Crackdown on tax evaders

19.45 Britain and Germany have signed deals with Switzerland to get at funds hidden there by their citizens and extract tax. Now Italy's Senate has urged its government to do the same.

The move would be the latest step in a crackdown on tax evaders in Italy, which saw an advertising campaign launched in August labeling them "parasites on society" that cost €100 billion a year. telegraph


The End of Offshore Banking

The recent actions by the US Justice Department and the IRS against the UBS highlight the increasing pressure on the so called offshore banking model. Private Banks in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Austria, Singapore, and many Caribbean jurisdictions are well known for managing money which has left the home country of his owner without taxation. banking


Greed at the highest levels of Wall Street

NEW YORK (AP) — A former board member of Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble surrendered Wednesday after a federal indictment was unsealed accusing him of acting as "the illegal eyes and ears in the boardroom" for a friend who was already convicted in the biggest insider trading case in history. The case, built partially on use of wiretaps for the first time in insider trading, stands to offer unprecedented insight into allegations of greed at the highest levels of Wall Street. yahoo/AP

Action is needed

Credit markets are gumming up again, business and consumer confidence is falling off a cliff, and there is a growing sense of panic over Europe’s apparent inability to act. The damage caused by a rogue trader at the Swiss banking giant UBS (NYSEArca: DJCI - news) has added to the impression of a wholly dysfunctional, out-of-control financial system. yahoo/telegraph


Divide and Rescue

Chancellor Angela Merkel has always rejected a two-track Europe. But with the euro crisis persisting, Berlin is now considering far-reaching new powers for the Euro Group - to the detriment of the European Commission. spiegel

Note: there's no way with types like grecs and corrupts as the portuguese politicians, the "great" portuguese administrators, a huge slice of the portuguese lawyers & solicitors and some magistrates are. Have to choose between maniacs (like the Germans) or corrupts (like the Portuguese) is the main evidence of how patetic Europe is. Austrians are - perhaps - more maniacs than Germans? Perhaps...

But the question is: why the UE gave so many money for that "mediterranean" and "balcanic" countries, without a tight control? In fact it was a bit perverse because the UE knowed that even if the money w'd go trought the corrupt channels it w'd finish in european cars and european goods, wich did increase the German and French (the British in some way) industries. So German and France (England in some way) are  responsibles for the "mediterranean" and "balcanic" caos, corruption and bankruptcy and should fix it.

(Even if the British are not europeans. They are... "liberals"... But still accountables.)

(Romanians, and some others, are corrupts, mafious and violents. Wich criteria has had the European Comission, and Mr. Barroso, to lead them inside the EU?)

Crossing the Tibetan plateau (2010)

Evicted from home

DETROIT (AP) — A 101-year-old woman was evicted from the southwest Detroit home where she lived for nearly six decades after her 65-year-old son failed to pay the mortgage. yahoo/AP

Richard William Hamilton

24 February 1922 – 13 September 2011

Was a British painter and collage artist. His 1956 collage, Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?, produced for the This Is Tomorrow exhibition of the Independent Group in London, is considered by critics and historians to be one of the early works of pop art. wikipedia

Opposition activists brutally treated

The BN (National Front) government, dominated by UMNO (United Malay National Organisation), is going all out, including by using repression and intimidation, to strengthen its position in the next general election expected soon - either this year or early next year. It was alarmed by the unprecedented victories in the 2008 general election of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (People’s Coalition) which denied them their two-thirds majority after almost four decades in power. In that election, the Pakatan Rakyat capitalised on the momentum created by the rallies organised by BERSIH (Coalition for Fair and Clean Elections), which demanded clean and fair elections, and by HINDRAF (Hindu Rights Action Force) which demanded rights for the Indian minority in November 2007, to weaken BN support. Now, to suppress similar attempts, BN is going all out to stop a repeat of the same process, in order to continuously sustain its more than 50 years in power since independence from British rule in 1957. chinaworker

Note: very, very interesting. How about human rights and freedom of speech in China?


Fear of false accusations and blackmail

In China, an elderly man falls, bleeds from the head, but no one stops to help him. The case becomes a cause celebre. Online surveys indicate that most people would not help for fear of false accusations and blackmail. asianews

Asia Bibi

In June 2009, Asia Noreen, a farm hand from the village of Ittan Wali in Sheikhupura District, was asked to fetch water; she complied, but some of her Muslim fellow workers refused to drink the water as they considered Christians to be "unclean". Apparently some arguments ensued. There had already been a running feud between Noreen and a neighbour about some property damage. Later some coworkers complained to a cleric that Noreen made derogatory comments about Prophet Muhammad. A mob came to her house, beating her and members of her family before she was rescued by the police. However, the police initiated an investigation about her remarks, resulting in her arrest and prosecution under Section 295 C of the Pakistan Penal Code. She spent more than a year in jail. In November 2010 Muhammed Naveed Iqbal, judge at the court of Sheikhupura, Punjab, sentenced her to death by hanging. Additionally, a fine of an equivalent of $1,100 was imposed. wikipedia

Note: that people dosn't deserve any help. That people should be let to their "karma".


