EU-DIGEST

Ronald Reagan was known as the Teflon president, but Berlusconi's ability to shrug off misfortune beggars such metaphors. Ten months ago, as I was preparing to leave Rome, Berlusconi seemed doomed. It was his wife Veronica that had done for him: her announcement last April that she wanted a divorce seemed to break the spell in which he had held his country hypnotised for years. Suddenly, it seemed, people began to see him for what he was. Veronica's comments about him frequenting under-age girls, her condemnation of the "trash" – buxom showgirls – he wanted to put up for election to the European parliament, her cryptic remark that "my husband is not well" – all this from the woman who had stood by her man stoically for nigh on 30 years, cast him in a new and ghastly light. He might be mega-rich, brilliant, energetic, charismatic – but what a creep! What an appalling character to have thrown your lot in with! And what horrors might that pregnant phrase "non sta bene" – "he's not well" – contain? What raptures of megalomania, sadism or psychosis might the unlucky Veronica have been privy to?

For years Berlusconi has behaved more like a Roman emperor than an elected Prime Minister, but in the autumn of his years the tendency has become even more extreme. But the dismaying element today is the extent to which his adversaries let him get away with it: the last person to land a blow on him was the unbalanced character who hurled a bronze model of Milan's Duomo in his face at New Year. No one could claim that Italy was buoyant with Berlusconi at its head. Even the sort of phoney and palsied recovery that Britain experienced after the crash has eluded it. Industrial output plummeted by more than 17 per cent last year, and the nation's public debt of €1,663bn is the third highest in the world. Add this to the sleaze piling up on all sides and one would expect Berlusconi to get a terrible drubbing in the coming polls. Yet that is unlikely to happen – and not only because of the feebleness of the opposition. As a new book spells out, Berlusconi has a hold over a huge swathe of his electorate, who will vote for him no matter what.

For more: Ciao, baby! Why Italy just can't say no to Silvio - Europe, World - The Independent

Labels: Democracy, EU, Italy, Mafia, Silvio Berlusconi

When Mussolini decided it was time to turn the Italian kingdom into a criminal tyranny, he organized the so-called "Marcia su Roma" (March to Rome): on the 22nd of October 1922, tens of thousands of fascists converged on the capital city to claim political power. This occurrence defined the death of the liberal state and the final rise to power of the fascist party. On that occasion, the king, Vittorio Emanuele III, didn't show any courage in preventing this coup, bowed his head and assigned Mussolini, the leader of the Partito Nazionale Fascista (National Fascist Party), the task of forming a new government.

Eighty eight years later, the very same thing has happened. Let's be a little bit more clear and start explaining this political tragedy, moral failure and 'ethical' murder from the beginning.

Acts, or even better, enactments, backed by the government have become normality, even if the definition of enactment presupposes some "crisis" conditions which would allow the government to exceed all other constitutional powers. Today even the interpretation of the laws belongs to the government ( Berlusconi) !

For more: Killing Democracy: How Berlusconi Made Italian Democracy Unconstitonal

Labels: Berlusconi, Democracy, Italy

The recent US Supreme Court decision to allow unlimited corporate spending in politics just may be the straw that breaks the plutocracy’s back. Among the 10 suggestions to combat this is also to Require shareholders to approve political spending by their corporations. Public Citizen and the Brennan Center for Justice are among the groups advocating this measure, and some members of Congress appear interested. Britain has required such shareholder approval since 2000.

10 Ways to Stop Corporate Dominance of Politics | Civil Liberties | AlterNet

Labels: Corporate Influence, Corporate Strategy, Democracy, Justice System, Politics, US

Latvia's Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins rejected the storm of criticism position

"Has such response been prompted by the fact that Iceland is a small country? It is hard to imagine that one would hear similar comments, should the move have been made by the president of France, for example," Riekstins was quoted as saying by the Baltic News Service. Riekstins said it was tantamount to questioning a democratic country's right to respect its own constitution.

Note EU-Digest: If the citizens of the EU and US, with barely a whimper, accepted the bailout of their "happy go lucky" unregulated financial industry with taxpayers money, they should at least respect the more courageous citizens of Iceland, who are not willing to turn a blind eye on the financial mismanagement of their banks or foot the bill they left behind. The Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson's decision to call a plebiscite was the right democratic decision.

For the complete report: Latvia backs Iceland's critiziced referendum

Labels: Democracy, EU, Financial Industry, Iceland, Latvia, referendum, US

"At the end of a decade in which China has become a global power, it is making headlines for the wrong reasons. First, it was accused of wrecking the climate change talks in Copenhagen. Then there was the savage sentence meted out to the courageous dissident Liu Xiaobo. His so-called crime has been to persistently call for constitutional change and reform of the one-party system, for which he has just been handed a swingeing 11-year sentence.

And now there is the firing squad awaiting the Briton Akmal Shaikh this week. Unless Beijing reacts at last to repeated pleas for clemency that have come from his relatives and from the Foreign Office, he may have the unhappy distinction of becoming the first European to be executed in China in half a century."

These draconian sentences highlight Beijing's indifference to democratic values.

Note EU-Digest: unfortunately the US has been relatively quiet on these matters relating to Democracy and Freedom of Speech since China finances most of the enormous US debt.

The Independent: A disturbing prelude to an era of growing Chinese power - Leading Articles, Opinion

Labels: China, Democracy, Freedom of Speech, US

"The UN human rights commissioner on Friday strongly condemned the 11-year prison term awarded to a prominent Chinese dissident.

'The conviction and extremely harsh sentencing of Liu Xiabo mark a further severe restriction on the scope of freedom of expression in China,' UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said. Pillay termed the imprisonment as the latest example of a crackdown on human rights in China."

For complete report goto: UN Condemns The Imprisonment Of Chinese Dissident

Labels: China, Democracy, Free Press, United Nations

The Swedish EU presidency has condemned a Beijing court's decision to jail Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo for 11 years, saying it raises concerns about freedom of speech and the right to a fair trial in China.

"The Presidency of the European Union is deeply concerned by the disproportionate sentence against the prominent human rights defender Liu Xiaobo," it said in a statement on Friday.

"The verdict against Mr Liu gives rise to concern with respect to freedom of expression and the right to a fair trial in China."

For the complete report : News - Europe: EU criticises Chinese dissident's sentence

Labels: China, Democracy, EU

For the complete report from the csmonitor.com click on this link

In Russia, Putin’s democracy looking more like a facade - by Fred Weir

Former leader Mikhail Gorbachev and others are outraged after last week's elections. A public opinion survey published this week by the daily Noviye Izvestia newspaper found that just 3 percent of respondents believe the elections were a fair and true democratic exercise. A third thought that UR’s victory was due to “massive falsifications” while a further 44 percent said the party benefited unduly from its command of “administrative resources,” meaning official influence, state media backing, and access to government funds.

