Lega Nord separatists align with Kremlin against Italia and Europa

Lega Nord separatists align with Kremlin against Italia and Europa

by Sean Jobst
28 October 2017

Lega Nord chairman and Putin fanboy Matteo Salvini in Moscow

On their way to meeting with Catalan separatists, a Kremlin-linked delegation led by de-facto South Ossetian "foreign minister" Dimitri Medoev met with separatist leaders in the Italian regions of Lombardy and Veneto, a recent report by Spanish media confirmed. This coincided with referendums in those regions to determine more autonomy from Rome. Anatoly Bibilov, leader of breakaway South Ossetia which split from the Republic of Georgia and is only recognized by Russia, Venezuela and Nicaragua, has affirmed his contacts with Lega Nord, which lobbies for South Ossetia's recognition within the Italian Parliament.

Representing the devolutionist side in the referendum are Liga Veneta and Lega Lombarda, both branches of Lega Nord, the secessionist group that seeks to carve out a new nation called "Padania" out of northern Italy. Pro-secessionist posters in Veneto are being displayed linking their cause to that of Catalan separatists, while Lega Nord leaders have consistently expressed support for Catalan independence since at least 2013. They have condemned Spain for "the worst pages of democracy" in its alleged violent suppression of Catalonia, and Lega Nord has held pro-separatist demonstrations outside the Spanish consulate in Milan.

Lega Nord deputies in Italian Parliament show

solidarity with Catalan separatists

Lega Nord has been deepening its political and economic links with Russia in recent years, with the Kremlin treating it de-facto as a separate entity from Italy. This includes a "cooperation protocol" Lega Nord signed with Putin's United Russia party in Moscow early this March. Lega Nord calls for lifting EU sanctions against Russia following its annexation of Crimea, showing its support with delegations to Crimea. Lega Nord-led regional assemblies have passed pro-Russian resolutions.

Matteo Salvini, Lega Nord chairman, has praised Russia as "an example for all the European nations" for its "open elections". His lavish praise of Putin's Russia is in stark contrast to his contempt for Europe, which he claims "does not exist. It doesn't exist culturally, it doesn't exist politically, it doesn't exist as a currency". This places him firmly as a willing stooge in the Kremlin's destabilization efforts in Europa. In 2016, Dugin and Salvini openly plotted the EU's dismembership for the Eurasianist Katehon think-tank.

Russian oligarch Alexey Komov at Lega Nord’s Congress in 2013

On 22 June 2015, Dugin was guest of honor at a Milan conference on "The Revival of an Empire - Vladimir Putin's Russia", presided over by the Lega Nord-linked Lombardy-Russian Cultural Association, whose honorary president is Alexey Komov, close associate of Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev. An associate of Dugin, Malofeev was the employer of Alexander Borodai, self-proclaimed "Prime Minister" of the Russian-sponsored "Donetsk People's Republic" in eastern Ukraine, as well as of its "Defense Minister" Igor Girkin. Girkin is the Russian FSB colonel and Dugin ally who has admitted leading Spetsnaz posing as a Crimean militia that worked to undermine Ukraine.

Another participant at the Milan conference was Lega Nord deputy and foreign relations secretary Claudio D'Amico, whose article supporting a Russian-directed "multipolar world" appears simultaneously on the Duginist Katehon and Geopolitica websites. He regurgitated Kremlin propaganda about Crimea in an interview with Sputnik. He was one of the 26 election "observers" representing various pro-Russian parties throughout Europe, that rubber-stamped the Russian annexation of Crimea on 16 March 2014.

Claudio D’Amico meets Putin

Even while desiring to separate from the Italian nation he holds in contempt, Salvini and Lega Nord have spearheaded a parliamentary "Friends of Putin" movement. Lega Nord leaders have developed close trade and financial links with Russia, which it envisions as the favored trade partner in a separatist "Padania". Salvini has been "a friend of Russia" since the beginning of his career in 2013. "Russia is a western democracy with which I want to pursue dialogue and build peace as well as doing business," he told RT in December 2014.

The Kremlin has treated Salvini like a head of state, preferring him to the Italian government. Salvini received a standing ovation in the Russian Duma during an October 2014 trip to Moscow. Amidst the various world leaders he met with at the ASEM Summit in Milan, Putin met with Salvini. Putin has received warm receptions at rallies in Milan, the city that would be the capital of Lega Nord's Padania. Salvini has also met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, another indication of the Kremlin's embrace of his separatist cause.

Lega Nord affiliates in the different regions have actively wooed Russia as a precursor to undermining the unity of Italia, making foreign policy decisions much like the Catalan separatist regime's Diplocat has been doing against España. The separatist branches in Venice and Liguria have recognized Russia's annexation of Crimea, an obvious contradiction in such separatist movements own push for devolution away from their national entities. In Orwellian doublespeak, Putin has drawn comparisons of Russia gobbling up the Crimea to regionalist movements in Europa that seek to form their own nations - a contradiction that has been obediently repeated in the Kremlin amen-corner's media outlets.

Propaganda is at work in both Catalonia and "Padania". Like their Catalan counterparts, Lega Nord represents a wealthy region that portrays itself as "oppressed" by the rest of the country. Both separatist movements are based on historical myths: Catalonia was never an independent country, always being linked to the Crown of Aragón, while northern Italy was a collection of various dukedoms, principalities and republics before the Italian Risorgimento - never a separate or united region called "Padania". As with Catalonia, there are certain political elites financed and supported by foreign interests and linked to oligarchs, that peddle in such myths to give a legitimacy to what is nothing but a power-grab through Balkanization.

