Bin Laden Demands Europe Withdraw Afghanistan Troops
REUTERS: DUBAI - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden demanded that European nations withdraw their troops from Afghanistan in a new audio tape aired on Friday, saying they were sacrificing men and money in an unjust U.S.-led war.

"We are not demanding anything unjust. It is just for you to end injustice and withdraw your soldiers (from Afghanistan)," he said in the tape, released on the Internet with a background picture of bin Laden and with German and English subtitles.

"One of the greatest injustices is to kill people unjustly, and this is exactly what your governments and soldiers are committing under the cover of the NATO alliance in Afghanistan," bin Laden said in the recording, entitled "A message to the people of Europe."

"An intelligent person does not waste his children and wealth for the sake of a gang in Washington," he said in the four-minute recording produced by al Qaeda's media arm As-Sahab. >>> Reporting by Firouz Sedarat; Editing by Louise Ireland | Friday, September 25, 2009

Bin Laden Warns of Retaliation Against Europe
MIAMI HERALD: CAIRO -- Osama bin Laden demanded that European countries pull their troops out of Afghanistan in a new audiotape Friday, warning of "retaliation" against them for their alliance with the United States in the war.

The al-Qaida leader denounced NATO airstrikes in Afghanistan that have killed civilians and warned that European countries would be held accountable alongside the Americans unless they withdraw from the country.

"A wise person would not waste his sons and money for a gang of criminals in Washington ... In summary, we are not asking too much or an invalid demand, but it would be fair that you lift your oppression and withdraw your troops," bin Laden said, addressing the Europeans.

The audiotape, just under five minutes long, was posted Friday on Islamic militant Web sites. It comes after a series of al-Qaida videos this week that directly addressed Germany, and threatened attacks over Berlin's military mission in Afghanistan. Those videos featured a little-known German-Algerian militant and have raised concerns among German authorities ahead of parliamentary elections.

Bin Laden's tape came as a voice-over on a video that had English and German subtitles translating his speech, along with a still photo of bin Laden in front of a map of Europe.

The al-Qaida leader predicted that American forces would soon pull out of Afghanistan, abandoning their NATO allies, and warned that al-Qaida would then retaliate against the Europeans. It was not clear whether his threat was aimed at European troops in Afghanistan or against European countries themselves. >>> Omar Sinan, Associated Press Writer | Friday, September 25, 2009

Video (Available in German): Bin-Laden-Botschaft: Neue Terror-Drohung an die Völker Europas >>>

Video in deutscher Sprache: Osama bin Laden warnt die Völker Europas
WELT ONLINE: Erstmals meldet sich Osama bin Laden in deutscher Sprache. Zwei Tage vor der Bundestagswahl drängt der Al-Qaida-Chef in einer Video-Botschaft auf einen Abzug der europäischen Truppen aus Afghanistan und rechtfertigt die verheerenden Terroranschläge von Madrid und London.

Zwei Tage vor der Bundestagswahl wendet sich Al-Qaida-Chef Osama bin Laden mit einer auf Deutsch untertitelten Video-Botschaft zurück. In dem Film, der WELT ONLINE vorliegt, wird der deutsche Titel „Die Botschaft von Osama bin Laden an die Völker Europas“ eingeblendet. Bin Laden wird als Standbild gezeigt, während die auf Arabisch gesprochenen Worte in deutscher und englischer Sprache als Untertitel eingespielt werden. Es ist das erste Mal, dass sich der al-Qaida-Chef auf Deutsch an die Öffentlichkeit wendet. Ganz offensichtlich zielt die Botschaft auf die Bundestagswahl am Sonntag ab.

Das Propagandawerk stammt aus der As-Sahab-Medienabteilung. Es ist knapp fünf Minuten lang. Der Terrorchef, zu sehen nur als Standbild, unterbreitet darin seine Analyse des Verhältnisses der Europäer zu den Muslimen und legt seine Sicht der Zukunft der Nato in Afghanistan dar.

Europäische Regierungen und Soldaten würden ohne Grund, “unter dem Deckmantel der NATO in Afghanistan”, Frauen, Kinder und Alte töten. "Obwohl ihr Wissen darüber habt, dass sie in keiner Weise gegen Europa aggressiv waren, noch eine Beziehung zu den Ereignissen in Amerika haben”, heißt es weiter, “warum verletzt ihr also Werte, die ihr als heilig betrachtet wie Gerechtigkeit und Menschenrechte?" Es werde nicht mehr lange dauern, so der Al Qaida Chef, und der Krieg in Afghanistan sei vorbei. Dann werde “nicht mal eine Spur eines Amerikaners dort zu finden sein”. Die USA würden sich hinter den Atlantik zurückziehen. „Bleiben werden dann nur noch wir und ihr“, sagt er an die Adresse der Europäer gerichtet.

Georgien solle den Europäern ein Beispiel für jene Staaten sein, die sich auf Amerika als Nato-Partner verließen. Als die georgische Regierung um Unterstützung gebten habe, “kamen die amerikanischen Kriegssschiffe”. Sie hätten den Georgien allerdings nicht das Erhoffte geracht. Vielmehr seien die Amerikaner gekommen, "um anzubieten was sie nicht brauchten". >>> Von G. Lachmann und U. F. Flade | Freitag, 25. September 2009

Video anschauen: Al-Qaida-Video: Verdächtiger wegen Droh-Video verhaftet >>>

Video anschauen: Terrorismus: Al-Qaida wirbt um deutsche Muslime >>>

Pakistan Discovers 'Village' of White German al-Qaeda Insurgents
THE TELEGRAPH: Investigators have discovered a "Jihadi village" of white German al-Qaeda insurgents, including Muslim converts, in Pakistan's tribal areas close to the Afghan border.

Taliban fighter in al-Qaeda video grab. Photo: The Telegraph
The village, in Taliban-controlled Waziristan, is run by the notorious al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which plots raids on Nato forces in Afghanistan.

A recruitment video presents life in the village as a desirable lifestyle choice with schools, hospitals, pharmacies and day care centres, all at a safe distance from the front.

In the video, the presenter, "Abu Adam", the public face of the group in Germany, points his finger and asks: "Doesn't it appeal to you? We warmly invite you to join us!"

