In an interview with Hurriyet daily of Turkey, Dutch MP Barry Madlener, who attended an international conference in Istanbul, yet again stressed that Turkey has no place in the European Union.
He noted that Turkey is a Muslim country, and many Dutch do not feel safe because of the thousands of Muslims living in the Netherlands. He added that the immigrants have contributed to the escalation of crime in the country.
In Barry Madlener's words, Turkey is not a democratic country, since the criticizing of Islam is banned and journalists are arrested there. "We must be crazy to want for Turkey to enter the European Union," the Dutch MP concluded.
Continued on Page 47
A Paris appellant court overturned a ruling exonerating a French-Jewish politician who claimed that a France 2 TV report suggesting that the IDF killed Palestinian boy Mohammed al-Dura was staged.
A libel suit filed against Carasenti had once been rejected but will now return to court. The France 2 report caused a global stir and caused grave damage to Israel.
Continued on Page 47
#1
I gather this event was so heavily staged that they could make a behind-the-scenes documentary for the DVD extras.
But "Old Europe" seems utterly impervious to common sense. A libel law that ignores that a duck is a duck, even if it is a duck, looks and sounds like a duck, and acts like a duck; because it is in some weird way more important that the duck is *offended* by being called a duck, will eventually cause a breakdown in society.
"Offensensitivity", as Berkeley Breathed called it, is a path to madness.
#2
..from the people who brought you the Dreyfus Affair. When its a fight between the truth and the ruling caste, it's a good bet on the ruling caste. Or as in America, we say "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
#3
I haven't read the decision but Cour de Casstioon is not supposed to judge and not supposed to consider the facts, it only examines if everything was according to the law and in case it doesn't it nominates another court for judging again.
European Union states have reached an agreement to recall all their ambassadors from Belarus after Minsk requested the EU and Polish ambassadors to leave the country, Reuters reported on Tuesday citing diplomatic sources.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry advised earlier on Tuesday that the head of the EU delegation to Belarus, Ambassador Maira Mora, and Polish Ambassador Leszek Szerepka leave the country. Minsk also recalled its ambassadors from Warsaw and Brussels, RIA Novosti reported.
European Parliament President Martin Schultz said Minsk's decision to recall its Ambassador to Poland Andrei Yevdochenko and Ambassador to the EU Viktor Gaisenok was a "hostile act."
The ambassadors were told to "leave for their capitals for consultations to inform their leadership of Belarus' firm position that pressure and sanctions are unacceptable," Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Savinykh said.
EU members on Monday agreed to expand a black list of Belarusian officials subjected to restrictive measures, namely police officers and court officials considered responsible for arrests and condemnation of opposition activists. The sanctions envision an asset freeze and an EU entry ban.
Belarus will also ban entry to the country for those EU officials who contributed to the introduction of the new sanctions, Savinykh said.
"The Council of Europe's decision testifies that the EU continues to pursue a policy of open pressure. We have repeatedly explained at all levels that this policy has no prospects in relations with the republic of Belarus," he said.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/29/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11131 views]
Top|| File under:
[An Nahar] U.S. auto giant General Motors is in talks to buy out five percent of La Belle France's biggest car builder PSA Peugeot Citroën, business daily Les Echos reported on Tuesday citing several sources.
Sources close to the negotiation said the deal was a so-called standstill agreement in which GM could not increase its stake in Peugeot without prior permission from the car group.
Last week French Labor Minister Xavier Bertrand revealed that GM and Peugeot were in talks towards a strategic partnership confirming a report on a website.
Contacted by Agence La Belle France Presse, Peugeot refused all comment.
Peugeot is La Belle France's top car manufacturer, ahead of Renault, and Europe's second, behind Volkswagen.
The Peugeot family controls 30.3 percent of the capital and 45.75 percent of voting rights in the firm which effectively took over French car manufacturer Citroen in 1976.
Last year, the firm, which employs 205,000 people worldwide, sold 3.5 million cars around the world, two-thirds of them in Europe where the market is under pressure as the economy slows sharply.
#3
Savings here in that GM can just strike out the name Saab in that already written business plan and replace with Peugeot... Ought to be able to find a consulting group to do that for under $50,000,000.
#4
I foresee another Cadillac Cimmeron - diesel version will be like an Olds
Cutless Diesel redux. Ruining the magnificent if quirky Saab (of which I own one) our tax dollars are now used to buy a true dodo.
Premier Enda Kenny said Dublin was acting on legal advice from Ireland's attorney-general that "on balance" the fiscal compact requires a vote under the country's constitution. "It gives the Irish people the opportunity to reaffirm Ireland's commitment to membership of the euro," he told ashen-faced members of the Dail.
All three major parties back the treaty but analysts say there is a high risk of rejection by angry voters in the current fractious mood. The compact gives the EU intrusive powers to police the budgets of debtor states, and has been denounced as feudal bondage by Sinn Fein and Ireland's vociferous eurosceptics. The Irish voted "No" to both the Nice and Lisbon treaties before being made to vote again. Dublin has ruled out a second vote this time.
The Taoiseach's announcement sent the euro into sharp dive against the dollar, though it rebounded later. Europe's leaders thought they had tweaked the wording of the text just enough to avoid an Irish vote.
Ireland cannot stop the process since a quorum of 12 states brings the treaty into force, but it would be politically untenable to create a new eurozone structure that left one member in limbo.
The fiscal compact has totemic significance in Berlin and any sign that the package is fraying may harden opposition in the Bundestag to further EMU rescue measures. Mrs Merkel suffered a serious blow on Monday when she had to rely on opposition votes to pass the Greek loan package due to mounting defections in her own ranks. Her coalition base is in revolt over demands from Brussels and the International Monetary Fund for a boost in the EU rescue machinery (ESM) to 750bn (£635bn), the unspoken condition imposed by the rest of the world for unlocking global aid.
Any decision has been postponed until after this week's EU summit. The new requests would push the German share of the funding to well over 300bn, breaching a 211bn ceiling set by the Bundestag in September.
Ireland will continue to receive loans under its 67bn package from the EU-ECB-IMF "Troika" even if it votes "No" but would be in serious trouble if it needed a second package later. The fiscal compact forbids to use of the ESM bail-out fund for non-signatories.
Continued on Page 47
#2
I strongly suspect that other countries will suddenly realize that "Golly, we forgot to have a referendum on this, which we will *have* to have before it goes into effect. Because of, you know, stuff."
Aka, rats can be very perceptive about the condition of a ship.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[An Nahar] U.S. auto giant General Motors is in talks to buy out five percent of 