Lombardia-Russia Association, with their map of "Padania"'s
destiny linked with Russia and promoting Dugin's Katehon

The Kremlin's media have been magnifying these separatist movements, linking their causes. For example, interviewing Venetian separatist Stefano Valdegamberi on Catalonia: "The Veneto region and the Veneto people are very close to the Catalan people. We want to recognize that the will of Catalans is the most important thing for the international community. Spain recognizes other countries like Montenegro but they don't accept something similar for themselves. They demonstrated they are not a democratic government." Yet, while passing such judgement on the Spanish and Italian governments they give a free pass to Putin's Russia as some kind of paragon of "democracy". This is part of Putin's double diplomatic game of projecting his own double standards onto España.

Unlike the outright independence push of Catalonia, the Veneto and Lombardy referendums are about autonomy. But its nevertheless understood as a "first step" towards separatism. "Now the right-wing Lega Nord party are calling for a referendum on separating the region of Emilia-Romagna into two sections," a recent report by the Sunday Express stated. "And Lega Nord leader, Matteo Salvini pledged that, if Sunday's votes are successful, there could be more across Italy." Like their counterparts in Barcelona, this makes Lega Nord agents in the Kremlin's demoralization campaign to weaken Europa.

Salafist imam calls for Islamization through Catalan independence

Salafist imam calls for Islamization through Catalan independence

by Sean Jobst

26 October 2017

Underscoring once again the common anti-European agenda of Israel, the Kremlin, and open border Globalists, leading Islamists in Catalonia have revealed their plan to Islamize the region through using the Catalan separatist movement. This adds another component behind the relentless effort to break down and destabilize Spain.

Abdelwahab Houzi is the Moroccan Salafist imam in the city of Lleida. As an Islamist, he openly flouts values and laws of the Spanish "kuffar", setting up a parallel state of Shari'a patrols and Islamic cultural hegemony in the neighborhoods under his guidance. This is even while he courts local politicians, whom he lobbies for special accommodations for his religious sensibilities.

As revealed by a Moroccan eyewitness who videotaped the speech and sent it to Spanish media on condition of anonymity due to the imam's influence, at a meeting in his Lleida Nord mosque on 11 July 2010, Houzi bluntly advocated working through the pro-independence, far-leftist Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) to Islamize the region of Catalonia:

"We must take advantage of the independentistas because they rely on us to get votes, but what they do not know is that when they let us vote we will all vote for the Islamic parties because we do not believe in left and right. This will make us win local councils, and as we begin to accumulate power in the Catalan autonomous region, Islam will begin to be implemented."

There are indeed a rising number of Islamic parties throughout Europe, to advocate for the cultural interests of Muslims in much the same way as Jewish Zionist organizations have successfully lobbied for Jewish interests at the expense of Europeans. Until such a time as they grow in prominence, Islamists advocate alliances with leftist parties, whose Cultural Marxist agenda and shame/guilt complex against their own European identity makes them all-too willing participants.

The Islamist-Separatist alliance is so strong within Catalonia that up to 10,000 Catalans with links to the separatist movement have converted to Islam in recent years. Its estimated that two out of every ten Catalan radicals from the far-left ERC, a party that idolizes the Communist movement strong in Catalonia during the Guerra Civil, are converts to Islam who then "engage in proselytizing, especially among the more radical Catalan nationalists."

These converts join the much-larger "Ummah" that has been firmly established in Catalonia through the pro-migrant open border policy of the independentista regional government. With an estimated 450,000 Muslims out of a total population of 7,5 million - a proportion of 6% - an independent Catalonia would have the third-largest Muslim population in Western Europe, after France and Belgium. In some Catalan towns and cities, such as Salt where Salafists are seeking to build a Saudi-financed mega-mosque that would be one of the largest in Europe, the proportion is as high as 40%.

Both the Spanish National Intelligence Center (CNI) and American diplomatic cables have expressed alarm at the large number of Salafists and Islamists in Catalonia, with a large presence in Tarragona, Salt, Lleida, and no less than five Salafi mosques in Barcelona. ISIS fanatics released a video after the Barcelona terrorist attack, citing the expulsion of 1492 and the Spanish Inquisition much like their Jewish supremacist cousins, who also use that history to guilt-trip Spaniards; bringing up that history to shame the Spanish "goyim" or "kuffar" for their legacy of "anti-Semitism" and "Islamophobia". Many are nostalgic for the time when Jews aided and cooperated with Muslims during the Moorish occupation.

For decades, Catalan separatists have encouraged mass-immigration from Muslim countries such as Morocco and Pakistan, on the understanding they would be more willing to speak Catalan instead of Spanish and to be reliable votes for the independentista parties. They prefer these foreign migrants even to other Spaniards from other regions who have moved to Catalonia. Unscrupulous politicians holding onto a historical myth of a Catalan nation separate from Spain, have sought support among not only Muslims but also Sikhs and other non-European immigrants to split Catalonia from España.

Islamists such as Abdelwahab Houzi mock and ridicule the same leftist and other separatist useful idiots who want to make "good Catalans" out of them, while they defiantly express the supremacy of their faith against even the "kuffar" who accommodate them. The parallel society they have established includes "sharia patrols" that condemn women to death for adultery, threats to burn down the homes of "apostates" who befriend non-Muslims or don't wear hijabs, openly advocating wife-beating, harassment of non-Muslim school-children for eating pork, the death by poisoning of dozens of dogs for being "unclean" animals prohibited by Islam, and demanding bans on dogs in public transportation and other public spaces so as not to "offend Muslims".

