Monday, November 29, 2010
LE MONDE: Les Etats-Unis ayant rompu leurs relations diplomatiques avec l'Iran en 1980, après la prise d'otages à l'ambassade américaine de Téhéran, la diplomatie de Washington doit s'appuyer, pour observer le régime, sur des contacts et des informations obtenus par ses ambassades ailleurs dans la région. Un réseau de "Iran Watchers", chargés de surveiller les événements en Iran, est ainsi révélé par la masse des télégrammes diplomatiques.
Il ressort des documents du département d'Etat obtenus par WikiLeaks et révélés par Le Monde que la complexité et l'opacité du régime iranien sont, pour les Américains, une énigme. Ils guettent le moindre indice. Par exemple, ces informations livrées en août 2009, par un contact dans une république d'Asie centrale. A l'époque, les remous politiques en Iran semblent à leur apogée, après la réélection contestée, en juin, du président Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. >>> Le Monde | Dimanche 28 Novembre 2010
LE MONDE: Le Conseil central islamique suisse a annoncé, lundi, le lancement d'une initiative populaire visant à abolir l'interdiction des minarets. La votation sur l'interdiction des minarets est intervenue il y a un an à l'initiative de l'UDC (droite nationaliste populiste), qui a remporté dimanche une nouvelle victoire en faisant approuver le durcissement du renvoi des étrangers criminels.
"Si on veut abolir l'interdiction des minarets en Suisse, il faut le faire en empruntant la même voie utilisée pour introduire cette interdiction", expliquent dans un communiqué les représentants du CCIS. Un comité d'initiative "le plus large possible" doit être créé d'ici à la fin décembre 2010 au plus tard. Des contacts ont été pris avec différents acteurs des milieux politiques, culturels et scientifiques. >>> LEMONDE.FR avec AFP | Lundi 29 Novembre 2010
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Die ganze Welt kann nachlesen, wie Amerikas Außenpolitik funktioniert - die Enthüllung der Geheimdepeschen schockiert US-Diplomaten: Sie müssen nun wütende Kollegen in vielen Ländern besänftigen. Experten sehen die Beziehungen zwischen Botschaftern und ihren Gastländern schwer beschädigt.
Die Veröffentlichung von mehr als 250.000 vertraulichen Dokumenten des US-Außenministeriums durch die Internetplattform WikiLeaks hat Amerikas Hauptstadt in helle Aufregung versetzt. Die Enthüllung, die auch die Schlagzeilen von Medien in aller Welt bestimmt, schockiert vor allem Diplomaten.
"Diese Datenpanne ist ein schwerer Schlag für die US-Diplomatie", sagte Charles Kupchan, früher im Nationalen Sicherheitsrat des Weißen Hauses für Europa zuständig, SPIEGEL ONLINE. Die Enthüllung blamiere Washington. Nun würden Informanten wohl kaum noch mit amerikanischen Diplomaten sprechen wollen - aus Angst, die Unterredungen könne bald jeder nachlesen. >>> Von Gregor Peter Schmitz, Washington | Montag, 29. November 2010
WELT ONLINE: Die veröffentlichten Dokumente offenbaren knallharte Positionen der Regierenden aus den arabischen Staaten gegen den Iran.
Die arabischen Regime sind nach dem jüngsten Wikileaks-Coup in eine Art Schockstarre gefallen. Denn die von der Internet-Plattform Wikileaks publizierten Dokumente der Diplomaten ohne Maulkorb sind für sie nicht nur peinlich, sondern zum Teil auch politisch brandgefährlich.
Geheime Depeschen über die dralle ukrainische Krankenschwester des libyschen Revolutionsführers Muammar al-Gaddafi mögen vielleicht einen Wutanfall in Tripolis nach sich ziehen. Wirklich brisant sind sie nicht.
Doch der Dauerkonflikt zwischen sunnitischen und schiitischen Muslimen im Irak, im Jemen, im Libanon, in Saudi-Arabien und Bahrain könnte durch die nun bekanntgewordenen Berichte aus den arabischen Hauptstädten weiter eskalieren. Das ohnehin schon große Misstrauen der Araber untereinander dürfte wieder zunehmen, was die Beilegung der vielen Krisen in der Region weiter erschweren dürfte – von der Palästina-Frage bis hin zum Krieg der Houthi-Rebellen gegen die jemenitische Regierung. >>> dpa/ab | Montag, 29. November 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The leak of thousands of confidential diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks is damaging to national security, Downing Street said today.
