Italy: Salvini Down but Not Out

by Soeren Kern • September 4, 2019 at 5:00 am

The new governing alliance, if realized, may be short lived. In an interview with the Italian daily La Stampa, former Interior Minister Roberto Maroni of the Lega Nord party said that the new government, if it comes to fruition, will be "intrinsically weak" because it would exist, "not for a shared political project but only to avoid elections." He added that there was a possibility that the new government could last for the entire legislature "in order to avoid delivering the country to Salvini."
"Do you think I am afraid of a few months in opposition?" Salvini asked in a Facebook video. "You have not got rid of me with your political games. You do not know me, I do not give in." He has called for a protest against the new government in Rome on October 19. Polls show that 67% of Italians are in favor of early elections.
"We Hungarians will never forget that you [Salvini] were the first Western European leader to make an effort to prevent illegal migrants from flooding Europe via the Mediterranean Sea. Irrespective of future political developments in Italy and of the fact that we belong to different European party groups, we consider you as a brother in arms in the fight to preserve Europe's Christian heritage and stop migration." — Hungarian President Viktor Orbán.

Matteo Salvini, Italy's deputy premier and interior minister since 2018, has been shut out of the Italian government after his gambit to force snap elections to become prime minister backfired. (Photo by Ernesto S. Ruscio/Getty Images)

Matteo Salvini, Italy's deputy premier and interior minister since 2018, has been shut out of the Italian government after his gambit to force snap elections to become prime minister backfired.

As the de facto leader of Europe's anti-mass-migration movement, Salvini's departure from government may set back efforts to slow illegal immigration to the continent. Many analysts, however, believe that Salvini, who continues to lead his rivals in opinion polls, will be back in government soon and in an even stronger position than before.

On August 8, after months of public feuding, Salvini declared the governing coalition between his League party and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) unworkable. He accused M5S of blocking the League's main policies and said that the only way forward was to hold fresh elections.

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Boko Haram: Bloody Terror, No End in Sight

by Uzay Bulut • September 4, 2019 at 4:00 am

Every year, Nigeria's Boko Haram, which has gained a foothold in the neighboring African countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger, appears to be growing stronger.
Suicide bombings and other deadly attacks committed by Boko Haram terrorists over the past decade have claimed the lives of tens of thousands of innocent people, while more than two million others have been displaced.
Nigeria's government has proved itself to be incompetent at best, and at worst, complicit in the attacks."
"The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), for example, gives billions of dollars in aid to northeastern Nigeria. The problem is that aid, which helps fix small amounts of damage, is not a sufficient answer. As long as groups such as Boko Haram are able to keep destroying whole villages and infrastructure -- while devastating populations -- NGOs will never be able to keep up." — International Christian Concern; August 13, 2019.

Boko Haram just celebrated the 10th anniversary of its establishment. Every year, the Nigerian terrorist group, which has gained a foothold in the neighboring African countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger, appears to be growing stronger. Pictured: Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, from a November 2018 propaganda video by the group.

Boko Haram, the ISIS-aligned group seeking to establish an Islamic caliphate in Nigeria, just celebrated the 10th anniversary of its establishment. Contrary to initial and subsequent assessments, however, the terrorist group, also known as Islamic State's West Africa Province (ISWAP), was not to be easily defeated. On the contrary, every year, the jihadist group, which has gained a foothold in the neighboring African countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger, appears to be growing stronger.

Suicide bombings and other deadly attacks committed by Boko Haram terrorists over the past decade have claimed the lives of tens of thousands of innocent people, while more than two million others have been displaced. These figures do not even include the thousands of women and children abducted, some of whom, according to the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), "have been forced to carry out suicide missions."

The CEP explains:

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