The phony "nationalists" who proclaim a Catalonia separate from España, are purely civic nationalists who define Catalans in purely linguistic terms, separate from ethnicity and culture. To the separatists, the ends will justify the means, even if it means a Barcelona mega-mosque financed by the Emir of Qatar, whose minarets will dwarf the iconic Sagrada Familia that now graces Barcelona's skyline. This 2,2 billion Euro project would be the third-largest mosque in the world, after those of Mecca and Medina. The pro-business wing of the independence movement, represented by the likes of Artur Mas and Carles Puigdemont, has also pandered to Muslim voters: "If you support us in the referendum, there will be a mosque."

Myth of an Historical Independent Catalonia

Myth of an Historical Independent Catalonia

by Sean Jobst
24 October 2017

Una región entre muchas

The separatists are promoting a myth of an "independent" Catalonia that never existed. Genuine self-determination movements receive my sympathy, but not phony movements pushed by privileged elites who make up historical myths whilst making common cause with foreign interests. Such is the case with the current Catalan independence movement.

The earliest time there was a "Catalonia" was as part of la Marcha Hispánica (the Spanish March), established by the Franks as a defensive buffer zone in 795 between their Carolingian Kingdom and Moorish-occupied Iberia. But even in this region the population was quite diverse, also including Aragonese, Basques, Visigoths and other non-Catalans.

Under the Franks, the Catalans became culturally close to the Occitans of Southern France. The noble family of Barcelona, the Berenguers, were related to that of Provence. Nevertheless, the region was a part of the Iberian Peninsula in both spirit and reality, joining with other Iberian regions in that la Reconquista. In 1137, Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, married the Queen of Aragón, Petronilla. Thus was combined the Berenguers with the Jiménez dynasty of Aragón.

Catalonia was thereafter indistinguishable from the Crown of Aragón, which combined the regions of Catalonia, Aragon, Murcia and Valencia. It was this combined Corona de Aragón that expanded into the Mediterranean, conquering the Islas Baleares, Corsica, Sardinia, and southern half of the Italian Peninsula. Even the modern Catalan flag was based on that of Aragón, so doesn't represent some mythological independent Catalonia of the past.

So contrary to their own hypocritical narrative of Catalonia "oppressed" by an "imperialist" Spain, many Catalan nationalists actually look nostalgically to this time when their composite monarchy with Aragón presided over an empire of their own. This includes waxing irredentist dreams about reclaiming "Els Països Catalans". In fact, it was the role of Catalan merchants and the imperial policies of their composite monarchy that led to the growth of the anti-Spanish Leyenda Negra (Black Legend) within Italy, according to the Swedish scholar Sverker Arnoldsson:

"The intervention of Spanish monarchs and their soldiery - their victories and conquest in Sicily, Sardinia, and the Italian Peninsula - is certainly one of the important factors in explanation of the oldest Italian version of the Leyenda Negra. In all this, there is rooted the image of the hidalgo as a rustic, uncultured human type, barbarous and ridiculously ceremonious. Another factor is the competition of Catalan merchants with Italians, as well as Catalan piracy in Greek and Italian waters. Here is the basis for the view of the Catalan as treacherous, avaricious, and unscrupulous. A third factor is the migration of Spanish strumpets to Italy and observation of certain customs in the Aragonese-Neapolitan court; and also, the atmosphere around the Valencian Pope Alexander Borgia. In these things, there is founded the image of the excessively sensual and immoral Spaniard."(Sverker Arnoldsson, The Black Legend: A Study of its Origins, Göteborg, Sweden: Göteborgs Universitets Årsskrift, LXVI, No. 3, 1960, pp. 22-23; quoted in Philip Wayne Powell, Tree of Hate, New York/London: Basic Books, 1971, pp. 40-41)

 

As the empire was later inherited by the united Crowns of Castilla and Aragón which encompassed all of modern España, it would be the policies of the "imperialist" Castilians that changed Italian perceptions of Spaniards, after the negative perceptions arising from a swarm of Catalan merchants that flooded into the Italian Peninsula. We have to know this history to truly challenge the myths of Catalan nationalists, who use Castilla as archetype for their aspersions upon Spanish history - much like they rant against the proverbial "Madrid" nowadays. This is quite ironic, because these merchants were among the historic 300 elite families of Catalonia that include many modern leaders of the Catalan independence movement.

"Until the opening of the sixteenth century, these antagonistic views of Spaniards referred mainly to Catalans, Aragonese, and Valencians, who constituted almost exclusively the Spanish presence in Italy. But after 1500 Castile more and more entered into the Italian scene and during the course of the Cinquecento it became leader of politico-military action in Italy, defender of Italy against Moslems, and, near midcentury, acknowledged leader of Roman Catholicism against the Protestant Revolt. Thus, Italian views of Spaniards, in the main antagonistic, were increasingly fashioned by observance of the Castilian as the 'true' Spanish type." (Philip Wayne Powell, Tree of Hate: Propaganda and Prejudice Affecting United States Relation with the Hispanic World, New York/London: Basic Books, 1971, p. 41)

 

 

The Myth of 1714

Its no surprise that Catalan independence advocates generally date the alleged end of "independent" Catalonia to the abolition of the Corona de Aragón by the Nueva Planta decrees of 1716, following what they date as their "lost" in 1714. An example of this was an article written by six pro-independence Catalans, "Give Catalonia its freedom to vote" (The Independent, 10 October 2014), which drew comparisons with American Revolutionaries of 1776. Calculated to score sympathetic points among Americans, but nevertheless a false comparison.

