Interview With US Economist Eichengreen: ‘Europe’s Banks Are in Far Greater Danger Than People Realize’
Economics expert Barry Eichengreen says it is time for European politicians to recapitalize the Continent’s banks.
The European Union is hoping that aid to Greece and Ireland combined with closer economic policy coordination will be enough to put an end to the euro crisis. But that’s not likely, warns US economist Barry Eichengreen. First and foremost, he says in an interview with SPIEGEL, Europe needs to help out its ailing banks.
SPIEGEL: Professor Eichengreen, you have spent many years studying whether the European common currency union could collapse. Your conclusion: It would be technically possible for a member state to leave the euro zone, but that politically it is about as likely as a meteorite hitting the Eurotower in Frankfurt. Are you sticking by that assessment?
Eichengreen: Yes, but with one condition. That at their summit in March, the member states face up to some unpleasant truths. Plan A has failed. Now they have to switch to Plan B. They must stop attempting to combat the crisis in Greece and Ireland by forcing these countries to pile more debt onto their existing debts by saddling them with overpriced loans.
SPIEGEL: But at the same time, Europe is stifling any chance of growth in Greece and Ireland by forcing them to comply with harsh austerity measures. Is there any way this strategy can actually add up?
Eichengreen: The present bailout attempts have never made sense. Essentially, all Germany and France want to achieve with these measures is to protect their own banks from collapsing. Now people are beginning to realize that there is no way around rescheduling Greece’s debt — and that will also involve the banks. For this to happen, there is only one solution: Europe needs to strengthen its banks! Greece lived beyond its means, but in Ireland and Spain it is the banks that are the problem. The euro crisis is first and foremost a banking crisis.
SPIEGEL: How are governments supposed to explain to their citizens that they need to reserve yet more tax revenue for banks, this time due to loans for countries like Greece and Ireland?
Eichengreen: It will probably be easier for Chancellor Angela Merkel to persuade German taxpayers to save their own banks than to fork out billions for Greece again. Especially since, with a haircut on Greek debt and measures to strengthen banks, it should be possible to draw a line under the crisis — and preventing it from spreading to Spain.
SPIEGEL: A look at the banks’ books, though, is enough to realize that it won’t be easy. They are still full of bonds from high-risk countries that have yet to be written off. And the equity base of European banks in particular remains weak.
Eichengreen: Europe’s banks are in far greater danger than people realize. Most people now understand that last year’s stress tests didn’t tell us much. The tests were a token gesture and lacked realistic scenarios. They completely ignored the liquidity risks that banks could face. Regulators will not be allowed to get away with that this time. However, what would put my mind at rest more would be if the responsibility for carrying out the stress tests went to the European Commission. National regulators are too susceptible to pressure from the regulated.
SPIEGEL: How much money do the banks need to crisis-proof their balance sheets?
Eichengreen: As a rough estimate, I’d put the costs for recapitalizing the German and French banks at 3 percent of Franco-German gross domestic product.
SPIEGEL: So about €180 billion.
Eichengreen: There are no cheap solutions. My main concern is that Europe will choose a middle path again, for example by making the interest and terms on loans to Greece and Ireland more tolerable. Europe’s leaders wouldn’t be wrong in doing that, but it would fall far short of what is needed to save the euro. The result would be more wasted months for Europe.
SPIEGEL: At the March summit, European leaders want to agree on closer collaboration when it comes to economic policy, including efforts to harmonize unit labor costs and retirement ages. What are your thoughts on that?
Eichengreen: Even though economic conditions in the different euro-zone members will never be exactly the same, closer collaboration does make sense. In the same year, the German economy will boom and Spain’s will hardly grow. In another few years, the situation might be completely reversed. Euro-zone member states no longer have independent monetary policies that would allow them to react. So they have to adapt their fiscal policies. This in turn has an impact on the economic situation in other euro-zone countries. Euro-zone countries must try to achieve a certain level of coordination among independent states.
SPIEGEL: Despite the current crisis, the economic fundamentals in the euro zone are still stronger than those on the other side of the Atlantic. Why are bond traders scrutinizing Europe but not the US?
Eichengreen: I’m not a very good psychoanalyst, especially when it comes to Wall Street bond traders. But I worry that they will begin to distrust the US soon too. History has shown us that financial crises always happen close to elections. We have an important election coming up in 2012. If we haven’t tackled our debt problem by then — and it looks unlikely that we will — then we will face serious problems.
SPIEGEL: US debt is currently at 90 percent of GDP, which is slightly above the European average…
Eichengreen: …which unfortunately is not the case when it comes to federal tax revenues in the US. Whereas European governments receive taxes equating to 40 percent of GDP, the figure is just 19 percent in the US. This means that, without raising taxes, we will not be in a position to balance our budget and pay back debts with interest. But because you can’t talk about raising taxes in this country, the US will gamble away investors’ trust.
SPIEGEL: Is there any desire in US political circles to do something about this problem? Just last December, President Barack Obama extended the Bush administration’s tax cuts to 2012, even though tax cuts for the super-rich do nothing to stimulate the economy.
Eichengreen: You’ve answered your own question. This tax stimulus is very ineffective because it tears another hole in the budget and rich people are not inclined to spend the money that they save with the cuts. But the government has to find a way to boost the US economy — to lower unemployment, which is at 9 percent, if nothing else. Equally important would be a clear statement from Obama and Congress about how they plan to tackle the debt problem in the medium-term. But instead of doing that, the administration and Congress have just pushed the problem further into the future — foolishly to 2012, of all years. Believe me, it will be impossible to talk about this problem in an election year.
SPIEGEL: Are people in the US willing to save at all?
Eichengreen: We’ll soon find out — here in California. Some surtaxes are about to expire and Governor Jerry Brown proposes extending them. There’s going to be a referendum on it. Californians are facing a decision that the whole of the US will soon have to make: either more taxes flow into government coffers or there will be less money available for universities, the socially disadvantaged, defense and so on. In California, we firmly believe that we lead the way for the rest of the country. It was true with surfing, and we hope it will be true with getting the country out of debt.
SPIEGEL: The European Central Bank and the US Federal Reserve are buying government bonds to support countries and stimulate their economies. Is that really a good idea?…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Napolitano Calls for Less Harsh Cuts in Public Spending
(AGI) Geneva — While visiting the CERN nuclear research laboratories in Switzerland, Europe’s largest, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said, “I feel that even while cutting public spending, it should not be done with a machete and public expenditures should all be on the same considering equal all expenditures of capital.” This must have value in an era of “restricted public spending which must be increased in the not too distant future.” Added to that, the president said there must be no less involvement by the private sector. In any case “investments in our future cannot be lightly sacrificed.” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Economy on Right Track Says Tremonti on Growth, Deficit Data
GDP up 1.3% in 2010, deficit 4.6% of GDP
(ANSA) — Rome, March 1 — The Italian economy is on the right track though Italians must “keep their feet on the ground”, Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti said Tuesday after figures growth at 1.3% in 2010 compared to an initial forecast of 1.1% and a deficit at 4.6% of GDP compared to a forecast 5%.
“With the right compass, with our feet on the ground, one step after another, Italians and Italy are going in the right direction,” the minister said. The deficit improvement was due to a 0.9% increase in revenue and a 0.5% drop in spending.
Much of the revenue rise was due to success in recovering VAT payments, Istat said.
The public debt-to-GDP ratio rose to 119% in 2010, compared to 116% in 2009.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain Town Reintroduces Peseta to Boost Economy
A small town in northern Spain has decided to reintroduce the old Spanish currency — the peseta — alongside the euro to give the local economy a lift.
Shopkeepers in Mugardos want anyone with forgotten stashes of the old cash at home to come and spend it.
It is nine years since the peseta was official currency in Spain.
But Spain’s economic crisis has forced some to be inventive. The hard times have seen thousands of businesses close and more than two million jobs go.
Forgotten coins
More than 60 shops in Mugardos, a small fishing town in Galicia on Spain’s northern coast, are accepting the peseta again for all purchases, alongside the euro.
It is an attempt to get cash registers ringing — and help lift the town out of a long and painful economic slump.
Shopkeepers were sceptical at first, but they now say the scheme is a great success.
People are travelling into Mugardos from outside just to spend the old currency they never got round to converting.
One man visited the local hardware store this week with a 10,000-peseta note he had found at home, and had no idea what to do with.
He is now the happy owner of a sandwich toaster.
The euro was introduced here in January 2002.
Spaniards then had another three months to exchange their old currency at any bank.
That cash can still be converted today, but only at the Bank of Spain itself, and it says a staggering 1.7bn euros ($2.4bn) of cash is still unaccounted for — stashed, perhaps, then forgotten; piles of coins that slipped down the backs of sofas; or even big notes kept by collectors.
That is the reserve the shopkeepers of Mugardos are hoping to tap and give a desperately needed boost to business.
Still, the Bank of Spain estimates that almost half the country’s millions of missing pesetas will never be recovered — despite their value.
It believes many left the country long ago, in the purses and pockets of tourists.
| — Hat tip: Seneca III | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Fitch Lowers Rating Due to Uncertain Transition
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, MARCH 2 — Fitch Rating lowered Tunisia’s rating from BBB to BBB-. This in consideration, according to a statement, of “uncertainties concerning Tunisia’s stability and its economic policy in this troubled moment of political transition”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Barack Obama and the Cavalcade of Naivete
By Barry Rubin
President Barack Obama told Democratic Party contributors in Miami:
“When you look at what’s happening…in the Middle East, it is a manifestation of new technologies, the winds of freedom that are blowing through countries that have not felt those winds in decades, a whole new generation that says I want to be a part of this world. It’s a dangerous time, but it’s also a huge opportunity for us.”
Obama also said that the United States should not be “afraid” of change in the Middle East. Well, that depends on the kind of change, doesn’t it? I wouldn’t be afraid if Iran, Syria, and the Gaza Strip had revolutionary upheavals that installed moderate democratic governments, for example.
But let me remind you once again, my theme from the first day of the Egyptian revolution has been that I’m worried because others aren’t worried. The more they show that they don’t understand the dangers, the greater the dangers become.
President Franklin Roosevelt said about the Great Depression that there was, “Nothing to fear but fear itself.” That is, Americans should be confident about their abilities to solve problems. But he didn’t say, when German forces seized one country after another, that Americans shouldn’t be afraid of change in Europe. Nor did he say, as the Japanese Empire expanded, that Americans shouldn’t be afraid of change in Asia.
President Harry Truman didn’t say that Americans shouldn’t be afraid of change in Eastern Europe when the Soviets gained power over the governments there or China became Communist.
These (Democratic) presidents recognized the danger and worked to counteract it as best they could under the circumstances.
In contrast, while giving lip service to the idea that it’s a “dangerous time,” Obama never points to what the dangers are because, frankly, he has no idea. All the points he makes about these changes are positive, cheerleading.
Yet if he’s right on what basis does the United States not want some regimes—Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority—to be overthrown? Why does he not make a differentiation between America’s enemies and America’s friends?
To show who is really being naive, he added:
“All the forces that we see building in Egypt are the forces that should be naturally aligned with us. Should be aligned with Israel.”
All the forces “should be” aligned with the United States and Israel! Well, maybe they “should be” but they aren’t. In fact, it is the exact opposite: all the forces that we see building in Egypt are forces that in fact are not aligned with the United States and Israel. Here we see the arrogance of someone who tells people in other countries what they should think instead of analyzing what they do think.
Of course, what happens—and we see this quite vividly—is that the intellligence agencies and media rewrite reality to say that these people are moderate because that’s what the president expects.
Here are some historical parallels to Obama’s statements (I made them up):…
| — Hat tip: Barry Rubin | [Return to headlines] |
Calif. Girl: 13, Ran Away to Avoid Pakistan Marriage, Police Say
HESPERIA, Calif. — Investigators who spent more than a week searching for a 13-year-old girl her family feared had run away with someone she met online found her unharmed in a hotel Wednesday, where she said she had been hiding to avoid being forced into an arranged marriage in Pakistan.
Jesse Bender was taken into child protective custody as authorities decide whether to recommend filing charges against her family, San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said.
No arrests have been made. A call to the Bender family home in the desert city of Hesperia went unanswered late Wednesday.
Jesse’s mother reported her missing on Feb. 22, telling authorities that her daughter was upset about having to go on a two-month vacation to her father’s native Pakistan, Bachman said.
Several days later, Melissa Bender told investigators she was worried her daughter ran off with someone she had been communicating with on Facebook. Her statement launched a nationwide kidnapping investigation by the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, and multiple law enforcement agencies fearful that the girl was with an Internet predator.
Detectives served several search warrants and the investigation reached as far as Chicago because the mother believed the person who befriended her daughter on Facebook lived there.
“All that information was misleading,” Bachman said. “Whoever she was communicating with online was not a threat to her.”
As detectives began to focus on the Bender family, they learned that a relative was hiding Jessie in the nearby town of Apple Valley out of fear that she would be taken to Pakistan. That relative led detectives to the hotel early Wednesday.
Jesse’s three siblings were also taken into child protective custody pending the completion of the investigation, Bachman said.
“All of the information that was obtained by investigators will be sent to the district attorney’s office for review, I’m sure they’ll make some sort of recommendation,” Bachman said.
| — Hat tip: Zenster | [Return to headlines] |
Can US Founder’s Natural Law Help Defeat Obama’s Socialist “Change”?
An alarming fact patriotic Americans must accept is leftists fighting for “Hope ‘n Change” are actually determined to steal as much liberty from others as possible. The current “Change” mandate has already been exposed as simplistic socialism. But in the midst of unsettling changes and alarming power grabs by our elected officials, as we see our traditional rights and freedoms being sent down the commode as so much effluent, is there anything to be done?
In fact, to win back our freedoms all we need do is hearken back to our Founders & Framers, those intrepid visionary leaders, who laid down the template which we now stray from at our peril. The key to fighting back successfully is reincarnating the Natural Law foundations of our Revolution, which declared bad law to be no law at all, and evil leadership to be simple tyranny. This article discusses this theme of hearkening back to America’s Natural Law foundations to save the USA.
I. Introducing Modern Leftism in America
Ironically, despite the USA winning the Cold War against Marxists a scant generation ago, we are now closer to a socialist coup than perhaps any time in history. How this occurred bears retelling. As America waged war with outside enemies, like Korea and Vietnam, from within we were being cannibalized through our media, entertainment industry and educational system.