David Cameron’s officials have been briefed personally by the United States ambassador to London as No10 braces for further embarrassing revelations from WikiLeaks throughout this week.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: "Clearly we condemn the unauthorised release of classified information. The leaks and their publication are damaging to national security in the United States and in Britain, and elsewhere.
“It's important that governments are able to operate on the basis of confidentiality of information.”
Asked what it was that was “damaging” the spokesman added: "It has the potential to be damaging (to national security) but the very fact that this is inhibiting the conduct of governments ... governments need to be able to operate on a confidential basis when dealing with this kind of information, and the very fact that it is being leaked is damaging."
However, No10 stopped short of backing calls from US politicians to declare WikiLeaks a terrorist organisation. >>> Andrew Porter, Political Editor | Monday, November 29, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: WikiLeaks US embassy cables: live updates >>>
FOX NEWS: U.S. in Damage Control After Vast Leak of Diplomatic Cables: WASHINGTON -- The release of more than 250,000 classified State Department documents forced the Obama administration into damage control, trying to contain fallout from unflattering assessments of world leaders and revelations about backstage U.S. diplomacy. >>> Associated Press | Monday, November 29, 2010
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES: The U.S. has many doubts about its long-term ally Turkey's dependability as a partner, according to diplomatic cables that were leaked by WikiLeaks on Sunday evening.
Confidential cables from the U.S. Embassy in Ankara describe Islamist tendencies in the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Germany's Der Spiegel, which received some of the leaked documents, said.
The Turkish leadership is depicted as divided, and PM Erdogan's advisers, as well as Foreign Minister Ahmeet Davutoglu, are portrayed as having little understanding of politics beyond Ankara, the magazine said.
Turkey and the U.S. shared a cordial relationship since 1947, when U.S. guaranteed the security of Turkey and Greece from Soviet forces. Turkey remained a close ally of the U.S. through the Cold War and through the late 1990s and post-World Trade attacks in the U.S.
Cordial relationship with the U.S. was believed to be crucial to Turkey's security.
However, the relationship has been strained since the Iraq war, as Turkey grows warier about the creation of an independent Kurdish state. >>> IB Times Staff Reporter | Monday, November 29, 2010
THE HUFFINGTON POST: WikiLeaks is in the process of dramatically transforming foreign affairs and international relations. It is revealing over 250,000 cables from US embassies worldwide to the State department and other classified documents. The consequences of this 'mega-scoop' will be very far reaching indeed.
For the United States the issues are both strategic as well as ethical. On a strategic level the leaks -- which expose frank assessment of foreign leaders by senior American officials and American thinking on many critical issues -- will complicate Obama administration's ability to deal with its allies and may increase global cynicism about US intentions.
Many of the allies will be angry and distrustful. They will also be afraid of being candid in the future. All players in the future will be trying to second-guess each other, unwilling to articulate what their real intentions and goals are. After all, nobody wishes to read a summary of their confidential dialogue with Americans in the New York Times. The revelations may also reverse many of the hard earned diplomatic gains made by the State department over the years in acquiring support for US policies from many nations.
On the ethical level, the key question is: What will the American public do with the knowledge that the US government has allies who are known criminals; that it says one thing in public and pursues another policy in reality; that bullying seems to be a standard operating procedure and intervening in every affair seems to be a natural instinct of US foreign policy. Will the Senate, or the House, call for hearings to hold the administration accountable? Will there be a public outcry?
The revelations so far about the Muslim world are eye opening. Muslims, even some American Muslims have raised criticism of American foreign policy to the level of religious ritual. Often Muslim radicalism and alienation is explained as a direct consequence of US foreign policy alone (the point being that US foreign policy is anti-Islam and subversive to Muslim nations). Therefore Muslim anger and radicalism against the U.S. while often expressed in unjustifiable ways is still understandable.
But now that the shenanigans of Muslim nations, most importantly their collusion with America's so called anti-Islam foreign policy, is exposed, what will Muslims do? Will they also hate Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, Qatar and other nations just as much as they hate America? Or will they recognize that nation states have interests and they pursue them in whatever ways they can; and understand that US foreign policy neither advances nor targets any religion? Read on and comment >>> Muqtedar Khan, Associate Professor of Islam and Global Affairs at the University of Delaware | Sunday, November 28, 2010
Muqtedar Khan’s website >>>
SKY NEWS: Hundreds of thousands of secret diplomatic messages sent by American government officials around the world have been published online by the Wikileaks website.