According to German foreign ministry officials a growing number of German families, many of North African descent, have taken up the offer and travelled to Waziristan where supporters say converts make up some of the insurgents' most dedicated fighters.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which has a foothold in several German cities, has capitalised on growing concern over the rising profile of German forces in Afghanistan. Their role has become increasingly controversial in Germany in recent weeks after dozens of civilians were killed in an air strike ordered by German officers. >>> Dean Nelson in New Delhi and Allan Hall in Berlin | Friday, September 25, 2009

A Serial Deceiver
TIMES ONLINE – Leading Article: Iran’s repeated lies about its nuclear programme may finally be uniting world powers to threaten tough sanctions against a maverick regime

Foreign policy is full of dilemmas and nuances. It is important to have the subtlety to understand them. And this is certainly true of policy towards Iran. But there are some foreign policy judgments where clarity matters more than subtlety. Here is one. Iran is led by a man who denies the Holocaust and rants about the “global Jewish conspiracy”. He is sustained in office by an oppressive regime that treats its population with contempt. It would be very dangerous if such a government possessed nuclear weapons.

It is hard, therefore, to imagine a more significant or worrying admission than that of Tehran yesterday. One of the most threatening governments in the world is building a secret uranium-enrichment facility hidden inside a mountain near Qom. Until now it had concealed this second facility, declaring (after its discovery by intelligence sources) only its plant at Natanz.

Iran has admitted to what Gordon Brown has correctly described as “serial deception”. Iran has repeatedly claimed, indeed it still does, that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful. This was always an unpersuasive assertion. President Obama now says that the existence of the new plant is “not consistent” with that peacable aim. Iran will doubtless suggest that its admission of the new plant’s existence demonstrates Tehran’s transparency. But the regime only owned up to the facility because it knew that Mr Obama had been informed about it and was about to tell the world.

The irrefutable evidence of deception comes at a time when the international community’s policy on Iran was already moving. Russia may be ready to respond positively to American overtures — the most concrete being the rethinking of US ballistic missile defence plans. And this positive response may come in the form of a willingness to support sanctions against Iran. Russia has declared itself “seriously concerned” about the latest news, a further indication that its stance may be changing. President Medvedev of Russia has said that the second Iranian plant contravenes UN Security Council resolutions. >>> | Saturday, September 26, 2009

The Naif-in-Chief
NEW YORK POST: Who wrote President Obama's speech for the start of the UN General As sembly yesterday -- Rodney King? You know, the guy whose videotaped run-in with cops sparked the 1992 LA riots, leading King to ask: "Can't we all just get along?"

Today that question is used derisively, to mock naive "solutions" for social ills. But it essentially sums up Obama's 38-minute UN plea, as Washington's former UN envoy John Bolton noted.

Except that Obama is supposed to be the wise leader of the Free World.

What a truly pathetic performance.

Not only because of the president's stunning cluelessness about the world's nature. But also because of his repeated insults to America. And his back-stabbing of Washington's top Mideast ally, Israel.

Obama, yet again, focused on the world's "distrust" of this nation, thanks to the "belief . . . that America has acted unilaterally, without regard for the interest of others" -- presumably, under George W. Bush's presidency.

Not to fear, though; Obama's here: He's closing Gitmo, he said, banning torture, quitting Iraq, scrapping nukes . . .

What about protecting America?

Obama believes "deeply," he said, that "the interests of nations and peoples are shared." (Cue the Kumbaya singers.)

Indeed, he practically begged world leaders to take their "share of responsibility" in responding to global challenges.

Did no one brief him about who'd be at the event? Like lunatic Libyan murderer-in-chief Moammar Khadafy (who ranted for 95 minutes)? And Holocaust-denying, terror-sponsoring, nuke-building, election-stealing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?

Obama can't truly believe these guys will do their "share" to make the world safe, however much he pleads.

And what's up with those gratuitous slams at Jerusalem? "America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements," Obama hissed. He insisted that "Israel respect the legitimate claims . . . of the Palestinians."

Memo to POTUS: Israel has always respected legitimate Palestinian claims.

Indeed, it is neither Israeli disrespect nor settlements that stand in the way of peace there -- but the Palestinian fantasy (fueled by folks like Ahmadinejad) of wiping the Jewish state off the map.

Obama can wish all he wants for everyone to "just get along."

But wishing won't make it happen.

He's got some serious learning to do. [Source: New York Post] | Thursday, September 24, 2009

L'effet Obama atténue l'antiaméricanisme... mais pour combien de temps?
Le président américain et sa femme Michelle, le 24 septembre 2009, à Pittsburgh. Crédits photo : L’Express.fr
L’EXPRESS: Changement de ton par rapport à son prédécesseur: à l'ONU, le président Barack Obama a affirmé que l'Amérique ne pouvait pas résoudre "seule tous les problèmes du monde". Qu'en pensent les antiaméricains? Pour Philippe Roger, directeur d'études à l'EHESS, l'effet Obama risque de ne pas durer. Explications.

Barack Obama ne veut plus être seul au sommet. C'est ce qui ressort du discours prononcé a l'Assemblée générale des Nations unies le mercredi 23 septembre: "Ceux qui ont l'habitude de réprimander l'Amérique pour son action solitaire dans le monde ne peuvent aujourd'hui rester de côté et attendre que l'Amérique résolve seule tous les problèmes du monde".

Devant plus de 120 chefs d'Etat et de gouvernement réunis à New York, le président américain a appelé à "ouvrir une nouvelle ère de coopération multilatérale (...). Il est désormais temps pour chacun d'entre nous de prendre sa part de responsabilité dans la réponse globale aux défis mondiaux".

Est-ce que quelqu'un escaladera la montagne avec lui? Qu'en disent les antiaméricains? L'analyse de Philippe Roger, directeur d'études à l'Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) et auteur du livre L'ennemi américain, Généalogie de l'antiaméricanisme français (Seuil, 2002). Est-ce que l'appel à la coopération lancé par Barack Obama a des chances d'être entendu? >>> Par Nathalie Kantt | Vendredi 25 Septembre 2009

Knuddeln, Kuscheln, Küssen, Liebäugeln
Die Obamas auf Kuscheltour: Kissin’ an’ a-huggin’ an’ a-huggin’ an’ a-kissin’ >>>

Muslims to Conduct National Prayer Rally Outside Capitol
FOX NEWS: As many as 50,000 American Muslims are expected to gather on Capitol Hill Friday for the religion's first-ever national prayer rally, organizers of the event say.

The rally is intended to be all about prayer, and no political speeches or signs will be allowed, said the event's organizer, Hassen Abdellah, president of the Dar-ul-Islam mosque in Elizabeth, N.J.

But at least one of the prominent speakers who will read from the Koran has drawn criticism in the past for statements he's made about the Sept. 11 terror attacks, as well as for saying that the American media are largely under "Zionist control."

In 2005, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute, Sheik Ahmed Dewidar said the "suspicion towards anything Islamic" remained a burden on Muslim Americans and that "the media — most of which is under Zionist control — has helped to spread this perception.

"When [the media] see a bearded Muslim selling fast food on any street in any state, they put the camera lens in front of him and interview him as though he represents Islam. At the same time, they ignore every moderate Islamic voice, every serious, scientific Islamic model, and every expert religious scholar."