Yabloko has documented multiple cases of what is says is official fraud, coercion, and other legal violations in the election campaign and subsequent voting, some of which has been translated and posted on the party’s English-language website http://www.eng.yabloko.ru/. But Mitrokhin’s outrage over what looks like the most seriously miscarried electoral exercise in Russia’s post-Soviet history has been increasingly echoed by independent commentators, including the father of Russia’s troubled democracy, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Labels: Democracy, Elections, Russia

For the complete report from the Times Online click on this link

A farcical attempt to paint Israel black - by Ron Prosor

In the history of international organizations it is hard to conceive of an institution less fit for purpose than the absurdly titled UN Human Rights Council. Since its inception in 2006, the UNHRC has included such champions of liberal values as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Cuba. There is no doubting the comic value of such membership. Analogies spring to mind of Jack the Ripper leading a disciplinary inquiry at Scotland Yard, or Dr Harold Shipman chairing a panel discussion on medical care for the elderly. Yet for Israel, on the receiving end of this surreal hypocrisy, it is no laughing matter. The latest example of its hypocrisy is the 575-page Goldstone report into the Gaza conflict at the beginning of this year. Israel, a democracy with an unquestionably free press and meticulously independent judiciary, faces a threat from terrorism unique in its intensity. Yet its obligations to defend its citizens from terror are being scrutinized, delegitimized and condemned by states in which the routine price of dissent is imprisonment without trial, torture or execution.

Note EU-Digest: We might agree or not agree with the above Times article, or even on the way how Israel conducts its foreign policy, but the fact remains that Israel is still and probably will remain the only true Democracy in the Middle East.

Labels: Democracy, Goldstone Report, Israel, UNHRC

For the complete report from BusinessWeek click on this link

Watchdog alarmed by Turkish media fine - Erdogan's government trying to muzzle unfavorable press

An international watchdog says the Turkish government's decision to impose an "unprecedented" penalty on the country's largest media group is alarming.Turkey's Finance Ministry imposed a $2.5 billion (euro1.7 billion) tax fine on Dogan Yayin, a conglomerate of newspapers and TV stations. The fine for allegedly unpaid taxes sparked accusations that the government is trying to muzzle a media group that has been critical of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government.

Labels: Censorship, Democracy, EU, Turkey, US

For the complete report from Br.News click on this link

Diplomats from 5 European Union embassies visit wife of jailed Cuban political activist

Representatives from five European Union embassies in Cuba visited the wife of jailed political opposition activist Darsi Ferrer on Thursday, but insisted their visit was not political.Diplomats from Sweden, Great Britain, Hungary, Poland and Germany saw Ferrer’s wife, Yusnaimy Jorge Soca, at her Havana home and brought donated items including food and clothing. The group said it organized the visit on its own and had not been invited by the couple. “This is a gesture of solidarity; it’s not a political act,” said Ingemar Cederberg, deputy chief of the Swedish Embassy. He said keeping an eye on the country’s human rights situation is “part of our job here.”

Labels: Cuba, Democracy, EU

For the complete report from cagaptay.com click on this link

Turkey - Obama's Two Dollars and Turkey - by Soner Cagaptay

It is a tough economy, but if President Barack Obama has $2 to invest in Turkey, I would suggest that he put one buck into consolidating Turkey's liberal democracy, and the other into moving forward the country's European Union accession, for a non-European Turkey would be a big loss for Washington. Since the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, came to power in Turkey in 2002, Turkey's media has been transformed for the worse. The government has used legal loopholes to confiscate ownership of independent media and sell it to its supporters. In 2002, pro-AKP businesses owned less than 20 percent of the Turkish media; today pro-government people own around 50 percent.

Not only has Turkey's media ownership been transformed with a pro-government bent, but media freedoms have been eroded as well: according to Freedom House's freedom of press index reports, Turkish media is less free today than it was in 2002, slipping from 100 in 2002 to 103 in 2008. As Turkey ought to be moving toward the EU, its record on media freedoms should have improved significantly since 2002, not stagnated. Something is not right in Turkey today. Mr. Obama ought to put his money into Turkey's free media since, without a free and independent media, as well as the accompanying freedoms, Turkey risks looking more like Russia, and nobody, neither the EU nor Mr. Obama, wants two Russia's on Europe's eastern frontier.

There is no longer a grey area in which Turkey can position itself. Turkey will either become an EU member and part of the West, or fold into the "Muslim world," as per al-Qaeda's vision. This is already a risk, with the number of Turks who identify as Western decreasing, especially among the youth. Mr. Obama ought to invest in Turkey's EU accession in order to keep Turkey Western and to consolidate its liberal democracy. All it takes is two bucks from Obama's wallet. Hard as times might be, this is not the time for Washington to lose Turkey, or let go an important ally.

Labels: AKP, Democracy, Religion, Turkey

For the complete report from Salon.com click on this link

China - What if the Uighurs were Christian rather than Muslim? - by Glenn Greenwald

Violent clashes between Chinese government forces and Muslim Uighurs -- that country's long-oppressed minority -- have left at least 140 people dead and close to 1,000 injured. This incident in Western China highlights an important fact about America's "War on Terror". Just imagine if the Uighurs were a Christian -- rather than Muslim -- minority, battling against the tyrannical Communist regime in Beijing, resisting various types of persecution, and demanding religious freedom. They would be lionized by America's Right, as similar Christian minorities, oppressed by tyrannical regimes, automatically are.

Episodes like these -- where a declared Tyranny like China violently acts against citizens with whom we empathize -- are ones about which, in general, the American political class (note EU-Digest: as do the European) loves to sermonize. But the Uighurs are Muslim, not Christian, and hostility towards them thus easily outweighs the opportunity they present to undermine the Chinese Government. Rather than support and venerate them, we instead spent this decade declaring them to be "enemy combatants" and locking them up in Guantanamo -- despite the fact that they have never evinced any interest in doing anything other than resisting Chinese persecution, and have certainly never taken actions against the U.S. (as even the Bush administration ultimately admitted).

Yet even now, both Congress and the administration actively block release into the U.S. even of those Uighurs we wrongfully imprisoned for years, while the Right screams with outrage -- and fear -- over the administration's commendable efforts to find a home for them elsewhere."