BBC: Wikileaks cables: key issues >>> | Monday, November 29, 2010
WikiLeaks >>>
LE MONDE: Comme il y a quelques mois avec les documents sur la guerre en Irak et en Afghanistan, les révélations de WikiLeaks, publiées dimanche par plusieurs journaux, dont Le Monde, mettent Washington dans l'embarras.
Jusqu'au bout, les Etats-Unis ont tenté de différer la publication de ces mémorandums diplomatiques confidentiels, mettant en garde contre les dangers qu'ils pourraient faire peser pour des vies américaines dans le monde. Dans le même temps, les ambassades américaines multipliaient les contacts pour prévenir les pays mis en cause des révélations potentielles.
Une fois les documents divulgués, la Maison Blanche n'a pu que condamner "dans les termes les plus forts" la publication "irresponsable et dangereuse" de ces données, insistant sur le fait que "de telles révélations font courir des risques à nos diplomates, aux membres de la communauté du renseignement, et aux gens du monde entier qui font appel aux Etats-Unis pour les aider à promouvoir la démocratie et un gouvernement transparent" (lire l'intégralité du communiqué). >>> Le Monde.fr, avec AFP et Reuters | Dimanche 28 Novembre 2010
LE MONDE: WikiLeaks : portraits acides des leaders mondiaux >>>
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Es ist ein Desaster für die US-Diplomatie. WikiLeaks hat mehr als 250.000 Dokumente aus dem Washingtoner Außenministerium zugespielt bekommen, interne Botschaftsberichte aus aller Welt. Sie enthüllen, wie die Supermacht die Welt wirklich sieht - und ihren globalen Einfluss wahren will.
Hamburg - Wie schätzen die Amerikaner die deutsche Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel ein? Ist die Politikerin aus der ehemaligen DDR eine verlässliche Verbündete, hat sie sich bemüht, das unter ihrem Vorgänger belastete Verhältnis zu den USA zu reparieren? Allenfalls so la la.
Zwar habe sie den Ton der transatlantischen Beziehungen verbessern wollen, stellt der ehemalige US-Botschafter William Timken in einer Depesche von Ende 2006 an das amerikanische Außenministerium fest. Sie habe aber "keine mutigen Schritte unternommen, um den substantiellen Inhalt dieser Beziehung zu verbessern".
Ein Lob hört sich anders an.
Und das Urteil über den deutschen Außenminister Guido Westerwelle? Seine Gedanken hätten "wenig Substanz", schreibt höchst undiplomatisch der gegenwärtige Chefdiplomat der USA in Berlin, Botschafter Philip Murphy. Das liege vor allem daran, dass offenbar seine "Beherrschung komplexer außen- und sicherheitspolitischer Themen noch Vertiefung erfordert". Das ist schon eine echte Unfreundlichkeit. (mehr zu Deutschland...)
Aber in den Augen des amerikanischen diplomatischen Corps wird jeder Akteur schnell nach Freund oder Gegner eingeteilt: Der König von Saudi-Arabien? Ein Freund: Abdullah könne seinen Nachbarn Iran nicht ausstehen und halte das Mullah-Regime "ohne Zweifel für irgendwie labil". Sein Verbündeter, Scheich Mohammed Bin Sajid Al Nahjan aus Abu Dhabi? Auch ein Freund: Er ist der Meinung, "ein baldiger konventioneller Krieg mit Iran sei eindeutig besser als die langfristigen Konsequenzen eines nuklear bewaffneten Iran". (mehr zu Iran...) >>> | Sonntag, 28. November 2010
Guido Westerwelle: “Inkompetent”, “eitel”, “amerikakritisch”
Bundeskanzlerin Merkel: “Teflon-Merkel”
THE GUARDIAN: • More than 250,000 dispatches reveal US foreign strategies • Diplomats ordered to spy on allies as well as enemies • Saudi king urged Washington to bomb Iran
The United States was catapulted into a worldwide diplomatic crisis today, with the leaking to the Guardian and other international media of more than 250,000 classified cables from its embassies, many sent as recently as February this year.
At the start of a series of daily extracts from the US embassy cables – many designated "secret" – the Guardian can disclose that Arab leaders are privately urging an air strike on Iran and that US officials have been instructed to spy on the UN leadership.
These two revelations alone would be likely to reverberate around the world. But the secret dispatches, which were obtained by WikiLeaks, the whistleblowers' website, also reveal Washington's evaluation of many other highly sensitive international issues.
