The EU should be stronger and more united. Great Britain should belong to the Union.
Die EU sollte stärker und geeinter sein. Großbritannien sollte der Union angehören.
L'UE devrait être plus forte et plus unie. La Grande-Bretagne devrait appartenir à l'Union.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Royal Wedding: King of Bahrain Rejects Invitation from Prince William and Kate Middleton
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The King of Bahrain has spared Prince William and Kate Middleton the embarrassment of protests outside Westminster Abbey at their wedding.
While Michelle Obama’s desire for an invitation to Prince William’s wedding fell on deaf ears, the future king has received his first rejection.
Mandrake can disclose that the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Issa al–Khalifa, has informed the Prince and his fiancée, Kate Middleton, that he will not attend the ceremony at Westminster Abbey.
“He has declined his invitation,” confirms my man at St James’s Palace.
The courtier insists that “it was his decision”, but the king’s invitation to the wedding has provoked much negative comment.
This week, he called in foreign soldiers, from neighbouring Saudi Arabia, to help quell protests from pro-democracy campaigners in the tiny island state, which his family owns as much as rules. Navi Pillay, the United Nations human rights chief, condemned the “shocking” use of force by security forces against protesters. » | Tim Walker. Edited by Richard Eden | Saturday, March 19, 2011
Kadhafi menace la communauté internationale
LE POINT: Samedi, le dirigeant libyen a prévenu Paris, Londres et l'ONU qu'ils regretteraient toute ingérence dans les affaires intérieures.
La Libye se prépare à une guerre longue, et tous ses habitants sont armés pour défendre leur pays, a déclaré dimanche Muammar Kadhafi. Le dirigeant libyen a assimilé les frappes aériennes occidentales à des actes de terrorisme et il a promis la défaite à ses ennemis. "Nous ne quitterons pas notre pays et nous le libérerons", a-t-il déclaré dans une allocution diffusée à la télévision libyenne. Muammar Kadhafi n'est pas apparu à l'écran. » LePoint.fr | Source AFP | Samedi 19 Mars 2011
Senior Yemeni Officials Resign after 52 Demonstrators Killed
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni president, has been left increasingly isolated within his own government after a raft of senior officials resigned in protest at the killing of 52 protesters on Friday.
Undeterred by the presence of tanks deployed to enforce a state of emergency, tens of thousands defied the regime's increasingly brutal attempts to crush dissent by thronging the streets of the capital Sana'a to bury the dead.
Two days earlier, Mr Saleh had tried to crush the spirit of the growing protest movement when loyalist snipers, some of whom allegedly carried government identity papers, opened fire at demonstrators from city rooftops.
But the plan appeared to have misfired and the protests were the biggest since the campaign against Yemen's president of 32 years first erupted last month.
From mosques around the city, the dead were borne aloft to a mile-strong stretch of road outside Sana'a University where the demonstrators have erected a tented camp to serve as the headquarters of the campaign against Mr Saleh.
"Ali, the blood of the martyrs will not be in vain," the crowds chanted, addressing the president by his first name. » | Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent | Sunday, March 20, 2011
Christiane Amanpour speaks to the Libyan leader's son in a worldwide exclusive
Action in Libya Has Gone Too Far, Arab League and Russia Complain as Civilian Casualities Pile Up
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: As conflicting reports of civilian casualties continued to emerge from Libya, many leaders worldwide said that the intervention has gone too far[.]
The Arab League, which originally pledged support for the UN-approved no-fly zone, said that the resolution failed because it was supposed to protect civilians.
"What happened differs from the no-fly zone objectives," said Amr Moussa, the head of the Arab League. "What we want is civilians' protection, not shelling more civilians."
Moussa called for an emergency meeting of the Arab League to discuss the situation and requested a report into the coalition's intervention.
While media reports from the war-torn country are sketchy, Libyan television has reported that 64 civilians are dead and more than 150 are wounded. Whether the casualties were caused by air strikes, rebels or Khadafy forces is unclear.
Russia, which abstained from voting for the UN resolution, also criticized the attacks, saying they had gone beyond enforcing a no-fly zone. » | Nina Mandell | Daily News Staff Writer | Sunday, March 20, 2011
Interview mit Arnold Hottinger: "Es gibt eine neue, nicht-ideologische politische Kraft"
QANTARA.DE: Die Volksaufstände in der arabischen Welt haben die bisherige politische Ordnung der autoritär regierten Staaten zum Teil komplett auf den Kopf gestellt. Im Gespräch mit Mona Sarkis erläutert der Nahostkenner Arnold Hottinger die Auswirkungen und Perspektiven der Proteste in der Region.
Herr Dr. Hottinger, Ägypten und Tunesien sind die arabischen Länder, die – wie Sie sagen – den "ersten Akt", also den Sturz des Diktators, hinter sich haben und sich im zweiten Akt befinden. Wie könnte der in Ägypten Ihres Erachtens aussehen?
Arnold Hottinger: Die Armee übernahm die Macht mit Versprechungen, aber ob die Ägypter erhalten, was sie wollen – echte Wahlen, Parteienfreiheit, Informationsfreiheit, neutrale Gerichte – ist unklar. Die Armee, deren Oberhäupter tief im bisherigen System verankert sind, ist es noch nicht gewohnt, sich dem Staat unterzuordnen. Zugleich muss sie auf ihre unteren Ränge Rücksicht nehmen, da die Leutnants ungefähr so denken wie die Studenten und sie im Gegensatz zu den Armeekadern weder Positionen noch Privilegien zu verteidigen haben. Das war auch der Grund, weshalb die Armee nicht auf die Demonstranten geschossen hat. Sie wollte ihr eigenes Auseinanderbrechen verhindern.
