Dave Prentis tells union that coalition war on public services will be met with sustained industrial action Dave Prentis, the head of the UK’s biggest public-sector union, has stepped up the strike rhetoric, promising the government a campaign of industrial action without precedent and telling his annual conference: “This is our call to arms.” The leader of Unison said there would be sustained strikes until the government backed down on its controversial proposals to overhaul public-sector pensions. The campaign to “break the pay freeze, stop the jobs cull and send this coalition packing” would be extended. Prentis accused David Cameron of defending the interests of “fat cat bankers” and sacrificing low-paid public-sector workers. But he also fiercely attacked the Labour party, threatening to withdraw support unless the party backed the union campaign. He said of the government’s action on public services: “They’re cutting further now than Thatcher dared. For them it’s unfinished business. They’ve declared war on our public services – with Tory donors, City firms, hedge funders back in the heart of government.” He pledged support for the four unions holding a one-day strike next week and said: “If the government fails to listen, to heed our warnings, to negotiate in good faith, I say, David Cameron, you ain’t seen nothing yet. We will strike to defend our pensions. A campaign of strike action without precedent. Yes, we hope for the best. Yes, we will negotiate. But we plan for the worst. Our preparations are well advanced, but there is more to do. “This is our union’s call to arms. When you get back to your branches, prepare for action. You have a massive job to do; deciding in regions what action to take, millions of leaflets to distribute, winning the argument with the public, recruiting new members to the cause. Strike action will need to be sustained. And the political and public campaigns intensified. “The fight of our lives may be an overused cliché, but conference, this is it. A fight we can win, a fight we must win, and together a fight we will win.” Last week talks on pension reforms between the unions and ministers, with Prentis chairing the union delegation, threatened to collapse after the chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, unilaterally announced a deal. Prentis then told the Guardian there would be the biggest strikes since 1926, with rolling action across Britain should the government refuse to back down. In his speech in Manchester, Prentis said: “To those who say name the day, I say a day won’t be enough. To those who say, negotiate, I say anytime, anywhere, for as long as it takes. To Danny Alexander. Boffin or buffoon? He may have done us a favour. The world now knows what they’re about. A 50% increase in pensions contributions – not a penny into the pensions funds. A 50% reduction in benefits. All workers to work longer, and if you happen to be privatised – well tough. You can’t take it with you. And to add insult to injury, 300,000 women finding out on the radio that their state pension age will go up, yet again, to 65, then to 67, and more. They will lose thousands. And it’s daylight robbery. “So Danny, I say if your intervention last week was designed to enrage our members and increase the chances of a strike – it worked”. And to Cameron, Osborne and Clegg I say, don’t underestimate the outrage and anger of our members, at the savagery of your gratuitous attack on our pensions – to pay more, get less, work longer. The anger and outrage.” He issued a message to the government on NHS reforms, saying: “We want the bill scrapped and we will fight you every step of the way, until [Andrew] Lansley tosses it back in the bin, where it belongs.” On Labour he said: “It’s about breaking a political consensus that says markets know best. In truth, Labour built the bridge over which the Tories now march. In future, [it's about] only supporting labour candidates who support our values, our union, our people.” Union officials said this would not mean withdrawing funding from the Labour party (they have donated more than £400,000 in the past year) but instead refusing to endorse constituency candidates who did not promise to back the campaign, including industrial action. Trade unions Public sector cuts Public sector pensions Public sector pay Dave Prentis Danny Alexander Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Dave Prentis tells union that coalition war on public services will be met with sustained industrial action Dave Prentis, the head of the UK’s biggest public-sector union, has stepped up the strike rhetoric, promising the government a campaign of industrial action without precedent and telling his annual conference: “This is our call to arms.” The leader of Unison said there would be sustained strikes until the government backed down on its controversial proposals to overhaul public-sector pensions. The campaign to “break the pay freeze, stop the jobs cull and send this coalition packing” would be extended. Prentis accused David Cameron of defending the interests of “fat cat bankers” and sacrificing low-paid public-sector workers. But he also