Muslims oppose 'religion-neutral flag' proposal

Ivica Petrusic, vice president of immigrant association Secondos Plus suggests dropping the cross from the Swiss flag and adopting a different flag instead. "The Swiss cross no longer suits today's multicultural Switzerland," says Petrusic. Instead, Petrusic suggests using the green, red and yellow flag of the short-lived Helvetic Republic (1799)

Petrusic says he himself is Christian, but he does not think a Christian symbol should be used in a country with so many atheists and people who profess other religions. He says the cross does not represent the religious and cultural diversity in Switzerland today.

His proposal met with broad opposition. Hisham Maizar, head of Federation of Islamic Organisations in Switzerland said the proposal for a religion-neutral flag was counter-productive. "We don't have any demands to upend the ancient traditions of other countries." islamineurope

Note: this is probably a (funny) joke. Since then the immigrants can change the flag of the countries did accept them?

Al-Qaeda links

Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi's regime. telegraph

Islam and democracy

“OF COURSE they say nice things these days,” says a Lebanese woman, a sophisticated Sunni Muslim in her 50s, gliding between English, French and Arabic. “They know who they’re talking to. But you cannot trust them—absolutely not.” economist


Dreaming of a caliphate

The Koran mandates flogging for unlawful sex, and a strongly held tradition ascribes to Muhammad the view that adulterers should be stoned to death. Over inheritance, the Koran is also specific—a daughter is entitled to have half as much as a son—and the various legal schools of Islam are even more so, setting out with absolute precision the entitlement of each distant relative. economist

Are Political Suicides Needed?

The situation can only get worse, since nobody's interests align. The Greeks want more time to meet their budget targets without having to make more cuts that would cause more public angst. The Germans, whose opinions arguably matter the most since they have the financial ammo, are already in a huff with German Chancellor Angela Merkel about expanding the eurozone's bailout fund. More pushback from Greece about meeting its current austerity measures only fuels the fire. The ECB, meanwhile, is struggling to salvage its cherished reputation after vacuuming up billions of dollars in dodgy European sovereign debt, so more slack from its camp is also a tall order. And dinky Finland is making a fuss by demanding collateral for any more cash it forks over to Greece. curiouscapitalist

Germany Acts Alone

The euro has failed, though more politically than economically, according to an article in the September edition of US magazine Vanity Fair. "Conceived as a tool for integrating Germany into Europe, and preventing Germans from dominating others, it has become the opposite," financial journalist and author Michael Lewis writes. "For better or for worse, the Germans now own Europe." spiegel

Ai Weiwei attacks injustices in China

Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist held by the authorities for almost three months earlier this year, has attacked injustice in China in a passionate article fuelled by his own experiences of detention.

He accused officials of "deny[ing] us basic rights" and compared migrant workers to slaves, describing Beijing as "a city of violence" and "a constant nightmare". guardian

Time to Get Angry

One only need imagine an EU in which passport controls are reintroduced at borders, there are no longer reliable food safety regulations everywhere, freedom of speech and of the press no longer exist under today's standards (which Hungary is already violating, thereby exposing itself to strict scrutiny), and Europeans traveling to Budapest, Copenhagen or Prague, or even Paris, Madrid and Rome, are forced to exchange money and keep track of exchange rates.

The notion of Europe as our home has become second nature to us. Perhaps this explains why we are prepared to jeopardize its existence so carelessly. spiegel

The real thing

Berlin may have stayed out of the fight for Libya, but German companies hope to profit from its reconstruction. Several economic leaders have already visited the war-torn country to investigate business opportunities. But competition is fierce. spiegel

Note: whats about Syria? Ha,,, there's fewer oil than Libya...

The exact opposite of solidarity

Mr. Franz struck a more conciliatory note vis-a-vis Greece, and said he was "horrified" by the Finnish government's request for collateral against its next tranche of aid, saying that this could cause the whole deal to unravel.

"This is a discussion that should be ended as soon as possible," he said. "This is the exact opposite of solidarity." wsj

Tibetan Monk Sets Self on Fire

Chinese officials worried about Middle East-style protests couldn’t have been pleased when a young Tibetan Buddhist monk set himself on fire on the third anniversary of anti-Chinese protests. Chinese authorities and Tibetan residents are blaming each other for the death of the monk. A government spokesman said the monks forcibly took the burned monk out of the hospital and hid him in the monastery, while Tibetan witnesses say police beat and kicked the monk after extinguishing the flames. His death set off protests around the Kirti monastery in the southwestern province of Sichuan on the third anniversary of a protest, sparked by a similar self-immolation, in which 10 Tibetans were allegedly shot dead by Chinese police. thedailybeast (March 17)

Note: on August 15, tibetan monk Tsongwon Norbu, 29 yo, sets himself in fire to death, protesting against the chinese occupation.

Is our support* for that?

The discussion about the caliphate of the Muslim believers comes at a time when the entire Muslim world is simmering, as one dictator falls after another.

Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Bahrain, Yemen, even Iran can become countries where such an ideology could flourish, not to mention Iraq or Afghanistan.
...
Hizb ut-Tahrir wants to bring this tradition back to life, to unite all Muslims under one state, to make sure the Sharia is the law under which all of them live and that the faith of Allah and his Prophet is then carried further into the territories of the unbelievers.

The organization rejects all the Western values, and even democracy, considered by them an invention of the Americans and the Zionists, even though they hold their conferences in democratic countries.
...
“The United States should be governed by Sharia, if they were to enter the Caliphate,” one of the organizers answered when asked the question whether the American Constitution should remain in place when the world was governed by Islam.
...
France is said to have almost 10 percent of the population confessing the religion of the Prophet, while Germany is having its own share of them, mostly from Turkey.

