Obituary: Lech Kaczynski
THE TELEGRAPH: Lech Kaczynski, who was killed in an air crash on April 10 aged 60, had been president of Poland since 2005.

Photograph: The Telegraph
An unashamed nationalist who sought to give Poland a more powerful voice in international affairs, his populist, Right-wing beliefs commended him to many Poles, particularly the large Roman Catholic population.

It was an enthusiasm not universally shared on the world stage. Kaczynski and his twin brother Jaroslaw – who served for a time as his prime minister – urged President George W Bush to install anti-missile missiles in Poland and pursued what many saw as a vendetta against former communists.

They campaigned vociferously against homosexuality, prostitution and abortion, and capitalised on the Polish mistrust of the Russians and the Germans (who in turn referred to the Kaczynski twins as "the Polish potatoes"). According to one analyst: "[The Kaczynskis] see the Germans as untrustworthy pigs and the Russians as worse."

Lech Aleksander Kaczynski was born on June 18 1949, 45 minutes after his twin. Their father was an engineer by profession, their mother a philologist at the Polish Academy of Sciences. Both their parents had taken part in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, which left more than 150,000 Poles dead and their nation too weak to resist the subsequent predations of the Soviet Union. It was a disaster that proved formative for Lech. "At home I learned a conviction that Poland was under oppression, that the communist system had been forced upon us," he later declared.

The twins first became famous in Poland when they were 12, after being chosen to star in a fantasy film called Two Boys Who Stole The Moon (1962). Both then studied Law at Warsaw University, and after graduating Lech took up a teaching post at the University of Gdansk, where he completed a PhD.

By the end of the 1970s both twins were involved in trade union politics. Lech Walesa had been one of Lech Kaczynski's students, and his former teacher now began acting as his lawyer as the shipyard electrician took on the might of the communist state. >>> | Saturday, April 10, 2010

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Queen's sorrow at Polish air crash that killed president Lech Kaczynski: The Queen paid tribute last night to Poland’s president Lech Kaczynski, who died along with his wife Maria and 95 others when his plane crashed as it attempted to land at a Russian airport. >>> Nick Meo and Matthew Day | Sunday, April 11, 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: Poland declares week of mourning after president among 96 dead in plane crash: Poland has declared a week of national mourning as the nation struggles to come to terms with the catastrophic plane crash that claimed the lives of the Polish president, his wife and dozens of the country's political and military elite. >>> Matthew Day in Warsaw | Saturday, April 10, 2010

THE ADVOCATE: Poland Mourns Death of Antigay President >>> Advocate.com Editors | Saturday, April 10, 2010

PINK NEWS: Gay rights advocating former Polish Deputy PM among dead in plane crash: The plane crash that killed the homophobic Polish President Lech Kaczynski has also claimed the life of Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka, one of the most outspoken advocates for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) rights in Poland. >>> Staff Write, Pink News | Saturday, April 10, 2010

George Osborne Tells Peter Tatchell Conservatives Will Consider Full Gay Marriages
PINK NEWS: Shadow chancellor and Conservative general election campaign manager George Osborne met gay rights campaigner and Green party activist Peter Tatchell earlier today and promised to 'consider' gay marriages ahead of Mr Tatchell's event to persuade Conservative leader David Cameron to 'come out' more on gay rights. >>> Staff Writer, Pink News | Sunday, April 11, 2010

Somalia Islamists Al-Shabab Ban BBC Transmissions
BBC: The Somali Islamist movement al-Shabab has banned the BBC and closed down transmitters broadcasting the Somali language service inside the country.

Al-Shabab accused the BBC of fighting against Islam and supporting the transitional federal government, which the rebels are fighting to overthrow.

The group said the BBC had been broadcasting the agenda of crusaders and colonialists against Muslims.

The BBC said it was strictly impartial and spoke to all sides in the conflict.

The BBC has been broadcasting its services in Somali, Arabic and English across the country on a series of FM frequencies for at least a decade, and surveys suggest it is one of the most widely listened-to news services in Somalia. >>> By Peter Greste
East Africa correspondent, BBC News | Friday, April 09, 2010

Stupidity at the White House! Obama Moves to De-link Terrorism from Islam
DAWN: WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama has ordered a revision of America’s National Security Strategy with the aim to remove terms that link Islam to terrorism, administration officials said.

The officials said the change would remove terms like “Islamic radicalism” from the National Security Strategy, a document that was created by the previous administration to outline the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war.

The US National Security Strategy outlines major national security concerns and the methods to deal with them. Such documents are prepared periodically by the executive branch of the government for Congress. US media outlets often refer to this document for borrowing terms to use in a report.

The Bush-era document describes the war against terrorists as “the struggle against militant Islamic radicalism … the great ideological conflict of the early years of the 21st century.” The Council on American-Islamic Relations on Thursday welcomed the announcement, saying it was a step in the right direction.

“We welcome this change in language as another step toward respectful and effective outreach to Muslims at home and abroad,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad.

He recommended that media professionals and commentators adopt similarly neutral and objective language and avoid “loaded” terminology. >>> Anwar Iqbal | Friday, April 09, 2010

The Hit Parade

Sudan's Multi-Party Election

Adopted Boy Sent Back

Dramatic Impact on Polish Politics
Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw in 2009. Photo: The Wall Street Journal
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: The death in a plane crash Saturday of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, together with the cream of the nation's conservative opposition and the entire command of the armed forces, will have a dramatic impact on the nation's politics, politicians and analysts said.

Mr. Kaczynski, together with his twin brother Jaroslaw, was a divisive character within Poland and in Europe. The twins pushed unashamedly for conservative values and a righting of historical wrongs with 20th-century foes Russia and Germany in ways that ruffled feathers and often seemed out of step with the times.

Yet with Mr. Kaczynski's passing, even visceral political foes recognized that the country's political scene has suffered a loss that won't be easily rectified, although one that could simplify life for the current government and for Poland's interlocutors.

"This is a tragedy that's second after Katyn," said former President Lech Walesa in remarks on television, referring to the 1940 slaughter of more than 20,000 Polish officers by the Soviet NKVD, precursor of the KGB, which Mr. Kaczynski had been on his way to commemorate. "Over there, they tried to cut off our head. The elite of our country has been killed again. It will take a while to fill this gap. This is a great loss."

Mr. Walesa had long since fallen out with Mr. Kaczynski, but Saturday's plane crash struck Poland as a national tragedy. The irony that Polish leaders were wiped out as they traveled to attend the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre was deeply felt by Poles.

