December 13, 2007

EU leaders sign bloc's new treaty amid public doubts
European Union leaders on Thursday signed a new treaty they said allows them to react more promptly to global issues by changing the way their bloc is run. The Lisbon Treaty, endorsed by the EU's 27 leaders two months ago after years of unease among Europeans about how much sovereignty they should surrender to centralized rule, replaces a thwarted project to establish a European Constitution. The treaty will come into force after it is ratified by all member states. The aim is to complete that process by 2009. The signing took place, however, amid complaints that the heads of government were not planning to hold referendums on the document, and accusations about environmental damage they were causing by flying to a two-hour ceremony.
Read article in the International Herald Tribune

December 7, 2007

European Commission Accused Of Pushing DTC
Several associations have accused the European Commission of supporting pharma companies in trying to make direct-to-consumer advertising for medicinal products legal. Four groups representing complementary health insurers, independent medical bulletins and patient advocates have issued a joint press release claiming: “The European Commission is supportive of the industry’s moves: its ‘consultations’ are little more than an attempt to sway public opinion.”
Read article at pharmalot.com

December 4, 2007

African states refuse to join EU trade deal
South Africa and Namibia said on Monday that they had refused to sign new trade deals with the European Union because it would compromise their sovereignty. The two states said they had refused to join the economic partnership agreements principally to avoid being bound into guaranteeing the EU equal terms to any bilateral trade deals negotiated with other parties in the future. Anil Sooklal, Pretoria’s ambassador to the EU, told the Financial Times that a most-favoured nation clause "compromises our sovereignty".
Read article in the Financial Times (UK)

December 2, 2007

Belgium's survival in question as 'next PM' quits the battle
Divisions deepen in nation at the heart of Europe
Belgium's chances of surviving as a single country suffered a significant blow last night when the man tipped to be the next Prime Minister abandoned almost six months of bad-tempered wrangling over a new government and threw in the towel. Yves Leterme, the Flemish Christian Democrat leader who emerged strongest from general elections in June, went to the royal palace in Brussels to tell King Albert he had had enough. The King accepted Leterme's resignation, but left open the key question of what happens next in the effort to secure a consensus between the country's bitterly divided Dutch-speaking Flemish and francophone Walloon communities. Leterme's resignation marked a watershed in the long-running crisis and shortened the odds on Belgium eventually splintering into two new countries at the heart of Europe - the bigger, more prosperous northern region of Flanders where the push for more autonomy is fuelling separatism, and the southern, less successful and smaller region of Wallonia, which is keener to preserve Belgium.
Read article in The Observer (UK)

November 28, 2007

Vast Nazi archive opens to public
A vast archive of wartime German documents on the Nazi Holocaust has been opened to the public. The 47m documents, kept in Germany, contain detailed records on 17.5m forced labourers, concentration camp victims and political prisoners. Previously, the files were only used to trace missing persons, reunite families and provide information for compensation claims. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) manages the files. The whole archive takes up some 26km (16 miles) of shelving in the town of Bad Arolsen in western Germany.
Read article at BBC News (UK)
Comment: In reality, of course, the opening of this archive was prompted by the launching, in July 2007, of the Profit Over Life website. Made possible by the Dr. Rath Health Foundation, the Profit Over Life website contains the authentic records from the 1947 Nuremberg war crimes trial against the IG Farben oil and drug cartel. As a result of the Foundation's efforts, there is no question now that the history about World War II will eventually have to be re-written to include the critical role of the oil and drug cartel and, moreover, that making this truth public is an important contribution to the preservation of world peace.

November 22, 2007

Danes vote again on the euro
Denmark said Thursday that it planned to hold a second referendum on whether to join the euro, which Danes rejected seven years ago, an action that could spur more countries to join the single currency. Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen promised a plebiscite within the next four years on whether to end Denmark's self-exclusion from the European currency and three other EU policies.
Read article in the International Herald Tribune

November 19, 2007

Polish defense chief wants to rethink stance on missile defense
Poland's new defense minister said the country should take a new look at whether allowing the United States to base part of a missile defense system in the country would serve its interests, according to a newspaper interview published Monday. Bogdan Klich's remarks, published in the Dziennik daily, underlined the shift in thinking on the issue under Poland's new government, which took power Friday. The new prime minister, Donald Tusk, and his government have vowed to take a firmer stand in its relations with the United States. Under former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Warsaw began negotiations with Washington on its request to place 10 interceptor missiles in the country, frequently expressing strong support for the plan as a way to strengthen the trans-Atlantic alliance. But in the interview, Klich was quoted as saying that Poland must once again "weigh the benefits and costs of this project for Poland. And if that balance results unfavorably, we should draw a conclusion from those results."
Read article in the International Herald Tribune

November 15, 2007

Missiles May Be Deployed in Belarus
A general warned Wednesday that Russia could deploy short-range missiles to Belarus as part of efforts to counter planned U.S. missile defense sites in Europe, Itar-Tass reported. Colonel-General Vladimir Zaritsky, chief of artillery and rocket forces for the ground forces, said, "Any action meets a counteraction, and this is the case with elements of the U.S. missile defense in Poland and the Czech Republic."
Read article in the Moscow Times (Russia)

November 14, 2007

MEPs demand EU action on secret CIA prisons
STRASBOURG - MEPs investigating secret CIA prisons in Europe are demanding that member states take action on their evidence. The evidence from the parliament's temporary committee on CIA activities in Europe, presented on Wednesday in Strasbourg, concerns an interception by the Swiss satellite, Onyx, of a fax between the Egyptian foreign minister in Cairo and his ambassador in London. According to MEPs, the interception reveals that 23 Afghan and Iraqi citizens are subject to interrogation on a daily basis at military centres in the Ukraine Romania, Kosovo and Macedonia. "We have strong serious, specific evidence that a military base in the Ukraine was used to detain prisoners by the CIA," said Italian socialist deputy Claudio Fava, co-leader of the temporary committee, at a press conference on Wednesday.
Read article at theparliament.com

November 13, 2007

EU accounts failed for 13th year
The auditors for the EU have refused to sign off the bloc's financial accounts - for the 13th year in a row. A report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) criticises nearly every major area of the EU's expenditure.
Read article at BBC News (UK)
Comment: In all, nearly 80% of the EU's 106bn-a-year euro budget (£75bn) fails the auditors test. The report, covering the 2006 budget, cites spending "irregularities" and a lack of supervision by the European Commission.

November 12, 2007

US most important UK ally – Brown
Gordon Brown has said Britain's "most important" relationship is with the US, in his first major foreign policy speech since becoming prime minister. He warned that he had "no truck with anti-Americanism" and said the EU should strengthen ties with the US.
Read article at BBC News (UK)
Comment: Given that a British Royal Navy aircraft carrier will be deployed in the Gulf next spring, the evidence would appear to be increasing that Gordon Brown has agreed to support US air strikes against Iran.

November 9, 2007

Food on agenda for US-EU trade talks
The first meeting of the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) takes place in Washington this week, with the freeing up of the food trade on the cards. The trade talks aim to improve trade relations between the two powerhouses in an effort to remain competitive on a global basis, particularly in view of growing pressures from Asian traders. US and EU negotiators say they hope to reach deals on regulatory rules that limit trade in food during the two day talks, which begin in Washington tomorrow.
Read article at nutraingredients-usa.com
Comment: Signed in April 2007, the transatlantic economic integration agreement that created the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) threatens the harmonizing of U.S. dietary supplement legislation to restrictive European regulations. To learn more, click here.

November 9, 2007

Sacked EU whistleblower loses claim
A Brussels whistleblower sacked for alleging that EU book-keeping was riddled with "slush funds and fraud" vowed to fight on after she lost her battle against wrongful dismissal. Marta Andreasen, the European Commission's former chief accountant, has sought for two and half years to clear her name of accusations of misconduct and disloyalty. But the EU's civil service tribunal yesterday rejected Mrs Andreasen's bid to have her dismissal annulled and upheld, in a 55-page judgment, every single complaint made against her by the commission.
Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)

November 8, 2007

EU urged to 'interact' more with citizens
Improved turn-out in the 2009 European elections is "essential" in order to boost the EU's much-maligned democratic deficit. That was the key message from Dutch MEP Sophie In't Veld at a conference in parliament on Thursday debating how the EU can improve the way it communicates with citizens. The ALDE deputy, a keynote speaker at the event said, "It is essential that voter turnout improves in these elections, not least in my own country where, for example, less than one third of the population bothered to turn out to vote in the 1999 European elections."
Read article at theparliament.com

November 8, 2007

EU debate 'defies democracy' says UK MEP
A major parliamentary conference on Europe's future has been branded "little more than the EU institutions talking to themselves". The two-day event, which started on Thursday, brings together over 500 civil society representatives for a debate on the future of Europe and the controversial EU reform treaty. They were invited by parliament to take part in a debate ahead of the expected ratification of the treaty by EU leaders in December. However, some MEPs have criticised the so-called "Citizen's Agora" event in parliament's main debating chamber, as a waste of time and money. UK Tory MEP Roger Helmer said that most of the participant organisations listed on the Agora website are "strongly pro-EU" groups and in receipt of EU funds.
Read article at theparliament.com

November 8, 2007

Falling in love again
For a whirlwind 26 hours Nicolas Sarkozy attempted yesterday to recapture US hearts with a message tailor-made for Fox News: America can count on France. And for a moment senators listening to the French president's address to a joint session of congress might have been lulled into believing that French and American soldiers had stood shoulder to shoulder in every conflict since the American war of independence. There was no mention of Iraq or of the fact that his predecessor Jacques Chirac had led European opposition to the war. Mr Sarkozy solemnly pledged to stay engaged in Afghanistan for as long as it takes. In fact, France is withdrawing its special forces from the country.
Read article in the Guardian (UK)
Comment: Sarkozy presented himself as a 'friend of America' but the reality is much more sobering. His visit served to plan the first nuclear war in the history of mankind. To learn more about Sarkozy, click here.

