#1
"We are living in a neo-Bonapartist financial system. Not a single decision has been taken by the Italian parliament since the end of August except those imposed by the foreign power that now us under administration."
Democracy went down in a blaze of glory last week. Both the German Bundestag and our own House of Commons put up one hell of a fight against the dying of the light. Maybe history will record that fact in an elegy on the demise of the great 18th-century experiment in government by the people: they were eloquent to the end. Because at the end, eloquence was all they had.
Trying to hold back the resurgence of oligarchy ... derived from the Greek words oligos, a few and the verb archo, to rule, to govern, to command. Oligarchies are invariably effectual rather than established, to whit, they disguise themselves as other systems, working as the real government behind the face of of democracy, fascism, socialism, monarchy, or what have you... -- the final dismantling of democratic responsibility in the governing of Europe -- has been looking pretty hopeless for a long time. That eruption of excellent rhetoric and faultless argument which sprang to the defence of the rights of the governed (and in Germany's case, of constitutional legality) made the loss seem all the more tragic, but no less inevitable. I'm beginning to wonder why we have constitutions if we're going to spend all our time ignoring them... So this is where we are. The agreed EU "stability union" I just heard Otto I chuckling in his grave...
triumphantly paraded before the media in Brussels will have the power to approve or disapprove budgets of countries in the eurozone -- that is, to vet and police them -- before they are submitted to the elected parliaments of those countries. "We rule, you approve."
In other words, parliaments which are directly mandated by, and answerable to, their own populations will not control the most essential functions of government: decisions on taxation and spending. Even without the ultimate institutions of economic and political union, which still elude the EU, actual power over fiscal policy will be taken from the hands of national leaders. And if, as a voter, you cannot influence your prospective government's tax and spending policies, what exactly are you voting for?
Britannia being outside the eurozone, we will not have to present our fiscal arrangements for authorisation before submitting them to the scrutiny of our politicians (and their constituents). But since our own economic recovery relies so heavily on the stability of the euro, we find ourselves (or at least, George Osborne has found himself) enthusiastically supporting this rape of democratic principle in countries which regard their freedom and self-determination as precious in much the same way, remarkably enough, that free-born Englishmen do.
And among those hapless, soon-to-be-disenfranchised peoples, hatreds have been awakened that the EU was, ironically, designed to bury. The Greeks hugely resent what they consider to be the implicitly racist contempt of the Germans: the political opposition in Athens on both Left and Right rejects the idea of being "bailed out" of a crisis (with all the compliance that entails) that they believe to have been caused by the artificial constraints of euro membership rather than by national character flaws. Even their moderate spokesmen are beginning to characterise Germany's economic impositions as a revival of its wartime attempt at conquest. This is the natural consequence of the European Union. If you're going to build a European nation then you're not going to have a German or a French or a Czech or a British nation. All will be subsumed into the new Holy Roman Empire.
But the new Empire's greatest weakness is precisely that willingness to trample over constitutions. It's also the product of a "constitution," to whit the agreements bringing it into existence. Until it manages to do away with the last vestiges of the historic European states it depends on the voluntary compliance of its members with its Imperial edicts. It has no legions to dispatch to enforce its will, and sanctions, as we've seen demonstrated time after time in the past twenty or thirty years, don't cut the Gray Poupon. That doesn't say that the legions won't come into existence at some point in the future, and that brings up the danger of the war the EU was supposed to render obsolete. Pretensions to universal dominion usually lead in that direction, or so the ghost of M. Bonapart informs me.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
10/31/2011 09:02 ||
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[Dawn] THE Lahore rally on Friday was expected to be the PML-N's mission statement of its struggle to topple President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... . This was only partially achieved by Mr Shahbaz Sharif's emotion-packed address at the large public meeting. The speech conveyed how determined, even desperate, the PML-N is to see the back of Mr Zardari, but fell far short of spelling out the party's strategy towards achieving this goal. Mr Sharif mentioned parliament as a possible forum where Mr Zardari could be held accountable for his acts. Since the PPP and its allies have a majority in parliament, the PML-N is more likely to follow the second option the chief minister indicated: widespread public agitation. Their public messages in recent days clearly indicate the PML-N politicians are hoping that a relentless assault on the presidency will throw up its own choices and its own road map for a forced Zardari exit. The party, the PML-N politicians say, is keeping 'all' options open.
