New technology could recover more oil from early Bakken wells – Bismarck Tribune

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Oil companies are applying new hydraulic fracturing techniques to early Bakken wells, a process industry leaders say has the potential to recover more oil without increasing the footprint on the land.

Operators are targeting wells drilled between 2008 and 2010, the early years of Bakken development before fracking technology advanced to where it is today.

Companies are refracturing the older wells using todays technology and getting promising results, said Justin Kringstad, director of the North Dakota Pipeline Authority, who recently analyzed the wells.

On average, theyre getting better performance from the wells, Kringstad said.

Fracking or pumping a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals deep underground and horizontal drilling techniques allowed operators to recover oil from the Bakken.

But the industry believes its only recovering about 5 to 15 percent of the oil available, Kringstad said.

More than 140 wells in the Bakken have been refractured, and most saw an increase in oil production from 200,000 to 250,000 barrels, according to Kringstads analysis.

The newly fracked wells are injected with larger volumes of fluid and sand and the fracture treatments are applied to smaller segments of the well, he said.

North Dakota legislators also are interested in the potential for refracturing existing oil wells and are planning a study during the interim focused on the fiscal impact to the state.

Sen. Kelly Armstrong, R-Dickinson, said recovering more oil would mean more tax revenue and more jobs.

Armstrong, one of the legislators who introduced the study, said legislators plan to invite experts to learn more about refracturing and discuss if there are economic incentives the state could consider.

We are only getting a small, small amount of the total potential reserve down there, Armstrong said. Everybody would benefit if we could figure out a way to recover more.

Monte Besler, a Williston oilfield consultant known as the FRACN8R, said not all wells will be good candidates for refracturing. But it can pay off in wells that were completed with technology now considered outdated, he said.

Kringstad said companies will typically want to see at least an additional 200,000 barrels of oil to justify the investment.

Lynn Helms, director of the Department of Mineral Resources, said refracturing oil wells can recover more oil without expanding the footprint of the Bakken.

Theres no additional environmental impacts and theres generally already a pipeline there, Helms said.

Kringstad also is studying the impact refracturing could have on the pipeline industry and working to provide oil and natural gas pipeline operators data to help them plan.

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New technology could recover more oil from early Bakken wells - Bismarck Tribune

Darknet guru: New technology can help build European identity – EURACTIV

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Modern technology could shore up the European project, boost transparency and help governments collect taxes. Author Jamie Bartlett told EURACTIV.com that the EU should become the great technological innovator but warned that politicians simply arent prepared for massive changes ahead.

Jamie Bartlett is a writer, journalist and director of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at UK think tank Demos. In 2014, he published The Dark Net and has just released his latest book, Radicals.

In Brussels at the invitation of Full Circle, Bartlett spoke to EURACTIVs Sam Morgan.

Whats the EUs role in technological advancements like Bitcoin, blockchain etc.?

Theres a battle going on in terms of regulation. It seems to most people, including myself, that the European Commission is one of the only places that has the courage to give it a go. My view has changed slightly over the years. I used to think that regulation was pointless and wouldnt work and that the nature of borderless digital communication meant that it was like the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dyke. But the coming progress in artificial intelligence, peer-to-peer platforms and the power of modern computing means governments are going to have to start regulating if they want to maintain a serious tax-paying base, if they want all the things about modern society we have come to depend on to remain. They are all going to be under unprecedented threat in the next decade.

Is it something governments are aware of or even willing to be aware of? Is there a comparison with denial of climate change to be made here?

These new businesses become so large and so valuable before the regulators notice them that suddenly they are too big to regulate. Its unreasonable to expect politicians to have a handle on these issues but they do need to understand the scale of the challenge coming, the biggest of which is AI. I dont mean killer robots but the twin forces of automation and machine learning, and the effect they are going to have on millions of jobs. The optimist says humans will create new jobs, itll be fine, thats what weve always done. But Im not so sure its the same this time around. When you combine that with a more precarious workforce that inevitably comes with the gig economy, the sorts of skills people are going to need and the type of jobs that will become available, I think politicians simply dont have a clue what is looming on the horizon. We are talking ten years and we are talking massive disruption.

Supporting innovation should be the driving force behind the EU response to the emerging field of financial technology, European lawmakers said in a draft resolution adopted yesterday (25 April).

Is that linked to how short a shelf-life governments and leaders have now? We have referendums and elections all the time, are politicians now not interested in thinking long-term?

Possibly. The horrible factor with global warming is that democracy perhaps isnt the best political model to deal with it. It might not be right for artificial intelligence either. I think that the last year has been a little skirmish ahead of what lies ahead. The big political parties are going to have to actually decide how to deal with these problems, so were not shocked when this all hits us further down the line. When populists make certain promises that cant be delivered upon and when centrist parties mimic those pledges to try and keep control it results in spiralling frustrations that push people towards the extreme right or left. We are going to have to change how we do politics. Do we really think that people who are in their early twenties or even younger are going to accept the way we do politics in a decades time? I dont.

If its a generational thing, what can the EU do to bridge that gap? Should they leap on new technologies like Bitcoin, blockchain, etc.?

Absolutely. Like I said, the institutions have already shown leadership on these kinds of issues, including privacy and antitrust cases against Google and Microsoft. Thats a good example of the size and power of these big companies, and the scale of the technology; it needs a framework with the scope of the EU to confront them. We know the challenge is borderless, like climate change. The EU needs to harness things like AI and Bitcoin in order to address the needs of people. We cannot let technology run away with us.

Youve previously highlighted how these new technologies can be used illegally and immorally. If a body like the EU were to focus on something like blockchain, do you think it would appropriate the tech for good?

Well there will always be people that use technology for bad. But if the EU were to do more then it would mean that it wouldnt just be in the hands of the FinTech industry and criminals. You could well imagine the Commission, which is often seen as being very distant from people, taking that technology and trying to use it in a way where it establishes itself as an innovator, a leader. There are always going to be people abusing new technology but, this way, the benefits could at least be shared.

So could blockchain be a real weapon in the push for transparency? Its something the Commission has beat the drum about for a while now.

I would love it if the European Union bodies were able to use it to deliver on these promises. The EU has always talked about creating a pan-European identity, where citizens across Europe can discuss ideas with each other. Well thats already happening, all the time, on these massive platforms. So why cant the institutions follow suit? Why cant policy-based documents be crowd-source edited by people from across the EU? Thats how you bring disparate people together and make them feel close to decision-making procedures.

Youve written before about crypto-anarchists, many of whom hope these new technologies can bring about a form of stateless society. Do you think the EU and national governments are aware of this threat to their existence?

Of course not! I talked to the European Commission in 2011/2012 about a paper I had done on far-right activists across Europe, which said that populist groups were building a really good online presence with enormous support bases, which would make a big impact on formal politics. That was five years ago. No one listened. Now, I think they are now going to put all their energies into finally dealing with this so they are going to miss out on other movements. The people involved in this crypto-anarchic world are the very people who run these tech companies, who are building all this technology we use, and they hate the European Union. They hate it because its this distant, centralised body that represents everything they dislike about politics.

The sharing economy hasnt exactly sprung up out of nowhere but everyone has heard of Uber, Airbnb now

Four years ago, did anyone imagine they would advance like they have? I didnt see blockchain or Bitcoin coming. But every single person who worked on the internet now says that blockchain is completely revolutionary. Its as revolutionary as TCP/IP. Does anyone in this town really understand that? I dont think so.

Is there a glimmer of hope in Estonia taking over the rotating presidency of the EU? Its often been described as the first digital nation.

I hope people will go there and see the things they are willing to pilot. This is the kind of hackers mentality we need, where things are tried and failures arent terminal. But this is at odds with how policy is made at the moment. I hope Estonia bangs home the point that Russias propaganda campaign is only going to get bigger and bigger in the Baltics.

The German army launched a dedicated cyber-defence unit recently. Its offensive capabilities have been criticised but is this likely to be the norm from now on?

They have to go on the offensive. They also knew they were going to be criticised, as we live in an open society, but armed forces are going to carry on doing it anyway. Look at the scale of the offensive propaganda campaigns weve always run in Europe, Ive got no reason to believe well change now.

We can rent a car or house anywhere we want, you showed that you can buy whatever you want on the dark net, but have advancements in technology outstripped how we have developed as a society? Can we be trusted with the power literally at our fingertips or is it like giving a toddler a hand-grenade?

The mere smartphone gives us near godlike powers. Encryption can be used for good and bad, as can the sharing economy. It all makes systems more fragile. British Airways latest IT crash was caused by just one person not following the right protocol. Expect more fragility too. Look at the huge increase in the amount of information that has been hacked over the last three or four years from companies: thats the new normal.

So its something we are just going to have to accept and get used to?

It also means a smaller number of people can do greater damage than before. My only hope is that this turbulence we are going through will teach us how to deal with these problems. As a society, we will have to develop new ways of dealing with these threats. At the moment, these are the growing-pains of a system that we are currently not equipped to deal with.

Optimists say we will deal with automation and Industry 4.0 by retraining people in IT, code-writing, etc. Do you think that increases the chances of these threats, if more people know how to manipulate this technology?

Well have to think really hard about what we train people in.The stock answer seems to be computer programming but computers are going to be better and faster at that too.Thats only going to lead to a spiral of frustration. Theres also going to be a form of inequality springing up between those who can use technology and those who cant. Its going to exacerbate the levels of inequality we already have.

If you could drive the EU towards a certain policy topic or run it in a certain way, how would you handle it?

The EU should somehow be the great innovator and great regulator. A pity that we in the UK will only watch from the sidelines.

How is Brexit going to affect privacy and other developments long-term?

The government has already said it intends to stay with the data passporting system, because its too difficult for British businesses without it. So much of the economy involves data and the government is desperate to encourage digital technologies. I originally thought that the UK would say data regulations are too onerous and that it would decide to set up its own little system, with really lax rules, which could attract tech firms. Companies will be attracted by this kind of data-haven as much as by a tax-haven. But the draw of European and American business will ultimately be too great, so Brexit wont actually have a massive impact on privacy.

This technology seems to offer governments a new source of revenue if anything

Cryptocurrencies certainly offer them a chance to collect tax more efficiently. Taxes are going to get harder and harder to raise. Truck and taxi companies are suddenly software companies, which are harder to tax than the taxi firm just down the road. Without a tax-raising base, everything goes to pot. But if they start experimenting with cryptocurrencies, the people involved are going to get more frustrated and create more systems that make it harder to raise taxes, so well find ourselves in a vicious circle and a form of digital arms race.

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Darknet guru: New technology can help build European identity - EURACTIV

India’s Sensex Drops Most in Two Weeks, Led by Technology Stocks – Bloomberg

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Indian shares dropped as industrial-equipment makers declined ahead of a factory output data that some investors gauged would fall short of estimates. Lenders also fell on concerns that farm-credit waivers by states would add to bad loans in the banking system.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex closed 0.5 percent lower in Mumbai, its steepest decline in nearly three weeks. The NSE Nifty 50 Index also fell 0.5 percent. Larsen & Toubro Ltd., the nations biggest engineering company, retreated 2.3 percent to be worst Sensex performer along with Tata Motors Ltd.

Investors may be positioning themselves for a bad set of manufacturing data later in the day and thats reflecting in the capital-goods shares, Ashish Shah, head of equity at Mumbai-based A.C. Choksi Share Brokers Pvt., said on phone. The market is under some selling pressure after its rally so far this year, he said.

Indias index of industrial production rose 2.7 percent in April versus a year earlier, according toestimates compiled by Bloomberg. The index is likely to miss that forecast and rise 2.3 percent, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

Ten of the 13 sector gauges compiled by BSE Ltd. retreated, led by the S&P BSE Capital Goods Indexs 1.6 percent drop. The S&P BSE Information Technology Index rebounded from a fall of more than 1 percent to close 0.4 percent higher, the best performer.

A gauge of lenders also fell 1 percent after the Maharashtra governmentannounced that it will waive farm credits, adding to investor concerns of a further increase in bad loans at banks, already the highest among major economies globally. Uttar Pradesh, the nations most populous state, made a similar announcement in April.

Read the central banks views on farm-loan waivers

Farm loan waivers have created negative sentiments, mainly for banks and financial companies, which have largest weights in indexes, said Sanjay Sinha, founder of Mumbai-based Citrus Advisors. Credit discipline suffers and these measures are also economically regressive, he said.

Indias Sensex and Nifty indexes have both rallied 17 percent in 2017, the best-performing gauges among major Asian markets.

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India's Sensex Drops Most in Two Weeks, Led by Technology Stocks - Bloomberg

Opinion: What’s next for technology stocks bloodbath or bliss? – MarketWatch

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The response to my last column, which warned of an ominous pattern in charts of big technology stocks, shows that while professionals are hedged against a decline, the average investor is full of bravado.