fiercely attacked the Labour party, threatening to withdraw support unless the party backed the union campaign. He said of the government’s action on public services: “They’re cutting further now than Thatcher dared. For them it’s unfinished business. They’ve declared war on our public services – with Tory donors, City firms, hedge funders back in the heart of government.” He pledged support for the four unions holding a one-day strike next week and said: “If the government fails to listen, to heed our warnings, to negotiate in good faith, I say, David Cameron, you ain’t seen nothing yet. We will strike to defend our pensions. A campaign of strike action without precedent. Yes, we hope for the best. Yes, we will negotiate. But we plan for the worst. Our preparations are well advanced, but there is more to do. “This is our union’s call to arms. When you get back to your branches, prepare for action. You have a massive job to do; deciding in regions what action to take, millions of leaflets to distribute, winning the argument with the public, recruiting new members to the cause. Strike action will need to be sustained. And the political and public campaigns intensified. “The fight of our lives may be an overused cliché, but conference, this is it. A fight we can win, a fight we must win, and together a fight we will win.” Last week talks on pension reforms between the unions and ministers, with Prentis chairing the union delegation, threatened to collapse after the chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, unilaterally announced a deal. Prentis then told the Guardian there would be the biggest strikes since 1926, with rolling action across Britain should the government refuse to back down. In his speech in Manchester, Prentis said: “To those who say name the day, I say a day won’t be enough. To those who say, negotiate, I say anytime, anywhere, for as long as it takes. To Danny Alexander. Boffin or buffoon? He may have done us a favour. The world now knows what they’re about. A 50% increase in pensions contributions – not a penny into the pensions funds. A 50% reduction in benefits. All workers to work longer, and if you happen to be privatised – well tough. You can’t take it with you. And to add insult to injury, 300,000 women finding out on the radio that their state pension age will go up, yet again, to 65, then to 67, and more. They will lose thousands. And it’s daylight robbery. “So Danny, I say if your intervention last week was designed to enrage our members and increase the chances of a strike – it worked”. And to Cameron, Osborne and Clegg I say, don’t underestimate the outrage and anger of our members, at the savagery of your gratuitous attack on our pensions – to pay more, get less, work longer. The anger and outrage.” He issued a message to the government on NHS reforms, saying: “We want the bill scrapped and we will fight you every step of the way, until [Andrew] Lansley tosses it back in the bin, where it belongs.” On Labour he said: “It’s about breaking a political consensus that says markets know best. In truth, Labour built the bridge over which the Tories now march. In future, [it's about] only supporting labour candidates who support our values, our union, our people.” Union officials said this would not mean withdrawing funding from the Labour party (they have donated more than £400,000 in the past year) but instead refusing to endorse constituency candidates who did not promise to back the campaign, including industrial action. Trade unions Public sector cuts Public sector pensions Public sector pay Dave Prentis Danny Alexander Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
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The Greek prime minister faces a vote of confidence as ratings agencies issue damning judgments on the country’s finances The multi-layered effort to stave off a Greek sovereign default that could plunge Europe into one of its worst ever crises moved towards a climax last night with the Greek prime minister pleading in Athens for a vote of confidence and Europe’s leaders staring into the abyss before a Brussels summit on Thursday. Leaders in Brussels spoke of the worst crisis in Europe since the second world war as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) set ultimatums before the 17 countries of the euro single currency and international ratings agencies classified the bailout terms for Greece as a likely default. George Papandreou, the embattled Greek prime minister, needed to win a midnight vote of confidence in his reshuffled socialist government before attempting an even bigger challenge – getting the parliament in Athens to back a radical programme of spending cuts, tax increases, and a mass assets sell-off by the end of the month. As Athens’s 300-seat parliament prepared for the vote, tens of thousands of protesters converged on Syntagma Square in a mass show of “no confidence” for politicians widely perceived to have triggered the financial mess in which the nation now finds itself. “As long as there are squares to protest in we will be there,” said Giorgos Papastathopoulos, an unemployed civil engineer