Consider the Source

Bannon - Kassam Bona Fides

Three times married and divorced private Catholic military high school and technical college graduate member of the U.S. military Stephen Kevin Bannon ventures into media and entertainment including the pageantry of rabid partisan politics. 

In 2006, Bannon reportedly “persuaded Goldman Sachs to invest in a company known as Internet Gaming Entertainment.” After a lawsuit against the company, the principals “rebranded” it as “Affinity Media” with Bannon as its CEO and later (2007-2011) chairman and CEO of Affinity Media.

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annon has been in and out of an organization called “Breitbart News”: first, as a founding board member; then executive chair (2012) of Breitbart News’ parent company, Breitbart News LLC; and, after a brief stint on the White House staff, the parent company’s returning executive chairman. The presumably American Stephen Bannon has reportedly cozied up to “the British National Party (BNP), the English Defence League (EDL-UK), and the UK Independence Party (UKIP)”; and has on occasion urged former UKIP leader, Nigel Farage—who once “presented Bannon with a portrait of Bannon dressed as Napoleon Bonaparte”—to return as the group’s leader.

Born of Tanzanian (Eastern African) immigrants originating in Western India and raised Ismaili Muslim (Ismāʿīlism tracing its theological origins “to the lifetime of Muhammad” and at one point in history “the largest branch of Shī‘ism”), graduate of comprehensive and technical secondary and post-secondary schools, Raheem Kassam fancies himself an “atheist” who authored “No Go Zones: How Sharia Law Is Coming to a Neighborhood Near.”

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n his current incarnation, the 32-year-old Kassam, half the age of his senior partner,  still profiles thinly as “a former chief advisor to UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage,” and a has-been editor-in-chief of Breitbart News (London).

Today’s News  

Steve Bannon and sidekick Raheem Kassam have reportedly announced their creation of “a Brussels-based political organization intended to undermine and ultimately paralyze the European Union.” 

A tall order for small fry!

Something they call “The Movement” and further describe as a “clearing house for the populist, nationalist movement in Europe…, focusing attention on assisting individuals or groups concerned with the matters of sovereignty, border control, jobs, amongst other things,” is said to be “operating and hiring” (Kassam to Reuters).

Not surprising

“Kassam declined to give further details about [their] foundation.”  

Loudmouthed Kassam and Bannon are a source without distinction or credential.

Consider Character, Content of a Union

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he European Union began with six founding states (Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) and has grown to 28 member states.

Countries seeking membership in the EU “must meet the Copenhagen criteria, defined at the 1993 meeting of the European Council in Copenhagen”; namely,

A stable democracy that respects human rights and the rule of law;

A functioning market economy; and

Acceptance of the obligations of membership, including EU law

The Council of Europe (CoE) is a wider international organization, beyond the EU institutions, composed of 47 member states whose stated aim is to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe.

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he European Union (EU) has no official capital; however, as Brussels has a long history of hosting institutions of the European Union within its European Quarter, “Brussels is considered the de facto capital of the European Union.” 

Belgium hosts the official seats of the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, and the European Council; as well as a seat of the European Parliament in the country’s capital, Brussels.

Reports showed in 2010 that the EU was headquarters to 161 of the world’s “top 500 largest corporations” as measured by revenue. In 2015, average annual net earnings in the EU was estimated at “€24,000(US$30,000)”, “about 70 percent” of average annual net earnings in the United States.

Sources

PressTV “Former Trump aide Bannon sets up political group to ‘paralyze’ EU: Report” July 23, 2018 https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/07/23/569048/Steve-Bannon-political-group-EU

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Bannon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raheem_Kassam

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels_and_the_European_Union

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium

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