Suffice it to say Marxists like John Dewey, ideological founder of modern education, burrowed their way into academia, smuggling in Marxist progressive doctrines. These theories so undermined our traditional, classically-oriented school system that the fight was over before it began. Universities and public schools were riddled with increasing numbers of Marxist true-believers who were more evangelical than most church attenders could ever dream to be.
An example of this infiltration is found in the American arrival of the Frankfurt School, infamous German Marxists who helped deliver a bloodless coup of Political Correctness half a century later. Having already wholly ingested the PC movement, Americans now seem helpless to resist it. But would that change if every Conservative and independent were enlightened to the fact that Political Correctness is cultural Marxism meant to rip our hearts and brains out, leaving us morally defenseless?
In fact, Natural Law has much to say against these immoral and lawless movements which can only debase human society and collapse the greatest of empires from within.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Congress to Hold Hearings on Muslim Threat
WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee says affiliates of al-Qaida are radicalizing some American Muslims and that he plans to hold hearings on the threat they pose to the U.S.
Republican congressman Peter King of New York tells CNN’s “State of the Union” that he sees an international movement with elements in the United States of Muslims becoming more radical and identifying with terrorists.
A Minnesota Democrat, congressman Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the House, says that while it’s proper to investigate radicalization, he thinks it is wrong to single out a religious minority.
On Sunday, groups opposed to King’s hearings plan to rally in New York. President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser will speek on the administration’s approach to countering domestic radicalization.
| — Hat tip: Zenster | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-Rep, ‘Gopher’ Leaves Radio Show After Pressure Over Islam Comments
Fred Grandy, the former “Love Boat” star who served several terms in Congress before landing a gig as a radio host, resigned from his show this week after he was pressured to stop talking so much about radical Islam, his wife, Catherine, told FoxNews.com.
Catherine Mann-Grandy, who spoke with FoxNews.com extensively about the details of their split with WMAL management, confirmed that the couple’s critical commentary on radical Islam was the driving factor behind Grandy’s resignation.
“You’re not allowed to talk about what’s happening in your country,” she said.
Fred Grandy, best known for his role as Gopher in “The Love Boat,” had been on air as a host at Washington, D.C.’s WMAL since 2003. He worked most recently as host of “The Grandy Group” — his wife made regular appearances on that show under the nickname “Mrs. Fred.”
But while both of them started devoting more and more segments to the subject of Muslim influence in America over the past year, it was Catherine’s comments that apparently led to an ultimatum.
Mann-Grandy, who did a regular segment called “domestic terrorism 101,” hit a string of topics on their show last Friday. Though the segment was taken off the radio’s site, she described it. She said that, on air, she quoted a rabbi who compared radical Muslims to Nazis, complained that President Obama was not doing enough to help Israel, warned that “Shariah-compliant” individuals work in the government and discussed several other Islam-related topics.
Perhaps sensing she might have stepped over a line, she warned on air about the possibility that she might not return the following week.
Sure enough, she didn’t.
Mann-Grandy said her husband told her Tuesday that management told him she could no longer be on the show. Further, she said her husband was told to “really tone it down on the Islam stuff.”
In response, Fred Grandy resigned.
Though he was not able to discuss his departure in detail for legal reasons, Fred Grandy also confirmed to FoxNews.com “it was my decision.”
A representative with WMAL could not be reached for comment.
WMAL issued a brief statement about Grandy this week, saying the former Iowa congressman “has informed WMAL of his intention to resign from the station and its morning program, ‘The Grandy Group.’“
“WMAL remains committed to its goal of providing a forum for discussing a broad spectrum of issues while delivering compelling programming,” the statement said.
The sudden departure immediately triggered rumors that the Council on American Islamic Relations, the country’s largest Muslim advocacy group, was somehow involved — a charge CAIR denied. Mann-Grandy said she thinks that’s what happened, though she doesn’t have evidence.
“That is just my gut instinct,” she said. Fred Grandy said he had “no conclusive evidence.”
WMAL, which carries several programs featuring conservative pundits, dumped host Michael Graham several years ago following comments he made about Islam and a subsequent campaign against the station’s advertisers by CAIR.
James Lafferty, chariman of the Virginia Anti-Shariah Task Force, accused WMAL of becoming “the first Shariah-compliant radio station in America.”
Reached for comment, Lafferty said the host was told to tone it down and keep his wife off the program.
CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper attributed the charges against his group to the “extreme anti-Muslim blogosphere.”
“That claim is as credible as any other claim these hate mongers make,” he told FoxNews.com. “They make it up out of whole cloth.”
Hooper said CAIR had not even made any complaints to the station about Grandy.
The Washington Post reported that Grandy’s ratings had also been trailing those of other right-leaning hosts.
But Lafferty alleged that WMAL caved to pressure. The group called on listeners to call the station Monday and Tuesday to demand Grandy and his wife return to the show.
Mann-Grandy, claiming she and her husband have gotten hundreds of e-mails of support, said she doesn’t think they’ll be asked to return but suggested she’d go back on air.
“I would be happy if someone else did that segment … but nobody’s doing it,” she said.
| — Hat tip: Prospero | [Return to headlines] |
FBI to Reopen Case Against Sex Offender Friend of Prince Andrew
Duke may be forced to claim diplomatic immunity to avoid questioning
The FBI is to reopen its investigation into disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein following Mail on Sunday revelations about his sexual exploitation of teenage girls and his links with high-profile individuals, including Prince Andrew.
The Bureau wants to interview Esptein’s former personal ‘masseuse’, Virginia Roberts, after she revealed last week that she was recruited as Epstein’s sex slave when she was just 15.
Last night, in an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, Virginia confirmed she will fully co-operate with the new investigation, which could have serious implications for Epstein and embarrass Prince Andrew, who she met on three occasions.
[…]
A source close to the inquiry said the FBI decided to reopen the case because of Virginia’s revelations to The Mail on Sunday last week.
He said: ‘Now that Virginia has come forward and identified herself as a victim who was flown around the world by Epstein for the purpose of committing a criminal act, this is being taken very seriously.
The FBI is interested in pursuing the allegations published by The Mail on Sunday.’
Now a married mother of three living in Australia, Virginia alleged that her services were offered to a number of politicians, businessmen and international statesmen.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Giuliani: US Should’ve Backed Iranian, Not Egyptian Revolt
“America’s mayor” says Palestinians need to control terror, corruption before statehood; slams Obama’s handling of Mideast unrest.
Former New York mayor and potential Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani called on the Obama Administration “to be more supportive of Israel” and more realistic about what the Jewish state is facing. Giuliani made the comments in an interview with Channel 10 aired on Saturday.
“America’s mayor” said that he took issue with the Obama administration’s policy of attempting to “have a conversation with [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad,” saying that the US president’s diplomatic attempts have been a mistake.
Regarding the recent unrest in Egypt, Giuliani expressed his disappointment that Obama was “supporting those who wanted to overthrow [former Egyptian president Hosni] Mubarak and not those trying to overthrow the regime in Iran.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Homeland Security Looked Into Covert Body Scans
The Homeland Security Department paid contractors millions of dollars to develop and study surveillance systems that could covertly track pedestrians and check under people’s clothing with airport-style body scanners as they enter train stations, bus depots or major events, newly released documents show.
[…]
EPIC lawyer Ginger McCall says the project is disturbing nonetheless because it shows the department “obviously believed that this level of surveillance is acceptable when in fact it is not at all acceptable.”
A $1.9 million contract with Rapiscan Systems, which makes airport body scanners, asked the company to develop similar machines for “covert inspection of moving subjects” and to find explosives on suicide bombers “through clothing, backpacks and other packages.” The contract was signed in 2005.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Progressive Education & Bad Philosophy Corrupted the People & Undermined U.S. Constitution
Throughout human history, the prevailing belief system changes from time to time & place to place; most people unthinkingly absorb whatever happens to be the prevailing dogma of their time & place. Here, I will show the radical differences between the philosophy of our Founding Era and the philosophy of today. And when I have done so, you will understand why our Country is declining and what you can do about it. In a nutshell, the Enlightenment philosophy of our Founding Era, which was based on Reason and the recognition of the existence of Fixed Principles, was taken away from us; and replaced with the subjective philosophies of Pragmatism & Existentialism, both of which reject Reason and deny the existence of Objective Truth & Fixed Principles. These are now the prevailing dogma of our Time; and unless we promptly repudiate them, we will fall.
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, & John Jay (authors of The Federalist Papers), and others at the Federal Convention of 1787, embodied the best aspects of The Age of Enlightenment. They were well educated, exquisitely knowledgeable in statecraft & political philosophy, embraced the concepts of Objective Reality & Fixed Principles, knew Logic, and could think. George Washington, a man renowned for his Moral Character, which was based on Judeo-Christian ideals, presided over the Convention.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sustainable Development Treaty in the Making?
Next year will be the 20th anniversary of UNCED (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development) the largest collection of environmental zealots ever assembled. For the celebration, the U.N. has again designated Rio de Janeiro to host the UNCSD (United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development).
There is no way to count the dollars that have been wasted over the last 20 years by people attending thousands of U.N. meetings around the world, all designed to strengthen global governance and tighten the noose around the people who still believe in individual freedom and free-market capitalism. The U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development is but one of many U.N. organizations and agencies that conduct multiple international meetings each year. Last month, U.N. meetings on sustainable development alone, were occurring 22 of the 28 days somewhere in the world. This U.N. Commission is responsible for implementing Agenda 21 across the entire planet. They have been exceedingly successful.
[…]
Skeptics who refuse to believe that sustainable development has anything to do with the U.N. should examine RIO2012, one of many official U.N. websites that promote sustainable development.
The concept of sustainable development has permeated all the agencies of the federal government and is washing across the nation, infecting state and local governments. Hear this: sustainable development has little to do with sustainability, but everything to do with government control of development. After all, what is and is not sustainable is defined by government, and regulated by government. Every new rule and regulation adopted in the name of sustainable development squeezes a little more freedom from every individual and a little more profit from every business.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
TSA, DHS Plan Massive Rollout of Mobile Surveillance Vans
Newly-released documents obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) reveal that the US Depart of Homeland Security has been working on plans to roll out a new wave of mobile surveillance technologies at train stations, stadiums and streets. These new technologies will track your eye movements, capture and record your facial dimensions for face-recognition processing, bathe you in X-rays to look under your clothes, and even image your naked body using whole-body infrared images that were banned from consumer video cameras because they allowed the camera owners to take “nude” videos of people at the beach.
Most importantly, many of these technologies are designed to be completely hidden, allowing the government to implement “covert inspection of moving subjects.” You could be walking down a hallway at a sports stadium, in other words, never knowing that you’re being bathed in X-rays from the Department of Homeland Security, whose operators are covertly looking under your clothes to see if you’re carrying any weapons.
According to a Forbes.com article [url], one project pursued by DHS using technology from Siemens would “mount backscatter x-ray scanners and video cameras on roving vans, along with other cameras on buildings and utility poles, to monitor groups of pedestrians, assess what they carried, and even track their eye movements.”
Another project involved developing “a system of long range x-ray scanning to determine what metal objects an individual might have on his or her body at distances up to thirty feet.“
We already know that the U.S. government has purchased 500 vans using covert backscatter technology to covertly scan people on the streets [url]. They’re called “Z Backscatter Vans, or ZBVs.”
This is all part of the U.S. government’s new wave of police state surveillance that aims to track and irradiate innocent civilians who have committed no crime. Under the new Janet Napolitano regime, all Americans are now considered potential terrorists, and anyone can be subjected to government-sanctioned radiation scanning at any time, without their knowledge or approval.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Utah to Washington: This Land is My Land!
Resolution suggests D.C. cede 35,000 square miles of state
The BigThink website documents that the federal government controls more of Utah — on a percentage basis — than 47 other states, putting its brand on some 35,000 square miles of land there.
Now in what could be described as a Sagebrush Rebellion on steroids, a resolution advancing quickly in the state Legislature asks the feds to relinquish their control over that land.
“Be it resolved, that the Legislature of the state of Utah calls on the United States, through their agent, Congress, to relinquish to the state of Utah all right, title, and jurisdiction in those lands that were committed to the purposes of this state by terms of its Enabling act compact with them and that now reside within the state as public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management that were reserved by Congress after the date of Utah statehood,” says the State Jurisdiction of Federally Managed Lands Joint Resolution.
[Comments: Be sure to see the map that illustrates the percentage of each States land that is “owned” by the Federal government.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
White House Praises Muslims Ahead of House Hearing
STERLING, Va. — Muslim Americans are not part of the terrorism problem facing the U.S. — they are part of the solution, a top White House official said Sunday at a Washington-area mosque.
Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough set the Obama administration’s tone for discussions as tensions escalate before the first in a series of congressional hearings on Islamic radicalization. The hearings, chaired by New York Republican Peter King, will focus on the level of cooperation from the Muslim community to help law enforcement combat radicalization.
The majority of the recent terror plots and attempts against the U.S. have involved people espousing a radical and violent view of Islam. Just a few weeks ago a college student from Saudi Arabia who studied chemical engineering in Texas was arrested after he bought explosive chemicals online. It was part of a plan to hide bomb materials inside dolls and baby carriages and blow up dams, nuclear plants or the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush.
King said the Muslim community could and should do more to work with law enforcement to stop its members from radicalizing and recruiting others to commit violence.
“I don’t believe there is sufficient cooperation” by American Muslims with law enforcement, King said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Certainly my dealings with the police in New York and FBI and others say they do not believe they get the same — they do not give the level of cooperation that they need.”
In New York City on Sunday, about 300 protestors gathered in Times Square to speak out against King’s hearing, criticizing it as xenophobic and saying that singling out Muslims, rather than extremists, is unfair.
McDonough said that instead of condemning whole communities, the U.S. needs to protect them from intimidation.
McDonough spoke to an interfaith forum at a Northern Virginia mosque known for its longtime relationship and cooperation with the FBI. The executive director of the center, Imam Mohamed Magid, also spoke, as did speakers from a local synagogue and a Presbyterian church.
The administration has tried to strike a balance on the thorny issue, working to go after homegrown Islamic extremists without appearing to be at war with the Muslim world. There has been an effort to build stronger relationships with Muslims — internationally and in the United States.
During his remarks Sunday, McDonough called the mosque a “typically American place” and said it reminded him of his Catholic parish where he grew up in Minnesota.