The crash is likely to have a lopsided effect on Polish domestic politics, however, leaving the conservative Law and Justice Party with no obvious candidate for presidential elections. These were to be held in September or October, but will now need to be moved up to June at the latest. The candidate for the left-of-center Democratic Left Alliance, deputy speaker of parliament, Jerzy Szmajdzinski, also was on the plane when it crashed. There were no survivors reported. >>> Marc Champion and Marcin Sobczyk | Saturday, April 10, 2010

U.S. Community Mourns Plane Crash Deaths

Parlamentswahl: Was ist bloß mit den Ungarn los?
WELT ONLINE: Unser Korrespondent Boris Kálnoky begibt sich in seine alte Heimat Ungarn, um den erwarteten Rechtsruck bei der Parlamentswahl zu verstehen. Er sieht ein Land der Enttäuschten. Ein Land, das von Morden an Roma erschüttert wird. Er sieht einen mutmaßlichen Wahlsieger, dessen größtes Problem Arroganz ist.

Ich mag die Zeitungen nicht mehr lesen in meinem Land, das nach der Wende einmal der Musterschüler Osteuropas war: Ungarn. Jeden Tag neue Enthüllungen über Korruption und bankrotte Staatsfinanzen, während selbst ernannte Ordnungshüter in Fantasieuniformen durch die Straßen marschieren, rassistische Parolen grölen und patriotische Lieder singen.

Was ist eigentlich los hier, 20 Jahre nach dem Ende des Kommunismus? Am Sonntag wird gewählt, und so mache ich mich auf den Weg, die Lage zu erkunden und meine Entscheidung zu treffen: Wer kann Ungarn retten, und wovor muss es überhaupt gerettet werden? >>> Boris Kálnoky | Samstag, 10. April 2010

Bush Knew Guantánamo Prisoners Were Innocent, Former Colin Powell Aide Tells Court
MAIL ONLINE: George W Bush knew that hundreds of detainees held at Guantánamo Bay were innocent - but covered the fact up for political reasons, a top former aide has told a U.S. court.

Retired Army Col. Lawrence B. Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, testified that officials 'knew that they had seized and were holding innocent men at Guantanamo Bay'.

'I discussed the issue of the Guantánamo detainees with Secretary Powell,' he said. 'I learnt that it was his view that it was not just Vice-President [Dick] Cheney and [Defense] Secretary [Donald] Rumsfeld, but also President Bush who was involved in all of the Guantánamo decision making.'

'They simply refused to release them out of fear of political repercussions,' he continued.

Colonel Wilkerson heaped most of his criticism on the heads of of Mr Rumsfeld and Mr Cheney, saying they knew that the majority of the 742 detainees sent to Guantánamo in 2002 were not guilty of any crimes. >>> Mail Foreign Service | Saturday, April 10, 2010

Dhimmitude Alert! NHS: Preferential Treatment for Muslims
MAIL ON SUNDAY: Muslim doctors and nurses are to be allowed for religious reasons to opt out of strict NHS dress codes introduced to prevent the spread of deadly hospital superbugs.

The Department of Health has announced that female Muslim staff will be permitted to cover their arms on hospital wards to preserve their modesty.

This is despite earlier guidance that all staff should be ‘bare below the elbow’ after long sleeves were blamed for spreading bacteria, leading to superbug deaths.

The Department has also relaxed its ‘no jewellery’ rule by making it clear that Sikhs can wear bangles, as long as they can be pushed up the arm during direct patient care.

The move contrasts with the case of nurse Shirley Chaplin, who last week lost her discrimination battle against Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital Trust, which said the cross she has worn since she was 16 was a ‘hazard’ because it could scratch patients.

Mrs Chaplin, 55, had worn the silver cross on a necklace since her confirmation. But the employment tribunal told her that wearing a cross was not a ‘mandatory requirement’ of her faith, even though Muslim doctors are allowed to wear hijabs or headscarves.

Last night she said of the sleeve concession to Muslims: ‘I don’t believe my cross is a danger so this is double standards. What can you say? It seems that life is stacked up against Christians these days.’

Politicians and Christian leaders, including former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, added that it showed the Government was prepared to accommodate minority faiths while Christianity was marginalised.

Lord Carey said of grandmother Mrs Chaplin: ‘The Muslim voice is very strong, so politicians and others are scared of it. We can only deduce that the hostility aimed at her is because she is a Christian.’

The revised rules, which health officials insist will not compromise hospital hygiene, were drawn up after female Muslim staff objected to exposing their arms in public. NHS relax superbug safeguards for Muslim staff... just days after Christian nurse is banned from wearing crucifix for health and safety reasons >>> Jonathan Petre | Sunday, April 11, 2010

Putin, Polish PM and Lech Kaczynski's Brother Arrive in Smolensk

Kaczynski, 50 ans d'engagement
leJDD.fr: Militant anti-communiste depuis ses 20 ans, Lech Kaczynski, mort samedi dans un crash d'avion, a eu une longue carrière politique, un temps proche de Walesa, avant de parvenir à la fonction suprême. Portrait d'un symbole de son pays.

Dès son enfance, il avait enthousiasmé la Pologne en jouant avec son frère jumeau Jaroslaw dans le très populaire film Histoire de deux enfants qui volèrent la Lune en 1962. A partir de cette célébrité, Lech Kaczynski, décédé samedi dans un crash d'avion à l'âge de 60 ans, a pu construire son succès politique. Mais c'est surtout grâce à son engagement, avec son frère, aux côtés de Lech Walesa, dans le mouvement anti-communiste Solidarnosc dans les années 1970 qu'il a acquis une véritable crédibilité auprès de ses concitoyens. Nommé conseiller au Comité de grève du port de Gdansk, ce fils de résistants est interné pendant onze mois en 1981 avec d'autres militants lors de l'imposition de la loi martiale.

Sa proximité avec l'ancien leader du mouvement démocratique, devenu président en 1990, lui permet de devenir le principal conseiller politique puis ministre de la Sécurité nationale. Mais Lech et Jaroslaw Kaczynski se brouillent avec le chef d'Etat. Le premier fera son retour au gouvernement en 2000, en devenant ministre de la Justice dans le gouvernement Buzek. Et les jumeaux passent alors à la vitesse supérieure: ils fondent le parti conservateur Droit et Justice (PIS) et Lech devient le maire de Varsovie en 2002. Un tremplin idéal vers la présidence. Poussé par son frère, son ainé de 45 minutes, il se présente en 2005 et remporte la mise. Jaroslaw avait refusé de devenir Premier ministre pour ne pas gêner son frère. "Jumeaucratie" >>> Vivien Vergnaud - leJDD.fr, Samedi 10 Avril 2010

WELT ONLINE: Kommentar – Kaczynskis Tod, ein zynischer Hieb der Geschichte: Viele Polen sehen ihre Heimat als "Christus unter den Nationen". In der Tat hat das Land eine leidgeprüfte Geschichte. Der Absturz der polnischen Präsidentenmaschine ist ein weiterer Meilenstein in der Historie polnischen Leids. Umso wichtiger ist eine lückenlose Aufklärung des Unglücks. >>> Von Klaus Christian Malzahn | Samstag, 10. April 2010

Lien en relation avec l’article:

LE POINT: La Pologne sous le choc après la mort de Lech Kaczynski >>> AFP | Samedi 10 Avril 2010

Related:

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Polish President’s Plane Crashes in Russia; 87 Dead >>> Ellen Barry and Clifford J. Levy | Saturday, April 10, 2010

Richard Dawkins: I Will Arrest Pope Benedict XVI
THE SUNDAY TIMES: RICHARD DAWKINS, the atheist campaigner, is planning a legal ambush to have the Pope arrested during his state visit to Britain “for crimes against humanity”.

Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, the atheist author, have asked human rights lawyers to produce a case for charging Pope Benedict XVI over his alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic church.

The pair believe they can exploit the same legal principle used to arrest Augusto Pinochet, the late Chilean dictator, when he visited Britain in 1998.

The Pope was embroiled in new controversy this weekend over a letter he signed arguing that the “good of the universal church” should be considered against the defrocking of an American priest who committed sex offences against two boys. It was dated 1985, when he was in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which deals with sex abuse cases.

Benedict will be in Britain between September 16 and 19, visiting London, Glasgow and Coventry, where he will beatify Cardinal John Henry Newman, the 19th-century theologian.

Dawkins and Hitchens believe the Pope would be unable to claim diplomatic immunity from arrest because, although his tour is categorised as a state visit, he is not the head of a state recognised by the United Nations. >>> Marc Horne | Sunday, April 11, 2010

Carla Bruni Reins In the Heavies to Calm l’affaire Twitter
THE SUNDAY TIMES: After rumours of extramarital affairs, telephone taps and a plot to destabilise the French state, the latest episode in France’s presidential soap opera features efforts by Carla Bruni, the president’s wife, to rein in “the firm”.

A cluster of Nicolas Sarkozy’s closest advisers called themselves “the firm” years ago in a tribute to the ruthless lawyers of the John Grisham thriller. Like guard dogs, they have protected “Sarko”, always ready to rip his opponents to shreds.

Unleashed last week, however, one of these political pitbulls wreaked so much havoc that the nation was left wondering whether its master had lost his mind.

Just as gossip about marital discord in the Sarkozy household had dissipated, Pierre Charon, who handles sensitive matters for the president, managed to reignite “l’affaire Twitter” with claims of a plot emanating from abroad to discredit the French leader by spreading rumours about his love life over the internet.

The culprits would be rooted out, he promised, by a criminal investigation.

It was whispered that Dominique de Villepin, the former prime minister and Sarkozy’s chief rival, had played a role in disseminating gossip that the president was having an affair with Chantal Jouanno, his ecology minister, and that Bruni, the singer and former model, was in a relationship with another musician. All have denied any infidelity.

Charon announced that the domestic intelligence service was investigating the rumours, which first surfaced on Twitter, the internet social networking site, in February.

One of the culprits, he had earlier alleged, was Rachida Dati, a former justice minister and a fallen presidential favourite. Sarkozy abruptly cancelled her car and bodyguards and told aides that he did not want to see the Euro MP and Paris district mayor ever again.
She suffered further humiliation when she went to Geneva to address an expatriate meeting on behalf of the president’s centre-right UMP party. Instead of booking her into the five-star hotel she had requested, the party, citing a need to crack down on expenses, put her in a room at the airport overlooking a car park.

Dati was said to have been on the verge of tears when told by reception that the hotel was full and she would have to share her room with a parliamentary aide. “That’s what happens when you attack the firm,” Charon told a group of Sarkozy supporters last week.

Dati has threatened to sue him or anyone else who links her to the rumours and appealed on Wednesday for an audience with the president so she could persuade him of her innocence. She has long been at loggerheads with Charon and other members of “the firm” such as Brice Hortefeux, the interior minister, who is one of Sarkozy’s best friends.

The bad feeling dates back to before Sarkozy was president, when Dati told Cécilia, his second wife, about his affair with a journalist from Le Figaro newspaper. >>> Matthew Campbell in Paris | Sunday, April 11, 2010

Anti-Semitism Stirs as Hungary Goes to Polls
A supporter of the far-right party Jobbik. Photograph: The Sunday Times
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Rabbi Shmuel Raskin and his 50 guests were celebrating the Jewish festival of Passover last weekend when two stones smashed though the double-glazed windows of his home in the centre of Budapest.

Police said they had probably been fired from a sling. The group continued with its ceremonies, but in silence and behind closed shutters. The incident was one of a series of hate attacks in Hungary amid an atmosphere of heightened racial tension in the run-up to today’s general election.

During a recent speech by Gabor Demszky, the mayor of Budapest, a mob chanted “Jewish pigs” and “To the concentration camps”. Election posters have been smeared with yellow Stars of David and anti-Semitic slogans.

Budapest rabbis describe racial epithets being shouted as they walk their children to school, slogans such as “Jews go to Israel” are daubed in the streets, accompanied by swastikas, while cars bear stickers with the slogan “Jew-free car”.

Critics connect the abuse to the rise of the extreme right-wing Jobbik party, which has been accused of anti-Semitism and xenophobia.

The increase in violent attacks on minorities — a dozen Roma (gypsies) have been gunned down in recent years — has coincided with the emergence of Jobbik, which won 15% support in the European elections held in 2009. Opinion polls suggest that it will attract between 13% and 20% today.

Although the centre-right Fidesz opposition party of Viktor Orban, the former prime minister, is expected to win a landslide victory, Jobbik, led by Gabor Vona, a 31-year-old former history teacher, could become the second-largest party following a populist campaign dominated by attacks on corruption and “Roma crime”.

The party denies accusations of neo-Nazism but Gordon Bajnai, the caretaker prime minister, warned that the “monster” was at the door and threatening to “crush” Hungarian democracy. >>> Bojan Pancevski in Budapest | Sunday, April 11, 2010

Don’t Come Over Here, David Cameron, You Pinko
THE SUNDAY TIMES: The Republican party has lurched so far right that it can no longer recognise mainstream conservatism

Anti President Obama's health care plan placard - 'The 'Joker' Doctor will see you now'. Photograph: The Sunday Times
When I read the usual antiTory screeds in the British press and the dark admonitions that they might harbour some crypto-Thatcherite agenda beneath the air-brushed facade [sic], I feel as if I’m living on some other planet. From the vantage point of the current American right, the Cameron Tories are a bunch of pinkos.

David Cameron has insisted on his credentials as a green. Since the last US presidential election, when Senator John McCain ran as someone who took climate change seriously, the Republican party consensus has been that it is a total hoax and anyone who gives credence to it is a loony leftie.

