Funny Foxies by digby “ For some reason , the public, the media, keep going over this, again, and again, and again” the guest said. “It’s too much,” he added, “We should move on.” Doocy agreed… “We know it’s a hacking scandal, shouldn’t we get beyond it and deal with the issue of hacking? We have a serious hacking problem in this country.” . Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Hullabaloo Discovery Date : 15/07/2011 19:57 Number of articles : 4
Continue reading …University tuition fee hike will hit 100,000 of this year’s unlucky students
July 16, 2011 No Comment
Number expected to miss out on a university place this summer pushed up by coalition’s reneging on Labour intake pledge More than 100,000 students will face a double disappointment when they fail to find a place at university this summer and are hit with the prospect of trebled tuition fees when they try again in 12 months’ time. Official figures reveal the size of the group who will fail to attain a university place in the last year before fees shoot up. It is made up of 75,000-85,000 who would have gone on to standard university courses and a further 10,000 to 20,000 nursing, midwifery and teacher training applicants. It is about 10,000 people larger than it would have been because of the coalition’s decision to renege on the Labour government’s pledge to increase the total intake in 2011 as they did in 2010. Usman Ali, the National Union of Students’ vice-president for higher education, said the stakes were high for students. “For several years now we have seen the numbers of qualified and ambitious students applying to university outstripping the number of places available, forcing those young people to fight for jobs in an ever-shrinking youth job market,” said Ali. “The most determined choose to reapply the following year, but those who miss out this year will find themselves with fees trebled and government funding slashed simply because the government is not willing to expand investment in skills and education for young people when it is most needed. “Those students will find themselves stuck between the rock of high youth unemployment, and the hard place of spiralling debt. “Those who do enter university in 2012 will accrue more debt at university than any generation before, and once the implications of the white paper become clear, they could even find that their fees are higher than those who follow them.” According to the research from the House of Commons library, those most likely to miss out are mature, disabled or black students, or those with lower educational attainment. Meanwhile, the Royal Society of Chemistry has raised concerns over the debts prospective scientists face. Using the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills’ own figures, it claims a senior academic on a salary of £75,000 would pay back three times the £45,000 loan they would be expected to take in order to complete their studies. However, Professor David Phillips, president of the society, said that the publishing by universities of employment prospects by degree would highlight how well the sciences fare against other subjects. He said: “These consequences affect all students, whatever subject they study. However, students would do well to consider what the employment prospects are for any course they undertake. “For some subjects these are bleak, but for the ‘hard’ sciences, and particularly chemistry, employment prospects are very good, so we urge schools to encourage science students into subjects like chemistry [and engineering and physics] where employment is not only highly likely, but fills a national need also.” A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: “Going to university has always been a competitive process and not all who apply are accepted. Despite this, we do understand how frustrating it is for young people who wish to go to university and are unable to find a place. “We are opening up other routes into a successful career. Our reforms will make part-time university study more accessible.” Higher education Students Tuition fees Daniel Boffey guardian.co.uk
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With her daughter stillborn and her husband suffering from depression, Jessica Nicholl and her MP Vince Cable are fighting her deportation back to the US A couple grieving for their stillborn daughter face being split up, after immigration authorities ruled that there was insufficient justification for them to be allowed to stay together in Britain. Despite the intervention of the couple’s local MP, the business secretary, Vince Cable, a judge last week refused Californian Jessica Nicholl’s appeal to stay with her husband, John, who is suffering from depression. She has been told to return to the US by Thursday, after which she will have to go through the process of applying for a spousal visa before the couple can be reunited. John, who had a string of family bereavements – including the deaths of James, his baby son from a previous relationship, and that of his father – before he met Jessica, has been in an especially fragile state since the death at birth of the couple’s daughter, Meadow. “I am really concerned about his wellbeing, we have both been relying very much on each other to get through this and I cannot bear to think what will happen if I have to leave him on his own,” said Jessica, 23. The pair met online five years ago and married in August 2009. They set up home in Twickenham, south-west London, to be close to John’s children from his previous relationship. “I came over on a visitor visa and didn’t think anything of it,” said Jessica. “We hadn’t even realised there would be an issue until after we got married and I had fallen pregnant, which is when we started to look into immigration and visas in depth and realised just how complex and difficult it really is.” Cable has written to Damian Green, the immigration minister, calling it a “deeply tragic case”. Describing Jessica’s predicament, the letter states: “Her attempt to regularise her status as a spouse has been unsuccessful. Clearly things have not been done as they would have been in an ideal situation. Nonetheless, we are where we are and this is a