Maßgeblich ist nun: wann und was wird zuerst gewählt? Ein Präsident, ein Parlament oder eine gesetzgebende Verfassung? Dabei ist es noch zu früh, über Amr Moussa oder Mohammad el-Baradei zu spekulieren. Auch haben sie alle noch keine Parteien und deren Organisation hängt vor allem vom Zeitpunkt der Wahlen ab. Echte demokratische Strukturen kann man nicht von heute auf morgen aufbauen. Daneben gibt es auch die wirtschaftliche Seite und die verhält sich genau umgekehrt: je länger die Übergangszeit andauert, desto unwahrscheinlicher werden beispielsweise die so wichtigen Auslandsinvestitionen.
Sie erwähnten Baradei und Moussa – hierzulande wird vor allem über die Muslimbrüder spekuliert, mitunter auf dämonisierende Weise.
Arnold Hottinger, geb. 1926 in Basel, berichtete von 1961 bis 1991 für die Neue Zürcher Zeitung aus Beirut, Madrid und Nikosia über die arabisch-muslimische Welt. Er ist unter anderem der Autor von "Gottesstaaten und Machtpyramiden" (2000), "Islamische Welt" (2004) und "Die Länder des Islam" (2008).
Die Westmächte haben die Hoffnung, dass die Militäraktion gegen Gaddafi nur auf wenige Tage beschränkt ist. Diese Ansicht teilt der Schweizer Strategie-Experte Kurt Spillmann nur begrenzt
Gaddafi gibt sich unbeeindruckt
In einer Fernseh-Ansprache hat Gaddafi einen langen und zähen Krieg gegen die internationalen Koalitions-Truppen angekündigt. Er forderte seine Landsleute auf, sich mit allen Mitteln zu verteidigen. Einschätzungen von Pascal Weber, SF-Korrespondent, Kairo
The UN has imposed a no-fly zone on Libya and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi have been hit in an airstrike. But the Libyan leader remains defiant and has called the air attacks by French, US and British forces a "cold war" on Islam. He says his regime has "opened the depots" and distributed weapons among the populace . Al Jazeera's Alan Fisher reports
Bahraini Medics Recount Hospital Horror
The Bahraini authorities have been accused of heavy-handed approach in handling with Shia Muslim protesters. According to medics at Salmania hospital in Manama, the security forces surrounded the hospital and did not allow ambulances to enter. The hospital staff have told Al Jazeera doctors and nurses were beaten up and many doctors are still under arrest. Our special correspondent has this report.
REUTERS: Thousands of Syrians demanded an end to 48 years of emergency law Sunday, a third consecutive day of protests emerging as the biggest challenge to Syria's rulers since unrest swept the Arab world this year.
"No. No to emergency law. We are a people infatuated with freedom," marchers chanted as a government delegation arrived in the southern town of Deraa to pay condolences for victims killed by security forces in demonstrations there this week.
Security forces fired tear gas at the protesters. Around 40 people were taken to be treated for gas inhalation at the main Omari mosque in the old city, residents said.
"The mosque is now a field hospital. The security forces know they cannot enter the old city without spilling more blood," one resident said.
Syria has been ruled under emergency law since the Baath Party, which is headed by president Bashar al-Assad, took power in a 1963 coup and banned all opposition.
Security forces opened fire Friday on civilians taking part in a peaceful protest in Deraa demanding the release of the children, political freedoms and an end to corruption. Four people were killed.
An official statement said "infiltrators" claiming to be high ranking officers had been visiting security stations and asking security forces to fire at any suspicious gathering.
Citizens should report anyone suspected of trying to fool the security apparatus "into using violence and live ammunition against any suspicions gathering," the statement said. » | Khaled Yacoub Oweis | DAMASCUS | Sunday, March 20, 2011
BBC: Thousands of people have been demonstrating for a third consecutive day in the Syrian city of Deraa.
Police tried to disperse protesters in the southern city, and one demonstrator was reportedly killed.
The protesters called for an end to Syria's 48-year-old emergency law, and for the dismissal of officials involved in a crackdown this week, reports said.
Violent clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces on Friday left at least four people dead.
The protests on Sunday came as a government delegation arrived in Deraa to offer condolences for those killed.
Activists were quoted as saying that police had used tear gas and live ammunition to try to clear the demonstration.
Roads into Deraa have been blocked and there have been military helicopters flying over the city, they said.
One activist told AFP news agency that one protester had been shot dead and dozens injured. Residents were also quoted by Reuters as saying one demonstrator had died. » | Sunday, March 20, 2011
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: MANAMA—Bahrain's largest trade union Sunday called for nationwide strikes to be prolonged until foreign troops are withdrawn from the kingdom and pro-government militias are disbanded, posing another threat to Bahrain's fragile economy.
Speaking after a meeting of the General Federation for Bahrain Trade Unions, which represents more than 60 trade unions across Bahrain, general secretary Sayed Salman said that unions wanted to avoid causing lasting damage to the economy, but were left with no choice but to extend the general strike. He said foreign troop intervention and mounting attacks on Bahraini workers by armed government loyalists are "unacceptable."
"As of now 70% of Bahraini workers are on strike and in this situation we cannot call our people back to duty. We hope that it won't be a long time as our workers are also suffering, but we want all the militias and foreign forces to be taken off the streets...The situation here is unacceptable," Mr. Salman said in an interview.
The trade union group represents workers from across Bahrain's services and construction sectors, including Gulf Air, the national carrier, and Bapco, the island's largest oil company.
An official from the Bapco trade union said that the refinery, which has the capacity to produce more than 250,000 barrels a day of crude, has partially shut down production owing to staff shortages.
"Only 10% is working properly at BAPCO…80-85% of production and distribution is now affected," the union official said.
