Mois : novembre 2014

Published on Al-Ahram weekly online, by Doaa El-Bey, Nov 13, 2014: On Egypt’s defence of its record at the UN Periodic Review meeting in Geneva.

While the head of the Egyptian delegation to Geneva insisted Egypt had witnessed a qualitative “leap” in the status of human rights, human rights groups have widely condemned Egypt’s record on basic freedoms over the last four years.

More than 300 recommendations, questions and comments from member states were included in the UN outcome report that followed Egypt’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) last week. Reservations were expressed over laws regulating NGOs, human rights, judicial procedures and the right to protest. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry, however, was keen to point out that amid the criticisms there were positive remarks. “From at least 100 countries,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdel-Atti told Al-Ahram Weekly. Continuer la lecture de « Egypt: Human rights under scrutiny »

Published on farmlandgrab.org, by Chris Arsenault, Nov 12, 2014.

ROME, Nov 12 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Development funds from European governments have helped to rescue a Canadian company that pays workers as little as $1 per day to toil on some of Africa’s largest palm oil plantations in the impoverished Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Government-backed investment funds from Britain, France and Spain, designed to help poor countries develop, stepped in to buy 60 percent of Toronto-listed Feronia Inc for about $35 million in two separate investments in 2012 and 2013.   Continuer la lecture de « Taxpayer funds save Congo plantation paying workers $1/day »

latest Related Links:

• Pax Pacificana? US, China agree to avoid military conflict, on Russia Today RT, Nov 12, 2014;
• (remember on Global Research.ca, by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts:
• Will Russia and China Hold Their Fire Until War Is the Only Alternative? Sept 26, 2014; … and: Washington’s War Against Russia – Undermining Russia’s Historic Relationship with Western Europe, Sept 15, 2014);     Continuer la lecture de « USA – CHINA – RUSSIA – (and our politician's arse licker eu) … quo vadis? »

LIVE UPDATES – Go-go-go! Rosetta’s Philae lander descent to comet surface, on Russia Today RT, Nov 12, 2014!
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Published on The National Security Archive, by Thomas Blanton and Svetlana Savranskaya, Nov 9, 2014.

• Documents show accident and contingency, anxiety in world capitals;
• East German crowds led the way, with help from Communist fumbles, self-fulfilling TV coverage, Hungarian reformers, Czechoslovak pressure, and Gorbachev’s non-violence.

Washington, DC, November 9, 2014 – The iconic fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago today shocked international leaders from Washington to Moscow, London to Warsaw, as East German crowds took advantage of Communist Party fumbles to break down the Cold War’s most symbolic barrier, according to formerly secret documents from Soviet, German, U.S., Czechoslovak and Hungarian files posted today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University (The National Security Archive.org).   Continuer la lecture de « The Fall of the Berlin Wall, 25th Anniversary »

Published on Russia Today RT, Nov 10, 2014;

New rules are being proposed that will force creditors, not taxpayers, to carry the losses of banks deemed “too big to fail.” The plans come after Western taxpayers were asked to pay trillions of dollars to bail out banks in the 2008 financial crisis. The new global rules will force creditors to bear banks’ losses, ensuring that taxpayers’ money should never be used again to bail out banks.  The proposal was unveiled by Mark Carney, chairman of the Switzerland-based Financial Stability Board (FSB) and governor of the Bank of England. The new rules would require big banks to hold much more money against losses, which Carney called a “watershed” moment, adding that the bailout by the taxpayers in 2008 and 2009 was “totally unfair” … // Continuer la lecture de « No more bailouts: BoE chief says banks won't be save by taxpayers »

LIVE UPDATES – Go-go-go! Rosetta’s Philae lander descent to comet surface, on Russia Today RT, Nov 12, 2014!

Published on The Independent.co.uk, by KITTY KNOWLES, Nov 9, 2014.

Dutch astrophysicist Dr Fred Jansen is no stranger to the difficulties of space exploration. He led the team that put an X-ray observatory in orbit in the 1990s, and has since overseen exploration operations to Mars and Venus. But the Rosetta mission manager described his latest challenge as the most difficult yet. Continuer la lecture de « Rosetta spacecraft to land probe on comet – and make scientific history »

how tiny state rubber-stamped tax avoidance on an industrial scale – Leaked documents show that one of the EU’s smallest states helped multinationals save millions in tax, to the detriment of its neighbours and allies – Published on The Guardian, by Simon Bowers, Nov 5, 2014. (See also: Audio – Irish Times Business Podcast: Lux Leaks, 19.44 min).

An unprecedented international investigation into tax deals struck with Luxembourg has uncovered the multi-billion dollar tax secrets of some of the world’s largest multinational corporations.

A cache of almost 28,000 pages of leaked tax agreements, returns and other sensitive papers relating to over 1,000 businesses paints a damning picture of an EU state which is quietly rubber-stamping tax avoidance on an industrial scale.   Continuer la lecture de « Tax avoidance – Luxembourg tax files »

Published on The Bullet, Socialist Project’s E-Bulletin no. 1052, by Pedro Marlez, Nov 6, 2014.