It is obvious that when push comes to shove, Pakistain politicians are prepared to fall back on a past they otherwise tell us they have come out of. Much of the energy of both politicians and their supporters has been spent on painting the current times as being different from the acrimonious and ugly 1990s. Whatever impact the ostensible resort to decency had sought to leave on the minds of the people, the impression has been dispelled by the tone and content of Mr Sharif's diatribe against President Zardari at the Lahore rally. Indeed, the brute force with which he delivered his point of view led to questions being asked about whether he was in any way doubtful about the potency of the issues he was raising. The most perplexing part was when he took time out of his attempt to woo 'disgruntled' PPP workers to his side, attempting to get such elements away from not only Mr Zardari but also Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five... , who is scheduled to hold a public meeting of his own today. Mr Sharif threatened the president and the PPP leader with a hanging (only an upside-down hanging in this case). It was perhaps this statement that had the PPP and its allies all over the country up in arms and shouting with disgust.
The sadder part is that the 'derogatory' remarks could well be just a reminder of the shape of things to come. Not a good promo for future politics in a country where the real issues of the people have routinely been eclipsed by the cheap, emotional, Dire Revenge™-laden antics of their leaders.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain on Sunday said all pro-democratic forces in Pakistain are united to foil all conspiracies to derail the democracy.
Mr Hussain said that the countrymen are united to defend democracy and they support President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... He was addressing the participants of "Istehkam-e-Jamhoriyat Rally" organised by his party from Numaish to Tibet Centre here via telephone from London.
He advised the leaders of PML-N to wait for the election and participate in it and come into power through democratic process.
His party will have no objection if the PML-N comes into power through a democratic process, he added.
Altaf also expressed gratitude to the leaders of PPP, PML-Q and PML-F for joining the rally and said they have showed their unity and support through their participation.
He observed that the policies of the government be criticised and protest be registered in a sober manner.
He also called upon the leaders of PPP, MQM, PML-Q and ANP to organise another rally with the title of "Peace Rally" in the city.
He also proposed that all parties should settle their differences through dialogue because the country is passing through a difficult phase.
He said we have to protect the country and the democracy and we have to eliminate poverty and unemployment to bring prosperity.
He also appealed to the government to appoint honest and devoted persons in Pakistain Steel Mill, Railways, PIA and other entities to make the same profit generating units.
Altaf Hussain also directed the office bearers of all units and zones of his party to offer thanks-giving prayers --"Nawafil-e-Shukrana" on successful holding of "Istehkam-e-Jamhoriyat Rally".
During the telephonic address of Altaf, PPP leaders, Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq and Agha Siraj Durrani also talked to him and expressed gratitude for organising the event.
Altaf Hussain also raised the slogans "PPP-MQM Ittehad Zindabad, Pakistain Zindabad and Jamhoriat Zindabad".
Besides small rallies taken out from different parts of the city, the MQM leaders, activists and supporters including women and kiddies also reached Bloody Karachi from other parts of Sindh to join the event.
Stringent security arrangements were made for the rally by the police, rangers and wardens of City District Government Bloody Karachi.
Earlier, Interior Minister Rehman A. Malik, Sindh Home Minister, Manzoor Hussain Wasan also reviewed the security arrangements.
PPP leaders, Ms. Sharmila Farooqi, Agha Siraj Durrani and Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq. Members MQM Rabita Committee, Raza Haroon, Dr. Saghir Ahmed, Gulfaraz Khan Khatak, Yousuf Shahwani, Anees Ahmed Qaimkhani and office bearers of various wings of MQM, party workers and supporters in large number attended the event.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Campaigners condemn US drone strikes in Pakistain as extra-judicial liquidations that kill hundreds of civilians, but popular protests against them are conspicuous by their rarity.
Opinion polls suggest barely nine per cent of the Pak public support the strikes, and anti-Americanism is rife in the country of 180 million people, a key ally of Washington in the war on terror. Even so, rallies protesting the CIA-run operation against Taliban and al Qaeda allies in Pakistain's tribal areas on the Afghan border are few and thinly attended.