Bahrain's government has urged employees to return to work after days of closures and shortened hours. But the announcement of persistent large-scale strikes could aggravate the problems facing Bahrain's economy. Over a month of antigovernment protests has seen hotels and restaurants report a collapse in bookings, and fed fears about Bahrain's status as a financial center. » | Joe Parkinson | Sunday, March 20, 2011
Obama Launches Latin America Tour in Brazil
U.S. President Barack Obama hailed Brazil's "extraordinary rise" at the start of a visit Saturday to Latin America. Video courtesy of AFP
WHITE HOUSE DOCTRINE: Talk a good line in democracy; prop up tyrants and dictatorships when oil interests prevail. – Mark
Notice how Obama talks up democracy. Successive American presidents have talked up democracy. Yet they turn a blind eye to the tyranny that pervades Middle Eastern countries. Obama was willing to pull the carpet from under Mubarak; yet he continues to prop up the Saudi and Bahraini kings.
What is also interesting is this: President Dilma Rousseff was once a member of a Marxist guerrilla group. Now she’s the president of Brazil, and rubs shoulders with President Obama. Now she wears pretty frocks and pashminas. I wonder what she looked like in combat fatigues? – Mark
U.S., Brazil Push Investment, Trade Agendas
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: BRASILIA -- At the outset of a three-country tour of Latin America, President Barack Obama heaped huge praise on Brazil's remarkable economic rise, but received a tongue lashing in return from Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who criticized the U.S. loose monetary policy for contributing to "acute" global imbalances by artificially weakening the U.S. dollar.
A joint appearance by the two leaders in Brazil's futuristic presidential palace was perhaps most remarkable for the subject that barely came up: The near simultaneous launching of U.S.-backed military engagements in Libya. Near the end of his remarks, Mr. Obama said the United Nations coalition, led by France and the U.K., was ready to "act with urgency." More details weren't available from the president, since Brazil did not allow reporters to ask questions.
So, as French jets took to the air over Libya, Mr. Obama spoke mainly on economic cooperation with Brazil, joking once about his disappointment that Chicago lost the 2016 Olympics to Rio de Janeiro. Later, Mr. Obama gave more extensive statements on Libya to U.S. reporters travelling with him.
Indeed, Mr. Obama's Latin American trip, which also includes Chile and El Salvador, is certain to be overshadowed the escalating hostilities. The visit is meant to reestablish the U.S. presence as an economic partner as Brazil and other resource rich Latin nations forge closer ties with China. But even before departing, Mr. Obama was criticized for leaving the U.S. amid international turmoil and pressing domestic budget debates. » | Paulo Prada, Laura Meckler in Brasilia, Tom Murphy in San [São] Paulo | Saturday, March 19, 2011
Civil Unrest Boils Up in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria
DEUTSCHE WELLE: Large protests calling for changes in government and political reform are gaining steam in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Syria. So far only leaders in Syria have made any concessions to the increasing popular pressure.
Despite a large and heavily armed police presence, several dozen relatives of jailed Saudis have gathered out side the Interior Ministry in the capital, Riyadh, on Sunday time to demand information about prisoners who have been held for years without trial on security and terrorism charges.
Protests are illegal in Saudi Arabia, and in recent weeks, planned demonstrations largely fizzled out due to the threat of a large police presence should they take place. The country has not seen mass rallies on the scale of those that have taken place in other parts of the Arab world this year.
Witnesses in Riyadh said some arrests had been made among the protesters gathered at the interior ministry.
"We have seen at least three or four police vehicles taking people away," said an activist there who declined to be named told Reuters news agency. "Security have arrested around 15 people. They tried to go into the ministry to go and ask for the freedom of their loved ones."
On Friday, Saudi Arabian ruler King Abdullah offered $93 billion-worth of wage increases, jobs and construction projects but did not make any political concessions. » | Author: Matt Zuvela (AP, Reuters, AFP); Editor: Sean Sinico | Sunday, March 20, 2011
THE NEW YORK TIMES: CAIRO — King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has demonstrated one lesson learned from the course of pro-democracy uprisings across the Middle East: The world may cheer when autocrats resign, but it picks carefully which autocrats to punish for opening fire on their citizens.
That cynical bit of realpolitik seems to have led the king to send troops last week over the causeway from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain, where they backed up a violent crackdown on unarmed protesters by Bahrain’s own security forces.
The move had immediate consequences for Middle East politics, and for American policy: It transformed Bahrain into the latest proxy battle between Iran and Saudi Arabia for regional dominance. And it called into question which model of stability and governance will prevail in the Middle East, and which Washington will help build: one based on consensus and hopes for democracy, or continued reliance on strongmen who intimidate opponents, sow fear and co-opt reformist forces while protecting American interests like ensuring access to oil and opposing Iran.
For Saudi Arabia, the issue in Bahrain is less whether Bahrain will attain popular rule than whether Iranian and Shiite influence will grow.
Iran and Saudi Arabia have sparred on many fronts since the Iranian Revolution of 1979 — a Shiite Muslim theocracy in Tehran versus a deeply conservative Sunni Muslim monarchy in Riyadh — in a struggle for supremacy in the world’s most oil-rich region. The animosity was evident in Saudi Arabia’s support for Iraq during its war with Iran, and it still shows in Iran’s backing for Hezbollah in Lebanon. » | Michael Slackman | Saturday, March 19, 2011
Bahrain Hospital Attack: 'Physical Abuse and Humiliation of Doctors'
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The full story of how thuggish Bahraini security forces surrounded and took over a hospital treating injured protesters has emerged from eye-witness testimony of one of the medical staff involved.
Security forces burst into operating theatres, beat staff and searched from ward to ward for doctors according to the first detailed accounts of a violent government crackdown at the hospital in Manama.
Opposition leaders in the small island kingdom described the attack by security troops as a "crime against humanity" and the United Nations said it seemed to have broken international laws.
Now a member of staff, who spoke to The Sunday Telegraph in secret for fear of retribution from government forces, has described the full sequence of events which caused outrage around the world.