November 8, 2007

The EU is trying to trick developing countries into poor trade deals
These negotiations are flawed and unnecessarily hurried, say Alex Cobham and Sophie Powell
Peter Mandelson and Louis Michel, the EU's commissioners for trade and development, are staggeringly disingenuous in their broadside at those raising concerns about the impact on poor countries of the EU's stance in trade negotiations (This is not a poker game, October 31). They claim "The economic partnership agreements (EPAs) that the EU is negotiating with six African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regions [will] take a trading relationship based on dependency and turn it into one based on diversification and growth." Such an outcome is unlikely if they insist on using every trick possible to extract more sweeping deals than ACP countries believe are in their best interests.
Read article in the Guardian (UK)

November 6, 2007

EU leaders will fly across Europe just to sign treaty
The European Union opened itself up to criticism from eurosceptics and environmentalists yesterday after agreeing to split next month's summit of 27 heads of state and government between Lisbon and Brussels. Barring a last-minute change of heart, 26 presidents and prime ministers will fly by private jet to Lisbon, swiftly sign the contentious new EU treaty and hop back onto their planes, returning to Brussels for the normal sumptuous summit dinner and discussions about climate change, the Middle East crisis and the credit crunch.
Read article in the Guardian (UK)

November 2, 2007

Navy to patrol Gulf in the spring
A Royal Navy aircraft carrier will be deployed in the Gulf next spring, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed. Illustrious will sail for the highly sensitive waters near Iran accompanied by Edinburgh, a Type 42 destroyer whose main role is providing air defence, and Westminster, a Type 23 frigate. Two minesweepers and three support vessels from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary will complete the deployment for Operation Orion 08. The ships will spend about six months in the Gulf, the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. Their presence may coincide with a crucial period in the West's confrontation with Iran. Observers believe that the spring is the last possible moment for President George W Bush to order military strikes against Iran's nuclear programme.
Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)
Comment: When questioned about this development, the British Ministry of Defence claimed that the deployment had been "planned for a while." Just like the attack on Iraq, in other words…

October 26, 2007

Putin compares U.S. missile defense plans with 1962 Cuban crisis
Russian President Vladimir Putin compared on Friday U.S. missile defense system plans for Central Europe with the 1962 Cuban crisis. Speaking at a news conference following the Russia-EU summit in Portugal, the president said the plans, announced in January, to deploy missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic were reminiscent of the political crisis caused by the Soviet Union's missile bases in Cuba in 1962. "The situation is quite similar technologically for us. We have withdrawn the remains of bases from Vietnam and Cuba, but such threats are being created near our borders," Putin said.
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

October 19, 2007

Claims of secret CIA jail for terror suspects on British island to be investigated
· Legal charity urges action on Diego Garcia claims
· Prisoners may have been held in ships off coast
Allegations that the CIA held al-Qaida suspects for interrogation at a secret prison on sovereign British territory are to be investigated by MPs, the Guardian has learned. The all-party foreign affairs committee is to examine long-standing suspicions that the agency has operated one of its so-called "black site" prisons on Diego Garcia, the British overseas territory in the Indian Ocean that is home to a large US military base.
Read article in the Guardian (UK)

October 19, 2007

Brown: Blair would be great EU president
LISBON, Portugal - Let the jockeying begin! Will it be former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern or former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski? After agreeing on a European Union governing treaty, leaders began jostling Friday over who should become the first full-time president of the union – and Blair drew backing from his successor and the president of France.
Read article at Yahoo News

October 14, 2007

Germany falters in bid to link Russia to Europe
As Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President Vladimir Putin of Russia hold official talks Monday in this southern city, analysts say that Berlin's attempts to forge a new policy toward Russia to bind it to Europe is close to tatters.
Read article in the International Herald Tribune

October 11, 2007

Al Gore's inconvenient judgment
Al Gore's award-winning climate change documentary was littered with nine inconvenient untruths, a judge ruled yesterday. An Inconvenient Truth won plaudits from the environmental lobby and an Oscar from the film industry but was found wanting when it was scrutinised in the High Court in London. Mr Justice Burton identified nine significant errors within the former presidential candidate's documentary as he assessed whether it should be shown to school children. He agreed that Mr Gore's film was "broadly accurate" in its presentation of the causes and likely effects of climate change but said that some of the claims were wrong and had arisen in "the context of alarmism and exaggeration".
Read article in The Times (UK)

October 7, 2007

Gordon Brown 'will back air strikes on Iran'
Gordon Brown has agreed to support US air strikes against Iran if the Islamic republic orchestrates large-scale attacks by militants against British or American forces in Iraq, according to senior Pentagon officials.
Read article in the Sunday Telegraph (UK)

October 5, 2007

Drum beaters for Iran war should think again
In recent months there has been an audible increase in the drumming by those Americans most hell-bent on bombing Iran's nuclear weapons programme before the wee strange one can threaten Israel with annihilation. The Israeli airforce can destroy one site, as it did Iraq's Osirak reactor in 1982, but only the US can mount a sustained bombing campaign to suppress Iran's air defence systems before turning to as many as 2,000 targets. Vice-presidential adviser David Wurmser is now arguing for a two-for-the-price-of-one deal, whereby the US hits not just Iran but also Syria, in a "strategy" that is beginning to resemble the futile game of "whack a mole". Coordinated teams of spooky folk are currently circling western capitals, none too subtly removing non-belligerent options from the table. More stringent sanctions are quickly dismissed as too slow and porous.
Read Michael Burleigh's article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)

October 1, 2007

Phone data law extends surveillance powers
A massive extension of surveillance powers comes into force today, giving police, government officials and even local councils unprecedented access to everyone's telephone records. The new regulations will force telecommunications companies to retain information about all landline and mobile calls made by members of the public for one year, and hand over the data to over 650 public bodies and quangos. The move, quietly approved by Parliament in July under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, is being justified as a vital tool in the fight against terrorism.
Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)
Comment: Included on the list of 650 public bodies and quangos that now have access to the telephone records of private citizens in the UK is the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain - thus providing us with still further evidence that the "War on Terror" is not merely about fighting "terrorism" but is part of a deliberate long-term strategy by pharmaceutical investment groups to create a psychological "state of fear" and maintain global economic control. To see the list, click here. To read the UK's Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, click here.

September 28, 2007

Protests at EU deadline for third-world trade pacts
Anti-poverty campaigners demonstrated in more than 40 countries yesterday to protest at the European Union's insistence on sealing new free trade pacts with the world's poorest countries this year. Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, warned yesterday that 77 of the world's poorest countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific would face "less generous tariff rates" in trade with the EU unless they completed negotiations on new "economic partnership agreements" (EPAs) with Brussels by the year's end.
Read article in The Guardian (UK)

September 20, 2007

Brussels rules OK
How the European Union is becoming the world's chief regulator
A VICTORY for consumers and the free market. That was how the European Commission presented this week's ruling by European judges in favour of its multi-million euro fine on Microsoft for bullying competitors. American observers had qualms. Would a French company have been pursued with such vigour? Explain again why a squabble among American high-technology firms ends up being decided in Brussels and Luxembourg (where Euro-judges sit)? One congressman muttered about sneaky protectionism and "zealous European Commission regulators". It certainly seemed zealous of the competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes, to say that a "significant drop" in the software giant's market share was "what we'd like to see". More broadly, the ruling confirms that Brussels is becoming the world's regulatory capital.
Read article in The Economist (UK)
Comment: Through its effective control of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the European Union is also attempting to assume regulatory control over the global food supply and, by so doing, prevent people from accessing the levels of micronutrients that are necessary to achieve and maintain optimum health. To learn more about what Codex is, and how it affects you and your health, click here.