These include a shift in relations between China and North Korea, high-level concerns over Pakistan's growing instability, and details of clandestine US efforts to combat al-Qaida in Yemen. >>> David Leigh | Sunday, November 28, 2010
Read the full coverage of the US embassy cables >>>
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: 251,000 State Department documents, many of them secret embassy reports from around the world, show how the US seeks to safeguard its influence around the world. It is nothing short of a political meltdown for US foreign policy.
What does the United States really think of German Chancellor Angela Merkel? Is she a reliable ally? Did she really make an effort to patch up relations with Washington that had been so damaged by her predecessor? At most, it was a half-hearted one.
The tone of trans-Atlantic relations may have improved, former US Ambassador to Germany William Timken wrote in a cable to the State Department at the end of 2006, but the chancellor "has not taken bold steps yet to improve the substantive content of the relationship." That is not exactly high praise.
And the verdict on German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle? His thoughts "were short on substance," wrote the current US ambassador in Berlin, Philip Murphy, in a cable. The reason, Murphy suggested, was that "Westerwelle's command of complex foreign and security policy issues still requires deepening."
Such comments are hardly friendly. But in the eyes of the American diplomatic corps, every actor is quickly categorized as a friend or foe. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia? A friend: Abdullah can't stand his neighbors in Iran and, expressing his disdain for the mullah regime, said, "there is no doubt something unstable about them." And his ally, Sheikh bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi? Also a friend. He believes "a near term conventional war with Iran is clearly preferable to the long term consequences of a nuclear armed Iran."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's emissaries also learn of a special "Iran observer" in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku who reports on a dispute that played out during a meeting of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. An enraged Revolutionary Guard Chief of Staff Mohammed Ali Jafari allegedly got into a heated argument with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and slapped him in the face because the generally conservative president had, surprisingly, advocated freedom of the press. A Political Meltdown >>> SPIEGEL Staff | Sunday, November 28, 2010
”Turkey hardly comes away any less scathed in the cables. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the cables allege, governs with the help of a cabal of incompetent advisors. Ankara Embassy officials depict a country on a path to an Islamist future -- a future that likely won't include European Union membership.”
”Often enough, the lesson of the documents that have now been obtained, is that the Arab leaders use their friends in Washington to expand their own positions of power.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Cables Obtained by WikiLeaks Shine Light Into Secret Diplomatic Channels: WASHINGTON — A cache of a quarter-million confidential American diplomatic cables, most of them from the past three years, provides an unprecedented look at back-room bargaining by embassies around the world, brutally candid views of foreign leaders and frank assessments of nuclear and terrorist threats. >>> Scott Shane and Andrew W. Lehren | Sunday, November 28, 2010
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Around the World, Distress Over Iran >>> David E. Sanger, James Glanz and Jo Becker | Sunday, November 28, 2010
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Iran Fortifies Its Arsenal With the Aid of North Korea >>> William J. Broad, James Glanz and David E. Sanger | Sunday, November 28, 2010
THE NEW YORK TIMES: U.S. Expands Role of Diplomats in Spying: WASHINGTON — The United States has expanded the role of American diplomats in collecting intelligence overseas and at the United Nations, ordering State Department personnel to gather the credit card and frequent-flier numbers, work schedules and other personal information of foreign dignitaries. >>> Mark Mazzetti | Sunday, November 28, 2010
SKY NEWS: Arab rulers secretly lobbied the US to launch air strikes to destroy Iran's nuclear programme, leaked US diplomatic messages reveal.
Details from 250,000 leaked documents obtained by whistleblower website WikiLeaks have been published by a number of newspapers given advance sight of the material.
The Guardian says it will publish details later in the week of cables relating to the UK - including allegations of "inappropriate behaviour" by a member of the Royal Family which was said to have "startled" US diplomats.
The documents are also said to include "serious political criticism" of David Cameron and "devastating criticism" of British military operations in Afghanistan.