Cameron is trying to reassure middle England that the NHS is safe with the Tories. But the Republican base is in uproar over President Barack Obama’s rather modest attempt to subsidise the working poor’s access to private insurance.

Since Obama’s election, Sarah Palin has gone from being a fringe member of the right to the centre of the Republican base. McCain has been forced to ask her to campaign for him in a primary battle against JD Hayworth, a much more doctrinaire rightwinger.

If the British right is somewhat crucified in its attempt to balance right and centre, the American right is simply choosing between far right and totally insane far right. And every time you think someone in the establishment will try to tamp down “Tea Party” excess, you realise there is no Republican establishment any more. It is a party run by its base and its base is run by the most radical members of the chat radio and Fox News media machine. >>> Andrew Sullivan | Sunday, April 11, 2010

Hungary's National Election


WELT ONLINE: Rechtsruck: Die Auferstehung der Pfeilkreuzler in Ungarn >>> Von Rudolf Ungváry | Freitag, 09. April 2010

Man Survives Two Atom Bombs

Ahmadinejad Criticizes Obama's Nuclear Proposal

La Pologne sous le choc après la mort de Lech Kaczynski
Toute la journée de samedi, des milliers de Polonais sont venus se recueillir devant le palais présidentiel, à Varsovie, pour rendre hommage à Lech Kaczynski. Photo : Le Point
LE POINT: Larmes aux yeux, abattus, les Polonais étaient traumatisés samedi par la nouvelle de la mort du chef de l'État Lech Kaczynski et de hauts responsables polonais dans l'accident de l'avion présidentiel qui s'est écrasé le matin à Smolensk, dans l'ouest de la Russie.

"C'est invraisemblable. Je n'arrive pas à y croire. Je suis sous le choc" - la voix faible de Katarzyna, 32 ans, tremble un peu, ses yeux sont humides. Comme des milliers de Varsoviens, elle est venue, accompagnée de ses amis, devant le siège de la présidence, dans le centre la capitale, pour rendre hommage au président Lech Kaczynski, mort à 60 ans. Le chef de l'Etat était accompagné par son épouse, ainsi que par les principaux chefs de l'armée et des personnalités politiques de premier plan. Au total, 96 personnes, 88 passagers et 8 membres de l'équipage ont péri dans cet accident, sans précédent dans l'histoire de la Pologne. Comme des centaines de personnes, Katarzyna a apporté une gerbe de roses blanches et rouges, aux couleurs nationales de la Pologne. D'autres y ont allumé des bougies. Certains, rassemblés autour d'un prêtre, se sont plongés dans la prière. >>> AFP | Samedi 10 Avril 2010

Liens en relation avec l’article >>>

World Leaders Send Condolences

Thaïlande: plus de 90 blessés dans des heurts à Bangkok
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: BANGKOK | Plus de 90 personnes - soldats, policiers ou manifestants - ont été blessés samedi lors de heurts entre les forces de l'ordre et les "chemises rouges" qui réclament la démission du gouvernement d'Abhisit Vejjajiva, a-t-on appris auprès des autorités sanitaires.

Plus de 90 personnes - soldats, policiers ou manifestants - ont été blessés samedi lors de heurts entre les forces de l'ordre et les "chemises rouges" qui réclament la démission du gouvernement d'Abhisit Vejjajiva, a-t-on appris auprès des autorités sanitaires.

"A 16h40 (09h40 GMT), nous avons comptabilisé 93 blessés dans les heurts, dont 71 civils, 19 soldats, trois policiers", a indiqué un responsable du centre des urgences de Bangkok. >>> AFP | Samedi 10 Avril 2010

«Le concept de diffamation des religions est dangereux»
LE TEMPS: Les Etats-Unis ont pour la première fois participé à une session de l’organe onusien avec une ambassadrice qui se consacre entièrement aux droits humains. Arrivée à Genève voici un peu plus de deux semaines, elle livre ses premières impressions du Conseil >>> Stéphane Bussard | Samedi 10 Avril 2010

Rechtsruck: Die Auferstehung der Pfeilkreuzler in Ungarn
WELT ONLINE: Am Sonntag wählt Ungarn: Die Prognosen lassen einen Triumph antidemokratischer und antisemitischer Kräfte befürchten. Die Situation erinnert an die düstere Vorkriegszeit. Das Land wird überschüttet mit völkisch-paranoiden Parolen, mit Fabulierungen über das "ungarische Wesen".

Die Wahlen in Ungarn werden durch die Vergangenheit bestimmt. Durch eine Vergangenheit, die in die 30er- und 40er-Jahren des vorigen Jahrhunderts reicht und im Jahre 1945 eingefroren wurde.

Ungarn ist im Vergleich zu Westeuropa ein Entwicklungsland. Es ist von seiner Geschichte noch nicht geheilt, somit im Grunde „frühreif“ für die Mitgliedschaft in der EU. Was hier die politische Atmosphäre bestimmt, ist westlich der Elbe und der Leitha längst überwunden worden: Die Mehrheit der Bevölkerung ist autoritär eingestellt.

Sie hält wenig von Freiheit ruft nach Ordnung. Das demokratische Prinzip eines Gleichgewichtes zwischen Freiheit und Ordnung ist in den Augen der Mehrheit eine liberal-kosmopolitische Täuschung. >>> Von Rudolf Ungváry | Freitag, 09. April 2010

Watch What You Do With Your Photos! You Could End Up On Yoghurt Cartons!
THE TELEGRAPH: A Greek man is suing a Swedish dairy firm for £4.5 million after his photograph ended up on yoghurt tubs marketed as a "Turkish" brand.

The man, who is furious at being portrayed as a Turkish [sic], the traditional national enemy of Greece, has accused Lindahls dairy of using his image without permission.

He found out about his picture on the Turkish-style yoghurt tubs after Athanasios Varzakanos, a friend living in Stockholm, recognised him.

"I was surprised and I could not believe my eyes. It was a shock to see him there suddenly, someone I know. He didn't like it, he was upset and wondered how it had happened," he said.

In his legal writ the man, who has not been named by the courts, has argued that he is not Turkish, he is Greek, and lives in Greece, and the use of his picture is misleading both for those who know him and for buyers of the yoghurt. Greek man sues dairy firm over yoghurt pot picture >>> | Friday, April 09, 2010

Pope Put Off Punishing Abusive Priest
THE NEW YORK TIMES: The priest, convicted of tying up and abusing two young boys in a California church rectory, wanted to leave the ministry.

But in 1985, four years after the priest and his bishop first asked that he be defrocked, the future Pope Benedict XVI, then a top Vatican official, signed a letter saying that the case needed more time and that “the good of the Universal Church” had to be considered in the final decision, according to church documents released through lawsuits.