At the present moment, European continent has two states with a Muslim majority: Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the prospect of Turkey being admitted to the EU, which would add to the existing 56 million European Muslims another 70 million, which is more than a quarter of the entire population of Europe. metrolic

* to liberate them from their corrupt despots.

Note: Turkey will not enter the EU.

Final veredict: "Still, the division among the Arab countries, both political and religious, manifested so many times when unity was required in the face of Western actions, guarantees that the Caliphate will not become a reality any time soon, especially since the number of believers who want to live under the strict Sharia grows thinner every day, as many Muslims prefer to turn to justice to the Western-like courts, rather than have their arms cut or hang in trees, or wear traditional clothes."

The Need for Real Debate

There is no single European public sphere where Europeans can discuss issues with each other. Each country holds its own internal debates, while national politicians think only of the next election, and tell their voters at home what they want to hear.

At least now that things are affecting our pocketbooks, we're waking up a bit. We're paying attention and making an effort to get informed. But are we also fighting for a better Europe, like the authors of "The Federalist Papers" stood up for a united America?

True, everyone may know that euro bonds have nothing to do with 007, but with our money. We're buying gold and complaining about the Italians and their massive debts. But there is no real debate about the future of Europe. (spiegel.de/international)


Europeans Need a Referendum

Europeans need a European referendum. It would ask the question: Should we roll back the European Union, or do we dare to choose more Europe? Do we want a directly elected European president? A real parliament? How about European politicians who are -- at long last -- held accountable when things go wrong? Now is the moment to decide. Such a referendum would finally spark a widespread debate. spiegel

The Amazon is in serious danger

Brazil is on the verge of gutting its forest protection laws - unless we act now, vast tracts of our planet’s lungs could be opened up to clear - cutting devastation.

This threat to the Amazon has sparked widespread anger and protests across the country and tensions are rising. In an effort to stifle criticism, armed thugs, allegedly hired by loggers, have murdered environmental advocates. But the movement is fighting back -- in four days, brave indigenous people are leading massive marches across Brazil to demand action and inside sources say President Dilma is considering vetoing the changes.

79% of Brazilians support a veto of the forest law changes and this internal pressure is leading some in Dilma's administration to back a veto. But we need a global cry of solidarity with the Brazilian people to really force Dilma's hand. Our global petition will be boldly displayed on banners at the front of the massive marches for Amazon protection. Let's reach one million to SAVE THE AMAZON!

The spawn of a bankrupt ruling elite

THE riots in London and elsewhere in Britain are a backhanded tribute to the long-term intellectual torpor, moral cowardice, incompetence and careerist opportunism of the British political and intellectual class.
...
No sensible employer in a service industry would choose a young Briton if he could have a young Pole; the young Pole is not only likely to have a good work ethic and refined manners, he is likely to be able to add up and -- most humiliating of all -- to speak better English than the Briton, at least if by that we mean the standard variety of the language. He may not be more fluent but his English will be more correct and his accent easier to understand.
...
Of course, none of this reduces the personal responsibility of the rioters. But the riots are a manifestation of a society in full decomposition, of a people with neither leaders nor followers but composed only of egotists. theaustralian


Ed Miliband links riots to scandals

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Miliband admitted Labour's role in laying the foundations for the riots which exploded last weekend.

He lamented the party's failure to cut inequality during its 13 years in power, saying: "I deeply regret that inequality wasn't reduced under the last Labour government. But we did great things to tackle inequality in our society." independent


Germans Ask, 'Could It Happen Here?'

"The statistics also show clear differences: According the OECD, there is no other country in the West in which wealth is distributed as unfairly as in Britain. Nowhere else are the opportunities for children to escape poverty as limited. One certainly can't say that Germany shines when it comes to social mobility, but it does stand in the middle of the rankings. Youth unemployment in Germany is about 9 percent, and only Austria and the Netherlands are in a better position. That rate may be higher in Berlin, but it is nowhere close to British conditions." spiegel

GIFTMÜLLDEPONIEN DES KREDITS

Wer noch einen Rest von Erinnerungsvermögen hat, könnte sich fragen, wo eigentlich die riesigen Massen fauler Kredite geblieben sind, für die man nach dem Finanzcrash 2008 eine möglichst unauffällige Ruhestätte suchte. Abbezahlt worden ist da nichts; im Gegenteil sind die imaginären Verbindlichkeiten weiter angeschwollen. Das Spiel, alte Kredite mit neuen scheinbar zu bedienen, und diese wieder mit neuen, ist im Privatsektor längst ausgereizt. Andererseits durften die berüchtigten „toxischen Papiere“ aufgrund ihrer schieren Masse auch nicht in vollem Umfang abgeschrieben werden, von einigen kosmetischen Operationen der Banken abgesehen. Das hätte ja nach eigenen Aussagen der Finanzgurus die berühmte „Kernschmelze“ des globalen Finanzsystems bedeutet.

Bilanztechnisch wurde den Banken erlaubt, ihren Giftmüll auszulagern. Aber auch um die „bad banks“, die mit Hilfe von Staatsgarantien den Zusammenbruch des Schattenbanken-Systems nach dem Platzen der Immobilien-Blase vorläufig auffangen sollten, ist es still geworden.

