tagged w/ European Union
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"President Obama has said he's going to continue his crusade against carbon energy in a second term, and we believe him. Yet there he was Tuesday signing a bipartisan bill shielding U.S. airlines from paying a carbon tax merely for flying to Europe.
The European Union imposed its scheme to tax foreign airlines this year in one of its aren't-we-virtuous climate change gestures. Never mind that the tax ignored the usual multilateral forum for dealing with international aviation issues. The move drew a furious reaction from China and U.S. airlines, which estimated the tax would cost them $3.1 billion through 2020. The costs would be passed along to airline passengers.
Congress may love taxes, but not if foreigners are taxing Americans and keeping the money. So in September the Senate passed by rare unanimous vote a bill directing the Transportation Secretary to protect U.S. carriers from the air tax if he deems it necessary, and the House followed upon returning after the election.
"The Obama Administration is firmly committed to reducing harmful carbon pollution from civil aviation both domestically and internationally," said a White House spokesman on Tuesday, but "the application of the EU [tax] to non-EU air carriers is the wrong way to achieve that objective." It's good to know there's at least one tax this Administration doesn't like.""President Obama has said he's going to continue his crusade against carbon... more
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Biotech giant Monsanto has been genetically modifying the world’s food supply and subsequently breeding environmental devastation for years, but leaked documents now reveal that Monsanto has also deeply infiltrated the United States government. With leaked reports revealing how U.S. diplomats are actually working for Monsanto to push their agenda along with other key government officials, Monsanto’s grasp on international politics has never been clearer.
Amazingly, the information reveals that the massive corporation is also intensely involved in the passing and regulations concerning the very GM ingredients they are responsible for. In fact, the information released by WikiLeaks reveals just how much power Monsanto has thanks to key positions within the United States government and elsewhere. Not only was it exposed that the U.S. is threatening nations who oppose Monsanto with military-style trade wars, but that many U.S. diplomats actually work directly for Monsanto.
Full Story: http://worldtruth.tv/leaked-documents-reveal-us-diplomats-actually-work-for-monsanto/Biotech giant Monsanto has been genetically modifying the world’s food supply... more
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trut
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9 months ago
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This timely, highly informative debate asks whether democracy and sovereignty can mean anything in the European Union. We learn of the use of the EU by national governments to evade responsibility, the need for a clash of ideas, why banks must be allowed to fail in order to shake things up, the dangers of technocracy replacing democracy and more. An exceptional line up of speakers take us beyond the usual Eurosceptic versus Europhile debate and challenge us to consider what sort of Europe we want, who we are and what democracy means. The speakers are Brian M. Carney, editor of The Wall Street Journal Europe’s editorial page; Brian Denny, convenor, No2EU:Yes to Democracy; Declan Ganley, founder and chairman, Libertas; Brendan O'Neill, editor, spiked; Linda Yueh, Economics Editor Bloomberg TV, Adjunct Professor of Economics at London Business School, Fellow at Oxford. Arranged by the Institute of Ideas, this event took place at Goodenough College as part of the Crisis in Europe debate series, organised by the European Network of Houses for Debate "Time to Talk", with the support of the Open Society Institute. WORLDbytes volunteers are delighted to be filming and editing this series.This timely, highly informative debate asks whether democracy and sovereignty can mean... more
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"Chances of Greece leaving the eurozone are growing, as political leaders prepare for last-ditch coalition talks in Athens""Chances of Greece leaving the eurozone are growing, as political leaders prepare... more
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"Two years ago, the prospect of a state falling out of the single currency area was unthinkable. But as the Greek electorate turns against austerity, it is becoming all too easy to picture how breakup might happen"
Article by Julia Kollewe, The Observer, Sunday 13 May 2012"Two years ago, the prospect of a state falling out of the single currency area... more
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On the streets of Walthamstow in East London, we ask the public what they think about the European Union. It’s clear that opposition to the EU is not the preserve of bigoted ‘little Englanders’, far from it. Eloquent, well informed citizens are seriously concerned at the EU’s undemocratic set up and want to have their say. Individuals backing the EU are hard to find and are against a referendum as they see their fellow citizens as ignorant and too ill educated to ‘understand the issues’.On the streets of Walthamstow in East London, we ask the public what they think about... more
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LONDON -- Wikileaks has published a U.S. diplomatic cable advising Washington to engage in "retaliation" against European countries opposed to genetically modified crops.
