Greece's deputy prime minister has said the country will run out of money in six weeks unless it honours its bitterly-disputed EU bailout deal.
Speaking exclusively to The Sunday Telegraph, Theodoros Pangalos said he was "very much afraid of what is going to happen" after Greek voters rejected the deal in elections last Sunday.
"The majority of the people voted for a very strange mental construction," he said. "We want to be in the EU and the euro, but we don't want to pay anything for the past."
The main beneficiary of the election, the hard-Left Syriza coalition, came a startling second on a promise to tear up the deal, which promises EU loans to keep massively-indebted Greece afloat, but demands crippling spending cuts in return. Germany, the principal lender, has said it will stop payments if Greece breaks its promises on spending.
Mr Pangalos warned: "There is a school of thought that says the Germans are bluffing. They need Greece and will never throw us out of the eurozone. But what will happen, which is almost certain, is they will not give us the money to pay our debts.
"We will be in wild bankruptcy, out-of-control bankruptcy. The state will not be able to pay salaries and pensions. This is not recognised by the citizens. We have got until June before we run out of money.
Continued on Page 47
#3
"The majority of the people voted for a very strange mental construction," he said. "We want to be in the EU and the euro, but we don't want to pay anything for the past."
#2
Count up how much its cost already and see what would have been saved had they faced reality at the start rather than buttress up the failing fantasy.
Ordinarily I wouldn't post something like this but the irony is just plain glorious...
France's new Socialist president owns three holiday homes in the glamorous Riviera resort of Cannes, it emerged today.
The 57-year-old who 'dislikes the rich' and wants to revolutionise his country with high taxes and an onslaught against bankers is in fact hugely wealthy himself. His assets were published today in the Official Journal, the gazette which contains verified information about France's government.
Published a week after the election, not a week before the election...
To the undoubted embarrassment to the most left-wing leader in Europe and a man who styles himself as 'Mr Normal', they are valued at almost £1million.
Embarrassed? Nah, he's a socialist, he's incapable of being embarrassed. The critics are just all racists, that's all...
It will also reinforce accusations that Hollande is a 'Gauche Caviar', or 'Left-Wing Caviar' - the Gallic equivalent of a Champagne Socialist.
Among other assets are three current accounts in French banks - two with global giant Societe Generale and one with the Postal Bank - and a life insurance policy.
But it is the fabulous property portfolio which is causing the greatest stir among millions of ordinary French people who voted for Holland over the conservative Nicolas Sarkozy last Sunday. Hollande regularly attacked the 'Bling-Bling' presidency of Sarkozy, whose multi-millionaire lifestyle with Italian-born heiress Carla Bruni contributed to his humiliating election defeat after just one term in office.
As well as the spacious Paris apartment he shares with his lover Valerie Trierweiler, Hollande owns a palatial villa in Mougins, the prestigious hill-top Cannes suburb where the artist Pablo Picasso used to live. It is valued by the Official Journal at 800,000 (£642,000), and is just a short drive from Hollande's two flats in the Cannes. They are each priced at 230,000 (£185,000) and 140,000 (£112,000).
Hollande has promised to cut his pay by 30 per cent after he is officially sworn in as President next week, but he will still be on 156,000 (£125,000) a year, plus fabulous expenses and other perks.
Enjoy, France, you're going to get what you voted for...
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/12/2012 12:37 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11143 views]
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#1
Every little commie believes he or she will be a commissar when the revolution comes. Turns out the real commissars make sure that never happens.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/12/2012 13:52 Comments ||
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#2
Media couldn't do a little vetting before the election? Why does that sound familiar?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2012 14:11 Comments ||
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#3
The Onion made a story about the 2008 elections that said (paraphrasing) : Americans Awaken in horror to the Realization they elected the government they deserved.
#1
Anarchist and green. Idiots - the first against the wall when they achieve the anarchy the want will be them. Anarchy leads to Dictatorship and mass murder as "order" is imposed at the desire of the poeple. History teaches that quite clearly, from ancient times, all the way to Lenin, Mussolini, Hitler, Mao and Pol Pot.
#3
You know, I'd think that if the company wanted to...get a little payback, they could always hire the italian mafia.