September 19, 2007

France warning of war with Iran
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner says the world should prepare for war over Iran's nuclear programme. "We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war," Mr Kouchner said in an interview on French TV and radio.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

September 13, 2007

End of the affair for Sarkozy and Merkel after serial blunders
Problems are piling up for Nicolas Sarkozy. Relations between the French President and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, are said to be deeply strained. Serious tensions are starting to appear in the French government. The economy is beginning to stutter. M. Sarkozy's domestic popularity, which was in the stratosphere until last month, is drifting downwards.
Read article in The Independent (UK)

September 11, 2007

EU gives up on 'metric Britain'
European Union commissioners have ruled that Britain can carry on using imperial measurements such as pints, pounds and miles. Europe's Industry Commissioner Gunter Verheugen said: "There is not now and never will be any requirement to drop imperial measurements." The decision will not affect current law on metric measurements, but means imperial equivalents can be used too. It follows years of wrangling between London and Brussels over metrication.
Read article at BBC News (UK)
Comment: A skeptic might argue that this concession is simply a desperate attempt to bribe the British people not to demand a referendum on the new European treaty, formerly known as the Constitution…

September 10, 2007

US surge has failed - Iraqi poll
About 70% of Iraqis believe security has deteriorated in the area covered by the US military "surge" of the past six months, an opinion poll suggests. The survey by the BBC, ABC News and NHK of more than 2,000 people across Iraq also suggests that nearly 60% see attacks on US-led forces as justified. This rises to 93% among Sunni Muslims compared to 50% for Shia.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

September 7, 2007

Poll backs bigger world role for EU
An overwhelming majority of Europeans want the European Union to take more responsibility for dealing with global threats, but few support combat operations in Afghanistan now or against Iran in the future, according to an opinion poll on Thursday.
Read article in the Financial Times (UK)

September 7, 2007

Most people 'want Iraq pull-out'
Most people across the world believe US-led forces should withdraw from Iraq within a year, a BBC poll suggests. Some 39% of people in 22 countries said troops should leave now, and 28% backed a gradual pull-out. Just 23% wanted them to stay until Iraq was safe. In the US, one-in-four supported an immediate withdrawal, while 32% wanted Iraq's security issues to be resolved before bringing the troops home. The BBC World Service commissioned the survey of 23,193 people.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

September 6, 2007

UK jets shadow Russian bombers
The UK's Royal Air Force has launched fighter jets to intercept eight Russian military planes flying in airspace patrolled by Nato, UK officials say. Four RAF F3 Tornado aircraft were scrambled in response to the Russian action, the UK's defence ministry said. The Russian planes - long-range bombers - had earlier been followed by Norwegian F16 jets. Russia recently revived a Cold War-era practice of flying bombers on long-range patrols.
Read article at BBC News (UK)
Comment: Alexander Drobyshevsky, an aide to the commander of Russia's Air Force, told RIA Novosti that NATO jets escort almost all Russian strategic bombers engaged in long-range patrols. "All the Russian strategic bombers' flights are performed in accordance with international rules. The aircraft fly over neutral waters, and do not get close to air borders of foreign states," he said.

September 5, 2007

Another Iraq Photo Op
Iraq is a long way to go for a photo op, but not for President Bush, who is pulling out all the stops to divert public attention from his failed Iraq policies and to keep Congress from demanding that he bring the troops home. As Americans and Iraqis continue to die – and Iraqi politicians refuse to reconcile – Mr. Bush stubbornly refuses to recognize that what both countries need is a responsible exit strategy for the United States, not more photo ops and disingenuous claims of success. With Congress launching a series of pivotal hearings this week, Mr. Bush's eight-hour stopover in Iraq on Sunday won him major play in the news media, including photos of smiling American military forces with their commander in chief. But the facts of the visit undermined his claims that his troop escalation is working and deserves more time and more lives to bear fruit.
Read editorial in the New York Times (USA)

September 5, 2007

All UK 'must be on DNA database'
The whole population and every UK visitor should be added to the national DNA database, a senior judge has said.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

September 5, 2007

Slovak PM slams U.S. for missile defense "adventure"
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico criticized the United States for bypassing NATO with a plan to deploy a missile defense system in central Europe, calling the project an adventure. Washington is negotiating with Slovakia's neighbors, Poland and the Czech Republic, on installing interceptor missiles and a radar base on their soil as a protection against attacks by what it calls rogue states, such as Iran or North Korea. Slovakia's leftist leader Fico said the United States should have discussed any such project with its partners in the NATO alliance.
Read article in the Washington Post (USA)

September 5, 2007

Russian strategic bombers to begin patrols Sep. 6 - Air Force
MOSCOW, September 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russian long-range Tu-95MS Bear-H strategic bombers will begin patrolling the country's remote areas beginning September 6, Col. Alexander Drobyshevsky, an Air Force spokesman, said Wednesday. Moscow announced in mid-August that strategic patrol flights had been resumed and would continue on a permanent basis, with patrol areas including commercial shipping and economic production zones. President Vladimir Putin announced the resumption of patrol flights August 17, and said that although the country halted long-distance strategic patrol flights to remote regions in 1992, other nations continued the practice, creating certain problems for Russian national security.
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

September 2, 2007

Fresh UK attack on US Iraq policy
A second key British general has criticised US post-war policy in Iraq. Maj Gen Tim Cross, who was the most senior UK officer involved in post-war planning, told the Sunday Mirror US policy was "fatally flawed".
Read article at BBC News (UK)
Comment:Major General Cross' remarks came came after Gen Sir Mike Jackson, head of the British Army during the invasion, told the Daily Telegraph US policy was "intellectually bankrupt".

August 29, 2007

Miliband: We will decide when UK troops leave Iraq
The Bush administration will not have a veto over the Government's plans to pull Britain's troops out of Iraq, ministers have made clear. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said decisions about troop withdrawals would be taken independently in the "British national interest" and stressed the situation facing British forces in Basra was "very different" to the one facing their American counterparts in Baghdad. Downing Street backed his stance as Gordon Brown came under fire from critics of the war for refusing to set a timetable for Britain's exit from Iraq. The Prime Minister will make a detailed statement in October on the future of the 5,500 troops deployed in Iraq.
Read article in The Independent (UK)

August 28, 2007

How the neoliberals stitched up the wealth of nations for themselves
A cabal of intellectuals and elitists hijacked the economic debate, and now we are dealing with the catastrophic effect
For the first time the UK's consumer debt exceeds the total of its gross national product: a new report shows that we owe £1.35 trillion. Inspectors in the United States have discovered that 77,000 road bridges are in the same perilous state as the one which collapsed into the Mississippi. Two years after Hurricane Katrina struck, 120,000 people from New Orleans are still living in trailer homes and temporary lodgings. As runaway climate change approaches, governments refuse to take the necessary action. Booming inequality threatens to create the most divided societies the world has seen since before the first world war. Now a financial crisis caused by unregulated lending could turf hundreds of thousands out of their homes and trigger a cascade of economic troubles. These problems appear unrelated, but they all have something in common. They arise in large part from a meeting that took place 60 years ago in a Swiss spa resort. It laid the foundations for a philosophy of government that is responsible for many, perhaps most, of our contemporary crises.
Read George Monbiot's article in the Guardian (UK)

August 17, 2007

Russia restores Soviet-era strategic bomber patrols – Putin
President Vladimir Putin said Russia permanently resumed Friday long-distance patrol flights of strategic bombers, which were suspended in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. "I made a decision to restore flights of Russian strategic bombers on a permanent basis, and at 00:00 today, August 17, 14 strategic bombers, support aircraft and aerial tankers were deployed. Combat duty has begun, involving 20 aircraft."
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

August 17, 2007

Computer program reveals FBI, CIA edited Wikipedia entries
A new scanning program has revealed that the FBI and CIA have been editing Wikipedia entries on topics ranging from the Iraq war to Guantanamo. WikiScanner, developed by CalTech graduate student Virgil Griffith, has traced editorial changes made to the online encyclopedia to FBI and CIA computers, including the removal of satellite imagery of the Guantanamo prison camp on the island of Cuba, where the United States has detained suspected terrorists since 2002, and redactions of articles on the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The program revealed that the CIA edited entries about its former director, William Colby, altering details of his career, and that a graphic on casualties in Iraq was manipulated to downplay the figures.
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

August 10, 2007

UN accepts UK's request to expand role in Iraq
The United Nations today approved a British and American resolution to play a greater role in bringing peace to wartorn Iraq than at any time since 2003.
Read article in The Times (UK)
Comment: With its decision made on June 8, 2004 to authorize a US-led military occupation, the UN Security Council retrospectively approved the illegal Iraq War. In doing so, it destroyed its own code of international law, the UN Charter and thereby, the very basis for the UN's existence. As such, the approval of this resolution only further cements the final erosion of its credibility, thus heralding the ultimate demise of its role as servant to the people of the world.