Quoting the whistleblowing website, British daily the Guardian writes that in 2007, France banned cultivation of genetically modified corn, produced by American biotech giant Monsanto.
This prompted then-U.S. ambassador to France Craig Stapleton - who is also a friend and business partner of former U.S. President George Bush - to write home and ask the administration in Washington to retaliate against the EU, and especially target those countries that failed to support generically modified crops.
"Europe is moving backwards not forwards on this issue with France playing a leading role, along with Austria, Italy and even the (European) Commission. Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voice," write Stapleton.
The newspaper also said that some of the newly published cables revealed that many American diplomats, posted in countries around the world, worked directly to promote the use of GMO crops as their government's strategic and commercial imperative.LONDON -- Wikileaks has published a U.S. diplomatic cable advising Washington to... more
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INTERNATIONAL SECURITY STUDIES PROGRAM
Fletcher School Tufts University
Dr. Daniel I. FineResearch AssociateMining and Minerals Resources Institute, MIT
LUNCHEON LECTURETUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 201111:00AM – 1:00PMCABOT 703
“Shale Gas War: The Geopolitics of U.S.Self-Sufficiency”
Dr. Daniel Fine
is a Research Associate at the Mining and Minerals Resources Institute,MIT. Dr. Fine is also a current Policy Adviser on Non-Conventional Oil and Gas. He isco-editor of
Resource War in 3-D: Dependence, Diplomacy and Defense, and has contributed to Business Week , the Engineering and Mining Journal and theWashingtonTimes
. Dr. Fine participated in the Atlantic Council Workshop on Central Asian Policyand the Hudson Institute Russia-United States Relations Project. He has given testimonyon strategic natural resources before the U.S. Senate Committees on Foreign Affairs andthe Energy and Natural Resources. Dr. Fine was a member of the Domestic EnergyProduction Issue Team of the Center For The Study Of The Presidency and Congress“Strengthening America’s Future Initiative.” He has participated as a panelist on energy public policy at the Rocky Mountain Global New Energy Summit.
Register to attend this event at
http://www.danielfine.eventbrite.com
Business Casual Attire Required
http://www.scribd.com/doc/64842008/Shale-Gas-Wars-Flyer-9-20-11INTERNATIONAL SECURITY STUDIES PROGRAM
Fletcher School Tufts University
Dr. Daniel... more
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As anticipated by LEAP since November 2010, the second half of 2011 has started with a sudden and major relapse of the crisis. Nearly $10 trillion US Dollars of the 15 trillion USD in ghost assets announced in GEAB N°56 have already gone up in smoke. The rest (and probably much more) will vanish in the fourth quarter of 2011, which will be marked by what our team calls "the implosive fusion of global financial assets". It’s the two major global financial centers, Wall Street in New York and the City of London, which will be the "preferred reactors" of this fusion. And, as predicted by LEAP/E2020 for several months, it’s the solution to the public debt problems in some Euroland countries which will enable this reaction to reach critical mass, after which nothing is controllable; but the bulk of the fuel that will drive the reaction and turn it into a real global shock (1) is found in the United States. Since July 2011 we have only started on the process that led to this situation: the worst is ahead of us and very close!
In this issue N°57, we have chosen to address, very directly, the great manipulation organized around the Greek crisis and the Euro (2), whilst describing its direct link with the implosive fusion process of financial assets worldwide. Also in this issue, LEAP/E2020 presents its anticipations for the gold market for the period 2012-2014 as well as its analyses on neo-protectionism which will be introduced from the end of 2012. In addition to our monthly recommendations on Switzerland and the Swiss Franc, currencies, real estate and financial markets, we also present our strategic advice to the G20 leaders less than two months from the G20 summit to be held in Cannes.