Offiziell wurde die Hoffnung und Erwartung geschürt, die Staatsgarantien könnten alsbald so viel neues „Vertrauen“ schaffen, dass die längst wertlosen Papiere wieder einen halbwegs anständigen Preis erzielen würden. Voraussetzung dafür wäre gewesen, dass sich der US-Immobiliensektor, von dem ja die Schockwelle ausgegangen war, kräftig erholt. Davon kann keine Rede sein. Die Staatsgarantien wurden aber auch nicht fällig. Das durfte einfach nicht sein, weil sich sonst die „Kernschmelze“ über den Umweg der Staatshaushalte vollzogen hätte. Wo also sind die hochgiftigen Abfälle des Finanzsystems geblieben? Es wurde tatsächlich ein Endlager gefunden, nämlich die Notenbanken. Diese überschwemmen bekanntlich derzeit die Welt mit Dollars, Euros usw., um die eigentlich klinisch tote Weltwirtschaft zu beatmen. Offiziell werfen sie das Geld noch nicht aus dem Hubschrauber ab, sondern geben es den Geschäftsbanken als Kredit; allerdings zu Niedrig- oder sogar Nullzinsen. Wie bei jedem Kredit müssen die Banken dafür „Sicherheiten“ hinterlegen. Und worin bestehen diese inzwischen? In eben jenen Massen von Giftmüll-Papieren, die von den Notenbanken mit Kusshand genommen werden, als handelte es sich um die Kronjuwelen.

Es sind noch keine drei Jahre seit dem Crash der Finanzmärkte vergangen, und schon geht in immer mehr Ländern auch den Staatsfinanzen die Luft aus, weil sie im Zuge der Antikrisenpolitik überstrapaziert wurden. Im Grunde genommen wiederholt sich bei den Staatspapieren dieselbe Entwicklung wie bei den privaten Finanzpapieren. Ein wachsender Teil der kaum noch bedienbaren Schulden wurde in Schattenhaushalte ausgelagert. Immer mehr Staatsanleihen verwandeln sich in Giftmüll wie zuvor die Immobilien-Hypotheken.

Und dafür werden die Notenbanken ebenfalls dankbare Abnehmer. Die Asiaten kaufen immer weniger US-Papiere? Macht nichts, die US-Notenbank selber fragt sie nach wie Getreide bei einer Hungersnot. Auch die europäische Staatsschuldenkrise hätte sich trotz aller Rettungspakete noch mehr zugespitzt, würde die Europäische Zentralbank nicht längst wertlose Anleihen der Krisenstaaten en gros aufkaufen. Ausgerechnet die Notenbanken, die angeblichen Gralshüter der finanziellen Stabilität, sind zu Giftmülldeponien des globalen Finanzsystems geworden. Das ist deswegen die Endlagerstätte, weil es dahinter keine Instanz mehr gibt, die ihrerseits die Notenbanken von ihrer Last erlösen könnte. Die Fassade der Normalität, die seit 2008 hochgezogen wurde, besteht in der abenteuerlichen Politik einer Geldschöpfung auf der „Sicherheitsbasis“ fauler Kredite. Robert Kurz

The Night elBulli Danced

This past weekend, a handful of the world's best chefs, including Rene Redzepi, Joan Roca and Grant Achatz, gathered in the speckled morning sunlight of Spain's Cala Montjoi to commemorate a passing. It should have been a sad occasion. But the man who had brought them all together emphasized that there was no death, only transformation. "My brother Albert said we had to kill the monster," said Ferran Adrià. "But I said, No, we have to tame it."

The monster to which Adrià referred is elBulli, the restaurant that he and his brother — along with, over the past 25 years, roughly 2,000 other chefs, cooks, waiters and captains — have made the most acclaimed and influential of our time. As anyone even mildly interested in food knows by now, elBulli served its last meal as a restaurant on July 30. But for the journalists who came from around the world for that morning's press conference, as well as for the close friends and longtime patrons lucky enough to dine that night, the occasion felt like anything but a wake. Time

Eurokrisis

Investors saw the ECB's failure to include Italy and Spain in a relaunch of its bond purchases late last week as a sign of the depth of political divisions over the role of the euro zone currency. German officials want to see stiffer austerity programs in place before the ECB would shoulder more Italian and Spanish debt. The danger is that further pressure on Italian and Spanish bonds could undermine an already damaged European banking system and lock Italy, the world's eighth largest economy, out of the market. yahoo/Reuters

US downgrade prompts warning from China

In a comment article the official Xinhua news agency said China had "every right now to demand the United States address its structural debt problems and ensure the safety of China's dollar assets. International supervision over the issue of US dollars should be introduced and a new, stable and secured global reserve currency may also be an option to avert a catastrophe caused by any single country." Guardian

Note: Michael Hewson, a market analyst at CMC Markets, warned: "This crisis will run and run, and could make Lehmans look like a Tupperware party."

STOP SOMALIA'S TRAGEDY

Right now, more than 2000 people are dying every day in Somalia, in a famine that threatens to starve eleven million people to death. Drought has brought this region to its knees, but the food crisis is really fueled by a complete breakdown in governance and international diplomacy, and we can put an end to it.