Labels: China, Democracy, EU, Muslim Uighurs, US

For the complete report from ABC click on this link

In Russia, President Obama Explains His Support for Ousted President of Honduras In Russia, President Obama Explains His Support for Ousted President of Honduras

Facing criticism for having backed the “wrong” side in the recent coup in Honduras, President Obama Tuesday tried to explain his advocacy on behalf of ousted President Manuel Zelaya. “America supports now the restoration of the democratically-elected President of Honduras, even though he has strongly opposed American policies,” the president told graduate students at the commencement ceremony of Moscow’s New Economic School. “We do so not because we agree with him. We do so because we respect the universal principle that people should choose their own leaders, whether they are leaders we agree with or not."

The president’s remarks came in the midst of a speech in which discussed “America’s interest in democratic governments that protect the rights of their people” and supported Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s call for judicial reforms in his country.

Note EU-Digest: One can fully support this statement by President Obama.The US must also put their money where their mouth is and tell the Honduran military (which they basically control) to go back to the barracks. On the other side of this equation the conservative Wall street Journal wrote: "The military performed a law enforcement action demanded by the country's constitution, called for by the democratically elected parliament and blessed by the highest court in the land. No general took control. The military went back to being the military." It seems the Wall Street Journal does not seem to be aware or wanted to be aware that the military barricaded the airport when the elected President and a UN representative wanted to land in Honduras. Is the Wall Street Journal now supporting military takeovers as part of their editorial policy?

Labels: Barack Obama, Democracy, Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, Russia, US

For the complete report from the EUobserver click on this link

Iran says Europe no longer qualified to conduct nuclear talks- by Lucia Kubosova

Iran says Europe is no longer qualified to hold nuclear talks due to its meddling with the post-election protests in the country, with Sweden, as the new EU presidency, calling up officials from the 27-member bloc to discuss the next diplomatic move. The EU has played a significant part in international efforts to make Tehran comply with the world's rules on nuclear power. Three EU states - Germany, France, and the UK - have been leading the negotiations along with the US, Russia and China. Speaking to journalists at the official opening of the presidency, Swedish prime minister Fredrik Reinfeld made clear that Europe wants to support the democratic forces in Iran but also avoid isolating the country from the rest of the world. "That's the balance we need to strike," he said.

EU-Digest: Mr. Fredrik Reinfeld is certainly capable in coming up with a stronger comment than this "wishy-washy" statement he made on Iran?

Labels: Democracy, EU, Iran, Nuclear proliferation, Sanctions, Sweden

For the complete report from CBS News click on this link

Is Iran Heading Toward A Military Coup? - by Abbas Milani

The Iranian regime is currently facing one of the greatest challenges of its 30-year history. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei--whose rule has been absolute and whose words have been the law of the land--is facing the most public challenge to his authority. His two decades since succeeding Ayatollah Khomeini have been defined by a tendency to keep his options open, a verbal dexterity that allowed him to skirt tough political positions, and an appearance of impartiality in Iran's fierce factional feuds. His caution has been the key to his success and survival. But Khamenei has thrown this caution to the wind by unabashedly favoring Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.The ayatollah failed to recognize the mounting tension over this month's presidential election--what former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani described in a pre-election letter to him as a seething "volcano" of discontent. Even Sobhe-Sadeq, the political organ of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, warned in a lead editorial that the opposition's use of the color green had become dangerously similar to the kind of "color revolution" that dethroned governments in Ukraine, Lebanon, and Georgia.

If Khamenei wants a crackdown on the Green movement, he will have to turn to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)--a move that brings its own political costs. It is difficult to imagine the IRGC quelling the current protests and then simply turning power over to the clergy. If a political compromise cannot be reached between the regime and the opposition, and the IRGC is used in suppressing the protests, its commanders would likely expect a bigger role in the government. It is even conceivable that faced with irresolution among the clergy, they will act on their own, and establish a military dictatorship that uses Islam as its ideological veneer--similar to Pakistan under Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.

Labels: Democracy, Iran, Military, Revolution

For the complete report from BBC NEWS click on this link

How Iran is ruled-a complex political system - with the power in clergy hands - Ahmadinejad heckled coming out of the Teheran University today

The Supreme Leader, currently Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appoints the head of the judiciary, six of the members of the powerful Guardian Council, the commanders of all the armed forces, Friday prayer leaders and the head of radio and TV. He also confirms the president's election. The Leader is chosen by the clerics who make up the Assembly of Experts. Periodic tension between the office of the Leader and the office of the president has often been the source of political instability. It increased during former president reformist Mohammad Khatami's term in office - a reflection of the deeper tensions between religious rule and the democratic aspirations of many Iranians.

Note EU-Digest: click on this link to see how Ahmadinejad was heckled when he came out of Teheran University today following the speech by his chief, Iran's "supreme leader", Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Labels: Democracy, Iran, Revolution

For the complete report from the Huffington Post click on this link

The Green Revolution Belongs to the Iranians, Not the United States - by Cynthia Boaz

Do folks really think US agencies -- of whom the Iranian people have every reason to be suspicious given the last 8 years (and beyond) -- are capable of mobilizing hundreds of thousands of people who are ten thousand miles away...and then getting them to continue showing up on the streets, even when they're being shot at? The notion is ridiculous, even ethnocentric in that it presumes that Iranians are so ignorant that they'd turn out in scores to risk their lives just because an American agency suggested it. No, the Green Revolution belongs solely to the Iranians.

The reality is that regardless of political party or ideology, anyone who claims an affinity for democracy as people power owes it to the courageous Iranian people to recognize their resistance as such. To seriously question the Iranians' ownership of their struggle serves the interests of a brutal regime and risks undermining the morale of individuals participating in a true peoples' movement.

Labels: Democracy, Iran, Revolution

"EU and China Going beyond Tiananmen Square"

For the complete report from The Guardian click on this link

China blocks Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and Hotmail ahead of Tiananmen anniversary - by Tania Branigan

On Tuesday Chinese censors blocked access to Twitter and other popular online services today , two days before the 20th anniversary of the crackdown on democracy protests in Tiananmen Square. The move came amid increasing pressure on dissidents, in a reflection of the authorities' anxiety ahead of the sensitive date. Hundreds died as the army forced its way through Beijing to clear away demonstrators from the capital's political heart in June 1989, but the issue is taboo on the mainland. The photo-sharing site Flickr, email service Hotmail and other services were also unavailable. Reuters reported that the email service Hotmail was also blocked across the mainland, while some internet users said they were unable to access Microsoft's Windows Live. Blogger.com was blocked last month and YouTube has been inaccessible from the mainland since March. Internet monitors have also shut down message boards on more than 6,000 websites affiliated with colleges and universities, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.