During another interview by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's Web site, Dewidar hinted at an American government conspiracy in relation to the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

"Whether or not these events were planned, or pinned on the Muslims, or something else — [it] provided an opportunity for [the American government] to legislate dubious laws that restrict the growth and presence of Islam in the U.S.," Dewidar told ikhwanonline.com.

Dewidar also denounced then-President Bush's policy in the Middle East, claiming it was dictated by Israeli politician Natan Sharansky.

"This Jew has despicable goals, and we see their effects today in America's actions in the region, imposing its opinion and its outlook on democracy, education, and political involvement on our countries," Dewidar told the Web site.

According to a biography on islamoncapitolhill.com, the prayer rally's Web site, Dewidar was born and raised in Rashid, Egypt, and had memorized the Koran by age 12. Now an instructor at Manhattanville College in New York, he also established the Islamic Center in Manhattan, near the United Nations. Efforts to contact Dewidar were unsuccessful. >>> Joshua Rhett Miller | Thursday, September 24, 2009

The Stoning of Soraya M. – Official Trailer


The Stoning of Soraya M. >>>

Review: The Stoning of Soraya M.
THE LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR ONLINE: The title of "The Stoning of Soraya M." gives away the film's ending in a spoiler of sorts. But it also should serve as a warning. The film depicts the ancient form of capital punishment, still used in much of the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa, in all its gruesome horror and seen in real time for 15 minutes.

Compounding the wrenching depiction of the stoning is the true story of Soraya, an Iranian woman killed in 1990 because she refused to give her husband a divorce. So he conspired against her, using Islamic Sharia law to get her condemned to death. Soraya's story was written by French-based Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam, and he's played in the opening scene by Jim Caviezel.

Passing through a remote village, he is confronted by a woman who is defying civic and religious authorities in talking to him. But Zahra (Shohreh Aghdashloo) wants him to tape her story of the horrors that have just transpired there, ending the day before in the execution of her niece, Soraya.

Told through flashbacks, the story unfolds with power and pain. Soraya (Mozhan Marno), a mother of four, is told by the village imam that her husband, Ali (Navid Negahban), wants a divorce so he can marry a 14-year-old girl who has been presented to him by her father, an imprisoned doctor who is using his daughter and cash to bargain his way out of execution. Soraya refuses, saying the offer of the house and a little land will not be enough to support her family, and she doesn't want to become indebted to the manipulative cleric.

Ali, as evil a movie villain as you're going to see, uses his persuasive power to concoct a rumor about Soraya that leads inexorably to her stoning. The details of the lie are hard to believe. But in the male-dominated theocracy of the village, the truth doesn't matter. >>> L. Kent Wolgamott | Thursday, September 24, 2009

Dhimmitude in Hawaii: Islam Day Honors Commonality
THE HONOLULU ADVERTISER: First festival of its kind in Hawaii draws at least 1,000 to McCoy Pavilion

When the Hawai'i Legislature approved a resolution declaring Sept. 24 "Islam Day," the measure set of[f] a firestorm of debate because the day fell so close to the date of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

But yesterday, politics was set aside as hundreds of people packed the McCoy Pavilion at Ala Moana Beach Park to celebrate Hawai'i's first Islam Day.

By 5 p.m., about 1,000 people had walked through the pavilion's gates and event organizers expected more as people got off work and headed to the park.

"We expected 200 to 300, so we're very pleased with the turnout," said Hakim Ouansafi, president of the Muslim Association of Hawaii, which sponsored the event.

More than a dozen Honolulu police officers and private security personnel patrolled the pavilion grounds, but there were no protests or reports of trouble.

"It's a historic day. It's long overdue," Ouansafi said. "It's a day of celebrating our commonality, a day of people of faith and no faith to get together and talk story."

The Legislature approved the resolution last session to acknowledge the "rich religious, scientific, cultural and artistic contributions" of the Islamic world. Yesterday was selected because it marked the end of Ramadan, the month in which Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset and make contributions to charities.

But the resolution sparked debate in Hawai'i and across the country because Islam Day fell in the same month as the Sept. 11 attacks. Critics were concerned about the link between the Islam religion and the extremists responsible for the attacks.

Ouansafi said criticism of Islam Day had subsided since the resolution was passed and opposition soon changed to support.

"A lot of people reacted out of fear and ignorance and they've had a chance to reflect a little bit more and people are coming around," he said.>>> Curtis Lum, Advertiser Staff Writer | Friday, September 25, 2009

Last East German Leader Still a Convinced Socialist
THE LOCAL: Communist East Germany's last leader Egon Krenz said this week he still believes socialism will triumph over capitalism in the end, almost 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

"I am still optimistic and cannot believe that capitalism, with all the crises it generates, can be history's very last word," Krenz, still sprightly at the age of 72, told reporters on Thursday.

Krenz took over from long-term communist leader Erich Honecker on October 18, 1989, as the regime vainly sought to regain control of a country engulfed in a peaceful revolution that brought down the hated Berlin Wall just three weeks later.

Eleven months on, communist East Germany, also known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a thing of the past as it merged with West Germany to form a single country.

But inequalities remain between the two halves of the country.

Just ahead of the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Wall, unemployment is twice as high in the east, and eastern German towns are losing their youngest citizens as they seek work elsewhere.

"We've achieved quite a few things in reunified Germany, like building roads, motorways, and renovating town centres," Krenz said. "But at what price? Freedom without work isn't freedom," he added. "Today's walls in Germany are those separating the poor from the rich."

He also had some sharp words for Germany's current Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in the GDR, saying she has been "bad" for the country.

But he took pleasure in pointing out that she once belonged to the communist youth organisation (FDJ) when she was growing up behind the Iron Curtain.

In Sunday's general election, which is expected to give Merkel a second term, he said he would vote for socialist party The Left, a party made of former GDR communists and defectors from the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).

"I back its programme, so you know how I'll be voting," Krenz said. >>> AFP | Friday, September 25, 2009

FDP's Joker Westerwelle Shapes up for Coalition with Merkel
THE LOCAL: Guido Westerwelle, who aims to become foreign minister in a new government under Chancellor Angela Merkel, has had to shake off his “joker” image to make it in the often staid world of German politics.

The head of Germany’s biggest opposition party used to make headlines for moving into TV’s Big Brother house for a few hours, painting his party’s election goal on the soles of his shoes, and coming out of the closet.

But the 47-year-old lawyer who was often the life and soul of the party has few laughing now. The FDP’s strength will likely decide whether Merkel can win re-election with her coalition of choice in the September 27 poll.

Westerwelle’s pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), frequent partners of the conservative Christian Democrats over half a century of post-war politics, are keen to play kingmakers again.