“Being religious is never un-American. Being religious is quintessentially American,” he said.
He commended the mosque’s members for taking “an unequivocal stand against terrorism.”
“You’ve sent a message that those who perpetrate such horrific attacks do not represent you or your faith, and that they will not succeed in pitting believers of different faiths against one another,” McDonough said.
The White House is close to finalizing a strategy for countering violent extremism. McDonough leads a working group of 13 federal agencies and offices — including the National Counterterrorism Center and the departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Justice and State — focused on finding ways to confront the problem.
On Sunday, McDonough said the strategy would involve continuing efforts to understand the process of radicalization, as well as further outreach to Islamic communities in the United States. He also promised further efforts to dispel “misperceptions about our fellow Americans who are Muslim.”
“No community can be expected to meet a challenge as complex as this alone,” McDonough said. “No one community can be expected to become experts in terrorist organizations, how they are evolving, how they are using new tools and technology to reach our young people.”
| — Hat tip: Takuan Seiyo | [Return to headlines] |
France: 21st Century Paris Blooms, Not Only Les Halles
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, MARCH 2 — As of 2016 one will arrive to Paris from the airport or the banlieue with no more traffic or delays, but simply emerging from its belly button. The new Porte de Paris is in the heart of the city, in Les Halles, the area rebuilt in the ‘70s that has already aged. A grandiose project that is once again redesigning the old ‘ventre de Paris’, but at present construction sites cover 10% of the capital city. A forge of novelties that is however being contested by more than a few people.
More than 60,000 people have already visited the exhibit with models and pictures of the new Les Halles and, above all, of the ‘Canopea’, the futuristic and endless transparent roofing that allows the passage of light but offers protection from sun and rain. It is a sort of wavy roof that runs from the church of Saint-Eustache to the fountain of the innocent, covering the current area of the shopping centre that goes four floors below ground. The huge construction site has opened and today the deputy mayor and councillor for architecture and urbanism, Anne Hidalgo, wanted to draw up the situation for the foreign press in the presence of the man that came up with and designed the project, architect Patrick Berger.
Hidalgo explained that “The idea that inspired us in this as in all the other construction sites that are remaking 10% of Paris is that of the mixed city. Council and residential homes, entertainment and transport, kindergartens and public facilities. This has always been the specificity of Paris and it is with these qualities that we draw companies to choose this city to set up in”.
Remaking everything after less than 30 years, a harshly contested decision that was strenuously supported by Hidalgo: “the Halles have age, there are fire hazard regulation problems. And then, to speak the truth, the 1970’s Les Halles is a complex that never found its true place in the city, despite the 750,000 people that pass through it every day on foot or in the metro. It was a period when citizens were not heard and when sustainable development was not an issue. With this project we are opening a new chapter”.
While Hidalgo spoke, objectors who joined up in the Scand’Halles association gathered together outside: “it is an absurd and invasive project, this roof will let wind and rain through, but not the sun. They are telling a lot of lies, it will be another unending neighbourhood that will cost the enormous sum of 1 billion euros, as much as the Municipality usually invests in a single year”. Hidalgo objected to everything, starting from the costs: “the budget amounts to 802 million euros, two thirds being covered by the Municipality, the rest by the company that runs Les Halles”.
But the spacious bright spaces of the new Halles, where there will be room for a new conservatory and a new library and where architect Berger expects a fantastic scenario for those who are surfacing (“first you see the sky, then Saint-Eustache, then the gardens”), is only part of the revolution that is being carried out in Ville Lumiere where socialist Bertrand Delanoe has been in power since 2001. The most ambitious chapter, which however involves shopkeepers and residents of the ‘Quai’ of the Seine, is that of closing down high speed traffic lanes along the river to return them to walks and commerce, with an eye to protecting the biodiversity and tradition of Paris’ ‘promenade’.
However the outlook of even more congested traffic than at present makes the full implementation of the plan rather difficult, albeit suggestive on paper.
What has already started is the urban renewal of the south-east area, from the gare d’Austerlitz up to the third arrondissement, on the rive gauche. Incidentally, the old station will be the starting point of the new City of fashion and design that, running along the railway, will follow, with the Docks en Seine, the example set by London. The inauguration is scheduled for this year. The whole Bercy area, the new railway station, will be rehabilitated with the extension of the tram that runs along the whole ring road and the construction of new residential neighbourhoods set in green areas provided with public facilities. Almost 600,000 square metres of homes, offices and shop will be built in the historic Batignolles neighbourhood while innovation and sustainable development are the key words of the renovation of the Chapelle neighbourhood close to the Villette.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Euro Generation Comes of Age
Corriere della Sera Milan
Nine years after euro coins and banknotes were brought in, Italian teenagers of today have forgotten what national currencies, borders and devaluations were. Their generation has taken a big step away from those nostalgic for the lira, the mark, or franc.
Elvira Serra
It died in 2002. One hundred and forty years of loyal service, wiped out by a ambitious young currency shared by 17 countries. Today, the lira — the unknown — is cherished only by nostalgics and collectors. The euro generation — the young Italians who have grown up with the new currency — are unaware it ever existed. You think I exaggerate? Just listen to the actor Federico Russo, 13. “Can you tell me about the lira, Federico?” “It’s an old currency”. “But you’ve never heard of it in school, at home, or at your grandparents?” “No, never heard of it.”
“There’s nothing surprising about that,” says Stefano Caselli, professor at Bocconi University in Milan, reassuringly. From a social perspective, this phenomenon can be compared to the internet. “Today, three generations live together: those who grew up in the Stone Age, those who have adapted to the euro, and those who were born with it. The euro generation, which cannot even imagine a world without the euro, is not looking backwards, wondering how things used to be. They’re reinforcing globalisation, and they are even a stabilising element. Those who grew up with the lira, on the other hand, are contributing to the distortion of prices, as they persist in comparing two periods that can’t be compared. Most young people, though, reduce inflation, because they are not making that comparison.”
Now hardly anyone — except the older generation — converts prices back into lire. Prices of taxi rides are still compared: “To get from Malpensa airport to Milan it used to cost 70,000 lire (about 35 euros), and now they charge me 85 euros…” This type of awareness leads to an escalation of depressing considerations of wages and the high cost of living. “We got used to the euro. It’s like learning to drive a car with an automatic transmission or with a right-hand drive. After some time, we just stop thinking about it,” says Luigi Campiglio, Professor of Political Economy at the Catholic University of Milan.
Italian consumers have no regrets about dumping the old currency
“For my students it’s even easier. They barely remember the pocket money their grandparents gave them in lira. They travel more often, and many of them take part in the Erasmus program. They find it all quite natural, this change that is actually a monumental achievement: being able to move from one country to another without bumping up against political or bureaucratic obstacles. And if any of them decide to go work in France or Germany, the choice doesn’t call up the spectre of emigration.”
Paolo Legrenzi, professor at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, has studied the psychological effects of the emergence of the euro on the Italians from the beginning. “This is an extremely rare event in the history of humanity, made even more exceptional in that the same thing happened in the rest of Europe. Unfortunately for us, it came at the same time as the deepest recession since the Second World War. The euro has been hit with the blame for the higher prices. The nostalgics don’t want to remember how low the lira’s purchasing power was and how frequently it was devalued. Conversely, young people take a positive view of the euro. This generation is the happiest, and for them the problem doesn’t come up.” The young people of the euro generation — aged from zero to twenty-five years — are “those who had no budget to manage nine years ago. Those on the other hand who had their own money then certainly compared the lira with the euro at the time of transition. Then they got on with it and quickly adapted to the new currency.”
“Today, Italian consumers have no regrets about dumping the old currency,” observes Ivano Daele of Altroconsumo, the consumer organization. Those who benefit most obviously are the young, who find the euro and the internet great tools for comparing prices, sizing up products and services, learning more about them. Only a residual fringe of society still has difficulty with the single currency, and those are the elderly. It may be some comfort to them that the lira they miss has not existed for many years. As the economic historian Peter Cafaro explains: “We used to sing: If I could make a thousand lira a month … Based on current prices, a thousand of those old lira would amount to a thousand euros today. But the difference is significant, as the purchasing power of today has nothing in common with the purchasing power of yesterday.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Ruby ‘Asked Taxi Driver for €500 to Get Daughter an Invite to Berlusconi’s Villa’
Milan, 4 March (AKI) — ‘Ruby’, the teenage Moroccan go-go dancer who Italy’s prime minister allegedly paid for sex when she was underage, asked a taxi driver for 500 euros to get his daughter an invite to Berlusconi’s villa, Corriere della Sera daily reported Friday.
The unnamed taxi driver was quoted by the daily as saying he gave Karima El Mahroug nicknamed ‘Ruby’ a ride to Berlusconi’s villa in Arcore outside Milan on an unspecified date.
“I thought she must be an important person who could really help my 27-year-old unemployed daughter,” he told Corriere della Sera.
“She has a law degree from the University of Milan and has sent her CV around but has only had rejections.”
“She made great sacrifices to graduate and has been doing casual jobs such as waitressing to earn her keep and help the family,” the taxi driver added.
El Mahroug asked to see his daughter’s CV and promised to help “because she told me she knew various people inside Berlusconi’s villa,” said the taxi-driver.
He said he repeatedly tried to follow up with El Mahroug, but when he finally got hold of her after ringing her mobile for days, she asked him to pay her 500 euros “for her help”.
“I was really offended and felt she had taken me for a ride,” the cabbie said.
Berlusconi is due to stand trial in April for paying El Mahroug for sex in 2010 when she was 17 years old and for abusing his office by pressuring police to release her from custody on unrelated theft charges to cover up their relationship.
Prostitution is not a crime in Italy but paying an underage prostitute for sex is and is punishable by up to three years in prison. The more serious offence of abuse of office carries a maxim tariff of 12 years in jail.
El Mahroug and Berlusconi deny having sex although El Mahroug has admitted receiving cash and other gifts from the premier. They both claim he just wanted to help El Mahroug, who says she ran away from a violent father.
Prosecutors in Milan spearheading the prostitution probe compiled over 700 pages of wiretap transcripts and financial documents which they say show El Mahroug spent at least eight nights at Berlusconi’s villa and that she and “numerous” other young women were paid to attend erotic parties there leading to sex sessions with the 74-year-old premier.
El Mahroug, who is now 18, asked Berlusconi for five million euros to deny she had sex with him, according to wiretaps in the possession of prosecutors.
She will be required to testify as a witness at Berlusconi’s trial but told German tabloid Oesterreich she is tired of the publicity surrounding her links to Berlusconi and plans to start a new life in Mexico after the trial, together with her boyfriend.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ‘Hollywood on the Tiber’ Tries to Recover Lost Movie Magic
Rome, 4 March (AKI/Bloomberg) — A half century ago, when Audrey Hepburn raced through Roman Holiday” on a Vespa scooter in “ the Italian capital’s Cinecitta Studios were known as “Hollywood on the Tiber.”
These days, much of the magic and business is gone as filmmakers head for lower-cost locales such as Budapest and Bucharest. To get back on track, Cinecitta aims to spend 675 million euros on a new hotel and amusement park to make the studios more competitive. Unions oppose the plans.
“I’d love to just make movies, but that’s not happening; there’s less work everywhere,” said Lamberto Mancini, Cinecitta’s general manager. “We need to broaden our scope.”
Producers and directors say filming in eastern Europe costs 15 percent to 25 percent less than at Cinecitta. Last year, Italian filmmakers spent 71 percent of their total budgets abroad, according to the Italian actors’ union, costing Italy some 38 million euros in lost salaries, fees and tax revenue.
“The professional level at Cinecitta is very high, but sadly so are the costs,” said director Isotta Toso, who shot small parts of her debut film “Clash of Civilizations for an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio” at Cinecitta.
In the 1950s and 60s, Italy was the place with competitive prices as American directors flocked to Cinecitta. Hollywood stars inspired director Federico Fellini’s 1960 film “La Dolce Vita,” which depicted Rome’s new café society and was shot in Cinecitta’s Studio 5, one of the largest sound stages in Europe.
The studios are “where American and Italian cinema met, creating a kind of magic,” said Riccardo Tozzi, producer of the 1999 film “Tea With Mussolini” and the 2002 film “Ripley’s Game” with John Malkovich. “It’s our heritage and should be preserved.”
Over the past half century, production at the studios has fallen by about two-thirds to around 90 movies and TV shows in the past two years, Mancini said. Italy’s version of “Big Brother” reality show is currently made there and Cinecitta was home to the BBC and HBO series Rome” from 2004 to 2007.
“We used to work on one movie after another and couldn’t wait to end a production to get at least a few weeks of rest, now the pauses last months, for some even years,” said set designer Vincenzo De Camillis, who worked with Oscar-winning director Giuseppe Tornatore.
Today, Cinecitta employs some 250 people, and about 5,000 more find occasional work on productions there, half the level of employment in the 1960s, the unions say.
To recapture some of the magic, Mancini is spending 175 million euros on offices, equipment, post-production facilities, a hotel, restaurant and spa. In 2014, a 500 million-euro theme park called Cinecitta World is set to open on land the studio owns south of the capital. The project includes roller-coasters and rides based on Fellini films and classics like Ben-Hur.
Unions for actors and crew don’t like the idea. They say it won’t boost employment in the industry and would rather see investments in technology and better filmmaking facilities.
“I don’t see how a hotel and an amusement park will bring more jobs,” said Umberto Carretti, head of Italy’s film crew union. “It sounds like a lot of real estate speculation.”
Unions point to the 1982 sale of studio land that was supposed to be home to an auditorium and multimedia center and ended up as a shopping mall called Cinecitta 2.
“They’d be better off developing cinema-related activities,” said Mario Breglia, chairman of real-estate research firm Scenari Immobiliari. “The land is not hugely valuable for housing, I’d avoid playing the amateur developer.”
Cinecitta has seen hard times before. Founded by Benito Mussolini in 1937, the area was bombed during World War II and then used to house refugees after the war. Following economic hardship and fires that destroyed sets in the 1980s, the state- owned enterprise nearly collapsed. In 1997 a group of Italian companies bought it for $35 million and the focus gradually shifted to TV shows and commercials alongside films.