gesticulating angrily towards the parliament building. “These people are thieves, they are crooks; if they were really honourable they would lead by example and take a wage cut just like everyone else before talking about austerity.” If Greece fails to agree the austerity measures, the IMF will pull the plug on the latest €12bn tranche of its €110bn bailout and Greece would be insolvent, with immense implications for European banks and the fate of the single currency. However, the strong expectation that Papandreou would win the vote lifted stock markets all over the world. The FTSE 100 in London closed 81.92 points higher at 5775.31 and the FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading shares rose 1.5%, its biggest increase for two months. The Dow Jones industrial average was up more than 100 points at lunchtime in New York. At a summit in Brussels on Thursday evening, EU governments will be under intense pressure to seal a new three-year Greek bailout worth as much as the current rescue fund. The expectation was that leaders would agree to guarantee the new bailout, leaving the details to be hammered out by 3 July. “We’re at a critical point in the most serious crisis since the second world war,” warned Olli Rehn, the European commissioner for monetary affairs. A group of 15 leading public figures, including six former EU prime ministers, warned that the EU faced a future on the international sidelines. “Europe isn’t in a good place these days,” said the group, all allied with the Brussels Friends of Europe thinktank. “The drive towards closer integration is losing momentum and appears in great danger of slipping backwards … European leaders risk the EU becoming a marginal player in a globalised world whose rapid change is clearly not to Europe’s advantage.” Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, a central figure in the crisis, voiced confidence that Europe would rise to the challenge, while reiterating German demands that Greece’s private creditors should volunteer to roll over the debt as part of the rescue. “We believe some burdens can be put not only on taxpayers but that banks must also participate,” Merkel said while visiting Warsaw. “We will achieve positive results because it is in the interests of banks and of countries for the euro currency to be stable … These three components – Greece’s tasks, EU solidarity and the voluntary participation of banks – are the solution.” But Fitch, one of the three big international ratings agencies, cast doubt on Merkel’s optimism, warning that it would view a voluntary rollover of Greek debt as a default. “Fitch would regard such a debt exchange or voluntary debt rollover as a default event and would lead to the assignment of a default rating to Greece,” said Andrew Colquhoun, head of Asia-Pacific sovereign ratings with Fitch. The jury still seems to be out on this, however, with detailed arguments raging across the EU over how, when, and whether Greece would be deemed to be in default. The process of persuading the banks, insurance companies and pension funds holding Greek debt to remain exposed after redeeming their loans is also an exacting task which could take weeks without any certainty of success. The markets and the European business elite believe that in the end Greece will need to restructure its unmanageable debt with major writedowns for its creditors. A poll of German executives showed very few of them believed Greece could avoid a debt restructuring. Almost nine out of 10 of the 519 business people questioned in the poll for the business magazine, Capital, predicted a restructuring, while two-thirds were worried about the stability of the euro. EU leaders appeared to be playing for time to try to avoid colossal collateral damage across the eurozone, while the IMF was urging the EU to get its act together and guarantee a copper-bottomed bailout for Greece before the fund would commit to contributing. The IMF has taken a harder line on the European debt crisis in recent weeks since the resignation of its French chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Some European officials are also complaining that the temporary leadership of the IMF is inhibiting its capacity to act. Greece Europe IMF Economics Global economy European commission European Union Euro Euro Ian Traynor Helena Smith guardian.co.uk
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The Greek prime minister faces a vote of confidence as ratings agencies issue damning judgments on the country’s finances The multi-layered effort to stave off a Greek sovereign default that could plunge Europe into one of its worst ever crises moved towards a climax last night with the Greek prime minister pleading in Athens for a vote of confidence and Europe’s leaders staring into the abyss before a Brussels summit on Thursday. Leaders in Brussels spoke of the worst crisis in Europe since the second world war as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) set ultimatums before the 17 countries of the euro single currency and international ratings agencies classified the bailout terms for Greece as a likely default. George Papandreou, the