Potentially most seriously of all for the UK, the newspaper said that the cables included requests for "specific intelligence" about British MPs. (+ video) >>> Andy Jack and Richard Williams, Sky News Online | Monday, November 29, 2010
Key Points Of Leaked Confidential Documents >>>
THE TIMES: Arabs urged US to bomb Iran >>> Tom Coghlan, Defence Correspondent | Monday, November 29, 2010 (Paywall: £)
Sunday, November 28, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Embarrassment for Coalition as Wikileaks prepares to release secret US papers: Potentially "embarrassing" comments on the formation of Britain's coalition government are to be revealed this week as millions of leaked US diplomatic documents are made public. >>> Patrick Hennessy, Political editor | Saturday, November 27, 2010
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Britain fears Islamic fury over leaked sensitive documents >>> David Leppard | Sunday, November 28, 2010 (Paywall: £)
Related >>>
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: L'acceptation de l'initiative UDC se confirme : Selon les dernières projections, la Suisse accepterait à 53 % l'initiative sur le renvoi des criminels étrangers. >>> ATS | Dimanche 28 Novembre 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Ausschaffungsinitiative dürfte angenommen werden: Vorlage der SVP wird wohl auch Ständemehr schaffen >>> ubl. | Sonntag, 28. November 2010
THE TIMES: Swiss vote to deport all foreigners who commit serious crimes >>> Charles Bremner | Sunday, November 28, 2010 (Paywall: £)
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Prime Minister is doing most things right, but he just can't capture the public's imagination, says Janet Daley.David Cameron has succeeded in what has always seemed to be his chief political objective: he is not actively disliked by the majority of the population. In spite of being a Tory – and an Old Etonian – relatively few people hate him. Maybe this is as good as it gets.
But the great campaign to make Mr Cameron (and, by inference, his party) likeable – unthreatening, inoffensive, un-nasty – has an obverse side, which is now becoming clear. While almost none of the electorate violently detests him, nobody much loves him either. He is not repugnant – but neither is he inspirational. He is not malignant – but neither is he magnetic.
All of which may go some way to explain why, although many of his policies are getting a good press and some of them, such as welfare reform, are extremely popular, his party is still just level-pegging in the polls with Labour, whose state of disarray has reached embarrassing proportions. Even when the Cameron leadership is perceived to be going largely in the right direction, and doing quite brave things, it does not – as the saying goes – capture the public imagination. Listening to the Prime Minister speak arouses no passion in the collective breast of the nation. Why not? Read on and comment >>> Janet Daley | Saturday, November 27, 2010
Why don’t we love Cameron? That’s simple. He comes over as vain and conceited. He also comes over as weak and fawning. I detect no courage in this man. The country is in dire need of a real leader, one who is courageous and committed to maintaining freedom and true democracy. In Cameron, I fear we have someone who doesn’t seem to understand what is at stake; and someone who, even if he does, has no courage to stand up against that which is threatening our very survival. Cameron prefers to fiddle while Rome burns. The happiness index is more important to him. How banal! Further, he and Cleggover are turning their backs on Israel and sucking up to the Gulf Arabs. They have no principles. Mammon is their god. – © Mark
This comment also appears here.
THE INDEPENDENT: A mass exodus of North Korean workers from the Far East of Russia is under way, according to reports coming out of the region. As the two Koreas edged towards the brink of war this week, it appears that the workers in Russia have been called back to aid potential military operations.
Vladnews agency, based in Vladivostok, reported that North Korean workers had left the town of Nakhodka en masse shortly after the escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula earlier this week. "Traders have left the kiosks and markets, workers have abandoned building sites, and North Korean secret service employees working in the region have joined them and left," the agency reported. Read on and comment >>> Shaun Walker in Moscow | Saturday, November 27, 2010
Saturday, November 27, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The death sentence on Asia Bibi, a Christian woman in Pakistan, for blasphemy has set off a storm of debate about her fate.
It started as nothing more than a petty squabble: a group of Muslim women refused to sup from a bucket of water fetched by a Christian co-worker as they picked berries on a farm.
But within days the spat had escalated into a deadly storm, as imams whipped up an angry crowd accusing Aasia Bibi of badmouthing the Prophet Muhammad.
Today the mother-of-five is on death row, the first woman in Pakistan to be sentenced to hang for blasphemy.
Her tiny, stinking cell is now the centre of a political storm as liberals face off with conservative clerics over the country's barbaric blasphemy laws, which cuts to the heart of Pakistan's uneasy relationship between religion and democracy.Hard-line Muslims have taken to the streets, warning the government not to cave in to foreign pressure to pardon her, and issuing death threats to her supporters, alarming the country's embattled Christian minority.
Meanwhile, from the prison where she is being held, Mrs Bibi, 45, has made one brief statement to proclaim her innocence. "The allegation against me is baseless," she insisted, speaking from behind a veil worn not as a concession to Islamic sensibilities, but simply to hide her identity. "We had some differences and this was their way of taking revenge." >>> Rob Crilly in Lahore | Saturday, November 27, 2010
This ideology is a curse on the civilised world, and nobody is prepared to do anything about it. It will lead us into a New Dark Age. – Mark
LANCASHIRE TELEGRAPH: THE English Defence League is holding a demonstration in Preston today against a planned new mosque.