Greek crisis and the Euro: Itemizing the huge manipulation in progress
But let’s come back to Greece and what is beginning to be a "very repetitive old story (3)" which, as we have already explained, returns to the front of the media stage every time Washington and London are in serious difficulties (4). Moreover, coincidentally, the summer has been disastrous for the United States which is now in recession (5), which has seen their credit rating cut (an event deemed unthinkable by all the "experts" only six months ago) and exposed their political system’s state of widespread paralysis (6) to an astonished world, all whilst being incapable of putting any serious measure in place to reduce their deficits (7). At the same time, the United Kingdom is sinking into depression (8) with riots of uncommon violence, an austerity policy that fails to control budget deficits (9) whilst plunging the country into an unprecedented social crisis (10), and a ruling coalition that doesn’t even know why it governs together against the backdrop of the scandal of collusion between political leaders and the Murdoch empire. No doubt, in such a context, everything was ripe for a media relaunch of the Greek crisis and its corollary, the end of the Euro!
If LEAP/E2020 had to summarize the "Hollywood style" or "Fox News" (11) scenario, we would have the following synopsis: "While the US iceberg is ramming the Titanic, the crew leads the passengers in search of dangerous Greek terrorists who may have planted bombs on board!" In propaganda terms, it’s a known recipe: it’s a diversion to allow, first of all, the rescue of the passengers one wants to save (the informed elite who know very well that there are no Greek terrorists on board) since everyone can’t be saved; and then, hide the problem’s true nature for as long as possible to avoid a revolt on board (including some of the crew who sincerely believe that there really are bombs on board).
Focusing on the background, we must emphasize that the "promoters" of a Greek crisis presented as a fatal crisis for the Euro have spent their time repeating it for almost two years without any of their forecasts coming to pass in any shape or form (12) (except to continue talking about it). Facts are stubborn: despite the media outcry that should have seen off many economies or currencies (13), the Euro is stable, Euroland has come on in leaps and bounds in terms of integration (14) and is about to break even more spectacular new ground (15), the emerging countries continue to diversify out of US Treasury Bonds and buy Euroland debt, and Greece’s exit from the Euro zone is still completely beyond consideration except in the Anglo-Saxon media articles whose writers generally have no idea of how the EU functions and even less of the strong trends that drive it.......
Continue at:
http://www.leap2020.eu/GEAB-N-57-is-available-Global-systemic-crisis-Fourth-quarter-2011-Implosive-fusion-of-global-financial-assets_a7640.htmlAs anticipated by LEAP since November 2010, the second half of 2011 has started with a... more
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In the fall of 2008 many Europeans were counting themselves lucky as having, for the most part, escaped the implosion of Wall Street. While there was acknowledgement that the troubles in the United States had tested the stability of European banks, European citizens thought that the finances of their various countries seemed stable.
Still, many in Europe were introduced for first time how financial trouble in a different part of the World could directly effect them. It has taken nearly three years for those first American contagions to cripple the European continent, but despite the slow nature of the death, Europe has found every effort ineffective and the illness inescapable.
As Europe now deals with their own sovereign, financial, and banking crises, it is now the Americans turn to watch and wait. As Europe takes the center stage this fall, understand that just because it's happening "over there", doesn't mean you shouldn't be concerned. Don't make the same mistake Europeans did three years ago and assume that you are unaffected. You are.....or at least, you will be.
-Schnookums
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*Gordon Brown fears euro crisis worse than Lehman as 1930s beckon*
Gordon Brown has warned that Europe's fast-escalating crisis is now more dangerous than the Lehman Brothers disaster three years ago, threatening to tip the West into a 1930s-style slump unless global leaders work together to take dramatic action.
"The euro can't survive in its present form and will have to be reformed drastically," he told a mostly-Chinese audience at the World Economic Forum in Dalian.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8768575/Gordon-Brown-fears-euro-crisis-worse-than-Lehman-as-1930s-beckon.html
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*[Financial] Religious Warfare*
It probably hasn't escaped you that we are entering the next phase of this fine crisis of ours. Those equally fine leaders we've elected to represent us and protect our interests are now almost literally stumbling from one emergency meeting into the other. It doesn't look like Greece can hang on much longer as an EU and Eurozone member without some sort of miraculous intervention.
Well, US Finance Secretary Tim Geithner claims to have the powers of miracle, and he personally brought them to a meeting -an emergency one- in Poland on Friday (where many a European wondered whether he spoke for Washington or for Wall Street, no doubt).