One of the last large productions made there was Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York” in 2002. Today, the brownstones and storefronts of the 19th-century Manhattan set, which rise out of the windswept lot like a ghost town, are reused for smaller productions.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Ruby ‘Heartstealer’ Stirs Red-Carpet Ruckus at Vienna Ball
Berlusconi sex scandal teen feted by Austrian press
(ANSA) — Milan, March 4 — The 18-year-old Moroccan beauty Silvio Berlusconi is alleged to have paid for sex met tumult on the red carpet entering the Vienna Opera Ball Thursday night. Photographers and cameramen busted police lines as Karima El Mahroug made her way to the high-society debutante ball accompanied by her host, maverick real-estate entrepreneur Richard Lugner, and a phalanx of bodyguards.
El Mahroug appeared unprepared and frightened but bravely continued across the carpet smiling at the paparazzi until she safely entered Lugner’s box at the Vienna State Opera. As she passed through the entrance, the unruly crowd surged into the lobby, creating minutes of chaos, but no accidents or injury. Upon reaching safety, El Mahroug confessed to a reporter who followed her, “I didn’t expect (the assault), but it was ok”.
El Mahroug wore a dazzling gold dress with a plunging neckline and crystal shoulder straps.
El Mahroug favorably impressed the Austrians. The tabloid Oesterreich described her as the “star of the evening” in a large spread devoted to her Friday. The newspaper called it a “triumph” for El Mahroug as well as the ‘godmother’ of the ball Desiree Treichl-Stuergkh.
The ball’s official matron had been described as scathing in the days leading up to the ball, but was reportedly warm and conciliatory at the event. Headlines had read “Lady against the tart” and “Bunga bunga against high culture”, making reference to a lurid sex party game alleged to have taken place at a Berlusconi villa.
“Naturally, she is welcome to us,” Treichl-Steurgkh told the tabloid in an article published Friday.
Papers also wrote El Mahroug had “charmed Vienna”, and that she had shown herself to be nice, pretty and even “the developer’s most pleasing guest so far”. She apparently ingratiated Lugner, dancing until two in the morning, rather than retiring early at 12:30 after fulfilling the minimum obligation, as most of Lugner’s guests have done.
Outside the theater, a tiny group of less than 10 protesters demonstrated against the presence of Ruby and her wealthy host. The group held signs that read, “Our opera is not a Bunga Bungalow”. Another sign read, “Proletarians out of our opera”.
El Mahroug, nicknamed “Ruby Heartstealer”, is at the center of a sex scandal that will see Italy’s premier brought to trial April 6. She has also been the talk of the Austrian press since news emerged that Lugner would escort her to the ball, much to the distress of Vienna high society and ball promoters fearing for the ball’s good name. Lugner, 78, who has described himself as a ‘Berlusconi of Vienna’, has been snubbed by high society in the past, and embraced by tabloids for his associations with young starlets.
Austrian tabloids say Lugner paid her 40,000 euros to attend the ball.
Lugner personally escorted El Mahroug and her disco-owner boyfriend, Luca Risso, in a private jet from Genoa to Vienna earlier this week.
In a press conference staged before the ball, El Mahroug told reporters she hoped to move to Mexico after marrying Risso, to start a new life away from the media glare.
El Mahroug’s itinerary Thursday included a helicopter flight to an Italian restaurant outside of Vienna, near Glognitz, and a visit to a famed hairdresser, followed by a photoshoot with the villain of the TV show Dallas, Larry Hagman, who was also a guest of Lugner’s.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: The Aging ‘Pimps’ At the Heart of the Berlusconi Scandal
Emilio Fede, 79, and ‘Lele’ Mora, 55, are accused of playing a key role in organising Mr Berlusconi’s ‘bunga bunga’ parties.
He is at an age when most Italian men turn their thoughts to pottering around their vegetable garden or whiling away the hours in their local piazza cafe.
But 79-year-old Emilio Fede, a television anchorman, finds himself at the epicentre of the extraordinary prostitution scandal engulfing the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi.
While attention has focused on the parade of glamourous young women who allegedly prostituted themselves with the prime minister, the men alleged to have masterminded what was in effect a vast pimping network are anything but youthful.
Mr Fede is accused along with Dario ‘Lele’ Mora, 55, a celebrity agent, of procuring escort girls to attend “bunga bunga” sex parties with the 74-year-old prime minister, who is due to face trial himself next month accused of paying for sex with an under-age prostitute.
Prosecutors are expected within days to present a dossier of evidence to a judge in Milan in which they will request that Mr Mora and Mr Fede face court on related charges, along with Nicole Minetti, 25, an Anglo-Italian former television showgirl.
The involvement of so many elderly men in the bunga bunga affair has become a national joke in Italy, with critics likening it to an episode of The Benny Hill Show.
Yet it has also shown how blurred the worlds of politics, media and showbusiness have become.
Mr Fede and Mr Mora have long been household names in Italy, one the presenter of a nightly news programme on the Berlusconi-owned TV channel, Rete 4, the other a flamboyant impresario who has made a career in recruiting models to star in television variety shows and panel games.
In a British context, it would be as if David Dimbleby and Simon Cowell were accused of supplying prostitutes to David Cameron.
“There’s this weird way in Berlusconi’s Italy in which politics, celebrity, paparazzi and prostitutes all get melded together into a really nasty cocktail,” said Alexander Stille the author of The Sack of Rome, a comprehensive study of the Berlusconi phenomenon. “It’s a very unhealthy lack of boundaries between realms that shouldn’t be mixed.”
Mr Fede, Mr Mora and Mr Berlusconi have been colourfully satirised for their role in what Paolo Guzzanti, an Italian cultural commentator and disillusioned Berlusconi supporter, has scathingly dubbed the mignottocrazia, or “tartocracy”.
A satirical television programme superimposed the faces of all three men on some old footage of The Benny Hill Show, showing them being chased by girls in police uniforms and tucking bank notes down the cleavage of a showgirl.
Mr Fede is nicknamed ‘Fido’ for his unwavering loyalty to Mr Berlusconi, and has a reputation for using his evening news programme as a platform for attacking the prime minister’s opponents.
He broadcasts Mr Berlusconi’s televised speeches in their entirety, and dismisses the frequent allegations of of corruption, embezzlement and tax fraud against his billionaire boss as the works of “idiots” and “stupid Communists”.
When Mr Berlusconi — whom he describes as Il Cavaliere, or The Knight — duly won the elections of 1994, he even wept with joy on air.
But he now appears to have been more than just a shameless cheerleader for the Italian leader. Prosecutors allege that he acted as a talent scout, scouring Italy for beautiful young women who might be willing to be introduced to the septuagenarian premier.
It was Mr Fede who “discovered” Karima El Mahroug, the Moroccan-born erotic dancer who prosecutors claim was working as a prostitute at the age of 17 and had sex with the prime minister. Paying for sexual relations with a prostitute who is not yet 18 is a crime in Italy, which carries a prison sentence of up to three years.
Mr Fede reportedly spotted her when he was a judge at a beauty pageant in Sicily in September 2009.
He then allegedly passed her onto Mr Mora, whose offices in central Milan allegedly acted as a form of “clearing centre” for women eager to enter the prime minister’s circle in pursuit of money, gifts and help with their show business careers.
Within months, she was attending parties at Mr Berlusconi’s mansion at Arcore, near Milan, where the prime minister and his aged cronies were allegedly entertained by groups of pole-dancing, naked women in a special underground chamber.
Prosecutors recorded telephone conversations between Mr Lele and Mr Mora in which they appeared to scramble around at short notice to find girls for Mr Berlusconi’s soirees.
The parties were held at his mansion at Arcore — dubbed “Hardcore” by the Italian media — and Villa Campari, a house owned by the prime minister on the shores of Lake Maggiore, north of Milan.
“He’s on form and raring to go,” Mr Fede told Mr Mora just after 8pm on Aug 25, 2010. “He’s just called me and he’s on top form. This is the right evening but who can I find?”
Mr Mora rang around his contacts, trying to recruit girls who had appeared on a health programme, Better Living, broadcast on one of Mr Berlusconi’s channels.
For his part, Mr Mora has made — and lost — a fortune as a talent scourt. Last year his company, LM Management, was declared bankrupt with huge losses. He reportedly owes the Italian tax man 16 million euros.
Openly gay, he likes to surround himself with young male models, in one instance being photographed reclining on cushions wearing a white kaftan and a white fez.
“Berlusconi had a need for a constant flow of attractive young women to attend his parties and see to his personal needs,” said Mr Stille, the author.
“Mora, through his talent agency, had access to pretty young things ready to do whatever they can to break into the world of show business.”
Like Mr Lele, Mr Mora describes Mr Berlusconi as “a great man”, although his idea of what makes a good leader is not one that is universally share.
His other great hero in Italian politics is Benito Mussolini, the wartime Fascist leader, and his mobile phone has a fascist anthem as a ringtone.
“I’m very enthusiastic when I say I am a fan of Mussolini’s,” he told the makers of Videocracy, an acclaimed documentary that examined the nexus between politics, sex and television under Mr Berlusconi.
But in Italy, it seems, neither bankruptcy nor accusations of soliciting prostitutes preclude a career in politics.
Mr Mora announced this week that he wants to put himself up as a candidate at Italy’s next general election, due in 2013.
“If they want me, I’m ready, although only after I’ve been acquitted,” he said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: The Illuminati of Europe
El Periódico de Catalunya, 4 March 2011
“The lightship of the West”, leads El Periódico, reporting on a study by the University Complutense of Madrid that reveals that “the cities of Spain are leading [Europe] in expenditures on public lighting.” Spaniards are the Europeans who “waste” the most lighting, at 118 kilowatt hours per year per capita, against the 90 kilowatt hours of the French or the 48 kilowatt hours of the Germans. The daily sees the crisis as an opportunity to change the public lighting system of Spain, the country with “the highest level of light pollution” in Europe.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘We Will Not Pick Up Toxic New Bulbs’: Councils Say Energy-Saving Lights Are Too Dangerous for Binmen
Councils across the UK are refusing to pick up low-energy lightbulbs from homes as they contain toxic mercury, which gives off poisonous vapours.
But confused consumers are putting the new bulbs — classed as hazardous waste — in their dustbins when they burn out, potentially putting the safety of thousands of binmen at risk.
Previously, the public disposed of traditional lightbulbs, used in Britain for 120 years, in a domestic bin.
However, they are being phased out under a European Union ruling and are being replaced with energy-saving bulbs, many of which contain mercury.
Last night UNISON, the union which represents thousands of rubbish collectors across Britain, said it was concerned at the risks binmen are facing.
A spokeswoman said: ‘We are worried as most people do not know these bulbs are not to be put in dustbins. The Government is not doing enough to make people aware of the risks.’
The most common types of low-energy bulbs are known as ‘compact fluorescent lamps’.
A study by Germany’s Federal Environment Agency found that when one of them breaks, it emits levels of toxic vapour up to 20 times higher than the safe guideline limit for an indoor area.
If a bulb is smashed, the UK’s Health Protection Agency advice is for householders to evacuate the room and leave it to ventilate for 15 minutes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Spy Fears After Far East Firm With Alleged Links to Chinese Military is Given All-Clear to Build Mobile Phone Network on the Tube
Security experts have voiced concern after Business Secretary Vince Cable backed a giant Chinese company that is bidding to build a mobile phone network on the London Underground.
The deal between telecoms giant Huawei — accused of having links with the Chinese military — and London Underground is set to be cleared by Ministers.
It would mean passengers could use mobiles on the Tube by the time of the 2012 Olympic Games.
But cyber and telecom experts warned Huawei represented a potential spying threat and claim the equipment installed could be used to hack into mobile calls or even shut off telephone exchanges.
US officials have already claimed that the company could jeopardise national security. They also raised concerns over the founder of the company, Ren Zhenfei, a former member of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
[…]
However, private security experts were concerned about how little resistance there is to the technology in Britain.
Dr Richard Clayton, a security researcher at Cambridge University, said last night: ‘There is a general problem with this sort of kit — it gives someone the potential to turn off our telephone exchanges. And that is the sort of thing that rightly worries the security services.’
Dr Clayton added that the technology could also allow phone calls to be hacked. He said: ‘There have been issues with this technology in other countries and I only hope our security services are aware of them.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bosnia: Serb General in Bosnian Muslim Army Arrested for Alleged War Crimes
Vienna, 4 March (AKI) — The sole Serb general in Bosnia’s Muslim army during the 1992-1995 Balkan war has been arrested in Vienna on suspicion of committing war crimes.
Jovan Divjak’s detention was carried out based on a Serbian arrest warrant, local media reported on Friday. He is being accused of participating in an attack that killed dozens of Yugoslav soldiers withdrawing from Sarajevo, Bosnian foreign minister Sven Alkalaj told reporters.
Divjak’s name is an international warrant Serbia issued in 2009 for the arrest of 19 Bosnian army and civilian officials for allegedly ordering an attack on a withdrawing Yugoslav army column from Sarajevo in May 1992 despite a safe passage agreement.
According to Serbian sources, 42 soldiers were killed, 72 wounded and 215 taken prisoner.
In March last year, a wartime member of Bosnian state presidency Ejup Ganic was arrested on the same warrant in London, but was freed by a British court four months later.
Alkalaj said Bosnian diplomats in Vienna where in contact with Divjak and will offer him legal help. Divjak was due to appear in Vienna court later today, he said.
In the meantime, Divjak’s supporters have called for mass protests in front of Serbian and Austrian embassies in Sarajevo, demanding his release. Bosnia objects to Serbia’s issuing warrants for crimes allegedly committed on Bosnian territory.
But Serbian officials have said Bosnian authorities have been earnest in prosecuting crimes committed by Serbs, but ignored those perpetrated by Muslims.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Kosovo: KFOR With 5,500 Men vs 40,000 in 1999
(ANSAmed) — PRISTINA, MARCH 2 — KFOR, the NATO force in Kosovo, currently counts 5,500 men, equal to about half what it had been in December. In statements made to Kosovar national radio, the contingent’s commander, German General Erhard Buehler, said yesterday that KFOR soldiers come from 31 countries and that there will not be any changes as concerns the troops from the countries which have the largest contingents in Kosovo: the US, Germany, France and Italy. General Buehler, who met with the newly-elected Kosovar president Behgjet Pacolli, underscored that KFOR would be stepping up security for the upcoming talks between Belgrade and Pristina, which are scheduled to begin by the end of March in Brussels. The commander said that he did not expect any incidents to occur during the talks, though KFOR will be ready to react to an emergency situations that may arise. On its arrival in Kosovo in 1999, KFOR counted 40,000 men, which was reduced alongside the gradual improvement in security within the country which proclaimed its independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Revolts: Frattini: 1 Bln Euro From Italy for Med Development
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MARCH 4 — Italy could raise “almost a billion euros” for the development of countries on the southern shores of the Mediterranean. This is according to Italy’s Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, who has been speaking to journalists at Montecitorio as part of the plenary session of the parliamentary assembly for the Union for the Mediterranean.