The real question

The real question for investors is what comes next bloodbath or bliss. To find the answer, we need to take the equivalent of an X-ray of the U.S. stock market. At The Arora Report, to do the X-ray, we mostly depend on the ZYX Global Multi-Asset Allocation Model. This is an adaptive model it changes along with market conditions. The algorithms used in the model involve a large number of macro, fundamental, quantitative and technical indicators. Today I am going to expose readers to a technical indicator that is of special note at this time about big tech stocks. On Friday I wrote: Pay attention to the ominous pattern in big technology stocks.

The most useful indicator

To see this indicator, please click here for an annotated chart.

The chart shows the difference between advancing and declining issues of the Nasdaq 100 index NDX, -1.02% The popular ETF that represents Nasdaq 100 is QQQ, -0.93% The index contains popular technology stocks such as Apple AAPL, -2.94% Facebook FB, -1.67% and Nvidia NVDA, -2.14%

Here are my observations from the annotated chart.

The top pane shows candlesticks for the difference between advancing and declining issues among Nasdaq 100 stocks.

Traditionally, only the closing value is used as an input into further studies. In my three decades-plus in the markets, I have concluded that the traditional way often gives misleading results.

To overcome the limitation of the traditional way, at The Arora Report we use an average of open, high, low and close.

The bottom pane of the chart is simply a cumulative sum of daily averages.

The cumulative sum is still in an uptrend.

The cumulative sum has its own limitations.

The middle pane shows cumulative adjusted value that overcomes some of the limitations.

The cumulative adjusted value is beginning to roll over more than the cumulative sum, but it is still above the trend line.

Ask Arora: Nigam Arora answers your questions about investing in stocks, ETFs, bonds, gold and silver, oil and currencies. Have a question? Send it to Nigam Arora.

Money flows

Investors may consider combining the difference between advancing and declining issues in the stock market or the index of their choice with money flows to gain valuable insights. To learn more about money flows, please see Four big events that are prompting investors to sell stocks and buy bonds and gold.

What to do now

This column is written for investors and not for day traders. At this time, there is no reason to panic and any dip is likely to be a buying opportunity. Having said that, the market is very overbought from a long-term perspective and valuations are stretched. Overbought markets tend to be vulnerable. Vicious selling can start at any time. Selling on Friday was nothing compared with what can happen.

For prudent investors, a defensive posture is warranted.

Here is our last call to subscribers of The Arora Report: It is important for investors to look ahead and not in the rearview mirror. Consider continuing to hold existing positions. Based on individual risk preference, consider holding cash or Treasury bills 18%-28%, short- to medium-term hedges of 15%-25% and very short-term hedges of 15%. It is worth remembering that you cannot take advantage of new upcoming opportunities if you are not holding enough cash. When adjusting hedge levels, consider adjusting partial stop quantities for stock positions (non-ETF); consider using wider stops on remaining quantities and also allowing more room for high-beta stocks. High-beta stocks are the ones that move more than the market.

Disclosure: Subscribers to The Arora Report may have positions in the securities mentioned in this article or may take positions at any time. All recommended positions are reviewed daily at The Arora Report.

Nigam Arora is an investor, engineer and nuclear physicist by background, has founded two Inc. 500 fastest-growing companies, is the developer of the adaptive ZYX Global Multi Asset Allocation Model and the ZYX Change Method to profit from change in trading and investing. He is the founder of The Arora Report, which publishes four newsletters. Nigam can be reached at Nigam@TheAroraReport.com.

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Opinion: What's next for technology stocks bloodbath or bliss? - MarketWatch

MARS Launches New Water Meter Test Bench Technology and Feature Enhancements – PR Newswire (press release)

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OCALA, Fla., June 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MARS Company, global leader in water meter testing and technology solutions, announced today that it has launched new water meter test bench technology and feature enhancements that provide unique abilities with regard to meter testing performance, form factor and application.

Patented, Ultra-Low Flow Water Meter Testing and Accuracy Measurement Optional Feature

MARS Company announces that it has optimized the design of a patented, test bench meter adapter to assist in accurately measuring the next generation of ultra-low flow water meters. As water meter technology advances and water conservation becomes more vital, the need to monitor and test the meters at ranges lower than the current testing parameters is of increasing importance. MARS Company has designed the Ultra-Low Flow feature to adapt to existing and new installations, with minimal impact on field installations for current customers. "Our state-of-the-art test bench system coupled with the industry's only Enterprise-grade Software provides the industry with unparalleled flexibility to meet the most demanding water meter test requirements. Our technology can revolutionize how water meters are tested for generations to come," said Dave Corey, CEO of MARS Company.

Advanced Ultra-Low Flow Water Meter Testing Option

The Ultra-Low Flow Feature may be coupled with other MARS Company products to further minimize disturbance issues and achieve a high degree of accuracy for the meter test. These products include, but are not limited to, the MARS Gravity-Based Recirculation System and the MARS M3 2017 Enterprise Software System.

Backflow Preventer Testing - Optional Feature

Customer and market demand led to the new MARS optional test bench feature for comprehensive testing of backflow preventers, in compliance with state or local directives. In addition, this system not only tests the backflow device but also records the data for report generation and historical reference and storage. MARS Company has developed this exclusive solution to provide in-house testing of the backflow preventer prior to field deployment and when the unit is returned to the testing center after field removal.

Back Flow Water Meter Testing Option

The patented, Ultra-Low Flow optional feature is immediately available and the Back Flow Optional Feature will be available in the 3Q of 2017. MARS Company will be exhibiting at AWWA 2017 Trade show, June 12-14 in Philadelphia, PA at booth #2225. For more information about MARS Company please visit http://www.MARSwater.com.

About MARS Company

MARS Company is a global leader in water meter testing and technology solutions. With more than 30 years of experience assisting municipal and private utilities throughout the world, MARS has a long track record of success. MARS core business and expertise include: Patented Water Meter Testing Systems & Software Technology, Innovative AMR/AMI Technology Products and Software Solutions and Water System Specialty Products. Innovative thinking allows MARS to leverage its unique, proprietary technology, patent positioning, manufacturing infrastructure and world-class management strength, to further position itself as the leader in the water industry.

CONTACT: Mike Mastic, Director of Test Bench and Software Systems; Tel: (352) 414-7690; 163855@email4pr.com

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements containing the words "planned," "expects," "believes," "strategy," "opportunity," "anticipates" and similar words. Such forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties or other factors that may cause MARS Company's actual results to be materially different from historical results or any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. MARS Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances arising after the date hereof. The potential risks and uncertainties which could cause actual growth and results to differ materially include but are not limited to, customer acceptance of the company's services, products and fee structures, the success of the company's brand development efforts, the volatile and competitive nature of the water industry, and changes in domestic and international market conditions, and foreign exchange rates.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mars-launches-new-water-meter-test-bench-technology-and-feature-enhancements-300472240.html

SOURCE MARS Company

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MARS Launches New Water Meter Test Bench Technology and Feature Enhancements - PR Newswire (press release)

‘Equality’ marchers push for progress on LGBT rights – CNN International

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The march Sunday was vibrant, in attire and color.

There were rainbow pride flags, trans pride flags, even American and Puerto Rican flags with rainbows as their stripes.

The energy was palpable, even as they lined up; sporadic cheers would overtake the crowd, interrupting percussive protest chants.

And then it suddenly got quiet. Soft singing soon overtook the soft fluttered of flags in the breeze

"Oh, say can you see..." The national anthem.

More and more joined the chorus as the song neared its apex, roaring towards the final lines.

As it concluded, the crowds let up a thunderous cheer. The march had begun.

Wayne Pawlowski and Ted carried one of those bright rainbow pride flags near the front of the parade. Ted declined to give CNN his full name; he knows that his marriage and his sexual orientation could get him fired.

Wayne and Ted have been together for 35 years, married for nine of them.

"There's a lot of basic rights that we as gay people don't have that a lot of Americans do and take for granted," said Ted. "We need to change that."

But Ted, 62, and Pawlowski, 71, have a unique historical artifact their rainbow pride flag.

They flew it at the capital's first ever LGBT protest on October 14, 1979. And they've brought it to every single Pride celebration and protest they've ever gone to since.

Jasmine and Nette Archangel made the trip North from Louisiana to be here they brought their whole family. For them, the march was about being visible.

"We want our family to be normalized, not just tolerated," said Nette, 32. "Our family's made out of love."

Last year, the couple made a big move from rural Louisiana into New Orleans, a place they feel "more accepted."

Jasmine, 33, is a bit more shy.

"I want my sons to know no matter what they decide to do, we love them regardless," she says through a smile.

The Archangels weren't the only family to travel from Louisiana. Erin Crisham and Monica Herbert brought their 3-year-old son Cullen to the march.

"We want to make sure that voices are still being heard," said Crisham. "Legislation continues to progress and not stall."

Crisham, like many in the community, saw a number of LGBT rights victories. Now, with a new President at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, they want to maintain that progress.

"We don't want to see anything stay stagnant," she said. "We don't want to see anything take steps back. We really want to see things continue to move forward."

The community won those hard-fought victories by the grassroots organizing of their organizations. They rapidly and fundamentally shifted American public thought on a variety of LGBT issues by coming out to their families, friends and coworkers and pressuring their politicians.

So how will the community pressure continued progress on LGBT issues in President Donald Trump's America?

They'll stay involved and start at home, just like they always did.

Crisham and Herbet are going to work with local LGBT family organizations just like the Archangels. And they agree with the Archangels; their family needs to be treated like anyone else's.

She says sometimes people just aren't used to having different types of families around them. It's a matter of getting them used to it.

"Sometimes, we're the educators for that," she said.

For Ted, it's simple. He's going to make sure he's at the ballot box each election voting for pro-gay candidates, "whenever we can."

His husband Wayne is going to support the organizations that helped make marriage equality the law of the land.

"We are going to go back to Florida tomorrow," he said. "The first thing we're going to do is send more donations (supportive organizations including Human Rights Campaign and the American Civil Liberties Union) ... the organizations that fight for us in ways that we can't individually."

Clayton Whitehead, 29, agrees. He sprained his ankle playing flag football earlier in the week but did not let that, or the crutch he has to walk with, stop him from marching.

The march was, "only the beginning."

"We have to get involved at the local level," he says. "Have the courage to speak up. Go to your community meetings. Your council meetings. Vote in your local elections. Those are just as important as our national elections."

Lou and John Thompson, both 69, came to Washington from Conway, Arkansas, for their first Pride and their first political protest.

They held a sign that reads, "We love our (single) gay son!" Their son Brock's sign read, "I love my (annoying but well-meaning) straight parents!"

"We need to make a stand at times," said Thompson, who thinks now is not the time to be silent. "In our churches. City council. Just every little opportunity that you get to make a stand, I think you need to say something."

Brock Thompson agrees.

"We're going to march every day if we need to," he says, beaming.

CNN's John Bena contributed to this report.

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'Equality' marchers push for progress on LGBT rights - CNN International

LETTER: Pattern for Progress supports RUPCO project – The Daily Freeman

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Dear Editor,

The Landmark Place Senior and Supportive Housing residences advocated by RUPCO is an important opportunity to modernize a historic building, generate revenue for Kingston, help the citys revitalization and assist those in need.

Hudson Valley Pattern For Progress is a regional planning and policy organization. Our highest priority is our Urban Action Agenda, which assists in the transformation of urban centers, including Kingston.

It is clear this recognizable structure will not return to commercial use.

So, an alternative use is not only appropriate, but needed. RUPCO cites that by 2020, Kingston will be short 2,300 units of affordable housing. This project proposes 66, a small but important step.

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Pattern For Progress supports the zoning change and RUPCO, a reputable community-first organization. We believe discussion would be more constructive if opponents worked with RUPCO to craft a project that addresses their concerns, be they security, supervision or other concepts. RUPCO will listen. RUPCO cares. Thats why it has undertaken this project in the first place.

Kingston has impressively taken many strides. Its vibrancy is appealing; its tech and arts centers are alluring. But poverty and other concerns still exist. You cannot wish them away. There is a moral obligation to say, There are residents of Kingston that need our help. That is what strong cities do.

The community should consider the zoning change and invest its time not in a contentious, possibly legal battle, but instead working to achieve the best project possible.

Jonathan Drapkin

President and chief executive officer, Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress

Newburgh, N.Y.

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LETTER: Pattern for Progress supports RUPCO project - The Daily Freeman

Adam Eaton says he is making progress following ACL surgery … – Washington Times

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Adam Eaton is moving around better. He can place some weight on his left leg. Most of the time he is still using crutches to help carry the burden during his rehabilitation from ACL reconstruction surgery.

Eaton was placed on the disabled list April 29 with what was initially called a left knee strain. He actually had tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Eaton chose the patellar tendon graft to fix the injury.

Washington announced the timeline for his return to be 6-9 months. Among the early steps in the recovery process are reactivating the quadriceps muscle, re-establishing full extension of the leg or hyperextension, if it was in place prior to the injury then building quad strength and harmony for the muscle to fire when asked. After that, its a strengthening progression that allows the leg to carry more weight, move faster and, usually in what has become a commonplace surgery, return to its normal state.