A counter-demonstration against the EDL, organised by Preston Trades Council and Unite Against Fascism, will take place at the same time.
Police say they will have a 'highly-visible police presence throughout the day' to try to avoid the flashpoints of trouble that have occurred at similar events elsewhere, including Bolton. >>> Paul Cockerton, Web editor | Saturday, November 27, 2010
14 Arrests at Preston EDL Demo >>>
SPIEGEL ONLINE: In Europa macht ein Schreckensszenario die Runde: Bricht die Euro-Union auseinander? Kehren die Länder bald zu D-Mark, Franc und Lira zurück? Die Wahrscheinlichkeit dafür ist gering, trotzdem sind Experten alarmiert. Ein Comeback der nationalen Währungen wäre fatal - vor allem für Deutschland.
Hamburg - Eigentlich gibt es sie ja noch. Die D-Mark. Sogar in Massen. Auch fast neun Jahre nach der Einführung des Euro existieren 13 Milliarden Mark - in Verstecken, Sammlungen oder Omas Sparstrumpf. Und schenkt man Umfragen Glauben, dann wünscht sich fast die Hälfte der Bundesbürger die Mark als offizielles Zahlungsmittel zurück. So haben zum Beispiel die Meinungsforscher der EU-Behörde Eurobarometer festgestellt: "Die D-Mark war für viele Deutsche das Symbol für wirtschaftliche Sicherheit, Solidität und Prosperität."
Merkmale, die Euro-Skeptiker wohl nie mit der Gemeinschaftswährung verbinden werden.
Und ist es nicht wirklich so? Hat sich Europas Finanzkrise in den vergangenen Wochen nicht dramatisch verschärft? Nach Griechenland mussten auch die Iren unter den 750 Milliarden Euro schweren Rettungsschirm schlüpfen, der ein Auseinanderbrechen der Währungsunion verhindern soll. Und schon könnten weitere Pleitekandidaten folgen. Portugal zum Beispiel, zumindest spekulieren die Finanzmärkte darauf. Im schlimmsten Fall trifft es sogar Spanien - mit dem Euro in seiner bisherigen Form wäre es dann wohl vorbei.
Doch was würde bei einem Euro-Crash eigentlich passieren? Würden in Deutschland tatsächlich die guten, alten D-Mark-Zeiten zurückkehren? Oder drohen Chaos und wirtschaftliche Depression? >>> Von Jens Witte | Samstag, 27. November 2010
HT: Always On Watch >>>
Related >>>
FRANKFURTER ALGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Die Schweiz entscheidet am Sonntag per Volksabstimmung über die automatische Abschiebung krimineller Ausländer. Ein Jahr nach dem Minarett-Verbot könnte das Land erneut weiter nach rechts rücken – Umfragen sagen jedenfalls einen Sieg der Abschiebungs-Befürworter voraus. Doch die Meinungen sind durchaus geteilt.
FAZ: Nach Minarett-Referendum: „Muslime sollen Geld aus der Schweiz abziehen“ – Aus Protest gegen den Schweizer Volksentscheid für ein Bauverbot für Minarette, hat der türkische Europaminister Bagis wohlhabende Muslime in aller Welt aufgerufen, ihr Vermögen von dort abzuziehen und ihr Geld in der Türkei anzulegen. Auch Syrien ruft zu einer Kampagne gegen die Alpenrepublik auf. >>> Mittwoch, 02. Dezember 2009
LE POINT: La Suisse va-t-elle bientôt expulser les étrangers criminels ? : Dimanche, les Helvètes se prononcent sur deux textes qui réclament le renvoi des étrangers ayant commis des délits graves. >>> Le Point.fr | Samedi 27 Novembre 2010
THE TIMES: Swiss anti-immigrant party pushes plan to expel foreign criminals >>> Charles Bremner | Saturday, November 27, 2010 (Paywall: £)
THE TIMES: Financial crisis has created fertile ground for the far Right in Europe >>> Roger Boyes, Vienna | Saturday, April 24, 2010 (Paywall: £)
THE TIMES: Hungarian far-right party Jobbik sets up London branch >>> Fiona Hamilton, London Correspondent | Saturday, December 05, 2009 (Paywall: £)
Verbunden >>>
NZZ ONLINE: Nach dem Artillerieangriff auf die südkoreanische Insel Yonpyong hat Südkorea mit «tausendfacher Vergeltung» für deren Tod gedroht.Auf der koreanischen Halbinsel haben am Samstag beide Seiten ihre Kriegsrhetorik verschärft. Der Kommandeur der südkoreanischen Marineinfanterie kündigte bei der Beisetzung von zwei getöteten Soldaten tausendfache Vergeltung für deren Tod an. Nordkorea dagegen nannte eine geplante südkoreanisch-amerikanische Militärübung eine «unverzeihliche Provokation». Das Regime in Pjöngjang warf dem Süden ausserdem vor, Zivilisten als menschliche Schutzschilde missbraucht zu haben. Weiter lesen und einen Beitrag abgeben >>> ddp | Samstag, 27. November 2010
BBC: Former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has taken on the author and renowned atheist Christopher Hitchens in a debate on the value of religion.