“We have over 600 million euros in credit towards these countries that we could turn in to investments in infrastructure. By adding 300 million euros in credits and aid, we reach almost a billion euros on a national scale,” Frattini said.
The Foreign Minister added that, ahead of the extraordinary EU council to be held on March 11, Italy will request “that this becomes the Marshall plan for the Mediterranean”. “The European Investment Bank (EIB) is ready to do its bit, and its Chair, Philippe Maystadt, has spoken of a total of 6 billion dollars,” he explained.
Italy also supports “the EIB’s plans for a European network to revive small and medium-sized enterprises” in countries in the southern Mediterranean. “This is a study that we have been carrying out for some time, and one that I believe the EIB could implement at the beginning of March in order to bring about a Euro-Mediterranean agency for SMEs,” the Minister said, adding that “this has always been an Italian proposal”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Uprisings: Juppe: Mediterranean Union Needed More Than Ever
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, MARCH 2 — In light of the uprisings in the Arab world the Union for the Mediterranean project, launched in 2008 in Paris, is needed more than ever. The statement was made by the new French foreign minister, Alain Juppe’, who already yesterday insisted on the need to revive this ambitious project.
During a speech to the Paris National Assembly Juppe’ stated that “The Med Union is an idea that is needed more than ever before”, and added that “Our common interest is to ensure that the development of the two shores will allow citizens of the south to live at home, on their land, in their countries, and to find there their rightful peace, freedom, work and prosperity.
That is what we will do by reviving the Med Union with the support of all European Union Countries”. The Union for the Mediterranean, a cooperation project between the EU and the Countries of the south shore of the Mediterranean, among which Israel, was one of the initiatives that was strongly desired by president Nicolas Sarkozy. But the stalemate in the peace process between Israel and Palestine still has not allowed the project to take off.
Juppe’ also rejected criticism by the opposition that mentioned a weakening of French diplomacy since the start of the Arab revolutions, stating that “the voice of France is powerful and heard throughout the whole world”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Sufi Meeting to Form Party, Arrests Made
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, MARCH 4 — For the first time in the history of Sufism in Egypt, a group of 18 groups of the mystic sect have come together to create a committee for the formation of a new political party inspired by the Justice and Development Party, which has been in power in Turkey since 2002. The story was reported on the English website of independent daily Al Masry Al Youm, which also reported news of arrests of Sufis both in Cairo and Assiut. According to the website, the group appointed lawyer Ahmed Abdo Maher to represent them for the registration of their party during a meeting attended by political activists from the National Association for Change (headed by former IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei), the Ibn Khaldun Centre (which had sociologist Saeddin Ibrahim as their former president) and the Islamic Popular Leadership Organisation (IPLO). The president of the committee, Sheikh Mohamed Alaa Abul Azayem, announced that the party’s platform is to fight secularism as well as fundamentalism and to promote social coexistence. Some of the names proposed for the new party are “The Freedom Party,” “Egypt Today Party,” “Social Coexistence Party,” and “Elite Party”. IPLO Deputy Secretary General, Ahmed Shawqi Helmi, rejected the idea that a party has been formed that does not aspire to govern the country. As part of investigations by state security officials into the Sufi sect, 20 members were arrested in Assiut, in Upper Egypt, and another 14 in Cairo in the working-class neighbourhood of Sayyeda Zenab, while they were giving out food in front of the mosque bearing the same name. Members of the Sufi sect also include whirling dervishes from the Turkish city of Konya.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Journalist: Effect of Revolution on Muslim Brothers
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MARCH 4 — “The preacher Youssef Qaradawi who spoke in Tahrir square? He enjoys some consensus, but Egyptian society is less conservative that it may appear”. The statement was made by Randa Adel Achmawi, of historic newspaper Al Ahram’s Hebdo, who spoke today during the convention named ‘Migrant chronicles. Women outside common places’ sponsored by Associazione Stampa Romana and Red Mediterranea.
In effects Tahrir square showed the “true face of Egypt”, it reflected the whole country, and not the capital city alone, which has now awoken from the ‘illness’ of resignation in which it fell under Mubarak’s regime. The journalist emphasised that “It was a real, genuine revolution that involved Egypt’s society in all its various aspects”. On the front line she also saw the women, who were “half of the demonstrators in the square”, and who carried out the same “driving role” played by women who took to the streets in 1919 against colonialism. A role that women will be allowed to continue to carry out during the future of the revolution, “but only if there remains substantial pressure to modernise the Country”. She stated that in effects the players of the revolution “expressed the will to live modern 21st Century life to the fullest”, to the point to force the Muslim Brothers themselves to a new internal debate between its more conservative fringe and the more moderate one, “which otherwise would never have come about”. Randa Adel Achmawi added that “Now, for example, they are debating whether or not a Coptic president is acceptable or a female president when democratically elected, issues that otherwise would never have been tackled”.
But the main underlying issue, which must be tackled sooner or later, is that of article 2 of the Constitution, which after the amendment desired by president Sadat states how the sharia is no longer “one of”, but “the main source of legislation. A matter that will be tackled further on in order to avoid dangerous divisions today, but which in any case is in everyone’s thoughts”. Because everything, in the new Egypt, will also depend on how it will be dealt with.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Eight SAS Men in Undercover Mission Are Seized in Libya — by the Rebel Forces They Went to Help
An eight-man SAS team and a junior diplomat were being held by rebels in eastern Libya last night after a bungled mission to put the envoy in touch with them.
The elite unit has been escorting the diplomat through rebel-held territory when they were captured.
The diplomat had intended to pave the way for a more senior British official to establish diplomatic relations with rebel forces.
But the appearance of SAS soldiers alongside the diplomat ‘angered Libyan opposition figures who ordered the soldiers to be locked up in a military base’, The Sunday Times reported.
The Ministry of Defence said: ‘We neither confirm nor deny the story and we do not comment on the special forces.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Embattled Gaddafi Regime Names New U. N. Ambassador
(AGI) Tripoli — Muammar Gaddafi has named Ali Abdussalam Treki, an ex-foreign minister, to represent the regime at the United Nations, anonymous government sources in Tripoli report. Treki, 73, headed the Libyan foreign ministry from 1976 to 1982 and from 1984 to 1986. In 2009 he was president of the U.N. General Assembly and takes over from Abdurrahman Mohamed Shalgham, who resigned in protest at the ferocious repression of protests by the Geddafi regime.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
France Believes Military Intervention in Libya “Negative”
(AGI) Cairo — French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, who is currently visiting Egypt, has said that military intervention in Libya would have a “totally negative effect” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Maroni: Diplomacy is Needed Not Bomb Threats
(AGI) Milan — Roberto Maroni is hoping the extraordinary EU summit on the situation in North Africa will culminate in “a diplomatic EU offensive against these countries.” Italy’s Minister for the Interior believes that there is nothing to be gained by “simply threatening to bomb them, because that just produces the opposite effect.” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Medics ‘Targeted by Pro-Gaddafi Forces’ Says Amnesty
London, 4 March (AKI) — Libyan medical teams have told Amnesty International how they came under fire from pro-Gaddafi security forces on Thursday while carrying out their medical work.
Two medics from the Libyan Red Crescent trying to retrieve a body near the town of Misratah were injured by shooting from a nearby military installation belonging to the Hamza Brigade, a military force loyal to Colonel al-Gaddafi.
“This was a deliberate attack on medical professionals, who were wearing full medical uniform and arrived in two clearly marked Red Crescent ambulances,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa director.
“This disturbing assault indicates that pro-Gaddafi forces are prepared to use lethal force indiscriminately even against those whose role it is to care for the wounded and pick up the dead.”
A convoy including two ambulances travelled from Misratah to collect the corpse of a man who had been shot on Monday in unclear circumstances close to the Hamza Brigade base, and had been killed or left to die in his car.
The leading ambulance stopped a short distance from the car containing the dead man, who was slumped onto the passenger seat of the car, and three medics in Red Crescent uniform got out to collect his body.
As they did so, they came under fire from the military building. The first shot struck the ambulance, which sped away leaving the medics to duck for cover as gunfire persisted for about three minutes.
One of the ambulance workers was struck in the forearm by bullet splinters and another was struck in the chin, apparently by splinters from the academy’s fence or possibly a bullet fragment. Neither was seriously injured.
The deadly crackdown by the government in Tripoli has led to Libya being suspended from the UN Human Rights Council and referred to the International Criminal Court, whose chief prosecutor says he is investigating Libyan leader Colonel al-Gaddafi, members of his family and top aides for alleged crimes against humanity.
“Colonel al-Gaddafi must rein in the security forces that remain loyal to him — all those responsible for carrying out attacks on civilians and medical workers must know that they will be held to account,” said Malcolm Smart.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Italy “Has the Most to Lose” If Gaddafi Stays in Power
Rome, 4 March (AKI) — Italy has the most to lose if Muammar Gaddafi manages to hold on to power at the helm of Libya, said Italian Mario Barone, former-executive vice president of Banca UBAE, a Libyan-controlled bank that oversees payments for Libyan oil and gas in Europe that also holds deposits on behalf of institutions belonging to the country’s government.
“If the colonel stays, our country will be punished for its political line in these weeks of the Libyan revolt,” he told Adnkronos International (AKI) on Friday in an interview. After acting with prudence, the Italian government publicly distanced itself from Gaddafi, he said.
Over the last few years Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been very public about forming ties with Gaddafi, even inviting him as a special guest to the G-8 meeting in Italy.
Italy is Libya’s biggest trading partner and the two countries in 2009 announced a deal that would grant Italian businesses favourable tax and export privileges.
But amid the international outcry over Gaddafi’s violent crackdown on opponents, Italy suspended a so-called friendship agreement between the two nations that provides 5 billion dollars — much of with is earmarked to construct a coastal highway — over 20 years as compensation for Italy’s 1911-1943 rule and to fund the building of a motorway along the Libyan coast.
The diplomacy has paid off. Italian oil and gas giant Eni has won lucrative exploration contracts in Libya, while the two governments announced a deal that granted Italian businesses preferential treatment for taxes and exports.
“We wouldn’t be the preferred ones anymore,” if Gaddafi defeats a rebellion which has so far captured control of much of the eastern part of Libya, Barone said.
“The highway would get done by others, like the Chinese or Indians, everybody who is interested in oil,” Barone told AKI.
Italy gets around 25 percent of its oil and 10 percent of its natural-gas from Libya.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Paramilitaries and Spies, Gaddafi’s Force
(ANSAmed) — ROME — According to converging sources, forces loyal to colonel Muammar Gaddafi unleashed a counterattack from Ajdabiya (where the air force is active) to Misurata and Zawiya (where paramilitary units are being used).
But what forces can the Libyan leader rely on, and how capable are they of restraining or crushing the insurrection? Like many ‘strong men’ of the Arab world, Gaddafi handed to his sons military roles in order to guarantee the loyalty of the armed forces. But according to a Bbc analysis, in what is now a civil war, Gaddafi does not count on the army (not very powerful, ill equipped, which allowed the initial surges of the rebels) as much as on the 32nd Brigade, known as the Khamis brigade, from the name of its leader, Gaddafi’s fifth son. It is equipped with modern Russian tanks and Grad rocket launchers mounted on trucks, with major firepower. It includes a few thousand men, paid better than the others. According to Jane’s, the other significant paramilitary forces are the Organisation for the people’s safety and the Revolutionary guard, with some 3,000 men.
The regime can also rely on an efficient and merciless internal and external security organization, which allegedly was involved in the fierce repression of protests in Bengasi: one of its leaders is Gaddafi’s brother-in-law, general Abdullah Senussi. However in recent days there are allegations that he has been kicked out.
Gaddafi’s sons have more or less important military roles: since 2009 Mutassim has been the head of the National security council (after ten years of poor relations with his father); a few days ago Saadi was sent to the rebel east to try to sedate the insurrection, after which reports became scarce. Another son, Hannibal, has a minor role in the armed forces.
The mercenaries are the most disturbing aspect of the regime’s activities in recent weeks. There are converging reports according to which Gaddafi is using African fighters (from Chad, Mali and Niger, inter alia) whose guerrilla actions in the respective countries he already financed in the 1990s and 2000.
They are responsible for atrocities against civilians and objectors, do a dirty job turned down by many Libyan soldiers such as shooting on crowds from rooftops. These are former guerrilla fighters who work for money (Arab websites mention from 2,000 to 6,000 dollars per month, a fortune in Africa), but they share no ideological links with the regime. According to Ali Zeidan, the spokesperson of the Libyan human rights league, there are 25,000 mercenaries working in Libya and they are paid from 300 to 2,000 dollars. According to Zeidan they are led by two generals from Chad who are under the orders of Cahd’s ambassador to Libya, Daussa Deby, brother of Chad’s president Idriss Deby.
Lastly, the colonel relies on his tribe, Qadhathifa, and during his 41 years in power he placed many members of this tribe in powerful positions, including ones concerning his personal security. Geographic loyalties towards the regime are unclear. The most famous tribe to go against Gaddafi is the Werfalla tribe, in truth a confederation of tribes representing one million people.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Al Jazira: Gadaffi’s Troops Take Ras Lanuf
(AGI) Cairo — Muammar Gaddafi’s troops have taken the coastal oil city of Ras Lanuf, despite continuing resistence. An Al Jazira correspondent posted the news, underscoring the fact that, although pockets of resistence still remain, the insurgents are continuing to wreak havoc. The Colonel’s air force has been bombing rebels making their way to Sirte, Gaddafi’s birthplace, forcing them to turn tail. This is a major blow for the revolutionaries.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Libya Unrest: SAS Members ‘Arrested Near Benghazi’
Details of a UK operation to rebel-held Benghazi in Libya in which eight men — six reportedly SAS — were detained, have been disclosed to the BBC.
Defence Secretary Liam Fox said a small diplomatic team was in Benghazi and “they were in touch with them”.
The BBC’s Jon Leyne said witnesses saw six men in black overalls land in a helicopter near the city early on Friday and they were met by two others.