couple who are devoted to one another and dependent on each other’s support following the loss of their baby and the process of mourning and bereavement.” The couple are appalled by the legal nightmare in which they have found themselves. “It’s still a shock to us to be presented with the situation where a husband and wife aren’t allowed to live together,” said Jessica, “or even stay and support each other through such stressful and traumatic experiences as losing a child. “We need time to get over this, together. They are most likely going to let me back in, so why do I have to leave him at all?” She was also “deeply hurt” when Meadow’s death was described as a miscarriage when her appeal to stay was being considered. “I found it very offensive. That was our daughter and the judge dismissed our grief in a sentence.” West London Sands , a self-help bereavement charity for those who have suffered a neonatal or stillbirth, said it was common for such losses not to be considered on the same level as the loss of an older child. Colette Murphy, from the charity, said: “Jess had a really bad time when Meadow was born, a particularly traumatic birth. Unfortunately, time after time we see the loss of a baby undervalued.” There is no available parental home for Jessica to go back and live in while her spousal visa application is processed. “Our family in the UK is guaranteeing to support me if necessary,” said Jessica. “I am willing and eager to work, pay taxes and contribute to the welfare of my new home, as well as giving up any rights to any social benefits. I want to work in the care sector. It seems unfair to punish John for his condition, especially because of the lack of control he had over the circumstances that triggered his condition.” The couple’s lawyer, Duncan Grant, said: “What right-minded person would say they have to be split up now, when they clearly need to be supporting each other? They are quite clearly in love and reliant on each other.” Immigration and asylum Mental health Tracy McVeigh guardian.co.uk
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The Ministry of Justice plans to stop refunding the defence costs of people who are acquitted Innocent people will be forced to pay thousands of pounds for their own defence lawyers after a controversial coalition U-turn on legal aid. The move, which lawyers’ organisations claim puts a price on justice, comes at a time of mounting concern over cutbacks proposed by the Ministry of Justice. Clause 52 in the legal aid and sentencing bill removes the right of defendants to have the “reasonable” costs of hiring their own lawyer reimbursed if they are found innocent. The plan was first drawn up by the previous Labour government, but was scrapped in the face of Tory opposition. The attorney general, Dominic Grieve, the solicitor general, Edward Garnier, and justice ministers Jonathan Djanogly and Crispin Blunt all opposed the plan, and signed an early day motion against it in October 2009. But their decision now to back a similar proposal has alarmed justice groups. which have branded it a U-turn. “We are deeply disappointed that this government is trying to bring this back,” said Robert Khan, head of law reform at the Law Society. “It is wrong in principle that the acquitted person should then have to pay the costs of their defence for the temerity of proving their own innocence.” Ministers expect to save £40m under the proposals. More than one million defendants who appeared before magistrates courts in 2008 did not receive legal aid, meaning the estimated tens of thousands subsequently found innocent would have lost out financially. The government claims the move will put an end to the taxpayer writing out large cheques people such as Nick Freeman, the lawyer known as “Mr Loophole”, who regularly gets clients off speeding offences. Millionaire celebrities who are found not guilty would also no longer receive reimbursements. England midfielder Steven Gerrard received £311,000 in legal aid after he was acquitted of affray, while singer Amy Winehouse had £68,000 returned after being acquitted of hitting a fan. A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “We need to strike a fair balance between refunding costs to people who are found not guilty and protecting the taxpayer from ending up paying a bill for costs which are either overly expensive or not necessary.” But the Law Society claims the new measure will affect far more people than motorists and millionaires. Currently, section 16 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 gives courts the power to award costs that are “reasonably sufficient to compensate the defendant for any expenses which he has properly incurred in the proceedings”. The last government wanted to introduce a scheme that limited these costs to legal aid rates, which would mean those who hired their own lawyers would be able to reclaim only around a quarter of their estimated costs. Opposing the plan in a speech to parliament last year, the Tory MP Henry Bellingham, a barrister, argued that it was “fundamentally unfair and wrong” because it breached “a key principle of 20th-century criminal justice – that if a member of the public who is charged with a criminal offence seeks private representation in court and is subsequently acquitted, his or her reasonable costs will be met from central funds”. But clause 52 will now provide the lord chancellor with a power to cap the amounts courts in England and Wales can award at legal aid rates. Sound Off for Justice, which opposes the move, claims that because legal aid rates are “very low” many defendants will experience a significant shortfall. In a typical medium-sized case in the crown court, for example, the estimated loss for someone found innocent who has hired their own lawyer will be up to £20,000. In more complicated cases, it will be far greater. Clause 52 threatens to be a divisive issue for the government, putting it at odds with the judiciary and many MPs. The Law Society was successful in seeking a judicial review of the previous government’s plans. Explaining its decision, the high court warned the plan meant “that a defendant falsely accused by the state will have to pay