Mafia vs Greenies....I'd pay to watch.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Halliburton Lost Drill Bit Division ||
05/12/2012 12:29 Comments ||
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#4
"We are wild lovers of freedom, and will never renounce the revolution or the complete destruction of the state and its violence."
They're going to substitute their own brand of violence for that of the state. At least they admit it.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/12/2012 15:31 Comments ||
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#5
As OldSpook said, I don't think anarchists have thought it through. If there were no State, there would be nothing to prevent people from hunting down anarchists and anyone else they didn't like. It would truly be survival of the fittest.
As Hobbes said, without a state or some kind of rules in society, life would be poor, nasty, brutish and short.
I realize that many states are oppressive. However, the answer is not anarchy.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
05/12/2012 18:55 Comments ||
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#6
Well I don't know about that. I haven't seen many 60 somethings rioting and professing anarchy. I think that in the Hobbesian anarchist world most of the anarchists I have seen would do ok for a few years. And they would certainly not need to kowtow to those who were old or rich. Looking forward to a life within the rules without the possibility of success, certainly could make anarchy seem a rational choice.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] A family member of one of Anders Behring Breivik's 69 victims in his shooting massacre on Norway's Utoeya island last July threw a shoe at him in court on yesterday, screaming "you killer, go to Hell!"
The shoe hit Breivik's lawyer and the incident, followed by applause, "bravos" and tears among onlookers in the courtroom, led to a temporary suspension of proceedings on the 17th day of the trial.
The attacker, a man of Iraqi origin whose brother was one of the 69 people Breivik killed on July 22, was quickly brought under control by security guards and escorted out of the courtroom as he continued to shout in English: "Go to Hell!"
A German man has died after being stabbed in the backside by a stranger wielding a poison umbrella which injected him with mercury, fatally poisoning him.
Police have admitted they have been left at a loss by the attack, which took place nearly a year ago, when the 40-year-old man was attacked by the mysterious stranger in Hannover.
A post-mortem and toxicological examination being carried out on the German man are expected to point to mercury poisoning as the cause of death, Der Spiegel news magazine said on Friday.
The man was diagnosed with mercury poisoning a few weeks after the attack, and fell into a coma.
He had said he was attacked by a slim stranger who had a sticking plaster on his face.
After months in a coma, the victim had seemed to be improving, a spokeswoman for the state prosecutor said. He had been in a rehabilitation centre, but this Wednesday he suddenly died.
The prosecutor are now searching for the mysterious assailant, investigating a possible charge of grievous bodily harm resulting in death.
Continued on Page 47
#1
If mercury was the cause, dimethyl mercury was probably the agent used. It's probably the strongest neurotoxin. It has a delayed effect. By the time symptoms are noted, little can be done to reverse them. Getting a few drops on latex gloves worn over the hands skin killed Prof. Karen Wetterhahn. Two of the lab techs who first synthesized dimethyl mercury died within weeks.
#3
Bear in mind that in the Markov case the poison used was ricin. The only physical evidence was the tiny ball used as the delivery mechanism, otherwise most likely no one would have connected the incident to anyone.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
05/12/2012 8:39 Comments ||
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#5
Oddly, an Italian nuclear scientist was kneecapped, a Libyan oil minister found floating in the Danube, several Iranian scientists killed, a British UN inspector in Iran in an untimely accident, a British MI5 codebreaker murdered bizarrely, and several years ago an ex-KGB poisoned with radioactive thalium--a flashback to the Cold War by those that fought it?
What, pray tell, is a reader of conscience? It sounds like someone has been insulted, but it isn't quite clear who, or on what grounds.
need to know about Norway: The Norwegian government has consistently proved itself to be a friend of Israel.
What the Norwegian ambassador to Israel would like Israelis to know about his country, in response to recent articles and op-eds that have appeared in the Jerusalem Post. We leave the Rantburg reader to make his own judgement.
Norway has been a strong supporter of Israel since its foundation. We remain committed to Israel's right to exist within secure and internationally recognized borders, and we have over the years committed financial and political resources, as well as the lives of Norwegian soldiers, to that end.