They were later detained when it was discovered they were carrying weapons.
According to an earlier report in the Sunday Times the unit was trying to put UK diplomats in touch with rebels trying to topple the Gaddafi regime.
In a statement, the MoD said: “We neither confirm nor deny the story and we do not comment on the special forces.”
Our correspondent, who is in Benghazi, said the men went to the compound of an agricultural company where they were challenged by Libyan guards and asked if they had weapons.
“Witnesses said that when the men’s bags were checked they were found to contain arms, ammunition, explosives, maps and passports from at least four different nationalities.
“The witnesses said at that point all eight men were arrested and taken to an army base in Benghazi where they are being held by the opposition forces who control this area.”
Meanwhile, the British evacuation of EU nationals continues. The Royal Navy frigate HMS Cumberland is due to set sail from Benghazi later on Sunday.
In other developments, eyewitnesses and rebels say four towns which Libyan forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi claim to have retaken actually remain under rebel control.
BBC staff report that Tobruk and Ras Lanuf remain in rebel hands.
Anti-Gaddafi forces still control Misrata and Zawiya, residents and rebels said. But Misrata was reported to be under renewed attack on Sunday.
Routine deployment
Officials in Tripoli said pre-dawn gunfire there was celebrating pro-Gaddafi “gains” of the towns.
Separately, a group of Dutch special forces was apparently captured by Col Gaddafi’s forces in western Libya while trying to assist Dutch nationals evacuate.
Earlier, the MoD confirmed Scottish troops were on standby to assist with humanitarian and evacuation operations in Libya.
Defence Secretary Liam Fox told the BBC the UK had no plans to use British land forces in Libya.
The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, is on a routine deployment notice of 24 hours at an RAF base in Wiltshire.
Former foreign secretary, David Miliband, told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show that Libya was going to have to be a “big squeeze rather than a big bump on Gaddafi”.
He said they would need to squeeze his oil money, squeeze him politically and also “make sure people know that they have our support”.
Questioned about Col Gaddafi’s son Saif giving the Ralph Miliband memorial lecture at the LSE last year, he said it was “horrific”.
Set up to honour his academic father’s memory, he said it had been “horrific to the whole family, obviously”.
| — Hat tip: 4symbols | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: GB Humiliated by Rebels, Commandos Sent Home
(AGI) London — The first attempt by Great Britain to make contact with the Libyan rebels turned into a humiliation.
According to the Guardian, a group of six commandos of the Special Air Services and two intelligence agents (MI6) had been captured by insurgents near Benghazi. Representatives of the National Liberation Council refused to receive them and sent them back. “We did not know the nature of their mission. We have refused to discuss anything with them for the way in which they entered the country” said CNL spokesman Hafiz Ghoqa .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisian Islamist Leader Embraces Turkey, Praises Erbakan
Turkish political experience “inspires the Arab world,” the leader of Tunisia’s newly legalized Islamist movement “Ennahda” (Awakening) said Wednesday during a meeting with journalists in Istanbul.
Rached Ghannouchi, who was in exile during the era of ousted Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, came to Turkey to attend the funeral Tuesday of the country’s first Islamist prime minister, Necmettin Erbakan. He told the mostly Turkish and Arab journalists at the meeting that Turkey serves as an example for budding Tunisian democrats.
“We are learning from the experience of Turkey, especially the peace that has been reached in the country between Islam and modernity; it is a true example [to the Arab world],” Ghannouchi said.
His press conference took place at the Istanbul headquarters of the Humanitarian Relief Foundation, or IHH, a Turkish Islamic charity that led the Gaza-bound aid flotilla raided by Israeli commandos in May, an operation that resulted in the deaths of nine activists.
Asked whether he and his party were receiving any support from Turkey and the Turkish government, Ghannouchi said only that Turkey’s example is in itself a form of support.
“The Turkish experience, the success of Turkey inspires the Arab world. Human rights, democratic freedoms and economic progress in Turkey — these are the biggest supports that Turkey gives to the Arab world,” he said.
Erbakan a ‘big brother’
Describing Erbakan as “not only a friend, but a big brother,” Ghannouchi said he heard of the Turkish politician’s death while he was in Tunis.
“This was a very tragic event,” he said. “The elaborate funeral that Erbakan received, those who attended and those who watched extended between 1.5 million and 2 million… the feelings evoked from the Turkish people showed how much respect and love they have for this leader”
Ghannouchi compared Erbakan to the intellectual forefathers and founders of the Muslim Brotherhood. “In the Arab world in my generation, when [people] talked about the Islamic movement, they talked about Erbakan. When they talked about Erbakan, it is comparable to the way they talked about [Brotherhood founders] Hassan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb,” he said.
Asked his thoughts on the two Brotherhood figures, Ghannouchi did not shed light on whether his ideological beliefs were close to theirs. “Hassan al-Banna and Yusuf al-Qaradawi [another theologian] are not the only believers [in Islam] in the world. There are 1.5 billion believers on Earth,” he said.
A former radical preacher who now says he espouses moderate ideals similar to Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, Ghannouchi founded the Ennahda movement in 1981 with intellectuals inspired by the influential Egypt-born Muslim Brotherhood. The group was initially tolerated after Ben Ali took power in 1987 but denied legal registration.
Democracy for Tunisia
The revolution that toppled Ben Ali is still continuing, said Ghannouchi, who recently returned to Tunisia after a long exile in London. “The young people are still in the streets,” he said, adding that three successive governments in Tunisia have fallen in rapid succession.
“Both Islamists and secularists conducted the revolution in Tunis,” he said. When he informed the audience that his Ennahda party was no longer banned from participating in politics, one audience member shouted “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great.”
Ghannouchi opened his remarks at the press conference with the Muslim greeting “Peace be upon you,” to which the appropriate Islamic response came booming back from roughly half of the audience members.
The Islamist leader made a point of emphasizing his intention to embrace the developing democracy in Tunisia. “When we want to make a decision in a pluralistic society, then we should try to think about implementing democracy or a parliamentary system — we ask for the choice … It is important to promote not only democracy but also unification,” he said. “We should not look backward. There are multiple parties in Tunis, so we have to respect the flourishing of that.”
Ghannouchi said his party was in the process of planning for the time when democratic elections take place. “We, of course, will participate in the elections, because we are the primary party in the country,” he said.
Asked whether he and his party would be willing to participate in the government prior to elections, given the open slots created by recently resigned ministers, Ghannouchi replied that “it is possible.”
In his remarks, Ghannouchi also touched on the freedom of the press, mentioning at least once that Turkey’s free press is an inspiration to the Arab world. “Freedom of the press is something we should nurture; protection of the news is a sort of liberation,” he said.
Rejecting al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri’s recent claim that the United States now enjoys more influence over Tunisia following the toppling of its dictator, was “definitely not true,” Ghannouchi said when asked about the statement.
“What happened in Tunisia and Egypt was by the will of the people. Europe and America supported the dictators up until the last moment, until the people spoke. Then they [the dictators] left. And the people did not accept the support [of the West],” he said.
Ghannouchi also came out strongly against any military intervention from Western nations in the current conflict in Libya between longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi and rebels based in the eastern province of Benghazi, saying the Libyan people would proceed according to their own will.
“If we’re talking about intervention, the Americans have had enough of failed interventions … when they try to intervene in revolutions it is quite difficult,” Ghannouchi said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: 6.3 Bln Dollar Investment Lost Due to Corruption
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MARCH 2 — Tunisia lost an enormous foreign investment worth 6.3 billion dollars to build a refinery, which would have provided job opportunities to 1,200 people, due to the corruption that was rampant in the regime of deposed President Ben Ali. The story was revealed by Ahmed Al Kadidi, the Tunisian Ambassador to Doha, cited by the website of Arab satellite television network, Al Jazeera. One of the advisors of the deposed president, Abdelwahab Abdallah, asked Qatari officials responsible for the investment for 700 million dollars as a condition to complete the refinery construction project in the southern part of the country, explained the ambassador. Qatar Petroleum officials, underlined Alkadidi, were surprised when their Tunisian counterpart said that they would first have to meet with Abdullah, who was the Minister of Information. Although they did not abandon the project, whose plans were frozen in the meantime, the Qatari officials refused to pay the bribe requested by Abdallah. Abdelwahab Abdallah, who is currently under investigation for his ties to the old regime, was one of the deposed president’s closest collaborators as well as the architect of the censorship policy imposed on Tunisia’s newspapers.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Bumpy Ride Ahead for the First Arab Revolution
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MARCH 2 — The road to democracy in Tunisia still looks rough, where to “save the revolution” — the first and what served as the spark for others across the Arab world — the second transitional government since the fall of Ben Ali on January 14 is already on the edge of collapse after yesterday losing even the ministers of what had been the opposition to the regime, with new incognitos on the horizon. However, a role seems ensured for the Islamic movement Ennahda, which has officially gained legal status today and which is gearing up for political life “in the open” after twenty years of repression.
The Minister for Higher Education, Ahmed Ibrahim, from the former communist party Ettajdid, and the Minister for Regional Development Nejib Chebbi from the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), have tendered their resignations. They were the only members of the government from what had been the opposition — though one of a very repressed nature — to Ben Ali. A third minister also resigned afterwards, the head of economic and social reforms Elyes Jouini. And with the resignation the day before yesterday of the Ministers of Industry and International Cooperation, following Prime Minister Ghannouchi’s resignation — all of whom had met with opposition due to being considered in some way linked to the old regime — it is clear that the government is not holding up and today may see the announcement of a new government formation.
However, the new element seems to be possible “openings” (or “yielding”, as some consider it) of the new prime minister, Beji Caid Sebsi, who by the end of today is to announce the formation of a new Constitutional Council tasked with rewriting the Constitution, revealed a source close to the government. If this were to happen, once more it will be pressure from protests to bring change to Tunisia, according to the ‘Casbah Diehards’, the demonstrators who stayed in the square in front of Tunis government offices after the latest violent wave of protests last weekend, with rioting and clashes and at least six who died in the centre and outskirts of the capital. “We want the dissolution of the government and the creation of a Constituent Assembly”.
The UGTT, the union which was one of the largest players in the revolution, went even further: it has requested the constitution of a “Council for the Safeguarding of the Revolution” made up of representatives of all those involved in civil society and the political sphere, a keystone for a Tunisia still suffering from instability, ANSA was told by UGTT spokesman Abid Briki. “The union’s position is clear: we are demanding the dissolution of Parliament, the creation of a “National Council for the Safeguarding of the Revolution’, the election of a council tasked with rewriting the Constitution and the designation of a temporary government of technical experts that lead the way to elections and whose members commit to not taking part in the election.” This is where the path to elections must start from.
It should also not be ruled out that a new political party will also be “ready”: the Islamic movement Ennahda (Rebirth) which was outlawed and persecuted during Ben Ali’s regime but which has now become legal. Its founder, Rachid Ghannouchi, came back to Tunisia a month ago after over twenty years in exile in London. “We waited thirty years to become legal, and this is the result of the revolution,” said Ennahda spokesman Ali El Arayadh, “in this way we are entering a new phase and will contribute towards the construction of a democratic regime.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Vengence From the Skies: Libyan Air Force Could be Gadhafi’s Trump Card
Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi has always paid special attention to his air force, staffing it with his most loyal followers and supplying it with the best training and equipment. The recent bombing raids in Brega might just be a small foretaste of the overwhelming punch his air power can deliver.
Although a large part of Libya’s army has defected and joined the rebel forces, its air force appears to have remained almost completely loyal to Moammar Gadhafi. Indeed, it is one of the main factors still propping up the regime and the most serious threat to the insurgents who control the eastern part of the country.
Libya’s air force is made up of roughly 18,000 men and women, most of whom are staunch supporters of the regime. The elite military branch recruited from followers who were 100 percent loyal to the regime, and members of Gadhafi’s Gadhadfa tribe and its closely allied Magariha tribe were given preference during the selection process for recruits. They have shown a blind obedience to their commander in chief. Only a handful of pilots and officers have switched sides to join the opposition.
In return for their loyalty, Gadhafi has always made sure that members of the air force received the best training and equipment. The fighter wing is reportedly made up of roughly 100 MiG-21 and MiG-23 fighter jets as well as 15 Mirage F-1 and 40 SU-22 planes. The arms depots are thought to be filled to the rafters with munitions.
The planes’ missiles are from the arsenals of the former Soviet Union or of more recent Russian makes, according to a report by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. The report also states that Libya’s air-defense system is very well equipped. As Lieutenant-General David Deptula, who recently retired from his position as an air force expert at the Pentagon, told Britain’s The Economist, if the West decides to impose a no-fly zone over Libya, the country’s surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) could present a serious danger to Allied jets.
The planes in the Libyan air force are stationed at 13 bases spread throughout the country. The bases are also home to Russian Mi-25 attack helicopters, which can be a deadly weapon both in open country and in urban combat. Rebel forces advancing on Tripoli, the capital city, should expect to encounter massive firepower from these helicopters.
PHOTO GALLERY
15 PhotosPhoto Gallery: The Dictator Strikes Back
In the end, however, the really decisive factor in the battle might turn out to be the large number of military transport aircraft that Gadhafi purchased from Russian and American manufacturers. In just a few hours’ time, the seven squadrons of helicopters and transport planes can ferry government units and reinforcements to scenes of fighting anywhere within the country. The rebel army forming in the eastern part of the country also has almost nothing to counter them with. Although it has a handful of bombers that defecting pilots landed in enemy territory, the only thing it has to supply and transport its own forces are trucks and civilian vehicles…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Libya ‘Tried to Recruit’ Jews to Form Party in Knesset
Jerusalem, 4 March (AKI) — Libya in 2007 tired to recruit descendants of the Jewish Libyan diaspora to form a political party of Libyan Jews in the Israeli parliament, said Meir Kahlon, chairman of the World Organization of Libyan Jews, in an interview with the Jerusalem Post published on Friday.
Kahlon said that between 2005 and 2007, he and two other members of his group made trips to Amman, Jordan to meet a representative of Muammar Gaddafi’s government to discuss the issue of compensation for assets left behind during the Jewish emigration from Libya.
“He said that they could not give us money directly because we live in Israel, but they were willing to give us money if we were to form a Libyan political party,” said Kahlon.
“He didn’t say how much, and I can’t tell you the name of the official, but the offer was on the table.”
