May 27, 2011
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/05/27/Forecast-Spains-protests-to-go-global/UPI-81871306528540
KINGSTON, N.Y. (UPI) -- Growing unrest in Spain will spread throughout Europe this summer and "go global" by winter, a U.S. trends forecaster said in an interview posted Friday.
"Young people have wised up. They know the score," Trends Research Institute Director Gerald Celente told King World News. "Those are the people that are ahead of all of these revolutions."
Inspired by the revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests taking place in the Middle East and North Africa, tens of thousands of young Spaniards, expressing distress over 45 percent youth unemployment and severe government-imposed austerity measures, have taken over central squares in 60 cities -- including Madrid's busy Puerta del Sol -- seeking to overhaul Spain's socioeconomic and political systems, which they allege favor special interests, especially financial institutions.
Like the so-called Arab Spring, the growing Spanish movements are spread via social media networks and led in the streets by the young.
And "they're not leaving the streets," Celente told King World News, because "when you lose everything and have nothing left to lose, you lose it."
"These revolutions are going to spread through the summer in Europe, and by the winter it's going to go global," he said.
A French youth-led group plans a large demonstration in Paris this weekend in solidarity with Spain's protesters, known as "los indignados," or "the outraged." The French protest would follow Friday's close of the Group of Eight summit of world leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, in the French seaside resort town of Deauville.
Another Spanish-style uprising could emerge in neighboring Portugal next week, ahead of a June 5 snap election, The New York Times said.
Celente said Europe's Internet-savvy youth are "getting everyone out to join them because they know now that if they don't fight against the machine, the machine is going to grind them up."
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Will German Austerity Help or Hurt the Global Recovery?
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1995113,00.html
Will German Austerity Help or Hurt the Global Recovery?
By Tristana Moore / Berlin Wednesday, Jun. 09, 2010
Announcing a tough austerity plan when your government's popularity has hit rock bottom is a high-risk strategy, but Germany's Chancellor seems ready to ride out the storm of protest. Even as trade unions warned of a summer of unrest, Angela Merkel put on a brave face when she announced the biggest round of spending cuts since World War II on Monday afternoon. "These are serious times, these are difficult times. We can't afford everything that we want if we also want to look after our future," Merkel told reporters in Berlin after her coalition government hammered out a framework deal to bring down Germany's swollen public debt.
The austerity plan is ambitious — the aim is to save up to $95 billion by 2014 through a combination of deep spending cuts and revenue-raising measures. The savings include controversial cuts to welfare payments for the long-term unemployed and reductions in parental allowance for families. Merkel tried to head off critics by pointing out that the plan was fair because it included cuts to industry and the public sector. Under the plan, 10,000 civil servants working for federal ministries would lose their jobs; 40,000 jobs would be cut in the armed forces; there would be a new "ecological levy" on air travel; a tax would be imposed on the nuclear power industry; and, from 2012 on, there would be a tax on financial transactions. Even prestige building projects have been put on ice: the German government has postponed plans to build a replica of Berlin's former Prussian palace.
"We've lived beyond our means over the past few years," Guido Westerwelle, Vice Chancellor and leader of Merkel's coalition partners, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), bluntly told a news conference on Monday. As a concession to the FDP, which campaigned on a tax-cutting platform in last September's election, Merkel said there would be no hike in income tax and no increase in sales tax, while spending on education and research would be protected. "The last few months have shown — in connection with the crisis in Greece and the euro zone — how crucial solid finances are, and they are the precondition for being able to live in stability and prosperity," said Merkel.
Some economists welcomed the fact that the government steered clear of tax hikes; others said the round of spending cuts was too severe and could stall Germany's fragile economic recovery. "The government should have postponed the cuts until the economy is really back on its feet again," Gustav Horn, director of the Macroeconomic Policy Institute in Düsseldorf, told TIME. He said the austerity plan was "piecemeal," made up of "real cuts in the social security system but halfhearted cuts to business," and pointed out that the financial-market-transaction tax was conditional on other countries' adopting it. "Chancellor Merkel could have introduced a tax on the wealthy and tougher measures against the banking sector — that would have made a difference," said Horn. Germany's focus on deficit reduction could end up affecting the global recovery. There is also concern that German cutbacks may hobble the feeble global recovery. At a meeting of G-20 finance ministers in South Korea on June 5, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called for "stronger domestic demand growth" in European countries like Germany and in Japan. As his European counterparts urged speedy implementation of austerity programs, Geithner reportedly counseled reform "in the medium-term."