Eaton said he is ahead of schedule to some degree. He already has full extension and has found it odd that he had to retrain his quad to do what was always a normal function because of muscle memory.

Ive never had an experience where Ive told my leg to lift and it doesnt lift, Eaton said Sunday. Its really a surreal feeling. I have to tell my quad to contract to hold me knee in place. Its definitely a grind.

When asked if there was damage to the knee beyond the ACL tear, Eaton declined to comment. Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo had said previously that surgeons repaired other ligament damage and the meniscus in addition to the ACL.

Eaton chose to do his rehabilitation work around the team. He said he watches a lot of baseball he doesnt have much of a choice, at this point and hopes his presence around the team can be beneficial.

Just in the sense that Im dedicated to them, just as theyve been dedicated to me, Eaton said. The trade this offseason probably wasnt the most popular one. I love the city. I love the people within the organization. I love everyone that was involved.

When the team goes on the road, Eaton continues his rehabilitation work. He said physical therapy and occupational therapy combine to take about 3-4 hours per day, six day per week.

I think I do a very good job of focusing every single day, Eaton said. But, at times my mind wanders about big picture. Not even just this year. Not even just next year. But, the longevity of my career and how it may be shaped with my injury.

Prior to the injury, Eaton helped create a formidable duo atop the Nationals order where he hit in front of Trea Turner. Eaton had a .393 on-base percentage when he was injured. He has been replaced by Michael A. Taylor, who hits at the bottom of the lineup.

Sitting around has been a new experience for Eaton after being a fleet athlete throughout his life.

Its been the experience of a lifetime, hopefully I dont have to go through it again, Eaton said.

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Adam Eaton says he is making progress following ACL surgery ... - Washington Times

The Alt-Right Is the Modern, Hideous Face of White Supremacy – AlterNet

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Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons

Followingthe first part of this series, where the historical origins of modern white supremacy were explored in depth, and asubsequent essaythatexamined the ways white supremacy has influenced mainstream American politics, here are three of the nations foremost scholars on white supremacy, discussing similar issues at length.

Jeffrey Kaplanis associate professor of religion at the University of WisconsinOshkosh. His books include Radical Religion in America: MillenarianMovements From the Far Right to theChildren of Noah; Nation and Race: The Developing Euro-American Racist Subculture(co-edited with Tore Bjrgo);and The Emergence of a Euro-American Radical Right(with Leonard Weinberg).

George J. Michaelis associate professor in the criminal justice faculty at Westfield State University in Massachusetts. He is the author of Confronting Right-Wing Extremism and Terrorism in the USA; The Enemy of My Enemy: The Alarming Convergence of Militant Islam and the Extreme Right; Willis Carto and the American Far Right; and Theology of Hate: A History of the World Church of the Creator.

Michael Barkunis professor emeritus of political science in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. His books include A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America; Religion and the Racist Right:The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement; and Chasing Phantoms: Reality, Imagination, and Homeland Security Since 9/11.

1. What is thealt-right?

Is the contemporary alt-right a continuation of late 20th-century American white supremacist movements, or are there new components? Besides the new use of technology, are there ideological elements to the alt-right that we should take notice of? What happened to some of the exotic ideas floating around in the 1980s and 90s, such as occult Nazism and pagan religions? Did they become assimilated into the alt-right, or did those more esoteric veins fade out?

Jeffrey Kaplan:The so-called alt-right seemed to descend from the ether in the fading twilight of the Obama administration. The alt-right quickly seized the stage as the acceptable face of the radical right, which since the violence of the 1980s had been demonized and banished from the American public square. The process is common enough in American extremism. In 1963 the racist fringe was banished from the anti-communist fervor of theJohn Birch Society,just as the 19th-century Know Nothings came to be excluded from the politer society of American nativism. America, after all, is a vast smorgasbord in which individuals, religions and political movements may pick and choose among the tropes on offer.

The alt-right follows this pattern to a T. Picking and choosing from a variety of established conspiratorial, racist and outright paranoid ideas, leavened with a catchy jargon like deep state which is far more PC thanZOGor Zionist Occupation Government, which held primacy in the American radical right since the 1970s the alt-right was tailor-made for the discontented and dispossessed faithful of the far right.

Following British sociologist Colin Campbell in the 1960s, scholars have borrowed the term cultic milieu to describe the process by which oppositional individuals sample ideas, theories and wild suppositions that are the stuff of which movements are born, flourish and, most often, perish in anonymity, completely unknown to the dominant culture. This is the origin of the alt-right, and will most likely be its fate as well.

The occult and esoteric racist movements from the fringes of National Socialism to elements of explicit Satanism still exist in the wilderness of the cultic milieu, but their numbers are much diminished. The peregrinations ofDavid Myattare a case in point. Myatt, who drifted from Buddhist beliefs to National Socialism under the spell ofColin Jordanin Britain, went on to found theOrder of Nine Angles, the most successful racist esoteric organization combining Satanism and National Socialism in the 1980s and 90s. Tiring of the scene and despairing of the quality of the recruits, he took his shahadaand converted to radical Islam in the shadow of 9/11 and 7/7. In this he moved from the most distant fringes of the cultic milieu to a more potent global system of belief. Lately, however, he has taken on the cross, converting to Orthodox Christianity and embracing a message of universal love and reconciliation. Myatt is the cultic milieu personified and living proof that the esoteric white supremacist ideas of the 1980s live on, albeit on life support.

The alt-right is, however, different in significant ways from its predecessors. For one, it is not simply an American made-for-export idea, as was the racialism that American intellectuals marketed internationally in the 19th century as racist anthropology or that which the anti-communist zealots spread with much less success in the 1950s.

Rather, it mixed American nativist tropes with the growing fears of immigration and Islamization that have become acute in the European Union. More remarkable still, it fell easily under the spell of Vladimir Putins Russia, whose hybrid warfare campaign against the West and the world is simply a 21st-century update of the Soviet disinformation campaigns that were calledActive Measuresin the Cold War. Putins Russia now caters to the far right globally, and as the Trump scandals now unfolding in Washington indicate, found in the alt-right perfect rubes who, for a few dollars and a grand delusion of power and global glory, would gladly ignore logic and history in pursuit of a dream of an America relatively untroubled by such putative enemies as Black Lives Matter; immigrants bent on rape, rapine and terrorism; and the dread legions of the politically correct.

George J. Michael:There is some continuity between the alt-right and extreme-right groups from the late 20th century. David Duke, for example, has long been a prominent spokesman of the white nationalist movement. In fact, he in some ways spearheaded a change in the ideological direction away from a supremacist/hate orientation to a more identitarian orientation.

The exotic ideas, including occult Nazism and pagan religions, continue to inform the movement. Mostly, their influence can be found in the forms of iconography informing white nationalist websites and assorted insignia. Norse neo-paganism is often seen as a more suitable religion for white nationalists, insofar as contemporary Christianity is seen as philo-Semitic and pro-multiculturalism.

Michael Barkun:The sudden public emergence of the alt-right during the 2016 presidential campaign raises the question of whether it is simply the continuation of a long-standing white supremacist movement or constitutes a completely new development. That is not an easy question to answer, since the alt-right is not itself a cohesive movement. Rather, it is best understood as a set of groups and individuals that share a family resemblance, knit together by an intense hostility to immigration and a fear that the white population and what the alt-right conceives as Western culture will be submerged in a non-white sea. The alt-right is dominated by white nationalists and contains anti-Semites as well as some neo-Nazis, but also others of a less reprehensible stripe.

The more interesting and disturbing issue is the alt-rights rising visibility. Whatever people mean by the alt-right, it is an element of right-wing extremism that suddenly became a factor in Donald Trumps campaign. Its highly vocal support for Trump was widely covered by the media, the attitude of the campaign toward it was analyzed, and its possible electoral effect was discussed, even though its numbers appeared minuscule and no figure of any political stature was known to be associated with it. That so seemingly marginal a group of political actors should have attracted so much attention is itself odd indeed, in hindsight, now that the campaign is over, it seems stranger still.

Yet the public emergence of the alt-right is on reflection a manifestation of a larger transformation in American culture namely, the gradual penetration of the fringe into the mainstream. This is a development that transcends politics, although it has important political implications. It began in the early 1990s and has thus been underway for about a quarter of a century. Conspicuous examples have appeared in popular culture, includingDan Browns best-selling novels with occult and conspiracist themes, as well as The X-Filestelevision program, and it has been critically accelerated by the internet and such social media as Facebook and Twitter. Without the traditional barriers of editorial gatekeepers, fringe material could now access and command mass audiences. Just as fringe themes could penetrate popular culture, so fringe politics is no longer shut up in segregated subcultures.

We see this, too, in the avid popular consumption of conspiracy theories, and there has been no greater consumer of them than Donald Trump himself. Trump, after all, was the first high-visibility proponent of the Obama birther legend. During the campaign he gave a half-hour interview toAlex Jones, the countrys leading purveyor of conspiracy theories. Trumps constant campaign refrain of immigrant wrongdoing smacks of a plot by foreigners to destroy America.

It is scarcely surprising that against this background the alt-rights appearance acquired a certain quasi-legitimacy, despite its white supremacist credentials. It seemed to be simply a slightly more strident set of outsider anti-immigrant propagandists, in a campaign that already had an outsider candidate.

The role of the alt-right in the 2016 campaign, alongside the broader movement of fringe motifs into the mainstream, suggests a political future that once seemed inconceivable: the potential public re-emergence of a white supremacist organization, something not seen in America since the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s. While still unlikely, the 2016 trajectory of the alt-right may prefigure more extreme open white supremacist political forays in the future.

2. The strength and leadership of the white supremacist movement

How strong is white supremacy in this country? Is it getting stronger, is it a declining movement or has it remained stable from when you first began your research? Was the 1990s Patriot movement the heyday of white supremacy? Are there things people label white supremacy that we should more properly put outside that framework? Which white supremacist group(s) do you find most intriguing today from a scholarly viewpoint?

Kaplan:White supremacy, like the poor, will be with us always. It is the nagging voice in even the most racially enlightened among us when they find themselves walking at night in Hyde Park in Chicago or contemplating a trip to Detroit. Once, it was a mainstream idea as many of the most idealistic young American men, fired by the racial threat depicted in D.W. Griffiths The Birth of a Nation, sent their money to the mail-order Klan in exchange for a newsletter, a bizarre lexicon and a copy of the Kloran. With the legislative victories of the civil rights movement and a concerted push from Hollywood, it faded from polite society and the movements that held true to the racist call were banished to the most distant fringes of the cultic milieu.

This is where I found them when I began my research among their number in the late 1980s. They were a battered and demoralized lot.Identity Christiansheld fast to their esoteric interpretations of the Bible; National Socialists treasured their SS-inspired regalia and propitiated the shade of Adolf Hitler as if the Second World War were merely on hiatus; andOdinistsdrank bloats, rode motorcycles and formed prison gangs. ThePatriot movementwas never really among their number. Like the Birch Society of the 1960s, race for them was a distraction from the more important work of decoding the manifold conspiracies which, in the words of the iconic (and African-American!)Last Poets, Keep the people asleep and the truth from being told.

Early in the new millennium, I left the world of participant/observer research into the radical right in search of new and more potent oppositional ideas. None of the white supremacist constellation were intriguing simply because no new ideas, fresh movements or visionary leaders were on the horizon. I would argue, perhaps alone in this forum, that white supremacy as we have known it remains for the moment moribund. What we see today, the red meat of the alt-right and the popular fears that led to the election of Donald Trump, speaks to broader dreads Islamophobia, immigration and the ever-present other rather than an appeal for White Power. Racism is a powerful ingredient in the stew, but it is no more the leitmotif of what we are seeing today than is traditional America First nativism.

Michael:That is really the $64,000 question. It is very difficult to quantify the size of the white nationalist movement in America. There is no viable political party that advocates for its interest, unlike far-right parties in Europe.

The movement seemed to have gone into decline during the 2000s. The movement suffered a number of casualties as several leaders died (e.g.,William L. Pierce,Sam Francis,Richard Girnt ButlerandWillis Carto) and a number of others were arrested and incarcerated (Matt Hale,Chester Doles,Kevin Alfred Strom).

The Patriot movement differed quite a bit from the white nationalist movement over ideology, to wit, on the issue of race. The Patriot movement began a steep decline not long after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing (as measured by the number of groups compiled by the Southern Poverty Law Center). However, in recent years, the movement seems to have reinvented itself under the label of preppers and once again is gaining momentum.

The late 1990s seemed to be the heyday for the white nationalist movement in America. The movement had not suffered any major repression from the federal government since theFort Smith sedition trial of 1988. During the 1990s, the movement took advantage of the fledging medium of the internet to get its message out to a larger audience. But after 9/11, the movement experienced quite a few prosecutions from the federal government. Moreover, after 9/11, the American public did not seem receptive to the white nationalist movements message of white racial solidarity. After 9/11, there was an upsurge of American patriotism. Conservative-leaning Americans were not amenable to white separatism; instead, a new form of patriotism gained currency that viewed the country as under attack from anti-democratic, religious extremists in the form of militant Islam. The extreme rights critique of the U.S. governments pro-Israel foreign policy seemed unpatriotic. As a result, the extreme right languished for quite some time during the 2000s.