"They are really after us," he said. "There's been a lot of physical abuse and humiliation of doctors. They treat us as if we were terrorists."
Salmaniya medical centre, which had been treating people hurt in Bahrain's street clashes with government troops, was surrounded by security forces last week during a violent crackdown on a month-long, anti-government movement which has been calling for a constitutional monarchy and equal rights for Bahrain's Shia Muslim majority, which has been marginalised by the ruling Sunni Muslim elite.
The hospital had become one of two focal points for the protest movement, inspired by other Arab uprisings, along with nearby Pearl Roundabout, where demonstrators had repeatedly gathered and set up camp.
Security in the country, which is home to up to 10,000 British expatriates, dramatically decreased last week when thousands poured onto the streets after weeks of stalemate over the protesters' demands. » | Ben Farmer, Manama | Sunday, March 20, 2011
Bahrain Hospitals Under Siege as Soldiers Maintain Manama Crackdown
THE GUARDIAN: Doctors arrested or prevented from working amid martial law in tiny Gulf state
Bahrain's two main hospitals remain surrounded by masked soldiers despite demands from America that the kingdom must ease its violent crackdown on demonstrators and the medical workers treating them.
Soldiers also continue to patrol all main roads in the capital Manama and have cordoned off access to the former hub of the protest movement, Pearl Roundabout, which was destroyed under government orders on Friday, denying the restive demonstrators a focal point.
The tiny Gulf state has the feel of a nation under siege as it approaches a second week of martial law imposed for three months by its besieged rulers. In addition to the troop presence, neighbourhoods remain largely empty; large, glitzy shopping malls have been virtually abandoned and helicopters regularly buzz over the debris-strewn scenes of recent street clashes.
Hospitals, particularly the Salmaniya medical clinic near the centre of town, have received extra attention, largely because of the significance they have taken on since the protests began in January. » | Martin Chulov in Manama | Sunday, March 20, 2011
Saudi Arabian Intervention in Bahrain Driven by Visceral Sunni Fear of Shias
THE OBSERVER: Despite an official stance that the Saudis were there to restore order, the real aim was to crush the rebels
Saudi Arabia and the UAE between them sit on tens of billions of dollars worth of state-of-the-art military equipment. They have both backed calls for UN-sponsored "no-fly zones" over Libya.
Even if they are now willing to risk their expensive toys against the relatively meagre threat from Colonel Gaddafi's air defences, they will play a junior role to western forces.
It will be the second military intervention by the Gulf states in a few days, but the first was on a far more primitive level: teargas grenades fired at point-blank range into the faces of unarmed demonstrators; punishment beatings for injured protesters in their hospital beds; violence and intimidation against the wives and children of opposition activists in their village homes.
Hypocrisy is one word for the motives behind the deployment of the "Peninsula Shield" forces in Bahrain last week. Cowardice is another.
When I watched Saudi soldiers rolling over the causeway linking the two kingdoms on Monday, they were giving victory signs to local TV cameras. Bahrain TV showed archive footage of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and King Hamad of Bahrain performing a traditional Bedouin war dance together.
Despite the official stance that the Saudis and UAE troops had arrived to guard essential infrastructure and restore order on the streets, there was little doubt as to the real purpose: to put down, by whatever means necessary, a growing rebellion by the kingdom's majority, but deprived, Shia citizens.
The day before, unarmed demonstrators had effectively beaten the security forces in Manama. A move to clear a protesters' camp on the fringes of the main gathering at Pearl roundabout had led to an influx of protesters to the city, determined to defend their turf. The police withdrew when they ran out of teargas canisters.
The sight of the police – many of whom are hired guns from Pakistan, Syria and other parts of the Sunni world – running from Shia demonstrators reawoke the fears of Gulf governments that the "party of Ali" was on the rise again. » | William Butler | Sunday, March 20, 2011
Saudi-backed Crackdown in Bahrain Exposes US Hypocrisy
THE SUNDAY TIMES (SRI LANKA): Although U.S. officials condemned Bahrain's use of deadly force against unarmed protestors on Wednesday, experts say the Obama administration is reticent to support the people because the Bahraini monarchy best serves U.S. regional interests. Critics accuse the U.S. of employing a double-standard - reluctant to oust the monarchy in Bahrain but more than willing to encourage Libyans to topple Moammar Gaddafi.
The U.S. is also hesitant to criticize Sunni ally Saudi Arabia, which invaded Bahrain on Tuesday at the request of Bahrain's Sunni royal family to quell Shiite protests. Mideast expert Pepe Escobar of the Asia Times can kick a door open in one's mind with his perspectives on these events, as he did on Thursday:
Let's imagine that neo-Napoleonic French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio "Bunga Bunga" Berlusconi decided to send North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops to help not the Libyan rebels but Muammar "King of Kings" Gaddafi to protect his "sensitive installations". After all, as Gaddafi assured the world, these rebels are "terrorists".
That's exactly what happened with the House of Saud sending armored carriers, tanks and 1,000 troops - part of "Peninsula Shield" forces - to Bahrain to repress an unarmed, civilian, domestic opposition (al-Qaeda or Iran "terrorists", take your pick) demanding political reform.
John Kerry said about the Libyan crisis that, "The US and world community must show they will not stand by while this thug Gaddafi uses air power to murder fellow Libyans." But why are Kerry and the world community willing to stand by as Bahrain's al-Khalifa family and the Saudis do the same? Escobar provides another mind-bending analogy: Imagine the outrage in the "international community" - and the calls to start carpet-bombing right away - if this was Iran invading Lebanon.
A "day of rage" has now been held in several cities - Damascus, Homs, Banyas, and Deraa, south of Damascus.
In Syria, it is not the Facebook generation that is taking to the streets. It is people who are tired of poverty and repression.
The demonstrations in Deraa - where the police have reacted most brutally - started on Friday.