Still, as Europe's biggest economy, Germany is hoping to set an example of budget discipline for other countries so they in turn will also tighten their belts. Greece, Portugal and Spain have already announced crippling austerity plans — while Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron has warned of "decades of pain" to rein in the U.K.'s massive budget deficit. Although Germany's public finances are in better shape than those of other countries in the European Union, Berlin's budget deficit reached 3.1% of GDP in 2009, and it's expected to exceed 5% of GDP later this year, which would be in breach of the 3% deficit limit set by the E.U.'s rules.
On top of that, Germany has a constitutional limit on borrowing — a "debt brake" — which obliges the government to scale back borrowing over the next few years. "We have a result which will enable us to meet the limit on borrowing in this legislative session," said Wolfgang Schaeuble on the sidelines of the meeting of euro-zone finance ministers in Luxembourg on Monday, claiming there was a "very reasonable [social] balance."
Merkel may have to pay a heavy political price in her backyard. Trade unions, welfare groups and opposition parties slammed the austerity plan as "socially unjust" and threatened to fight the measures when they go through Parliament. "The jobless will bear the brunt of virtually half of these spending cuts," said the head of the Social Democratic Party, Sigmar Gabriel. The Left Party accused Merkel's government of making the jobless, pensioners and families pay for the "reckless gambling" of bankers. "This is an attack on social peace and democracy," said Gregor Gysi, head of the Left Party's parliamentary group, urging Germans to take to the streets.
Already, union leaders are planning a nationwide day of protest with a series of demonstrations in major German cities on June 12. "The government is punishing the weakest in society," Frank Bsirske, head of Germany's public-sector union Verdi, told reporters on Monday, warning that the savings would lead to a spike in unemployment. The German press was also baying for blood, with tabloid paper the Berliner Kurier branding the austerity plan as a "list of horrors" and claiming that every German would have to fork out $1,200 to pay for the cutbacks. The government has "ruined the summer" screamed the left-leaning paper Die Tageszeitung on its front page. Even the conservative daily Die Welt was skeptical that the measures would be able to restore public finances in the long-term. "The poorest of the poor seem to be worst off in the austerity drive, and this will give plenty of ammunition to opposition parties — they'll fight these measures tooth and nail," Uwe Jun, professor of political science at the University of Trier, told TIME. And with members of the social wing of Merkel's conservative party criticizing the austerity drive, Jun predicts "yet more splits in the coalition government."
Will German Austerity Help or Hurt the Global Recovery?
By Tristana Moore / Berlin Wednesday, Jun. 09, 2010
Announcing a tough austerity plan when your government's popularity has hit rock bottom is a high-risk strategy, but Germany's Chancellor seems ready to ride out the storm of protest. Even as trade unions warned of a summer of unrest, Angela Merkel put on a brave face when she announced the biggest round of spending cuts since World War II on Monday afternoon. "These are serious times, these are difficult times. We can't afford everything that we want if we also want to look after our future," Merkel told reporters in Berlin after her coalition government hammered out a framework deal to bring down Germany's swollen public debt.
The austerity plan is ambitious — the aim is to save up to $95 billion by 2014 through a combination of deep spending cuts and revenue-raising measures. The savings include controversial cuts to welfare payments for the long-term unemployed and reductions in parental allowance for families. Merkel tried to head off critics by pointing out that the plan was fair because it included cuts to industry and the public sector. Under the plan, 10,000 civil servants working for federal ministries would lose their jobs; 40,000 jobs would be cut in the armed forces; there would be a new "ecological levy" on air travel; a tax would be imposed on the nuclear power industry; and, from 2012 on, there would be a tax on financial transactions. Even prestige building projects have been put on ice: the German government has postponed plans to build a replica of Berlin's former Prussian palace.
"We've lived beyond our means over the past few years," Guido Westerwelle, Vice Chancellor and leader of Merkel's coalition partners, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), bluntly told a news conference on Monday. As a concession to the FDP, which campaigned on a tax-cutting platform in last September's election, Merkel said there would be no hike in income tax and no increase in sales tax, while spending on education and research would be protected. "The last few months have shown — in connection with the crisis in Greece and the euro zone — how crucial solid finances are, and they are the precondition for being able to live in stability and prosperity," said Merkel.