That decision did not come for two more years, the sort of delay that is fueling a renewed sexual abuse scandal in the church that has focused on whether the future pope moved quickly enough to remove known pedophiles from the priesthood, despite pleas from American bishops.

As the scandal has deepened, the pope’s defenders have said that, well before he was elected pope in 2005, he grew ever more concerned about sexual abuse and weeding out pedophile priests. But the case of the California priest, the Rev. Stephen Kiesle, and the trail of documents first reported on Friday by The Associated Press, shows, in this period at least, little urgency.

The letter that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later pope, wrote in Latin in 1985, mentions Father Kiesle’s young age — 38 at the time — as one consideration in whether he should be forced from the priesthood. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said it was wrong to draw conclusions based on one letter, without carefully understanding the context in which it was written.

“It’s evident that it’s not an in-depth and serious use of documents,” he said. Earlier Friday, Father Lombardi suggested that the pope would be willing to meet with sexual abuse victims.

But John S. Cummins, the former bishop of Oakland who repeatedly wrote his superiors in Rome urging that the priest be defrocked, said the Vatican in that era, after the Second Vatican Council, was especially reluctant to dismiss priests because so many were abandoning the priesthood. >>> Laurie Goodstein and Michael Luo | Friday, April 09, 2010

LE TEMPS: Pédophilie – Le pape a traîné des pieds pour défroquer un prêtre californien : Benoît XVI est accusé d’avoir couvert de nouveaux abus alors qu’il était encore cardinal. Le père Kiesle, qui a reconnu avoir des penchants pédophiles, avait lui-même demandé à être défroqué. Il a dû attendre plusieurs années >>> ATS/AFP | Samedi 10 Avril 2010

WELT ONLINE: Missbrauch – Papst wehrt sich gegen neue Vorwürfe aus USA: Als Präfekt der Glaubenskongregation soll der damalige Kardinal Joseph Ratzinger die rasche Entlassung eines pädophilen US-Geistlichen aus dem Priesteramt um Jahre verzögert haben. Das behauptet ein Opfer-Anwalt. Der Vatikan widerspricht. Ratzinger habe lediglich um mehr Zeit zur Aufklärung gebeten. >>> dpa/lac | Samstag, 10. April 2010

Polish President’s Plane Crashes in Russia; 87 Dead
THE NEW YORK TIMES: MOSCOW — A plane carrying the Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, and his wife crashed in western Russia on Saturday morning, and there were no survivors, according to Russian media.

Officials did not immediately have information on the identities of the dead.

A spokeswoman for the emergency management ministry said on Russian television that the plane, a Tupolev 154, crashed as it was landing in Smolensk, and 87 people on board had died. >>> Ellen Barry and Clifford J. Levy | Saturday, April 10, 2010

Polish President Feared Dead in Plane Crash
THE TELEGRAPH: The Polish president's plane has crashed as it approached a Russian airport, killing 130 people.

Lech Kaczynski became the president of Poland in December 2005. Photo: The Telegraph
President Lech Kaczynski was travelling with his wife from Warsaw to Smolensk airport, 220 miles southwest of Moscow.

Sergei Antufiev, the regional governor of the Smolensk, said that everyone on board had been killed.

"It clipped the tops of the trees, crashed down and broke into pieces," Mr Antufiev, told Russia-24 television news network by telephone. "There were no survivors." Polish state news agency PAP also said there were no survivors. >>> | Saturday, April 10, 2010

Polish President Killed in Air Crash Near Russia's Smolensk

RUSSIA TODAY: Polish president killed in air crash near Russia's Smolensk: More than 80 people have died after a Polish presidential TU-154 plane crashed near an airport outside Smolensk in western Russia. The Polish president and his wife were killed in the crash. >>> | Saturday, April 10. 2010

LE FIGARO: Le président polonais tué dans le crash de son avion : L'appareil, qui transportait notamment Lech Kaczynski et plusieurs hauts responsables, aurait accroché des arbres au moment de son atterrissage à Smolensk dans l'ouest de la Russie. Il n'y aurait aucun survivant, selon les autorités russes, qui suspectent une erreur du pilote. >>> Par lefigaro.fr | Samedi 10 Avril 2010



NZZ ONLINE: Flugzeug mit polnischem Präsidenten abgestürzt: Maschine zerschellt bei Landeanflug auf Smolensk am Boden >>> sda/afp/Reuters/dpa | Samstag, 10. April 2010

Flugzeugabsturz: Mit Lech Kaczynski stirbt die "Elite der Nation"
WELT ONLINE: Dutzende Spitzenpolitiker und führende Vertreter von Kirche und Militär sind mit Polens Staatspräsident Lech Kaczynski in den Tod gestürzt. Vorübergehend übernimmt Parlamentspräsident Bronislaw Komorowski die Geschäfte des Staatsoberhaupts. Er soll innerhalb von 14 Tagen über vorgezogene Präsidentenwahlen entscheiden.

Polens Staatspräsident Lech Kaczynski und seine Ehefrau Maria sind bei einem Flugzeugabsturz im russischen Smolensk ums Leben gekommen. Bild: Welt Online
Polen in der Schockstarre: Nach dem Tod von Staatspräsident Lech Kaczynski versammelten sich am Samstag vor dem Präsidentenpalast in Warschau spontan Hunderte von Menschen zum Gebet. Angesichts der Tragödie flatterte die Staatsflagge auf Halbmast, während die Trauernden vor dem Gebäude Kerzen anzündeten.

Sogar der frühere Präsident Lech Walesa, der sonst immer eine schnelle Antwort auf jede Frage parat hat, suchte lange nach den richtigen Worten. Bei diesem Flugzeugabsturz sei „die Elite der Nation“ gestorben, sagte der Friedensnobelpreisträger und einstige Arbeiterheld. Der Verlust sei so gewaltig wie vor 70 Jahren in Katyn. >>> Von Jacek Lepiarz | Samstag, 10. April 2010

Related:

Video: Katyn Massacre Anniversary >>> | Thursday, April 08, 2010

The Troubled Church: Vatican, Canadian Church Officials Tried to Keep Sex Scandal Secret
Céline Dion with Bernard Prince and Pope John Paul II in the fall of 1984. Photo: The Globe and Mail
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: A 1993 letter focuses on protecting the church’s image by preventing public knowledge of Bernard Prince’s abuse of altar boys

More than a decade before police got wind that a priest had molested several altar boys in small towns in the Ottawa Valley, Vatican and Canadian church officials knew about the matter and discussed in a letter how to keep it secret.

The letter, written in 1993, focused on protecting the church’s image by preventing the scandal from becoming public – the very essence of an international wave of allegations now battering the Roman Catholic clergy and the Vatican.