embattled Greek prime minister, needed to win a midnight vote of confidence in his reshuffled socialist government before attempting an even bigger challenge – getting the parliament in Athens to back a radical programme of spending cuts, tax increases, and a mass assets sell-off by the end of the month. As Athens’s 300-seat parliament prepared for the vote, tens of thousands of protesters converged on Syntagma Square in a mass show of “no confidence” for politicians widely perceived to have triggered the financial mess in which the nation now finds itself. “As long as there are squares to protest in we will be there,” said Giorgos Papastathopoulos, an unemployed civil engineer gesticulating angrily towards the parliament building. “These people are thieves, they are crooks; if they were really honourable they would lead by example and take a wage cut just like everyone else before talking about austerity.” If Greece fails to agree the austerity measures, the IMF will pull the plug on the latest €12bn tranche of its €110bn bailout and Greece would be insolvent, with immense implications for European banks and the fate of the single currency. However, the strong expectation that Papandreou would win the vote lifted stock markets all over the world. The FTSE 100 in London closed 81.92 points higher at 5775.31 and the FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading shares rose 1.5%, its biggest increase for two months. The Dow Jones industrial average was up more than 100 points at lunchtime in New York. At a summit in Brussels on Thursday evening, EU governments will be under intense pressure to seal a new three-year Greek bailout worth as much as the current rescue fund. The expectation was that leaders would agree to guarantee the new bailout, leaving the details to be hammered out by 3 July. “We’re at a critical point in the most serious crisis since the second world war,” warned Olli Rehn, the European commissioner for monetary affairs. A group of 15 leading public figures, including six former EU prime ministers, warned that the EU faced a future on the international sidelines. “Europe isn’t in a good place these days,” said the group, all allied with the Brussels Friends of Europe thinktank. “The drive towards closer integration is losing momentum and appears in great danger of slipping backwards … European leaders risk the EU becoming a marginal player in a globalised world whose rapid change is clearly not to Europe’s advantage.” Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, a central figure in the crisis, voiced confidence that Europe would rise to the challenge, while reiterating German demands that Greece’s private creditors should volunteer to roll over the debt as part of the rescue. “We believe some burdens can be put not only on taxpayers but that banks must also participate,” Merkel said while visiting Warsaw. “We will achieve positive results because it is in the interests of banks and of countries for the euro currency to be stable … These three components – Greece’s tasks, EU solidarity and the voluntary participation of banks – are the solution.” But Fitch, one of the three big international ratings agencies, cast doubt on Merkel’s optimism, warning that it would view a voluntary rollover of Greek debt as a default. “Fitch would regard such a debt exchange or voluntary debt rollover as a default event and would lead to the assignment of a default rating to Greece,” said Andrew Colquhoun, head of Asia-Pacific sovereign ratings with Fitch. The jury still seems to be out on this, however, with detailed arguments raging across the EU over how, when, and whether Greece would be deemed to be in default. The process of persuading the banks, insurance companies and pension funds holding Greek debt to remain exposed after redeeming their loans is also an exacting task which could take weeks without any certainty of success. The markets and the European business elite believe that in the end Greece will need to restructure its unmanageable debt with major writedowns for its creditors. A poll of German executives showed very few of them believed Greece could avoid a debt restructuring. Almost nine out of 10 of the 519 business people questioned in the poll for the business magazine, Capital, predicted a restructuring, while two-thirds were worried about the stability of the euro. EU leaders appeared to be playing for time to try to avoid colossal collateral damage across the eurozone, while the IMF was urging the EU to get its act together and guarantee a copper-bottomed bailout for Greece before the fund would commit to contributing. The IMF has taken a harder line on the European debt crisis in recent weeks since the resignation of its French chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Some European officials are also complaining that the temporary leadership of the IMF is inhibiting its capacity to act. Greece Europe IMF Economics Global economy European commission European Union Euro Euro Ian Traynor Helena Smith guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Why Is There An American Media Blackout of the UK’s News Corp. Eavesdropping Scandal?