The US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has urged China to publicly account for those killed in the Tiananmen Square massacre 20 years ago. She called on China to release all those still imprisoned in connection with the protests, to stop harassing those who took part and to begin a dialogue with the victims' families. China, as an emerging global power, "should examine openly the darker events of its past and provide a public accounting of those killed, detained or missing, both to learn and to heal," she said in a statement from Washington. "China can honor the memory of that day by moving to give the rule of law, protection of internationally recognized human rights and democratic development the same priority as it has given to economic reform,'' she added.

The Wallstreet Journal reports Europe's stance toward human-rights abuses in China has become increasingly spineless. The EU withdrew post-Tiananmen sanctions in the early 1990s. Since then commercial gain has subordinated any attempt to influence China's political modernization. The EU acquiesced in China's entry into the WTO, throwing away its biggest leverage over Beijing in return for very limited change to China's system of economic governance. China has increasingly backtracked on its WTO commitments to open its economy -- which could in turn have helped political liberalization. China has attracted increasing aid from Germany, France and the European Commission itself, which spends more than €100 million ($141 million) a year on trade-related and business projects. It even spends €1 million a year on a fruitless Human Rights Dialogue. Paris and Berlin also wish to remove the EU's arms embargo -- the last remaining post-Tiananmen-massacre sanction imposed by Europe.

Labels: China, Democracy, EU, Human Rights, Tiananmen Square, US

For the complete report from the MoroccoBoard.com click on this link

Morocco: From Top-Down Reform to Democratic Transition?

In the three decades after it gained independence in 1956, Morocco was characterized by stability verging on stagnation. But during the 1990s, this North African monarchy embarked on a path of top-down reform. King Hassan II took the first steps down this path during the last years of his long reign, and his son Mohammed VI continued the process after ascending to the throne in 1999. The reform process has produced some significant changes in Morocco. Human rights conditions have improved. Past abuses have at least been partly acknowledged. A more progressive version of the Mudawwana, the code regulating marriage, divorce, child custody, and other aspects of family relations, has been enacted. The taboo on discussing corruption has been lifted, and there has been a degree of economic reform.The most important contribution to true democratic reform in Morocco that the United States and European countries could make would be to facilitate the transformation of the major secular parties through pressure on their leaderships. The United States is already trying to strengthen political parties in Morocco through the work being done by the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and the International Republican Institute, nongovernmental agencies tied to the two major U.S. political parties.

Labels: Democracy, Morocco

For the complete report from Javno click on this link

Croatia Is A Repressive Country

The world media, which have been following events in Croatia since the start of the so-called Facebook scandal, have also paid attention to the anti-government protest on December 5, organized by Facebook – a social network site. Creator of the “I bet I can find 5,000 people who dislike Sanader” group Niksa Klecak was arrested, along with some other activists who were putting up posters which announced the protests. If all goes as planned the Prime Minister will soon have a much bigger issue on their hands. For a country with less than 600,000 users on Facebook, mobilizing over 10 percent of the Facebook population would be more than an impressive feat. The country’s population is less than 5 million so if the protests materialize, this will be a historic event – Social Times writes, quoting sources from Canada media. Reuters reports that several thousand Croats demanded early elections on a Facebook organised protest, better health care and education - Anti-government protesters gathered in the city's main square called on Prime Minister Ivo Sanader to "go away" in response to his plea that Croats cut their spending in the face of the global financial crisis.

Labels: Croatia, Democracy

For the complete report from Helium click on this link

The difference between government-controlled media and corporate-controlled media - by Andrew Weeraratne

" I grew up in the Third World where the government controls the press. The good thing about a system like that is almost every citizen, save the dumbest, knows that the press is full of lies. They just read the news for entertainment. But in America things are way sophisticated. The government has no hand in controlling the press except a government that gives welfare to the corporations that control the press; in that situation such a government controls the press indirectly. And under a condition like that only the very insightful people would recognize the bias in the US major media to help out a handful of people in the country at the expense of the whole society. There was a time people enjoyed true freedom of press. But starting the 1980s it slowly stared decaying. This is disturbing since every corrupt and fascist regime in history first terminated freedom of speech as the first step towards their climb to fascism. This never happens in one swing but in gradual but steady steps. This has to be a concern not only of American citizens but also of all people. The USA has the power to blow up any part of the world in a matter of seconds with almost no opposition. Therefore, it is essential that the USA will continue to have sane and rational leaders who are not easily corruptible. One of the best ways to assure this is to have transparency and that comes only from a full and free press. So long live Internet journalists.

Labels: Democracy, Free Press

For the complete report from the Online Journal click on this link

Visualize the Dow at 6,000 - by Mike Whitney

What we are seeing today in openly in America and in a more controlled form elsewhere in the financial markets is a hybridized version of capitalism, “Paulson’s Scatterbrain Capitalism,” a hodge-podge of taxpayer bailouts, government intervention and free market mumbo-jumbo supported by a corporate controlled press. It’s a toxic mix of off-balance sheets operations, over-the-counter “unregulated” derivatives, dark pool trading, opaque hedge funds, dodgy Enron-style accounting, and complex, hard-to-pronounce debt-instruments wrapped up into one, cheesy, unsustainable shell game, managed by Harvard-educated flim-flam men and backed by a 100 percent government guarantee. That’s the system we’re supporting with our tax dollars and that’s the system that is dragging us headlong to ruin. It ain’t capitalism, my friend. It’s a crooked system run by corporate carpetbaggers and banking scalawags who’ve shot the Golden Goose in hopes of keeping the larder at the cottage on the New Jersey coast chock-full of Dom Perignon and halibut fillets. They created this nightmare and they’ve doomed us all. As long as we prop up the existing system, the economy will continue to flounder, unemployment will continue to rise, foreclosures will continue to soar, banks will continue to be shuttered, and the wobbly old greenback will continue its inexorable march towards Pesoville.

At an improvised press conference last week, US President George Bush gave what might have been the most comical performance of his eight-year presidency. Looking like the skipper on the flight-deck of the Hindenburg, Bush tried his best to reassure the public that “all’s well” with the economy and that everyone’s deposits were perfectly safe in the rapidly disintegrating US banking system.