The famine-hit area is governed by Al-Shabaab, an Islamist regime that is linked to terrorist groups. The isolation and conflict between Al-Shabaab, other local leaders, and the international community has kept out much of the aid and trade that could end the famine. But a few key countries, including the United Arab Emirates, still trade with Al-Shabaab -- they have an opportunity to broker a deal with the regime and break the stalemate that threatens the survival of millions.

"We don't want to become an Islamic society"

Islamophobic parties in Europe have established a tight network, stretching from Italy to Finland. But recently, they have extended their feelers to Israeli conservatives, enjoying a warm reception from members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition. Some in Israel believe that the populists are Europe's future. spiegel

Note: "I am looking for ways to lessen the Islamic influence in the world," Kara told the Israeli daily Maariv in June. "I believe that is the true Nazism in this world. I am the partner of everyone who believes in the existence of this war."

"For decades, politicians in Europe have ignored demographic developments and we are now in a situation where we have to warn that we are experiencing the Islamification of Europe," Strache says. "We don't want to become an Islamic society."

Tea Party takes America to the brink

America has raised its debt ceiling 140 times since the war without controversy. Now compromise has become a dirty word. guardian

Note: "The Tea Party rose out of anger over the scale of federal spending, and in particular in bailing out the banks and the car industry.
...
Although much of the blame for the scale of debt rests with George W Bush's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and his tax cuts for the wealthy, Obama gets the blame too for spending billions trying to stimulate the economy."

Oriana Fallaci

Oriana Fallaci (29 June 1929 – 15 September 2006) was an Italian journalist, author, and political interviewer. A former partisan during World War II, she had a long and successful journalistic career. Fallaci became famous worldwide for her coverage of war and revolution, and her interviews with many world leaders during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

After retirement, she returned to the spotlight after writing a series of articles and books critical of Islam that aroused both support as well as controversy and accusations of racism and intolerance. wikipedia

One Million Dollars Baby

$1,000,000 - Not as big of a pile as you thought, huh?

Still this is 92 years of work for the average human on earth.

The makings of human tragedy in the hell on Earth

An estimated 10 million people in the Horn of Africa are believed to be facing a “humanitarian emergency” as the region grapples with its worst drought in 60 years.

Several seasons of failed rains compounded by spiralling global food prices means the drought will affect more than 12 million people across Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. Somalia though, is set to be the hardest hit.

The UNHCR warned this week that “one of the world's worst humanitarian crises” is being turned into a “human tragedy of unimaginable proportions”.
...
In Somalia and Ethiopia 65% of the population are pastoralists, making their living by raising livestock. The drought has seen scores of animals die of dehydration, cruelly cutting off millions of people from their only source food. If anything, this serves to remind us that the global food system is mired in abject failure. A system that allows 925 million people to go without food daily is flawed by nature.

A system that forces millions of people to leave their homes and walk for days on end to seek sustenance is not working. Emergency aid to East Africa will go a long way to feeding hundreds of thousands in the short-term, but it will not solve the crisis.

People, be they Somali, or North Korean will still go hungry – not because there is not enough food to go around. There is plenty - but there is a spectacular imbalance in the way that food is distributed. We produce far more food than we actually need.
...
Al-Shabaab had banned aid agencies in 2009 believing the groups could host spies or promote an un-Islamic way of life.
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According to UNHCR, there are more and more tales of children younger than five dying of hunger and exhaustion during their journey to Dadaab. The children who do make it to the complex are in such feeble conditions when they eventually reach Kenya that they die within 24 hours despite the emergency care and therapeutic feeding they immediately receive. thedailymaverick

Sunday July 24, 2011

The mass detentions campaign launch by Assad officials continues with dozens of arrests reported all over the country … Military and security forces lay siege to several Damascene suburbs, including Al-Qadam, Qaboun, Douma and Barzeh … Assad sacks the Governors of Deir Ezzor and Quneitra … Syrian Revolution Digest

Lucian Freud

Born in Berlin, Freud was the son of an Austrian Jewish father, Ernst Ludwig Freud, an architect, and a German Jewish mother, Lucie née Brasch. He was a grandson of Sigmund Freud, elder brother of the late broadcaster, writer and politician Clement Freud (thus uncle of Emma and Matthew Freud) and of Stephan Gabriel Freud. He moved with his family to St John's Wood, London in 1933 to escape the rise of Nazism. He became a British citizen in 1939,having attended Dartington Hall School in Totnes, Devon, and later Bryanston School. wikipedia

Norway Shocked by Twin Attacks

The people of Norway were in a state of shock on Friday evening following twin attacks which have shaken the normally peaceful Scandinavian nation to its core.

A violent explosion in central Oslo on Friday afternoon killed at least seven people and wounded at least 15. That was followed by a shooting incident on the island of Utoya outside the capital which left at least 9 people, and as many as 20, dead.