Several families had gathered to demand the release of 15 school children who - influenced by the protests in Tunisia and Egypt - wrote the popular revolution slogan on the wall: "The people want the fall of the regime".
Residents say the children's arrests in the tribal region deepened feelings of repression and helped fuel the protests in Deraa.
Security forces opened fire on the protesters on Friday, killing three people. A fourth died from his wounds on Saturday, rights groups say. One YouTube video from Friday shows protesters chanting "Freedom, no fear after today".
In another, people are carrying the bloodied body of Amer al-Jawabra, one of those killed. Before long, gunshots are heard, and the men are forced to run for cover. 'Rise up' » | Lina Sinjab | BBC News | Saturday, March 19, 2011
Bradley Manning Wins Support from Welsh MP and Friends
BBC: Campaigners from Wales are travelling to London to protest over the alleged treatment of a US army private accuses of leaking confidential papers.
Bradley Manning, who attended secondary school in Pembrokeshire, faces scores of charges over the documents handed to the Wikileaks website.
But there has been mounting concern about the conditions he is being held in at a military prison.
Cynon Valley MO Ann Clwyd tabled a Commons' motion on the issue last week.
"I think it is a serious case," she told BBC Wales.
"He's being held in solitary confinement, he's kept in his cell for 23 hours a day, not allowed to exercise, he's stripped of all his clothes during the night, he is not permitted to sleep during the day.
In her early day motion, Ms Clwyd calls on the UK government to raise the issue with US counterparts, and to ensure the soldier's "detention conditions are humane" at the US Quantico marine base.
She added: "While I consider myself a friend of the Americans, I think it ill becomes them to treat one of their own soldiers in this way before he has been convicted, before he has been tried."
The issue of Pte Manning's treatment has been raised with President Obama[.]
He said he had received assurances that the terms of Pte Manning's confinement were "appropriate".
But rallies highlighting the alleged plight of Pte Manning are now being held across the US, Canada and Europe.
The 23-year-old's mother is Welsh and still lives in Pembrokeshire, where he grew up from 13 and 17. » | Saturday, March 19, 2011
Gaddafi Calls for Resistance to “Colonial Crusade”
EURONEWS: Colonel Gaddafi’s last public appearance in the flesh was several days ago. But the Libyan leader broadcast a brief message of defiance on state media.
He described the coalition attack as an aggression and said it would increase the Libyan people’s unity.
Libyan TV Parades “Civilian Casualties” of Allied Raids
EURONEWS: Libyan state television has broadcast pictures of what it says are civilian victims of the allied bombing.
It said there had been casualties in several cities: Tripoli, Sirte, Benghazi, Misrata and Zuwarah.
The commentary described them as martyrs.
The Libyan prime minister was shown making bedside visits as injured patients declared their support for Gaddafi.
The report’s claims cannot be independently confirmed.
Opposition sources have reacted with scepticism. One said civilian casualties of attacks by Gaddafi loyalists had been taken away and portrayed as victims of allied raids.
Libye : avancées socio-économiques et régression...
Il y a en Libye un chef de l'Etat et un chef de gouvernement que personne ne connaît. Car bien qu'il n'ait aucune légitimité officielle, le leader en du pays est celui dont les portraits ornent les rues de Tripoli, l'auto-proclamé colonel et "guide de la grande révolution de la Grande Jamahirya arabe libyenne" : Mouammar Khadafi
Les trésors de Ben Ali révélés au grand jour
Des liasses de billets, euro, dollar et d'autres devises encore, représentant des sommes impressionnantes ; des bijoux, colliers de diamant ou en or ; etc. La télévision d'Etat tunisienne a diffusé samedi des images du palais de l'ancien président Ben Ali, à Sidi Bou Saïd. S'y trouvait un véritable trésor de guerre dissimulé dans des caches, derrière des rideaux ou encore une fausse bibliothèque
Krieg in Libyen: Gaddafi zieht in seine Entscheidungsschlacht
SUEDDEUTSCHE: Der Westen gegen Muammar al-Gaddafi: Die von Frankreich und den USA geführte Kriegsallianz überzieht die Truppen des Despoten mit einem massiven Bombardement. Doch er gibt nicht auf, stößt wüste Drohungen aus - das gesamte Mittelmeer solle Schauplatz der Kämpfe werden.
Es ist fast Geisterstunde in Tripolis, als sich der libysche Despot zu Wort meldet. In einer Tonbotschaft, kurz und knapp. Ohne Bilder, die Aufschluss darüber ermöglichen würden, wie es Muammar al-Gaddafi gehen mag, wo er sich aufhält und ob die Mitteilung, die kurz vor Mitternacht im Staatsfernsehen verbreitet wird, überhaupt aktuell ist oder aufgezeichnet.
Ihr Inhalt dagegen hat es in sich.
"Das Mittelmeer wird zum Schlachtfeld werden", droht der Diktator, der seit Wochen brutal den Aufstand der Opposition in seinem Land niederschlagen lässt. Er schwadroniert, die Angriffe der westlichen Koalition auf seine Armee seien "Auslöser eines zweiten Kreuzfahrerkrieges". Er droht mit Vergeltung: Es würden "zivile und militärische Ziele" im Mittelmeer angegriffen. "Die Interessen der Länder, die an der Aggression teilgenommen haben, sind in Gefahr." Und: Das libysche Volk ist bereit, die Kreuzritter zu bekämpfen. Wir werden die Waffenlager für alle Libyer öffnen." Dann ruft er die Länder Afrikas, Arabiens, Lateinamerikas und Asiens auf, ihm im Kampf beizustehen.
Ist diese Botschaft schon das letzte Aufbäumen eines sterbenden Regimes, das der westlich geführten Allianz nur leere Drohungen entgegenzusetzen hat? Oder ist Gaddafi ernster zu nehmen, als es viele in diesen Tagen vermuten: weil er nun in seine größte Schlacht ziehen und alles versuchen wird, um seinen Clan an der Macht zu halten?