The truth about the War of the Spanish Succession is far different. When Carlos II died without a male heir in 1700, the Spanish Crown was claimed by the Hapsburgs of Austria through Archduke Charles and the Bourbons of France through Philip of Anjou. The war pitted various European rivals against each other, as well as rival Spanish factions that supported one or the other foreign claimants. Initially, the principality of Catalonia supported the Bourbon side enthusiastically. But after the local merchant families felt threatened by French merchants, they switched allegiance to the Hapsburgs.

Thus, it was a mostly economic event and had nothing to do with asserting an independent Catalonia. The war was not one of Catalans versus the other regions, but rather a political conflict about foreign monarchs succeeding to the Throne of all Spain. In case of victory, the monarch supported by Catalan elites would have assumed the Spanish Throne and not a separate Catalan kingdom. But despite the alleged "lost", the aftermath of the war actually increased the economic fortunes of this Catalan elite.

What About the War of the Reapers?

A historical backdrop to the modern claims of Catalonia being "overburdened" by taxes compared to the rest of Spain, can be found in the burdens of empire itself. Spain inherited the Italian empire of the Aragonese-Catalan composite monarchy, and so too the burdens of that empire more than what was borne by the Catalan merchant elite. "It is sometimes overlooked, too, that Castile bore a greater burden of taxation than the Italians for empire upkeep and defense of Italy against the Moslems. Thus, Spain, as in the case of the New World taxation, bled herself more than her overseas possessions for imperial maintenance" (Powell, op. cit., p. 42).

Despite the Catalan national anthem "Els Segadors" (The Reapers) being based upon it, the Catalan separatists have surprisingly not evoked the War of the Reapers (Guerra dels Segadors) of 1640 as much as citing 1714 as their year of "lost independence". Its my contention this is because that event highlights the same myths about taxes currently used by those separatists. The revolt occurred after Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares and chief minister of Rey Felipe IV, tried to distribute more evently the huge economic and military burden of Empire then supported mainly by the Crown of Castilla. One can see obvious parallels here with current myths of Catalonia being unfairly "taxed" more than any other region of Spain, ignoring the large tax burdens upon Madrid and Basque regions; as well as the fact of Catalonia having more control over its finances than other regions.

Its ironic this chapter of history isn't evoked more, for it led to the establishment of a short-lived Catalan Republic under the auspices of the French in 1641. Why don't the Catalan separatists speak against the historical complicity of their revolutionary heroes in the French occupation of some "Els Països Catalans" and only agitate against España? Successive generations of Catalan nationalists looked to a liberal France for inspiration, even while many of these French revolutionaries centralized the State against even regional languages such as Catalan. Even during the Ancien Régime, Louis XIV in a 1700 decree stated how he found use of Catalan "repugnant" and "offensive" to the honor of a centralized French identity. Modern Catalan nationalists bat not an eyelid about the suppression of their Catalan-speaking brothers across the Pyrenees, while enjoying official and privileged status in their province doesn't prevent their agitation against Spain.

Catalan Independence and the 300 Families

Ironically, given their staged ranting about an "imperialist" Spain "oppressing" Catalonia from Madrid, it was Catalan commercial interests that pushed the most for Spain to cling onto its disintegrating empire throughout the 19th century. This empire was a serious drain upon Spain's economy, while these Catalan merchant interests profited immensely. These are known within Catalonia as the 300 families, which traditionally run the region in conglomerate fashion.

These 300 families have had influence within Catalonia at least as far back as 1311, and genealogists have documented these families still dominate Catalonia. One Spanish blogger has traced their links to political Catalanism and the Generalitat that is currently pushing for independence. Historically, it was these families, such as the well-known Bacardis, involved in the slavery and sugar-trade within the Spanish colonial possessions. Throughout the 19th-century, their clout dictated economic policies of all Spain to the financial ruin and detriment of the masses. These aristocratic merchant families were especially bitter after Spain lost its colonial possessions, seeing it as a challenge to their profits.

Its no coincidence this coincided with the rise of political Catalanism, viewing the Catalans as a special nation separate from the rest of Spain. This manifested in the past to looking towards foreign inspiration - French liberal ideas, and later Communism and an alliance with Soviet Russia. This only increased their sense of "superiority" vis-à-vis the more traditionalist Spain. At least the rank and file, for at the top it was mostly pushed by these pro-business interests. Its no accident each agitation for Catalan independence occurs whenever leaders such as Jordi Pujol, Artur Mas or Carles Puigdemont are being investigated for corruption.

There's clearly more than meets the eye when it comes to the simplistic narrative of "oppressed" Catalonia "milked" by a jealous Spain. History challenges their myths; their own statements and expressions betray an arrogance and sense of "superiority" against other Spaniards. The timing of their independence pushes indicate ulterior, selfish financial motives - no higher ideal except what they can manipulate from a sizable minority (not even a majority, it must be stressed) of the Catalan population....The manipulation of history is a very powerful psycho-political tool.

The two aren't exclusionary, despite the lies of the mythmakers

 

Cataluña and the Soros Agenda: "Open Society" documents revealed funding separatist think-tanks

Cataluña and the Soros Agenda: "Open Society" documents revealed funding separatist think-tanks

by Sean Jobst
10 October 2017



Oye Soros Gilipollas: Al infierno con su "Sociedad Abierta"!

It doesn't take a forensicist to find "philanthropist" banker George Soros' fingerprints all over the world. Catalonia is certainly no exception, as was revealed in financial data uncovered by Barcelona daily La Vanguardia in 2016. On 16 August 2016, an article by Quico Sallés revealed the extent to which Soros financed the propaganda wing of the Catalan independence movement. This is the same wing that is now lobbying on behalf of Catalonia's independence effort, among global media.