Speaking after the blast, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said the situation was "very serious." He spoke in a telephone call to the Norwegian TV2 television without revealing his location, having been advised by police to keep his whereabouts secret. spiegel


Utøya gunman boasted of links to UK

Anders Brehing Breivik, the man accused of the murder of at least 91 Norwegians in a bomb and gun massacre, boasted online about his discussions with the far-right English Defence League and other anti-Islamic European organisations. guardian


Breivik's claims he met 'mentor' in UK

In the manuscript Breivik describes his "mentor" as an Englishman he identifies as "Richard", and says his journey into violent extremism began at a small meeting in London in 2002 where a group of like-minded extremists met to "reform" the Knights Templar Europe, a military group whose purpose was "to seize political and military control of western European countries and implement a cultural conservative political agenda". guardian


"Helpers of the Global Jihad" claim responsibility

According to Expressen.se of Sweden, the little known terrorist group Ansar al-Jihad al-Alami, or Helpers of the Global Jihad, has issued a statement claiming responsibility for the terrorist attacks today in Norway. examiner

Arturo B. Michelangeli - Debussy - Reflets dans l'eau

Kohl says Merkel is "breaking" Europe

Helmut Kohl is apparently less than pleased with the work of his erstwhile protégé Angela Merkel. The former chancellor reportedly told a friend privately that Merkel's European policies were "very dangerous." thelocal


"Impossible targets based on but pure ideology"

Moreover, rather than replace failing banks' management, following, for example, the practice of the US FDIC, the MoU (p.7) states that the capital increases “will be designed in way that preserves the control of the management of the banks by their non-state owners”. That is, the taxpayer will likely recapitalize the private banking system, in effect nationalizing it, and yet management control will remain with the old owners. One possible explanation for the troika’s inaction on the banks Special Resolution Regime is the conflicts of interest faced by one of the troika members, the ECB. The ECB is a member of the Eurosystem, which would have faced large losses if a proper bank resolution procedure were adopted immediately.

Fisk: Why I had to leave The Times

When he worked at The Times, Robert Fisk witnessed the curious working practices of the paper's proprietor, Rupert Murdoch. Despite their jocular exchanges, the writer knew he couldn't stay... independent


Intercept communications and corruption

Rebekah Brooks has been arrested by officers investigating allegations of corruption and phone hacking.

The 43-year-old went to a London police station by appointment at midday today and is being held on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and corruption allegations. yahoo/skynews


Ex-NOTW whistleblowing reporter found dead

A former News of the World reporter who alleged Andy Coulson "encouraged" him to hack phones was found dead today. independent

Dollar and euro will fall together

There will be NO dollar rally that destroys the precious metals market. We are way too far gone for that to happen. Germany is anything but stable and the dollar and euro will fall together. Gold has outperformed every asset class since 1969

1. Gold's average annual return = 11% (What interest rate is your bank paying you on that CD?)

2. Gold - 12 month return = 20% 24 month return =37% 5 year return = 250% 10 year return = 700%

July 12, 2011 10:41 PM

World's worst mass murderer

Sudan's President al-Bashir is the world's worst mass murderer. Indicted by the International Criminal Court for genocide, he has for 20 years repeatedly butchered whole communities that challenged his rule. And it's happening again -- unless we stop him for good.

Stand with Aung San Suu Kyi

The future of Aung San Suu Kyi and her amazing movement for democracy in Burma is hanging in the balance this week, and we could make the difference.

Suu Kyi has bravely called on the military regime to free the thousands of monks and peaceful activists still held in horrific prisons, some in cramped dog cages. Unprecedentedly, thousands of Burmese have risked their own safety to join her call for freedom through an online petition! Yesterday, the regime issued an ominous warning to Suu Kyi – and the Generals may be deciding right now between dialogue or another brutal crackdown.


World to Dilma: Save the Amazon

The Amazon is in serious danger. The lower house of the Brazilian congress has approved a gutting of Brazil’s forest protection laws. Unless we act now vast tracts of our planet’s lungs could be opened up to clear cutting devastation.

The move has sparked widespread anger and protests across the country. And tension is rising -- in the last few weeks several prominent environmental advocates have been murdered, purportedly by armed thugs hired by illegal loggers. The timing is critical, they’re trying to silence criticism just as the law is discussed in the Senate. But President Dilma can veto the changes, if we can persuade her to overcome political pressure and step onto the global stage as a leader.


World's most dangerous countries for women

Afghanistan, Congo and Pakistan are the world's most dangerous countries for women due to a barrage of threats ranging from violence and rape to dismal healthcare and "honour killings," a Thomson Reuters Foundation expert poll showed Wednesday.

India and Somalia ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, in the global perceptions survey by TrustLaw (www.trust.org/trustlaw), the Foundation's legal news service. yahoo/Reuters

Sunday June 26, 2011

Assad troops carry out more sweep operations on the borders with Turkey and Lebanon, arresting hundreds, terrorizing thousands and driving more refugees into both countries

The suburbs of Barzeh in Damascus continue to suffer from army incursions and house to house searches since Friday: dozens of arrests have been made and 7 fatalities have been reported.