Labels: Democracy, Free Press, US Economy

For the complete report from ABS-CBN News Online click on this link

Why does Europe tolerate that overseas workers are mistreated in Saudi Arabia

A group of Filipino overseas workers allegedly maltreated by their employers in Saudi Arabia have sought the help of ABS-CBN's The Filipino Channel and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Riyadh for abuse and unfair employment practices. Group members said they were not paid salaries for four months. In addition, their driver’s licenses and residence permits were withheld for almost a year. Their employer also ordered their dormitory's air-conditioning units turned off from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m., forcing them to endure the heat in Riyadh. They also complained about the poor condition of their mess hall. Note EU-Digest: the reason is simple - Europe and the rest of the world tolerates that there is no democracy in Saudi Arabia or freedom of religion - OIL

Labels: Democracy, freedom of religion, Saudi Arabia

For the complete report from the SMH.com.au click on this link

US Presidential elections - The Twisted mind of US democracy

A Rand Corporation report has revealed that 300,000 US veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. A further 320,000 have brain damage of a physical kind. These are startling statistics even in the context of a "major debacle", as the Pentagon's National Defence University calls the Iraq enterprise. A major debacle for the US military, for US foreign policy in the Middle East and for the effort to curtail terrorism; with the cost estimated (by the Noble prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz) to exceed $US3 trillion, a potential economic debacle; and a debacle for Iraq, where somewhere between 100,000 and a million people have died and 2 million have left the country. Rand Corporation did not count how many Iraqis suffer stress disorder or brain damage. We might think that something in the US presidential election would reflect this state of affairs.

The three remaining candidates all claim firm positions on Iraq: John McCain wants to stay, even for 100 years; Hillary Clinton wants to withdraw slowly; Barack Obama wants to start withdrawing brigades at once. Of course, they often mention the war. Yet it would be possible to follow the past month of the campaign and think the war was going tolerably well and that what the candidates thought about it did not matter much.

Labels: Democracy, US, US elections

To see the video clip on the Netherlands,Democracy, Geert Wildersclick and Fitna, click on this link

Democracy also includes freedom of speech and worship - "The Netherlands,Democracy, Geert Wilders and Fitna

If you want to know why Geert Wilders is allowed to say whatever he wants to say in the Netherlands just click on this link.

Labels: Democracy, EU, Fitna, Geert Wilders, The Netherlands

For the complete report from election08 click on this link

US Pres. Elections: Election polls show Americans are bigots- US Press controls the Public - by Tony L

If you believe what the media has been telling us about this election, African-American voters are voting a certain way, Latinos are voting another, and Women, White Men, and Older People are voting in clumps based on what they feel will be best for each of their various groups. In fact, turn on your tv right now. Go to CNN, Fox, or MSNBC... (even NPR!), and you will see that 90% of the coverage on this election is all about what percentage of a certain segregated group of the population is voting this way or that.

The TV and Radio networks are at least in part responsible for these results. The Media has this great opportunity, now more than ever, to do America a service by focusing on educating the voting population on the very important decision American voters are about to make: Who will be the next President of the United States of America? Write the networks and complain about this indecent and sensationalist reporting. Just maybe someone will have the concience to change it.

Labels: Democracy, Media, Press, US elections

the Capitol in Havana, Cuba

For the complete report from the Sun-Sentinel.com click on this link

Cuba - Castro's fate remains in question -- Can EU Capitalize on change of power? - by Ray Sanchez

Most Cuba watchers think Castro may be setting the stage for his retirement as president of the Council of State, the island's top governing body, which he has led since its creation in the mid-1970s. Members of the National Assembly will select the council's members in March. They caution, however, that Castro has always done things on his terms. Will parliament again name Fidel Castro president of the nation's highest governing body and chief of state later this month, despite his long public absence, or will he assume more of an advisory role? Will brother Raúl be named Cuba's new president? Or will a younger generation take over? The answers lie in a process that rivals a papal selection, rife with speculation and cloaked in secrecy. When the 614-member assembly meets on Feb. 24, its main order of business will be to select members and officers of the Council of State, the island's highest governing body.Cuba watchers have identified three likely post-Castro successors: Carlos Lage, Cuba's 56-year-old vice president and a former physician; Felipe Perez Roque, the 42-year-old foreign minister; and National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcón, 70. Among the three Lage seems the person to watch because he is acceptable to multiple circles within the leadership – in the military, in the party, with the Raúlistas." Dan Erikson, an expert on Cuba at the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington. He said many of Cuba's top leaders would no doubt like to see a formal transfer of power to a younger generation, while Fidel Castro takes on a more ceremonial role. Lage is credited with engineering and implementing the limited reforms that restarted Cuba's economy after the Soviet collapse. The programs included legalizing the dollar, creating small private enterprises and agricultural cooperatives, and increasing foreign investment and tourism. Although Fidel Castro reversed many of the reforms in 2003, Lage is viewed favorably among foreign businessmen in Cuba as a pragmatist open to economic change.

Note EU-Digest: Cuban university students, in a rare public challenge to authorities, openly criticized government restrictions on access to the Internet, hotels and travel abroad. Their criticism in a video circulated this week comes as more Cubans begin to speak out about the shortcomings of Cuba's socialist system, a debate encouraged by acting President Raul Castro since taking over from his ailing brother Fidel Castro in 2006.

The EU has taken some positive and constructive steps in moving this dialog along. French Francis Wurtz, leading a delegation from the Confederal Group of the European United Left of the EU parliament, spoke out against any European Union (EU) sanction to Cuba. "We are for a constructive position and frank exchange of opinions on all issues between the 27 nations of the EU and Cuba," the legislator told the Cuban Granma newspaper.

In Cuba the European ambassador said real change in Cuba would only come when presidential power was handed over to a younger leader, such as Vice President Carlos Lage, the architect of reforms that opened up Cuba to foreign investment and tourism in the 1990s. “Raul will not move while Fidel is around. There are too many vested interests in the political bureaucracy,” he said.

In the Czech Republic the foreign minister recently pledged his country's support to Cuban dissidents, saying that the number of political prisoners in Cuba remains enormously high. Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg made the remarks after meeting in Prague with Cuban dissident Hector Palacios, who was released from Cuban prison in 2006 for health reasons and has been undergoing treatment in Spain. Schwarzenberg himself was expelled from Cuba three years ago, forced to board a plane to Paris one day before a mass dissident assembly that he had planned to attend. At the time Schwarzenber was a member of the upper chamber of Czech parliament, the Senate. Schwarzenberg said: ""I hope that in the near future, in a year or two, Cuba will become a free country with the help of the European Union". Palacios through an interpreter responded, "The Cuban opposition has strengthened ... and the regime of Fidel Castro has been weakened due to his incurable disease, which opens a huge space for changes."

Schwarzenberg has been holding talks with his Spanish counterpart as well as other foreign ministers in the EU toward making a "joint effort" to help change happen in Cuba.

It is certain that change will happen in Cuba sooner or later. The EU can play a major role in this process. It is able to be a counterforce to the radical and irresponsible conservative hard-liners outside Cuba, which seek revenge and upheaval rather than a peaceful and gradual change towards economic independence and democracy in Cuba.