According to internal documents provided by the Soros Foundation, between 12/16/2013 and 1/31/2014, Soros' Open Society Initiative for Europe (OSIFE) "awarded" USD $27,049 to the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (Diplocat). The records indicate media coverage of elections was at the heart of this amount, quite massive for only one month and which we can deduce included more funding in the months and perhaps even years to come.

Founded by private donors, Diplocat defines itself as engaging in "paradiplomacy", a term coined in 1990 to describe an active and independent role of regional governments to make its own foreign policy within a federal system. This describes Diplocat perfectly, being the foreign policy of the Generalitat de Catalunya that is now leading Catalan separatism. Diplocat is thus the world face of the pro-independence side.

The Soros Foundation documents also revealed US $24,973 "awarded" during the same period to the pro-independence think-tank, Centre d’Informació i Documentació Internacionals a Barcelona (CIDOB), which handles "Information and Documentation" for the Generalitat. Both Diplocat and CIDOB have been leading successful efforts now to lobby international media support for the Catalan independence cause, particularly in the narratives now being promoted in outlets the world over.




Well-funded Diplocat propaganda, presented to media outlets

The immediate cause for the funding were two conferences held in Barcelona in January 2014. CIDOB used the money to finance a conference on "integration," while that held by Diplocat was officially called "European Elections 2014: the increase of xenophobia and the Eurosceptic movements in Europe". The latter conference was coordinated by Elisabet Moragas and presided over by the Diplocat president Albert Royo, and was held behind closed doors and by invitation only - bringing together politicians and media representatives for "open dialogue".

Apparently, much like Soros' parlance of an "Open Society", such an "open dialogue" could still be held behind closed doors and excluding a public whose opinions they ultimately care nothing about. Given the Orwellian title of the conference, the assembled technocrats undoubtedly made decisions regarding the migrant crisis and how media outlets would cover that issue. Under the supervision of the politicians funded by Soros NGOs and foundations, the participating journalists could manipulate public opinion in whatever way already predetermined for them by the financiers of the conference.

Soros: "Our plan treats national borders as the obstacle"

The utter disregard for sovereignty or even the much-vaunted "democratic" process, is on full display by looking at Soros' recorded statements to the media. Referring with contempt to the natural, normal instinct for a country to maintain its demographic integrity by preventing unfettered immigration, the elitist Soros admits he has no respect for sovereignty: "Our plan treats the protection of refugees as the objective and national borders as the obstacle."

The world itself is testament to their devious principle. Soros funded NGOs and think-tanks that pushed for so-called "humanitarian" intervention in countries such as Libya and Syria, of course such "humanitarianism" being an Orwellian cover for the exact opposite: supporting armed groups and lobbying for foreign bombings in the name of "human rights", undermining governments that had run afoul of his elite and engineering civil wars to destabilize those countries. His associate, former Irish Attorney General and chairman of Goldman Sachs International, Peter Sutherland, is even more public about this in his capacity as the UN's Special Representative for International Migration.

At the same time, Soros has been at the heart of the mass-migration crisis in Europe, flooding the same European countries he despises with a huge number of economic migrants. These migrants were brought into Europe through the various NGOs he funds. The media sells it to the public as refugees, obviously through the decisions made behind closed doors at such elite conferences as that of Diplocat - obscuring the fact that the majority are actually economic migrants. Even those actual refugees are the result of policies engineered by the likes of Soros, who profits from war.

Enter Fundación La Caixa

Towards this end, Soros funds the European Program for Integration and Migration (EPIM), which is a coalition of twelve elite-connected nonprofits. One of these is La Caixa Foundation, another bank that perpetuates debt slavery while pretending to engage in "social projects". Much like Soros' Avaaz in Libya and the White Helmets in Syria, Fundación La Caixa has engaged in highly-sophisticated and well-funded propaganda campaigns under the guise of "human rights". Within Spain and Europe generally, it has especially been active promoting mass-migration.

Syrian rebel and Catalan separatist flags united

Interestingly, La Caixa Foundation was until very recently based in Catalonia. Literally less than a week ago, it announced that it moved its registered office to Valencia; the day after, it announced another move to Mallorca. I doubt the move is coincidental, given the links Soros networks have with both La Caixa and the Catalan government's pro-independence think-tanks and foreign ministry. Perhaps it knows the effects of destabilizing Spain, so it could better pursue its intrigues outside of Catalonia but still near enough to have a direct role. This is speculation, but what's certain is that La Caixa has links with the same Generalitat de Catalunya lobbying for independence, being a recipient of its Gold Medal in 2005. The nexus of politicians and bankers manifests yet again.





Catalan Diplocat migrant welcome committee
- but no "bienvenidos" for brother Spaniards?

Royo: "Very painful that Catalonia can’t welcome more refugees in spite of its willingness only because Spain won’t allow it"

The twin planks of Soros' "open society" are an erosion of national sovereignties and any borders, and unfettered immigration into Europe. Both of these are directly linked to the various activities of his NGOs around the world, each working closely in concert with each other so that the actions of one set up the "problem" which other constituents of his network can then come in and "solve". I've previously described this process in relation with Germany. It should be no surprise the Soros-funded Diplocat is actively promoting mass-immigration, and indeed has even described one of the factors for independence from Spain so that Catalonia could welcome even more "refugees" (nearly all are economic migrants in reality), as this article on their official website admits:

09 Feb 2017
DIPLOCAT joins campaign in favour of refugees and asylum seekers

Albert Royo recalls Catalonia’s willingness to welcome more refugees

The Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (Diplocat) joined today the campaign “Our home, your home”, driven by a group of independent citizens and Catalan organizations concerned about the present situation of thousands of migrants and displaced people inside and outside the European Union. Diplocat will help to give international visibility to the historic commitment of Catalonia towards asylum and exile as a result of its own recent history.