Meanwhile, the Damascene suburbs of Zabadani and Madaya have once again been put under military siege, as Kisweh held a massive night-time funeral attended by over 50,000 in honor of a martyred colleague. Syrian Revolution Digest


More than $6 billion in Iraq reconstruction funds lost

The Iraqi and U.S. governments have been unable to account for a substantial chunk of the billions of dollars in reconstruction aid the Bush administration literally airlifted into the country. If the cash proves to have been stolen, the heist could represent "the largest theft of funds in national history," according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
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Witnesses testified that millions of dollars were shoved into "gunnysacks" and disbursed to Iraqi contractors on pick-up trucks, with what seemed to be little financial controls or accounting on the part of the U.S. government. yahoo

Dharma and dollars

Ultimately, the Buddha encouraged us to cultivate the attitude of non-attachment towards wealth. Our wealth might increase or it might decrease, but our minds should never be disturbed by the change. That is the ultimate wealth in Buddhism: to succeed in detaching oneself completely from greed, hatred and ignorance, the cause of all our suffering. bangkokpost


Escaping the Clutches

In today's Europe, the people are no longer in control. Instead, politicians have become slaves to financial institutions and the markets. We are partly to blame -- and changes are urgently needed to nurse European democracy back to health. spiegel


Wasn’t a panic

What happened Monday wasn’t a panic, precisely: It was more of a pre-panic. Think of it like a sharp tremor before The Big One: A taste of what a true sovereign debt panic would be like.


Debt Crisis Hits Italy

Just a few weeks ago, the rate on Italian 10-year bonds was just two percentage points higher than comparable German paper. On Monday, the difference grew to three percent and on Tuesday it reached 3.5 percent. spiegel


The beginning of the end

There is a growing sense of despair in Brussels. Unlike previous attacks on the euro project, the latest downgrade of Portugal's debt by the ratings agency Moody's feels like the beginning of the end. guardian.co.uk (Wednesday 6 July 2011 09.01 BST)


Outrageously high interest rates

offering more loans, especially at outrageously high interest rates as Brussels intends to do, fails to tackle the core problem, it only makes the situation worse. guardian


A Fatally Flawed Recovery Plan

Greece needs even more money -- EU officials estimate that a new bailout will cost over 100 billion euros rather than the previously assumed 60 billion. It will get the aid, even though the rescue strategy adopted so far seems doomed. The economy is shrinking, and ambitious privatization plans are illusory. spiegel

Note: "Companies like DEI or the partially state-owned Hellenic Petroleum are still viewed as workers' paradises. The roughly 2,500 employees of the oil company are paid 17.8 monthly salaries a year, and even drivers and doormen earn annual salaries upwards of €90,000."


How Goldman Sachs Helped Greece to Mask its Debt

Goldman Sachs helped the Greek government to mask the true extent of its deficit with the help of a derivatives deal that legally circumvented the EU Maastricht deficit rules. At some point the so-called cross currency swaps will mature, and swell the country's already bloated deficit. spiegel

Crackdown on Muslim extremists

... violent extremism is incubated within the ideology of non-violent extremism. guardian

World's worst mass murderer

Sudan's President al-Bashir is the world's worst mass murderer. Indicted by the International Criminal Court for genocide, he has for 20 years repeatedly butchered whole communities that challenged his rule. And it's happening again -- unless we stop him for good.


China welcomes Omar al-Bashir

The announcement comes a week after the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, told the UN security council that genocide and crimes against humanity continued unabated in Darfur because Bashir had learned to defy the council's authority.

Moreno Ocampo said the crimes included air attacks on civilians and the direct killing of members of the Fur, Massalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups. Bashir denies all the allegations and does not recognise the ICC's authority. guardian


China deploys troops after protests

A human rights group said thousands of Chinese police and paramilitary forces have been mobilised to suppress a new round of protests in the country's east.

The Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said the unrest in Taizhou broke out after a village chief was beaten by petrol station employees after he had tried to negotiate an increase in land compensation fees. independent


Indian police break up anti-corruption protest

Tens of thousands of demonstrators had gathered in Delhi in support of Swami Ramdev's fast against corruption. guardian

EU chief's private jet

The office of José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European commission, racked up a €249,000 bill for private jets during the same period he attended the 2009 UN convention on climate change.

Barroso's jet bill for the nine-month period is just a small part of €7.5m worth of trips on private jets chartered by EU commissioners over the last five years, uncovered in research by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. guardian

Note: EU's commissioners are busy, busy, busy, as we can realise... They are not time (at all) to care about some kind of basic situations...

The IMF itself should be on trial

To understand this story, you have to reel back to the birth of the IMF. In 1944, the countries that were poised to win the Second World War gathered in a hotel in rural New Hampshire to divvy up the spoils. With a few honorable exceptions, like the great British economist John Maynard Keynes, the negotiators were determined to do one thing. They wanted to build a global financial system that ensured the money and resources of the planet were forever hoovered towards them. independent

Leading journalist murdered

Saleem Shahzad had warned that the authorities might act against him and revealed a previous threat.

A surge of outrage and grief jolted Pakistan last night after the discovery of the body of a journalist who had highlighted alleged links between al-Qa’ida and the country’s military, two days after he went missing in Islamabad. It appears he had been tortured and beaten before being killed and his body dumped. independent

Iranian activist dies at her father's funeral

The daughter of a prominent veteran Iranian dissident has died after reportedly scuffling with security forces at his funeral.