August 9, 2007

International experts condemn Irish water treatment practices
Ireland has been heavily criticized by top medical, dental, scientific and environmental professionals, including a Nobel Prize winner for Medicine. Six hundred international experts signed an online petition in a bid to stop the practise of fluoridation. They condemned the few countries that still fluoridate drinking water, including Ireland, claiming it is an outdated and unscientific practice.
Read article on the Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment (VOICE) website (Ireland)

August 8, 2007

US uneasy as Britain plans for early Iraq withdrawal
Americans would prefer UK troops to remain in position as long as they do
The Bush administration is becoming increasingly concerned about the impact of an imminent British withdrawal from southern Iraq and would prefer UK troops to remain for another year or two.
Read article in the Guardian (UK)

August 3, 2007

Iraq violence: Monitoring the surge
An extra 30,000 US troops have been deployed in Iraq, mainly in and around the capital Baghdad, since the launch of the security drive, or "surge", in February. The BBC World Service is monitoring its effects, week by week, by looking at casualty figures, the pressure on hospitals and quality of life for ordinary civilians.
Read article at BBC News (UK)
Comment: During the seven-day period from 26 July to 1 August there were 482 violent deaths across Iraq – a rise of nearly 70 people on last week's total. Looking back over the whole of July, Iraqi officials say more than 1,600 civilians were killed – this figure is higher than the number of deaths for February this year, when the US surge began.

August 1, 2007

UN resolution on bigger Iraq role
The US and the UK have circulated a new draft resolution to United Nations Security Council members proposing a bigger role for the UN in Iraq.
Read article at BBC News (UK)
Comment: With its decision made on June 8, 2004 to authorize a US-led military occupation, the UN Security Council retrospectively approved the illegal Iraq War. In doing so, it destroyed its own code of international law, the UN Charter and thereby, the very basis for the UN's existence. As such, the passing of this resolution would only further cement the final erosion of its credibility, thus heralding the ultimate demise of its role as servant to the people of the world.

July 30, 2007

Bush and Brown vow co-operation
US President George W Bush and UK PM Gordon Brown have held their first formal talks, renewing pledges to fight terrorism and seek progress in Iraq. Mr Brown said both nations had duties and responsibilities in Iraq, and that he would seek military advice before announcing any changes in policy. The pair met at Camp David, near Washington, amid widespread interest about whether they could work together. The talks also focused on Afghanistan, Darfur, world trade and climate change.
Read article at BBC News (UK)
Comment: Significantly, perhaps, in referring to their meetings, Mr Brown described them as full and frank, which is normal diplomatic code for an argument.

July 29, 2007

British prime minister holds talks with Bush
President George W. Bush, whose relationship with Tony Blair when he was prime minister of Britain was unparalleled in closeness and reliability, on Sunday night began two days of meetings with Blair's successor, Gordon Brown. The selection of Brown, who took office in late June, has injected a dose of unpredictability into Bush's most important trans-Atlantic partnership. The meetings, the first of Brown's tenure as prime minister, hold challenges for both men.
Read article in the International Herald Tribune

July 27, 2007

EU treaty only available in French
The controversial EU treaty has only been made available to MPs in French. The treaty, said by critics to be a constitution in disguise, was tabled in Brussels last Monday, but only in one language – a contravention of EU rules stating all documents must be published in a minimum of German, French and English. Those rules have been temporarily suspended in a frantic bid to get the treaty agreed by October.
Read article at politics.co.uk

July 27, 2007

Gorbachev says British leadership panders to the United States
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev accused the United Kingdom's government of creating problems for itself by trying to please only the United States at the expense of other partners.
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

July 26, 2007

Russia offers NATO strategic missile defense partnership –official
Russia is offering to engage NATO in a strategic partnership to counter possible missile threats, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Thursday. As an alternative to U.S. plans to deploy elements of a missile defense system in the Czech Republic and Poland, Russia has proposed the joint use of a radar station that Russia leases from Azerbaijan. Later, Russia also offered the joint use of a missile early warning system it is building in the south of the country. "We are offering strategic partnership – an international system to neutralize missile threats, said Anatoly Antonov, director of the Foreign Ministry Security and Disarmament Department.
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

July 24, 2007

First translation and analysis of new version of the Constitutional Treaty: 96% of articles are copied from the original EU Constitution
Responding to the publication of the new version of the European Constitution and the launch of the intergovernmental conference, Open Europe has produced the first English language translation of the new version of the Constitutional Treaty, and the first analysis of its contents – which suggests that it is almost exactly the same as the original European Constitution. The analysis finds that only 10 out of 250 proposals in the new treaty are different from the proposals in the original EU Constitution. In other words, 96% of the text is the same as the rejected Constitution.
Read press release on the Open Europe website (UK)

July 24, 2007

Lisbon hails lifting of EU treaty obstacles
Europe is poised to shake off years of "paralysis" and tackle global challenges, EU foreign ministers said at the presentation of a new draft reform treaty on Monday. With Poland dropping a key objection to the treaty, it should be agreed in record time by October, said Portugal, which holds the rotating presidency of the bloc. Luis Amado, Lisbon's foreign minister, said: "It is vital that the Union should not allow itself to be paralysed once again on account of internal, institutional problems." He said that the treaty negotiators could not deviate "one millimetre" from the mandate given by Europe’s leaders at a Brussels summit last month amid fears that some countries could attempt to unpick part of the deal during technical negotiations over the summer.
Read article in the Financial Times (UK)

July 22, 2007

Globalisation backlash in rich nations
A popular backlash against globalisation and the leaders of the world's largest companies is sweeping all rich countries, an FT/Harris poll shows. Large majorities of people in the US and in Europe want higher taxation for the rich and even pay caps for corporate executives to counter what they believe are unjustified rewards and the negative effects of globalisation. Viewing globalisation as an overwhelmingly negative force, citizens of rich countries are looking to governments to cushion the blows they perceive have come from the liberalisation of their economies to trade with emerging countries.
Read article in the Financial Times (UK)

July 19, 2007

Russia expels four UK diplomats
Russia is to expel four UK diplomats in the continuing row over Moscow's refusal to extradite the man suspected of Alexander Litvinenko's murder. The four diplomats must leave Russia within 10 days, and Moscow is to review visa applications for UK officials. UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was "disappointed" by what he called a "completely unjustified" move.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

July 17, 2007

Britain Expels 4 Diplomats Over Lugovoi
A diplomatic crisis erupted Monday after the British government said it would expel four Russian diplomats over Moscow's refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoi to face trial for the murder of Alexander Litvinenko. "The Russian government has failed to register either how seriously we treat this case or the seriousness of the issues involved, despite lobbying at the highest level and clear explanations of our need for a satisfactory response," British Foreign Minister David Miliband said in a speech to Parliament. Russia, which is expected to respond in kind, criticized the announcement Monday evening, saying it would have the "most serious consequences" for relations with Britain.
Read article in the Moscow Times (Russia)

July 16, 2007

Polish leader defends antimissile plan
In the face of fierce Russian opposition to the planned U.S. antimissile facilities, the visiting Polish president insisted Monday that the program was "really a defense instrument" that would in no way threaten Russia. "It is aimed at defense of our democracies against the countries who might have or already do have nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction," said President Lech Kaczynski, as he and President George W. Bush responded to questions from reporters following a meeting. Bush said that the program, which calls for installation of 10 interceptors in Poland and radar facilities in the Czech Republic, would protect not just the United States but much of Europe from threats that "may emanate from parts of the world where leaders don't particularly care for our way of life and are in the process of trying to develop serious weapons of mass destruction," presumably meaning Iran.
Read article in the International Herald Tribune

July 14, 2007

Russia suspends participation in CFE treaty
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree suspending Russia's participation in the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, the Kremlin press service said. The move is taken "due to the extraordinary circumstances affecting Russia's security and requiring immediate measures". On April 26, 2007, Putin in his address to the Federal Assembly proposed to declare a moratorium on Russia's observance of the treaty. According to Russia, among the extraordinary circumstances are the serious problems with NATO countries' observance of the treaty in connection with the NATO enlargement and their delay to ratify the Adapted Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty signed in 1999.
Read article on the ITAR-TASS News Agency website (Russia)

July 12, 2007

Greenham nuclear risk for millions uncovered
· MoD papers reveal 1980s threat to 10m in south-east
· Reports obtained under anti-secrecy legislation
Nuclear missiles stationed at the former RAF base at Greenham Common in Berkshire put 10 million people at risk from radioactive contamination, according to documents released by the Ministry of Defence.
Read article in The Guardian (UK)