Geithner's big plan is for Europe to take its European Financial Stability Fund, which is projected to be €440 billion by the end of this year, though that is by no means certain, and leverage it about ten-fold to some €4.4 trillion. This, as per Geithner, will calm the markets -and presumably restart economic growth, and job creation, and the housing markets-.
Geithner's perspective is a purely religious one. He has no proof that his idea would work, there is no science that underlies or reinforces it, just a belief system. Nevertheless, ideas like his are very popular, and I for one wouldn't bet against them being unleashed upon us all.
http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/2011/09/september-18-2011-religious-warfare.html
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*Greece should default, exit euro, Roubini says*
Greece should begin an "orderly" default and voluntarily leave the euro in order to escape a "vicious cycle of insolvency, low competitiveness and ever-deepening depression," economist Nouriel Roubini said in a guest column published Monday in the Financial Times.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/greece-should-default-exit-euro-roubini-says-2011-09-19
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*Greece worries threaten to trigger financial chain reaction*
Fear that Greece will default on its debt, perhaps triggering a financial chain reaction that will cause another global recession, hurt European stocks and sent American stocks lower for a time.
The market tension Monday came after a German politician suggested Greek finances are so bad the nation might have to leave the coalition of 17 countries that use the euro as their common currency.
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/20110912/greek-default-worries-threaten-financial-chain-reaction-110912/
____________________________________________________________________In the fall of 2008 many Europeans were counting themselves lucky as having, for the... more
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Not only was the war in Libya unconstitutional based on US law, it is also illegal under international law, argues former EU parlimentary member Giulietto Chiesa.Not only was the war in Libya unconstitutional based on US law, it is also illegal... more
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Spain -
The world's biggest annual lottery payout, Spain's famous Christmas El Gordo (Fat One), spreads joy to tens of thousands of winners – but the biggest winners of all may soon be investors who snap up part of the state company behind the lottery.
The country's State Betting and Lottery (LAE), which offers a series of prize draws, also brings a huge dose of Christmas cheer to the country's treasury. Of the €2.15bn Spaniards bet on the draw, almost a third is retained by the lottery administrator.
Spain is not as badly indebted as other European countries, but bond yields have soared as Greece, Ireland and Portugal have been forced into bailouts. Spain's socialist government, led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has set strict deficit targets to avoid the fate of its southern European neighbors. Sales of stakes in the state lottery and the country's airports authority form part of the plan for pulling safely back from the brink.
Some 30% of the state lottery will be sold as the organization behind the 151-year-old El Gordo becomes what may be the world's biggest listed gambling company, valued at up to €25bn.
The company recorded €3bn net profit in 2009 on sales of €9.8bn – meaning the sell-off will reduce treasury income by about €1bn a year.
RBS recently won a contract to run the privatization of up to 49% of Spain's airports authority, AENA, which has a book value of €2.6bn. The government also plans to auction off Madrid's Barajas airport and Barcelona's El Prat by the end of the year.
Reform of the country's savings banks means that many will also soon be seeking stock market listings.
-Giles Tremlett Madrid
Continue Reading at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jul/01/indebted-european-countries-privatisation-assets?CMP=twt_guSpain -
The world's biggest annual lottery payout, Spain's famous... more
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Croatia has been given the go-ahead to become a member of the European Union, and is likely to join in 2013, the European Commission has said.
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he would recommend EU nations wrap up talks and prepare to greet Croatia as the 28th member state.
Talks on reforming the Croatian judiciary, a very sensitive area, had been successful, Mr Barroso said.
Croatia will be the second ex-Yugoslav country after Slovenia to join.
"The European Commission has just proposed... to close the last four chapters in the accession negotiations with Croatia," Mr Barroso said in a statement.
"Today is a historic day for Croatia and the European Union."
'Reinvigorate efforts'
Mr Barroso described the move as "a signal to the rest of south-eastern Europe".
"I... hope that Croatia's progress is an inspiration to our other partners to reinvigorate their reform efforts and to deliver to the benefit of their people."
Two other countries of the former Yugoslav federation, Montenegro and Macedonia, are currently candidates for membership.
Serbia is expected to start membership talks next year, after the arrest last month of former Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic on war crimes charges removed the biggest obstacle Belgrade faced to joining the EU.