In recent years, however, issues involving race have gained great salience, including immigration, the ideology of multiculturalism and the prominence of language policing under the rubric of political correctness. The white nationalist movement was well-prepared to provide commentary on these issues. As a result, the movement seems to be gaining relevance once again.

Are there things people label white supremacy that we should more properly put outside that framework? Yes, for example, immigration. People who do not consider themselves to be white nationalists are nevertheless concerned about immigration because of its costs to taxpayers, as well as its impact on employment prospects for native-born Americans, the cost of health care, etc. Furthermore, many ordinary people are rejecting the restrictiveness of political correctness on the discourse in America.

Barkun:The present strength of the white supremacist movement has always been notoriously difficult to measure. The movement I use the word advisedly, as a term of art has always been riven by factionalism, and no group wants to divulge membership numbers except in the most grossly inflated forms. It is fair to say that right-wing extremism probably peaked in the early 1990s, when the Christian Identity movement was still vibrant and before paramilitary organizations had attracted the full attention of the federal government after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1993.

There are clearly still militia groups active, some with apparently aggressive agendas. TheHutaree Militiain the Midwest was one such case, although despite substantial evidence of an impending attack, its principal leaders were acquitted of the most serious charges in a 2012 trial. TheAryan Strikeforceleaders in the mid-Atlantic states were recently indicted before their plans could unfold. However, there is no evidence that these or other recent paramilitary activities have been linked or coordinated.

The conceptual difficulty lies in separating out the white supremacist element from other beliefs that are often associated with it. For example, virtually everyone on the extreme right is a conspiracist, buying into ideas about what is termed the New World Order the belief that there is an overarching conspiracy seeking to establish a global dictatorship. There are numerous variations on this theme: religious and secular, anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic, anti-Masonic, anti-capitalist and so on. In some versions of the New World Order, there is also the claim that the aim of the conspirators is to enslave or destroy the white race. Some conspiracists, in other words, are racial supremacists, and some are not.

The same is true of another frequently overlapping theme, anti-immigration. As has been true during other periods when anti-immigrant sentiment has been strong the 1890s, for example, or the 1920s it can be more or less racist. Not everyone seeking to limit or even ban immigration is a white supremacist, although some are. The mere presence of opposition to immigration is not, without further inquiry, evidence of white supremacist beliefs.

In light of the increasing migration of fringe themes into the mainstream, mentioned above, the real danger is that forms of white supremacism will insinuate themselves into mainstream American culture. There have already been attempts to do this in the South in the form of the so-called neo-Confederate movement, with its disingenuous claim that it is simply celebrating history and heritage. Something similar may appear elsewhere using such labels as Western civilization, Christian civilization or even Judeo-Christian civilization. Thus white supremacy may begin using code words that seem on the surface to be innocuous or even positive but in the eyes of the knowing are read through a racist lens.

3. The leadership of the white supremacist movement

The founders of most of the leading white supremacist organizations have died in the last decade or two: William L. Pierce,Ben Klassen, Richard Girnt Butler, Willis Carto and others. Who are the new leaders we should know about? Is there a difference in leadership style between the deceased older generation and the newer generation? Is there a leadership vacuum? If leaderless resistance was the reigning philosophy in the 1990s, are we still operating under that or have we moved on to other forms of organization?

Kaplan:The leaders of the white supremacist organizations of the 1980s have passed from the scene. Their dysfunctional compounds likeAryan Nationsor theCovenant, Sword and Arm of the Lord(CSA) are gone too, victims of civil suits, government suppression or simple ennui. The mail-order faiths, KlassensCreativityor PiercesCosmotheism, are down to a small handful of true believers. Battle-scarred remnants of the time, such as National SocialistHarold Covington, struggle to adapt to new times with ideas like his idyllicNorthwest migration initiativeseeking a white homeland in America and really quite good apocalyptic literature in his Northwest Trilogy Hill of the Ravens(2003), A Distant Thunder(2004), A Mighty Fortress(2005) as well as The Brigade(2007).

What remains is more potent overseas than in the United States. White power music, pioneered in the late 1970s byIan Stuart DonaldsonsSkrewdriver, flourishes throughout the world, including such decidedly non-Aryan redoubts as Jakarta. The skinhead movement is perhaps stronger than ever, especially where it benefits from a measure of government support and protection in places like Russia.

Evolutionary change is most dynamic outside the confines of white supremacy. In Europe a new generation of leaders has emerged to mainstream formerly explicitly National Socialist, racist or primitively nativist political parties. Groups like theSweden Democrats, theTrue Finnsor the FrenchNational Fronthave gone from the wilderness to contenders for power, just as the alt-right has emerged in the U.S. But none are explicitly white supremacist, even as they borrow heavily from traditional white supremacist ideas.

Like the leaders of the far right, the humble leaderless resistance idea has given way to a more dynamic successor in lone-wolf attacks. Leaderless resistance as posited originally by Texas KlansmanLouis Beamwas an expression of helplessness and despair. It was the equivalent of tilting at windmills, which succeeded primarily in the incarceration of a generation of skinheads, would-bePhineas Priests, bikers and simple sociopaths. While William L. Pierce could lionize serial killerJoseph Paul Franklinfrom the safe remove of anom de guerrein his novel Hunter, the current generation of lone wolves serve terrorist groups who are more than the state of mind organizations of the white supremacist world, enjoying considerable material and other support in the process.

It is a new day in the world of self-propelled violence. There are successes on occasion abroad.Anders Breivikcertainly comes to mind. But in America?

Michael:In my estimation, the most important leader isMatthew Heimbach, the leader of theTraditionalist Youth Network. He first gained notoriety in 2012, when he founded a White Student Union at Towson University in Maryland. Although he is only in his mid-20s, he is already an accomplished orator. He is also a very effective interlocutor when he gives interviews to the media. He evinces the hallmarks of what Eric Hoffer once called the True Believer. Heimbach does not flinch from street activism, despite the strident opposition he faces from various antifa counterprotesters. Furthermore, he advances a leftish white nationalist ideology which could potentially resonate with many disaffected young people. Finally, he has established ties with like-minded activists overseas includingAlexander Duginfrom Russia which gives his organization the semblance of an international movement. He reaches out to separatists from all racial and ethnic groups. At the present time, this might all seem inconsequential, but separatism seems to slowly be creeping into the national discourse, as evidenced by the push for Calexit.

Barkun:The first and even the second generation of white supremacist leadership has now virtually all died out, figures like William L. Pierce of the National Alliance and Richard Girnt Butler of the Aryan Nations. Not surprisingly, their organizations, small to begin with, collapsed shortly after their deaths. Neither they nor others in their cohort were succeeded by figures of comparable strength. OnlyDavid Dukeremains, a strange relic of the past. Even in white supremacys heyday, none of its leaders could command more than small followings. Like the extreme left, those at the other end of the ideological spectrum often spent as much time fighting one another as combating their supposed enemies. Small points of ideology and tactics counted heavily in these duels. Those who had dreams of uniting racialists under a single banner quickly learned that such ambitions were destined to founder.

At the moment, three figures seem of more than passing importance, although given the movements history, they may pass quickly into obscurity:Richard B. Spencerof theNational Policy Institute, prominent on the alt-right; Matthew Heimbach of the Traditionalist Youth Network; and Andrew Anglin of the onlineDaily Stormerwebsite. But there is no reason to believe that they will drive the white supremacist right over the longer term.

It is easy to concentrate on organizations, websites and the people associated with them, because they are visible and easy to identify. However, the danger of violence by individuals acting alone so-called lone wolf attacks remains and, in my view, is far more serious than the threat posed by organizations. The danger is high precisely because, absent unusually good intelligence, they normally become known only after the fact, as in the infamous 2011 attacks in Norway by Anders Breivik.

In that connection, attention needs to be paid to those known as sovereign citizens, who are potential lone wolves. Sovereign citizens do not constitute a movement. Rather, they represent a stream of anti-government thought and activity, built around the belief that traditional conceptions of American citizenship, law and institutions are invalid and that, consequently, no individual has any obligation to obey the law. This idea is based on a radically variant reading of the Constitution and the common law that makes each person, in effect, a law unto him- or herself. While the sovereign citizen idea is not in itself based on white supremacy, the two overlap. Some sovereign citizens have also been white supremacists, and the very nature of sovereign citizen thought deprives civil rights protections of any legitimacy. It follows, too, that the failure of sovereign citizens to accept any legal obligations inevitably involves them in conflicts with the government and, not infrequently, in violent and sometimes deadly incidents.

Next week: How do we deal with organized white supremacy? What do we get wrong about it?

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The Alt-Right Is the Modern, Hideous Face of White Supremacy - AlterNet

Witch Hunts, Resurgence and Defiance: Heavy Metal In The Middle East – The Quietus

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Inquistion in Egypt, image courtesy of Nader Sadek

"Satanist", to them, equals homosexuality; killing cats and drinking their blood "

"Suddenly, in front of me, hell broke loose. It was bad. So bad They are hitting you everywhere and they are pushing you in every direction and they had dogs People started to faint and I thought it to be wise to throw yourself under a pile of fainting people. Play dead! Play dead!"

'Omar', speaking to the writer Benjamin Harbert about his internment as a "Satanist" in 1998.

EGYPT 1996/1997

At 4am on 22 January 1997 armed Egyptian state police forcibly entered the homes of about 100 young people, including - according to one source - a 13-year-old girl, and arrested them. They were imprisoned for up to two weeks. According to one, who wishes to remain anonymous, they were beaten, sexually abused, attacked by dogs, and left isolated for extended periods. Their crime? They were accused of Satanism, of "dead cat blood drinking, sex orgies, insane drug use."

A group of Islamist extremists who were also being held were informed they would be sharing their quarters with the "Satanists". That caused a riot so severe that the "Satanists" were transferred to another jail. "We started to hear shouts from far away. Shouts, screams from a faraway place " one victim remembered, speaking under the pseudonym Omar to the writer Benjamin Harbert for his essay on the events, Noise And Its Formless Shadows, compiled in the book The Arab Avant-Garde. "We realised that the sounds of the screams of the night were because the Islamists of the same prison were told that the Satanists were in the same prison as them, and they decided to revolt they wanted to kill us."

Omar's real crime, and the crime of nearly 100 of his friends, was not Satanism. It was a love of heavy metal. Egypt's metal scene had been in rude health the previous year. Metal in Egypt had been no more than a cult in its infancy, sustained by bootleg culture until the advent of satellite TV. By 1996 metal had become a mainstream force in the nation's musical fabric, with all manner of satellite, experimental scenes. Young fans would congregate in bars like Khaled Madani's Doom Club, and at the Qsar al-Barun ("The Baron's Place"), an abandoned villa in Heliopolis.

In November 1996, however, the Egyptian tabloid Ruz al-Yusuf, received an anonymous fax, detailing supposed 'satanic rituals' on the outskirts of Cairo and Alexandria, sparking media outrage and prompting a hysterical fear of metal culture in Egypt. On 9 December, Ruz al-Yusufprinted a 'call to action' against metal, which led to the arrests a month later. As one fan tells tQ anonymously: "The stories - whether real or not - did shock society (and our mothers). Unlike South-East Asia and South America, Egypt had no rock history, so no one knew anything about rock & roll traditions and excesses. Facepaint, blood and Satan was quite shocking for society. The crackdown happened and that was what all the media spoke about for two weeks. I still think it was ridiculous, though I'm not denying how traumatising it must have been to whoever was arrested."

One particularly melodramatic newspaper account, cited in The Arab Avant-Garde read: "Children had swapped beer and whisky for the blood of cats and pigeons and been tattooed with skills and other symbols of the occult Hard rock was played as the fans dug through the graves in search of human bones that could be 'gifted' to the devil."

There were other, more sinister reasons for the crackdown. As Harbert explained: "It was a political strategy that had nothing to do with metal or even Satanism directly. The government needed a distraction from two issues: the rapid privatisation of the public sector (initiated by Mubarak's sweeping cabinet changes) and the intensifying criticism from exiled and imprisoned Islamic extremists accusing Egypt of being anti-Islam. Interior minister Hassan El Alfy became a national hero through his involvement with this crackdown on metal, though none of those arrested were ever convicted of a crime

"The government's brutal crackdown, informed by its high stakes wrangling with radical Islamic groups, was a calculated strategy that held up this group of 'practising Satanists' as a straw man against which to redefine its defence of Islam. It also provided a welcome distraction from the radical privatisation of the public sector. The practice of persecuting the metal communities then spread across the Arab world to Morocco, Bahrain and Jordan."