The campaign declaration, which already has more than 53,600 signatures, has now Diplocat’s support as an entity. The Council also encourages citizens to attend the concert on Saturday and to participate in the demonstration to be held in Barcelona on 18th February under the slogan "No more excuses, welcome now," which is expected to be the most massive rally in Europe for this cause.
Diplocat’s Secretary General, Albert Royo, says that "we are talking about the most important humanitarian crisis since World War II” and that it is "very painful that Catalonia can’t welcome more refugees in spite of its willingness only because Spain won’t allow it". {END}

¿Dónde están los "catalanes"?

I've previously documented foreign interests supporting this movement for Catalan independence. And I just showed the admission by independence supporter Albert Royo, who heads the well-funded Diplocat that has lobbied for the separatist cause among foreign media outlets, that accepting even more migrants into Catalonia is a primary motivation for independence - admitting it prefers foreign economic migrants to accepting their own place as brothers among Iberian peoples actually related to Catalans by blood, ancestry and history. It should be no surprise then that ungrateful migrants would come to Spain and turn around and lobby with various Marxists, foreign powers and Globalist bankers for this current Catalan independence effort. There have been many such "Catalans" at separatist protests in Barcelona....

 

 

 

 

Who's Really Behind the Catalan Separatist Movement?

Who's Really Behind the Catalan Separatist Movement?

by Sean Jobst

3 October 2017

The Catalan independence movement, in the news recently with the referendum for independence, has very vocal political and ideological backers in Israel and Russia. These two countries, as well as its amen corner in various pro-Israeli and pro-Russian media outlets, have interfered in the internal affairs of Spain and given the Catalan separatists their blessing. This is even while both countries have a long and continued history of squashing violently the independence aspirations of the peoples they occupy, hypocritically denying its occupied people any such referendum while passing judgment on the European country of Spain.

The Catalan independence advocate, Barcelona High Court Judge Santiago Vidal, told the Barcelona Delta magazine in its Nov.-Dec. 2014 edition that it would be unlikely that Catalan separatists could appeal to the Central Bank of Europe: "But there is a solution for this: another state with solvency. Basically speaking of Israel and Germany, will serve as our temporary bank." The obvious double standard on courting the support of the occupier of the Palestinians was not lost on Vidal, who had a quick answer: "The Palestinian issue is characterized by violence. Whereas, the Catalan issue is characterized by civic lessons, pacifism and the doing of good things that we are giving to the whole world. And this is something the Israelis like very much." (Julie Steigerwald, "Catalan Independence Advocate Looks to Israel, Germany for Funding," Jerusalem Post, Nov. 24, 2014)

A "Petition to the State of Israel to support the independence of Catalonia" was delivered to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Ambassador Alon Bar. It garnered 1,146 supporters, mostly Catalan separatists and leftist Spaniards. A perusal of the comments section of the petition reveals a deep-seated hatred of Spain, which it collectively accuses of "anti-Semitism" in contrast to a Catalonia presented as a more "progressive" state that would naturally look to Israel as its inspiration. The thread throughout is one of simply: Catalans and self-hating Spaniards against Spain, but singing the praises of Israel as chief benefactor of an independent Catalonia.

Israeli Ambassador to Spain: "It is wonderful Israel can be a source of inspiration for Catalonia"

Alon Bar, the Israeli Ambassador to Spain and Andorra, gave an interview to Nació Digital on 20 May 2012 which has been approvingly touted on a website proclaiming its objective as "Catalan Independence explained to the World". How strange is it for an ambassador allegedly representing one country's interests in another country, to so actively sympathize with and even promote a separatist movement against the very country which graciously hosts him! Yet, this is exactly how Alon Bar has championed the Catalan cause as most beneficial to Israel. When asked about the much larger number of Israelis who visit Barcelona (300,000) compared to Madrid (40,000), as well as certain similarities with the Catalans, the ambassador replied: 

"There is a special friendship, and also some admiration, in the parallel renewal system of Hebrew and Catalan. We recall contacts with Jordi Pujol before the establishment of diplomatic relations between Spain and Israel. There is a special relationship that has been strengthened given the circumstances....Relationships are good and fluid with President Artur Mas' team, the Foreign Committee of the Parliament of Catalonia and the City Council. We have a special interest in establishing business contacts. Both administrations have signed mutual agreements to promote joint projects to increase commercial relationships and have strengthened the Catalan-Israeli Chamber of Commerce, which is very active. We see business opportunities in what Israel has to offer in times of crisis....I think it is wonderful Israel can be a source of inspiration for Catalonia." ("Interview with Israel Ambassador to Andorra and Spain, Alon Bar," Nació Digital, 20 May 2012)

Catalan Separatist Leader: "I am pro-Israel and pro-Zionist"

One of the leaders of the Catalan independence movement was Alfons Lopez Tena, leader of the Catalan Solidarity for Independence, who by 2015 dismissed any talk of Catalan independence as "wishful thinking" while still proclaiming: "I am not Spanish and I have never felt Spanish."  Nevertheless, he was very much a separatist when he gave an interview with the Israeli Haaretz newspaper in 2012, predicting an independent Catalonia within two years and "close friendship with Israel". This doyen of Catalan separatism expressed his own support for the foreign ideology of Zionism:

"On a personal level, I define myself as being pro-Israel and pro-Zionist. These are views I inherited, in my family. I well remember the concern that filled our house at the time of the Six Day War. I was a boy at the time, 10 years old, and we all prayed for Israel's survival. At least half of the members of my party are members of the Catalan Friends of Israel Association. Israel is a democratic state, and we support the steps it takes for survival, and the survival of the Jewish people. We have no intention of criticizing what its government does. We seek cooperation with Israel, and we hope it will support our independence movement. It is clear that an independent Catalonia will be a close friend of Israel - there's no doubt about that." (Adar Primor, "Catalan Leader Predicts Independence in About Two Years, and Close Friendship With Israel," Haaretz, Oct. 4, 2012)

This same Israeli journalist earlier profiled Lopez Tena, in a very sympathetic article - so clearly there's a pattern of sympathy for Catalan separatism within the Israeli media: "Spain will not easily give up its crown jewel, but Lopez Tena is losing no time in making a promise that Europe's new member state will be very friendly to Israel. In that too it will separate itself from its rival in Madrid. And here is another message. Just as Catalonia will soon be the state of the Catalan people, Israel is first and foremost the state of the Jewish people. There is no future for a binational state. The latest victory of the separatists in Quebec, Canada, the continuing efforts to dismantle the Belgian kingdom, and the national referendum to take place in Scotland in 2014 are only a few examples that prove this. Neither a federation nor a confederation, nor autonomy, nor cantons. Binationalism is dead. Visca (Viva in Catalan ) Israel, Visca Catalonia." (Adar Primor, "Viva Catalonia, Viva Israel," Haaretz, Sept. 28, 2012)

The Generalitat de Catalunya and Israel

Catalan regionalist politician Jordi Pujol was longtime President of the Generalitat de Catalunya from 1980 until 23 December 2003. Even after his departure from power, he was still viewed as sufficiently influential that he was invited to address the Israeli Knesset on 28 October 2003. The speech was filled with invectives against Spanish history, cheered on by many who still obsess about medieval "oppression" in Spain against the Sephardic Jews and more recent "anti-Semitism" of the Franco period. But the most interesting part of his speech was his remarks about himself:

"I come from a family at first rather sympathetic with the Jews, but not especially interested. However, there was something that increased, by reaction, the pro-Jewish attitude, and that was the Franco regime was anti-Jewish. And oddly enough, he mixed [compared] Judaism with Catalanism. In times of great Francoist exaltation and xenophobia of Spain, we were accused of being the Jews of Spain. But as I said, I did not come into contact with Judaism alone. Also, and in a certain sense above all with Zionism. And not in a superficial way. At only 17-18 years old I read Herzl's 'Der Judenstaat' and a very comprehensive book by Chaim Weizmann, which tells the whole Zionist struggle."




Artur Mas con Shimon Peres

Pujol has attended and spoken at many functions of the Fundación Samuel Toledano, whose namesake Samuel Toledano, was the long-time leader of the Jewish community in Spain and was instrumental in Spain's establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel in 1987. Pujol's Catalunya cultivated many close trade and political links with Israel, and these were continued by another member of his CiU party, Artur Mas, President of the Generalitat from 2010 to 2015: "Israel is a strategic country for Catalonia and we want to continue strengthening our cooperation." 

Mas' successor and the current President of the Generalitat de Catalunya is Carles Puigdemont, also from Pujol's CiU. Former Mayor of Girona, Puigdemont came to power after an agreement between CiU and the two Catalan separatist parties, Junts pel Sí and CUP. He is the first Catalan President to refuse taking the oath of loyalty to the Spanish Constitution - even while enjoying the privileges of his autonomous position in the first place because of the Spanish state's blessings. Puigdemont may be moving Catalonia away from Spain - people who share the same blood, ancestry and history with the Catalans - but during his tenure has been moving even closer towards Israel. 

Under Puigdemont, the Catalan government has opened a trade and investment office in Tel Aviv. His media advisor, Aleix Clarió, confirmed on his Twitter that 32% of Spanish exports are to Israel (the bulk of them to Catalonia) and that 79% of Israeli investments in all of Spain are within Catalonia. Puigdemont has cultivated close links with Chabad, including its local representative, Barcelona Rabbi Dovid Liebersohn; Putin's Rabbi Berel Lazar, the Chabad Chief Rabbi of Russia; and Israeli-Russian billionaire Shimon Aminov.




Puigdemont with his Chabad friends, from left: Rabbi Moshe
Kotlarsky, Shimon Aminov, Putin's Rabbi Berel Lazar, and
Barcelona Rabbi Dovid Liebersohn

The Chabad Connection

Most notable in the above picture is four Chabad figures meeting with Puigdemont, who obviously enjoys cordial relations with this global Jewish supremacist organization that has deep finances. Foreshadowing the broader separatist trend, in 2016 the Jewish communities of five Catalan cities - Barcelona, Besalú, Castelló d’Empúries, Girona and Tortosa - withdrew from the national Network of Spanish Jewish Quarters to form their own regional network according to the Network's director Marta Puig Quixal: "This breakup is another example of how Catalan institutions are looking to go their own way." Girona Mayor Marta Madrenas evoked stronger Catalan-Jewish links as part of her own case for separatism: "We think we can do better in terms of showcasing our Jewish patrimony."

