The Religion Issue | Politicizing Intelligence in Austria & America | Efficiency & Laziness

“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action” – Ian Fleming

Politicizing Intelligence in Austria: As long as extremist groups stay on the fringes of government, independent state institutions can continue to function. Once anti-establishment, hard-line parties gain a foothold within government, they can begin taking control of systems meant to remain above politics—courts, the military, intelligence agencies. Many fanatical groups holding power in several European countries have close ties to Russia. In Austria the anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rhetoric of the far-right Freedom Party continued gaining in popularity until elections in October 2017 put the party into power in a coalition with the center-right. The Freedom Party had been founded in the 1950s by former Nazi SS officers, and some of its current members share a nostalgia for Hitler’s Third Reich. The party has a formal cooperation agreement with President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party.

The Freedom Party controls Austria’s Interior Ministry, which is responsible for law and order. The country’s main domestic intelligence agency, the BVT, is part of the Interior Ministry. In February 2018 Freedom Party bosses ordered a police raid on the agency’s offices, along with top spy service officials working at home. Some of the nation’s most sensitive secrets were carted off in open crates and plastic bags. The basis for the search warrant was flimsy and transparent; critics called it an absurd pretext for a politically motivated stab at an independent institution that could threaten the party’s agenda. The decision to target the agency responsible for defending the country against a multitude of threats, including right-wing extremism, was so shocking other foreign services have stopped sharing intelligence information with Austria for fear it would wind up in the wrong hands. One European intelligence official said: “The alarms are going off…(the raid) reminds me of what autocrats would do.”

Additional read: “The Bride Was a Dream in a Dirndl, but Putin Stole the Show: President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has always shown a mastery for playing to the cameras, whether posing bare-chested on horseback, dancing with Tartars or riding Harleys with bikers. On Saturday, that command was on display again, this time as the Russian leader made a brief personal appearance in the Styrian Alps at the wedding of Austria’s foreign minister, before continuing north to Germany where he was to hold talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel.” (NYT)

Veil Ban: Despite the protests running rampant across Europe, more and more countries have placed bans on full-face veils being worn in public. Though many people of Muslim faith have contested the bannings, politicians argue the safety threats posed by such apparel. So far, there have been five countries to have banned veils including Denmark, with many other countries attempting to instate similar legislation. (WaPo)

Not Shaken So Stirred: If some Muslim women must unveil their faces, do others have to shake hands with the opposite sex to get a job? Can they be denied citizenship for not shaking hands? It depends on how a particular country chooses to deal with local customs, gender equality and religious freedom. In Sweden a labor court awarded a Muslim woman damages when she allegedly was denied a job for refusing to shake hands in an interview. On the other hand, France’s top administrative court ruled that sufficient grounds existed to deny an Algerian woman citizenship, when she refused to shake hands with male officials at a naturalization ceremony. (NYT)

$3 Billion Church Lawsuit: The Catholic Church’s sex abuse crisis has cost, in monetary terms alone, over $3 billion to settle lawsuits brought by victims. The cost to its reputation may be incalculable. One Jesuit priest worries that leaders in the church hierarchy, who should be bearing personal responsibility for crimes, are going unpunished. Father Thomas Reese explains that the bishop is “not going to be hurt if the diocese goes bankrupt…[those punished are] the parishioners, the schoolchildren, and the people in the pews who put money in the collection basket for [church] programs.” (NPR)

Off to Mecca: Millions of Muslim worshippers have made the annual pilgrimage to Islam’s holiest city, Mecca, in Saudi Arabia. The gathering will last from August 19th to the 24th. The journey, which is physically and emotionally challenging under ordinary circumstances, is even more complicated this year for Canadian Muslims. After Canada’s foreign minister tweeted about the imprisonment of a Saudi activist earlier this month, the Saudi government halted flights to Canada and severed trade ties with the country. (NPR)

Where The Hills Are Still Green And To The Left They Now Lean: Ireland used to be the most Catholic country in Europe. But in just one generation bans were overturned on contraception, homosexuality, divorce, and abortion. In 2015 Irish voters made their country the first in the world to approve same-sex marriage. Ireland has literally been transformed into a socially liberal state no longer obedient to Catholic dictates. Barely a third of adults still attend church weekly. So Pope Francis is making his own two-day pilgrimage to the Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of Knock, Queen of Ireland. The faithful snatched up 45,000 tickets to see the Pope, but compare that to 1979, when 450,000 turned out to hear Pope John Paul II speak. (WaPo)

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Brennan Tries To Trump Trump: President Trump may have thought that stripping the security clearance from former CIA director John Brennan would distract attention away from other embarrassing news, and punish an outspoken critic. But Sunday Brennan told NBC’s Meet The Press he has no intention of being cowed by the president’s unprecedented action, and he’s considering going to court “to do whatever I can to try and prevent these abuses occurring in the future.” Brennan’s threat of legal action has substantially upped the ante. (Guardian)

Apprentice Catchphrase: Former national security officials are saying that President Trump’s revocation of one critic’s security clearance, and threats to revoke others, is a clear warning shot to all officialdom: Keep your mouth shut or expect to pay a price. The president is slowly cleaning house of people in the Justice Department and Intelligence agencies who were involved with investigating Russian interference in the 2016 campaign, and possible connections to anyone in the Trump orbit. (NPR)

Dear Mr. President: William McRaven, a retired Navy admiral of Special Operations Command writes to Trump: “Former CIA director John Brennan, whose security clearance you revoked on Wednesday, is one of the finest public servants I have ever known. Few Americans have done more to protect this country than John. He is a man of unparalleled integrity, whose honesty and character have never been in question, except by those who don’t know him. Therefore, I would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well, so I can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency.” (WaPo)

– “‘Weaponized Ad Technology’: Facebook’s Moneymaker Gets a Critical Eye: Government officials, researchers and advertising executives have warned that microtargeting tools, like the kind Facebook offers, can be exploited to polarize and manipulate voters.” (NYT)

– “Are Targeted Ads Stalking You? Here’s How to Make Them Stop” Die. (NYT)

– “Life Is Short. That’s the Point.: Our mortality is not something to be overcome. It is integral to our humanity. (NYT

– “Do You *Really* Need to Wash Fruit Before You Eat It?: It’s literally just running it under tap water for two seconds. What does that do?!?!” (Popular Mechanics)

“The Secret to Ant Efficiency Is Idleness: Ants have a lesson for humans on how to be more productive: Less is more. Here’s the ingenious trick the insects deploy for maximizing efficiency.” There is now a scientific NYT article that backs up your laziness…you know, if you skim through it. After all isn’t efficiency just a code word for being lazy? (NYT)

“The Charmed Life of Esther the Wonder Pig: What one celebrity pet can tell us about our curious and complicated relationship with animals” (The Walrus)

Ay dios mio! Spain has an interesting problem. Their pig population is officially at 50 million, which is 3.5 million more than the human population. Livestock farming is the 4th largest cause of greenhouse gas emissions and the pigs consume a huge amount of much needed water.

“Do you realize that all great literature is all about what a bummer it is to be a human being? Isn’t it such a relief to have somebody say that?” – Kurt Vonnegut

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