After 11 years in the political wilderness, Westerwelle has shaken off his at times foppish image and says he is ready to be the country’s first openly gay top diplomat.

Guido Westerwelle with his partner Michael Mronz
“Of course I made some mistakes when I was young but one grows older and wiser,” he told AFP in an interview earlier this year when asked about his more memorable publicity stunts.

“But the Germans seem to see us positively—otherwise they wouldn’t have given us one of the best results in our history at the last national election.”

Since that 9.8-percent score in 2005, the FDP has seen its support soar at times to within four points of the Social Democrats, Germany’s oldest political outfit and the junior partner in Merkel’s “grand coalition.” >>> AFP | Tuesday, September 22, 2009

ADVOCATE.COM:
An Openly Gay German Foreign Minister? : Take that, Ahmadenijad >>> Julie Bolcer | Friday, September 25, 2009

Angela Merkel, la chancelière cachée
L’EXPRESS.fr: Le personnage public austère dissimule une autre Angela Merkel. De l'enfance au pouvoir, histoire d'une femme tout en nuances, secrète... et drôle.

Avec toute l'ironie qui est la sienne, Angela Merkel l'appelle "ma datcha". Mais, en réalité, sa maison de campagne n'est qu'un banal quatre-pièces avec vue sur la campagne est-allemande. Cette villégiature située à 80 kilomètres au nord de Berlin, près de Templin, elle l'a acquise avant la chute du mur de Berlin.

Aujourd'hui, c'est là, avec son mari, Joachim Sauer, que "la femme la plus puissante du monde" passe ses week-ends, où il lui arrive de jardiner et de confectionner des gâteaux. Pour être sûre de disposer de tout ce qu'il faut en cuisine, elle remet à son époux la liste des courses à faire à l'avance. Le bonheur.

Chacun son truc, comme on dit. Celui d'Angela Merkel, c'est la normalité. Pour ses vacances, elle a ses habitudes sur l'île d'Ischia, en Italie, dans un petit hôtel qui tient plus de la pension de famille que du cinq-étoiles. L'essentiel, à ses yeux, c'est qu'Ischia soit moins "tendance" que Capri, l'île d'à côté. Guère plus bling-bling, le Tyrol du Sud, en Italie, est une autre de ses destinations préférées.

Une fois l'an, Joachim et elle s'y adonnent à la marche à pied. "Ils ressemblent tellement aux autres touristes allemands que les randonneurs les croisent sans les reconnaître", sourit, à Hambourg, Anna Saas, rédactrice en chef adjointe du magazine people allemand Gala.

Cela tombe bien: Angela Merkel, personnage public, fuit la lumière des projecteurs. Pour comprendre ce "mystère", il faut retourner à Templin, pittoresque cité médiévale entourée de lacs et de forêts, où la chancelière a passé une enfance heureuse.

Née à Hambourg, le 17 juillet 1954, Angela Kasner n'a pas encore 1 an lorsque ses parents partent pour l'Allemagne de l'Est, de l'autre côté du Rideau de fer. Un choix pour le moins à contre-courant. Rien qu'en 1954 180 000 Est-Allemands fuient la dictature de Walter Ulbricht vers l'Ouest. Mais, pour le père d'Angela, un pasteur luthérien, la volonté de remédier au manque d'ecclésiastiques, qui se fait sentir en RDA, est plus forte que tout.

A Templin, le pasteur Horst Kasner dirige non seulement un séminaire pastoral qui forme à la théologie tous les clercs de Berlin et du Brandebourg, mais également un foyer pour handicapés psychomoteurs, attenant à la maison familiale. Ainsi Angela grandit-elle à la fois entourée d'intellectuels et parmi les "fous", comme disent les écoliers du quartier.

Pour le régime communiste, l'Eglise représente le "premier ennemi de l'Etat". C'est peu dire que la fonction de Horst Kasner est mal vue par le pouvoir. Aussi, une camarade d'Angela lui conseille-t-elle de répondre Fahrer (chauffeur) au lieu de Pfarrer (pasteur) lorsqu'on lui demande la profession de son père.

Sa mère, Herlind, qui est institutrice et enseigne l'anglais -la langue des capitalistes!- est interdite d'enseignement. Point positif: à la différence des autres mères de RDA, qui travaillent presque toutes, elle se consacre à ses trois enfants -Angela (l'aînée), Marcus (aujourd'hui entrepreneur en informatique) et Irene (ergothérapeute à Berlin).

"Après l'école, elle passait des heures entières à bavarder avec eux, raconte le politologue Gerd Langguth. Sur les plans émotionnel et intellectuel, ils n'ont manqué de rien." >>> Par Axel Gyldèn | Vendredi 25 Septembre 2009

Le tabouret de Sarkozy

SPIEGEL Interview with Goldman Sachs CEO: 'We Didn't Realize How Bad Things Would Get'
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: In a SPIEGEL interview, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, 55, discusses his astronomical bonuses, the mistakes and failures of his bank prior to the start of the global financial crisis and his proposals for better regulating financial markets.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Blankfein, two years ago, your $67.9 million bonus was the largest ever paid to a Wall Street banker. You recently said that you could understand the anger that people are expressing over inflated bonuses. How are we to understand this?

Blankfein: I think people legitimately question whether compensation is tied to performance and, looking back, they see that some people were enriched but did not seem to have any alignment with their shareholders. A large part of the compensation paid to our senior people, including mine, is paid in shares, which may be worth less or more depending on our performance well after they were granted. This is what our shareholders want and we are convinced of this alignment of interests.

SPIEGEL: Still, $67.9 million is an astronomical sum. Is there any way to justify this?

Blankfein: Our board of directors sets the pay of our most senior executives, including mine. They tie pay to the firm's performance and I believe we have established a strong track record of correlating growth in revenues to growth in compensation. The real test is whether compensation is reduced when performance changes. For example, in 1994, the firm made a loss and the partners had to pay money back to the firm so that the staff could be paid. And, in 2008, which was a very difficult year as you know, I was paid no bonus, even though the firm was profitable.

SPIEGEL: That all sounds very rational. But don't such payments promote greed as the primary motivator?

Blankfein: I think we all know that greed can drive behavior, but it tends to be short term and ultimately destructive. Our leadership team stands out because most of our people have built their whole career at the firm and stayed through many years and many changes in the market. When our people leave they tend to go on to other positions -- whether in government or other forms of public service -- that no one would do if their were motives were financial. Those characteristics don't make me think of "greed."

SPIEGEL: So only modest, good people work for Goldman Sachs? We hardly believe that.

Blankfein: I have stated my honest view of things.