Some economists welcomed the fact that the government steered clear of tax hikes; others said the round of spending cuts was too severe and could stall Germany's fragile economic recovery. "The government should have postponed the cuts until the economy is really back on its feet again," Gustav Horn, director of the Macroeconomic Policy Institute in Düsseldorf, told TIME. He said the austerity plan was "piecemeal," made up of "real cuts in the social security system but halfhearted cuts to business," and pointed out that the financial-market-transaction tax was conditional on other countries' adopting it. "Chancellor Merkel could have introduced a tax on the wealthy and tougher measures against the banking sector — that would have made a difference," said Horn. Germany's focus on deficit reduction could end up affecting the global recovery. There is also concern that German cutbacks may hobble the feeble global recovery. At a meeting of G-20 finance ministers in South Korea on June 5, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called for "stronger domestic demand growth" in European countries like Germany and in Japan. As his European counterparts urged speedy implementation of austerity programs, Geithner reportedly counseled reform "in the medium-term."
Still, as Europe's biggest economy, Germany is hoping to set an example of budget discipline for other countries so they in turn will also tighten their belts. Greece, Portugal and Spain have already announced crippling austerity plans — while Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron has warned of "decades of pain" to rein in the U.K.'s massive budget deficit. Although Germany's public finances are in better shape than those of other countries in the European Union, Berlin's budget deficit reached 3.1% of GDP in 2009, and it's expected to exceed 5% of GDP later this year, which would be in breach of the 3% deficit limit set by the E.U.'s rules.
On top of that, Germany has a constitutional limit on borrowing — a "debt brake" — which obliges the government to scale back borrowing over the next few years. "We have a result which will enable us to meet the limit on borrowing in this legislative session," said Wolfgang Schaeuble on the sidelines of the meeting of euro-zone finance ministers in Luxembourg on Monday, claiming there was a "very reasonable [social] balance."
Merkel may have to pay a heavy political price in her backyard. Trade unions, welfare groups and opposition parties slammed the austerity plan as "socially unjust" and threatened to fight the measures when they go through Parliament. "The jobless will bear the brunt of virtually half of these spending cuts," said the head of the Social Democratic Party, Sigmar Gabriel. The Left Party accused Merkel's government of making the jobless, pensioners and families pay for the "reckless gambling" of bankers. "This is an attack on social peace and democracy," said Gregor Gysi, head of the Left Party's parliamentary group, urging Germans to take to the streets.
Already, union leaders are planning a nationwide day of protest with a series of demonstrations in major German cities on June 12. "The government is punishing the weakest in society," Frank Bsirske, head of Germany's public-sector union Verdi, told reporters on Monday, warning that the savings would lead to a spike in unemployment. The German press was also baying for blood, with tabloid paper the Berliner Kurier branding the austerity plan as a "list of horrors" and claiming that every German would have to fork out $1,200 to pay for the cutbacks. The government has "ruined the summer" screamed the left-leaning paper Die Tageszeitung on its front page. Even the conservative daily Die Welt was skeptical that the measures would be able to restore public finances in the long-term. "The poorest of the poor seem to be worst off in the austerity drive, and this will give plenty of ammunition to opposition parties — they'll fight these measures tooth and nail," Uwe Jun, professor of political science at the University of Trier, told TIME. And with members of the social wing of Merkel's conservative party criticizing the austerity drive, Jun predicts "yet more splits in the coalition government."
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
The world's happiest cities
http://shine.yahoo.com/event/tastefulliving/the-worlds-happiest-cities-508202/
The world's happiest cities
by Forbes.com
Wed Sep 2, 2009
Ever since Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers appeared in the 1933 film Flying Down to Rio, the world has been fascinated with Rio de Janeiro. Popular perception of the city is infused with images of starry-eyed youngsters dancing into the dusk, backed by imposing mountains and dark sea.
That view has propelled Rio to the top of our list of the world's happiest cities. Famous for its annual Carnaval festival (starting Feb. 13 next year), the second-largest metropolis in South America finished first among 50 cities in a recent survey conducted by Simon Anholt, an author and policy adviser.
"Brazil is associated with all these qualities of good humor and good living and Carnaval," says Anholt. "Carnaval is very important--it's the classic image that people have of Rio, and it's an image of happiness."