The Norwegian government, like the Israeli government and the Paleostinian leadership, remains committed to a two-state solution. Just as there is widespread opposition in Norway to the expansion of the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, there is widespread support for the Israeli right to live in security. We consistently condemn the targeting of civilians by rockets from Gazoo.
Nevertheless, The Jerusalem Post persists in regularly publishing strongly anti-Norwegian articles. The latest example is the article by Michael Sharnoff, prominently placed in the 1 May edition. Mr. Sharnoff's article follows a familiar pattern. He makes harsh allegations against "Norway," "the Norwegian leaders" and "Oslo," claiming that many in the Norwegian government have recently displayed a pattern of anti-Semitic attitudes "which would make Islamist Orcs and similar vermin very proud," and also claims that the actions of Norwegian leaders "exhibit traits of genteel anti-Semitism."
He even goes so far as to claim that "If Vidkun Quisling was alive today and read the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements that were coming out of Norway, a big smile would appear on his face." Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of Norwegian history would know how insulting the reference to Quisling is to Norwegians.
If you want to make a serious allegation, you have to make sure you have your facts straight. This is the problem with Mr. Sharnoff's article. Actions and statements are described as anti-Semitic without real justification, and then attributed to Norway or the Norwegian people in general. In the following I will address some of the claims made in the article.
Claim: Norway is singling out Israel among all other nations for international opprobrium.
Fact: Even a brief glance at the website of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs shows that Norway's commitment to human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... , democracy and peace is worldwide, not confined to one country or part of the world.
Claim: Then-Socialist Left Party leader Kristin Halvorsen proposed a boycott of Israeli products in 2006.
Fact: It is true that Kristin Halvorsen publicly supported her own party's campaign. She also subsequently made it clear that the Norwegian government is opposed to a consumer boycott of Israel. The Norwegian government does not believe that boycotts are an effective way to promote political change. But a consumer boycott is a legitimate way to protest policies that you are against, and cannot in itself be claimed to be anti-Semitic.
Claim: Norway has refused to follow the US and EU in classifying Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, as a designated terrorist organization.
Fact: Norway does not have a national list of designated terrorist organizations. This is a general policy which is not particular to Hamas. What we do have is legislation that outlaws terrorist actions, and we have shown, not least through our military commitment in Afghanistan, that we are unwavering in our resolve to combat international terrorism.
Claim: The Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre has insisted that Israel dismantle the security barrier.
Fact: Norway has consistently recognized the security needs of Israel and Israel's right to self defense. According to the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice published on 9 July 2004, the construction of the security barrier in The Paleostinian Territory was contrary to international law and should be dismantled. It should also be remembered that the problem the court found with the security barrier was that it was built on occupied territory and that other considerations than security were important for the route that was chosen for the barrier.
There are no limitations on building barriers within a country's internationally recognized borders. In a UN General Assembly resolution, 150 countries, including all EU member states, urged Israel to implement the advisory opinion. Singling out Norway is not justified.
Claim: During the Durban II Conference in Geneva, Norway remained in attendance during Iranian president Ahmadinejad's speech.
Fact: It is misleading to mention this without at the same time mentioning why Norway remained in attendance. It is Norwegian policy not to cede the podiums of the UN to jihad boys, but rather to use these podiums to confront them publicly. The Norwegian Foreign Minister was the next speaker at the Durban II Conference, and used the opportunity to sharply criticize the Iranian president.
Claim: The University of Trondheim in Norway tried to impose an academic boycott against Israeli universities in 2009, but the motion ultimately failed.
Fact: It is wrong to claim that the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim tried to impose such a boycott. It is true that a proposal to that effect was made to the board by faculty members and students, but the board unanimously voted against a boycott. The government also made clear that such a boycott, if adopted by a university, would be illegal under Norwegian law.
Claim: In October 2010, Norway's Foreign Ministry announced that it would not permit the German shipbuilder HDW to test its Dolphin-class submarine, built for the Israeli navy, in Norwegian territorial waters.
Fact: It is true that Norway has strict rules for the export of arms, including services, to countries that are at war or where there is a threat of war. This applies to many countries around the world, so there is no singling out of Israel.