from his own pocket to establish his innocence”. Following the ruling, the ministry decided that it would not appeal against the judgment, but the coalition’s decision to reintroduce the measure is likely to trigger fierce debate in parliament. The move is part of wide-ranging initiatives to curb the Ministry of Justice’s budget. Lawyers have previously raised concerns that under clause 12 of the bill the government could grant itself powers that would see the abolition of the universal right to a solicitor on arrest. Those arrested would be subject to means testing, a development that has alarmed legal campaigners who warn it removes a cornerstone of justice. The government has also signalled that it plans to expand the use of legal advice telephone lines to replace solicitors who dispense advice face to face. The government claims that CDS Direct, the helpline that provides advice to detainees at police stations, offers “a proven high-quality cost-effective service”. But the use of third party companies has raised concerns among some lawyers who question whether they offer value for money. Legal aid UK criminal justice Jamie Doward guardian.co.uk
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Damning report by defence committee singles out failures in manpower, intelligence and equipment that led to loss of lives The five-year British military campaign in southern Afghanistan has been woefully under-resourced and hampered by inadequate equipment, according to a damning report by MPs. The Commons defence select committee, which has been analysing UK operations in Helmand province since 2006, says that it was “unacceptable” British forces were handicapped by insufficient numbers, poor equipment and low-quality intelligence when the deployment began. For the first three years of the operation – during which 132 British personnel died and more than 2,000 were hospitalised in Helmand – victory was more or less unattainable given the levels of manpower, military vehicles available and knowledge of the enemy. The initial deployment of 3,500 solders into Helmand, of whom around 1,000 were infantry, was “not fully thought through”, the report says. James Arbuthnot, a former Conservative defence minister and chairman of the committee, said: “The force levels deployed throughout 2006, 2007 and 2008 were never going to achieve what was being demanded.” The report questions how the Ministry of Defence failed to anticipate that the presence of foreign troops in Helmand “might stir up a hornets’ nest”. The then defence secretary, John Reid, was famously reported as saying that he would have been happy if British forces had left Helmand “without a shot being fired”. By the end of 2008, however, British forces were expending almost four million bullets a year against an increasingly strident insurgency. The report also raises concerns that UK troops were in effect sent to tackle an enemy of which virtually nothing was known because available intelligence “was contradictory”. By the summer of 2006, military tactics dictated that individual platoons of about 30 soldiers were cornered in isolated towns, provoking an aggressive response from the surrounding Taliban. During August and September of that year, 27 soldiers were killed as the enemy launched repeated attacks against remote outposts. The committee’s first report on Afghanistan for more than a year also criticises the military’s failure to make clear the need for more resources. Representations to government are described as “inadequate at best”. As the conflict progressed, the MoD was criticised for failing to keep up with the evolving tactics of the Taliban, who switched from conventional warfare to guerrilla tactics involving suicide attacks and improvised explosive devices. In particular, a failure to provide bomb-proof vehicles and counter-IED support was a serious flaw that almost certainly cost British lives. The flimsy armoured vehicles first sent to Helmand – the Snatch Land Rover and armoured personnel carriers dating from the 1960s – offered minimal protection. “It took some time to get a suitably capable vehicle fleet into theatre. The MoD should prioritise the protection of personnel when considering the funding of such needs that emerge in the future,” the report says. Even now, it adds, British forces still lack sufficient helicopter numbers. A dispute in Whitehall over supplying 12 more Chinook helicopters to Helmand has yet to be settled. Looking ahead to Britain’s withdrawal from the province, MPs warn that the government’s room for manoeuvre is limited. Earlier this month David Cameron confirmed a “modest reduction” in British troops next year, probably by around 500. A further 400 are due to return home this year, leaving a core of 9,500 service personnel. Arbuthnot said: “The government’s clear determination to withdraw combat forces should not undermine the military strategy by causing the Afghan population to fear that the international coalition might abandon them or by allowing the Taliban and others to think that all they have to do is bide their time.” Afghanistan Defence policy James Arbuthnot Mark Townsend guardian.co.uk
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Khartoum is keeping UN peacekeepers in the dark as it wages a violent campaign against its African border people, say confidential reports to security council The full horror of the campaign of violence that the government in Khartoum has unleashed against the black African Nuba people of Sudan has been laid bare in two confidential reports by the UN peacekeeping force that the Observer has obtained. The accounts of “devastating” daily aerial bombardment of civilians, “indiscriminate shelling” of crowded civilian areas, summary executions and deliberate targeting of dark-skinned people are contained in a 19-page report requested by the UN security council. A second report details how “active obstruction by state authorities (in South Kordofan) has completely undermined the ability of the peacekeeping force, UN Mission in Sudan (Unmis), to fulfil the most basic requirements of its mandate” in the Nuba region. The report says the humanitarian assistance and protection provided by Unmis