Militäraktion gegen Gaddafi: Massive Luftangriffe auf Libyen
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Bis in die Nacht hinein haben amerikanische, französische und britische Truppen Libyen bombardiert, um weitere Übergriffe von Gaddafi-Anhängern auf ihre Gegner zu verhindern. Das amerikanische Verteidigungsministerium will sich heute einen Überblick über das Ausmaß der Zerstörungen verschaffen.
Das amerikanische Verteidigungsministerium will sich nach den massiven Luftschlägen gegen Ziele in Libyen einen Überblick über das Ausmaß der Zerstörungen verschaffen. Vizeadmiral William Gortney sagte, dies könne erst am Sonntag nach Tagesanbruch geschehen. Amerikanische Beamte sagten dem Fernsehsender Fox News, die Luftverteidigung des Regimes von Diktator Muammar al Gaddafi sei schwer getroffen worden. Der internationale Militäreinsatz hatte am Samstag mit massiven Luft- und Raketenangriffen begonnen.
Die Vereinigten Staaten und Großbritannien starteten von Kriegsschiffen und U-Booten aus Raketenangriffe auf militärische Ziele des Regimes von Machthaber Muammar al Gaddafi. Zudem griffen französische und britische Kampfjets in die Militäraktion ein. Beschossen wurden vor allem Ziele in Küstennähe. » | FAZ.NET | Sonntag, 20. März 2011
Saïf Al-Islam Kadhafi accuse Nicolas Sarkozy
L'un des fils du dirigeant libyen interpelle directement Nicolas Sarkozy. Saïf Al-Islam promet de mater la révolte dans les jours à venir et ne veut pas des conseils du président français, qu'il affirme avoir aidé. Notre envoyé spécial à Tripoli, Riad Muasses, a recueilli ses propos ce mardi
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: U.S. and coalition forces launched military strikes against Libya, a calculated gamble that a rapid, and substantial attack could knock out loyalist support for strongman Col. Moammar Gadhafi.
In an opening salvo, U.S. and U.K. forces on Saturday unleashed around 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles against Libyan targets. U.S. Vice. Adm. William Gortney told reporters that the missiles, which struck Libya around 3 p.m. EDT, were aimed at more than 20 Libyan air-defense sites.
In the early hours Sunday in Tripoli, heavy antiaircraft guns and small-arms fire were heard for about 15 minutes close to Col. Gadhafi's compound. It couldn't be determined if coalition aircraft were in the vicinity, however.
The coalition missile strikes represented a dramatic escalation in turmoil that has swept across the Mideast and North Africa. They came after Col. Gadhafi appeared determined to press his attack on Benghazi, the eastern Libyan city that's become the last bastion of opposition resistance.
Despite a United Nations resolution authorizing force against the regime, the colonel's troops penetrated deep into the city Saturday and heavily shelled the rebel capital's residential neighborhoods, threatening to snuff out the month-old Libyan revolution.
In a brief audio address broadcast by state media shortly before midnight Libya time, Col. Gadhafi responded to the strikes by vowing to turn the Mediterranean basin and North Africa into "a battleground," and said he would arm all Libyan civilians to defend the country against "a second Crusader war."
Al-Jamahiriya television, the state's main channel, aired a photo of Col. Gadhafi's headquarters in Bab Aziziya in Tripoli, which was hit in U.S. airstrikes in 1986, and played Pan-Arab patriotic songs from the 1950s.
A Libyan military spokesman said 48 people had been killed and more than 150 injured in the coalition strikes against civilian and military targets in Benghazi, Misrata, Tripoli, Sirte and Zuwara. The spokesman, who appeared on state television reading from a prepared statement, didn't provide further details.
The casualty figures couldn't be independently verified and no coalition strikes could be heard in Tripoli.
A doctor in Misrata said allied strikes hit two locations for Col. Gadhafi's forces. The doctor said massive explosions lit up the sky.
State-media said strikes by U.S. and coalition forces hit a civilian hospital on the outskirts of Tripoli and a gas storage facility in Misrata. Neither statement could be independently verified. » | Nathan Hodge in Washington, D.C., Keith Johnson in Paris and Sam Dagher in Tripoli | Sunday, March 20, 2011
Libya: Allied Strikes Sweep Libya as West Intervenes in Conflict
THE GUARDIAN: • Britain, France and US launch wave of attacks from the air • 110 Tomahawk missiles fired at key defences
Western allies unleashed a ferocious series of air and missile strikes against Muammar Gaddafi's military as they mounted Operation Odyssey Dawn, the biggest assault on an Arab regime since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
A Pentagon spokesman said that more than 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles had been fired from US and British ships and submarines in the Mediterranean, striking more than 20 integrated air-defence systems and other military facilities on the mainland. A US national security official later said Gaddafi's air defences had been "severely disabled".
The spokesman said the attacks were just the start of what was likely to be a multi-phase military operation designed to enforce the will of the United Nations and "deny the Libyan regime the ability to use force against its own people".
The strikes took place less than 48 hours after the UN had authorised the use of "all necessary force" to protect civilians from Gaddafi's brutal attempts to regain control of his country. The patience of the international community finally ran out as Gaddafi's troops pounded the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, hours after the Libyan dictator had promised a full ceasefire and invited foreign officials to monitor it.
Powerful explosions heard to the west of the capital were thought to be an attack on a radar station – part of the country's air-defence system. A government spokesman said military and civilian locations had been hit.
Libyan television reported that the air forces of what it called the "crusader enemy" had hit a hospital on the outskirts of Tripoli. Targets in Zuwara and Misrata, Sirte and Benghazi were also hit, it said.