Claim: Norwegian retail chain Vita's decision to stop selling cosmetics produced in an illegal settlement in the West Bank is an example of "genteel anti-Semitism."
Fact: Companies are free to make their own ethical choices, including when it comes to products from settlements that have been established in contravention of international law. There are companies around the world, including in Israel, that make the same choices. The claim that Vita's decision is "genteel anti-Semitism" remains unsubstantiated by the author.
Claim: Norway does not propose academic boycotts against universities in China, Britannia, Turkey, Armenia, India or Morocco, nor does it enact sanctions and divestment programs.
Fact: This is correct. But Norway is not enacting sanctions and divestment programs nor proposing academic boycott against universities in Israel either, so it is not very relevant.
In sum, Mr Sharnoff's claims do not hold.
The Norwegian government has consistently proved itself to be a friend of Israel. We have not always agreed with everything Israel has done. Even the best of friends do not agree on everything. But we have demonstrated our willingness to employ our political and financial means to assist Israel. The kind of name-calling that Mr. Sharnoff resorts to is not conducive to a sensible political exchange. And as shown by the above, his allegations are built on a flimsy foundation.
Special report: Irish journalist slams silence of politicians in face of 'group anti-Semitism' mindset; says that in Ireland either one obeys anti-Israel orders of left-wing mind-thugs, or one is lynched
The most serious event of the past week wasn't related to Prime Time's libel of Father Kevin Reynolds, and it wasn't what Cardinal Sean Brady did or didn't do nearly 40 years ago. Far more serious than either for the health of this Republic -- though connected to both by a sanctimonious tissue of lethal intolerance -- was the intimidation of the band Dervish into cancelling a tour of Israel.
Dervish's website was hit by venomous abuse from anti-Israeli activists, on the instructions of the Irish Paleostinian Solidarity Group. Every bit as sinister as this has been the silence from politicians and "civil liberties groups": the exception, of course, being Alan Shatter, who is Jewish. It was as if the intellectual thugs of the IPSG were trying to vindicate my recent suggestion that the largest threat to personal freedom these days comes not from government, but from single-interest pressure groups.
Tactics and techniques that would be called fascist by liberals if used against them were at the heart of the campaign against Dervish. For in the left-liberal culture, certain subjects are beyond the usual courtesies of a tolerant civilization, and instead may be subjected to outright bigotry and bullying. The legitimate targets for this salon-terrorism are the Catholic Church, American Republicans, and of course Israel.
So Prime Time's libeling of Father Kevin Reynolds was not just a bizarre departure from some cultural norm, but actually was its very quintessence. In other words, when a black African woman and an Irish Catholic priest contradict one another, it is axiomatic that the white man must be lying. Indeed, the prevailing dogma rules that the opposite is quite simply impossible. With that contaminated mind-set at the helm, no wonder RTE sailed right into the iceberg upon a sunlit noon.
And one can go absolutely nowhere with this culture. It permits no conversation, no exchange of ideas and no freedom of speech. One complies, or one is lynched: take your pick. It is the liberal version of Sharia law: one obeys the instructions of the secular mullahs, and one hopes to have a peaceful life. But if you think peace results from the triumph of intolerance, just wait for the 4 am knock on your door -- because sooner or later, the mind-thugs will be coming for you too.
And consider the deeper historical continuity within which the Boycott Israel campaign stands. This is the state whose Taoiseach went to offer his condolences on the tragic death of Herr Hitler just weeks after allied troops had liberated Buchenwald, Belsen and Dachau. This was the state that became a safe haven for Nazi war-criminals in the 1950s. This was the state where the Mayor of Limerick in 1970 praised the anti-Jewish boycott in the city in 1903, and far being expelled from the Labour Party, was re-elected TD for the party.
This was the last state in the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... to exchange full diplomatic relations with Israel. This is the state which recently tolerated the day-long enactment of mock-executions of "Paleostinians" by "Israelis" on its main shopping thoroughfare. No, there might not be any personal anti-Semitism in this Republic: but group anti-Semitism seems to have a secure place in the Irish psyche. And the handful of stupid Jews who are backing the Boycott Israel campaign clearly have absolutely no idea of the underlying (and no doubt subconscious) emotions beneath this Israelophobia.