LEBANON BLAAKYUM

The leader of Lebanese thrash metal outliers Blaakyum, Bassem Deaibess, sees parallels between the events in Egypt and in his own career. His band have flown the flag for the nation's fertile metal scene for more than 20 years, during which he has twice been detained by the authorities, first in 1998 and again in 2002, caught in the wake of a similar anti-metal witch hunt. Just as in Egypt, metal fans were demonised by the authorities, and scapegoated to distract the population.

Speaking to tQ before participating in a discussion at Chatham House in London under the title 'Art As Defiance In The Middle East', he explains that the health of the metal scene in his home country has its peaks and troughs. "It goes up and down. Before 96 metal was huge; in the 80s during the civil war there were bands - I'd see the pictures, they had massive audiences, metal was just a regular thing you played in clubs. But then in 96 the first witch hunt happened, the whole Satanism and backward messaging stuff."

As in Egypt, these witch hunts coincided with political scandals that needed to be buried. "Every time there's something going on and you need to distract from what the institution is facing, you need to say 'oh look at these people'," Deaibess says. "The headlines were 'Hard rock music and backwards messaging is threatening the safety of our children', 'heavy metal and Satanism is infecting our society', such ridiculous stories. You'd turn on the TV and half of the news would be talking about metal and showing reports about how bad and horrible the music is. They incite mass hysteria and mass fear. When you're scared of your child being infected by this disease, you don't pay attention to what laws are being passed. Metal is a good scapegoat because it has all the elements that scare society. Politicians and religious institutions rule by striking fear. You need something that would scare people, and what's better than people who look strange, with long hair and earrings and headbanging and moshing? It's so alien in a conservative country like Lebanon. The people are extremely conservative, extremely religious, and extremely superstitious. The problem is not just the authorities, it's the mentality of the society, the prejudice and the discrimination against anyone that doesn't look like a regular Lebanese person."

'Alien' is certainly the word. When Deaibess was arrested in 1998, the questions he was asked would have seemed comical were it not for the gravity of what was at stake. "This guy with a big moustache sits down and says: 'So! What do you do when you see a black cat?' And I said: 'Well, I pet the cat.' They would say: 'But how do you pet the cat?' and then ask: 'Do you read The Koran upside down?' You could make a sitcom out of it." Deaibess got off relatively lightly; he says the band Kaoteon were beaten, stuffed in the boot of a car and faced nine days' imprisonment after their gig was raided because police believed their then name, Chaotaeon, translated into Arabic as "devils".

But what of the Lebanese metal scene in the years since? The years 2005 to 2010 saw a golden age of sorts, with 50 active metal bands selling out 2,000-capacity venues - not bad for a country with a population of around 4 million. In the years since, the scene has shrunk, but Deaibess says it remains stable, although prejudice still remains. "The worst thing is when you're walking the street, you see a mother who drags her child away from you and crosses the road - you're seen as this disgusting person."

That said, as a metal musician in Lebanon today, the scene is relatively fertile. "I like to think we have the best metal scene in the Middle East." There is still ignorance, of course - finding a sound person with the requisite knowledge of the genre to know that the distortion is in fact intentional can be a struggle when it comes to touring - but Deaibess says the metal community is as tolerant as can be in Lebanon's multi-faith, multi-ethnic society.

"It's very rare that anyone would ask your religion at a metal event. Of course it has its flaws, but the metal scene in Lebanon is the least sexist, the most tolerant when it comes to religion, it's one of the very few communities in Lebanon that's tolerant to atheists, any sexual orientation, no problem. No one would ever ask you. We did have at a certain point in time a segregation between communities, because areas in Lebanon are separated by religion, but not any more. Our community is very diverse, you have the really religious Christians and the really religious Muslims, the atheists, they're all together having fun, and arguing too."

SAUDI ARABIA AL NAMROOD

It is a different story in Saudi Arabia. Al Namrood, whose utterly uncompromising and utterly brilliant new album Enkar was released in May, are the country's only black metal band, one of the most intense musical forces in the world, let alone the Middle East, but must remain anonymous for their own safety. Their music takes a fearless stance against the country's authoritarian regime, and were they to be identified they would be stoned to death or beheaded for apostasy; CDs had to be smuggled into the country as contraband. When guitarsneed to be repaired, they have to be smuggled out.

A member of the band known only as 'Mephisto' spoke to tQ via email. "Metal is a good way of expression in this wretched world," he says, when asked just what keeps him motivated to continue despite the risks. He began playing guitar in 2006, having been directed to the genre online by "anger, hate and aggression" and a need for "intense, meaningful music with a strong vibe". Two years later, Al Namrood began.

"We look at the world as a free hub, where every human being is entitled to choose their way of life," Mephisto says, outlining the group's philosophy. "This is strongly defied in our society, [because they] fear that freedom is going to break religion. Most importantly, we do not tolerate any ideology to be forcefully shoved into our throat. The prospective is simple: just don't stay in our way and we won't stay in yours."

Yet the consequences of pursuing that ideology could be fatal. "Of course we worry, we can never guarantee that we will be safe," he says. They do not face day to day problems and prejudices as metal fans, simply because to give any indication of their allegiances would be a compromise of their life or death insistence on total anonymity. This extends to playing live. "We dont know if we ever will play [live] or just keep Al Namrood as studio project. We have to balance our wishes with the reality, if playing live will take us to execution, then we won't do it." It goes without saying that there is no visible metal 'scene' in the country. If there are any other bands in addition to Al Namrood, they remain utterly isolated from each other. "We keep hearing there are other black metal bands in the area, but we've seen none. When we started in the beginning we tried to get close to some various local bands but they rejected us due to our message and context of music."

Despite all of this, Al Namrood's music remains totally defiant. The video for 'Nabth' (which translates as 'Ostracised') is a ferocious case in point. The clip makes use of violent, difficult footage, of protests, riots and police brutality from across the Middle East, coupled with close-up shots of their own album artwork where Satanic, bearded figures wield knives and snakes under a sky painted an apocalyptic red, while a caged populace despairs.

Thanks to support from outside the country, Al Namrood have managed to reach a relatively wide audience globally, but to leave the country would be nearly impossible. "Immigration [is] very tight nowadays and the nationalists and conservative parties are becoming more lunatic toward immigrants. The political tension is this world is miserable and as a result, people became more xenophobic at some level. But say it loudly: this earth doesn't belong to anyone. Wherever we reside we will survive and do what we want, regardless of any obstacles."

ISRAEL MELECHESH

Melechesh come from Jerusalem, but they are now based in Germany. They are not Israeli or Palestinian, but from a "a small diaspora in Jerusalem of Armenians and Syrians, a very unique situation," as their formidable guitarist and frontman Ashmedi puts it. However with band members all over the world, and a high profile in the world of metal - they are signed to Nuclear Blast and play to crowds of tens of thousands they prefer to think of themselves as being from planet earth; Jerusalem is merely a point of origin.

That said, the region still bears its influence in his work. The mythology of Mesopotamia, in particular, though appropriated often by other bands, makes its presence felt - stories of the occult, the beginnings of man, and even pseudo-scientific conspiracy theories of ancient aliens revered in the region as gods, reinterpreted within the genre. "We are Armenians and Syrians," Ashmedi says. "A lot of the mythology from the region, the Sumerian, Babylonian, that is our mythology. A lot of bands around the world always toy with those kind of ideas or use a band names from a deity. We have our great, rich culture, and we might as well dive into it and represent it musically."

That's not to say that Melechesh want their background to be used as a mere promotional device. "We want to be responsible and make sure it's quality [music]. We don't want to be relying on it as a gimmick. We also want to have a credible approach to your music that is accessible to people: they don't know why they like it, it just sounds good, and not a one-trick pony. That's what we set about doing, and now we're an internationally recognised band with good sales, and insane concerts and festivals and tours, and I've made my living off it basically for the last 11 years."

The popularity of metal in Israel, and the fertile ground in which Melechesh made their name (they were the first non-Jewish group to get signed there) is also down in part to collapse of the Soviet Union, which saw a mass migration of around a million Russian Jews to the country as they were finally granted permission to leave Russia and the other former Soviet republics.

As for the modern politics of the region, there might be allusions and parallels drawn between the myths they delve into and the present day - 'Lost Tribes', for example, on the band's 2015 record Enki, can be read to have "a lot to do with Isis." However, Ashmedi is keen to point out: "Until [the West] find a new great villain away from the Middle East, it's going to still have negative connotations. Maybe 20-30 years it's going to be the nicest place for them to go make movies where they are the allies, not the villains.We don't play the game of politics, we transcend it. As a self-thinking person I have my opinions but I do not discuss them. The band Melechesh transcend that. We talk about the cosmic stuff, we show the beauty, the magic, the spice of the Middle East. All you see on TV is women's abuse, religion and war, and oil. Always negative stories, from the cradle of civilisation. There's so much more good than bad there, so I want to show that with the art."

On occasion, however, Ashmedi has been been caught up in the familiar cycle of sensationalised Satanism. In 1995, when they were still based in their home city, the demo release that saw them make waves in Israel's metal scene, As Jerusalem Burns (also the title of their debut album the following year), caught the eyes of the tabloid press. "We were approached by a big newspaper, and they used the headline 'A Satanic cult is existing is Jerusalem.' We were shocked. The authorities were suddenly interested in meeting me, but Ashmedi is my stage name so they couldn't find us. The newspaper at least did say 'They didn't kill anyone, we're not giving you their information.' However, the police then started arresting a lot of metalheads, so we kind of laid low. I left the country for a little bit, for two months. When I came back, they had much bigger problems - they forgot about us."

Once or twice the band have found themselves caught in the edge of the region's conflicts. Ashmedi remembers a bus exploding above the band's basement studio. They were playing so loud that they didn't hear it, only to emerge four hours later to dark, empty streets and worried families. "It was the 90s, lots of buses had been blowing up," Ashmedi says. "It was 50 metres away from us that the bus blew up, and my mum had seen it on TV. All our parents were freaking out, because they closed the road, and there's no phone, nothing, we were busy playing music. We went out four hours later and it was dark. We just saw a couple of police cars and they're cleaning the street, as if nothing happened."

In 1998 Melechesh relocated to Europe, first to the Netherlands, and then to Germany, although Israel for the most part was not an intolerant place to be a metal fan. "Israel is quite liberal to the Israelis, and to the Westerners," Ashmedi says. "Tel Aviv is one of the most liberal places in the world, and in Jerusalem there's a liberals as well as the religious people. In West Jerusalem where the Israeli and Jewish communities are, if they see a headbanger they don't care about it. They see anyone who's not a Hasidic Jew as not a Hasidic Jew, they don't see it as headbanger or not headbanger. And the liberals, they don't give a shit. In East Jerusalem, in the Arabic side, [metal] was new because there wasn't any headbangers there, so when I walked there with long hair with spikes and stuff they looked at me weirdly. But then [also] they knew I'm the foreign guy, the Armenian-Turkish guy."

Things have improved further still, and an underground metal band can draw a healthy crowd of 100 or so depending on their network, which this in part is thanks to Melechesh's status as trailblazers of the genre. "People are now actually proud of us, and in a Palestinian Time Out magazine Melechesh was the first artist of the month to have been been black metal." That said, as Ashmedi points out, Israel is "a very controversial, unique place, and I'm not a spokesperson or an ambassador for Israel. There's multiple societies in one country, and it differs [from one society to another]. If you're in East Jerusalem there's a few rockers but not one CD in the shops or anyone playing any rock songs, it just doesn't exist. If you're in West Jerusalem, it's still a niche but there are one or two rock bars that occasionally play metal. In Tel Aviv there's a couple of international bands playing there."

It was the practical benefits of moving to Europe rather than any drawbacks in Israeli society that prompted their relocation. "It's more fun being in Israel, like in Tel Aviv or something, because people are more social and there's a buzz there, but also there's less facilities. In Germany it's the metal centre of the world, it's part of their DNA, you see metal music on commercials. In Germany it's part of the culture; in Israel it's just a unique subculture."

IRAN AKVAN

In Iran, a musician known as Vizaresa wants to alter unfair perceptions of his country through his singular project Akvan. His focus is on the pre-Islamic, Zoroastrian Iran, using traditional instruments as part of a claustrophobic, uncompromising breed of genuinely terrifying black metal, drawing on the rich landscapes and deep Persian mythology of the area. The name Akvan comes from the name of a demon in the Shahnameh, the national epic poem of Iran, the antagonist of the god of Zoroastrianism, Ahura Mazda.

Before the Islamic revolution of 1979, Vizaresa's parents left Iran for the United States, where he spent a childhood enraptured by the power of heavy metal. "It moves me in a way nothing else can. For me, listening to metal is a very visceral and emotional experience. I am inspired by other forms of music, but metal is something different altogether. In the same vein as classical Western or [traditional Iranian] Sonati music, it's just so much more epic and intense. It's difficult to express in words. The lyrical content often deals with confrontational topics that require and encourage individual thought."