The four outstanding chapters in Croatia's talks included the judiciary and competition issues.
Correspondents say judicial issues are especially sensitive because the last EU countries to join - Bulgaria and Romania in 2007 - failed to meet full EU standards in that area.
The EU imposed a monitoring mechanism on them to deal with the shortcomings.
Croatia applied for EU membership in 2003 and formal negotiations began in 2005.
But the BBC's Mark Lowen, reporting from Zagreb, says progress was marred by initially sluggish co-operation with the UN War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague, as government officials appeared slow to hand over documents relating to the 1990s war of independence.
Corruption and organised crime have also dented the country's image, he adds.
EU leaders are expected to approve Croatia's accession at a summit on 23-24 June.Croatia has been given the go-ahead to become a member of the European Union, and is... more
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pdy
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1 year ago
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This Friday, June 3, 2011, Ratko Mladić, the man dubbed the "Butcher of Bosnia" will be asked to plead to 11 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the UN Court in The Hague. After being arrested on May 26th in a village in north-eastern Serbia, Mladić was transferred on Tuesday to the ICTY Detention Unit in The Hague after being arrested May 26 in a village in north-eastern Serbia. Mladić can enter a plea on Friday or decide to do so in a month.
Created in 1993 by the United Nations, the ICTY operates under rules of procedure and evidence drawn mainly from Anglo-Saxon law: the pretrial stage especially allows the defense to discover the evidence gathered by the prosecution in its investigation.
Brussels, the de-facto capital of the European Union, had stated in the past that all barriers Serbia's participation in the EU would be lifted as soon as Belgrade would extradite Ratko Mladić, former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army during the 1992-95 war in the Balkans. In 2008. Belgrade signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with Brussels in 2008 but Amsterdam blocked Serbia's entry at the time, as it considered Mladić's extradition a 'matter of honor'; Dutch soldiers had been the ones that protected Srebrenica's refugee camps, where the greatest massacre of Muslims had taken place. Now that Dutch objections will be automatically lifted, Serbia may have its ticket to join the European Union.
Continue reading on Examiner.com Ratko Mladić now at the Hague; is Serbia closer to joining EU? - National Foreign Policy | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/foreign-policy-in-national/ratko-mladi-now-at-the-hague-is-serbia-closer-to-joining-eu#ixzz1O8wnnwfUThis Friday, June 3, 2011, Ratko Mladić, the man dubbed the "Butcher of... more
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Led by former Knesset speaker, Avraham Burg, 19 other Israeli personalities have sent an open letter to the European Union today urging European states to vote for independence Palestine in the month of September, when the General Assembly of the United Nations will convene. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is determined to have the UN recognize Palestine as a full member, pending a two-thirds majority vote by member nations.
As outlined in Le Monde, the signatories indicated that after having taken an assessment of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's 'intransigence' as expressed in a speech he delivered to the US Congress on May 24th, 2011 coupled with the White House's (i.e. Obama) renunciation of exerting any real pressure on Netanyahu, they are calling on European capitals to recognize a Palestinian state on 1967 borders with land swaps of equal size and East Jerusalem as its capital.
Excerpts from the open letter: (this letter was meant to be released on Friday, May 27th, but Le Monde obtained an advance copy).
Continue reading on Examiner.com Israeli Left open letter to EU urges for recognition of Palestinian State - National Foreign Policy | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/foreign-policy-in-national/israeli-left-open-letter-to-eu-urges-for-recognition-of-palestinian-state#ixzz1NULVgXeZLed by former Knesset speaker, Avraham Burg, 19 other Israeli personalities have sent... more
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EU's narrative that high wages, early retirement, and generous benefits have led several countries to the verge of bankruptcy is nothing but a fairy tale. Conn Hallinan at FPIF Focal Points.EU's narrative that high wages, early retirement, and generous benefits have led... more
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For many years Italy has invested in a country ruled by a dictatorship, forgetting democracy, ethics, human rights, only to draw benefits. That's why until yesterday the Italian Prime Minister, Berlusconi, was silent in front of the massacre of the Lybian people.
http://www.inaltreparole.net/en/money/guerralibiasilenzioberlusconi220211.htmlFor many years Italy has invested in a country ruled by a dictatorship, forgetting... more
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