RUTHFULLY YOURS

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, during his 20th annual state of the nation speech on Sunday, said that “Christianity is Europe’s last hope.” He added that European leaders have “opened the way to to the decline of Christian culture and the advance of Islam.”

Orban also stated that Hungary will continue to oppose efforts by the European Union and (to a lesser degree) the United Nations to encourage mass migration from the Middle East and Africa.

That’s all controversial enough in today’s climate, but Orban wasn’t done yet. He also described Europe as being steadily conquered by migrants. “Born Germans,” he said, “are being forced back from most large German cities, as migrants always occupy cities first.”

He concluded that, because of the failed policies of Brussels, Berlin, and Paris, “Islam” will “knock on Central Europe’s door” from two directions: from the south and from the west.

Although very popular in his own country, other European politicians — and especially the official (but unelected) leaders of the EU — detest, distrust, and even fear Orban. The reason is obvious: Orban has no patience whatsoever for globalism, multiculturalism, and political correctness. CONTINUE AT SITE

Turkey’s ruling party, and even much of the opposition, seem intent on, if not obsessed with, invading and conquering these Greek islands, on the grounds that they are actually Turkish territory.

“The things we have done so far [pale in comparison to the] even greater attempts and attacks [we are planning for] the coming days, inshallah [Allah willing].” – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, February 12, 2018.

The head of the state-funded Directorate of Religious Affairs, the Diyanet, has openly described Turkey’s recent military invasion of Afrin as “jihad.” This designation makes sense when one considers that Muslim Turks owe their demographic majority in Asia Minor to centuries of Turkish persecution and discrimination against the Christian, Yazidi and Jewish inhabitants of the area.

In an incident that took place less than two weeks after the Greek Defense Ministry announced that Turkey had violated Greek airspace 138 times in a single day, a Turkish coast guard patrol boat on February 13 rammed a Greek coast guard vessel off the shore of Imia, one of many Greek islands over which Turkey claims sovereignty.

Most of the areas within modern Greece’s current borders were under the occupation of the Ottoman Empire from the mid-15th century until the Greek War of Independence in 1821 and the establishment of the modern Greek state in 1832. The islands, however, like the rest of Greece, are legally and historically Greek, as their names indicate.

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), however, and even much of the opposition seem intent on, if not obsessed with, invading and conquering these Greek islands, on the grounds that they are actually Turkish territory.

In December, for instance, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the main Turkish opposition CHP party, stated that when he wins the election in 2019, he will “invade and take over 18 Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, just as former Turkish PM Bulent Ecevit invaded Cyprus in 1974.” He said that there is “no document” proving that those islands belong to Greece.

“What is clear at any rate: the financing [of imams] by foreign actors must stop.” — Jens Spahn, Deutsche Welle.

“The message that ‘If you reach a Greek island, you will be in Germany in six days,’ not only encourages refugees from Syria, but also many people in Bangladesh and India. No country in the world, and no European Union, can withstand that if we give up control of our external borders.” — Jens Spahn, Die Zeit.

“To anyone who makes their way to Germany, it must made be clear that their life here will be very different from that at home. They should think carefully about whether they really want to live in this western culture.” — Die Welt.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has sparked a mutiny from within her own party over a controversial coalition deal that allows her to remain in office for a fourth term. The deal, in which Merkel agreed to relinquish control over the most influential government ministries, has led a growing number of voices from within her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to say — publicly — that it is time to begin looking for her successor.

In a prime-time interview with ZDF television on February 11, Merkel, already in power for 12 years, rejected the criticism and insisted that she will serve another full four-year term. “I ran for a four-year term,” she said. “I promised those four years and I’m someone who keeps promises. I totally stand behind that decision.”

Merkel, who has been called the “Teflon Chancellor” because of her political staying power, may indeed manage to eke out another four years in office, albeit in a much-weakened position. Her decision in 2015 to allow into Germany more than a million migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East sparked a mass defection of angry CDU voters to the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), now the third-largest party in the German parliament. As a result, in Germany’s inconclusive election in September 2017, Merkel’s party achieved its worst electoral result in nearly 70 years.