Next on the list is the top city from Down Under: Sydney, Australia. Known for balmy weather, friendly locals and an iconic opera house, Sydney fared well in Anholt's survey because of its association with a popular brand--Australia.
"It's where everybody would like to go," he says. "Everybody thinks they know Australia because they've seen Crocodile Dundee. There's this image of this nation of people who basically sit around having barbecues."
Rounding out the top five are third-ranked Barcelona, Spain, which Anholt calls "the classic Mediterranean city"; fourth-ranked Amsterdam, Netherlands, because Anholt's young respondents "know you can smoke dope in the bars"; and Melbourne, Australia, which makes the list simply because it's in Australia.
"People know it's in Australia, and that it's full of Australians," says Anholt. "Therefore, it must be fun."
Behind the Numbers
The data Anholt provided for our list is part of his Nation Brands Index, which he developed in 2005. The latest incarnation, the 2009 Anholt-GfK Roper City Brands Index, was released in June. The data was compiled from online interviews with 10,000 respondents in 20 countries.
Happiness is difficult to quantify, and Anholt acknowledges that his data is less an indicator of where local populations are happiest than a reflection of respondents' thinking about where they could imagine themselves happy.
"This is a survey of perception, not a survey of reality," he says. "People write me all the time and say 'that's not true.' It probably isn't true, but it's what people think. The gap between perception and reality is what interests city governments."
The French historian Fernand Braudel wrote that "Happiness, whether in business or private life, leaves very little trace in history." But a perception of happiness leaves a strong trace on the balance sheets of cities that depend on conventions, tourism and an influx of talent.
The Pursuit of Happiness
Anholt notes that the results of his survey reflect the longstanding reputation of Mediterranean and Latin American cities as non-stop party locales.
"It's pretty much the expected bunch," says Anholt. "Though I'm a little surprised about Spain outdoing Italy. It's interesting that the Spanish are perceived as being happier than the Italians--I find the Spanish rather gloomy."
Still, Barcelona--Spain's highest-ranked city--has plenty of supporters.
"The beauty of the city and its environs, along with affordable housing and business opportunities, is the fantastic lifestyle," says Michelle Finkelstein, a vice president at travel agency Our Personal Guest. "There's not the stress of getting a child into the best preschool--the public ones are good and close by. And they have the top soccer team and some of the best weather in Europe."
Other places in the world that lack the metropolitan flair of the cities on this list are often identified with the notion of happiness. "Anyone lucky enough to visit the magical Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan would know that there is no competition: There can be no happier place," says Patricia Schultz, author of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. "This small Buddhist nation of incredibly stunning beauty follows a unique guiding philosophy of GNH--Gross National Happiness. You can see it in their open faces--they smile from the heart. Barcelona has nothing on them."
Global rivalries notwithstanding, Anholt notes that his findings more or less support historical trends, with one notable exception.
"The cities on this list would probably be the same if I'd been running this survey in 1890, aside from Sydney and Melbourne," he says. "Australia is kind of a branding miracle."
Not bad for a former penal colony.
Top 5 World's Happiest Cities
1. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2. Sydney, Australia
3. Barcelona, Spain
4. Amsterdam, Netherlands
5. Melbourne, Australia
The world's happiest cities
by Forbes.com
Wed Sep 2, 2009
Ever since Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers appeared in the 1933 film Flying Down to Rio, the world has been fascinated with Rio de Janeiro. Popular perception of the city is infused with images of starry-eyed youngsters dancing into the dusk, backed by imposing mountains and dark sea.
That view has propelled Rio to the top of our list of the world's happiest cities. Famous for its annual Carnaval festival (starting Feb. 13 next year), the second-largest metropolis in South America finished first among 50 cities in a recent survey conducted by Simon Anholt, an author and policy adviser.
"Brazil is associated with all these qualities of good humor and good living and Carnaval," says Anholt. "Carnaval is very important--it's the classic image that people have of Rio, and it's an image of happiness."
Next on the list is the top city from Down Under: Sydney, Australia. Known for balmy weather, friendly locals and an iconic opera house, Sydney fared well in Anholt's survey because of its association with a popular brand--Australia.
"It's where everybody would like to go," he says. "Everybody thinks they know Australia because they've seen Crocodile Dundee. There's this image of this nation of people who basically sit around having barbecues."
Rounding out the top five are third-ranked Barcelona, Spain, which Anholt calls "the classic Mediterranean city"; fourth-ranked Amsterdam, Netherlands, because Anholt's young respondents "know you can smoke dope in the bars"; and Melbourne, Australia, which makes the list simply because it's in Australia.