SPIEGEL: This week in Pittsburgh, the G-20 will discuss stricter regulation of bonus payments. Based on what you have said, you believe that such efforts will do nothing to prevent future crises?

Blankfein: That is not what I said. The incentive aspect played a role in the crisis, but it was not the primary cause -- I think you have to look at the macroeconomic backdrop, the concentrations of risk in certain institutions and the fact that many, including regulators, should in hindsight have had better information and acted sooner to address capital and liquidity shortfalls. >>> | Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Opinion —
Johann Hari: Gin, Servants and Bloodlines for Royalty's Alf Garnett in a Tiara
THE INDEPENDENT: To be fair to her, the Queen Mother did do one thing well. She supported far-right politics

It must be exhausting to be a monarchist, forever finding ways to pretend a family of cold, talentless snobs are better than the rest of us. They have to make gold out of mud. The system of monarchy – selecting a head of state solely because of the womb they passed through, and surrounding them with sycophants from the moment they emerge – produces warped and dim people and demands that we scrape before them. What's a poor monarchist to do? They can only lavish a thick cream of adjectives – "dignity", "charm", "majesty" – over the Windsor family in the hope that some of us are fooled.

This process corrupts even the most intelligent monarchists. A strange case study is the new, authorised, 1,000-plus pages biography of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (the "Queen Mother") by William Shawcross. He is a smart man: his study of the secret bombing of Cambodia by Henry Kissinger is extraordinary. Yet as a monarchist he has an impossible task. He has to present a cruel, bigoted snob who fleeced millions from the British taxpayer as a heroine fit to rule over us. His mind turns to mush. Before the real Bowes-Lyon is lost in a frenzy of royalist rimming, we should remember who she really was: more Imelda Marcos than the good fairy Glinda.

By the time she died, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was treating the British Treasury – our tax money – as her personal piggy bank, with her bills running way beyond the millions she was allotted every year. Even the ultra-Tory Chancellor Norman Lamont complained that "she far exceeds her Civil List and the Treasury gets very het up about it". She used the money to pay for 83 full-time staff, including four footmen, two pages, three chauffeurs (what do they do, split her into three parts for transportation?), a private secretary, an orderly, a housekeeper, five housemaids... the list goes on and on. She even insisted that it was a legitimate use of public funds to maintain a full-time "Ascot office", whose job was to do nothing but keep a register of members of the Royal Enclosure and send them entry vouchers. >>> Johann Hari | Friday, September 25, 2009

Spain Tips into Depression
THE TELEGRAPH: Spain is sliding into a full-blown economic depression with unemployment approaching levels not seen since the Second Republic of the 1930s and little chance of recovery until well into the next decade, according to a clutch of reports over recent days.

The Madrid research group RR de Acuña & Asociados said the collapse of Spain's building industry will cause the economy to contract for the next three years, with a peak to trough loss of over 11pc of GDP. The grim forecast is starkly at odds with claims by premier Jose Luis Zapatero, who still says Spain's recession will be milder than elsewhere in Europe.

RR de Acuña said the overhang of unsold properties on the market, or still being built, has reached 1,623,000 . This dwarfs annual demand of 218,000, and will take six or seven years to clear. The group said Spain's unemployment will peak at around 25pc, comparable to the worst chapter of the Great Depression.

Spanish workers typically receive 50pc to 60pc of their former pay for eighteen months after losing their job. Then the guillotine falls. Spain's parliament has rushed through a law guaranteeing €420 a month for long-term unemployed, but this will not prevent a social crisis if the slump drags on.

Separately, UBS said unemployment will reach 4.8m and may go as high as 5.4m if the job purge in the service sector gathers pace. There is the growing risk of a "Lost Decade" akin to Japan's malaise after the Nikkei bubble.

Roberto Ruiz, the bank's Spain strategist, said salaries must fall by 10pc in real terms to regain lost competitiveness, replicating the sort of wage squeeze seen in Germany after reunification.

There is no sign yet that either Spanish trade unions or the Zapatero government are ready for such draconian measures. Talks between the unions and Spain's industry federation (CEOE) broke down in acrimony in July.

Mr Ruiz said the construction sector will shrink from 18pc of GDP at the peak of the boom to around 5pc, making it unlikely that there will be any significant recovery before 2012. Even then growth will be "slow, weak, and fragile".

The Spanish government can do little to cushion the downturn. "The room for manouvre in fiscal policy has been exhausted," said Mr Ruiz. >>> Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | Thursday, September 24, 2009

Selfridges Launches 'Mantyhose' - Tights for Men
THE TELEGRAPH: Selfridges is selling a new range of tights for men dubbed “mantyhose” in response to soaring demand for the leg wear.

The tights, priced £70 a pair, are made by lingerie brand Unconditional and are a tough 120 denier thickness.

However, those hoping to recreate the Errol Flynn look will be disappointed – they are only available in black, beige and charcoal.

The boom in sales represents a comeback for tights in men’s wardrobes after a two-century hiatus. >>> | Thursday, September 24, 2009

Men in Tights Are an Abomination
THE TELEGRAPH: As Selfridges predicts a surge in men wearing tights, Christopher Howse plans to leave that particular trend to the history books and stick to trousers.

If wearing shorts were not bad enough, now we are told that tights for men are back. “We expect men to be wearing them,” said someone from Selfridges, “not only as a way to give legs an extra boost of warmth on the chilliest nights, but as a true style statement.” A statement that costs £70 a kick.

Well, I know that nothing can be too absurd for fashion to impose, but men in tights are an abomination, a hissing and a by-word. Our legs are not made for them, nor our loins, if loins is the word I’m looking for.

There is some recognition of this in the fashion-dictators’ serving-suggestion for the new tights or “mantyhose”: that they should be covered up by shorts or skirts.

Skirts! Come off it. They’ve tried that one before, and, like manbags, no one with a sense of humour wore them. The only exception I can think of is the late Roderick Gradidge, an architect who was to be seen at the Opera House formally dressed in a black pleated skirt, with his pigtail tied in a dark ribbon.

If Gordon Brown, averse to conventional formal dress, wishes to jazz up his image, then black tights and a pelmet skirt at his next Guildhall speech might be just the thing, as a last desperate throw.

It is not as if men in tights are unprecedented. If, in Mel Brooks’s 1993 film, Robin’s followers sing, “We’re men in tights / We roam around the forest looking for fights,” the satire was not so much against medieval outlaws as the Errol Flynn school of historical drama, from 1938.

Before the advent of nylon, or even elastic, tights was a word for men’s clothes, not women’s. The change is quite recent. “Who’s our friend in the tights?” Steerforth asks Dickens’s David Copperfield. The answer is Mr Micawber.