July 11, 2007

Parliament gives green light to IG
The European parliament has formally backed the convening of an inter-governmental conference (IGC) to draw up a reform treaty. MEPs voted by 526 votes to 138 with 26 abstentions in favour of constitutional affairs committee chair Jo Leinen's report, giving the green light for treaty talks to begin. "This was a good day for European unification," said parliament president Hans-Gert Poettering shortly after the plenary vote Wednesday lunchtime.
Read article at theparliament.com

UK needs a two-child limit, says population report
· Highest fertility rate in 26 years 'unsustainable'
· Thinktank calls for better funded family planning
Families should restrict themselves to having a maximum of two children to stabilise the effect on the environment of Britain's rapidly growing population, a thinktank warns today. According to the Optimum Population Trust, Britain's rising birth rate, currently growing at the highest rate for nearly 30 years, should be considered an environmental liability. "Each new UK birth, through the inevitable resource consumption and pollution that UK affluence generates, is responsible for about 160 times as much climate-related environmental damage as a new birth in Ethiopia, or 35 times as much as a new birth in Bangladesh," the report says. It calls on the government to introduce a "stop at two children" or "have one child less" guideline and to review incentives that may lead some teenage girls to become pregnant. "A voluntary stop-at-two guideline should be adopted for couples in the UK who want to adopt greener lifestyles. It would aim to set an example," it says.
Read article in the Guardian (UK)

July 10, 2007

Cyprus and Malta to adopt euros
Cyprus and Malta will adopt the euro on 1 January 2008 after EU finance ministers gave them the final go-ahead. The 27 ministers decided that one euro would replace 0.585274 Cyprus pounds and 0.4293 Maltese lira.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

July 9, 2007

Blair aides 'had Iraq war doubts'
Tony Blair's closest aides had "severe moments of doubt" about the invasion of Iraq , according to the diaries of his former media chief Alastair Campbell.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

July 5, 2007

NATO expansion relapse into Cold War - FM Lavrov
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that NATO's further expansion eastward was reminiscent of the Cold War standoff between the Soviet Union and the West. "We do not think NATO's expansion is necessary, and believe the policy is a relapse into the Cold War," Lavrov told a news conference following talks with his Finnish counterpart.
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

July 4, 2007

Russia to Respond to US Missile Shield in Europe – Deputy PM
Russia has an adequate response to the deployment of U.S. anti-missile defense facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic , First Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov told reporters on Wednesday. Moscow will take steps to ensure its security if Washington turns down its offer of cooperation on missile defense, Sergey Ivanov told the press on Wednesday. “We are already taking these measures. An asymmetrical and effective response has been found,” the deputy prime minister said without specifying what that response involves.
Read article at kommersant.com (Russia)

July 3, 2007

Putin surprises on missile shield
Meeting with Bush in Maine, he signaled cooperation, though a core dispute remained.
Russian President Vladimir V. Putin offered an expanded counterproposal to U.S. missile-defense plans yesterday, challenging President Bush to build a regional European missile shield that could include a sophisticated new radar facility on Russian soil. Putin's proposal went far beyond the cooperation he first suggested in Germany last month and surprised Bush as the two leaders wrapped up two days of informal meetings at the president's family compound. Bush welcomed the plan, and his advisers said Putin's suggestions convinced them that he was serious about working together, not just posturing, as they initially suspected. But the two sides remained at odds over the core issue - whether Bush would deploy antimissile facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic over the objections of Putin, who sees them as a threat to Russian security.
Read article in the Philadelphia Inquirer (USA)

July 1, 2007

Europeans see US as threat to peace
Europeans consistently regard the US as the biggest threat to world stability, a new poll reveals on Monday. A survey carried out in June by Harris Research for the Financial Times shows that 32 per cent of respondents in five European countries regard the US as a bigger threat than any other state. In the US itself, North Korea and Iran are seen as the biggest risks. However, the youngest US respondents share the Europeans’ view that theirs is the biggest threat, with 35 per cent of American 16- to 24-year-olds identifying it as the chief danger to stability.
Read article in the Financial Times (UK)

June 29, 2007

UN closes Iraq WMD inspectorate
The UN Security Council has voted to close down the weapons inspections programme set up to monitor former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's arsenal. The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (Unmovic) was set up in 1999 to check Iraq no longer had any weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). Its inspectors permanently quit Iraq just before the US invasion in 2003. The US cited the presence of WMDs in Iraq as justification for its invasion though no such weapons were ever found.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

Food safety agencies to sign cooperation agreement
In a ground-breaking move to improve food safety, the European Food Safety Authority and the US Food and Drug Administration will team up to share scientific information. The two entities will sign an agreement on 2 July in Brussels to co-ordinate their research efforts into food safety issues.
Read article at foodnavigator-usa.com
Comment: The signing of this cooperation agreement is not merely about food safety and is closely related to the recent signing of the Transatlantic Economic Integration Agreement and the planned US-EU single market. Rather than consumers, the key beneficiaries of these agreements will be some of the world’s richest and most powerful corporations - including the pharmaceutical industry.

June 28, 2007

EU firm to solve Iran issue through dialogue: Solana spokesman
Cristina Gallach, the spokesperson of Javier Solana, EU high representative for the foreign and security common policy, said in a short interview with the Mehr News Agency on Wednesday that EU is “determined to solve Iran 's nuclear issue through negotiation.”
Read article in the Tehran Times (Iran)

Blair questioned again by police
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has been questioned for a third time by detectives investigating allegations of "cash-for-honours", it has emerged. Mr Blair, who left Downing Street on Wednesday, had already become the first PM to be interviewed by police in the course of a corruption inquiry. Prosecutors had asked Scotland Yard to carry out further inquiries before deciding if charges should be brought.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

June 27, 2007

Blair appointed Middle East envoy
Tony Blair is to become a Middle East envoy working on behalf of the US , Russia , the UN and the EU. The announcement came just hours after he stood down as UK prime minister and shortly before it was announced he was to quit as a member of parliament. Mr Blair said a solution to Mid-East problems was possible but it required "huge intensity and work". He faces an uphill task to address Palestinian misgivings over his ties to Israel and the US, say observers.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

Brown is UK 's new prime minister
Gordon Brown has become the UK 's prime minister, succeeding Tony Blair.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

Blair resigns as prime minister
Tony Blair has stood down as UK prime minister after 10 years in the job. He handed in his resignation to the Queen during a private meeting at Buckingham Palace.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

June 26, 2007

GM crops: 'Point of no return in ten years'
EUROPE will increase its genetically modified (GMO) crop area by 50,000-100,000 hectares a year over the next decade, US biotech giant Monsanto has said. "It will be slow but within ten years GMOs will have reached the point of no return," said Jean-Michel Duhamel, Monsanto's director for southern Europe.
Comment: Whilst this is what Monsanto and its friends in the pharma industry want, poll after poll has repeatedly shown that it is the exact opposite to what consumers want.
Read article in The Scotsman (Scotland/UK)

June 25, 2007

BIS warns of Great Depression dangers from credit spree
The Bank for International Settlements, the world's most prestigious financial body, has warned that years of loose monetary policy has fuelled a dangerous credit bubble, leaving the global economy more vulnerable to another 1930s-style slump than generally understood. "Virtually nobody foresaw the Great Depression of the 1930s, or the crises which affected Japan and southeast Asia in the early and late 1990s. In fact, each downturn was preceded by a period of non-inflationary growth exuberant enough to lead many commentators to suggest that a 'new era' had arrived", said the bank. The BIS, the ultimate bank of central bankers, pointed to a confluence a worrying signs, citing mass issuance of new-fangled credit instruments, soaring levels of household debt, extreme appetite for risk shown by investors, and entrenched imbalances in the world currency system.
Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)

June 23, 2007

EU leaders agree on reform treaty
European Union leaders have reached agreement in Brussels on an outline of new rules to govern the 27-member bloc. At dawn on Saturday they announced a compromise to delay until 2014 a new voting system that reduces Poland's influence - the main stumbling block. Other proposals envisage a long-term president and a foreign affairs head. The new treaty, expected to be finalised later this year, preserves much of the planned EU constitution, which was rejected by voters in 2005. The treaty will need to be ratified by each of the EU's member states, before entering into force in mid-2009.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

June 22, 2007

Cuba Says EU Has No Moral Authority to Judge
Havana, Jun 22 (Prensa Latina) Cuba praised as a "necessary rectification" the European Union invitation for a complete and open political dialogue on Friday, but warned it does not recognize its moral authority to judge or advise it. A declaration from the Cuban Foreign Affairs Ministry (MINREX) on conclusions of the EU's Foreign Relations Council about the island, published today, states that the European Union has the responsibility to rectify mistakes committed in its policy against Havana . According to the MINREX text, "only a dialogue between sovereigns and equals will be possible, without conditions and pending threats", when the denominated common position and the 2003 sanctions are eliminated. The EU Foreign Relations Council recently approved the document, "Conclusions on Cuba", in which it omitted reference to the common position and sanctions it tried to apply "unfair and rashly
Read article in the Escambray Digital (Cuba)