The government says 30,000 people have been killed in attacks across Pakistain in the last decade -- 10 times the 3,000 people who perished in the September 11, 2001 suicide hijackings in the United States.
Cricket hero turned politician Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five... , a staunch critic of US policy in Pakistain and the "hypocrite" government in Islamabad, led an anti-drone demonstration on Friday but only around 2,000 people joined him. Earlier in the week, Khan was among the speakers at a presser in Islamabad where lawyer Shahzad Akbar held up a piece of twisted, rusting metal.
"These are the remains of a drone missile fired in August 2010 in Datta Khel, North Wazoo," he said. "It killed the wife and two children of a local primitive, Bismillah Khan. This proves the US wrong when they say no civilians are killed by their drones."
Akbar is backed by British-based charity Reprieve, whose founder and director Clive Stafford Smith said drone strikes were "in violation of the laws of war and Pakistain illusory sovereignty".
But behind the politics, security officials say the issue is not so simple. Campaigners struggle to win public sympathy for people killed in remote mountains, difficult to access and often under rebel control.
The United States says the area, particularly the districts of North and South Waziristan, is infested with Taliban and al Qaeda allies who need to be eliminated to protect US soldiers in neighbouring Afghanistan.
The Pak military is itself battling a Taliban insurgency in the northwest, and more than 4,700 people have been killed in attacks across the country since government troops stormed a radical mosque in Islamabad in 2007. The drone strikes have cleared many Pak Taliban from the battlefield, including its main founder Baitullah Mehsud in 2009.
"Imran Khan and others are demonstrating against drones and their victims. But can any of these people go to North Waziristan and come back alive?" said one Pak source close to security bigshots.
US cables leaked by WikiLeaks showed that the government privately acquiesces in the drone strikes, even if it does not pay to say so in public.
"The Mighty Pak Army supports drone strikes because they are efficient for eliminating TTP (Taliban) people... and give it a good reason not to start a dangerous offensive in North Waziristan," one military official told AFP.
The military and the general public distance themselves from the tribes of Waziristan, seeing them as ferociously independent and ultra-conservative with a heavy concentration of Taliban in their ranks.
"People don't want to start a war to protect tribes whose members put bombs in the country," said a Pak security official.
Estimates of the drones' casualties vary hugely. Western researchers believe around 300 attacks have killed 1,700 to 2,860 people since 2004.
Akbar, who sued the CIA a year ago demanding compensation on behalf of strike victims, says 80 per cent of those killed are civilians. The Pak authorities say it is more like 10 per cent. The non-partisan New America Foundation think tank puts the figure at 20 per cent.
The London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism said in August that 775 civilians could have been killed since 2004, including 168 children.
Even if the victims are proven to be fighters, "killing people that way is a violation of state law, they deserve at least a trial", said Akbar.
Saifullah Khan Mehsud, director of the Fata Research Centre, a think tank devoted to tribal belt issues, says the drone strikes cause mental health problems and are widely reviled there, but that there is no culture of protest.
"They think all this is a game between Pakistain and foreign agencies. So their attitude is to stay away from war on terror issues. It is not a culture of demonstration there," he told AFP. "Only activists from right-wing parties demonstrate, because it's a violation of national illusory sovereignty, so they have to say something."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/31/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
US drone strikes fail to mobilise Pakistan masses
Well, some good news for a change. If the masses are not bothered by the zaps against the terrorists? Who is, the terrorists?
Not much backing.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/31/2011 14:19 Comments ||
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#2
They keep trying ...
* PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > JEMIMA KHAN DONATES [hand-carried Film --]CAMERAS TO [Waziri = Waziristan] TRIBALS TO CAPTURE US DRONE DAMAGE: REPORT.
I guess Cell Phone, etc. cameras are a bit too advanced yet for the Tribals.
Local Boyz are at the scene, film may or may not be at Eleven.
versus
* NEWS KERALA > DRONE AIRCRAFT THAT CAN STAY IN AIR FOR FOUR DAYS SET TO MAKE MAIDEN FLIGHT [ Boeing's new "Phantom Eye" UAV].
Once Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, was the second- largest gang in the Gazoo Strip, after the Paleostinian Authority. With the help of Iran and Syria, Hamas became so strong that one day, in June 2007, its men managed to seize control over the entire Strip.