Mr Micawber’s nether regions were encased in tight-fittting trousering, with, I think, a strap under the instep. Before his day, gentlemen wore breeches and stockings. Indeed the Duke of Wellington was barred from his club, the Athenaeum, for wearing trousers, though it is hard to think he was barred for long. I wonder how the club would respond now to a (male) member turning up in skirt and tights. >>> Christopher Howse | Friday, September 25, 2009

Mantyhose / Pantyhose for Men >>>

Israël: l'ex-premier ministre Ehud Olmert jugé pour malversations
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: JUSTICE | L'ancien premier ministre israélien a comparu pour la première fois vendredi devant un tribunal de Jérusalem, un fait sans précédent dans l'histoire de l'Etat d'Israël.

M. Olmert est inculpé de fraude, d'abus de confiance, usage de faux documents, dissimulation de revenus frauduleux et évasion fiscale.

S'adressant à la presse, il a de nouveau clamé son innocence à son entrée dans la salle du tribunal de district de Jérusalem où s'est ouvert son procès.

"Ce n'est pas une journée facile pour moi. Cela fait trois ans que je suis la cible d'une campagne de diffamation quasi inhumaine. Je suis innocent et je suis certain que la Cour me lavera de tout soupçon", a déclaré M. Olmert.

L'ancien Premier ministre du parti centriste Kadima, qui fêtera ses 64 ans la semaine prochaine, a démissionné de ses fonctions le 21 septembre 2008 après que la police eut recommandé son inculpation dans le "dossier Talansky". >>> AFP | Vendredi 25 Septembre 2009

Israël : L’ex-premier ministre Ehud Olmert jugé pour corruption
LE TEMPS: C’est sans précédent dans l’histoire d’Israël: Ehud Olmert, ancien chef du gouvernement, a comparu pour la première fois vendredi devant un tribunal de Jérusalem. Il risque la prison.

Ehud Olmert, 63 ans, est inculpé de «corruption aggravée», «fraude et abus de confiance», «faux en écritures» et «dissimulation de revenus frauduleux».

L’ancien chef de gouvernement, qui a toujours clamé son innocence, a démissionné de ses fonctions le 21 septembre 2008 après que la police eut recommandé son inculpation dans le dossier Morris Talansky. Cet homme d’affaires juif américain lui aurait transféré illégalement des fonds alors qu’il dirigeait la mairie de Jérusalem entre 1993 et 2003. >>> AFP | Vendredi 25 Septembre 2009

Merz hält Rede vor Uno – Breitseite gegen G-20: Kritik an Sanktionen mit wenig Legitimität und Transparenz
NZZ ONLINE: Vor der Uno-Generalversammlung hat Bundespräsident Merz die G-20 kritisiert. Der Verein der grossen Industrie- und Schwellenländer habe zu viel Gewicht und zu wenig Legitimität, und er drohe andere Gremien an den Rand zu drängen.

Die Gruppe der 20 wichtigsten Industrienationen (G-20) habe die Rolle übernommen, die wichtigsten globalen Themen zu diskutieren, sagte der schweizerische Bundespräsident Hans-Rudolf Merz am Mittwoch. Diese Entwicklung dürfe nicht auf Kosten anderer Nationen oder internationaler Organisationen wie der Uno geschehen.

«Die Welt braucht die Uno heute mehr denn je», zeigte sich Merz überzeugt. In seiner Rede vor der Generalversammlung in New York rief er dazu auf, die Organisation weiter zu reformieren, damit sie sich neben anderen wichtigen Foren behaupten könne.

«Der G-20 fehlt es an Legitimität, und bei der Entscheidungsfindung für Sanktionen handelt sie nicht transparent», sagte Merz. «Die Mitglieder der G-20 werden nicht den gleichen Prüfungen unterzogen», fügte er an. Die Schweiz fordere deshalb, dass Nichtmitglieder der G-20 gleich behandelt würden und dass viel mehr Rücksprache genommen werde. >>> sda | Freitag, 25. September 2009

Surprise Announcement That G20 Will Supplant G8

Hugo Chavez: Only Socialism Brings Genuine Change: Venezuelen President Hugo Chavez addresses the U.N. General Assembly

Gadhafi Says He 'Comprehends' Lockerbie Anger
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi said he could "comprehend" the anger directed at him by Americans who lost relatives in the Lockerbie bombing, trying to strike a conciliatory tone a day after calling the United Nations Security Council a "terror council."

In an hour-long interview, Col. Gadhafi said he hoped to build a new era of relations with U.S. President Barack Obama -- whom he called "my son" during the same U.N. address -- and said he wanted to place his nation's decades-long conflict with Washington in the past.

The Libyan strongman denied his government had purposefully stoked nationalist sentiment surrounding the return home of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, who was convicted of the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet that blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland. Mr. al-Megrahi, who has cancer, was released by Scottish authorities last month on humanitarian grounds.

Lockerbie families have particularly criticized the British and Scottish governments for the release of Mr. al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer. Legislators in the U.S. and U.K. have called for inquiries into whether the move was tied to lucrative Libyan oil deals. Libyan and U.K. leaders have denied this.

Col. Gadhafi also said Mr. al-Megrahi's release came through proper legal channels. But he added that British companies have benefited in the past from the absence of U.S. firms inside Libya. Sanctions imposed on Libya after the Lockerbie bombing barred American oil companies from operating in the North African country until 2004.

"You see, Britain, even though it makes it look like it's in alliance with America, and being America's ally, kept its companies in Libya and they were doing business when the American companies left the Libyan market," Col. Gadhafi said.

He said he believed Mr. al-Megrahi's release, and the billions of dollars paid out by his government to the Lockerbie victims' families, could now allow U.S.-Libyan relations to move forward. "As a case, the Lockerbie question: I would say it's come to an end, legally, politically, financially, it is all over," Col. Gadhafi, wearing black boots and an ankle-length cape, said. "I would say, thank Allah that this problem has been solved to the satisfaction of all parties. We all feel the pain for such a tragedy."

Family members of the Lockerbie victims voiced outrage Thursday that Col. Gadhafi was allowed to visit New York this week, in the Libyan leader's first trip to the U.S. following decades of conflict with Washington. >>> Jay Solomon | Friday, September 25, 2009

Merkel's Leftward Shift Positions Her to Win
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: BERLIN -- When German voters go to the polls on Sunday, Angela Merkel is almost assured re-election -- not for keeping the campaign promises she made four years ago, but for breaking most of them.

Ms. Merkel came to power in 2005 on a platform of modernizing Europe's biggest economy by deregulating the labor market, simplifying taxes and granting more freedom to entrepreneurs.

However, her conservative Christian Democratic Union was forced into a "grand coalition" with the left-leaning Social Democrats, and she quickly dropped those plans in favor of higher social spending and rising state intervention.