June 21, 2007

Scientists and MEPs for a GM free Europe
Independent scientists, MEPs, farmers and citizens united at the European Parliament condemning GMOs; the European Food Safety Authority to be sued
Scientists from six countries joined forces with Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to call for a Europe wide and worldwide ban on growing GM crops at a special briefing in the European Parliament in Brussels on 12 June 2007 . The briefing, organized by ISIS, Third World Network and Green Network, and hosted by Janusz Wojciechowski, MEP, the vice-Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development for the European Union, coincided with the publication of key scientific papers, GM Food Nightmare Unfolding in the Regulatory Sham (ISIS scientific publication) and New Analysis of a Rat Feeding Study with a Genetically Modified Maize Reveals Signs of Hepatorenal Toxicity (CRII-GEN) on how national and international regulators have been ignoring damning evidence against the safety of GM food and feed while colluding with industry to manipulate scientific research to promote GM crops. The papers were presented at the briefing together with a comprehensive dossier containing more than 160 fully referenced articles from the Science in Society archives documenting the serious hazards ignored, the scientific fraud, the regulatory sham and violation of farmers' rights.
Read press release on the Institute of Science in Society (ISIS) website (UK)

June 20, 2007

Support for EU rises after economic recovery
Public backing for the European Union has risen sharply to its highest level since the 1990s, providing a positive backdrop for what threatens to be an acrimonious Brussels summit starting tomorrow. Support for EU membership has risen to 57 per cent, up four points since last autumn, with above-average increases in Spain, Germany, Poland and Britain, according to an extensive poll. The survey suggests that the economic recovery has changed Europe's mood, and that citizens are less worried about losing their jobs and more willing to contemplate widening the EU's borders further to include poorer countries.
Read article in the Financial Times (UK)

June 18, 2007

Lords to look at legality of Iraq war
· Bereaved mothers win right to have appeal heard
· Petition drafted by two leading human rights QCs
Britain 's highest court is to hear a case which could force the government to hold an independent inquiry into the way the attorney general reached his conclusion that the war in Iraq would be lawful. The law lords have agreed to hear an appeal by the mothers of two soldiers killed in Iraq, who argue that the government violated their sons' right to life by rushing into war on inadequate legal grounds. "The legality of the war on Iraq - the most important question of law of our generation - remains unresolved by any court or other independent and authoritative body in the United Kingdom ," begins the petition which persuaded the judges to let the appeal go ahead.
Read article in the Guardian (UK)

June 15, 2007

Russia's FSB probes MI6 activities based on Lugovoi claims
Russia 's Federal Security Service (FSB) has launched an investigation into British intelligence activities in Russia after statements made by businessman Andrei Lugovoi against a former FSB officer and tycoon, the service said Friday.
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

June 14, 2007

EU must accept biotech crops, trade commissioner says
The European Union must accept more genetically modified foods to avoid renewed complaints about market barriers at the World Trade Organization, the EU trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson, said Thursday. Any EU delay over the approval of genetically modified crops declared safe by scientists risks prompting legal challenges from farm exporters like the United States , Canada and Argentina , Mandelson said. In a case brought by these three countries, the WTO ruled last year that a 1998-2004 EU ban on new genetically altered foods was illegal.
Read article in the International Herald Tribune

New Irish government adopts GM-free policy
IRELAND AIMS TO BECOME A GMO-FREE ZONE
Following last night's Green Party historic agreement to form a coalition government with Fianna Fail, the two parties revealed their agreed policy "to negotiate for the whole island of Ireland to become a GMO-free zone." The announcement was received with jubilation by farmers and food producers on both sides of the border who have spent the last nine years campaigning to achieve this goal.
Read press release at gmwatch.org

June 13, 2007

EU parliament hearing condemns US missile base plan
Plans to install an anti-missile shield system in Europe have been condemned by the mayor of Trokavec, the tiny Czech Republic village where it will be based. Speaking in parliament, Jan Neoral criticised the move, saying it will contribute to a new arms race and create divisions between member states. Neoral was in Brussels to attend a hearing on American plans to build a huge radar station less than one kilometre from the village.
Read article at eupolitix.com

'Majority of MEPs' favour single seat for EU parliament
A poll of MEPs conducted by the Campaign for Parliament Reform has revealed that an overwhelming majority want one permanent seat for the European parliament. The survey found that 89 per cent favour a single seat and 81 percent want the seat to be in Brussels, and so end the regular trips to Strasbourg. The monthly commute to the Alsace city, which is enshrined in an EU treaty, costs an estimated €200m a year. Of those who responded to the poll, a further 84 per cent also believed the parliament should be able to decide on its own the location of its seat. Of the 785 ballot papers sent out to deputies last week, 306 were returned.
Read article at eupolitix.com

June 12, 2007

EU must regain citizens' trust says former parliament president
EU citizens are more interested in what Europe can do for them rather than the intricacies of how it works, according to former MEP Pat Cox. Ahead of the upcoming key EU summit on the stalled constitution, this is the conclusion of an extensive public consultation exercise as part of the European commission’s Plan D strategy. Speaking at Tuesday’s launch of consultation’s findings, Pat Cox, a former parliament president, used a motoring metaphor to sum up public opinion on the protracted debate over a European constitution. "People are not especially interested in the car engine but, rather, are more focused on its ability to travel to the desired policy destinations," he said. "In short, they are results and not process oriented."
Read article at theparliament.com

Ministers open door for GMOs in organic food
GM contamination in imports affects EU organic standard
At the Agriculture Council today EU Ministers decided to allow contamination of organic food with genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The Ministers adopted a new law which allows organic food containing up to 0.9 percent "adventitious or technically unavoidable" GMO content to be classed and labelled as organic. Environmental groups criticised the decision as it goes against the principle of consumer choice. Organic farming is the most competitive and environmentally friendly agricultural sector. In Europe it is creating new jobs and has wide public support. Helen Holder, GMO Campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe, said: "Now that the EU has declared traces of genetic contamination in organic crops acceptable, organic farmers will find it increasingly difficult to keep their crops GM-free. The EU must urgently introduce cross-border legislation to protect organic and conventional farmers from genetic pollution." The European Parliament and environmental groups had called for the threshold of contamination of organic food to be 0.1 percent, which is the lowest level at which genetically modified organisms can be technically detected.
Read press release on the Friends of the Earth Europe website

June 11, 2007

In Iraq, U.S. envisions fewer troops, longer stay
Major reduction could begin by late 2008
U.S. military officials here are increasingly envisioning a "post-occupation" troop presence in Iraq that neither maintains current levels nor leads to a complete pullout, but aims for a smaller, longer-term force that would remain in the country for years. This goal, according to recent interviews with more than 20 U.S. military officers and other officials here including senior commanders, strategists and analysts, remains in the early planning stages. It is based on officials' assessment that a sharp drawdown of troops is likely to begin by the middle of next year, with roughly two-thirds of the current force of 150,000 moving out by late 2008 or early 2009.
Read article at tennessean.com (USA)

June 9, 2007

Russia urges U.S. to shelve missile plans, look for alternatives
Russia 's foreign minister said Saturday the U.S. should put on hold moves to deploy a missile shield in Europe pending talks on Moscow 's recent offer to jointly use a radar in Azerbaijan . President Putin reiterated Friday at a news conference following the G8 summit in Germany that the U.S. missile defense plans are directed against a nonexistent threat, and would jeopardize Russia's national security. "The sharing of data from this [Azerbaijan] facility will enable the United States to abandon plans to deploy missile defense elements in Europe, as well as plans to deploy space based components," Sergei Lavrov said. He said the U.S. plans would undermine UN efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem. "Nobody has proved that the Iranian nuclear program has a military component," Sergei Lavrov said. "Missile shield deployment in Europe may hamper [the UN] efforts and cast doubt over Iran's desire to cooperate."
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

June 7, 2007

Far right slams 'totalitarian' Europe
Volen Siderov, chairman of the far right Bulgarian nationalist party Attack, has claimed that some aspects of Europe are now 'more totalitarian than under the Soviet Union '. “Multinationals are destroying smaller economies,” he said at a Brussels press conference organised by Bruno Gollnisch - the chairman of the Identity, Sovereignty and Tradition (IST) group - in order to highlight the group’s growth following the Bulgarian elections. “I would call this neo-colonialism.”
Read article at theparliament.com

June 6, 2007

MEPs called to vote on future of EU parliament
MEPs were given their first chance to make a direct comment on the future of the European parliament this week by a group campaigning for reform. The group, led by German MEP Alexander Alvaro, was behind the highly successful web-based campaign, www.oneseat.eu , that garnered over a million signatures backing its call for an end to parliament’s Strasbourg seat. The ballot, which took place on 4 June, was the first time that MEPs have been asked directly for their opinion on parliament’s double seat dilemma. MEPs were asked if parliament should have just one seat, whether it should be in Brussels or Strasbourg and whether parliament should have the sole right to decide where it sits.
Read article at theparliament.com