“It is a situation which we wish to avoid at all costs,” the late Bishop Joseph Windle of Pembroke, Ont., wrote in Feb. 10, 1993, to the Pope’s envoy to Canada, Carlo Curis.

The man Bishop Windle was writing about was then-monsignor Bernard Prince, now 75, a friend of the late Pope John Paul II who had just been posted to the Vatican as a high-ranking official working with missionary societies.

The year before Mr. Prince was sent to Rome, a man had complained to the diocese that the priest had molested him when he was a child. At least one Vatican archbishop, Jose Sanchez, now a cardinal, had been warned about Mr. Prince’s problem before he was sent to Rome, Bishop Windle said in the letter.

Bishop Windle wrote that he told Cardinal Sanchez that he agreed with posting Mr. Prince to the Vatican. “While the charge against Fr. Prince was very serious, I would not object to him being given another chance since it would remove him from the Canadian scene.”

In his letter to the papal nuncio, Bishop Windle cautioned the Vatican to avoid honouring Mr. Prince because it could anger victims and prompt them to contact police.

“The consequences of such an action would be disastrous, not only for the Canadian church but for the Holy See as well,” the bishop wrote. >>> Tu Thanh Ha | Friday, April 09, 2010

Uniforms and Nazi Salutes at Terre'Blanche Funeral
Some among the congregation performed Nazi salutes during the service. Photograph: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: Thousands of followers of Eugene Terre’Blanche, the murdered white supremacist, attended his funeral amid tight security today.

Mourners, many dressed in combat gear, sang the apartheid-era national anthem as the coffin entered the church. Some among the congregation performed Nazi salutes during the service.

Other who could not fit inside the church filled the streets of the small farming town of Ventersdorp, 62 miles (100km) west of Johannesburg.

South Africa’s pre-apartheid flag and Terre'Blanche's party's flag, which resembles the Nazi swastika, fluttered from pickup trucks in the surrounding streets.

Reverend Ferdie Devenir told the congregation that Mr Terre’Blanche had been “a good leader”.

“The world was against him, they looked for the bad things about him.”

Two of Mr Terre’Blanche’s black workers have been charged with beating and hacking him to death on his farm last Saturday.

Police suspect the murder was financially rather than politically motivated but the killing has exposed the country's persistent racial divide 16 years after the end of white minority rule.

Helicopters circled above the streets and police were out in force. Few black South Africans were among the crowds. >>> Joanna Sugden | Friday, April 09, 2010

Tension as Terre'Blanche is Buried in South Africa

Le rapprochement USA/Russie inquiète l'Europe de l'Est
LE FIGARO: L'apparente lune de miel entre Obama et Medvedev réveille de vieilles craintes à Prague, Varsovie, Budapest et ailleurs, où le souvenir de l'occupation soviétique demeure très présent, dix-neuf ans après la fin de la guerre froide et la désagrégation de l'URSS.

Les ex-États du bloc soviétique redoutent le réchauffement des relations russo-américaines. Photo : Le Figaro
À Prague

Une fois la poignée de main historique échangée avec Dmitri Medvedev, jeudi à Prague, Barack Obama n'était pas ­encore tout à fait au bout de ses peines. Tandis que le président russe regagnait Moscou sitôt la cérémonie de signature du traité Start terminée, son homologue américain s'apprêtait à prolonger son séjour de quelques heures dans la capitale tchèque. Le temps de recevoir à ­dîner onze chefs d'État et de gouvernement d'Europe centrale et orientale à la résidence de l'ambassadeur américain, avant de redécoller vendredi matin pour Washington à bord d'Air Force One. Faire pièce aux visées russes >>> Par Maurin Picard | Vendredi 09 Avril 2010

Deutschland – Dr.Hassan Dabaggh (Shaikh Abul Hussein): Islam und Integration 9/14

EZP MusimTube

Pierre Vogel: Homosexualität im Islam

EZP MusimTube

Comment: Iraq Is the Most Dangerous Place on Earth for Gays
PINK NEWS: It often shocks people to hear this but talk to Iraqi gays who've made it out and they'll tell you – life was better under Saddam.

Baghdad played the role that Beirut does now as a sanctuary for Middle Eastern gay life with clubs which men from the Gulf and Saudi Arabia flocked to.

In sharp contrast, for the past six years Iraq has been the worst place in the entire world to be gay. Far, far worse than Uganda or even Iran. Hundreds of gays, lesbians and trans people have been hunted down and killed in the most vile ways imaginable – and imagination is the right word. Doctors have confirmed reports of men have had their anuses glued shut by militia forces and others have accused the government of being involved.

No one has been prosecuted and the Iraqi government has failed to do anything to stop it. So Iraqi gays have helped themselves. They have created safe houses, although many have been discovered and become a new killing field.

Many have fled but they have faced a cold wall of indifference and they have needed friends and luck to actually make it to sanctuary. >>> Paul Canning | Wednesday, March 24, 2010

TOPNEWS.in: Iraq turns a "blind eye" to torture, murder of gay men >>> Submitted by Sahil Nagpal | Monday, August 17, 2010

Child Bride, 13, Dies of Internal Injuries Four Days After Arranged Marriage in Yemen
MAIL ONLINE: A 13-year-old Yemeni girl died of internal injuries four days after a family-arranged marriage, a human rights group said.

Elham Mahdi Shoi, from Hajja province, northwest of the capital San'a, died on April 2, four days after her marriage to a 23-year-old man, said Majed al-Madhaji, a spokesman for the Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights.

Authorities detained the husband.

Sigrid Kaag, regional director for UNICEF, said in a statement that the United Nations child agency was 'dismayed by the death of yet another child bride in Yemen'.

'Elham is a martyr of abuse of children's lives in Yemen and a clear example of what is justified by the lack of limits on the age of marriage,' SAF said in a statement.

A medical report from al-Thawra hospital said she suffered a tear to her genitals and severe bleeding.

The Yemeni rights group said the girl was married off in an agreement between two men to marry each other's sisters to avoid having to pay expensive bride-prices.

The practice of marrying young girls is widespread in Yemen and drew the attention of international rights groups seeking to pressure the government to outlaw child marriages.

Legislation that would make it illegal for those under the age of 17 to marry is in serious peril after strong opposition from some of Yemen's most influential Islamic leaders. >>> Mail Foreign Service | Friday, April 09, 2010

A Reforming Pope Benedict XVI?

Plea to Drop Nuclear Weapons

Looking Back – Obama: Not At War with Islam

Christian Rights in the Middle East

Immigration, Islam, & The West

Iceland's New Poor Line Up for Food
THE TELEGRAPH: "I don't tell my children where I get the food, I'm too ashamed," said Iris Aegisdottir, an Icelander who has been going to a food bank every week for a year to feed her three children.

