European Politics Thread

Jesus fuck that was long.

That is what she said.

I can confirm that story from Iceland. I'd be delighted about the government collapsing but I'm not that convinced the Independence Party won't still somehow manage to cling on to power like they did when their last government broke down last year.

Cross-posted in the Law Enforcement Officer Thread.

Guys, I need feedback from any of you who are familiar with how German and/or Czech law enforcement works.

A cousin of mine has gone missing a few days after arriving in Prague, on the day he was supposed to board a train to Berlin. We've only discovered this a couple of days ago, when he did not come back from Germany as planned. We've contacted our embassies in Berlin and Prague and informed them about this, but so far my mother (who is effectively handling everything, given my cousin's dad is too distraught to do anything useful) is quite disatisfied with the response from the officials that spoke to us over the phone, feeling that they're not taking the matter as seriously as they should, and is contemplating going straight to Berlin herself and talking directly to the German police, maybe even personally search for him in every hospital in the city. She probably wants to do the same with the Czech police, but unfortunately she doesn't speak Czech.

Is what she intends to do even feasible? My impression is that the national police would require any missing person cases involving foreigners to be conducted with the relevant embassies as the mediators between the local authorities and the foreigners' relatives/friends, so I fear that her efforts would be completely wasted.

edited 15th Sep '17 5:47:07 PM by MarqFJA

My sympathy and I hope your cousin shows up well. I am no expert in this matter, but I might have some suggestions for you.

Checking all the hospitals in Berlin would take some time, according to this Wikipedia page there are quite a lot of them (some of them specialize in e.g. eye surgery so they probably would not be the place to go, but you never know).

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_KrankenhA4user_in_Berlin

Here is the page of the Berlin Police (in English)

https://www.berlin.de/polizei/allgemeine-seiten/artikel.103548.en.php

I assume those numbers are for English speakers, I think it is a good idea to tell them about your problem (It certainly can't hurt), they might have further information for you.

Also, this might be a long shot, but it might also be a good idea if you contact Deutsche Bahn (German train). Their customer service in English is here:

https://www.bahn.com/en/view/home/info/contact.shtml

Perhaps if you knew which train your cousin was supposed to travel, they might offer you some information. If nothing else, they might give you some numbers you could call. I've read a story right now where the Customer Service helped someone to find his lost sister by giving them numbers of certain hospitals.

No guarantees here, but it certainly beats simply waiting for your ambassady to act.

I second the notion to ask the DB. What kind of ticket did he have? Because if he had one on its name, the DB might be able to tell if said ticket was controlled in the train to Berlin. If it was, you at least know for sure where you should start looking.

Otherwise the problem is most likely less the border and more that you cousin is (I assume) an adult. As a general rule the police isn't exactly fast looking into adults vanishing unless there are clear signs that some sort of crime happened.

I'd also add the Bundespolizei maybe, if there's been an issue in transit. Their hotline is 0800 6 888 000 (outside of germany use 0049800 6 888 000)

Can any Swedish tropers confirm this?

I do not have an article in English to link, but apparently a left-wing politician from Sweden Patrik Liljegold was assaulted and raped for... being a left-wing politician. The assailant referred to him as a traitor and that "people like him (Liljegold) like it (rape)."

I'm simply stunned silent, because... well, I don't really know what to say to that other than I hope they'll find the culprit soon and put him in his rightful place like an animal he is.

Oo It is nothing new that rape is always a hatecrime, but that someone who's presumably right-wing and therefore homophobic would rape a man outside of prison is somewhat surprising. I guess it is not considered gay if it is rape? Let's hope the rapist gets caught. Don't think there's any chance he'll get away with that in court. Sweden is still heteronormative enough for the "but I thought the victim wanted it!" excuse to not work for male on male rape.

Any British tropers here who know more about this attack on an elderly woman by some non-trans people who wanted to silence a transwoman?

http://www.dailywire.com/news/21042/watch-trans-activist-men-attack-beat-dissenting-60-amanda-prestigiacomo

x2 I checked the Swedish news (and now I feel thoroughly unclean, not least of which because I had to read about that act of barbarism), but it does actually seem to be a true story.

edited 16th Sep '17 4:32:16 AM by math792d

That and the "tolerant" in the intro...*puts down grain of salt* this smells like Breitbart light

Any other sources?

Edit: Some googling on Yardley seems to show she's a "Transgender critical Transwoman", which sounds hardly promising

Disclaimer: If violence was perpetrated I condemn it, I just smell a lot of spin here from the article.

Mainly in the "She's trans so she's obviously in the right and the 'tolerant' left is actually the bad guy here"

Trans people can be TERF too

edited 16th Sep '17 4:47:48 AM by 3of4

Well, I don't read English language media often enough to know where they fall on the political spectrum, this was just the first article I could find on Google. But since there is a video, you can just watch the video and form your own opinion.

You know, it is kinda interesting you have an acronym for radical feminists which is frequently used to promote violence against feminists, but no acronym for male perpetrators of violence against trans people.

It seems counter intuitive.

And if "TERF" is supposed to mean "trans exclusive radical feminist" I don't really see how a transwoman could exclude herself. It does not make any sense, logically.

People can hate themselves, hence there's plenty female misogynists, but they cannot exclude themselves.

There's LBGT people in homophobic parties too. Being part of a minority does not automatically preclude you from discriminating against them, but I feel this is a topic better explained in the Sexism or LBGT topics.

Catalan mayors defy Spanish courts ahead of independence vote:

What? The term refers to women who exclude trans people.

That sounds like how civil wars start...

The Spanish PM has already said that if Catalonia declares independence, he'll stop it by force of arms.

@Marq: Are you saying that the Hanafi position is not Muslim?

edited 16th Sep '17 8:00:42 AM by Ramidel

How would Catalonian independence even work? Would they still be part of the EU?

Not if Spain has anything to say about it.

The default rule for a newly independent state (I am not a lawyer, let alone a specialist in international law) is that it comes into being in a vacuum and has to make its own treaties from scratch.

And then there's the issue of currency, passports, borders, families who have relatives in Catalonia and the rest of Spain...blech.

edited 16th Sep '17 8:04:42 AM by M84

And the erupting violence if the Spanish Prime Minister makes good on that threat.

I have to wonder if this whole independence movement was just a ploy by power players in Catalonia to get more concessions and tax breaks, and they're secretly very worried about what will happen if the vote actually wins.

It'd be Brexit all over again.

From what little I know of the guy, it sounds like that would be All According to Plan for Rajoy. His constituents aren't particularly fond of Catalonia, and the EU sure as hell isn't going to sanction him for violently crushing an independence movement. Legally, he's absolutely in the right - part of a country doesn't have the right to secede unilaterally from the whole, unless they win.

Why wouldn't they sanction him?

He has the legal right to defend Spanish territorial integrity with military force if necessary. Assuming violence does erupt.

In terms of the EU, they already made clear that Catalonia will not be part of the EU if they become independent. Once again, it would terminate everything associated with the EU.

edited 16th Sep '17 9:53:47 AM by TerminusEst