June 5, 2007

Bush to Putin: 'Vladimir, you shouldn't fear a missile defense system'
Russia is not an enemy of the United States and shouldn't fear a proposed missile defense system designed to thwart a possible nuclear attack from Iran , U.S. President George W. Bush said Tuesday. "Russia is not the enemy," Bush said after meeting with Czech leaders in a visit en route to the G-8 summit in Germany. He said he would take a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that "we can work together on common threats." The Kremlin is bitterly opposed to the missile shield, and Putin has warned that Russia could take "retaliatory steps" if Washington insists on building it.
Read article at PRAVDA On-Line (Russia)

June 1, 2007

Taking liberties?
People will only wake up to the destruction of their civil liberties when it is too late to do anything about it. That is the fear driving a new documentary film which aims to do for civil liberties what Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore's anti-George Bush polemic, did for the anti-war movement. Director Chris Atkins wants Taking Liberties to shake the British public out of their apathy over what he sees as the dangerous erosion of traditional rights and freedoms under Tony Blair.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

Putin: US imperialists start new round of arms race
Russia 's recent tests of new ballistic missiles can be interpreted as a direct response to the deployment of the US missile system in Europe , and the development of new military bases on the continent, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. At a news conference after meeting with the Greek president in Kremlin, Putin spoke about the cooperation between the two countries and condemned US missile defense systems in Europe. "We are not the initiators of this new round of the arms race ," Putin told a joint Kremlin news conference. "There is no need to fear Russia's actions, they are not aggressive... They are aimed at maintaining balance in the world order, and are extremely important for maintaining peace and security globally," Putin said. The president suggested recently that Moscow might suspend its obligations under the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty if talks with NATO countries on its implementation show no visible progress.
Read article at PRAVDA On-Line (Russia)

May 24, 2007

Congress Passes War Funds Bill, Ending Impasse
Congress voted Thursday to meet President Bush’s demand for almost $100 billion to pay for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through September, providing a momentary truce in a bitter struggle over war policy. Even before the House and the Senate acted, Mr. Bush welcomed the legislation, which does not set the timetable sought by Democrats for withdrawing troops but requires the Iraqi government to meet a series of benchmarks as a condition of receiving further American reconstruction aid. The measure also calls for reports from Mr. Bush in July and September about how his strategy is unfolding in Iraq and requires independent assessments of the performance of the Iraqi government by Sept. 1 and the abilities of Iraqi military forces within 120 days.
Read article in the New York Times (USA)

Poll Shows View of Iraq War Is Most Negative Since Start
Americans now view the war in Iraq more negatively than at any time since the invasion more than four years ago, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. Sixty-one percent of Americans say the United States should have stayed out of Iraq and 76 percent say things are going badly there, including 47 percent who say things are going very badly, the poll found.
Read article in the New York Times (USA)

May 23, 2007

Kasparov calls on EU to stand up to Putin
During a visit to the European parliament, Russian opposition leader Garry Kasparov urged the EU to continue to press the Kremlin on human rights. Kasparov, the former chess master who has turned into one of Russia’s most prominent opposition figures, was invited to parliament by the assembly's president Hans-Gert Poettering. The visit comes just a week after Kasparov and other campaigners were prevented from flying to Samara during the EU-Russia summit. Kasparov praised the strong declarations in Samara by commission president José Manuel Barroso and German chancellor Angela Merkel, and said the EU must continue to push for human rights. He added that the objective of his opposition group is to “fight for free and fair elections” for the Russian presidential elections in 2008.
Read article at eupolitix.com

The state has 266 ways to enter your home
The state now has 266 powers to draw upon when its agents want to enter homes, according to research. A report from the Centre for Policy Studies says that an Englishman's home is less his castle and more "a right of way'' for police, local government officials and other bureaucrats. In the 1950s just 10 new powers of entry were granted by statute. In the 1980s and 1990s an extra 60 were added. For the first time, Harry Snook, a barrister and the author of the study, Crossing the Threshold, has drawn together the full list of entry powers in the state's possession. Force can be used in most cases. The research comes at a time of heightened concern over the lengthening arm of the state, with ID cards around the corner and more sophisticated surveillance equipment being used to watch people.
Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)

May 21, 2007

EU to approve support for failing GM crops sector
The EU is poised today to approve further financial and political support for genetically modified (GM) crops, despite growing evidence that the sector is failing.
Read press release on the Friends of the Earth Europe website

May 20, 2007

An insult to open government and democracy
If the House of Commons is not a public authority, what is it? Its members are chosen to serve the people. It offends democracy when they cynically legislate to serve themselves. But that is what they did last week by passing the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill, a private initiative by a Tory backbencher that seeks to excuse Parliament from its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act.
Read editorial in the Observer (UK)

Police chief's 'Orwellian' fears
A senior police officer has said he fears the spread of CCTV cameras is leading to "an Orwellian situation". Deputy chief constable of Hampshire Ian Readhead said Britain could become a surveillance society with cameras on every street corner. He told the BBC's Politics Show that CCTV was being used in small towns and villages where crime rates were low.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

May 19, 2007

Former U.S. president calls Britain's support for Iraq war a 'major tragedy'
Britain's support for the war in Iraq was a "major tragedy" for the world, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said Saturday, as he criticized Tony Blair's unwavering support for George W. Bush. Asked how he would judge the British prime minister's support of Bush, Carter said: "Abominable. Loyal. Blind. Apparently subservient." "And I think the almost undeviating support by Great Britain for the ill-advised policies of President Bush in Iraq have been a major tragedy for the world," Carter told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Read article in the International Herald Tribune

May 18, 2007

EU-Russian talks end in acrimony
The leaders of the European Union and Russia have traded sharp criticism over human rights, at a summit that exposed the divisions between the two sides. German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed alarm at the detention of activists intending to protest against the Russian government. Vladimir Putin retorted that Estonia's ethnic Russians were being persecuted.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

May 17, 2007

War-torn Iraq 'facing collapse'
Iraq faces the distinct possibility of collapse and fragmentation, UK foreign policy think tank Chatham House says. Its report says the Iraqi government is now largely powerless and irrelevant in many parts of the country. It warns there is not one war but many local civil wars, and urges a major change in US and British strategy, such as consulting Iraq's neighbours more.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

May 15, 2007

US to go ahead with missile plans
The US will not allow Russia to stop it from deploying anti-missile defences in Europe, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said. "I don't think anyone expects the United States to permit a veto on American security interests," she said after meeting President Vladimir Putin. Her comments come after she and the Russian president agreed to tone down their rhetoric in public exchanges. Russia's foreign minister said they had resolved to focus on concrete issues.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

May 13, 2007

Merkel's pushes for a new EU constitution
Angela Merkel's drive to revive the EU constitution enters a crucial new phase this week as envoys from the bloc's 27 states meet to iron out differences and the newly elected French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, pays a visit. With less than six weeks to go until the German chancellor presents her "road map" for a new treaty, diplomats say a rough consensus has emerged around a pared-down version of the charter that was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005. Elements of the original treaty that hint at EU statehood, like its "constitution" title, a European flag and hymn, and the creation of a new EU "minister of foreign affairs," appear likely to fall away amid objections from countries like Britain. No country is seriously talking about expanding the scope of the rejected draft anymore, since it has become clear that a new treaty will give Brussels less rather than more authority. But many contentious issues remain.
Read article in the International Herald Tribune

May 11, 2007

Iraq leader says troops must stay
US and British troops will need to stay another one or two years in Iraq , the Iraqi president has said. Jalal Talabani was addressing students during a visit to Cambridge University . Asked when the UK and US should leave, he said: "I think in one or two years we will be able to recruit our own army forces and say goodbye to our friends."
Read article at BBC News (UK)

Unforgiving Europe may yet see more of Blair
In virtually his last act as British prime minister, Tony Blair next month hopes to sign a European treaty which - according to some hopeful aides - might offer him a tantalising job as the first "president" of Europe . To Mr Blair's critics the idea of him representing the European Union is absurd: this is a British leader who refused to take his country into the euro and whose support for the Iraq war contributed to a continental split. Yet Mr Blair's allies claim a number of EU leaders have privately raised the idea of him becoming the first full-time president of the European Council. "It's still a long way off, but you never know," said one.
Read article in the Financial Times (UK)