June 21, 2011 No Comment
enlarge Credit: yourdemocracy.net.au I bet most readers of blogs don’t even know much about this major UK media scandal perpetrated by Rupert Murdoch’s English tabloids and we’re online and digesting news almost 24/7. Why? Because there’s been an almost complete blackout by the US media over this eavesdropping scandal. Here’s a primer if you’ve never read anything on it before: The News Corp. Phone Hacking Scandal Never Ends: A look at the latest developments This actually could spell big trouble for News Corp. and Rupert Murdoch, but you’d never know it from the American press. Hey, what’s a little eavesdropping on the royal family and almost everybody else? Digby writes: Michael Wolfe, the man who literally wrote the book on Rupert Murdoch on the eavesdropping scandal .From what he says it’s a much tighter case than I realized: In sum: It is now well-documented that employees of Murdoch’s News of the World British tabloid eavesdropped on the voice mail messages of practically anybody who was anybody in Britain for the better part of the last 10 years—the most recent revelations put Kate Middleton and Tony Blair on this list—including, undoubtedly, some of the people who went to the News Corp. party. Although this might not have seemed like much of a crime while it was being committed by myriad News Corp. reporters, and sanctioned by their bosses—just hacks being hacks—it has since transmuted into a profound breach of the civil trust. And to date, each next domino in the inquest has fallen. The informed speculation in U.K. media and political circles is about which present and former members of the top circle of News Corp. management in London will next be frog marched in front of a tribunal. In addition to company chief Rebekah Wade Brooks (who herself appears to have been hacked by reporters) and her predecessor Les Hinton, who now runs The Wall Street Journal
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Huddersfield man, 21, to be questioned over death of Owen Wightman of Wakefield left by roadside after collision Police have arrested a man on suspicion of causing the death by dangerous driving of a six-year-old schoolboy who was left at the roadside after being knocked down. Detectives in West Yorkshire said that a 21-year-old man from Huddersfield would be questioned about the events, which happened in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, on Saturday. The driver is said to have stopped out of sight of the accident and inspected the front of his car for damage. The child, Owen Wightman, was playing in the street close to his home. The boy was crossing a busy road with a seven-year-old friend when he was struck by a light blue or grey hatchback driven by a single man who appeared to be in his 20s. Detectives have had a good response to appeals for witnesses after it emerged that the car pulled in for the damage check, in a side road about 100 yards further on. CCTV footage from a passing bus with details of the car has also been analysed. Wightman’s parents, Joanne, 33, and Neil, 31, appealed before the arrest for someone to come forward. They said: “Owen was a perfect little man who was taken from us – just perfect in every way. He walked into a room and lit it up. He was our bundle of joy and our little ray of sunshine.” Passers-by continued to add to a pile of flowers and teddy bears at the scene, in memory of Owen, who had two brothers, Jack, 12, and one-year-old Thomas. Jack’s tribute alongside a green cuddly monkey, read: “You were the best bro’ ever. Even when we used to fight and argue I still loved you anyway.” Another message said: “To mummy and daddy’s little soldier, forever in our hearts, love u always.” Rewards for information resulting in a conviction total £15,000 – two-thirds from the Sun newspaper and the balance from the charity Crimestoppers. Crime Martin Wainwright guardian.co.uk
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Unemployed and without health insurance, man in North Carolina has himself arrested in order to receive treatment It was not perhaps the most obvious way of getting a bad back, arthritis and a dodgy foot seen to. But if you’re unemployed in North Carolina with no health insurance, there is no obvious way. So on 9 June James Verone left his Gastonia home, took a ride to a bank and carried out a robbery. Well, sort of. What he did was hand the clerk a note that said: “This is a bank robbery, please only give me one dollar.” Then, as he later told the local NBC news station , he calmly sat in the corner of the bank having told the clerk: “I’ll be sitting right over there in the chair waiting for the police.” Before his peculiarly modest robbery, Verone, 59, sent a letter to the Gaston Gazette . “When you receive this a bank robbery will have been committed by me for one dollar. I am of sound mind but not so much sound body.” He invited the paper to send a reporter to interview him in Gaston county jail, where he is now in custody facing charges of stealing from a person (for just $1 the prosecutors didn’t think they could hold up a bank robbery charge). He told the paper he had lost his job after 17 years as a Coca-Cola delivery man, and with it his health insurance. He was in increasing pain from slipped discs, arthritic joints, a gammy foot and a growth on his chest. Since being in the jail he has attained his goal: he has been seen by nurses and an appointment with a doctor is booked. US healthcare North Carolina United States Ed Pilkington guardian.co.uk