Members of the World Organization of Libyan Jews in 2005 met an official from Libya’s foreign ministry, according to the Jerusalem Post report. The meeting was arranged by an Israeli-Arab politician and raised hope that it could lead to compensation for Libyan Jews.
At the third meeting in 2007 the Libyan official told said that if a “Libyan political party” was formed, it might have been possible to bypass sanctions against Israel and pay compensation.
“I told him, in Israel, while we have many different political parties…we are one people,” Kahlon said said in the Jerusalem Post report. “I said to him that under no circumstances shall we form a Libyan party.”
Gaddafi may have been seeking a presence inside the the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, to support his project of forming Isratine,” a joing Israeli-Palestinian state, as a means of solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Kahlon told the Jerusalem Post that the meetings stopped after an international sanctions against Libya were lifted, allowing the North African country to emerge from diplomatic isolation.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Coup Journalists Arrested by Turkish Court as Part of Ergenekon Probe
Journalists staged an all-night protest outside the Besiktas courthouse in central Istanbul starting Saturday to demonstrate against Sener and Sik’s detention.
A Turkish court has arrested two journalists known for their anti-coup stances on charges of membership in the alleged Ergenekon plot to overthrow the government, news agencies reported Sunday.
The pair journalists, Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener, were formally arrested Sunday after their detention Thursday sparked widespread anger among journalistic circles and nongovernmental associations. Prosecutors had initially demanded that the pair face charges of “being a member of the Ergenekon organization” and “inciting hatred and animosity among the public,” but the court later ruled to indict the two solely on the first charge.
Five other journalists were delivered to the court Sunday with request for their arrest in connection with Ergenekon as well. The hearing for Dogan Yurdakul, Coskun Musluk, Sait Çakir, Yalçin Küçük, Müyesser Yildiz was ongoing as the Daily News went to print.
Meanwhile, authorities released three suspects detained in last month’s raids against the dissent online web portal Oda TV early Sunday. Oda TV Ankara correspondent Iklim Bayraktar, police officer Aydin Biyikli, and the news portal’s Mümtaz Idil, who is being treated in an intensive care unit for throat cancer, were all released from custody.
Prosecutors questioned Sener for five hours and Sik for approximately 90 minutes after the pair exercised their right to remain silent, according to news agencies. After the court ordered their arrest, the pair was transferred early Sunday to Istanbul’s Metris Prison.
Journalists staged an all-night protest outside the Besiktas courthouse in central Istanbul starting Saturday to demonstrate against Sener and Sik’s detention, shouting, “Ahmet and Nedim are our pride” and “Ahmet/Nedim will get out, they will write again” when the two were brought to the courthouse for interrogation.
The raids against Sener and Sik in connection to Ergenekon have shocked many since the two have consistently stood against the “deep state,” an allegedly shadowy collection of anti-democratic elements in the military, security and judicial establishments that is claimed to also include the alleged Ergenekon gang.
Ergenekon is an alleged ultranationalist, shadowy gang known accused of planning to topple the government by staging a coup, initially by spreading chaos and mayhem.
With few exceptions, journalists and columnists commenting on Sener and Sik’s detentions over the weekend expressed disbelief that the two could be related to Ergenekon.
Many journalists, including those who have whole-heartedly supported the Ergenekon investigation, have said they are concerned that the raids against the pair undermine the case’s integrity.
The Freedom for Journalists Platform, composed of 24 Turkish journalistic organizations, rejected Sunday Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s calls for the media “to act responsibly” in their response to the recent raids, saying the ruling party bore responsibility for creating a climate of pressure and fear in the country.
With the court’s decision on Sener and Sik on Sunday, 63 journalists are now under arrest in Turkey, the platform said, urging the government to fulfill its duty to reform laws threatening the freedom of press and expression.
Members of the platform said they would meet again Tuesday to determine further courses of action.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Inquiry Opened Into Turkish Officers Who Fined Sober People for Drunkenness
Prosecutors in Turkey’s Mediterranean Antalya province have launched an investigation into the police officers who fined two friends for “drunkenness” in the Kaleiçi district even though their blood alcohol content was below than 0.50, the legal limit to drive in Turkey.
Antalya Gov. Ahmet Altiparmak and the Chief Public Prosecutor Osman Vuraloglu announced that they started both administrative and judicial investigations. Furthermore, the Minister of Culture and Tourism Ertugrul Günay accused the police officers of “being more royal than the king.”
Concerning the problems that could come out of the regulations on alcohol and noise pollution, the ministry is planning to organize a meeting with the Tobacco and Alcohol Market Regulatory Authority, or TAPDK, said Günay. “The regulation is in fact good-willed, but as you see in the examples of Ankara and Antalya provinces, sometimes an attitude more royal than the king can be displayed.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan: Islamists Continue Protests for Reform
(by Mohammad Ben Hussein) (ANSAmed) — AMMAN, MARCH 4 — The Islamist movement on Friday mobilized thousands of protesters to take to the streets in down town Amman to pressure authorities introduce urgent economic reform. The group, represented by its political party the Islamic Action Front, decided to go ahead with a protest despite objection from the majority of opposition parties who are seeking dialogue instead of escalation.
The Islamist group said it will continue protesting as long as its demands are not met. They want a constitutional reform to limit powers of the king and an introduction to a number of legislation that they say could guarantee political liberty.
Protesters held banners that read: “ The people want to reform the regime,” and “Dissolve the parliament.” The government mobilized a strong force of anti-terrorism police to guard protesters after a recent attack on demonstrators embarrassed authorities and caused an uproare within the civil society and opposition groups.
Islamist leaders said they have had enough of talk with successive governments and now it was time for action.
“We heard numerous promises from several governments that they will meet our demands of reform. But they were only buying time.
Now we will not stop until change has taken place,” said Hamzeh Mansour, secretary general of the IAF, the most influential party in the kingdom. Mansour said the current parliament does not represent Jordanians and must go. “The people want true representatives, not puppets,” he told ANSA during the protests.
The government recently approved a 225 million U.S. dollar package to keep commodity price pressure in check and cut some fuel prices to mitigate the impact of high food prices on the country’s poor. The rally comes one week after a clash with pro-regime loyalists who attacked protesters with sticks and built.
Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit’s government promised this week to open a dialogue soon with a wide cross section of Jordanians, including the Islamist and leftist opposition and civic groups, on how to speed up electoral reforms and lift curbs on public freedoms. But many Jordanians, who have seen successive governments fail to deliver on promises of reforms, remain deeply sceptical.
The king this week replaced his liberal royal court chief with a former advisor of his father king Hussein in an attempt to appease influential east bank tribes, who feared a reform would pull the carpet from under their feet. The tribes are in control of most influential government and army posts and have a strong say in governments formation. Abdullah is likely to face pressure form several influential groups in the coming months to push him for political and economic concessions.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
New Evidence of Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions
The latest NIE reportedly revises the conclusions of a controversial 2007 NIE on Iran, which argued that the regime had halted its clandestine work on a nuclear weapons program. When the 2007 estimate’s “key judgments” were declassified and released, they offered a starkly different perspective than the message emanating from the Bush White House, which had been emphasizing a growing Iranian threat.
Yet public perception of the 2007 NIE largely ignored one of its other key findings: that Iran was continuing to develop uranium enrichment technology.
In the absence of a civilian need for such technology, this finding suggested that enriched uranium was being produced for nuclear weapons.
[…]
The February 25 report noted the following:
* Contrary to Security Council resolutions, Iran has not suspended its uranium enrichment activities at several facilities, which are under IAEA safeguards. Indeed, enrichment activities have been expanded at both a pilot plant and the main plant at Natanz, and at an enrichment plant called Fordow, near the holy city of Qom.
Tehran admitted the existence of the latter facility in 2009, days before it was revealed by US and European surveillance. Indeed, Iran is enriching with more than 5,000 centrifuges, 1,000 more than three months ago. (A rare optimistic note is that Iran’s total of 8,000 centrifuges is slightly less than the total at the time of the last report, suggesting breakdowns remain a problem.)
[Comments: see url for more from the report.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama: Israel Shouldn’t be Afraid of Changes in Mideast
Speaking to Jewish donors in Miami, US president says forces emerging in Egypt should be naturally aligned with Israel.
Speaking at a fund-raising dinner in Miami on Friday night, Obama said he told a group of Jewish leaders at the White House Tuesday: “We can’t be naïve about the changes that are taking place in the Middle East,” but “we should not be afraid of the possibilities of the future.”
He also said that he had stressed that “our commitment to Israel security is inviolable, is sacrosanct.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Voices Rising Over Silenced Reporters in Turkey
Members of the media, trade unions and opposition parties demonstrate in Istanbul and Ankara against a crackdown on journalists, calling on the ruling party to ‘get your hands off the press.’ Several thousand people participate in the protests following the detention and raiding of homes of prominent journalists in connection with an alleged coup plot.
Turkish journalists call on government to resign over press crackdown
Symbolically breaking their pencils and calling on the government to step down, several thousand journalists in Istanbul and Ankara held dual demonstrations Friday to protest recent crackdowns and police actions against some of their colleagues.
Turkey slammed by int’l groups over detaining of journalists
International media watchdog groups called Friday for the immediate release of several Turkish journalists detained Thursday as part of a controversial coup probe.
Politicians react as questioning of Ergenekon suspects continues in Istanbul
Ergenekon Prosecutor Zekeriya Öz has begun questioning people, including journalists, detained Thursday in connection with the ongoing probe.
Turkish newspaper claims more journalists targeted by ruling party
Turkey’s ruling party has a list of 70 people to be kept under surveillance or detained in the scope of the Ergenekon investigation, a daily newspaper has claimed.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Washington, Ankara Grow Closer as Wave of Revolts Continues
Washington hosted two high-level Turkish diplomats this week and had a chance to listen to the Turkish administration’s foreign policy vision spanning from Eurasia to the Middle East and North Africa during various think tank discussions.
One of the visiting diplomats, Ambassador Selim Yenel, deputy undersecretary for Bilateral Affairs and Public Diplomacy, was in Washington primarily for the sixth meeting of the U.S.-Turkey Economic Partnership Commission to follow up previous meetings to find ways to increase the trade between two countries. However, Yenel spent considerable time to reach members of the Congress, especially from the House Foreign Relations Committee, met some of the new members of the commission, and also talked at the German Marshall Fund, in a panel organized by Ian Lesser, senior Transatlantic fellow there. Interest in this particular discussion was high, as many of Washington’s serious Turkey watchers as well as diplomats from various European countries crowded the conference room.
During his talk, Ambassador Yenel gave a strikingly plain presentation on especially Turkey’s approach toward the Libyan unrest. Yenel appeared remarkably comfortable not only with his excellent English speaking but also while explaining some of Turkey’s foreign policy dealings that have been under some criticism. When asked about Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s universalistic rhetoric especially in the Middle East, and how that particular rhetoric, (for example Erdogan’s earlier remarks, “We call murder as murder anywhere in the world”) contrasts with Turkey’s soft-spoken language and “case-by-case” attitude toward Libya, Yenel replicated Turkey’s realist approach in pretty clear terms and articulated, “The Libyan case is a little different because of our vested interests there. Our people are working there, our companies. That is why we are taking a cautious approach on how we address this matter. Prime Minister Erdogan talked to Gadhafi and told him, ‘Look, you have to look out for our Turkish interests there.’ And beyond that, of course we do have a holistic approach. But in real terms, when the situation becomes as difficult as it is now, as we are seeing in Libya, we have to be a realistic; we have to look out for our interests there. Frankly speaking, right now, we don’t know whether Gadhafi or the opposition can have any influence on what happens there. So, yes, saying certain things are good, but living in the real world, of course our approach and our policies have to gear toward this realism.”
Yenel’s straightforward definition of Turkey’s current foreign affairs in Washington remained very much the Nixon Doctrine in the late 60s and early 70s. Pursuer of realism, President Nixon’s basic theme in foreign affairs, which he wrote himself in February 1970 in the first annual report on foreign policy, was: “Our [national] interests must shape our commitments, rather than the other way around.” According to his foreign policy chief Henry Kissinger, “Nixon had treated American idealism as one factor among many,” while pursuing cold national interests.
Yenel, both at the GMF and later on Thursday at the Washington Foreign Policy Center where he and U.S. Assistant Secretary for Economic, Energy and Business Affairs Jose W. Fernandez, the head the U.S. delegation gave a press conference, repeated that what is taking place in North Africa and Middle East countries brought Turkey and the U.S. even closer together in the last three weeks. According to Yenel, both countries are talking to each other daily and much more often now. “The U.S. administration understands us better now,” Yenel said. “But is the attitude toward Turkey in Congress changing? It is still too early to tell.” During the congressional meetings of the Turkish delegation, Turkey’s dealing with Libya was not met with a hostile attitude, but on Israel and Iran, it appeared that the Turkish arguments still failed to make considerable gain. Revolts that are taking place in those countries created a new chance to bring us altogether together, Yenel reiterated.
According to Scott Wilson of the Washington Post, the Obama administration is preparing for the possibility of new Islamist regimes following the revolts in North Africa or Middle East. And certainly the Justice and Development Party, or AKP’s, value in the region rises, considering its Islamist roots ruling still a largely secular political system, and makes its alliance even more precious and sought-out.
During his GMF talk, Yenel also heard criticism about Turkey’s approach to Iran, especially following the June 2009 presidential elections in which the Turkish administration stayed aloof regarding Iranian regime’s harsh treatment of protesters. Yenel once more resorted to the “case-by-case” approach and described the overthrown dictator of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, as a “statesman” who was able to understand “the messages given to him by Prime Minister Erdogan.” Yenel drew a contrast between situations in Iran and Egypt, and argued that in Iran there is more than one power center, while it was clear whom to deal with in Egypt. Instead, Turkey chooses to give its messages to Iran in private conversations, because the Iranian leaders do not like hearing criticism publicly.
Turkey’s bare “realist” approach to Libya, and the region, which was clearly articulated by Ambassador Yenel from different podiums this week in many ways reduces Ankara’s moral credibility. After all, simply, if Turkey’s “vested interests” in Libya do not permit Ankara to change its soft rhetoric, even after evacuating of all Turkish citizens, how would it be possible for Erdogan to criticize any other country for double standards, considering various Western states have various levels of interest in each Middle Eastern country, including Israel.
One would hope that closer relations with the U.S. these days, as Ambassador Yenel happily stated, would also nudge Turkey’s rhetoric from cold realism toward one that has a more universalistic tone, which Washington has been trying hard to strike.
