This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com:
- Protesters attack U.S. Embassy in Cairo Egypt
- U.S. consulate employee killed in attack on Libya embassy
- Catalonia demands independence from Spain
- Germany’s Constitutional Court to rule on legality of bailouts
- Greece to determine WW II reparations from Germany for Nazi war crimes
Protesters attack U.S. Embassy in Cairo Egypt
About 2000 Salafi protesters, chanting “There is no god but Allah,”protested in front of the United States embassy in Cairo, Egypt.Several dozen of the protesters climbed over the walls of the embassyand tore down a large American flag, replacing it with a black flag onwhich it was written: “There’s no God but God and Muhammad is theprophet of God.” What triggered the protests was an American madefilm, “Muhammad’s Trial,” posted on YouTube in July, that portraysMuhammad as a womanizer, pedophile and fraud. The controversial filmis reportedly being produced by US-based expatriate Coptic-ChristianEgyptians, including Esmat Zaklama and Morees Sadek, with the supportof the Terry Jones Church in the United States. Al-Ahram (Cairo) and The Daily News Egypt
U.S. consulate employee killed in attack on Libya embassy
An armed angry mob attacked and set fire to the U.S. Consulate inBenghazi, Libya, killing a consulate employee. The Benghazi attackfollowed the Cairo attack by several hours, and protestors claimed itwas in response to the same film. Since the film has been availableon YouTube for several weeks, there is speculation that both protestswere organized by the same Salafist group. The situation isreminiscent of the “Danish cartoons” that depicted Muhammad. ( “Cartoon controversy explodes into worldwide confrontations between Muslims and Westerners”) Thecartoons were published in September, 2005, but nothing happened untilJanuary, 2006, when uncontrolled mobs in Syria and Lebanon attackedthe Danish and Norwegian embassies. Al-Jazeera
Catalonia demands independence from Spain
As Spain becomes more and more deeply mired in the euro crisis, theCatalonia region is adding to Spain’s problems by demandingindependence. In particular, Catalonia wants to collect its own taxesand pay its own expenses. Catalonia has already requested a 5 billioneuros bailout from Spain, but says that Catalonians pay 20 billioneuros each year in taxes to Madrid, and so they should be able to getthe 5 billion euros for free. Catalonia was one of the biggestbenefactors of Spain’s huge real estate bubble, and the region usedthe money from the bubble to go into further debt to pay for expensivenew projects that it now can’t afford. Irish Times
Germany’s Constitutional Court to rule on legality of bailouts
By the time that you read this on Wednesday morning, Germany’sVerfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court) will probably haveruled on an issue that has caused European politicians to hold theirbreaths for weeks: Is the European bailout found (European StabilityMechanism or ESM) legal under German constitutional law? A “NO”ruling would send the markets into chaos, so it’s thought unlikelythat the court will make that ruling. However, many analysts expect ato expand it, then doing so will require a vote of the Bundestag(Parliament), and passage there would be very seriously indoubt. Deutsche Welle
Greece to determine WW II reparations from Germany for Nazi war crimes
Greece’s finance ministry has set up a “working group” to scourhistorical archives and determine how much Germany might own to Greecein outstanding reparations for Nazi war crimes during World War II.It’s estimated that the total will come to $7.5 million, a smallfraction of the money that Germany and the rest of Europe are spendingto bail Greece out. Greek Reporter/AFP
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