For the last few years he has been based in Iran, "to gain a better understanding of my ancestral home", and he releases his music via Bandcamp, on a tremendous series of EPs that take on themes like the ancient Persian hero Cyrus the Great. Speaking via email, he expresses a deep love for his country. "I hope to inspire fans and curious passers-by to conduct their own research into the ancient and epic history of Iran. Hopefully, they will come away with a more positive outlook in regard to this beautiful country. They will probably find that the Iran they hear about on their television set is nothing like the real thing," he says. "I would like them to see Iran as it is - an ancient, captivating and ecologically diverse land filled with romance, adventure, amazing people, exquisite cuisine, gorgeous art, a lustrous history, and a culture that has influenced every corner of the globe. For some odd reason, we are taught to judge nations based on their leaders and governments, and we lose sight of the actual people who live there. It's a shame, really. We have so much to gain from embracing one another, and so much to lose when we reject the opportunity to do so. And I hope my music, a mix of East and West, will serve as a model of what can be achieved when two different and seemingly unrelated elements are joined as one."

However hearfelt his love for Iran, however, in his approach to the ancient past Vizaresa takes a direct stance against the current Iranian regime, and although the stakes are not quite as high as in Saudi Arabia, like Al Namrood he has chosen to remain largely anonymous for the sake of his art. "As any scholar of history would know, Islam is not the original religion of Iran. Just like Christianity in Norway, Islam was forced on the Zoroastrian population through conquest and war. And as a result, our original culture faded, sort of. Although Islam was adopted, the Iranian culture largely survived. Since the thematic and lyrical elements of Akvan promote a return to pre-Islamic Iran, many of my songs are intended as opposition anthems."

He says he has to "play it safe", to avoid repercussions. Being a musician is not a crime in Iran, but "underground musicians, especially practitioners of metal, are automatically associated with devil-worship, blasphemy, apostasy, and expressing anti-regime sentiment. The punishment for these charges if found guilty: death." Working in his public life as a behavioural analyst, helping children and adults with autism, he says he looks like "the last person you'd suspect" of being a black metal musician. "I don't really talk about my music or personal beliefs outside of trusted circles and refrain from making a public spectacle of myself," Vizaresa continues. "I don't wear band T-shirts with overt themes of blasphemy and the occult in public. I think it also has a lot to do with my personality and my professional career. Regardless of where I am in the world, I have to maintain a professional appearance."

In Iran, social media websites are blocked. Circumnavigating that with a VPN slows internet speeds to the point where uploading a song onto YouTube becomes an ordeal. Meanwhile any "Western" music has to be acquired from underground bootleg shops, which mostly sell pop and rarely metal. As such, any developing Iranian metal scene is somewhat scattered and stilted. "No bands tour here, local or international. Merch? Forget about it. So yeah, not a real happening place for metal fans," says Vizaresa, who has never played or even attended a live show. The only option for gigs are taken at bands' own risks in secluded locations - a house party beyond the city limits, for example. "I've heard that in the past, certain venues allowed bands to perform without vocals for a few limited shows, although audience members were required to remain seated throughout the performance. This obviously didn't last long."

As a US citizen, Vizaresa has the option to return to the States and avail himself of regular shows, self-expression, and a chance to capitalise on the waves his work has made in the West. Given the metal scene in Iran is, as he puts it, so "scattered and isolated", it does raise the question of why exactly he remains. "I actually like it here," he says. "I mean, life here certainly has its issues and there are things I see everyday that I am completely opposed to, but the same could be said of the US and most anywhere in the world. The general population, the people of Iran, not the government, are very modern, sophisticated, and hospitable. The culture here is infinitely rich and the streets have a very vibrant feel to them. It also helps that the local cuisine is absolutely delicious. Almost everywhere you turn, there is some historical landmark accompanied by its own myths and legends."

Vizaresa's is a different Iran, a country defined not by the images of tyranny and repression we're often shown, but by its ordinary culture and rich history. "It's actually quite sad and frustrating, because here you have this amazing place, filled to the brim with breathtaking landscapes, culture, history, and a noble people, and on the other hand you have this stuff that completely ruins it. I guess that's why I do what I do. I try to invoke a sense of return to the majesty, to the Iran that was and still can be."

EGYPT TWENTY YEARS ON

Inquisition, live in Cairo, 2016

In Egypt today, though many remain wary because of the events of the past, for the most part the nation's metal scene has largely re-emerged. As an anonymous fan puts it: "I really think the state and authorities also have matured and on the contrary would rather have kids busy with riffs, Satan and drugs than politics, no?"

In 2015, however, one member of the scene, Nader Sadek, found himself facing trouble after booking the legendary American black metal band Inquisition for a show. "People watched with jaws on the floor," he tells tQ. "Four hundred people came to the show - it was amazing." He'd had successful shows in the past that had gone without a hitch, both as a performer and promoting bands such as Aborted and Alkaloid, but two days after the Inquisition show there were claims from the country's Musicians Syndicate about the gig that echoed the sensationalised events of 1997. "[It was claimed we were] all cloaked in stars of David, with a Qatari DJ performing, and together we were worshipping the devil. Of course it was all nonsense." The head of the Syndicate, Hany Shaker, said Satanic music was being brought to Egypt as part of a Western conspiracy to spread "chaos and immorality".

The Syndicate later claimed it was merely concerned that the bands playing did not have the correct permits, but Sadek scored a victory when he appeared with one of its representatives on Egyptian national television. "The hostess was educated and we basically exposed the Syndicate: uneducated, uncultured and inconsistent in their lies," he says. "In an attempt to salvage themselves they said it was a case of missing permits, which made them look worse, as they basically admitted to lying."

Yet in a key progression from the reaction that metal fans received 20 years ago, there was far less public hysteria. "Something quite amazing happened," he says. "The intellectual media came to my defence, and so did [high-profile Egyptian billionaire businessman] Naguib Sawiris. The Syndicate was ridiculed." His battle for what he sees as freedom of expression within heavy metal is far from over, however. Last year, his plans to bring Brazilian metal legends Sepultura to the country were shut down, and Sadek was arrested. He is currently involved in a legal battle with Hany Shaker, the head of the Musician's Union, whom he is suing for defamation and libel. Worrying, too, is the fact that in 2015 the Egyptian government granted the Syndicate powers of arrest, though some Egyptian musicians believe the practical effect of that is simply to make it easier for the Syndicate to extort bribes in order to let shows go ahead.

Heavy Metal in the Middle East

Fans enjoy Inquisition, live in Cairo, 2016

These interviews cover just five countries, and comprise just snapshots of Middle Eastern heavy metal. It would be impossible to surmise its place among host of nations, each with its own cultural, religious and geographical pecularities. There is no such single definition of a Middle Eastern metalhead some have endured torture and imprisonment, others risk their lives on a daily basis and must isolate themselves in the extreme for the love of their art, while others lead the way for diverse, accepting creative communities.

The common thread between them all, however, is of utter devotion to their craft, whatever the consequences. There is something about metal as a genre, so often the refuge of music's true outsiders, that has always bred an extra edge to the dedication of its fans. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Al-Namrood's insistence to keep risking death for their cause, in the persistence of a band like Blaakyum, for whom another witch hunt could begin at any moment, in Akvan and Melechesh's defiant promotion of the region's beauty, history, and above all, people.

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Witch Hunts, Resurgence and Defiance: Heavy Metal In The Middle East - The Quietus

The Trinity Is Not Just for Trinity Sunday, But for Every Day of the Year – Patheos (blog)

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The Trinity Is Not Just for Trinity Sunday, But for Every Day of the Year

The doctrine of the Trinity is not just for Trinity Sunday (June 11th, 2017), but for every day of the year. Unfortunately, according to Lesslie Newbigin, many Christians from the High Middle Ages up until the latter half of the twentieth century were averse to referencingthe Trinity, perhaps not even on Trinity Sunday:

It has been said that the question of the Trinity is the one theological question that has been really settled. It would, I think, be nearer to the truth to say that the Nicene formula has been so devoutly hallowed that it is effectively put out of circulation. It has been treated like the talent that was buried for safekeeping rather than risked in the commerce of discussion. The church continues to repeat the trinitarian formula butunless I am greatly mistakenthe ordinary Christian in the Western world who hears or reads the word God does not immediately and inevitably think of the Triune BeingFather, Son, and Spirit. He thinks of a supreme monad. Not many preachers, I suspect, look forward eagerly to Trinity Sunday. The working concept of God for most ordinary Christians isif one may venture a bold guessshaped more by the combination of Greek philosophy and Islamic theology that was powerfully injected in the thought of Christendom at the beginning of the High Middle Ages than by the thought of the fathers of the first four centuries.[1]

Why the aversion? Perhaps it was due to a growing and pervasive rationalism. Newbigin was not alone in lamenting the lack of Trinitarian thought forms in Western thought. Michael Buckleyhas alsonoted the lack of engagement of Trinitarian theology in Christian apologists engagement of budding atheists in the modern period.[2]While rationalism is an ongoing problem, other forces that wage war today againstrobust Trinitarian reflection in many circles areconsumerism and pragmatism. We easily settle for quick-fix, base commodityspirituality and short-term solutions to problems. However, quick fix spirituality and pragmatism cannot help us contend against impersonalism and materialism. The increasingly impersonal and materialistic view of the world in the modern age beckons us to give account once again to the Fathers interaction with the cosmosnot imposing his willfrom withoutbut entering into the world through his Son and Spirits interpersonal and communal engagement from within the historical process.

While the Trinity is not just for Trinity Sunday, but for every Sunday and every day of the year, it is not the case that any construal of the Trinity goes.Newbigin took issue with certain social Trinitarian constructs being developed in his day (for example, in Konrad Raisers ecumenical thought) in such a way that they dominated Christological categories and the gospel message in service to democratic notions of governance. Newbigin challenges this approach: What gives ground for anxiety here is the positing of a Trinitarian model against the model of Christocentric universalism. The doctrine of the Trinity was not developed in response to the human need for participatory democracy! It was developed in order to account for the facts that constitute the substance of the gospel.[3]

While needing to safeguard against excessive or abusive uses of the Trinity for our own ends, we should not throw out the baby with the dirty bathwater. One of the most striking features and implications of Trinitarian reflection for the gospel is that we are not alone. Thus, it would be short-sighted or narrow-minded to limit the Trinitys significance to Trinity Sunday. Jesus goes with us, even as he invites us to go into all the world, as reported in Matthew 28:18-20. The Great Commission is the Great Communion in which we participate in the life of the triune God while bearing witness to the good news of God calling all humanityto respond to his personal lovethrough faith in Jesus every day of the year across the globe. In Matthew 28:18-20, we find that we are called to baptize people into the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, teaching Jesus disciples to obey his commandments which are summed up in loving God with all our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:34-40). As Jesus goes with us, and the Spirit dwells in us and empowers us, we invite people to enter Gods community as members of the divine family.

Hierarchal, impersonal and materialistic constructs of reality that eclipse the triune God, on the one hand, and democratic notions imposed on the triune God, on the other hand, will never displace the longing we have for God to be our God and to dwell in his peoples midst as Immanuel until the end of the age (Matthew 1:23; Matthew 28:20). Only in this relational and mysterious manner can the church truly overcome the impersonal and secular mundane. The Trinity is not just for Trinity Sunday, assembly line spirituality, secular democracy, or theology then, but for every one and for every day of the year.

_______________

[1]Lesslie Newbigin, The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), pages 2728.

[2]Michael J. Buckley, S.J.,At the Origins of Modern Atheism(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987), page 33.

[3]See the full context of the quotation (page 7) inLesslie Newbigin, The Trinity as Public Truth, in Kevin J. Vanhoozer, ed., The Trinity in a Pluralistic Age: Theological Essays on Culture and Religion (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1997), pages 7-8. Never should relationality overshadow God as divine Trinity. Rather, the reverse should always remain the case. Paul Molnar critiques asocial-Trinitarianstate of affairs in which Relationality [has become] the subject, and God the predicate. Paul D. Molnar, Divine Freedom and the Doctrine of the Immanent Trinity: In Dialogue with Karl Barth and Contemporary Theology (London: T. & T. Clark, 2002), page 227.

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The Trinity Is Not Just for Trinity Sunday, But for Every Day of the Year - Patheos (blog)

Footballer and fiancee face fresh battle over humanist wedding – Yorkshire Post

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Model Laura Lacole and footballer Eunan O'Kane are battling to secure official recognition of their humanist wedding.

09:12 Monday 12 June 2017

A COURT ruling granting a Leeds United footballer and his model fiance legal recognition of their looming humanist wedding is set to be appealed.

Laura Lacole and Whites midfielder Eunan OKane mounted a successful challenge against the authorities in Northern Ireland for refusing to recognise their June 22 ceremony in law.

But Fridays decision in Belfast High Court is now to be appealed by Northern Irelands Attorney General John Larkin QC.