Mr Blair, a convert to Catholicism, was arguing in favour of the motion "Religion is a force for good in the world" in the Munk Debate in Toronto.
Mr Hitchens, who is undergoing treatment for cancer, proposed that religion is the world's "main source of hatred". Watch BBC video >>> | Saturday, November 27, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Tony Blair defends religious faith: Tony Blair has defended religious faith as a force for good in the world during a televised debate with atheist and columnist Christopher Hitchens. >>> | Saturday, November 27, 2010
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Transcripts and audio: Christopher Hitchens on not believing >>> Transcribed by Aleysha Haniff | Friday, November 26, 2010
Munk Debates >>>
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A Somali teenager has been arrested on suspicion of trying to set off a carbomb in the United States, police said on Saturday.Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was held after he attempted to detonate what he believed was an explosives-laden van at an annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon. However, undercover FBI agents had been monitoring his plans and had ensured that the "bomb" was in fact incapable of exploding.
Mohamud, a naturalised US citizen of Somali descent, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Portland police around 5:40 pm Friday (0040 GMT Saturday).
"The threat was very real. Our investigation shows that Mohamud was absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale," said Arthur Balizan, a special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon. "At the same time, I want to reassure the people of this community that, at every turn, we denied him the ability to actually carry out the attack."
Court documents showed that since the summer of 2009, Mohamud had been in email contact with a suspected terrorist in Pakistan's lawless northwest frontier province, currently a haven for al Qaeda cells. After discussing the possibility of Mohamud traveling to Pakistan to engage in jihad, or holy war, the accomplice allegedly gave Mohamud contact details of a terrorist cell overseas with whom the plot would be hatched. >>> Colin Freeman | Saturday, November 27, 2010
SKY NEWS: UK Snow Alert: More Severe Weather On Way – Severe weather warnings are in place for almost all of the UK, with heavy snow and bitter temperatures forecast that could last for up to two weeks. >>> Jo Couzens, Sky News Online | Saturday, November 27, 2010
MAIL ONLINE: Tory MPs were furious yesterday after a film depicting Baroness Thatcher as a has-been with dementia was given a £1million taxpayer-funded grant.
The Film Council handed out the cash in what some see as a final insult to the Government days before ministers reveal how the quango will be wound down. Conservative MPs hit out at the use of taxpayers’ funds for what appears to be a political hatchet job.
The former Tory Prime Minister, now 85, is portrayed as stricken with dementia and full of regret over what many believe were courageous political decisions. She is also shown speaking to her husband Denis, not realising he has died. Read on and comment >>> Gerri Peev | Saturday, November 27, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Singapore's men's water polo team is in hot water over the design of their custom-made swimming trunks that have been deemed "inappropriate" by the city-state's government.
The red and white trunks feature elements of Singapore's national flag, five stars and a crescent moon jutting up from the groin, leaving a somewhat unfortunate impression. >>> Ian MacKinnon in Hua Hin, Thailand | Friday, November 26, 2010
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Nun brennt sie wieder, die Weihnachtsbeleuchtung an der Bahnhofstrasse. Dieses Jahr gibt es wieder ein neues Modell namens „Lucy“.
NZZ ONLINE: «Lucy» funkelt über der Bahnhofstrasse: Neue Weihnachtsbeleuchtung in Zürich >>> sda | Donnerstag, 25. November 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
WELT ONLINE: Sollen kriminelle Ausländer abgeschoben werden? Darüber entscheidet die Schweiz am Sonntag. Dem voraus geht eine aggressive Plakatkampagne.