Labels: Castro, Cuba, Democracy, EU, Lage

For the complete report from The Telegraph click on this link

Democracy has another martyr. Now we wait to see whether its enemies will have the ultimate triumph. Will parliamentary rule be restored in Pakistan? Or will the country collapse into the most terrifying sort of rogue state - a nuclear-empowered one - or simply subside back into its familiar condition as a hell's kitchen of tribal corruption and safe haven for resting terrorists? Somehow we must get past the hideous obstacle of George Bush, whose bizarre misjudgments nearly succeeded in discrediting the whole concept of liberal interventionism: there is a sound reason why, in spite of Mr Bush, no serious contender for the White House (or for Downing Street, for that matter) will actually renounce the principle of free-world intervention. Every responsible member of the political class is aware that the West actually has no choice. Its values are not simply being challenged in a global struggle for territory and influence as they were during the Cold War. They are under positive threat of destruction from a fluid alliance of Islamist fundamentalists, feudal warlords and corrupt dictators, all of whom see the spread of democracy as a viral threat to their survival.

The appeasement argument then generally takes on a patronisingly racist dimension: "Democracy is fine for Europeans and their New World descendants, but there are many peoples in the world who are just not ready for self-government. They actually prefer being governed by a strong dictator even if he is corrupt." So, I ask, if these benighted populations are so bovine and content under their dictatorships, why do they flee to our borders in such numbers that we are sinking under the responsibility of accommodating them? And if life under a tinpot tyrant has its consolations, how come so few people are attracted to it? Why are there not crowds of clamouring migrants going in the other direction to enjoy the charms of a voteless, voiceless existence?

Labels: Democracy, Terrorism

For the complete report from AW.com click on this link

Is Russia Democratic? - (Maybe even more so than the US)- by Justin Raimondo

The Russian system is far more democratic than, say, the American system, where a party that gets 7 percent – or even 10 or 20 percent – is by no means guaranteed a single seat in Congress. That is, if they even manage to get on the ballot. Parties other than the state-sanctioned and state-subsidized Democrats and Republicans face almost impossible hurdles to achieve ballot status – and, even if they do, these "third" parties operate at a tremendous disadvantage not only legally, but in terms of being taken seriously by the "mainstream" media. Is this any better than in Russia? One could make a convincing case that it is far worse. What would we have thought if Putin had sent observers to, say, Florida, where the drama of the "hanging chads" and the intricacies of the Electoral College denied the White House to the candidate who got the most votes? It's outrageous – especially when we're giving full military, political, and diplomatic support to real dictators like Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, who is now in the process of setting up a hereditary "presidency" and has taken to locking up bloggers for violating political and cultural "norms." And what about Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who is beating the crap out of his opponents in the streets of Islamabad, arresting the Supreme Court, and installing himself as "president" of Pakistan in a procedure that is a cruel mockery of democracy? The difference is that dictator like Musharraf, Mubarak, King Abdullah and some other dictators meet the "pro-American" test, which consists of kowtowing to Washington when it comes to the conduct of foreign affairs, and particularly when it comes to providing full access to American economic and military interests.

Labels: Democracy, EU, Putin, Russia, USA

For the complete report by the Guardian Unlimited click on this link

Chavez loses referendum and bid to rule until 2050 - by Rory Carrol

Voters narrowly rejected the proposed constitutional changes in yesterday's vote, an unprecedented defeat for a leader accustomed to landslides. After a night of political drama, election officials announced the opposition had won 51% and the government 49%, a result that slammed the brakes on Chávez's self-styled revolution.The rebuff will oblige Chávez to stand down when his term ends in 2013 rather than continuing to run for office until 2050 as he had hoped. It will also embolden the opposition and open fissures within his movement now that he has shown to be politically mortal.Three months ago an opposition victory seemed unthinkable, but a loose coalition of students, small political parties and the Catholic church gained traction. Olivia Goumbri of the Government funded Information office said: "The fact that we see that an effort Chavez proposed has not gone through, I think really is a testament to the amount of democratic processes that are going on in Venezuela".

Note EU-Digest: Chavez lost fair and square. To his benefit must be said that he did not manipulate or contest the election results. The elections were reviewed by some 100 electoral observers from 39 countries in Latin America, Europe and the US, plus hundreds of Venezuelan observers, the National Electoral Council said. EU-trade with Venezuela grew by 46.9 % last year to € 6.4 billion. The high growth was mainly due to a strong - 73.3 % - increase of imports from Venezuela.

Labels: Chavez, Democracy, EU, Venezuela

For the complete report from Radio Netherlands click on this link

"Putin who is immensely popular in Russia can count on overwhelming victory in elections"- by Geert Groot Koerkamp

President Vladimir Putin addressed thousands of supporters of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party less than two weeks before the Russian parliamentary elections of 2 December. The party is expected to win a landslide victory. His supporters see the elections as a referendum on President Putin, whose second and final term ends in March. They hope that he continues to rule the country. This should not prove difficult, since a Putin ally is expected to win the presidency.

The opinion polls promise good news for Mr Putin. The polls show that the only party besides United Russia which will get enough votes to pass the seven percent threshold is the Communist Party. Semyon Trofimov, a member of the new pro-Putin movement, says that many Russians believe Mr Putin will guarantee stability. “As an average citizen and father of two sons I want to see my children grow up without war, any sort of calamities or racial hatred. I believe that at the moment the only person who can achieve this is Vladimir Putin.”

Note EU-Digest: The EU has all to gain from standing behind Mr. Putin who is solidly supported at home by the Russian people. He has gained respect by bringing stability to a country during extremely difficult times, as it transformed from a totalitarian communist state to a pro-free enterprise democracy. Russia today is a democracy in its own right and respects religious freedom. The Internet is not censored (like in China); there is a free press; Russia has signed the Kyoto treaty; and is one of the most important trading partners of the EU. Europe will not benefit from mingling in Russia's internal political affairs, but instead should help them in further developing their government institutions, support technology transfer and increase trade. Europe certainly does not need to get involved in another cold war with Russia. .

Labels: Democracy, Elections, EU, Putin, Russia

For the complete report from the Discovery Institute click on this link

One Cold War Was Enough: Russia Needs Our Help, Not Our Condemnation

Trying to understand Russia through the prism of the British and American news media these days can be a real headache. On one hand, if you’ve read the business pages of The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times lately, you would learn that Russia is now one of the world’s leading emerging markets, and the Russian economy has grown at an average annual rate of 7% since 2000. On the other hand, if you turn to the headlines or the editorial pages, you will read that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been busy crushing democracy and reviving the Soviet Union.