In recent years, however, Hamas has found itself in the same position as the PA was back then.
Now it's the Islamic Jihad organization that has replaced Hamas as the second- largest gang in the Gazoo Strip. Today, it poses a serious challenge to the Hamas government. With the help of Iran and Syria, Islamic Jihad has become a major player in the Paleostinian arena. The organization's leaders now visit Cairo and other Arab capitals, where they are received as VIPs.
Earlier this year, Egypt's ruling military council invited its leaders to participate in discussions in Cairo over achieving Paleostinian national unity.
With help of Iran and Syria, Islamic Jihad has become a major player in Paleostinian arena; group's leaders received as VIPs in Arab capitals.
In the past 48 hours, top Egyptian security officials have been talking to Islamic Jihad leaders and representatives, over the heads of Hamas officials, about a cease-fire with Israel.
Alarmed by the growing political and military power of Islamic Jihad, the Hamas government has in the past few years jugged some of the organization's members in the Gazoo Strip.
At one point, Hamas even stopped Islamic Jihad squads from firing rockets and missiles at Israel, especially after the IDF's Operation Cast Lead offensive in late 2008.
The Hamas measures against Islamic Jihad were not the result of a shift in Hamas's ideology or strategy toward Israel. Hamas was acting only out of concern for its own interests.
When Hamas had an interest in preserving the unofficial cease-fire with Israel, it was prepared to clash with any other group that dared to violate the calm.
Hamas has long boasted that, unlike the PA, its men have succeeded in the past four years in creating a strong regime in the Gazoo Strip. Indeed, Hamas has since shown zero tolerance toward any group that posed a challenge to its rule.
However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... in the past two days Hamas chose to sit on the fence while Islamic Jihad Orcs and similar vermin fired rockets and missiles at Israel.
Instead of trying to stop the attacks as it did in the past, Hamas let the Egyptians mediate a cease-fire between Islamic Jihad and Israel.
Some Paleostinians in the Gazoo Strip said on Sunday that Hamas is probably afraid of a violent confrontation with Islamic Jihad, whose members have managed to smuggle into the Gazoo Strip new weapons stolen from Libya.
Besides, Hamas can't afford to be seen as playing the role of "border guard" for Israel. Until today, Hamas maintains it's the PA that is playing this role in the West Bank, the Paleostinians said.
Islamic Jihad is no longer a small organization with a few hundred fighters and a small amount of weapons.
The organization is beginning to emerge as a major challenge to the Hamas regime, especially given the fact that dozens of disgruntled Hamas members are reported to have defected to Islamic Jihad. Former Fatah security officers, some of whom were trained by the US and EU, are also believed to have joined Islamic Jihad in the past few years.
Other Paleostinians believe Islamic Jihad initiated the recent cycle of violence as a response to the prisoner exchange agreement between Hamas and Israel.
They said Islamic Jihad leaders are obviously unhappy with the fact that Hamas's popularity has been boosted following the prisoner swap.
In the words of a Paleostinian journalist in Gazoo City, "Islamic Jihad is trying to spoil the party for Hamas, and the best way to do so is by initiating a new confrontation with Israel."
Islamic Jihad is acting on instructions from Tehran and Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... , whose leaders are also reported to be at loggerheads with Hamas. According to informed Paleostinian sources, relations between Hamas and the Iranians and Syrians have deteriorated because of the movement's refusal to publicly support the embattled regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... Those who are hoping that the downfall of the Hamas regime would bring a more moderate group to power are living in an illusion. It's almost certain by now that Islamic Jihad -- which is viewed by some as being more radical than Hamas -- will one day rise to power in the Gazoo Strip.
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.
Democracy went down in a blaze of glory last week. Both the German Bundestag and our own House of Commons put up one hell of a fight against the dying of the light. Maybe history will record that fact in an elegy on the demise of the great 18th-century experiment in government by the people: they were eloquent to the end. Because at the end, eloquence was all they had.
So this is where we are. The agreed EU "stability union"
But since our own economic recovery relies so heavily on the stability of the euro, we find ourselves (or at least, George Osborne has found himself) enthusiastically supporting this rape of democratic principle in countries which regard their freedom and self-determination as precious in much the same way, remarkably enough, that free-born Englishmen do.
Asif Ali 
Wazoo
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