US not shy on criticizing Ankara for freedom issues
I asked Assistant Secretary of State and spokesman P.J Crowley more than a dozen questions over the worsening record of Turkey’s freedom of press in recent months. Every time I had to ask, Crowley had plain responses that indicated that the U.S. administration has growing concerns over “the trend” in Turkey, which appears to be “intimidating” the Turkish press. P.J., on Thursday, added that the U.S. is urging for “any investigations or prosecutions to proceed in a transparent manner, and we will continue to engage Turkey and encourage an independent, pluralistic media. It’s critical to a healthy democracy. And we will continue our assessments of global press freedoms in our annual Human Rights Report,” which is expected to be released in the coming weeks.
However, let’s not kid ourselves. It is not the U.S. that will solve the freedom of expression issues in Turkey, and it is not certainly the U.S. that orchestrates the arrests of journalists, as conspiracy theorists, including a big part of Oda TV-type journalists, have been arguing all along.
It is important to note that Erdogan, on the same day that another round of journalists got arrested, stated, “There is only one thing I have to say; it is these processes need to be finished quickly, in a short time. This is my wish, and I would like to especially state this.”
It is a hopeful sign, even if it comes this late. However, it is obvious that the Turkish media has to take a firm stand first, while expecting the U.S. or EU to voice those concerns. The latest events in the region displayed once more how powerful ordinary people are, and how hapless Washington is while trying to catch up with their aspirations.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Russia: North Caucasus: Civilians Taking Up Arms Against Extremists
In Kabardino-Balkaria, vigilante group sets up civilian militias to fight Muslim rebels. More violence looms on the horizon.
Moscow (AsiaNews) — With the spectre of a new wave of interethnic violence and a new call for jihad by local rebel leaders, a grassroots vigilante movement is emerging in the North Caucasus, threatening to take up arms and enforce the law “against those who kill innocent people”.
Based in Kabardino-Balkaria, the group has vowed to restore order in the mountainous Russian republic beset by escalating violence. Named ‘Black Hawks’, the civilian militia says it is opposed to Wahhabism, the radical Islamic ideology of local rebels.
“If they continue, we will kill their children,” a Black Hawks member said in an interview with Ren-TV. “We’ll give them a taste of their own medicine”. Locals are tired of bombings and killings, he added.
The group appears to be made of “ordinary” people, mostly relatives of slain police officers. Families of insurgents would be targeted because the militants usually fight “for the money, not their faith,” the Black Hawks claim.
On the website of the Kavkaz Center, Muslim militants claimed that the Black Hawks are actually law enforcement officers looking to terrorise the “mujahedin.”
Some analysts disagree. “The FSB (Russia’s intelligence agency) doesn’t like creating informal organisations,” Andrei Soldatov explained.
Still, the Black Hawks may believe they have the backing of the authorities because their emergence coincided with a call by Kabardino-Balkaria leader Arsen Kanokov last month to establish “an armed people’s militia” to make the republic safer.
Meanwhile, Doku Umarov, self-proclaimed emir of the North Caucasus, on Wednesday issued a new call for jihad across Russia.
In any event, violence in the region is already up. The Kavkazsky Uzel (Caucasian Knot) information agency reported 41 explosions and 1 suicide bombing in Kabardino-Balkaria last year, compared with 12 explosions and no suicide bombings in 2009.
By comparison, Dagestan, the region’s most turbulent republic, saw 112 explosions and 6 suicide bombings in 2010, an increase from 69 and 1 in 2009.
In Chechnya, the number of attacks dropped from 62 to 39 explosions, although there were four suicide bombings last year compared with one in 2009.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Enemy Inside the Wire: A Murder Rattles German Soldiers’ Faith in Afghan Allies
In mid-February, an Afghan soldier working at a NATO outpost opened fire on German soldiers, killing three and wounding eight. The attack has rattled German nerves and caused them to harbor doubts over the loyalty of their supposed allies. But the advantages to the partnering may be larger than the shortcomings.
The Germans call the light-colored guardhouse in their camp the “White House.” That’s what Salim Mir calls it, too. Mir is a powerfully built 49-year-old sporting a black moustache and the green uniform of the Afghan army, with its wine-red velvet collar tab. Mir speaks of a “disgrace.” He says the “enemy” infiltrated their ranks and that Islamists are using young Afghans for their own ends.
The “enemy” Mir refers to is Sayed Afzal, a 19-year-old sentry who served in the “White House” until two Fridays ago — that is, until he opened fired on German soldiers at the German outpost OP North, killing three and wounding six, before being gunned down himself.
The snow-covered stonghold of the Bundeswehr, Germany’s military, sits on a hill overlooking the Baghlan River. The river runs through what the Germans call the “Highway Triangle,” which lies before Shahabuddin, a notorious hive of insurgents. Afghan and German soldiers have been living here side by side; they’ve fighting the same enemy. They live in the same camp, they share what they’ve learned on reconnaissance patrols, they hunt Taliban fighters, and they build police stations together. Mountain infantry soldiers from the Bavarian Alps flip through photo books with shots of their homeland, and the Afghan officers show them postcards with images of the Pamir Mountains.
The Germans have grown used to having to sit on the ground when they hold conversations and to the long-winded way their Muslim allies have of expressing thanks. The Afghans have learned to issue precisely worded orders and to show up for missions on time. For the most part.
For five months, everything went fine, even with Afzal, the young Pashtun from Khost Province, which borders Pakistan to the east. Afzal stood guard at the camp’s entrance. With a smile and a wave, he used to open the outpost’s gate when the Germans returned from missions in their armored personnel carriers.
From Smiles to Bullets
All of this changed at 11:50 a.m. on February 18. After a rotation of the guard, Afzal went about 100 meters (328 feet) up the gravel road leading to the camp with a fully loaded AK-47 assault rifle in his hands. At a crossroads, a group of mechanized infantrymen from Regen, Bavaria, were gathered around an armored transport vehicle that had broken down.
Approaching from behind, Azfal raised his rifle and opened fire. He hit nine soldiers before being felled by a bullet himself.
Afzal’s family hasn’t lived in Afghanistan for a long time. They’ve lived instead in Kohat, a garrison town in the northwestern corner of Pakistan. Al-Qaida’s leadership and many Taliban fighters have retreated to areas near Kohat, where terrorists now train. In recent decades hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees have sought shelter in Pakistan. Though most are not radical, some nevertheless support the battle against the infidels, who they see as the occupiers of Afghanistan.
Afzal had been serving in the Afghan National Army (ANA) for nine months. His superiors say there was nothing particularly notable about him and that he never seemed particularly devout. They did point out, though, that he often went to see his family in Pakistan. Lieutenant Colonel Obaidullah Salim Mir, the leader of the Afghan unit, or kandak, that replaced Afzal’s guard unit after the attack believes he was most likely influenced by extremists while on those visits back home.
In the wake of the attack, many wonder if Afzal was one of the men the Taliban had charged with infiltrating the Afghan army. Many also wonder whether it means the end of the concept known as “partnering,” which has German soldiers patrolling with Afghan units to let them assume more and more control over operations before Western forces ultimately withdraw.
The fact that Taliban leaders have called on supporters to infiltrate the ranks of army and police trainees is nothing new. In July 2010, one of their “sleepers” killed three soldiers belonging to the Royal Gurkha Rifles, a regiment of the British Army. The man had previously trained with the ANA. And two weeks ago, insurgents wearing ANA uniforms attacked a bank in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, where soldiers were collecting their pay…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Ban on Ahmadiyah Islamic Sect Considered in Jakarta Province
Jakarta, 4 March (AKI/Jakarta Post) — Jakarta province governor Fauzi Bowo has announced plans to follow in the footsteps of a number of provinces that have issued bans to prevent members of the Ahmadiyah sect from practicing their religion in public.
“If ncecessary, we can even go further to not only issue a gubernatorial decree, but instead issue a bylaw on this. The administration will have a discussion with the City Council,” Fauzi said Friday.
Previously, East and West Java and South Sulawesi have issued such bans on the sect.
The Ahmadiyah followers in Indonesia have been experiencing a series of prosecutions in the country. In February a mob of more than 1,500 people attacked an Ahmadi congregation killing three members of the sect.
Ahmadiyah is an offshoot of Islam founded in India during the late 19th century.
Fauzi said he planned to send officials to East and West Java to study their bans.
Calls for the banning of the Ahmadiyah sect and its teachings have been increasingly heard from various Muslim elements across Indonesia over the past few weeks.
Members of the sect have faced similar violence and discrimination in past attacks on their homes and property, including in Gegerung village, West Nusa Tenggara, where in February 2006 at least 12 Ahmadi families were forcibly evicted from their homes by local authorities and ordered to live in a refugee-style camp.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Condemns ‘Barbaric’ Slaying of Pakistan Minister
Frattini salutes Shahbaz Bhatti’s ‘vision’
(ANSA) — Rome, March 2 — Italy on Wednesday condemned the slaying of a Pakistani minister who had fought to get the country’s blasphemy law amended.
The murder by the Pakistani Taliban of Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti was “a barbaric…act of intolerable violence against a person who had distinguished himself for his vision and commitment to build a society based on dialogue and tolerance,” said Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.
Frattini urged the European Union to “immediately” implement an action plan, drawn up with Italy to the fore, to help protect religious minorities and especially Christians worldwide.
Bhatti, the only Christian in the Pakistani cabinet, had received repeated death threats because of his defence of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman condemned to death for offending the prophet Mohammed.
The Italian foreign ministry issued a statement urging the Pakistani authorities to reaffirm their commitment to protect Christian and other minorities.
Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said Bhatti’s assassination showed that Pope Benedict’s “insistent” statements on violence against Christians and religious freedom were “right”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Sentenced to Death, Christian Woman’s Prospects Bleak Amid Extremist Climate
Islamabad, 4 March (AKI) — By Syed Saleem Shahzad — The recent murders of two outspoken critics of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws by suspected religious extremists highlight the bleak prospects for a Christian woman sentenced to death under the controversial laws and for their reform.
Pakistan’s minister for minorities affairs Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian, was shot dead in Islamabad on Wednesday by suspected Islamic extremists. He was one of the few politicians still urging Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws to be amended after the slaying of Punjab’s provincial governor Salman Taseer by one of his own bodyguards in January.
Taseer, a vocal opponent of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws had asked Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari to pardon Asia Bibi (photo), a Christian mother of five who in November 2010 condemned to death by a Punjab court for making blasphemous remarks against the Prophet Mohammed.
“As per Section 295-C of the blasphemy law, the death sentence given to Asia Bibi is justified, providing the proof provided was strong enough for the verdict,” Pakistani constitutional lawyer Javed Iqbal told AKI.
Bibi’s sentencing to death sparked an international outcry and prompted moves to reform Pakistan’s blasphemy laws to give defendants a better chance of contesting the alleged evidence against them and proving their innocence.
“The judge can give leniency in punishment only if there are some loopholes in the investigation or evidence brought before the court,” said Iqbal.
Other people have been convicted under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws but received jail terms rather than the death penalty because the evidence against them was not watertight, Iqbal noted.
Critics of Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws say they are abused to persecute religious minorities or settle grudges since convictions can be delivered with little evidence.
The laws have exposed deep divisions between the country’s increasingly powerful religious conservatives and secular liberals who oppose the current legislation.
A member of parliament from the ruling liberal Pakistan People’s Party, Sherry Rahman on 3 February dropped her bill proposing reforms to the blasphemy laws aimed at tightening up the standards for admissible evidence against defendants.
“The bill sent in by Sherry Rehman was placed under consideration but the government made it clear that there will be no changes made to the law,” PPP lawmaker and former information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira told AKI.
The parliament speaker never admitted the bill to the legislative agenda, Rahman told journalists in February.
Pakistan’s prime minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on 18 January stated publicly that the government did not intend to amend the country’s controversial blasphemy laws.
His remarks came after Taseer’s murder and followed mass protests over Rahman’s bill which were staged across the country by religious parties and their supporters.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
France Urges Italian Neighbour to ‘Hold Back’ North African Migrant Wave
Paris, 4 March (AKI) — French interior Minister Claude Geant made a trip to the border with Italy on Friday where he urged Italians to “hold back” the wave of Tunisian immigrants.
“We expect our Italian friends to play by European rules,” he said, according to AFP. “It is the responsibility of the country that first receives them. We ask them to hold back those who turn up there, and that they take back those we send back.”
Italian government officials have warned of a wave of migrants of “biblical proportions” that may arrive from Northern Africa amid political unrest that has toppled the governments of Tunisa and Egypt. More than 6,000 Tunisians have already been detained by Italian officials after they landed in southern Italy.
Unrest in Libya may further increase the number of immigrants who disembark from the North African coast for Italian shores.
Italy has declared the recent wave of immigrants a humanitarian emergency and has already warned that hundreds of thousands could flee to Italy.
It has urged European Union partners to provide funds and help in housing, but some governments have replied that it is premature to predict how many people could seek flee for Europe.
“The Italians are playing the game. We expect them to play it completely,” he Geant said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Gadhafi: Thousands of Migrants Will Invade Europe
(AGI) Paris — Thousands of migrants from Libya will invade Europe and no one will be able to stop them. The statement was made by Muammar Gadhafi in an interview published today by Le Journal du Dimanche. Moreover, the Colonel also suggested the possibility of naming his son Seif al-Islam as his successor, once the violence subsides. The Libyan leader reiterated his request for an Inquiry Commission within the United Nations and the African Union to ascertain on site what is actually going on in the Country.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
More Boats Full of Tunisians Heading for Lampedusa
(AGI) Rome — The Financial Police have advised that seven barges full of Tunisians are on their way to Lampedusa. The Mayor of the Sicilian island, Bernardino De Rubeis, confirmed the news and is to call Interior Minister Roberto Maroni. “The first barge,” said Rubeis, “will be here in an hour. We are expecting 800 to 900 people. We already have 400 immigrants. We are asking that the air bridge to take the immigrants away from the island as soon as possible.” Another barge carrying 80 migrants arrived at Lampedusa this afternoon.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
1 comments:
Just what on Earth was PM cameron thinking of to send a diplomat to talk to the libyan rebels? Does he not know anything about the nature of the islamic beast? I dont know what he was smoking that day, but it should be banned as a class "A" drug! And what a waste of good SAS men!
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