have become “inconsequential” as it prepares to leave Sudan, at Khartoum’s insistence, by 31 July. Unmis officials say privately that they have been “deaf and blind” in South Kordofan ever since war broke out on 5 June and cannot even estimate how many people have been killed and displaced by the fighting – widely perceived as a first step towards President Omar al-Bashir’s stated goal of suppressing ethnic and cultural diversity in favour of a rigid Arab-Islamic regime, following South Sudan’s decision to separate from the North. The UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Valerie Amos, said on Friday that 1.4 million people were affected by what she called “skirmishes” in South Kordofan, which borders the now independent Republic of South Sudan, and by Khartoum’s refusal to grant “unhindered access” to them. Causing fury among hard-pressed colleagues on the ground, who have been crying out for much stronger support from the security council, she appeared to cast doubt on their reporting, saying: “We do not know whether there is any truth to the grave allegations of extra-judicial killings, mass graves and other violations in South Kordofan.” The Nuba Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) – formerly allied with the South, but now seeking a northern alliance to overthrow the Bashir government – claims that more than 400,000 people have been displaced and 3,000 killed or disappeared. One Unmis staffer, quoted in one of the documents seen by the Observer, reported seeing the bodies of approximately 150 Nuba lying in pools of blood in just one of the many army barracks in the state capital, Kadugli. Khartoum and the SPLA have accused each other of starting the fighting, after a ceasefire that began in 2002. Unmis’s report for the security council, prepared by its human rights section, notes that the SPLM/A refused to accept the results of disputed state elections in May, but says there is no evidence that it initiated military operations. Rather, it says, the fighting may have been triggered by an ultimatum for Nuba fighters to move to South Sudan by 1 June – an order that was tantamount to “disenfranchising them of their citizenship”, given the promise of partition in July. The report suggests that the “especially egregious” crimes committed by government forces justify referral to the international criminal court. It argues that “the international community cannot afford to remain silent in the face of such deliberate attacks by the government of Sudan against its own people”. Deploring the “gross contempt” and “violent and unlawful acts” of government forces towards Unmis – including execution of a staff member, assaults, arbitrary arrests and detentions, and ill treatment “amounting to torture” – the report says: “Condemnation is insufficient… The international community must hold the government of Sudan accountable for its conduct and insist that it arrest and bring to justice those responsible.” National staff of international aid organisations have also come under attack. Unmis cites the case of a young Nuba woman arrested and accused of supporting the SPLM. Unmis human rights officers saw bruises and scars on her body consistent with her claim to have been beaten with fists, sticks, rubber hoses and electric wires. Underscoring the need for the “independent and comprehensive investigation” Unmis recommends, the Observer has been told – by a hitherto impeccable source not connected to the SPLM/A – that 410 captured SPLM sympathisers were ordered executed on 10 June by Major-General Ahmad Khamis, one of four senior army officers sent to South Kordofan from Khartoum at the start of the war. The source told the Observer that the order to kill divided the military and security services. “Many disagreed with Khamis,” he said. “The prisoners who were taken by military intelligence and the (paramilitary) Popular Defence Forces were murdered. Those with the National Intelligence and Security Service are still alive. There is a possibility some will see sunlight again…” Khamis was one of the main implementers of a government jihad in the early 1990s that brought the Nuba people to the brink of destruction. On my first visit to SPLA-controlled areas in 1995, Khamis, then head of military intelligence, was repeatedly named as being responsible for torture and executions – including by his own hand. With the Nuba region now closed to independent observers, and Unmis unable to move freely, it is impossible to verify or disprove claims like this. Significantly, perhaps, Unmis’s human rights report makes mention of “fresh mass graves” seen on 10 June, the day of the reported executions, near Kadugli’s police training centre. Unmis interviewed eyewitnesses who testified to two other mass graves: one in Tilo, four miles east of Kadugli, where an independent UN contractor saw government troops bulldozing bodies into the ground, and a second between army headquarters and Kadugli’s main market. UN military observers attempting to reach the market site were arrested, stripped and threatened with execution. Despite fighting talk by President Bashir on the eve of partition, senior government officials say a framework political agreement mediated by the African Union last month is still alive. Ethiopia and Rwanda have offered to contribute to a post-Unmis mission to monitor a cessation of hostilities, facilitate negotiation, and support the integration of the SPLA into the Sudanese army. The main point of contention is the timeframe for achieving this: the army wants weeks, the SPLA years. Sudan Africa United Nations Julie Flint guardian.co.uk
