Germany relies on Russia for roughly a third of the gas it uses and, before Western states imposed sanctions on Russia over its role in the Ukraine crisis, Europe's biggest economy exported about 38 billion euros of goods to Russia.

Gibraltar Chronicle | Withdrawal agreement `protects cross-border passage', Lords told
"Lord Callanan, Minister of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union, was responding to a question from the Liberal Democrat peer Lord Jones of Cheltenham, who had asked what arrangements the UK Government would introduce to 'deal with the border' after Brexit."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

In the coming week, the German justice system in Schleswig-Holstein is expected to decide whether to proceed with Puigdemont's extradition. The decision hinges on whether the German legal system recognizes the crime of rebellion as defined under Spanish law.

The German federal government has said it will not interfere in the state court's decision, to avoid any politicization [?] of the affair.
[...]
The marchers in Berlin used banners to call on the German government not to support the Spanish government's "political justice." Independence supporters use the term to describe the Madrid government's attempt to quell their movement through the courts instead of seeking a political resolution.

The public prosecutor's decision rests on the extent to which the charges as laid out under the Spanish Penal Code coincide with crimes publishable under German law. While embezzlement is straightforward, the contested point remains whether the crime of rebellion as defined by Spain is comparable with that of high treason in Germany.

archived
charge: "organizing an illegal referendum on secession" hmm 25 Mar

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Workers at the state rail operator SNCF will start downing tools two days out of every five -- a strategy aimed at limiting lost wages -- but the disruptions are likely to spill over into non-strike days as well.
[...]
Only a slim majority, 51 percent, thought the government "should complete the reform as it has been announced".

- Comparisons with Thatcher -
[...]
"His tactical approach is working. By constantly opening new fronts, he renders opposition to the previous one obsolete," said political expert Philippe Braud.

British scientists cannot prove that the novichok nerve agent used to poison ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter was made in Russia, the military laboratory which tested it has said.

Experts at the Porton Down research laboratory have been unable to establish the chemical's country of origin, the chief executive of the Ministry of Defence facility told Sky News.

While we remain opposed to the monarchy, we were delighted that the leader of Her Majesty's Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn accepted our invitation to join the Jewdas community Seder. Jeremy was a 10/10 guest and provided delicious maror from his allotment.

In 1812 the British Government designated Jewdas to be the sole representative body for British Jews. We fulfill our role of being the voice for Anglo-Jewry by writing funny tweets, holding great parties and passing on the memes which we receive from God, via Geoffrey Cohen.

Sadly our God-given right to be the sole spokespeople for Anglo-Jewry is not respected by many heretical organisations which are known as `The Jewish Establishment'.

One such organisation is the dangerous fringe group which calls itself `The Bored of Deputies'. They continue to insist that their outdated and niche views represent all Jews.

We have been campaigning against antisemitism on the Left and the Right for many years. Like, way before it was popular. We have run anti-antisemitism workshops in such far flung corners as Marseille and Bloomsbury, opposed neo-Nazi demos in Stamford Hill and Golders Green, produced and distributed information on how to criticise Israel WITHOUT being antisemitic, demonstrated against left-antisemite Gilad Atzmon, and most importantly mercilessly took the piss out of Ken Livingstone. You could call us trend setters.

Putin's $19,200 rent-a-mobs: Emails show Russia uses paid thugs and email hackers to sow dissent and chaos abroad - Business Insider

A tranche of emails sent by Kremlin-linked figures were leaked to the Times newspaper on Monday. They outline a dirty-tricks campaign in Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2014 on the orders of President Vladimir Putin.

The emails allegedly outline how much Russia was prepared to pay for various services in a huge disinformation campaign in Ukraine. One set of correspondence from October 2014 appears to have been sent by an unnamed Russian politician to Inal Ardzinba, a Kremlin figure close to Putin.

It contained proposals to fund a cybercampaign that outlined various cost proposals, including:

• $100 to $300 to hack email accounts.

• $130,500: A plan to "troll" opponents of Russia, "demotivate enemies" on social media, and collect personal data of opponents in Kharviv.