Ms. Merkel's leftward shift has been welcomed by most Germans at a time of great economic uncertainty. But skeptics in her own party and in the business community warn that Germany can't put off painful decisions about its overburdened welfare state, heavy taxes and strict labor rules indefinitely.

"It's not good that the governing parties have distanced themselves from market-oriented reforms," says Jürgen Grossmann, chief executive of energy company RWE AG. "It's a very short-term populism. There's very little courage to do the unpopular." >>> Marcus Walker | Friday, September 35, 2009

Netanyahu Blasts Comments on Holocaust

Israeli Prime Minister Lashes Tehran: Says nuclear Iran threatens the world, not just Jews
THE WASHINGTON TIMES: UNITED NATIONS (AP) | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waved designs of the most infamous Nazi death camp from a U.N. podium on Thursday, exhorting the world to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

And Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told assembled world leaders that he smells hope not sulfur, a small compliment for President Obama, after branding President George W. Bush as "the devil" in his last speech to the world body three years ago.

Just days after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once again denied the Holocaust, Mr. Netanyahu used his speech before the U.N. General Assembly to warn of another catastrophe.

He held up a copy of the minutes from a notorious meeting at Wannsee Lake, where top Nazis formalized plans for the systematic extermination of Europe's Jewish population.

"Is this protocol a lie?" he asked.

Then he brandished original construction plans for the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp - a representation in chilling detail of gas chambers, crematoria and other facilities where 3 million Jews perished.

"The most urgent challenge facing this body today is to prevent the tyrant of Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons," he declared.

Iran denies that it is producing nuclear arms, but Israel, the U.S. and other world powers do not believe it and are hoping to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions through a series of sanctions. Mr. Netanyahu warned that Tehran's nuclear program threatens not only Israel, but the entire world.

"Perhaps some of you think that this man and his odious regime, perhaps they threaten only the Jews. Well, if you think that, you're wrong. You're dead wrong," he said. >>> Associated Press | Friday, September 25, 2009

Transcript: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks at the U.N. General Assembly >>>

Heroin Addiction Spreads Like Wildfire in Russia
LOS ANGELES TIMES: As the drug has poured into the country from Afghanistan in recent years, Russians' relative ignorance about its dangers has taken a huge toll, especially on the young.

Reporting from Podolsk, Russia - The young man named Anton is a member of Russia's "lost generation."

He's the son of middle-class, college-educated engineers; he studied at a good university and became a truck sales manager in Moscow. He's also a 28-year-old heroin addict.

In the years since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan triggered a sharp increase in poppy cultivation, Russia has been flooded with heroin. The drug has crept along a trail stretching from Afghanistan through Tajikistan and other Central Asian nations and over the Russian border, turning this country into the world's top consumer of heroin, the government says.

The drug has spread like fire through a country uniquely unqualified to cope with its dangers: Narcotics were largely absent during Soviet times, and most people are still unaware of the risk of heroin addiction, even as an estimated 83 Russians a day die by overdosing on the drug, government figures show.

"It's a catastrophe for us. We were completely unprepared for this turn of events," says Evgeny Bryun, Moscow's chief drug addiction specialist. "We have our own lost generation."

The transition from a Soviet state largely free from heroin to a booming nation awash in the drug has been painful and dark, marked by widespread public ignorance of the risks and symptoms of addiction, lingering shame and stigma, and muddled government efforts at treatment.

Methadone, which is widely used in the West to wean people off heroin, is illegal in Russia, and rehabilitation programs are unavailable in many parts of the country. In 2007, Human Rights Watch concluded that the treatment at state drug clinics was "so poor as to constitute a violation of the right to health."

Meanwhile, at private clinics, all manner of experimental treatments -- including shock therapy and the removal of parts of the brain -- are in vogue. In Bryun's government-run clinic, addicts take turns sleeping hooked up to machines that send gentle electrical impulses through their brains, or lying encased in a full-body relaxation therapy machine.

Heroin has also emerged as a thorn in U.S.-Russian relations, as officials in Moscow have grown increasingly angry over what they describe as American indifference to the booming heroin trade.

On the margins of the grinding war in Afghanistan, U.S. efforts to eradicate poppy fields -- and to come up with persuasive incentives to wean farmers from the crop -- have remained largely ineffective for years.

In a nod of cooperation to the Obama administration, Russia recently agreed to allow cargo planes carrying U.S. troops and weapons to pass through the country en route to Afghanistan. But at the same time, it's lobbying noisily for tougher crackdowns on the cultivation of opium poppies, which are used in the production of heroin. Early this month, President Dmitry Medvedev called rampant heroin addiction "a threat to the country's national security."

Russia has called on the United Nations to link the foreign troop presence in Afghanistan to an obligation to destroy poppy plantations. >>> Megan K. Stack | Friday, September 25, 2009

LOS ANGELES TIMES PHOTOGALLERY:
Treating heroin addiction in Russia >>>

Watch AP video: Russian students may face drugs tests too >>>

Protests, Clashes Hit G20 Summit City
MAIL&GUARDIAN ONLINE (ZA): Protesters smashed shop windows and threw rocks at police on Thursday as police used pepper gas and batons to disperse marches against capitalism at the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh.

Protesters wore bandannas and goggles and held aloft a large black sign declaring "No hope in capitalism" and another saying "Kick Capitalism While It Is Down."

One sign simply said "I'm mad as hell."

Protests -- usually against some aspect of capitalism -- have often marked summits since trade talks in Seattle in 1999, when demonstrators ransacked the centre of the city, targeting businesses seen as symbols of US corporate power.

"We have seen police use rubber bullets, batons and gas," said Noah Williams, a spokesperson for the anti-capitalist Pittsburgh G20 Resistance Project.

Officials said there were 15 arrests -- one for inciting a riot, four for aggravated assault and 10 others for failing to disperse.

Late on Thursday evening, several hundred protesters took to the streets near the Cathedral of Learning on the University of Pittsburgh campus. Police discharged gas and pellet-filled "beanbags" and protesters broke windows at a McDonald's, a Rite Aid pharmacy, a Subway sandwich shop and a FedEx store.

By midnight, hundreds of police in riot gear moved down Forbes Avenue. With no obvious protesters in sight, they sprayed pepper gas on passersby and even students looking down from the balconies of their residences above the avenue.

"We were just looking, then there were loud sirens and then it was hard to breath and I was coughing up a lung," said student Dustin DeMeglio (19) who was watching as police moved by his apartment building.

Earlier, a crowd broke windows at Boston Market and KFC fast-food restaurants, a BMW dealership and a Fidelity Bank in the area, about a 1,6km from the fenced-off convention centre where the G20 talks were taking place.