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Khartoum is keeping UN peacekeepers in the dark as it wages a violent campaign against its African border people, say confidential reports to security council The full horror of the campaign of violence that the government in Khartoum has unleashed against the black African Nuba people of Sudan has been laid bare in two confidential reports by the UN peacekeeping force that the Observer has obtained. The accounts of “devastating” daily aerial bombardment of civilians, “indiscriminate shelling” of crowded civilian areas, summary executions and deliberate targeting of dark-skinned people are contained in a 19-page report requested by the UN security council. A second report details how “active obstruction by state authorities (in South Kordofan) has completely undermined the ability of the peacekeeping force, UN Mission in Sudan (Unmis), to fulfil the most basic requirements of its mandate” in the Nuba region. The report says the humanitarian assistance and protection provided by Unmis have become “inconsequential” as it prepares to leave Sudan, at Khartoum’s insistence, by 31 July. Unmis officials say privately that they have been “deaf and blind” in South Kordofan ever since war broke out on 5 June and cannot even estimate how many people have been killed and displaced by the fighting – widely perceived as a first step towards President Omar al-Bashir’s stated goal of suppressing ethnic and cultural diversity in favour of a rigid Arab-Islamic regime, following South Sudan’s decision to separate from the North. The UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Valerie Amos, said on Friday that 1.4 million people were affected by what she called “skirmishes” in South Kordofan, which borders the now independent Republic of South Sudan, and by Khartoum’s refusal to grant “unhindered access” to them. Causing fury among hard-pressed colleagues on the ground, who have been crying out for much stronger support from the security council, she appeared to cast doubt on their reporting, saying: “We do not know whether there is any truth to the grave allegations of extra-judicial killings, mass graves and other violations in South Kordofan.” The Nuba Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) – formerly allied with the South, but now seeking a northern alliance to overthrow the Bashir government – claims that more than 400,000 people have been displaced and 3,000 killed or disappeared. One Unmis staffer, quoted in one of the documents seen by the Observer, reported seeing the bodies of approximately 150 Nuba lying in pools of blood in just one of the many army barracks in the state capital, Kadugli. Khartoum and the SPLA have accused each other of starting the fighting, after a ceasefire that began in 2002. Unmis’s report for the security council, prepared by its human rights section, notes that the SPLM/A refused to accept the results of disputed state elections in May, but says there is no evidence that it initiated military operations. Rather, it says, the fighting may have been triggered by an ultimatum for Nuba fighters to move to South Sudan by 1 June – an order that was tantamount to “disenfranchising them of their citizenship”, given the promise of partition in July. The report suggests that the “especially egregious” crimes committed by government forces justify referral to the international criminal court. It argues that “the international community cannot afford to remain silent in the face of such deliberate attacks by the government of Sudan against its own people”. Deploring the “gross contempt” and “violent and unlawful acts” of government forces towards Unmis – including execution of a staff member, assaults, arbitrary arrests and detentions, and ill treatment “amounting to torture” – the report says: “Condemnation is insufficient… The international community must hold the government of Sudan accountable for its conduct and insist that it arrest and bring to justice those responsible.” National staff of international aid organisations have also come under attack. Unmis cites the case of a young Nuba woman arrested and accused of supporting the SPLM. Unmis human rights officers saw bruises and scars on her body consistent with her claim to have been beaten with fists, sticks, rubber hoses and electric wires. Underscoring the need for the “independent and comprehensive investigation” Unmis recommends, the Observer has been told – by a hitherto impeccable source not connected to the SPLM/A – that 410 captured SPLM sympathisers were ordered executed on 10 June by Major-General Ahmad Khamis, one of four senior army officers sent to South Kordofan from Khartoum at the start of the war. The source told the Observer that the order to kill divided the military and security services. “Many disagreed with Khamis,” he said. “The prisoners who were taken by military intelligence and the (paramilitary) Popular Defence Forces were murdered. Those with the National Intelligence and Security Service are still alive. There is a possibility some will see sunlight again…” Khamis was one of the main implementers of a government jihad in the early 1990s that brought the Nuba people to the brink of destruction. On my first visit to SPLA-controlled areas in 1995, Khamis, then head of military intelligence, was repeatedly named as being responsible for torture and executions – including by his own hand. With the Nuba region now closed to independent observers, and Unmis unable to move freely, it is impossible to verify or disprove claims like this. Significantly, perhaps, Unmis’s human rights report makes mention of “fresh mass graves” seen on 10 June, the day of the reported executions, near Kadugli’s police training centre. Unmis interviewed eyewitnesses who testified to two other mass graves: one in Tilo, four miles east of Kadugli, where an independent UN contractor saw government troops bulldozing bodies into the ground, and a second between army headquarters and Kadugli’s main market. UN military observers attempting to reach the market site were arrested, stripped and threatened with execution. Despite fighting talk by President Bashir on the eve of partition, senior government officials say a framework political agreement mediated by the African Union last month is still alive. Ethiopia and Rwanda have offered to contribute to a post-Unmis mission to monitor a cessation of hostilities, facilitate negotiation, and support the integration of the SPLA into the Sudanese army. The main point of contention is the timeframe for achieving this: the army wants weeks, the SPLA years. Sudan Africa United Nations Julie Flint guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Palestine: the flags are already waving but will a declaration of statehood help?