Other prices discussed in the leaked emails include:

• A $120,460 proposal to discuss in June 2015 to arrange for 30 ex-communist figures elected to local government.

• A $19,200 proposal to buy a month of rallies in Ukraine's second-largest city Kharviv, including 100 participants, 3 organisers, and 2 lawyers. Organisers would orchestrate anti-Ukraine, pro-Russia rallies featuring crowds of martial-arts-trained protestors, and lawyers would buy off the police. It is unclear whether the plan happened.

Il famoso piatto romano dei carciofi alla giudia non è kosher, ovvero non rispetta le regole stabilite dall'ebraismo, e per questo il rabbinato israeliano ne ha bandito l'importazione nello Stato ebraico

[...]

In conformità con le linee guida del rabbinato israeliano, la comunità ebraica milanese ha chiesto alla catena di ristoranti "Ba'Ghetto" di rimuovere il piatto dal menu presso il locale di Milano. Il quotidiano israeliano evidenzia che i clienti sono rimasti sorpresi dalla rimozione del piatto dal menu, mentre la comunità ebraica romana, prosegue "Haaretz", sente che la propria tradizione culinaria è sotto attacco.

After more than 50 hours manning a barricade at her university faculty building in northern Paris, Camille, 20, said she was tired but determined.

Night and day the humanities student had been keeping vigil at a lecture-hall sit-in, taking turns with another student to doze in a sleeping bag on the cold floor as they guarded the makeshift barricade made from piles of chairs.

Camille was one of scores of arts students protesting against the introduction of more selective entry requirements for universities by France's centrist president, Emmanuel Macron. The growing student protest movement has irked Macron's government, which is also grappling with strikes by rail staff in the first major test to his pro-business resolve to reshape the French economy and loosen labour rules in the state sector.

Es  ist inzwischen ein trauriges Ritual geworden: Wieder einmal hat sich der Zentralrat der Deutschen, der größte Interessenverband der Deutschen in Deutschland, heute mit deutlichen Worten von dem Anschlag in Münster mit drei Toten und zahlreichen Verletzten distanziert.

"Wir verurteilen diesen Anschlag aufs Schärfste!", so ein Sprecher des Verbandes. "Das hat nichts mit der wahren Botschaft des Deutschsein zu tun. Echte Deutsche würden ein derart scheußliches Verbrechen niemals ausüben." Zudem dankte er der Polizei und allen Rettungskräften für ihren Einsatz und Beistand.

Bei aller Trauer um die Opfer warnte der Sprecher jedoch auch davor, jetzt nicht von der Tat eines psychisch kranken Einzelnen auf die Allgemeinheit zu schließen. "Die allermeisten Deutschen sind anständige Bürger, die sich an Recht und Gesetz halten und einfach nur in Frieden leben wollen."

2.Steckt Puigdemont dahinter? Schleswig-Holstein plant Unabhängigkeitsreferendum

It is a world where the neocon establishment has no clothes - but we're not supposed to mention it. To get a proper understanding of British politics in 2018, two writers from the 19th century are essential reading. The first is Lewis Carroll, author of 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.' The second is the Danish storyteller, Hans Christian Andersen.

The official UK government narrative on the Skripal case could easily have been penned by Lewis Carroll. For a start, there was the rush to blame - and punish - Russia, even before a proper investigation had begun. That was straight out of the trial of the Knave of Hearts in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

[..]

In Britain today, you could say we're expected to believe six impossible things at breakfast (particularly if you listen to the BBC Radio 4 Today program or read The Times newspaper).

It's not just impossible things in relation to the Skripal case - like being told in The Times that Sergei Skripal was already dead, and then being informed that he is "improving rapidly," having been poisoned by the world's deadliest nerve agent, which is actually not always deadly.

Consider the most recent establishment smears against the anti-war Labour leader Corbyn. He celebrated Passover with a Jewish group.

Remarkably, this was used as evidence that he wasn't taking anti-Semitism seriously.

Yes, that's right. A non-Jew spending Passover with a group of Jews is 'proof' that they're not interested in Jewish issues.

workers of the world &tc?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.