Leeds United footballer and glamour model appeal over humanist weddingMs Lacole and Mr OKane launched the legal bid after learning their planned humanist wedding in Ballymenas luxury Galgorm Resort would not be recognised in law. For such recognition, they were told, they would need to have a separate civil ceremony.

The couple took the case against the General Register Office for Northern Ireland and Stormonts Department of Finance.

Mr Larkin also participated in the hearing because it touched on devolved Stormont legislation.

On Friday, Judge Mr Justice Colton quashed the GROs refusal to grant legal recognition, finding such a position breached the couples rights under the European Convention.

Andrew Copson, chief executive of Humanists UK, which is supporting the couples case, said he was disappointed by the appeal.

This is a very disappointing development given the comprehensive nature of the judgment and is deeply upsetting for both Laura and Eunan, who were so happy to have had certainty in relation to their wedding later this month, he said.

Humanism is a non-religious belief system that rejects the concepts of a higher deity or afterlife.

Humanists adhere to a scientific view of the world and believe humans steer their own destiny.

Humanist marriages are already legally recognised in Scotland, but not in England and Wales. They are also recognised in the Republic of Ireland.

Read more...

Leeds United footballer and glamour model appeal over humanist weddingLeeds United: Agent distances Stam from Elland Road jobBygones: When the fiercest of international rivalries left Trevor Cherry with two front teeth missing

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Footballer and fiancee face fresh battle over humanist wedding - Yorkshire Post

Why Censoring The Internet Would Make It Harder To Fight Terrorism – The Federalist

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U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May has called forgreater regulation of the Internetto combat the growing threat of Islamist extremism.Addressing the public after the latest attack on Londonthe third act of Islamist terrorism in the U.K. this yearMay rightly placed blame for the string of recent attacks on the evil ideology of Islamist extremism.

Defeating this ideology is one of the great challenges of our time, she said. But it cannot be defeated by military intervention alone. It will only be defeated when we turn peoples minds away from this violence and make them understand that our valuespluralistic British valuesare superior to anything offered by the preachers and supporters of hate.

To combat this evil ideology, May has proposed greater regulation of the internet, imposed through international agreements, in order to prevent the spread of extremist and terrorism planning.

We cannot allow this ideology the safe space it needs to breed, May said. Yet that is precisely what the internet, and the big companies that provide Internet-based services provide.

May is yet to outline the details of her proposal. But ifinitial reportsare anything to go by, it is likely to include laws forcing companies to weaken their encryption standardsmaking all online data less secureas well as a push for new international agreements that require internet companies to deny a platform to extremist propaganda. In other words, it will be nothing short of a China-style regime of internet censorshipa comparison May hasdeclined to refute.

This proposal has alreadygained the supportof Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, after Australia suffered its own small attackon Monday, when a lone gunmanclaimed as a soldier of ISISkilled one man and took a women hostage.The idea is also likely to gain support from President Trump, who called for closing that Internet up in some way,during his campaign.

It is good to see a western political leader facing up to the challenge posed by Islamist ideology. But increased internet censorship is not the solution to this problem. It will only make the problem harder to combat by infringing on legitimate speech, pushing the problem further underground, and leaving the real-life safe spaces untouched.

The internet safe space argument is compelling. Its undeniable that groups like ISIS devote considerable resources to online propaganda, and have motivated people in the west to both join them and to carry out attacks in their homelands. People are right to worry about lone wolves being radicalized on the internet.

But this doesnt describe the perpetrators of the last three attacks in the U.K., most of whom were already known to the police. Nor does it describe the Australian terrorist, who not only had a history of violence and connections to terrorism, but was out on bail at the time of the attack.

More importantly, it ignores the far greater problem of the safe spaces Islamist extremism benefits from in the real world.For too long terrorist attacks have been met with little more than stoic sympathy and willful blindness, as leaders deny that repeated attacks are anything more than the actions of a few maniacs, with no discernible connection to the religion of Islam.

On the one hand, its understandable for political leaders not to want to ascribe blame to the wider Muslim community, the vast majority of whom have nothing whatsoever to do with the barbarism carried out in the name of their religion.

On the other hand, this approach has only exacerbated the problem by insulating the Muslim communityand therefore Islamismfrom the sort of criticism that all other groups in western societies are subjected to. In many European countries, this bigotry of low expectations has led to the development of entire suburbs that are de-facto no-go zonesareas of a city that are completely disconnected from wider society, where its dangerous for any non-Muslims to enter.

A prime example is the area of Molenbeek, in Belgium, where an alleged participant in theNovember 13Paris attacks (which left 130 people dead and 368 wounded) wasable to hide outfor nearly four months, despite being the most wanted man in Europe.Theres nowhere as bad as Molenbeek in the U.K., but the British Muslim community has nevertheless been afforded the kind of protection from criticism that no other community enjoys.

The harm caused by this insidious political correctness was highlighted in 2014, when anindependent inquiryfound that police, community leaders, and local politicians had systematically failed to prevent the sexual exploitation of 1,400 children between 1997 and 2013a figure described as a conservative estimatein the north-England town of Rotherham (population 257,000).

The reason blamed for this failure was thefear of being accused of racism, since these so-called grooming gangs were mostly made up of Muslims of Pakistani origin. Even when the crimes were eventually reported, the perpetrators were described as mostly Asian men, rather than as Muslims.

It obviously goes without saying that these appalling crimes are not the fault of all British Muslims, most of whom would be horrified by such behavior. Nevertheless, it highlights the failure of British society to hold the Muslim community to the same standards as everyone else.

Its undeniable that appallingly illiberal views have been allowed to persist in the British Muslim community. In a2015 pollof 1,000 British Muslim, 27 percent said they have some sympathy for the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris. Anadditional 2016 pollfound that two out of three British Muslims would not report someone they knew to the police, if they became involved with terrorist sympathizers. These sentiments arent new. A2006 pollfound that 20 percent of British Muslism had sympathy for the motivations of the London bombings of July 7, 2005 (which left 52 people dead and784injured).

Its unlikely that these attitudes, which are alarmingly out of step with the rest of British society, would still exist if not for their safe spaces, created by the taboo on criticism of Islam. The first step to combating Islamist extremism is to remove this taboo.

Not only will increasing internet censorship do nothing to remove the safe-spaces that exist in the real world, it may even make the problem worse.

There is simply no way to completely censor anything in the internet age. All states can do is push ideas and discussions further underground, where the ideas are harder to combat and where it is harder for intelligence services to keep track of thema point stressed by the U.K.s leading digital advocacy organization, theOpen Rights Group.

There is also a long track record of anti-free speech lawsdesigned to protect the public from harmful speechbeing used suppress discussion of important issues, simply because they are controversial and may offend some people.In 2016, Dutch politician Geert Wilders wasfound guiltyof violating Hate Speech laws for comments he made in 2014 that were demeaning and thereby insulting towards the Moroccan population. Wilders had asked a roomful of his supporter if they wanted to have more or fewer Moroccans in the country. When the crowd shouted back Fewer! he replied, Well, well take care of that.

In the recentMarch 15election, Wilders party got over 1.3 million votes (13.6 percent), so he clearly represents a significant proportion of the Dutch population. He would not have this support if the issues he talks about didnt resonate with the public. Ironically, these are the same issues that Mays proposal is attempting to addressnamely, the spread of radical Islamism.

People might disagree with the solutions Wilders proposes, but this is not the way to combat unwanted ideas. No one is served when we collectively decide to stick our heads in the sand. The problem will not magically disappear.

There is every reason to expect that Mays internet censorship proposal will also be used to suppress more than just Islamist propaganda. Perhaps the best evidence of this is a private conversation between German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, which waspicked up by a hot micin 2015. Merkel was overheardasking Zuckerberg what he was doing about anti-immigrant posts on Facebook. Zuckerbergs response was, We need to do some work. Make no mistake, this was nothing short of an attempt to reduce opposition to Merkels unprecedented decision to open Germanys borders to a seemingly unlimited number of refugees and migrants from the Middle East and North Africa.

Mays internet censorship proposal will create the infrastructure for politicians like Merkel to not just ask internet companies to act, but demand it.

Several European countries introduced Hate Speech laws in order to prevent the sort of anti-Semitism that led to the Holocaust. However, not only have these laws failed to eradicate anti-Semitism, it is now widely reported to be on the rise throughout Europe. The situation has gotten so bad, some people are now discussing whether itstime for the Jews to leave Europe, for good.

The situation could not be more different in the United States, which has become arguably the safest country for Jews on earth. The U.S. is also significantly better than Europe at integrating its immigrant population, including its Muslim population. This is because of the First Amendment, which helps ensure the existence of a vibrant and robust marketplace of ideas in which extremist propaganda can be combatted. This is an important lesson for western societies to learn: Free speech is the best way to combat unwanted ideas.

The western world needs to combat the ideology of radical Islamism. But this is only possible if we can openly discuss issues, free from the kind of politically correct taboos that have insulated the Muslim community. Mays internet censorship proposal will only make this more difficult.

Patrick Hannaford is an Australian writer based in Washington DC.

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Why Censoring The Internet Would Make It Harder To Fight Terrorism - The Federalist

Free speech: Ted Wheeler is the enemy he invokes – The Fayette Tribune

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Ted Wheeler, the mayor of Portland, Oregon, wants to control who can say and hear what. He's asked the federal government to cancel one permit and deny another, both for "alt-right" demonstrations at Portland's Shrunk Plaza.

His excuse: Portland is "in mourning" and its "anger is real" over an incident in which an anti-Muslim bigot, Jeremy Joseph Christian, allegedly harassed two women on a commuter train and then stabbed three men who came to their defense, two of them fatally.

Not a bad excuse as excuses go, I guess, but no excuse can be allowed to trump our rights of free speech and peaceable assembly. On this matter, Mayor Wheeler is objectively taking the same position as Christian: The position that it is acceptable to use force to suppress ideas one disagrees with.

There are two metaphorical ways to describe a world in which various ideas compete for our attention and allegiance. Each of those metaphors has consequences.

Metaphor 1: A "marketplace of ideas" in which the best product wins out because it is sold with good arguments and people like it better. In this marketplace, any idea can be offered at any time by anyone who supports it. Hopefully the better ones get enough "market share" to be implemented; if an idea doesn't work out, its supporters can move on to another.

Metaphor 2: A "war of ideas" in which things take a darker turn. The competing sides each conclude that their ideas cannot win out unless the alternatives are excluded not just from adoption, but from discussion and consideration. At some point, force inevitably becomes the instrument of that exclusion. The war ceases to be metaphorical. America is clearly at such a point now with the increasing frequency of riots and street fights over politics.

Even scarier than ad hoc riots and street fights, though, are calls by government officials for suppression of political speech through government permit schemes, police action to disperse demonstrators, etc.

The difference between Ted Wheeler and an "alt-right" agitator with a baseball bat is that Wheeler has a full-time police force, armed with lethal weaponry and effective legal immunity for its actions, at his beck and call.

We've seen societies in which the likes of Wheeler lay down a party line and the police break out their tear gas and truncheons to suppress all opposition to that line. For example, the Soviet Union, Italy, and Germany before, and eastern Europe after, World War Two.

I don't want to live in such a society. Hopefully you don't either. The events in question shouldn't even require a permit or the permission of Ted Wheeler. Freedom is our path away from the war and back to the marketplace.

(Thomas L. Knapp is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism, thegarrisoncenter.org. He lives and works in north central Florida. Follow him on Twitter @thomaslknapp.)

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Free speech: Ted Wheeler is the enemy he invokes - The Fayette Tribune

Decision time at the Supreme Court: Rulings expected soon on religion, free speech and immigration – Los Angeles Times

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Its decision time at the Supreme Court, as the justices prepare to hand down the final rulings of their current term by the end of this month. They are due to rule in 21 cases, including disputes over religion, free speech and immigration that could have broad significance.

This years term has been quieter than normal. It began in the fall when eight justices were waiting for the presidential election to decide who would fill the seat left vacant by the death of Antonin Scalia. New Justice Neil M. Gorsuch arrived in mid-April in time to hear about a dozen cases.

Most of this years docket was taken up with cases that asked the justices to clarify the law, not settle a highly contentious issue.

Before their summer recess, the justices are also expected to act on several pending appeals.

Lawyers for President Trump want the court to issue an order putting into effect his scaled-down foreign travel ban and then to grant review in the fall of the appeals court ruling that declared it unconstitutional.

The justices have also spent weeks considering appeals in three cases that could lead to major rulings if they are granted review for the fall. One involves a Colorado baker who turned away a gay couples request for a wedding cake. At issue is a clash between religious rights and a states anti-discrimination law. The other two cases test the reach of the 2nd Amendment and the right to bear arms.

The court is also expected to take up a major case on partisan gerrymandering from Wisconsin which could yield early next year an important ruling on political power.