July 16, 2011 No Comment
The Palestinian Authority plans to ask the UN to recognise a declaration of independence and statehood. The Arab street may be in favour, but elsewhere opposition is growing The Chinese-made parking meter on a street in the West Bank city of Ramallah instructed motorists in Arabic and English to “pay here”, warning that surveillance cameras were watching their cars around the clock to catch those flouting the order. But of the 17 cars parked in the street one day this week, not a single one displayed a ticket. “I actually used to buy a ticket, but I stopped when I realised I was the only one paying,” said one Palestinian motorist who declined to give his name. “I know it’s wrong, but regulations have to have teeth. And if you pay, you need services in return.” The parking meters, which appeared last year, are one of the more unwelcome consequences of the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to build an embryonic state. Other painful developments have included a steep rise in taxes, import duties that have resulted in higher prices, and the imposition of planning and construction regulations and fees. But there have also been benefits to the PA’s two-year programme to create and reinforce the institutions of a state. Law and order has been dramatically improved, albeit at the considerable price of some repressive measures, roads have been built and improved, schools and colleges have seen investment and housing projects are under construction. Some plans seem over-ambitious, although perhaps intended to inspire the future citizens of the nascent state. A Palestine international airport is mooted; an artist-designed entry stamp is circulating on the internet; and Jihad al-Wazir, the governor of the Palestinian monetary authority, has floated the idea of reissuing the defunct Palestine pound to replace the Israeli shekel as the national currency. But the real achievements of Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister and driving force behind the state-building exercise, have been lavishly praised – mainly, it must be said, by those who don’t actually live in the West Bank. Fayyad has publicly stated that the preparatory work will be completed and the PA will be in position to launch a state by 26 August, less than six weeks away. The deadline, which the PA imposed on itself two years ago, is critical: a little more than two weeks later the 66th session of the UN general assembly will open and the question of whether to recognise a state of Palestine may be the most significant and divisive issue it faces. But it is not yet certain that a resolution to recognise a Palestinian state will be brought before the general assembly. There are many diplomatic and bureaucratic hurdles to navigate, many strategic and tactical issues to consider, and – if the Palestinians do go ahead with their plan – the wrath of the United States to face. The Obama administration has declared its opposition to such a move and its intention to veto any motion brought before the security council. The Palestinians, who believe they have the support of about 130 of the UN’s 193 states and need a two-thirds majority to approve a motion, are angry at the US position but also fearful of the consequences of defiance. The US for its part is trying – without success so far – to bring both sides back to the negotiating table, the only place, in its view, that the decades-long conflict can be resolved. Some Palestinian observers believe the PA leadership, despite its robust statements committing to the UN approach, may also be quietly seeking a way to “climb down the tree”. “The Palestinian leadership has repeatedly indicated that, if the US comes up with an acceptable formula, then they’ll go back to the negotiating table,” said Mouin Rabbani, an independent Middle East analyst. “At this point they’re demanding nothing more than the US putting forward the terms of the Obama speech [a Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 lines with agreed land swaps] and for the Israelis to accept that. But the US has not even been willing or able to insist on that.” Apart from other considerations, President Barack Obama is unwilling to risk alienating the pro-Israel lobby before next year’s US election. The Palestinian leadership, which embarked on the UN strategy as a means of increasing its leverage in talks, was thus being forced to pursue an alternative to negotiations, Rabbani said. The consequences could be far-reaching. “This represents the process of a gradual but irreversible disengagement by Palestinians of US-sponsored bilateral negotiations, the basis of which has been Israeli interests.” However, Diana Butto, a former legal adviser to Palestinian negotiators, said she expected a retreat from the UN strategy. “They [the Palestinian leadership] climb up trees and don’t know how to get down, except by falling out of the tree.” The PA, she said, had not thought through what it hoped to achieve by pursuing the UN approach. “There is a lack of imagination. Pursuing statehood is just a tactic to strengthen its hand in negotiations.” Statehood should, for example, enable the Palestinians to challenge Israeli policies and actions at the international court of justice, she said. The Palestinian bid, which was last week given formal backing by the Arab League, has triggered alarm in Israel. The Israeli foreign ministry has instructed its diplomats across the world, and particularly in western Europe, to lobby against recognition. “The Palestinian effort must be referred to as a process that erodes the legitimacy of the state of Israel,” a cable sent to all ambassadors said. It has sought to characterise a vote in favour of recognition of a Palestinian state as an act that threatens Israel’s very existence, and