Haleh Sahabi, 54, also an opposition activist and women's rights campaigner, had been allowed out of prison to attend the funeral of her father, Ezatollah Sahabi, on Wednesday. She fell to the ground in the scuffle and died of a cardiac arrest, according to the opposition website Kaleme. guardian

Worst ever carbon emissions

Greenhouse gas emissions increased by a record amount last year, to the highest carbon output in history, putting hopes of holding global warming to safe levels all but out of reach, according to unpublished estimates from the International Energy Agency. guardian

Berlin Split over US Nuke Modernization

The US wants to modernize part of its nuclear arsenal, including some bombs based in Germany. But the plan is likely to be controversial in Berlin where the ruling coalition remains divided over whether the American weapons should be in the country at all. spiegel


Nuclear Phaseout Is an 'Historic Moment'

Angela Merkel's government has decided to phase out nuclear power by 2022, in a reversal of its previous policy. German commentators are split over the wisdom of the decision, with one newspaper comparing the move to the fall of the Berlin Wall and another saying it will harm future generations. spiegel

Interview with EU Currency Commissioner Rehn

To help the Greeks, we are seriously thinking about establishing a privatization agency based on the model of the Treuhandanstalt (Eds. note: the institution which privatized former East German state assets following German reunification), as Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker already indicated in SPIEGEL last week.
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Greece has to stop living beyond its means. spiegel

Qatar Accused Of 'Buying' 2022 World Cup

The suspended Fifa vice-president Jack Warner has made public an email in which secretary general Jerome Valcke accuses Mohammed bin Hammam of 'buying' the World Cup for Qatar.

The explosive revelation will add further woes to world football's governing body, already mired in controversy following an earlier ethics committee ruling on corruption. yahoo/skynews

Turkey remains a dangerous country for journalists

Reporters Without Borders calls on the Turkish justice system to severely restrict the recourse to exceptional anti-terror measures against journalists who are only doing their job, in particular articles under the anti-terrorist law providing for prison sentences in cases involving "propaganda for a terrorist organisation", very often leading to journalists being brought before special courts for organised crime, and which should urgently be repealed. humanrightsdefence

Inner Mongolia protests prompt crackdown

A communist official tipped as a future leader of China is moving to defuse a wave of protests in Inner Mongolia by choking information, tightening campus controls and promising to reform the mining industry.

A demonstration by ethnic Mongolians on Monday in the regional capital, Hohhot, was the latest test for Hu Chunhua, whose appointment as party chief of the resource-rich region last year was widely seen as a step towards top office in 2020. guardian

What Would a Greek Haircut Mean for Germany?

It may only be a small passage in the statutes of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but it is the bottom line: An organization can lend money to a country only if it is certain the state will remain solvent for at least one year. Washington experts are increasingly doubtful that this minimum requirement can be guaranteed in the case of Greece. spiegel

Government and Tech

Yesterday the EG8, or Electronic G8, a conference of global technology leaders that was hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The leaders planned to discuss the future of technology, but the conversation kept going back to Internet privacy, a divisive topic. Sarkozy said, "The Internet is the new frontier, a territory to conquer. But it cannot be the Wild West." Google CEO Eric Schmidt shot back, "Technology will move faster than governments." Schmidt added, "So don't legislate before you understand the consequences." yahoo

Note: at business level internet is yet the "wild west" as companies like lastminute.com (a british company) are acting as if it were the very real Wild West. Those companies must be completely blocked from the internet and be forced to take full responsibility for what they are been doing.

Arab Spring Boosts Dream of Desert Power

The project, which is expected to cost around €400 billion ($566 billion) and which is still at the planning stage, is being pushed forward by the nonprofit Desertec Foundation together with the Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII). The latter is an industrial consortium that includes such major German players as Deutsche Bank, Siemens, E.on and Munich Re. It aims to create the "legal, regulatory, economic and technical framework" that will allow the Desertec vision to become reality. spiegel

Note: it will be nice...

UN on back foot

JAKARTA (AFP) – The United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNMIT) was on the back foot Friday after Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao angrily accused the world body of trampling on his country's sovereignty.
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He said that from 2000 to 2008 the "international community" had spent almost $8 billion in the tiny half-island state but "we do not see any physical development and even more poverty was created in our country".
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"My proposal is this: UNMIT and Timorese experts, offer your services to improve Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and give support to democracy in Yemen, Syria and Libya," Gusmao said. yahoo/AFP


$1bn fraud at Kabul Bank

The move, to "protect taxpayers' money", came as the full extent of the scandal at Kabul Bank – described as the biggest fraud in modern times... independent


NATO fuel tanker explodes in Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Militants in northwest Pakistan blew up a tanker carrying oil for NATO forces in Afghanistan on Saturday, and a secondary explosion killed 15 people as a group gathered to try to siphon off some of its fuel. Another bombing damaged 14 NATO tankers in a nearby border town, but no one was hurt. usatoday


Six-Figure Pensions at Age 50 at the IMF

The IMF's pension structure allows many of its economists to be able to draw pensions in excess of $100,000 a year in their early fifties. It is remarkable that no major news outlet has ever mentioned these exorbitant pensions at a time when politicians across the country have been screaming about pensions for public employees that average less than $30,000 a year and generally require workers to wait until their 60s before they start receiving benefits. cepr

121 Executions In Six Weeks

According to the statistics compiled by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, 121 individuals have been hanged between 20 December 2010 and 31 January 2011. iranhumanrights


Al-Qaida hoped to blow up oil tankers

Documents seized from Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan reveal that al-Qaida considered hijacking and blowing up oil tankers to provoke an "extreme economic crisis" in the west, the US government has said. guardian


Syria fires on thousands of protesters

Rights groups today reported that at least 44 people were killed at rallies across the country, most of the them in the northern province of Idlib and the central city of Homs, the scene of repeated challenges to President Assad's rule. independent