Protesters outside the Icelandic parliament in Reykjavik demand that the government do more to improve conditions for the recently poor. Photograph: The Telegraph
The crisis that brought down Iceland's economy in late 2008 threw thousands of formerly well-off families into poverty, forcing people like Iris to turn to charity to survive.

Each week, up to 550 families queue up at a small white brick warehouse in Reykjavik to receive free food from the Icelandic Aid to Families organisation, three times more than before the crisis.

Rutur Jonsson, a 65-year-old retired mechanical engineer, and his fellow volunteers spend their days distributing milk, bread, eggs and canned food donated by businesses and individuals or bought in bulk at the supermarket.

"I have time to spend on others and that's the best thing I think I can do," he said as he pre-packed grocery bags full of produce.

In a small, close-knit country of just 317,000 people, where everyone knows everyone, the stigma of accepting a hand-out is hard to live down and of the dozens of people waiting outside the food bank in the snow on a dreary March afternoon, Iris is the only one willing to talk.

"It was very difficult for me to come here in the beginning. But now I try not to care so much anymore," said the weary-looking 41 year-old, who lost her job in a pharmacy last summer, as she wrung her hands nervously.

The contrast is brutal with the ostentatious wealth that was on display across the island just two years ago, as a hyperactive banking sector flooded the small, formerly fishing-based economy with fast cash.

Back then, the biggest worry for many Icelanders was who had the nicest SUV, or the most opulent flat.

But today visible signs of poverty are quickly multiplying in the Nordic island nation, despite its generous welfare state, as the middle class is increasingly hit by unemployment, which is up from one to nine per cent in about a year, and a large number of defaults on mortgages. >>> Marc Preel, in Reykjavik for AFP | Thursday, April 08, 2010

Read more on Iceland >>>

Nicolas Sarkozy 'Ordered French MI5 to Find Out Who Was Behind Affair Rumours'
THE TELEGRAPH: Carla Bruni-Sarkozy's attempt to defuse rumours she and her husband were having affairs has backfired after it emerged Nicolas Sarkozy ordered French counter-intelligence to find out who was behind the rumours.

The revelation came just three hours after the president's wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy went on air to deny there was any inquiry into speculation the couple's marriage was in trouble.

The first lady's radio interview was designed to counter claims that her husband believed the rumours of infidelity were part of an international conspiracy against France, but her damage limitation exercise backfired on one crucial point.

Press reports on Wednesday said that President Sarkozy ordered the DCRI, France's counterespionage service, to root out the source of unsubstantiated rumours that both he and his wife were having affairs. The reports said as part of the inquiry, Rachida Dati, the former justice minister, was bugged and subsequently declared persona non grata by the Elysée. >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Thursday, April 08, 2010

Related:

Various articles on this story both in English and French >>>

Nicolas Sarkozy, a Modern Louis XVI?
THE GUARDIAN: The French president's techniques to uncover the source of rumours would not have been out of place in the ancien régime

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy sounded like an 18th-century first lady who lunches, when she appeared live on French national radio to laugh off rumours about infidelity at the Élysée Palace. "Non," she purred, there was nothing in the silly claims. She had not fallen for a hunky young pop singer called Benjamin Biolay and, "non", her husband, Nicolas Sarkozy, was not being comforted by a young minister-come-karate champion called Chantal Jouanno. Moreover, there would be no possibility of revenge against the disloyal underlings accused of spreading the gossip – particularly former justice minister Rachida Dati who, Carla added ominously, remained "our friend".

So that was that all sorted then? Pas du tout! Forgetting all the grim allusions to affairs of state (or inter-ministerial "karaoke sessions" as one of Sarkozy's more entertaining wives once described them), what the latest scandal teaches us is that the court of the French head of state is as vindictive and cruel as it was in the days of Marie Antoinette and her husband Louis XVI.

Within hours of Bruni-Sarkozy's devastating reference to Dati, the former head of the DCRI, the Gallic version of MI5, appeared on another radio station to confirm that he had been ordered to find and punish the blabbermouth. This was not long after Dati, who is now an MEP, had been stripped of her chauffeur-driven car, three bodyguards and even governmental smart phone. >>> Nabila Ramdani | Friday, April 09, 2010

Benjamin Netanyahu Snubs US Nuclear Conference
THE TELEGRAPH: Israel's prime minister has called off a trip to Washington next week to attend a conference on nuclear non-proliferation, deepening tensions with Barack Obama and threatening to overshadow an event the US president views as crucial to his global agenda.

Binyamin Netanyahu. Photograph: The Telegraph
Israeli officials said Benjamin Netanyahu decided to send a minister in his place after reports that Muslim nations in the Middle East would single out Israel's undeclared nuclear programme for criticism.

The White House tried to downplay the cancellation, but will be privately furious at a very public snub by Mr Netanyahu, who may have been looking for such an opportunity after a recent tete-a-tete [sic] with Mr Obama behind closed doors in Washington. >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Friday, April 09, 2010

Hungary Party to Follow European Extremism's Move Away from Fringes
THE GUARDIAN: Extremist anti-Roma group Jobbik on course for success at this Sunday's elections in Hungary

Gabor Vona, chairman of Hungary's far right party Jobbik delivers a speech in Budapest ahead of elections this weekend. Photograph: The Guardian
It has been a good few weeks for racists, populists and rightwing radicals across Europe. A comeback for Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front in French regional elections. Big gains in Italy for the anti-immigrant Northern League. The Islam-baiting campaign of Geert Wilders in the Netherlands has taken his Freedom party to 25% and poll position ahead of June's general election.

And this weekend, Hungary is facing its biggest political earthquake in 20 years of democracy. On Sunday, the mainstream right and the neofascists are expected to take over the Westminster lookalike parliament on the banks of the Danube. It will be a landslide victory.

The left and the liberals who have run the country for eight years, taking Hungary to the brink of bankruptcy and into the arms of the International Monetary Fund, will be reduced to a rump.

The next prime minister, Viktor Orban, a combative populist, is leading his centre-right Fidesz party to a huge majority, running at more than 60% in the opinion polls. He may even secure a two-thirds majority enabling him to rewrite Hungary's constitution at will.

But the biggest breakthrough will be for Jobbik, the extremist antisemitic and antigypsy movement "for a better Hungary", which will win seats in the parliament for the first time and may emerge as the second biggest party.

"It's a flood that's coming. Everyone knows it's coming. We're just waiting for it. Will we drown or will we swim," said Pal Tamas, director of Budapest's Institute of Sociology. "People are trying to use the antifascist argument against Jobbik. But it's not working. It's being very poorly received."