"People know it's in Australia, and that it's full of Australians," says Anholt. "Therefore, it must be fun."
Behind the Numbers
The data Anholt provided for our list is part of his Nation Brands Index, which he developed in 2005. The latest incarnation, the 2009 Anholt-GfK Roper City Brands Index, was released in June. The data was compiled from online interviews with 10,000 respondents in 20 countries.
Happiness is difficult to quantify, and Anholt acknowledges that his data is less an indicator of where local populations are happiest than a reflection of respondents' thinking about where they could imagine themselves happy.
"This is a survey of perception, not a survey of reality," he says. "People write me all the time and say 'that's not true.' It probably isn't true, but it's what people think. The gap between perception and reality is what interests city governments."
The French historian Fernand Braudel wrote that "Happiness, whether in business or private life, leaves very little trace in history." But a perception of happiness leaves a strong trace on the balance sheets of cities that depend on conventions, tourism and an influx of talent.
The Pursuit of Happiness
Anholt notes that the results of his survey reflect the longstanding reputation of Mediterranean and Latin American cities as non-stop party locales.
"It's pretty much the expected bunch," says Anholt. "Though I'm a little surprised about Spain outdoing Italy. It's interesting that the Spanish are perceived as being happier than the Italians--I find the Spanish rather gloomy."
Still, Barcelona--Spain's highest-ranked city--has plenty of supporters.
"The beauty of the city and its environs, along with affordable housing and business opportunities, is the fantastic lifestyle," says Michelle Finkelstein, a vice president at travel agency Our Personal Guest. "There's not the stress of getting a child into the best preschool--the public ones are good and close by. And they have the top soccer team and some of the best weather in Europe."
Other places in the world that lack the metropolitan flair of the cities on this list are often identified with the notion of happiness. "Anyone lucky enough to visit the magical Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan would know that there is no competition: There can be no happier place," says Patricia Schultz, author of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. "This small Buddhist nation of incredibly stunning beauty follows a unique guiding philosophy of GNH--Gross National Happiness. You can see it in their open faces--they smile from the heart. Barcelona has nothing on them."
Global rivalries notwithstanding, Anholt notes that his findings more or less support historical trends, with one notable exception.
"The cities on this list would probably be the same if I'd been running this survey in 1890, aside from Sydney and Melbourne," he says. "Australia is kind of a branding miracle."
Not bad for a former penal colony.
Top 5 World's Happiest Cities
1. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2. Sydney, Australia
3. Barcelona, Spain
4. Amsterdam, Netherlands
5. Melbourne, Australia
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
World For Press Freedom
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/22/united-states-ranked-36th_n_136788.html
World For Press Freedom
Danny Shea
October 22, 2008
The United States is ranked 36th in the world in terms of press freedom, up from 48th last year, according to a report released Wednesday by Reporters Sans Frontieres.
The US is tied with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cape Verde, South Africa, Spain, and Taiwan in the 36th spot. Iceland, Luxembourg, and Norway are tied for first. Iran, China, Vietnam, Cuba, and North Korea are all featured among the ten lowest-ranked countries.
According to the survey, the index "measures the state of press freedom in the world. It reflects the degree of freedom that journalists and news organisations enjoy in each country, and the efforts made by the authorities to respect and ensure respect for this freedom."
The ranking examines "every kind of violation directly affecting journalists (such as murders, imprisonment, physical attacks and threats) and news media (censorship, confiscation of newspaper issues, searches and harassment). And it includes the degree of impunity enjoyed by those responsible for these press freedom violations."
Self-censorship, financial pressure, the legal framework of the media, and the level of independence of the public media are also taken into account.
The report explains the United States' rise from 48th to 36th:
The release of Al-Jazeera cameraman Sami Al-Haj after six years in the Guantanamo Bay military base contributed to this improvement. Although the absence of a federal "shield law" means the confidentiality of sources is still threatened by federal courts, the number of journalists being subpoenaed or forced to reveal their sources has declined in recent months and none has been sent to prison. But the August 2007 murder of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey in Oakland, California, is still unpunished a year later. The way the investigation into his murder has become enmeshed in local conflicts of interest and the lack of federal judicial intervention also help to explain why the United States did not get a higher ranking. Account was also taken of the many arrests of journalists during the Democratic and Republican conventions.