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Inquest hears of traumatic treatment meted out to killed Britons employed to protect computer programmer in Baghdad Three security guards kidnapped in Iraq were subject to mock executions, regularly beaten and kept chained and blindfolded for lengthy periods before being shot dead by their captors, an inquest heard on Tuesday. Jason Creswell, 39, Jason Swindlehurst, 38, and Alec MacLachlan, 30, were protecting computer programmer Peter Moore when they were seized in May 2007. The men, who were employed as security guards by the global firm GardaWorld , were kidnapped when a gang of armed men posing as police officers stormed the Iraqi finance ministry in Baghdad. All three were eventually executed while Moore was released in December 2009 after two years and seven months in captivity, the inquest at Trowbridge, Wiltshire, was told. A fourth security guard who was snatched with them, Alan McMenemy, 34, has never been found and is presumed dead. Chief inspector Mark Moles, of the SO15 counter-terrorism unit at Scotland Yard, went through a statement given by Moore detailing the mistreatment they suffered. He said: “They were all subjected to mock executions. This saw them placed on their knees, blindfolded, a gun pointed to their heads and a different gun firing off elsewhere in the room. This caused immense trauma. “They were always chained by their feet to a rail or bar and blindfolded for long periods.” The five Britons were seized by “between 50 and 100 men”, the inquest was told. Moore, 36, of Lincoln, was working in the building for American firm BearingPoint, teaching Iraqi officials how to use a new IT system when the armed men entered the building. Moles said the security guards would not have been aware of the ambush as officials in police uniform entered constantly. He said: “All were patrolling different parts of the building. They would have had no cause to have suspicion as police and military entered the building all the time. It wouldn’t have been until the very last moments they would have pulled their weapons in defence. “The attack gave them no chance to act, no chance to challenge, no chance to take any action to prevent their kidnap.” The five men were bundled into two vehicles. Once driven away, they were stripped to their underwear and all personal effects were thrown out of the vehicles. The kidnappers returned to the ministry in search of a second man the bodyguards had been protecting, Peter Donkin, but staff had hidden him in a compartment under the floor. It is thought the men were moved to Basra or a major city south of Baghdad because tests revealed their bodies contained high levels of lead, in line with the dust and air they would have inhaled. When Moore was debriefed following his release , he said the hostages had been moved to different locations every few months. He said the prisoners were beaten regularly, especially before they were to be moved to a new location in order to make them “compliant”. Moore said they were made to sleep on the floor or with a thin blanket. They were given food and water and allowed to shower regularly. He said they were occasionally allowed to watch television, enabling them to keep a track of the date. The bodies of Swindlehurst, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, and Creswell, from Glasgow, were handed over to authorities at a Baghdad police station in June 2009. Swindlehurst had suffered two gunshot wounds to the head and one to the chest. It is thought Creswell, from Glasgow, died from three shots to his chest and abdomen while he knelt with his hands on his head. The body of MacLachlan, 30, of Llanelli, south Wales, was recovered in September 2009. He had been shot twice in the head. The Iraqi Shia group Asaib Ahl al-Haq has been blamed for holding the men hostage but has denied claims of torture and abuse. The Wiltshire and Swindon coroner, David Ridley, ruled the men had been unlawfully killed. British hostages in Iraq Iraq Middle East Steven Morris guardian.co.uk
