoming government, was in favour of turning some nuclear power stations back on – as evidenced by a recent internal CDU working paper.

The CDU under leader Friedrich Merz has not taken a clear position in favour of nuclear yet – and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) as potential governing coalition partners has voiced its clear opposition.

In the ongoing negotiations, the two parties could not agree on evaluating whether a return to nuclear was technically and economically feasible.

Companies from the nuclear energy sector have recently stated that six nuclear power plants could be turned back on by 2030 – provided there was political will to do so.

The first decision to abandon nuclear power was taken in 2000 under a coalition government of the SPD and the Greens, under then-chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD).

The first two power plants were switched off in 2003 and 2005 , respectively, with the rest set to be decommissioned by 2020.

In 2010, under then-chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), the timeframe for the exit from nuclear power was greatly extended up to 2034.

After a huge tsunami hit the Japanese nuclear power station at Fukushima in 2011, Merkel completely turned around her nuclear policy and instated a nuclear safety commission and an ethics commission to determine the future of the country’s power supply.

While the safety commission found no faults in keeping the nuclear plants running, the ethics commission recommended to shut down all plants by the end of the decade.

That commission comprised 17 people and included politicians, union leaders, church representatives, sociologists and a philosopher – but not a single energy expert.

Merkel followed the advice of the ethics commission. In June 2011, the German Bundestag, or parliament, voted with an overwhelming 85 per cent majority to shut down all nuclear power plants by 2022.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 drove up energy prices in Europe, Germany decided to extend the runtime for some power plants by up to year.

Despite protests from energy experts, the last three German nuclear reactors were switched off on April 15, 2023.

As a consequence of abandoning reliable nuclear power in favour of renewable energy production, Germans now pay the highest prices for electricity in Europe.

https://brusselssignal.eu/2025/04/majority-of-germans-want-return-to-nuclear-power-survey-says

by Giulio Meotti

“Wanted: New Soldiers for Europe’s Shrinking Armies,” headlines the Financial Times.

The German government is worried: its army is small and decrepit. In Germany, the average age in 1990 was 36. Today it is 44, an increase of eight years in the space of a single generation. If the trend continues, in two generations more than half of Germans will be over 60. And today Germany must convince “Generation Z” to take the army seriously (judging by the levels of sympathy for Hamas, that will be difficult).

Spain has an army of old men: more than 34 percent of non-commissioned officers are aged 50 or older.

The inability of European countries to rebuild solid armies reflects the great taboo that grips the old continent: Europe is the demographic Titanic.

Italy continues to fall in an endless descent. This is from last year:

Births: 370,000

Deaths: 651,000

Immigrants: 435,000

Emigrants: 191,000

The average age of Italians has risen to 46.8 years (a European record), fewer and fewer children are being born (1.18 children per woman, a new negative record since 1861), young people are increasingly fleeing abroad (up 36.5 percent compared to 2023) and families are getting smaller.

Italy is becoming, at best, the tourist hospice of Europe.

Who will we call to close ranks of the army, the grandparents?

This is the same great demographic question that was at the center of the obsessions of the French elites between 1870 and 1940. The French had almost no children left, coffins outnumbered cradles, and the “hereditary enemy” Germany proved more prolific than the devil. The massive losses suffered by France in the First World War prompted Georges Clemenceau, the prime minister known as “the tiger,” to say a phrase that all Western leaders should keep in mind: “Children win wars, not generals.”

Eastern Europe is collapsing.

Poland in 2050 will have 40 percent of its population over 60. You don’t go to war with a population pyramid that looks like a mushroom cloud. You go to the hospice. Let’s take another country under threat, Moldova. Since 1991, the country has lost 1.5 million inhabitants and will lose another 40 percent of its population of just 3.5 million by 2050. Estonia will collapse below 1 million, Latvia is “the disappearing nation” (it lost 8 percent of its population in just one year) and Lithuania is “the fastest shrinking country in the world”.

Just look at the countries in Asia that are part of the Western axis: Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

Japan’s unprecedented aging is having a frightening impact on its military: the number of young people between 18 and 26 – the age for conscription – has been falling since 1994. In 2015, there were 11 million in that age group, a 40 percent drop from 1994.

The same in South Korea, the Wall Street Journal reports: “The declining birth rate has become a challenge for national security, with fewer young people available for military service. That’s why Seoul officials have said the army will be reduced to half a million from the current total of 600,000”. In South Korea, it is the old men who now hold the rifles: “I don’t remember them being this heavy”.

And then Taiwan: “It has long lived with the terrifying prospect of invasion by China, but one of the biggest threats to its security comes from within: the world’s lowest birth rates”, the Telegraph reports. Taiwan now has the lowest birth rate in the world and by 2050 will have just 20 million inhabitants, with the average age from 39 today to 57. It will be so insignificant that China may not even have to invade it. “Analysts estimate that the number of pets – 3 million – has exceeded the number of children under 15. Now on the streets of Taipei, strollers carry more dogs than children.” Taiwan has already decided to recruit residents rejected for their short height into the army.

Demography and geopolitics have always been inseparable. Along with its geographic location and economic power, a country’s population is one of the main factors that determine what military capabilities it can develop.

As Gunnar Heinshon, a professor at the University of Bremen and author of the book “Söhne und Weltmacht” (Sons and World Domination), wrote in the Wall Street Journal, “the percentage of young Europeans in the world, which was 27 percent in 1914, is now lower (9 percent) than it was in 1500 (11 percent). The new clothes of European ‘pacifism’ and its ‘soft power’ hide its naked weakness. In the 16th century, Spain called its young conquistadors Segundones, second-borns, those who did not inherit. Today there are Islamic Segundones.”

We should learn from the only country of European and Western culture that has understood this, and moreover a country completely surrounded by countries that do not recognize its existence: Israel. While European countries will halve in a generation, the Jewish state will double from 9 to 17 million. In addition to the atomic bomb, its army, its identity, its ideology and its courage, Israel has always known that a society lives and resists only thanks to what, in bureaucratic jargon, they call “human resources.” Children.

Israel is experiencing a baby boom even after October 7.

On one side there are the withered clothes of European military and demographic pacifism; on the other Israel, the only affluent society that lives in a permanent war regime and that knows no demographic collapse. Quite an extraordinary paradox to decipher. And a lesson for the Western Titanic.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/406412

A 24-year-old employee of a petrol station in Dogern is said to have attacked a customer with a knife on Wednesday, causing life-threatening injuries. According to the police and public prosecutor’s office, the incident occurred at around 5 pm. The 37-year-old victim was able to escape into his car and flee from the petrol station.
With life-threatening injuries, he was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Waldshut, where his condition is now stable. The suspected attacker was arrested by the police at the scene a short time later.
The public prosecutor’s office in Waldshut-Tiengen intends to obtain a warrant for the arrest of the 24-year-old Afghan national on urgent suspicion of attempted murder in the course of Wednesday.

According to the current state of the investigation, the attacker and the victim are said not to have known each other and there is currently no reliable information on the suspect’s possible motive. The suspect had appeared in the past for possession of narcotics. The investigations by the public prosecutor’s office and the criminal investigation department are ongoing.

https://www.badische-zeitung.de/mitarbeiter-einer-tankstelle-greift-kunden-in-dogern-mit-einem-messer-an