The Jana news agency reported that ambulances were rushing to take casualties to hospitals. But there were no air-raid sirens or overt signs of a country under bombardment. Traffic continued to flow as normal in the streets of Tripoli, with many vehicles flying the green flags of Libya and passengers screaming pro-Gaddafi slogans. A large crowd of Gaddafi supporters waving flags and portraits of the leader gathered outside his house in Tripoli, in an apparent move to discourage foreign air strikes.
US President Barack Obama said: "Make no mistake. Today we are part of a broad coalition. We are answering the calls of a threatened people." » | Chris McGreal in Benghazi, Ian Black in Tripoli, Toby Helm in London, and Kim Willsher in Paris | Sunday, March 20, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
International Forces Begin Libya Strikes
International forces have begun military operations in Libya, with French fighter jets taking out several tanks operated by pro-government forces, while over 100 US Tomahawk cruise missiles struck at air defence sites. The US is taking the lead in the first phase of operations, but says it will be handing over control to coalition partners "in the coming days". The action comes after world leaders concluded a summit in Paris to discuss the modalities of international action on Libya, as authorised by UN resolution 1973. Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland reports from Paris
Gingrich Bashes Obama
MAIL ONLINE: Newt Gingrich has slammed Barack Obama for his lack of leadership over Libya as Western jets - led by France - bombed Muammar Gaddafi's forces today.
The former House Speaker, who is considering a presidential run in 2012, mocked Mr Obama yesterday for publicising his Final Four pics as Libyan rebels battled for their country.
He attacked the President for making America look 'weak and uncertain', and said former Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan would have been far more decisive.
The world's leaders met in Paris today for a summit on the crisis.
The group included British Prime Minister David Cameron, French president Nicolas Sarkozy, Canadian premier Stephen Harper, and leaders of several Arab states.
Mar 19 - Martial law and a ban on gatherings have been imposed in Bahrain. Julie Noce reports
Tokyo Businesses Struggle after Quake
Mar 19 - Tourists stay away from the Japanese capital leaving local businesses to struggle. Andrew Raven reports
Robert Fisk: First It Was Saddam. Then Gaddafi. Now There's a Vacancy for the West's Favourite Crackpot Tyrant
THE INDEPENDENT: Gaddafi is completely bonkers, a crackpot on the level of Ahmadinejad and Lieberman
So we are going to take "all necessary measures" to protect the civilians of Libya, are we? Pity we didn't think of that 42 years ago. Or 41 years ago. Or... well, you know the rest. And let's not be fooled by what the UN resolution really means. Yet again, it's going to be regime-change. And just as in Iraq – to use one of Tom Friedman's only memorable phrases of the time – when the latest dictator goes, who knows what kind of bats will come flying out of the box?
And after Tunisia, after Egypt, it's got to be Libya, hasn't it? The Arabs of North Africa are demanding freedom, democracy, liberation from oppression. Yes, that's what they have in common. But what these nations also have in common is that it was us, the West, that nurtured their dictatorships decade after decade after decade. The French cuddled up to Ben Ali, the Americans stroked Mubarak, while the Italians groomed Gaddafi until our own glorious leader went to resurrect him from the political dead.
Could this be, I wonder, why we have not heard from Lord Blair of Isfahan recently? Surely he should be up there, clapping his hands with glee at another humanitarian intervention. Perhaps he is just resting between parts. Or maybe, like the dragons in Spenser's Faerie Queen, he is quietly vomiting forth Catholic tracts with all the enthusiasm of a Gaddafi in full flow. » | Robert Fisk | Saturday, March 19, 2011
German Finance Minister Says Too Many Gastarbeiter Were Allowed In
THE GUARDIAN: Wolfgang Schäuble enters multiculturalism row, saying problems of integrating Turkish guest workers have grown with third generation
Germany's finance minister has waded into the country's simmering row over multiculturalism, saying it had been a mistake to bring in so many Gastarbeiter, or guest workers, from Turkey during the economic boom years of the 1960s.
In an interview with the Guardian, Wolfgang Schäuble said Germany had expected its 3.5 million Turkish minority to integrate better in the decades that followed the wave of immigration.
"We made a mistake in the early 60s when we decided to look for workers, not qualified workers but cheap workers from abroad, Turkey," said Schäuble. Some people of Turkish origin had lived in Germany for decades and did not speak German, he said.
"When we decided 50 years ago to invite workers from Turkey, we expected that their children would integrate automatically. But the problems have increased with the third generation, not diminished, therefore we have to change the policy," Schäuble said.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's plain-speaking finance minister was adding to comments she made last year, claiming multiculturalism had been a disaster for Germany. More recently her new interior minister, Hans-Peter Friedrich, stoked the debate by saying that Islam did not belong in Germany. The foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, has also spelled out the new, tougher message from Berlin, declaring that children of immigrants should learn German before the language of their parents and grandparents. » | Larry Elliott and Julia Kollewe in Berlin | Friday, March 18, 2011
Inside a Sharia Divorce Court
Sheikh Haithem Al-Haddad and Dr Suhaib Hasan of Britain's Sharia Council allow us rare and exclusive access to their deliberations on Islamic divorces
Libye: Chavez juge "irresponsable" l'intervention armée contre la Libye
ROMANDIE NEWS: CARACAS - Le président vénézuélien Hugo Chavez a jugé "irresponsable" l'intervention armée internationale lancée samedi contre la Libye, qui vise selon lui à s'emparer du pétrole libyen, et il a réclamé qu'un cessez-le-feu soit instauré.
Dans une déclaration télévisée, M. Chavez a condamné "l'action militaire des alliés contre la Libye", qui constitue "une ingérence dans les affaires intérieures d'un pays". » | AFP | Samedi 19 Mars 2011
Déclaration lors du Sommet de Paris pour le soutien au people libyen
ÉLYSÉE – PRÉSIDENCE DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE: COMMUNIQUÉ » | Samedi 19 Mars 2011
French Fighter Jets Deployed Over Libya
CNN: Tripoli, Libya -- French fighter jets soared over Libya on Saturday to counter Moammar Gadhafi's military forces who were intent on destroying the opposition as they pushed into the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
"Our air force will oppose any aggression by Colonel Gadhafi against the population of Benghazi," said French President Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking after an international, top-level meeting in Paris over the Libyan crisis.