Here are notable cases due to be decided this month:

Must a state offer equal funds to church schools if other private groups may qualify? A seemingly small dispute over the playground at a Lutheran day center in Missouri could trigger a major shift in church-state law. Most states constitutions forbid sending tax money to a church. Religious rights advocates sued when Missouri refused to pay for rubberizing a church schools playground, and they argue the court should strike down the limits on state funds going to churches as discriminatory and abridging the 1st Amendments protection for the free exercise of religion. The court heard the case in April, a few days after Gorsuch arrived. (Trinity Lutheran vs. Comer)

Does the federal trademark law violate the freedom of speech because it forbids names and phrases that may disparage people or groups? Washington, D.C.s pro football team, the Redskins, are in danger of losing their trademark because of this provision. The justices heard the case of an Asian American band that calls itself the Slants and seemed divided over whether this was a racial slight or humor. (Lee vs. Tam)

May U.S. authorities arrest and jail for as long as needed immigrants who face deportation, or does the Constitutions guarantee of due process of law accord them a bond hearing within six months and possible release if they pose no danger or flight risk? A class-action lawsuit in Los Angeles challenged the long-term detention of these immigrants, many of whom typically go on to win their cases and are eventually set free. It led to a ruling from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals putting limits on the jailing of immigrants. The case was heard in November shortly after President Trump was elected. (Jennings vs. Rodriguez)

Can a U.S. border patrol agent be sued for fatally shooting a Mexican teenager who was standing on the other side of the border? Video of the officer killing the 15-year-old boy provoked outrage along the border, but U.S. officials refused to prosecute the agent, and federal judges threw out a lawsuit filed by the boys parents on the grounds that the Constitution did not protect the Mexican boy on Mexican soil. In cases about the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, however, the court has said the Constitutions protection did extend to territory beyond the border that was under the control of U.S. authorities. (Hernandez vs. Mesa)

Is breaking into a garage or empty home a crime of violence that requires the deportation of a longtime legal immigrant? The law says noncitizens who are guilty of an aggravated felony, including a crime of violence, must be deported. But it is not clear what crimes qualify. A Filipino native who has lived in Northern California since 1992 faces deportation for a 10-year-old burglary conviction involving break-ins of a garage and a house. But the 9th Circuit Court said the law itself was unconstitutionally vague because it did not define a crime of violence. (Sessions vs. Dimaya)

david.savage@latimes.com

On Twitter: DavidGSavage

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Decision time at the Supreme Court: Rulings expected soon on religion, free speech and immigration - Los Angeles Times

Why Are Atheists Generally Smarter Than Religious People? – HuffPost

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For more than a millennium, scholars have noticed a curious correlation: Atheists tend to be more intelligent than religious people.

Its unclear why this trend persists, but researchers of a new study have an idea: Religion is an instinct, they say, and people who can rise above instincts are more intelligent than those who rely on them.

Intelligence in rationally solving problems can be understood as involving overcoming instinct and being intellectually curious and thus open to non-instinctive possibilities, study lead author Edward Dutton, a research fellow at the Ulster Institute for Social Research in the United Kingdom, said in a statement. [Saint or Spiritual Slacker? Test Your Religious Knowledge]

In classical Greece and Rome, it was widely remarked that fools tended to be religious, while the wise were often skeptics, Dutton and his co-author, Dimitri Van der Linden, an assistant professor of psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands, wrote in the study.

The ancients werent the only ones to notice this association. Scientists ran a meta-analysis of 63 studies and found that religious people tend to be less intelligent than nonreligious people. The association was stronger among college students and the general public than for those younger than college age, they found. The association was also stronger for religious beliefs, rather than religious behavior, according to the meta-analysis, published in 2013 in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Review.

But why does this association exist? Dutton set out to find answer, thinking that perhaps it was because nonreligious people were more rational than their religious brethren, and thus better able to reason that there was no God, he wrote.

But more recently, I started to wonder if Id got it wrong, actually, Dutton told Live Science. I found evidence that intelligence is positively associated with certain kinds of bias.

For instance, a 2012 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychologyshowed that college students often get logical answers wrong but dont realize it. This so-called bias blind spot happens when people cannot detect bias, or flaws, within their own thinking. If anything, a larger bias blind spot was associated with higher cognitive ability, the researchers of the 2012 study wrote in the abstract.

One question, for example, asked the students: A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? The problem isnt intuitive (the answer is not 10 cents), but rather requires students to suppress or evaluatethe first solution that springs into their mind, the researchers wrote in the study. If they do this, they might find the right answer: The ball costs 5 cents, and the bat costs $1.05.

If intelligent people are less likely to perceive their own bias, that means theyre less rational in some respects, Dutton said. So why is intelligence associated with atheism? The answer, he and his colleague suggest, is that religion is an instinct, and it takes intelligence to overcome an instinct, Dutton said. [8 Ways Religion Impacts Your Life]

The religion-is-an-instinct theory is a modified version of an idea developed by Satoshi Kanazawa, an evolutionary psychologist at the London School of Economics, who was not involved in the new study.

Called the Savanna-IQ Interaction Hypothesis, Kanazawas theory attempts to explain the differences in the behavior and attitudes between intelligent and less intelligent people, said Nathan Cofnas, who is pursuing a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom this fall. Cofnas, who specializes in the philosophy of science, was not involved with the new study.

The hypothesis is based on two assumptions, Cofnas told Live Science in an email.

First, that we are psychologically adapted to solve recurrent problems faced by our hunter-gatherer ancestorsin the African savanna, Cofnas said. Second, that general intelligence (what is measured by IQ tests) evolved to help us deal withnonrecurrentproblems for which we had no evolved psychological adaptations.

The assumptions imply that intelligent people should be better than unintelligent people at dealing with evolutionary novelty situations and entities that did not exist in the ancestral environment, Cofnas said.

Dutton and Van der Linden modified this theory, suggesting that evolutionary novelty is something that opposes evolved instincts.

The approach is an interesting one, but might have firmer standing if the researchers explained exactly what they mean by religious instinct, Cofnas said.

Dutton and Van der Linden propose that, if religion has an instinctual basis, intelligent people will be better able to overcome it and adopt atheism, Cofnas said. But without knowing the precise nature of the religious instinct, we cant rule out the possibility that atheism, or at least some forms of atheism, harness the same instinct(s).

For instance, author Christopher Hitchens thought that communism was a religion; secular movements, such as veganism, appeal to many of the same impulses and possibly instincts that traditional religions do, Cofnas said. Religious and nonreligious movements both rely on faith, identifying with a community of believersand zealotry, he said.

I think its misleading to use the term religion as a slur for whatever you dont like, Cofnas said.

The researchers also examined the link between instinct and stress, emphasizing that people tend to operate on instinct during stressful times, for instance, turning to religion during a near-death experience.

The researchers argue that intelligence helps people rise above these instincts during times of stress. [11 Tips to Lower Stress]

If religion is indeed an evolved domain an instinct then it will become heightened at times of stress, when people are inclined to act instinctively, and there is clear evidence for this, Dutton said. It also means that intelligence allows us to be able to pause and reason through the situation and the possible consequences of our actions.

People who are able to rise above their instincts are likely better problem-solvers, Dutton noted.

Lets say someone had a go at you. Your instinct would be to punch them in the face, Dutton told Live Science. A more intelligent person will be able to stop themselves from doing that, reason it through and better solve the problem, according to what they want.

The study was published May 16 in the journal Evolutionary Psychological Science.

Original article on Live Science.

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Why Are Atheists Generally Smarter Than Religious People? - HuffPost

Putin talks NATO, gay rights in interviews with Oliver Stone – ABC News

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Russian President Vladimir Putin says that early on in his tenure he floated the idea of Russia joining NATO.

In a series of interviews with American film director Oliver Stone, Putin said he inquired about Russia joining the alliance when then-U.S. President Bill Clinton visited Moscow in 2000.

"During the meeting I said: 'Let's consider an option that Russia might join NATO,'" Putin recalled. "Clinton said 'Why not?' But the U.S. delegation got very nervous."

Putin had said in an interview several months before Clinton's June 2000 visit that he wasn't opposed to Russia joining the alliance, but his comment to Stone was the first public indication of his raising the issue.

Stone conducted the interviews in 2015-17. They are to be shown on U.S. cable channel Showtime in four parts beginning Monday. The first two hour-long segments were made available to news media before the showing.

In the segments, Putin portrays Russia under his leadership as seeking to improve ties, but frustrated by Washington's "imperialist mentality."

Despite Putin's onetime interest in joining NATO, in the interviews he criticized the alliance for expanding eastward to Russia's borders.

Putin defended the country's controversial law on banning dissemination to minors of "propaganda" legitimizing homosexuality, saying "the reasoning behind this law is to provide children with the opportunity to grow up without impacting their consciousness." Although there is widespread animosity toward homosexuality in Russia and authorities regularly deny gay rights activists permission to rally, Putin said "our society is liberal-minded to a great extent."

After Putin noted that there is no formal prohibition of gays in the military, Stone asked if Putin would take a shower on a submarine with a gay crewman.

"I prefer not to go to the shower with him. Why provoke him?" Putin said.

He also provided a rare bit of detail about his family, telling Stone that he had grandchildren. Little is known about his two daughters and Putin gave no additional clues, saying only that they were accomplished women.

"You're a very lucky man," Stone told him.

The segments also show Stone praising the film "Doctor Strangelove" as a formative insight into the Cold War, and he then watches it with Putin, who doesn't appear impressed. Stone then presents him with the package for the DVD of the film, forgetting to include the disc itself, and Putin jests: "Typical American gift."

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Putin talks NATO, gay rights in interviews with Oliver Stone - ABC News

Trump backs NATO defence pledge but again demands nations pay up – Express.co.uk

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Getty

Mr Trump pledged the United States support for the mutual defence of NATO members, casting aside concerns that his failure to mention the commitment had weakened the alliance.

He said: I'm committing the United States to Article 5.

"Certainly we are there to protect, and that's one of the reasons that I want people to make sure we have a very, very strong force by paying the kind of money necessary to have that force.

But yes, absolutely, I'd be committed to Article 5."

Mr Trump made his comments while speaking to reporters at a news conference on Friday with visiting Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.

Article 5 states that an attack on one member is an attack on all members and binds the allies to come to that country's defence.

But, during his trip to Europe to meet NATO members, Mr Trump spent more time berating them for their lack of contributions than committing to Article 5.

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It left the heads of European countries deeply concerned at his lack of commitment and the fact that he didnt mention the clause in a speech at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Instead, in that speech, Mr Trump demanded allies live up to a pledge to spend two per cent of their gross domestic product on defence by 2024.

There are rumours he had wanted to demand three per cent instead from member states, but had backtracked on that idea.

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He did not specifically mention Article 5, which has only been invoked once, after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

However, The White House later reaffirmed the commitment for him in a statement announcing that the president would visit Poland next month as part of his second foreign trip.

They billed it as showing America's support of Poland, as well as the president's commitment to strengthening NATO's "collective defence."

Mr Trump's omission in Brussels raised concerns on both sides of the Atlantic.

But White House aides said the president's support was implied even though he deliberately did not utter the words.

Still allies had questions about Trump's belief in the value of NATO, which he had termed "obsolete" during the presidential campaign.

On Friday, Trump noted that only a handful of NATO's 29 members - Montenegro joined just this week - were meeting the two per cent pledge. But he said the US would abide by its treaty obligations.

He said: "We're going to make NATO very strong.

"You need the money to make it strong. You can't just do what we've been doing in the past."

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Trump backs NATO defence pledge but again demands nations pay up - Express.co.uk

Focus on Latvia-Russia border as Canadian troops lead NATO … – CTV News

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As Canadian soldiers join NATO troops in Latvia as part of Operation Reassurance, the tensions between Russia and its Baltic neighbours are especially felt in Latvian border towns.

Operation Reassurance is a multinational NATO mission aimed at discouraging Russian aggression in central and eastern Europe. Canada is deploying a total of 450 troops to Latvia to lead a battlegroup of soldiers from five other NATO countries: Italy, Spain, Poland, Slovenia and Albania.

The battlegroup is hoping to deter Russian troops from entering Latvian towns like Karsava, which is close to the Russian border and has a large Russian population. Following Russian annexation of Crimea in Ukraine more than three years ago, there are fears that similar scenarios could occur in Latvia.

One man, Juris, who lives near the Russian border, told CTV News that he welcomes the Canadian-led NATO battlegroup as a security guarantee in the region.

At the end of the day, he doesnt fear Russia and thinks tensions in the Baltics are mostly the result of posturing and politics. But he did express concern that the NATO troop build-up could provoke the Russians.

In September, Russia is planning to deploy thousands of troops for a military exercise just a few kilometres from the Latvian border as a show of force. For many Latvians, this is unsettling.

The Latvian government and NATO officials hope the Canadian-led battlegroup will send a strong message to Russia to stay inside its borders and out of towns like Karsava.

The Canadian troops will be stationed at Camp Adazi, a Latvian military base just outside of Riga.

With a report from CTVs Mercedes Stephenson

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Focus on Latvia-Russia border as Canadian troops lead NATO ... - CTV News