World For Press Freedom
Danny Shea
October 22, 2008
The United States is ranked 36th in the world in terms of press freedom, up from 48th last year, according to a report released Wednesday by Reporters Sans Frontieres.
The US is tied with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cape Verde, South Africa, Spain, and Taiwan in the 36th spot. Iceland, Luxembourg, and Norway are tied for first. Iran, China, Vietnam, Cuba, and North Korea are all featured among the ten lowest-ranked countries.
According to the survey, the index "measures the state of press freedom in the world. It reflects the degree of freedom that journalists and news organisations enjoy in each country, and the efforts made by the authorities to respect and ensure respect for this freedom."
The ranking examines "every kind of violation directly affecting journalists (such as murders, imprisonment, physical attacks and threats) and news media (censorship, confiscation of newspaper issues, searches and harassment). And it includes the degree of impunity enjoyed by those responsible for these press freedom violations."
Self-censorship, financial pressure, the legal framework of the media, and the level of independence of the public media are also taken into account.
The report explains the United States' rise from 48th to 36th:
The release of Al-Jazeera cameraman Sami Al-Haj after six years in the Guantanamo Bay military base contributed to this improvement. Although the absence of a federal "shield law" means the confidentiality of sources is still threatened by federal courts, the number of journalists being subpoenaed or forced to reveal their sources has declined in recent months and none has been sent to prison. But the August 2007 murder of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey in Oakland, California, is still unpunished a year later. The way the investigation into his murder has become enmeshed in local conflicts of interest and the lack of federal judicial intervention also help to explain why the United States did not get a higher ranking. Account was also taken of the many arrests of journalists during the Democratic and Republican conventions.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Troubles in Brzezinski’s paradise?
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_2910.shtml
Troubles in Brzezinski’s paradise?
By Umberto Pascali
Online Journal Guest Writer
Feb 4, 2008
“France's defence minister, Herve Morin, did not budge when Gates asked Paris for more troops.”[Feb. 1, Guardian Unlimited]
“[German defence minister Franz Josef] Jung responded in an equally strong manner, refusing to send the 3,200 troops to the south of Afghanistan that Gates requested to replace US troops” [Feb. 1, Guardian Unlimited]
Europeans refuse to join the new war deployment in Afghanistan that is the first step toward a planned global Operation Barbarossa against Russia.
To jump start such a countdown to war was the raison d’être for the frantic efforts by Zbigniew Brzezinski to impose his hand-picked candidate, Barack Obama, as the next US president. If the final assault against Russia is to have a realistic chance to succeed, the economic, military, propagandistic resources of Europe (especially France, Germany, Italy and Spain) must be put under Anglo-American control and totally integrated with the Anglo American war machine. Figurehead Obama is supposed to supply the ideological rhetoric and hysteria that could get the US public and the Europeans (plus large areas of the Third World), who are both sickened and disgusted by the wars of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan, on the train of total war
What it is to be expected now is a period of increasing pressures on Europe to give up, whether they manage to save of their sovereignty and integrate in the war machine. The situation resembles, mutatis mutandis, the period of the violent debate over the question of the euro missiles. At that time, Europe gave up. Now, however, the situation could be different. The Anglo-Americans do not have the influence and power they once could boast. Russia is led by realistic and skilled persons who know their surrender or defeat would mean Russia's partition and final looting. Russia and China are tied in an alliance based on the common understanding of the existential danger they face. And also, the Europeans could have learned something from the past 20 years.
If the economic and military potential of Europe is not available for the new global Operation Barbarossa, Brzezinski’s plan will fail. Brzezinski's attempt to again use the “Muslim card” (using Muslims populations and terrorists groups as cannon fodder for an upheaval directed against both Russia and China) or to use India will not be enough. Imminent events will make clear whether the Europeans will let themselves be intimidated and propagandistically stampeded into a war. It would not be surprising if new scandals, tiny veiled blackmails, “terrorist” provocations, artificially created internal clashes, and other “dirty tricks” will take over the front page of the media.
A series of events will constitute a litmus test for the chance of success of the Brzezinski plan:
The NATO meeting in Vilnius on February 7-8,
The concomitant detonation of the Kosovo Crisis,
The reactions to the pressures (that will continue) on the European governments,
The status of the Presidential campaign in the US. Will anybody point the spotlight at Brzezinski and his plan?