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Amr Moussa, who played central role in securing Arab support for Nato strikes, calls for ceasefire and ‘political solution’ The outgoing head of the Arab League and a frontrunner to become president of a democratic Egypt has voiced reservations about Nato’s bombing campaign in Libya, calling for a ceasefire and talks on a political settlement while Muammar Gaddafi remains in power. Amr Moussa, the veteran Egyptian diplomat who played a central role in securing Arab support for the Nato air campaign against Gaddafi, told the Guardian he now had second thoughts about a bombing mission that may not be working. “When I see children being killed, I must have misgivings. That’s why I warned about the risk of civilian casualties,” he said. Arab support, in the form of an endorsement from the Arab League, was essential to the Anglo-French-led bombing campaign launched in March following a UN security council resolution mandating the use of force to protect Libyan civilians. But senior European officials say that the Arab world is again turning against the west because of the Libya campaign. “The Arab League is telling us that we’re losing the support of the Arab world,” said one senior source involved in negotiations over Libya. In an interview with the Guardian in Brussels, Moussa made clear he thought the military campaign would not produce a breakthrough. “You can’t have a decisive ending. Now is the time to do whatever we can to reach a political solution,” he said. “That has to start with a genuine ceasefire under international supervision, a ceasefire that is implemented rigorously. Until the ceasefire Gaddafi would remain in office and the ceasefire would be accepted by both sides. Then there would be a move to a transitional period … to reach an understanding about the future of Libya.” Asked whether that meant a halt to the Nato air strikes, he said: “A ceasefire is a ceasefire.” According to senior diplomats and officials in Brussels dealing with the Libyan crisis, there are absolutely no signs of Gaddafi giving up. They also say that the opposition leadership in Benghazi will have no truck with Gaddafi and is making his removal a precondition for a negotiated settlement of the war. Repeated offers of a ceasefire from Gaddafi have been dismissed as meaningless by the Nato leadership and western governments. “There are different political channels going on to persuade the Gaddafi regime it has to go,” said the senior EU official. UN envoys, the Russian government, and the South Africans had been talking quietly either directly with Gaddafi or with his entourage. All reported no progress. “The Russians have just tried mediating and came back from Tripoli saying Gaddafi is not moving one bit,” said the official. Moussa headed the Arab League for a decade until three weeks ago and remains its caretaker chief until his successor takes over in September. He indicated that inquiries were being made to see if any countries, possibly in Africa or the Middle East, would be willing to offer Gaddafi a safe haven and even raised the possibility that Gaddafi could stand down but remain in Libya. While voicing misgivings about the course of the air campaign, Moussa said the Arab League supported it initially because of Gaddafi’s attacks on Libyan civilians. The League’s response, however, to the Syrian regime’s killing of an estimated 1,400 civilians was different. “There was unanimity on Libya, but [on Syria] there are some hesitations because of strategic, political considerations,” he said. Arab leaders were worried about the impact of the Syrian crisis in Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, and on the Kurdish issue. Nonetheless, he added, “we are outraged by all that has happened in Tunisia, in Syria, in Libya, in Yemen … We are really worried about the situation. The vast majority [in the Arab League] is not comfortable with what is going on in Syria.” The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, faced a dilemma and could be losing the initiative, Moussa said. “[His] chance is eroding. It is a race. You have to change as fast as you can. It is a race between reform or revolution.” The dramatic upheavals of the past six months across north Africa and the Middle East meant that no Arab society would remain untouched. “I don’t think there will be exceptions.” At the age of 74, Moussa is an unlikely figurehead for an Egyptian revolution that was driven by the country’s youth camping out on Tahrir Square. But he appears to be popular and trusted by the younger leaders who helped topple the Mubarak regime in February, despite the fact that he served that regime for a long time as a senior diplomat, ambassador, and foreign minister. He is running for president in an election that he says should not be held until the end of the year at the earliest. If he won, he would only want to serve one term because of his age, Moussa maintained. “Egypt is going to be a democratic republic with a constitution, a president, a council of ministers, a parliament,” he declared. While the Egyptian army remains in charge in the post-Mubarak turmoil, it is not entirely clear, however, how the declared passage to democracy is to be structured, sequenced, and organised. Moussa argued passionately for presidential elections to be held before a parliamentary ballot despite the momentum towards a parliamentary vote within a few months. “I disapprove of parliamentary elections in September because the landscape is not ready.” If priority was to be given to drafting a new constitution, then parliamentary elections should be shelved and instead a constituent assembly should be elected to write the new charter. Moussa appeared worried that the attempt to entrench a new democratic system could backfire, resulting in an ascendancy of the Muslim Brotherhood plunging Egypt into chaos. “I can’t blame the Muslim Brotherhood for being disciplined and organised. The others are not organised,” he said. Moussa predicted that the Brotherhood could take up to 35% of the vote in a September parliamentary poll and that this would suffice for it to construct a coalition, dominate the new assembly, and take over the running of the country. “Then there would be chaos,” he warned. “There would be no new constitution. I prefer to work for a presidential system because the political landscape in Egypt is not yet mature. Not because of the Muslim Brotherhood per se, but because the situation is not fully ready.” Libya Arab and Middle East unrest Egypt Nato Middle East Africa Ian Traynor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Jon Stewart Falsely Claims Chris Wallace Said Fox Doesn’t Tell Both Sides of the Story