it has threatened to renounce previous agreements – principally the Oslo accords, under which the PA was established – if the Palestinians press ahead with the UN approach. “Israel sees this as part of a broader turning of the tide against its control in the occupied territories,” said Rabbani. “It is looking at both the immediate and longer-term consequences.” Israeli occupation of a sovereign state, as opposed to Palestinian territory, would come under increasing international pressure, say analysts. There have even been suggestions that Israel could respond by annexing its major settlements while withdrawing from the rest of the West Bank. It is easy to understand why the US is keen to avoid a situation where it would both be seen as a major block to Palestinian statehood and have to deal with the consequences. The stance of the 27 EU countries, currently divided over recognition, is seen as crucial. Some European diplomats, alarmed at the prospect of an EU split, are trying to persuade the Palestinians to pursue a more “unifying” resolution at the UN, which refers to the pre-1967 lines as the basis of a state while falling short of immediate recognition. At the moment, the British government’s position is ambiguous. It has indicated that, unless there is a return to meaningful negotiations, it may back the Palestinian move – which would be an enormous boost to the Palestinian cause and a major blow to Israel. The US sees Britain’s position as useful while it is trying to get the two sides back to negotiations but, if it came to a vote, it would want Britain to back the US line. According to Rabbani, in terms of international opinion “the Palestinians are in the best position they’ve been in for decades, if not ever”. However, the danger is that they will miss the opportunity to harness that support to a popular mobilisation of their own people, he added. There has been much talk over recent months of a new non-violent resistance, a third intifada and the emergence of new forms of activism – the ripples of the Arab spring reaching the West Bank and Gaza. The view that if the bid for statehood fails – or if it succeeds but nothing significant changes on the ground – the Palestinians will rise up has considerable currency. Yet, despite the border breaches in May and June and pockets of resistance, particularly in east Jerusalem, there is little sign as yet of rising temperatures. A recent opinion survey carried out in Gaza and the West Bank by the respected US pollster Stanley Greenberg found that at the top of the priority list for Palestinians were jobs, healthcare, water shortages and education. Mass protests against Israel, and even pursuing peace negotiations, came way down. Asked to choose, two-thirds favoured diplomatic engagement with Israel over violence. Round the corner from the Ramallah parking meter, Adel Abu Mariam considered the possible outcomes of the Palestinian bid for statehood while minding his vegetable shop. “If the US has the will to make it successful, it will succeed,” he said. “And if it fails, maybe people will be angry for a couple of days, but then life will go on. We have no strength for a new intifada. People know what happened before.” Palestinian territories Gaza Israel Middle East United Nations US foreign policy Harriet Sherwood guardian.co.uk
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Labour leader urges for new media ownership rules saying News Corporation chief has too much power in the UK Ed Miliband has demanded the breakup of Rupert Murdoch’s UK media empire in a dramatic intervention in the row over phone hacking. In an exclusive interview with the Observer , the Labour leader calls for cross-party agreement on new media ownership laws that would cut Murdoch’s current market share, arguing that he has “too much power over British public life”. Miliband says that the abandonment by News International of its bid for BSkyB, the resignation of its chief executive, Rebekah Brooks, and the closure of the News of the World are insufficient to restore trust and reassure the public. The Labour leader argues that current media ownership rules are outdated, describing them as “analogue rules for a digital age” that do not take into account the advent of mass digital and satellite broadcasting. “I think that we’ve got to look at the situation whereby one person can own more than 20% of the newspaper market, the Sky platform and Sky News,” Miliband said. “I think it’s unhealthy because that amount of power in one person’s hands has clearly led to abuses of power within his organisation. If you want to minimise the abuses of power then that kind of concentration of power is frankly quite dangerous.” The move takes Miliband’s campaign against the abuse of media power to new heights after a fortnight in which he has reinvigorated his own leadership by leading the attack on the Murdoch empire. While he insisted that the recently announced inquiries should take their course, the Labour leader said he hoped the main parties could agree on a common approach. His latest intervention comes ahead of what promises to be a dramatic appearance by Rupert Murdoch, his son James, the chief executive of News Corporation Europe and Asia, and Brooks before the Commons culture, media and sport committee. Committee members preparing to grill the trio are to be given legal advice on the morning of the hearing on how far they can push the News Corp boss and his son for answers. The committee’s chairman, the Tory MP John Whittingdale, has also asked them to send him details of their preferred lines of questioning to avoid duplication. News Corp is understood to be concerned that the committee will set a trap by asking questions the Murdochs are unable to answer due to the continuing criminal