Later on, the April Summit of Nato in Bucharest.
The Manifesto calling for preemptive nuclear war was presented during the first half of January to both the Pentagon in Washington and to NATO's secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. As was reported recently by the media, five former NATO military leaders signed the unprecedented document: General John Shalikashvili, the former chairman of the US joint Chiefs of Staff and NATO's ex-supreme commander in Europe; General Klaus Naumann, Germany's former top soldier and ex-chairman of NATO's military committee; General Henk van den Breemen, a former Dutch chief of staff; Admiral Jacques Lanxade, a former French chief of staff; and Lord Inge, field marshal and ex-chief of the general staff and the defence staff in the UK.
Notes:
Germany Rejects U.S. Request for More Afghan Troops, Feb. 1, Bloomberg
US 'sternly requests' more German troops for Afghanistan, Feb. 1, Guardian Unlimited
Troubles in Brzezinski’s paradise?
By Umberto Pascali
Online Journal Guest Writer
Feb 4, 2008
“France's defence minister, Herve Morin, did not budge when Gates asked Paris for more troops.”[Feb. 1, Guardian Unlimited]
“[German defence minister Franz Josef] Jung responded in an equally strong manner, refusing to send the 3,200 troops to the south of Afghanistan that Gates requested to replace US troops” [Feb. 1, Guardian Unlimited]
Europeans refuse to join the new war deployment in Afghanistan that is the first step toward a planned global Operation Barbarossa against Russia.
To jump start such a countdown to war was the raison d’être for the frantic efforts by Zbigniew Brzezinski to impose his hand-picked candidate, Barack Obama, as the next US president. If the final assault against Russia is to have a realistic chance to succeed, the economic, military, propagandistic resources of Europe (especially France, Germany, Italy and Spain) must be put under Anglo-American control and totally integrated with the Anglo American war machine. Figurehead Obama is supposed to supply the ideological rhetoric and hysteria that could get the US public and the Europeans (plus large areas of the Third World), who are both sickened and disgusted by the wars of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan, on the train of total war
What it is to be expected now is a period of increasing pressures on Europe to give up, whether they manage to save of their sovereignty and integrate in the war machine. The situation resembles, mutatis mutandis, the period of the violent debate over the question of the euro missiles. At that time, Europe gave up. Now, however, the situation could be different. The Anglo-Americans do not have the influence and power they once could boast. Russia is led by realistic and skilled persons who know their surrender or defeat would mean Russia's partition and final looting. Russia and China are tied in an alliance based on the common understanding of the existential danger they face. And also, the Europeans could have learned something from the past 20 years.
If the economic and military potential of Europe is not available for the new global Operation Barbarossa, Brzezinski’s plan will fail. Brzezinski's attempt to again use the “Muslim card” (using Muslims populations and terrorists groups as cannon fodder for an upheaval directed against both Russia and China) or to use India will not be enough. Imminent events will make clear whether the Europeans will let themselves be intimidated and propagandistically stampeded into a war. It would not be surprising if new scandals, tiny veiled blackmails, “terrorist” provocations, artificially created internal clashes, and other “dirty tricks” will take over the front page of the media.
A series of events will constitute a litmus test for the chance of success of the Brzezinski plan:
The NATO meeting in Vilnius on February 7-8,
The concomitant detonation of the Kosovo Crisis,
The reactions to the pressures (that will continue) on the European governments,
The status of the Presidential campaign in the US. Will anybody point the spotlight at Brzezinski and his plan?
Later on, the April Summit of Nato in Bucharest.
The Manifesto calling for preemptive nuclear war was presented during the first half of January to both the Pentagon in Washington and to NATO's secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. As was reported recently by the media, five former NATO military leaders signed the unprecedented document: General John Shalikashvili, the former chairman of the US joint Chiefs of Staff and NATO's ex-supreme commander in Europe; General Klaus Naumann, Germany's former top soldier and ex-chairman of NATO's military committee; General Henk van den Breemen, a former Dutch chief of staff; Admiral Jacques Lanxade, a former French chief of staff; and Lord Inge, field marshal and ex-chief of the general staff and the defence staff in the UK.
Notes:
Germany Rejects U.S. Request for More Afghan Troops, Feb. 1, Bloomberg
US 'sternly requests' more German troops for Afghanistan, Feb. 1, Guardian Unlimited
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