Ein weißes Schaf versetzt einem schwarzen schwungvoll einen Tritt ins Hinterteil: Runter von der Schweizer Flagge, raus aus dem Land. Diese Plakate der rechtskonservativen Schweizer Volkspartei (SVP) stießen vor drei Jahren noch auf Proteste in breiten Teilen der Bevölkerung. Vor einer Volksabstimmung am Sonntag regt sich keiner mehr darüber auf, dass sie wieder auf Bahnhöfen und Plätzen im ganzen Land hängen – im Gegenteil: Inzwischen spricht sich die Mehrheit der Bevölkerung dafür aus, straffällig gewordene Ausländer bei schweren Delikten automatisch auszuweisen. >>> dapd/pku | Freitag, 26. November 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: US President Barack Obama received 12 stitches in his lip on Friday after being hit in the face with an elbow during a basketball game, the White House said, stating that the injury was an accident."After being inadvertently hit with an opposing player's elbow in the lip while playing basketball with friends and family, the president received 12 stitches today administered by the White House Medical Unit," said spokesman Robert Gibbs in a statement.
The injury was caused by Rey Decerega, director of programmes for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the White House said. >>> Barney Henderson | Friday, November 26, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: America is bringing the Korean peninsula "to the brink of war" North Korea warned on Friday as tension continues to build ahead of a four-day US-South Korean joint war game that starts this weekend.
The latest broadside from the regime of Kim Jong-il was issued as a US carrier battle group led by the nuclear-powered USS George Washington steamed towards the Yellow Sea in a show of deterrent force to Pyongyang.
"The situation on the Korean peninsula is inching closer to the brink of war," warned a dispatch from the Korean Central News Agency said. "Gone are the days when verbal warnings are served only." All morning North Korean state television and radio blared out martial music interspersed with official statements about the shelling of South Korean's Yeonpyeong Island on Tuesday which left four people dead and destroyed houses and parts of a military base.
In a further show of US solidarity with Seoul, Gen. Walter Sharp, the US military commander in South Korea, visited the shelled island, touring burned buildings and stating again that the attack was a violation of the ceasefire that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. >>> Peter Foster, Beijing | Friday, November 26, 2010
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The coalition between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats should continue after the next election and could lead to a permanent merger, according to Sir John Major.
The former Conservative prime minister said the Coalition could represent a “realignment” of politics and the two parties should “prolong” their co-operation beyond this parliament.
Sir John’s intervention will ignite a political debate about the future of Britain’s current party system. David Cameron has insisted that his deal with Nick Clegg’s party is a one-off arrangement and he will seek to form an all-Tory government after the next election, due in 2015.
But Sir John raised the prospect of the Coalition being maintained in the next parliament as the best way to implement long-term reforms. John Major: let's keep the Coalition after the next election >>> James Kirkup, Political Correspondent | Friday, November 26, 2010
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: SENTENCE EXÉCUTÉE | Un Saoudien, reconnu coupable du meurtre de sa fille de 5 ans, a été décapité au sabre vendredi à Ryad, a annoncé le ministère saoudien de l’Intérieur.
"Mosleh bin Salim bin Eid al-Atawi a tué sa fille Bayan, âgée de 5 ans, en la frappant violemment avec un fil électrique, en la rouant de coups de pieds et en la giflant", a précisé le ministère dans un communiqué, cité par l’agence officielle Spa.
L’homme, toxicomane, a été décapité dans la ville de Tabouk (nord-ouest) en raison du "crime odieux" qu’il a commis, a-t-il ajouté. >>> AFP | Vendredi 26 Novembre 2010
MAIL ONLINE: A Muslim woman was banned from entering a roller-skating rink because her headscarf breached the ‘no hoods’ rule.Marisol Rodriguez-Colon, 40, was ‘mortified’ when she turned up to the Ron-A-Roll rink in Vernon, Connecticut only to be refused entry.
When she asked why, security staff referred her to the venue’s rules which were posted at the entrance and read: ‘No Hats. No Headwear. No Exceptions.’
Mrs Colon and her female friend, who also wore a headscarf, were told they could either taken off the hijab - or wear a helmet over the top of it.
The pair refused and left in disgust, missing the birthday party for Mrs Colon’s niece which was taking place inside.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations has now filed a complaint with Connecticut's Human Rights Commission against the rink, which is standing by its decision. Read on and comment >>> Daniel Bates | Friday, November 26, 2010
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