During the past week a rabbi's home in the capital has been attacked during Passover and a Holocaust memorial was defaced. Budapest Jews have taken to the streets to protest. The country's large and marginalised Roma and gypsy communities are bracing themselves for a surge in racism and harassment. Roma solution >>> Ian Traynor, Europe editor | Thursday, April 08, 2010

Army Criticised for 'Mosques' on Firing Range
THE TELEGRAPH: A Muslim group has criticised the Army for using structures on a firing range that resemble mosques.

Bradford Council for Mosques said the features on Bellerby firing range at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire should be taken down immediately.

The Army has apologised but said it was vital soldiers trained in an environment which replicated where they were deployed.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said the structures were ''generic Eastern buildings'' and were not used as target practice.

Mohammed Saleem Khan, chief executive of the Bradford Council for Mosques, said the shape and colour of the structures - a green dome - symbolised an Islamic place of worship. >>> | Thursday, April 08, 2010

It’s All Closing In on Labour Now! General Election 2010: Deutsche Bank Backs Conservatives to Help Economy
THE TELEGRAPH: A Conservative election victory would boost the British stock market, increase the value of the pound and help keep interest rates low, an investment bank has said.

Deutsche Bank said Conservative plans to cut public spending were more credible to financial markets than Labour’s proposals.

In a comprehensive analysis, the bank said Labour’s failure to set out firm plans to cut government debts was unsettling the financial markets. >>> Robert Winnett, Deputy Political Editor | Thursday, April 08, 2010

Medvedev se rendra au États-Unis cet été
leJDD.fr: Le président russe, Dmitri Medvedev, se rendra en visite aux États-Unis cet été pour discuter d'un large éventail de sujets, dont la coopération économique, rapporte Reuters. Le président américain, Barack Obama, s'est dit "impatient d'évoquer ces sujets avec le président Medvedev" en marge de la signature du traité Start II. Le porte-parole de la Maison blanche, Robert Gibbs, a annoncé que cette visite était "la prochaine étape dans l'amélioration des relations" américano-russes. [Source: leJDD.fr] | Jeudi 08 Avril 2010

Locusts Invade Town in Queensland, Australia
BBC: A swarm of locusts has invaded a town in Queensland, Australia, stripping much of the plantlife bare.

Longreach residents said the insects started to appear last Thursday, and by the weekend had eaten most of the trees bald.

The plague is said to be the biggest to hit the region in 30 years. Watch BBC video >>> | Thursday, April 08, 2010

Landslide Causes Misery in Brazil


More Deadly Landslides in Rio


TIMES ONLINE: 200 buried in Rio mudslide: At least 200 people have been buried alive in a landslide near Rio de Janeiro. >>> Joanna Sugden | Thursday, April 08, 2010

U.S. and Russia Sign Historic Treaty

Katyn Massacre Anniversary

Les hôpitaux de Bichkek manquent de sang et de médicaments
Plus de 500 blessés ont été soignés dans les hôpitaux de Bichkek. Photo : Cyberpresse.ca
CYBERPRESSE.ca: Les hôpitaux de Bichkek manquent de sang et de médicaments, selon le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR), qui a fait état jeudi de plus de 500 blessés après les violents affrontements dans la capitale du Kirghizistan.

«On est immédiatement intervenus auprès des hôpitaux qui nous ont contactés à travers le ministère de la Santé pour leur donner du sang; ils étaient en manque de sang (...) et de médicaments», a indiqué à l'AFP un porte-parole du CICR, Simon Schorno.

«On a immédiatement distribué cette aide-là», a-t-il ajouté. Il a souligné toutefois que les réserves sur place de l'organisation étaient «minimes» et qu'un kit permettant de soigner une centaine de victimes dans des situations violentes et de conflits, notamment les blessures par balle, devait être acheminé samedi.

«Nous travaillons avec nos partenaires du Croissant-Rouge kirghiz pour trouver des moyens d'améliorer les dons du sang», a par ailleurs expliqué dans un communiqué Pascale Meige Wagner, directrice des opérations du CICR en Asie centrale. >>> Agence France-Presse | Jeudi 08 Avril 2010

Erdogan : «Israël menace la paix régionale»
Poignée de main entre Nicolas Sarkozy et Recep Tayyip Erdogan reçu mercredi à l'Élysée pour un déjeuner de travail. Photo : Le Figaro
LE FIGARO: Le premier ministre turc hausse le ton contre « les provocations » de l'État hébreu.

Le ton monte entre la Turquie et Israël. Alors que la visite à Paris du premier ministre turc, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, devait replacer sous les projecteurs les tensions entre Paris et Ankara à propos de l'adhésion de la Turquie à l'Union européenne (UE), celles-ci ont été éclipsées par des échanges très vifs entre les gouvernements turc et israélien, qui ponctuent des mois de détérioration des relations entre les deux pays.

Face à la presse, avant un déjeuner de travail avec Nicolas Sarkozy à l'Élysée, M. Erdogan a accusé Israël d'être «la principale menace contre la paix» au Proche-Orient. «Si un pays fait usage d'une force disproportionnée en Palestine, utilise des bombes au phosphore à Gaza, nous n'allons pas lui dire: «Vous avez bien fait, bravo», a déclaré le chef du gouvernement turc. Il y a eu une attaque à Gaza qui a fait 1 500 morts (fin 2008, NDLR) et les motifs invoqués sont des mensonges. Lisez le rapport Goldstone. Goldstone est juif et son rapport est clair, a poursuivi M. Erdogan, chef du parti islamo-conservateur AKP. S'il dérange Israël, c'est parce qu'il décrit des réalités. Israël mène une politique d'invasion et de provocations permanentes. Ce n'est pas parce que nous sommes musulmans que nous le disons : notre approche est humanitaire.» Il a également justifié son opposition à des sanctions contre l'Iran par le fait qu'Israël, réputé posséder l'arme nucléaire, ne subit aucune pression. >>> Par Philippe Gelie | Jeudi 08 Avril 2010

Kirghizstan : le président Bakiev annonce qu'il n'a "pas démissionné"
Le président kirghiz évincé, Kourmanbek Bakiev. Photo : Le Point
LE POINT: L'histoire n'est pas encore écrite au Kirghizstan. Alors que dans la capitale, Bichkek, l'opposition crie victoire au lendemain du soulèvement sanglant qui a fait au moins 75 morts , le président Kourmanbek Bakiev a déclaré jeudi qu'il refusait de démissionner. "Je déclare qu'en tant que président je n'ai pas démissionné et je ne démissionne pas", écrit-il dans un communiqué publié par l'agence kirghize 24[.] kg. >>> lepoint.fr | Jeudi 08 Avril 2010

TIMES ONLINE: Ousted Kyrgyzstan leader refuses to admit defeat: The toppled President of Kyrgyzstan refused to admit defeat today despite a bloody uprising against him and formation of an interim government. >>> Joanna Sugden | Thursday, April 08, 2010