"As of now, our aircraft are preventing planes from attacking the town," he said, calling the intervention a "grave decision."
"As of now, our aircraft are prepared to intervene against tanks, armored vehicles threatening unarmed civilians."
The international show of force is much-welcomed by besieged rebel forces who have called for backup to help them stave off a government offensive against their positions in Benghazi and other rebel-held enclaves. » | CNN Wire Staff | Saturday, March 19, 2011
Gaddafi: I’ll Blow Up Holiday Jets
DAILY EXPRESS: COLONEL Gaddafi threatened to unleash a wave of terror against Britain yesterday and warned of revenge attacks on holiday jets in the Mediterranean.
The dictator raised the chilling spectre of a second Lockerbie outrage after Britain’s leading role in securing a United Nations-backed no-fly zone over Libya.
Prime Minister David Cameron told MPs that Britons could now face reprisals from the Libyan leader if the despot manages to maintain his grip on power.
With British fighter planes preparing to deploy over Libya as early as today, Gaddafi’s defence ministry warned of swift retaliation, even beyond its national frontiers, against any hostile action.
“Any foreign military act against Libya will expose all air and maritime traffic in the Mediterranean Sea to danger and civilian and military facilities will become targets of Libya’s counter-attack,” the ministry said in a statement yesterday. Significantly, it warned the danger to Western targets would arise “not just in the short term but also the long term”. » | Padraic Flanegan | Saturday, March 19, 2011
Italiener buhen Berlusconi aus
Der Libyen-Einsatz: Häme und Spott für Berlin
STERN.DE: Die ersten Jets fliegen über Libyen, in Paris tagt der internationale Gipfel. Deutschland ist zwar dabei - aber nicht mittendrin. Die Welt sieht die Bundesregierung als provinziellen Populisten und nicht als Global Player.
Der Kampf gegen Libyens Machthaber Muammar al-Gaddafi: Während ein Gipfel in Paris mit deutscher Beteiligung über das weitere militärische Vorgehen berät, muss sich die Bundesrepublik für ihre Weigerung, an der Militäraktion teilzunehmen, Häme und scharfe Kritik gefallen lassen.
In der deutschen Presse gab es ohnehin keine zwei Meinungen: Die deutsche Enthaltung im UN-Sicherheitsrat wurde von den Kommentatoren einhellig verdammt. Doch auch im Ausland war die Enttäuschung groß. So wirft die konservative Pariser Zeitung "Le Figaro" der Bundeskanzlerin "Unbeweglichkeit" vor - und lobt den französischen Präsidenten dafür, dass er diese umgangen und sich auf den britschen Premier David Cameron gestützt habe. Schärfer geht die polnische "Rzeczpospolita" mit Merkel ins Gericht: "Sowohl die plötzliche Wende der schwarz-gelben Koalition in der Atompolitik als auch die demonstrative Ablehnung der Teilnahme an einer Aktion in Libyen sind auf die bevorstehenden Landtagswahlen zurückzuführen", meint das Blatt aus Warschau - und spottet: "Einerseits will Deutschland in der Politik als 'Global Player' agieren, anderseits handelt die Regierungskoalition sogar aus Anlass einer lokalen Wahl populistisch." » | ben/Reuters | Samstag, 19. März 2011
Bahrain: Regierung reisst symbolische Statue nieder
Sicherheitskräfte in Bahrain haben in Manama auf dem Perlenplatz die Statue niedergerissen, die dem Platz ihren Namen gab. Der Platz und die Perlen-Statue waren in den letzten Tagen Treffpunkt und Symbol der Demokratiebewegung
LE POINT: Samedi, le dirigeant libyen a prévenu Paris, Londres et l'ONU qu'ils regretteraient toute ingérence dans les affaires intérieures.
Muammar Kadhafi a qualifié par avance d'"agression manifeste" toute intervention militaire étrangère en Libye, selon des propos rapportés samedi par un porte-parole du dirigeant libyen. "C'est une injustice, c'est une agression manifeste", a déclaré Moussa Ibrahim, citant le contenu d'une lettre adressée par Muammar Kadhafi à la France, à la Grande-Bretagne et aux Nations unies. "Vous regretterez toute initiative vous conduisant à une ingérence dans nos affaires intérieures", a-t-il ajouté.
Dans une autre lettre adressée aux États-Unis, Muammar Kadhafi affirme que lui-même et tous les Libyens sont "prêts à mourir" pour défendre leur pays, toujours selon ce porte-parole. "Tout le peuple libyen est avec moi, et ils sont prêts à mourir pour moi, les hommes, les femmes et les enfants", affirme Kadhafi. » | Source AFP | Samedi 19 Mars 2011
Pariser Libyen-Gipfel bereitet Militärschlag vor
Eine Art «Kriegserklärung» gegen Ghadhafi erwartet
NZZ ONLINE: In Paris kommen zur Stunde zahlreiche Staats- und Regierungschefs und die Generalsekretäre von Vereinten Nationen und Arabischer Liga zusammen, um einen Militäreinsatz gegen das libysche Regime vorzubereiten. Ghadhafi hatte gemäss einem Sprecher zuvor die anhaltenden Angriffe auf Benghasi verteidigt.
In Paris beginnt der Staaten-Gipfel, an welchem die Umsetzung der Uno-Resolution zum Schutz der libyschen Bevölkerung beschlossen werden soll, die am Donnerstag den Weg zu Luftschlägen gegen Ghadhafis Truppen freigemacht hatte. » | ddp | Samstag, 19. März 2011
