Worldcrunch: Film Captures "Beautiful" Paradox Of 1945 Berlin Summer

“The summer of 1945 was nature’s gift to us,” said actor Günter Lamprecht, remembering the first few months of peace after the war. “It was beautiful, a perfect summer.”

Lamprecht, who was a 15-year-old student at the time, said he felt that the bright weeks between June and August of 1945 were “heaven’s compensation for what I had gone through, for all the nonsensical deaths of the last few years.

”This mood in Berlin, the capital city of the former Reich, which was almost completely destroyed by Western and Soviet air strikes, is reflected in the film. Producer Konstantin von zur Mühlen, who later discovered the film, digitally remastered it in high definition.

Read the article

The Washington Post: Americans condemn adultery, but many Europeans don’t — and probably never will

"I think it comes down to the puritanical history of the United States,"  said JoAnne Sweeny, an associate professor of law at the University of Louisville. "Early Colonial laws specifically noted that adultery was in violation of the Ten Commandments and it was punishable by death." [...]

That explanation may also lead to another conclusion: With continental Europe becoming less religious overall, affairs may become even more morally accepted — and that could mean that Europeans and Americans could move even further apart on the issue.

read the article 

VICE: Photos from Inside an Anti-Muslim Protest

Last weekend in the Belgium city of Antwerp, the third ever Muslim Expo was held—a lifestyle fair for Muslims. Like pretty much any other lifestyle fair in the world, the Muslim Expo had stalls, discussion panels, workshops, shows, and a keynote on time management. But according to the Flemish right-wing nationalist party Vlaams Belang, something much shadier was going on here. "This Islam fair is an apartheids fair, where they preach segregation instead of integration," according to Filip Dewinter—one of the leading members of Vlaams Belang. "People here want only one thing: to expand the influence of Islam in Belgium. If you want to know how young people become radicalized, I advise you to visit this expo." [...]

Back on the other side of the street, visitors to the Muslim Expo didn't really involve themselves much with the protesters—aside from one girl, who decided the best way to deal with these people was to take some selfies with them. Photographer Jurgen Augusteyns was there and saw Zakia Belkhiri happily taking some snaps with the protesters and Filip Dewinter.

read the article

The Guardian: Islam and Christianity share 'idea of conquest', says Pope Francis

Speaking to the French Catholic newspaper La Croix, the Argentinian pope also hailed the election of Sadiq Khan in London, saying that a Muslim mayor personified the idea of integration within Europe. [...]

He appeared to reject any link between Islamic extremism within Europe and Islam itself. Instead, he condemned the way in which migrants were “ghettoised” rather than integrated into society. [...]

When asked about the role religion ought to play in society and government, Francis strongly backed the separation between church and state, saying states must be secular, although they also needed strong laws guaranteeing religious freedom and needed to ensure individuals, including government officials, had a right to conscientious objection.

read the article 

The School of Life: The School of Life: Who Am I?

What is it that makes us most distinctively ourselves? Our bodies, our memories, our values...? Take a tour through the philosophy of personal identity.

VICE: Venezuela’s Falling Apart and the President Is Sending Troops to ‘Protect’ the People

The situation is so tense that last week's show of military strength sparked immediate rumors of a coup. What was actually happening was close to the opposite — the launch of a new phase of an anti-crime offensive that some observers see as an effort by Maduro to show the unsettled population that he is still in charge, and intends to remain so. [...]

But, some say, anti-crime operations in Venezuela are not necessarily primarily about the rampant criminal gangs that caused Caracas to be named the most violent city in the world in 2015 with a terrifying homicide rate of nearly 120 murders per 100 000 citizens.

read the article 

The Guardian: Richard Di Natale: global warming is the most urgent threat to Australia's security

The Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, has accused the Turnbull government of failing to understand that global warming is a bigger threat to Australia’s national security than terrorism. [...]

The Greens are calling for global diplomatic efforts towards an international agreement on how to respond to people displaced by global warming, he says.

He suggests Australia should start issuing a special form of humanitarian visa for such people.

read the article 

Bloomberg: Poland's Economic Nationalism May Be Viable

Poland's budget deficit could overshoot the European Union's target of 3 percent, and investors may continue to be spooked by the nationalist rhetoric and the socialist fervor of the governing Law and Justice party, known as PiS. Yet Orban's policies, on which the plans largely appear to be based, have more or less worked in Hungary, and they could work in Poland, too. [...]

Orban's financial nationalism has largely succeeded, Juliet Johnson of McGill University and Andrew Barnes of Kent State University wrote in a 2015 paper -- in part because the international bond markets have been surprisingly tolerant of the prime minister's illiberal policies. As long as Orban kept the macroeconomic numbers under control, and he did, yield-seeking investors were willing to lend to Hungary, even though the EU and the IMF were grumbling about the growing role of the state in the economy and Orban's readiness to fleece big foreign companies.

read the article 

AP Interview: Polish Ex-Foreign Minister Sees Brexit Dangers

"I think the EU is being blamed for a general perception that the island is overcrowded and general pan-European fears about identity and multi-ethnic relationships that, I think, have much more to do with Britain's colonial past than with membership in the EU," Sikorski said. [...]

"There is no surprise that Russian media, Russian troll factories, Russian money is supporting Brexit," said Sikorski. "It makes sense that Russia would like to deal with Europe one-by-one and not with the European Union as a whole. That would strengthen Russia's negotiating position vis-a-vis every member state. What surprises me is that some people in smaller countries don't see that."

read the article