For only such a truly deranged pathogen could single out Israel for a boycott, while in every other state in the region, there are mass violations of civil rights by government-authorized murder-gangs. In Egypt, Islamic mobs have killed hundreds of Christians, devastating Coptic communities whose roots predate the arrival of Islam. Before the catastrophic Anglo-French destruction of the Ottoman Empire, the largest single ethno-religious group in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... were the Jews: and next came the Christians, who between them outnumbered the Sunnis, Shias and Kurds together.
Today, all non-Moslem ethnic groups are facing utter extinction in Iraq. The Jews are gone, and the few remaining Christians are clinging on by their eyelids. Across the Arab world, fundamentalism is triumphant, as "honor-killings" -- that truly moronic oxymoron - achieve a lawful status in Egypt and Jordan, as they soon will -- make no mistake - in Libya and Syria. Women caught in "adultery" -- even when raped - and homosexuals may legitimately be killed by self-appointed executioners.
The one country in the Middle East that does not recognize the deranged and barbaric precepts of Sharia law is Israel. Yet this is the one and only state in the region that the Irish Left not merely wishes to stigmatize, but they want to terrorize the rest of us into stigmatizing also. And to judge from the abject silence of our politicians, they seem to be succeeding admirably.
This story was originally published by the Irish Independent Continued on Page 47
GERMANY is beginning to regret its decision to allow a far-right political party to display anti-Moslem cartoons near mosques as part of an electioneering campaign.
Spikes in violence at recent gatherings -- including a major riot on Saturday that left two coppers seriously injured with stab wounds -- have triggered fears of more bloodshed.
Courts in Germany took the view that cartoon images of the Prophet Mohammed and Allah -- both outlawed under Islam -- were acceptable in a country where freedom of expression is enshrined in the constitution. But with resistance growing to the tactics of the radical Pro NRW party, Germany is looking to defuse tensions.
More than 100 people were tossed in the calaboose Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! at the protest in Bonn on Saturday where the coppers were stabbed in the legs; a further 27 officers were maimed. One man has been charged with trying to incite the deaths of three coppers among the crowd of 600 Salafist Moslem demonstrators outside the King Fahd Academy in Bonn.
The far-right Pro NRW party has said it intends to send activists to 25 mosques in the run-up to the state election in North Rhine-Westphalia on 13 May, staging protests in Cologne, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Aachen, Wuppertal and Solingen.
Last week, a state court lifted a prior ban on the group using Mohammed caricatures in its election campaign, despite criticism that the images were purely being used for provocation. Also last week, 81 people were tossed in the calaboose Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! in Solingen after violence broke out during a protest of Salafist Moslems against Pro NRW. The group had set up a stand showing cartoons of Mohammed outside a mosque.
German interior minister Hans-Peter Friedrich of the Christian Socialist Union (CSU), said he had been in touch with state officials in the past week, hoping to find a way to defuse the situation. He put the blame for the violence firmly on the shoulders of the Moslems.
"Salafism's fanatical members represent a special danger to German security," he said this week. "The Salafists ...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them... deliver the ideological basis for many who then become violent."
Critics say the violence would never had happened if Germany had treated the cartoons they brandish the way it treats Nazi symbols -- with a blanket ban.
North Rhine-Westphalia interior minister Ralf Jäger said he recognised the hatreds stirred up by the Pro NRW supporters, calling their cartoon campaign "targeted provocation".
Pro NRW, which has 250 members, has said it is also planning to award a cash prize for the "best" anti-Islamic caricature. Party campaign manager Lars Seidensticker says he did not understand the outrage, and says his party would bear no responsibility for any violence.
"If the situation is so tense that you can't do a campaign like this against Islamist influences any more, then the politicians are responsible for doing away with Germany," he said, alluding to a 2010 book by banker Thilo Sarrazin called Germany Does Away with Itself, which criticised Islamic immigrants in Germany.
He added: "Mosques are potential centres of a new civil war that we have to prevent. That's why we have to pull out the Islamist evil by its roots."
Continued on Page 47
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.
A German man has died after being stabbed in the backside by a stranger wielding a poison umbrella which injected him with mercury, fatally poisoning him.