June 21, 2011 No Comment
Jon Stewart on Monday cherry-picked thirteen seconds out of a 24 minute interview to accuse “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace of claiming, “We don't tell both sides of the story.” Unfortunately, that's not what Wallace said Sunday (video follows with transcript and commentary): JON STEWART, HOST: The unedited version which is on the web had what I thought was the take away moment of the entire interview, where Chris Wallace, one of the more respected individuals at Fox, basically gives away the game. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STEWART: You believe that Fox News is exactly the ideological equivalent of NBC News. CHRIS WALLACE: I think we're the counterweight. STEWART: You believe that… WALLACE: I think that they have a liberal agenda and I think we tell the other side of the story. (END VIDEO CLIP) STEWART: The other side of the story. We don't, we don't tell both sides of the story. We tell one side. The other side, the one we perceive is never told, the conservative side. Actually, that's not what Wallace said. Directly from the transcript: WALLACE: I think that they have a liberal agenda and I think we tell the other side of the story. Wallace didn't say, “We don't tell both sides of the story.” He said, “We tell the other side of the story.” That certainly doesn't preclude one from telling both sides. The point Wallace was making was that outlets like NBC News only give the liberal viewpoint, and that Fox by comparison does tell the conservative side as well. To suggest that Fox only offers conservative viewpoints or that this is what Wallace said is absurd. After all, if that had been the case, the liberal Stewart wouldn't have been given almost one quarter of Sunday's program to express his liberal views, would he? Stewart and his crew apparently didn't think about that. They also ignored that that the other major guest Sunday besides Stewart was Obama's Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates. Would a member of the Obama administration be brought on Fox if the network doesn't tell both sides? But it gets better, for Bill Burton, former Obama deputy press secretary, was part of the program's roundtable segment as was NPR's Mara Liasson. Add it all up, and the “FNS” program Stewart was on actually had more liberal guests than conservatives, as only former Bush press secretary Dana Perino and the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol represented the right. Talk about only telling one side. As NewsBusters readers know, if one added up all the conservative contributors to ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, and NBC, they wouldn't equal the number of liberal contributors to Fox News. But such logic is unimportant to Stewart and his followers: STEWART: Because as you know, news only comes in two sides. (Laughter) STEWART: And if the conservative side isn't being told, what's being told must be liberal. Fox News isn't fair and balanced, it's balancing the system, man. Don't you get it? The system's unfair and unbalanced! To balance the system, Fox has to be the purest form of right-wing resin because of how, because of how heavy left-wing America is. Hollywood, comedians, every single news organization, the internet, facts, history, science, it's all just left-wing bullshit, man! Each one of those things designed purely to shut down conservatives. Yes, Stewart really did suggest that facts, history, and science are all exclusive to liberals. Pretty disgusting. But he wasn't finished: STEWART: But don't worry, Broseph, Fox isn't going to let that happen. Is fox unbalanced? Yeah. Seriously, like their ears are nearly touching the floor. But it's only because the system's unbalanced. At least, I thought that was what Chris Wallace was saying, which I thought was an interesting point. If that's what Stewart really thought Wallace was saying, he's got more than his ears touching the floor. But what can you expect from a guy that shortly after appearing on Fox was quickly exposed by PolitiFact for falsely claiming that its audience are “the most consistently misinformed media viewers?” As NewsBusters' Rich Noyes pointed out Monday, it's Stewart who's the ignorant one. Color me unsurprised that he didn't address this falsehood of his Monday evening. That would be telling both sides.
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