While Americans are constantly having their eyes opened to the possibilities for growth and economic freedom in the People’s Republic of China, a far more free and open society in Russia is judged more harshly in the Western news media. Why is this? Is it because the shelves at Wal-Marts across America are not stocked with goods from Russia? Or is it simply because, as some cynical Russians imply, there is one American and European expectation for people who “look like us”, and another for others (Asians, Africans, and Arabs) who don’t? Or could it be that American perceptions of Russia are still formed by a combination of stereotypes left over from the Cold War and more recent images of Russia in the Nineties as the Wild East -- an exotic backwater whose main exports were supposedly mail order brides and ruthless mafias?

Stop obsessing about the Kremlin and start concentrating on promoting more trade, entrepreneurship, and genuine philanthropy between our two countries at the grassroots and corporate levels. If the US can do this with China, a country that does not respect religious freedom and which actively censors the Internet, why can’t the US do it with Russia, whose government does not do either of these things?

Labels: Democracy, Elections, Putin, Russia

For the complete report from ShortNews.com click on this link

Russia - Opposition suppressed: Putin Rival Kasparov Beaten And Arrested

Kremlin opponents clashed with riot police after a rally where the former chess champion was forced to the ground and beaten. In court two of the riot police swore that the had direct orders to arrest Kasparov. The Moscow court Convicted Kasparov and sentenced him to five days in jail. He was charged for organizing an unsanctioned procession "of at least 1,500 people directed against President Vladimir Putin," and chanting anti-government slogans.

Kasparov has said that he plans to run for the presidency next March, many of the opposition parties in his coalition, including his United Civic Front, have not been allowed to register in the coming election.

Labels: Democracy, Elections, Putin, Russia

Forthe complete report from the International Herald Tribune click on this link

EU Beacon of hope for Belarus - Belarusian opposition activists march through Minsk calling for closer ties to Europe

Thousands of Belarusian opposition activists shouting "freedom" marched through the center of the capital Sunday to pressure authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko to move Belarus closer to Europe. "We want to live by the laws of Europe, not by the laws of dictatorship," opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich told about 5,000 people who had gathered on a square near the Academy of Sciences for what was called the European March.

"We will be protesting like this until we win and until we are free," he told the crowd.

Labels: Belarus, Democracy, EU

For the complete report from the washingtonpost.com click on this link

Turkey: Muslim Democracy in Action - by Jackson Diehl

The notion that democracy and Islam are fundamentally incompatible is about to get a resounding rebuke, just at the moment it is threatening to congeal as conventional wisdom in Washington. Barring a last-minute surprise -- such as a military coup -- a liberal and pro-Western politician named Abdullah Gul will be elected president of Turkey by the country's parliament tomorrow. Gul speaks fluent English and has been a steady if somewhat quiet friend of the United States during more than four years as foreign minister. He also identifies himself as a religious Muslim in a country with an 85-year history of militant secularism. His wife wears a headscarf, which is banned from public offices, universities and -- until now -- the president's Cankaya Palace in Ankara.

Labels: Democracy, EU, Musllim, Turkey

For the complete report from the Asian Tribune click on this link

The Swiss cantonal system: A Model Democracy - by Frances Kendall

The concepts of devolution of power, local autonomy, and participatory democracy have produced the world's most peaceful and prosperous country. Of course, Switzerland, with its compulsory military service, state controlled monetary system, railroad and telephone services, and taxation, is not a pure libertarian society – but for those interested in reining in out-of-control governments in other parts of the world, there are large parts of the Swiss cantonal system that are worthy of emulation.

Switzerland is considered by many to be the most democratic country in the world. It is also one of the world's most successful nations in economic terms. The Swiss people have the highest per-capita incomes in the world, and Switzerland is consistently rated among the top ten nations in terms of quality of life.

Labels: Democracy, Economy, Europe, Switzerland

For the complete report from the Union Leader click on this link

Czech Republic: Bush worships democracy, but he should study history - by Pat Buchanan

Last week, at Czermin Palace in Prague, George Bush delivered his latest epistle on democracy as mankind's salvation, as though he had learned nothing since ordering the invasion of Iraq -- to bring the blessings of democracy to Mesopotamia and the Middle East. President Bush began by paying tribute to the founding father of Czech democracy. "Nine decades ago, Tomas Masaryk proclaimed Czechoslovakia's independence based on the "ideals of democracy.'" Well, that may be what the Masaryk said, but it is not exactly what he did. In 1918, he did indeed proclaim the independence of Czechoslovakia, confirmed by the Allies at Paris. But inside the new Czechoslovakia, built on the "ideals of democracy," were 3 million dissident Germans who wished to remain with Austria and half a million Hungarians who wished to remain with Hungary. Many Catholic Slovaks had wanted to remain with Catholic Hungary. Against their will, all had been consigned to Masaryk's Czech-dominated nation.

Labels: Bush, Democracy, the Czech Republic

For the complete report from the signandsight click on this link

Europe's oppressive legacy - by Imre Kertesz

"It will be the very first task of the new Europe to hack out clear paths through the jungle of ideologies and fallacies. It is a typically twentieth-century phenomenon that politics and culture have become not just antagonistic but inimical to one another. In this terrible century of lost values everything that was once of value became ideological. The hour was struck for the political adventurers and leaders of the people who undertake to direct and later exploit the masses with the help of the apparatus of political parties cultivated by devious stratagems.It has become more obvious than ever before that there exist at least two Europes, in which shared history, the shared European experience, is reflected in at least two different ways. There is a general

belief that democracy is a political disposition, but if one thinks about it, democracy is in truth more a culture than a mere system—and here I am using the word culture in, as it were, its horticultural sense. The democracies of Western Europe came into being organically; democracy sprouted as a political system on the soil of a social culture, through a process of economic, political and behavioural necessities, successful revolutions or great social compromises. In Central and Eastern Europe, by contrast, the political structures were the first to be brought into being—insofar as they have been brought into being—and society must now undertake the gradual, wearisome and possibly painful task of assimilating to those structures."

Labels: Democracy, Europe

For the complete report from the Guardian click on this link

Serbia Approves Pro-Democracy Government - by Dusan Stojanovic

Serbia's parliament approved a new pro-democracy government Tuesday, overcoming efforts by anti-Western ultranationalists to derail the vote and force new elections.

The 133-106 endorsement of the coalition government came only a half hour before a midnight deadline to approve the government or call new elections. Parliamentary elections in January produced no clear winner, and months of bickering followed.