investigations and are taking advice on how to avoid yet another public relations disaster as the company attempts to rebuild its reputation. Further pressure was piled on Murdoch after the Liberal Democrats wrote to the media regulator, Ofcom, urging it to launch an investigation that could see his holding company, News Corp, forced to sell its stake in satellite broadcaster BSkyB. The Broadcasting Act places a duty on the regulator to consider “any relevant conduct of those who manage and control such a licence”. Although News Corp, whose News International subsidiary owned the News of the World , has only a minority 39% share in BSkyB, the Lib Dems argue the company is “strongly placed materially to influence the policy and strategic direction of BSkyB”, suggesting the regulator is duty bound to investigate. Simon Hughes, the party’s deputy leader, Don Foster, its media spokesman, and Tim Farron, its president, are demanding that the watchdog’s members “take measures now to satisfy yourself that the owners of the BSkyB licence continue to be “fit and proper” given “the manifest public concern about News International’s activities, the close integration of News International with its parent company News Corporation, [and] News Corp’s effective control of BSkyB”. The three dismissed claims that the regulator could not act while criminal investigations were current, saying there were “no legal reasons to stop Ofcom from conducting its work alongside that done by the police”. A spokeswoman for Ofcom said: “We received this letter early on Friday evening. We will be considering our response next week.” She added that the regulator was continuing to gather information which it hoped would assist in the discharge of its duties. “We have already written to a number of relevant authorities and can confirm that follow-up meetings will now be taking place.” In his interview Miliband said that once a Sunday Sun was launched, possibly in August, this would add further to the Murdoch empire’s penetration of the UK media market. Meanwhile, the foreign secretary, William Hague, defended Cameron’s regular meetings with News International executives and his decision to invite Andy Coulson, his former director of communications who was arrested 10 days ago, to Chequers several weeks after Coulson’s resignation over the phone-hacking scandal. “In inviting Andy Coulson back, the prime minister has invited someone back to thank him for his work – he’s worked for him for several years – that is a normal, human thing to do,” Hague told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme. “I think it shows a positive side to his character.” He added: “Personally I’m not embarrassed by it in any way – but there is something wrong here in this country and it must be put right. It’s been acknowledged by the prime minister and I think that’s the right attitude to take.” Hague continued: “It’s not surprising that in a democratic country there is some contact between leaders of the country, and indeed opposition leaders, and indeed I believe on that list of meetings there are also meetings with the executives of the Guardian and Trinity Mirror and whatever other news organisations.” Cameron has acknowledged that he met Coulson since his resignation, but “not recently and not frequently”. “When you work with someone for four years as I did, and you work closely, you do build a friendship and I became friends with him,” the prime minister declared. “He became a friend and is a friend.” Ed Miliband Phone hacking Rupert Murdoch Labour Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers News International News Corporation Media business News of the World Toby Helm Daniel Boffey Jamie Doward guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Eric Boehlert Weighs in on the Media Coverage of the Murdoch Hacking Scandal
July 16, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Keith Olbermann took the night off on Current TV with his fellow former MSNBC contributor David Shuster filling in for him, which makes me wonder if Shuster might be one of the next people to be announced as one of Current TV’s new lineup as they bring in new shows. Speculation aside, Shuster talked to Media Matters’ Eric Boehlert about the scandal with News of the World and how that has been covered at their American “news” channel, Fox News here in the U.S., and as Boehlert and Shuster noted here it’s either been all but ignored or their coverage has tried to deflect it as part of some problem that has nothing to do with the media company’s legal problems. You can read more at Media Matters and how this story has been covered by our corporate media here — REPORT: How CNN, MSNBC, And Fox Are Covering News Corp. Hacking Scandal* : News Corp.’s long-simmering phone-hacking scandal has reignited, throwing its global media empire into turmoil. As allegations of hacking into private citizens’ voicemail increase, media and tabloid practices have been called into question. With a large and influential presence in the United States, News Corp. and its subsidiaries (including Fox News) should be under intense scrutiny in the American press. A Media Matters analysis has found great disparity in the amount of coverage given to the scandal by CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News. Analysis: CNN Covered News Corp.’s Hacking Scandal In More Than 100 Segments CNN And MSNBC Report On News Corp. Scandal More Than Twice As Often As Fox News. According to a Media Matters analysis**, in the nine days since the News Corp. phone-hacking scandal reignited, CNN reported on the developing story in 108 segments, MSNBC covered the story in 71 segments, and Fox News covered the story in 30 segments. enlarge Credit: Media Matters
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