… The Spanish political crisis is advancing slowly but inexorably. In the last five or six months we have witnessed a series of events that have exacerbated the process of decomposition: the turbulence produced by the European elections, the succession to the throne, the most serious corruption scandals to surface for generations, and the conflict between the central government and Catalonia. The right-wing government of [Prime Minister] Mariano Rajoy has sought relief in macroeceonomic data, but the optimism expressed is groundless: no figures are available to show a solid recovery, with the exception of the fall in unemployment, which is explicable on the basis of a seasonally favourable situation in the services sector. The period to come will be very difficult for the government, even decisive in different areas of conflict … // Continuer la lecture de « The “Consultation” in Catalonia: A New Episode in the Political Crisis of Spain »

Published on Axis of Logic (first on teleSUR), by Ezequiel Adamovsky, Nov 5, 2014.

Announcements by the World Bank, the IMF; and other neoliberal think tanks, that poverty is decreasing and the middle class increasing is just a fantasy that stems from ideologically biased research programs and conceptions of poverty … //

… All this, of course, is nothing but a fantasy that stems from ideologically biased research programs and conceptions of poverty. In the past decades, international organizations and think tanks have produced a subtle shift in the way we understand poverty and class differences. We used to think of both as relations: there is no poverty in itself, but only in relation to wealth; one can only be of “lower” condition by contrast to the “higher” class. Continuer la lecture de « Poverty, World Hunger: Time for a relational approach »

Published on AlJazeera, November 5, 2014: Aid agencies say thousands being monitored for signs of Ebola in Sierra Leone are venturing out to find food.

… Kamara said that because services are not reaching them, people who are being monitored for signs of Ebola – and should be staying at home – are venturing out to markets to look for food, potentially contaminating many others.

Christian Aid’s coordinator said that with infections still on the rise, it was difficult for the government to keep up with the number of people being monitored for the disease. « The number is just rising exponentially, » she said. « The speed with which we have to have such a robust system of planning and coordination » is too fast.

Continuer la lecture de « Ebola quarantines violated in search of food »

Published on Spiegel Online International, by Anne Seith, Nov 3, 2014 (Photo Gallery – A Growing Rift Between Central Bankers – translated from the German by Christopher Sultan).

To prevent dangerous deflation, the ECB is discussing a massive program to purchase government bonds. watchdogs are divided over the measure, with some alleging that central bankers are being held hostage by politicians … //

… A Heated Dispute: Continuer la lecture de « Monetary Fallacy? Deep Divisions Emerge over ECB Quantitative Easing Plans – part 1 »

Can Capitalism and Democracy Coexist? – Videos with Journalist Chris Hedges and political philosopher Sheldon Wolin, uploaded on YouTube by TheRealNews, August-November 2014: (1/8), 20.15 min; (2/8), 25.04 min; (3/8), 22.32 min; (4/8), 26.37 min; (5/8), 23.23 min; (6/8), 19.37 min; (see comment on naked capitalism, by Yves Smith, Nov 3, 2014 – also links on the website of The Real News Network TRNN, per Nov 2, 2014);

Capitalism Democracy-Related Links:

• on Znet; on RWER Blog; on naked capitalism; on Outsider Club; on Democracy Now; on Russia Today RT; on Spiegel Online International; on Global Research.ca; on The Guardian; on Dissident Voice; on Intrepid Report; on Axis of Logic; on World Socialist Web Site WSWS; on YouTube-search; on Google Scholar-search; on Google News-search;   Continuer la lecture de « Can Capitalism and Democracy Coexist? »

Published on The People’s Voive, by Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja, Nov 2, 2014 (also on The Sri Lanka Guardian, Nov 2).

In a knowledge-based age, contemporary world is fraught with perpetuated violence and killings to undermine the sustainability of mankind’s future. Complex societal conflicts need rational and flexible strategies using men of new ideas, diplomacy and peaceful means to conflict management … // Continuer la lecture de « Global War and Peace: Insanity’s Quagmire »

Published on Russia Today RT, Nov 1, 2014.

The Spanish government said it is concerned that terrorists could use the Ebola virus as a biological weapon against the West. A close eye is being kept on online chat rooms, where such attacks are reportedly discussed among jihadist groups. Extremists connected to the Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS) have been considering using Ebola as a weapon against the West, Spain’s State Secretary for Security, Francisco Martinez, said in an address to the parliament.   Continuer la lecture de « ISIS eyes using Ebola as bio weapon – or: what fundamentalist dictatorship is serving »

Published on Russia Today RT, Oct 31, 2014.

The New York Police Department has detained prominent peace activist and former CIA agent Ray McGovern, with witnesses saying he was “yelling in pain” during arrest. McGovern was detained ahead of a David Petraeus speech that he planned to attend.

McGovern was detained before the start of a talk between former CIA director David Petraeus, retired US Army Lt. Col. John Nagl, and author Max Boot on American Foreign Policy at the 92nd St Y., an Upper East Side cultural community center.   Continuer la lecture de « NYPD arrests, brutalizes peace activist McGovern ahead of Petraeus speech »