Labels: Democracy, Serbia

For the complete report by Mr. Berzeg in TODAY'S ZAMAN click on this link

"Turkey in trouble: An APK viewpoint on Turkey's political environment"

Mr. Berzeg who is a lawyer writes in Todays Zaman: "The events in Turkey dating back to the 1960 military coup prove that the biggest obstacle in Turkey membership to the EU has been the lack of civil control over the military. If the same pattern continues in Turkey, not only will Turkey lose the right to become a member of the European Union, an endeavor of Turkey’s since 1856, it will also lose its stance as a party in the European political arena." Note EU-Digest: "Zaman Today is one of the Turkish newspapers favorable to the policies of the ruling APK political party which wants a stronger Muslim identification and a gradual breakup of the established secular foundation of the Turkish Republic. The secular foundation is guaranteed in the constitution of the country and supported by the majority of the Turkish population. However, political opposition parties seem unable to form a common front against the APK to avoid potential political turmoil and military intervention in Turkey. The only way out of this critical situation seems to be that a political compromise is reached between the APK and opposition parties by selecting a presidential candidate who can get bipartisan support. The EU should help the Turkish government in reaching such a compromise."

Labels: Democracy, EU, Military, Turkey

For the complete report from the csmonitor.com click on this link

Oft elitist French elections try a town-hall style - by Susan Sachs

PARIS - The "judges" – among them a factory worker, a businessman, and a job-hunting college student – were seated under a canopy of television lights. At exactly 8:50 p.m., a throbbing soundtrack filled the studio. Everyone sat up straighter. Cameras rolled. From stage left, the petitioner – aka presidential candidate Ségolène Royal – strode to a podium.

She smiled and squared her shoulders. And for the next two hours, live on French television last Thursday night, she fielded questions from citizen-judges. Power to the people! Here was direct democracy in action.

Labels: Democracy, Elections, France, Segolene Royal

For the full report on the "European Story" click on this link

Europe at 50 - Join The Debate - what story should Europe tell

Welcome. Join us in a debate about where Europe has come from and where it should be heading to. As the European Union approaches its ‘50th birthday’ — the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome — it seems to many of us that Europe has lost the plot. Europeans badly need a new story that we can tell in our different languages and idioms.

Timothy Garton Ash professor of European studies at Oxford University drafted a first proposal for a new way in which we could tell our story around six goals to which most Europeans aspire: Freedom, Peace, Law, Prosperity, Diversity and Solidarity.

You can read the English version in Prospect magazine by clicking on this link

Versions published in other European languages will be posted as soon as they appear.

This is only one writer’s first draft. The story is no good unless enough Europeans think it is pointing in the right direction. Please join in the debate. Feel free to use any European language you like. The discussion is completely free, but it will be followed by a group of our European students here at Oxford. We will remove anything that is downright obscene or constitutes incitement to hatred, and may tidy up the formatting, but otherwise we will leave posts exactly as they come.

Labels: Democracy, European Integration, European Unity, justice, prosperity

For the complete report from the The Peninsula On-line click on this link

56.7% of audience at the Doha Debate in Quatar say Niqab veil hinders integration for Muslims

DOHA: A majority of the participants – 56. 7 per cent – voted for the motion “this House believes that Niqab (face veil) is a barrier to Muslim integration in the West” at the Qatar Foundation’s Doha Debates yesterday. The topic triggered a heated debate, in the context of the controversy raging in the West about the face veil worn by a section of Muslim women.

H. H. Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Misned, the Chairperson of the Qatar Foundation and Dr Sheikha Abdullah Al Misned, president of the Qatar University, were present among the audience, along with several other dignitaries. The event was chaired by famous TV presenter Tim Sebastian.

Reem Maghribi, founder of Al Sharq, the premier English language British-Arab culture and lifestyle magazine,argued that wearing veil is not a requirement of Islam, but it has evolved from the custom. “Islam is a pragmatic religion and it does not ask Muslims to ignite fear among others,” she said. Note EU-Digest: " The Qatar Foundation’ is to be commended for hosting the Doha Debates"

Labels: Democracy

For the complete report in the Forum 18 cloick on this link

MOLDOVA: Why does the government violate religious freedom? - by Felix Corley

Despite a late February judgement by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg against the Moldovan government, for refusing to grant legal status to the True Orthodox Church, Vladislav Gribincea of the Chisinau-based Lawyers for Human Rights organisation is sceptical that it will improve the chances of religious minority communities gaining legal status. "The Bessarabian Church case at the ECHR back in 2001 also saw a large fine imposed on the government, but that didn't change the situation, as we see from the True Orthodox case," he told Forum 18 on 7 March. Gribincea states that the State Service for Religious Denominations headed by Serghei Yatsko, which reports directly to the government, "doesn't want to" register any other religious communities. "It needs political will to change this, and I don't think it is there."

Asked why the State Service is so obstructive, Gribincea responded: "The Russian Orthodox Church has very strong links with it, which obstructs the possibility to register alternative religious communities. I can find no other reason that can explain this attitude." Many other religious communities have independently told Forum 18 that the Moscow Patriarchate's political influence is the root cause of their legal status problems.

Labels: Democracy

For the complete report on theage.com.au click on this link

Democracy - China pulls the plug on new cyber cafes

"China will not allow any new internet cafes to open this year, according to state mediareports. Xinhua News Agency said 14 government departments, including the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Information Industry, had issued a notice saying that "in 2007, local governments must not sanction the opening of new internet bars".

The Chinese government promotes internet use for education and business but tries to block its public from seeing material online that is deemed subversive or pornographic.

In January, President Hu Jintao ordered Chinese internet regulators to promote a "healthy online culture" to protect the government's stability."

Labels: Democracy

For the complete report by the winnipegsun.com click on this linkNot so free in Germany - by Joseph Quesnel

Not so free in Germany - by Joseph Quesnel

"I will forgo the pleasure of drinking German lager and eating sauerkraut for the foreseeable future and I ask freedom lovers to consider joining me. I am joining an international boycott of German goods because of that country's drift away from fundamental freedoms.

The most ominous example is the Busekros family. An online petition is calling for a boycott of German products due to their treatment. The horrendous crime of this family, and others across Germany, is they chose to homeschool their children, a right taken for granted here. Homeschooling is illegal there, and authorities seem out for blood.

The essence of a free state is the existence of pluralistic civil society where different choices are permitted. The German authorities apparently do not respect the convictions of religious communities which believe family ought to be the first teacher, not the omnipotent state. My parents considered homeschooling me out of concerns over the expunging of Christianity from public schools. I'm glad we did not live in Germany."

Labels: Democracy