May 10, 2007

Sarkozy's proposal for Mediterranean bloc makes waves
A proposal by Nicolas Sarkozy to gather the European, Middle Eastern, and North African countries of the strategic Mediterranean rim into an economic community along the lines of the early European Union has begun making waves even before the president-elect takes office. The initiative, outlined by Sarkozy in a campaign speech in February, went largely unnoticed until he repeated it in his electoral victory address Sunday evening. Plans are still being drawn up, Sarkozy's aides said Thursday, but even at this early stage the proposal has cascading implications for the region. Such a union, even if primarily economic, would necessarily involve the member countries in discussions of controversial issues like Turkish membership in the European Union and illegal immigration via North Africa. It would bring Israel and its Arab neighbors into a new assembly that Sarkozy apparently hopes could tackle the intractable problem of Middle East peace. Initial reactions have ranged from enthusiasm in Spain to cautious approval in Israel to outrage in Turkey, which sees the proposal as a ploy to keep it out of the European Union.
Read article in the International Herald Tribune

Putin's pointed US-Nazi allusion
President Putin lashed out at US unilateralism saying the US is driving the world in the same direction that Germany 's Third Reich did. Putin made the remarks on Wednesday while attending a special ceremony to mark the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany with soldiers bearing hammer-and-sickle banners through the Red Square, AFP reported.
Read article at presstv.ir (Iran)

Blair names the day he'll step down: June 27
After months of coy hints and fevered speculation, Prime Minister Tony Blair announced on Thursday that he would leave office on June 27 after a decade in power in which he sacrificed his popularity to the war in Iraq and struggled at home to improve schools, policing and hospitals. With stirring oratory cast as a personal testament, he declared: "I ask you to accept one thing. Hand on heart I did what I thought was right. I may have been wrong. That's your call.”
Read article in the International Herald Tribune

Livingstone: Iraq Will Ruin Blair's Legacy
TONY Blair will be remembered as a failure because of the disastrous war in Iraq , London mayor Ken Livingstone said today. Mr Livingstone claimed the war had created "a whole new generation of terrorists” and the Government had failed in the last 10 years because it failed to bring peace.
Read article in the Daily Express (UK)

May 7, 2007

European MPs recommend “supranationality” to advance integration
A delegation of European MPs visiting Uruguay for the opening of the Mercosur Parliament called on the regional block not to fear “supranationality” which is needed to advance integration. Socialist Portuguese MEP and president of the visiting delegation Sergio Sousa Pinto said that for “Mercosur integration to be successful…the group will have to move to a supranational phase”. “Economic integration and political integration are closely linked, because there are issues that can only be solved in the framework of a political integration negotiation”, said Sousa Pintos.
Read article at mercopress.com (Uruguay)
Comment: The five country members of Mercosur are Argentina , Brazil , Paraguay , Uruguay and Venezuela . The Parliament will only play an advisory role until 2010 when the first elections for direct representation will be called. Click here to visit the Mercosur website (content in Spanish and Portuguese languages only).

West says it is open to more flexibility with Iran
The world's big powers have signalled they are willing to adopt a more flexible approach in the dispute over Iran 's nuclear programme as soon as Tehran has sat down at the negotiating table. The gesture comes ahead of an expected meeting this week between Ali Larijani, Iran's top security official, and Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, in an attempt to restart the diplomaticprocess. Speaking to the Financial Times, officials from the UK, the US and the EU insisted that Iran had to suspend uranium enrichment, which can produce nuclear fuel and weapons grade material, before formal talks could begin. They added that once Iran had taken such a step, they were willing to consider more options.
Read article in the Financial Times (UK)

May 6, 2007

World leaders congratulate Sarkozy
European leaders congratulated Nicolas Sarkozy on his victory in France 's presidential election on Sunday and hoped his triumph would help unblock reforms stalled by the rejection of the EU constitution in 2005. U.S. President George W. Bush also telephoned to offer his congratulations and said he expected good relations with Sarkozy, who has made a priority of repairing the damage to French-U.S. relations caused by tension over the Iraq war. Sarkozy's election could help restart the process of finding a way forward on reviving the European Union constitution, which has been held up as Europe awaited the results of the French election.
Read article at cnn.com (USA)

May 5, 2007

WMD document 'must be released'
The government must release a draft of a 2002 dossier on Iraq 's weapons of mass destruction, the Information Commissioner has ruled. The campaigner who requested the draft says it may contain the first reference to Saddam Hussein having WMD which could be used in 45 minutes. It was written by the then Foreign Office press secretary, John Williams. He denies it contains the claim. Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett is expected to take the final decision. Last year Mr Williams, who has since left the Foreign Office, insisted his version did not include the controversial claim that Saddam Hussein could fire WMD within 45 minutes which appeared in the dossier.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

May 3, 2007

US claims unity with EU despite doubts
The US insisted yesterday that the world's big powers remained united on Iran's nuclear programme, in spite of signs of a potential US-European rift over whether to make new concessions to Tehran. Nicholas Burns, US undersecretary of state, said the permanent five members of the United Nations Security Council, plus Germany, were agreed Iran should not carry out any uranium enrichment, which can produce both nuclear fuel and weapons-grade material. But diplomats said Germ-any and Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, were more willing than Washington to compromise, specifically over permitting Iran, which was using more than 1,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium, a limited form of enrichment.
Read article in the Financial Times (UK)

April 30, 2007

US and EU agree 'single market'
The United States and the European Union have signed up to a new transatlantic economic partnership at a summit in Washington . The pact is designed to boost trade and investment by harmonising regulatory standards, laying the basis for a US-EU single market.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

April 29, 2007

Poland missile plan to raise tensions
Poland is pressing ahead with plans to request US Patriot missiles to defend itself against medium and short range ballistic threats – a move likely to infuriate its neighbour, Russia. Warsaw wants the Patriots in return for hosting a base for the US’s anti-missile system, according to Polish sources familiar with the situation.
Read article in the Financial Times (UK)

U.S. and European Union to emphasize cooperation at White House summit
Unable to agree on major issues like global trade and climate change, the leaders of the United States and the European Union look to highlight smaller signs of improving ties when they meet Monday at the White House. Expectations are modest for the annual US-European Union summit. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso will get President George W. Bush's support for a proposal to boost trans-Atlantic commerce by eliminating some bureaucratic hurdles. They also will sign an agreement to open up trans-Atlantic air routes. "People have been searching hard for issues that don't involve Iraq or the war on terror," said Julianne Smith, director of the European program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
Read article in the International Herald Tribune

April 25, 2007

EU chief Barroso to host summit on troubled constitution in Portugal
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso will host closed-door talks with other EU leaders in Portugal next month on the embattled EU constitutional project, officials said Wednesday. Barroso was organizing the May 12-13 meetings in Sintra, on the outskirts of Lisbon, with a "wide open" agenda, Commission spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen said. "It's a brainstorming," she said. She would not say if all 27 EU leaders would be invited, saying only that invitations would be sent to "a limited number of participants."
Read article in the International Herald Tribune

April 24, 2007

The best way to give the poor a real voice is through a world parliament
Global governance as it stands is tyranny speaking the language of democracy. We need a directly elected assembly
It was first proposed, as far as I can discover, in 1842, by Alfred Tennyson. Since then the idea has broken the surface and sunk again at least a dozen times. But this time it could start to swim. The demand for a world parliament is at last acquiring some serious political muscle. The campaign for a UN parliamentary assembly is being launched this week on five continents.
Read article in the Guardian (UK)
Click here to go to the Campaign for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly website

Meacher: 'Blair's Britain makes me sick'
Tony Blair has created a "staggering degree of inequality" in Britain , perpetuated a culture of greed and undermined democracy, according to one of those vying to succeed him. Michael Meacher, the former environment minister, now a Labour leadership candidate, said that society was more unequal now than at any time since the 1930s. A new class, the "mega rich", had been given unprecedented power and access to government by Mr Blair, who was himself obsessed by money, he claimed.
Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)

April 11, 2007

Russia threatening new cold war over missile defence
Kremlin accuses US of deception on east European interceptor bases
Russia is preparing its own military response to the US 's controversial plans to build a new missile defence system in eastern Europe, according to Kremlin officials, in a move likely to increase fears of a cold war-style arms race. The Kremlin is considering active counter-measures in response to Washington's decision to base interceptor missiles and radar installations in Poland and the Czech Republic, a move Russia says will change "the world's strategic stability". The Kremlin has not publicly spelt out its plans. But defence experts said its response is likely to include upgrading its nuclear missile arsenal so that it is harder to shoot down, putting more missiles on mobile launchers, and moving its fleet of nuclear submarines to the north pole, where they are virtually undetectable.
Read article in the Guardian (UK)

January 4, 2007

Merkel promotes TAFTA with Bush
A U.S.-European economic partnership is critical to both regions' economies, new European Union President Angela Merkel of Germany says. The German chancellor met with U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House Thursday evening, four days after Germany assumed the rotating presidency of the 27-nation European Union and the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations. At the meeting, Merkel promoted the idea of closer economic ties between the EU and the United States, beyond removing more trade barriers to creating a trans-Atlantic free-trade zone, a spokesman said.
Read article at United Press International