One Chabad website described an international Chabad conference that took place in the Catalan city of Girona, from 11-13 June 2017. It brought together 45 attendees from around the world, including many from countries with negligible Jewish populations. Girona was chosen because "It was once home to the second-largest Jewish community in Catalonia. In 1194, it was the birthplace of the medieval Kabbalist, Talmudist and Torah commentator Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman - known as Nachmanides or the Ramban - who served as its rabbi and established a yeshivah there."

Notable attendees included Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice chairman of the Chabad educational wing Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch; and Rabbi Berel Lazar, the Chief Rabbi of Russia and a close ally of Vladimir Putin. Aside from Lazar, there was another Russian link: "Organizers said the conference was being underwritten by Jewish-Russian transportation magnate Shimon Aminov, who in his travels has encountered many of the most remote Chabad emissaries and wanted to do something to support their work in return." The conference was also attended by its Guest of Honor Puigdemont, "who expressed his appreciation and admiration of the shluchim who flew in from near and far."

The Russian Connection

Even while expressing their opposition to the Kurdish independence referendum because its seen as held under American auspices, pro-Russian media has gone out of its way to champion the Catalan independence cause against Spain. This includes the blatantly pro-Catalan separatist, anti-Spanish coverage on Russia Today; expressed support for Catalan independence by Duginist websites and think-tanks; statements by selective "whistleblowers" Julian Assange and Edward Snowden, who are silent whenever Russia's interests tell them to be; and support for Catalan independence by many American "libertarians", including a factually incorrect article by Justin Raimondo which called Catalonia "A Spanish Tiananmen Square", while he consistently sings the praises of statist Putin and parrot Kremlin state media.

Julian Assange has seized upon the secessionist cause, in a massive display of activity on his social media accounts: "Assange, for all intents and purposes, has become the independence movement's chief international spokesman. The vast majority of his tweets this month, in many cases written in Spanish and Catalan, have centered around promoting Catalan secessionism and 'self-determination' as a bulwark against Madrid's 'repression.' Russian news agency Sputnik has helped, too — and has taken notice of Assange's tweets. The outlet posted 220 stories about the Catalan independence movement between September 11 and 27." (Natasha Bertrand, "Julian Assange is rallying behind Catalan separatists ahead of a historic referendum — and Russia has taken notice," Business Insider, Sept. 30, 2017)

One strange phenomenon within the last few years has been the staunch pro-Russian line taken by many U.S. libertarian media outlets. They have allowed their opposition to American interventionism not only to blind them to Putin's own interventionism, but to actively apologize for any Russian state action. A recent example was an article on Antiwar.com by academic Thomas Harrington. Obviously triggered by an El País article, he dismissed it as "Atlanticist" - using a common Duginist phrase. This alleged professor of Hispanic Studies nevertheless attacked Spain collectively as "ever-prisoner to its own endlessly repeated mythologies about self and other", and championed Catalans against the Spanish "centralists", while apologizing for Putin's Russia with its own authoritarian centralism.

The Moscow-based Anti-Globalization Movement, which only supports separatist movements that would weaken and destabilize the United States and European Union while justifying Putin's suppression of separatist movements at odds with Russian imperialism, issued a statement comparing Catalonia to Crimea. Putin's media has twisted the Catalan issue to accuse the West of "hypocrisy" regarding his own conquest of Crimea from Ukraine. According to Russia researcher Casey Michel: "Catalonian independence advocates are among those who've flown to Moscow to meet with a group that, as of 2016, received Kremlin funding to help network Western separatist groups."

Conclusion

Towards what end are these forces supporting Catalan independence? Foremost is to destabilize Spain. To destabilize European countries identified with "Atlanticism" is indeed a primary objective of Dugin's Russo-centric Eurasianism. With an independent Catalan fiefdom separated from Spain and even more tightly controlled by Puigdemont and his malaise, the Israeli and other political links can enjoy more influence. Trade benefits can be even more for Israel if Catalonia is less connected to trade connections to the rest of Spain. A Catalan tax haven could be a boon for the Chabad, Israeli and Russian oligarchs already closely linked to local corruption.

A less obvious reason is a deep-seated vengeance against Spain. It may seem far-fetched at first, but many pro-Israel scholars have evoked a simplistic, one-sided, distorted historical view of medieval "anti-Semitism" against the Sephardic Jews and the Marranos, for modern political capital. Many books are published resurrecting this topic again and again, used to guilt-trip Spaniards. Specifically, it has been used to justify close Spanish relations with Israel and to shut down any dissent to Israeli policies; to grant the automatic right to citizenship to millions of Sephardic Jews of North Africa and elsewhere; to open up Spain to unfettered immigration and slander any opposition to this as "racist"; and to perpetuate thought-crime laws.

It should be clear to anyone who studies the political and financial links of Puigdemont, Artur Mas, Santiago Vidal, and other Catalan elites pushing for independence, that this is not a spontaneous, grassroots rising of a majority of people in Catalonia. Nor is it any move towards federalism and devolution, as its proponents - as well as the leftist and even communistic trends supporting it - envision a centralized Catalonia that might even grow to include regions such as Valencia and the Baleares. It would also be a state founded on a myth of a historically independent Catalonia, whereas historically it was linked with the Kingdoms of Aragon and Valencia.

Modern Catalonia is not some "exploited" region, but a privileged region that has often been propped up by the rest of Spain....one that already enjoys much autonomy: The right to its own language and parliament; led by its own President and Generalitat; exercising much local control over its trade and banking activities. Certainly it enjoys far more autonomy than the peoples occupied by the Israeli and Russian States that now meddle in España's affairs. I know its a painful pill for many to swallow, but....Cataluña es España!