Police in body armour with plastic shields threw pepper gas canisters and fired beanbags to disperse the protesters. >>> Michelle Nichols and Jonathan Barnes | Friday, September 25, 2009

New United Nations President Calls Homosexuality 'Unnacceptable'
PINK NEWS: The newly-installed president of the United Nations, Ali Abdussalam Treki, has said that homosexuality is "not really acceptable".

Treki, who is the Libyan secretary of African Union Affairs, opened the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly Friday with a press conference.

One question concerned the UN resolution which calls for the universal criminalisation of homosexuality.

In reply, Treki said: "That matter is very sensitive, very touchy. As a Muslim, I am not in favour of it . . . it is not accepted by the majority of countries. My opinion is not in favour of this matter at all. I think it's not really acceptable by our religion, our tradition.

“It is not acceptable in the majority of the world. And there are some countries that allow that, thinking it is a kind of democracy . . . I think it is not,” he added.

The ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs committee, Florida's Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, told On Top Magazine: "The anti-gay bigotry spewed by this Qaddafi shill demonstrates once again that the UN has been hijacked by advocates of hate and intolerance." [Source: Pink News] Jessica Geen | Thursday, September 24, 2009

Sorry, Ma’am! It’s Time for Us to Accept the Euro
Successive governments, along with the Bank of England, have shown that they are quite incapeable of taking good care of our currency. They’re obviuosly unable to maintain its value. Now, it seems, that dear Merve doesn’t even hide the fact! He wants a weak currency in order to “rebalance the nation’s economy”. What the hell does “rebalance the nation’s economy” mean anyway? It means nothing! These people are just trying to baffle us! What a load of bulldust it is! If these people had balanced the nation’s economy in the first place, they wouldn’t have to try and rebalance it now!

And what’s all this nonsense about quantitative easing? That’s a euphemism for printing money. History tells us where that leads to! It leads to hyperinflation.

It seems to me that neither the government nor the Bank of England are serious about maintaining a stable and valuable pound. People at the top of the banking sector don’t need to care about the pound’s falling value. All they have to do is award themselves hefty bonuses to make up for the lost value of their savings and salaries. For less privileged folk, this is not, alas, a possibility. So, with the pound falling dramatically in value and interest rates remaining very low, and likely to do so for quite some time to come, the people who are becoming poorer and poorer are ordinary folk, i.e. people who do not work in banks! Therefore, perhaps sadly, it is time to get rid of the pound and place our currency into good, safe hands – into the hands of the European Central Bank (ECB).

I, for one, am looking forward to the day when we shall have a stable and desirable currency. The euro must surely be the currency of the future of all European nations. It must surely also be the currency for the future of the United Kingdom, too. So let’s adopt it before we’ll be forced to do so by circumstances beyond our control. By that time the pound sterling may have have become next to worthless. – © Mark

Sterling Slides After BoE Chief Mervyn King Backs a Weak Pound
THE TELEGRAPH: Sterling fell to its weakest against the euro in more than 5½ months, pressured after Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said a weak domestic currency was helping to rebalance the nation's economy.

The UK currency also hit a near 2½-month low versus the dollar, stung by Mr King's comment to a regional UK newspaper that sterling's fall "will be helpful" to rebalance the UK economy to one focused more on exports.

While the comments reiterated the central bank's long-held view on the currency and the economy, analysts said the market considered his remarks a good opportunity to wipe out sterling's gains made the previous day.

Sterling had rallied on Wednesday after minutes from the BoE's policy meeting earlier this month showed a unanimous vote not to extend quantitative easing in September.

Market participants said those gains had been overdone, and some analysts said that even though King's comments on Thursday did not offer new insight into the BoE's position on sterling, his statement helped to revive momentum to dump the pound.

"When the market's down on a currency, it will jump on anything that justifies selling it," said Stuart Bennett, currency strategist at Calyon in London.

"Sterling is certainly the whipping boy at the moment."

The euro climbed roughly 1.5pc on the day to 91.53p, its highest since early April. Daily trade volumes surged on the move, with the number of trades executed on the Reuters Dealing system hitting its highest in at least three months.

Thursday's move put the euro on course to posting its best daily performance against the pound since late April. >>> Reuters | Thursday, September 24, 2009

Bank Calls Unprecedented Meeting of Economists
THE TELEGRAPH: The Bank of England has summoned the City's leading economists to an unprecedented meeting in Threadneedle Street, as the pound plunges amid growing confusion over its radical Quantitative Easing (QE) policy.

The Bank will host a seminar of all London's major economists next Tuesday – the first time it has invited them in en masse in recent memory – in what has been construed as a sign that it fears market participants are starting to lose faith in its efforts to pump cash into the economy. The move has also sparked speculation that it is poised to announce a major change to the monetary policy framework, although insiders dismissed such suggestions.

It came after the minutes from the Bank's latest Monetary Policy Committee meeting revealed that the idea of cutting the interest rate banks are paid on the reserves they hold there was not discussed this month. The pound has lurched lower in recent weeks, thanks in part to speculation that the Bank will impose charges on banks for holding excessive amounts of cash in reserve at its vaults. Under QE, it is pumping £175bn into the economy, but much of this cash is sitting in banks' reserve accounts rather than being recycled and flowing around the broader economy.

The suspicion that the Bank will soon take action to mitigate this has pushed down market interest rates sharply and contributed to an almost 5pc fall in the pound against other leading currencies. It has caused gilt prices and short-term interest rates to fluctuate wildly in recent weeks. >>> Edmund Conway and Angela Monaghan | Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Quantitative easing >>>

It’s Time to Adopt the Euro >>> Mark Alexander | Saturday, September 19, 2009

Foreign Office Chief Faces Sack After 'Anti-Semitic' Rant Verdict
TIMES ONLINE: A senior civil servant is facing the sack today after being found guilty of shouting that Israelis should be “blown off the f***ing earth” while exercising in a gym.

Rowan Laxton, 48, head of the South Asia desk of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, was watching a television report about the death of a farmer killed by Israeli bombs when he exclaimed: “F***ing Israelis, f***ing Jews”.

Fellow gym members Gideon Falter and William Lemaine, who were on a lower floor using weights, overheard Laxton, who was on an exercise bike, and complained to staff at the gym.

The incident, which took place at the London Business School gym in January, was described by Laxton’s counsel as a “moment of madness”.

Julian Knowles said: “It is a cliché, but it’s a cliché that fits in this situation.

“It was a moment of madness for Mr Laxton, which is going to have very grave and long-term consequences.”

Mr Falter claimed that he also heard Laxton say: “If I had my way, the f***ing international community should be sent in, and if the Israelis got in the way, they’d be blown off the f***ing earth.”

Laxton denied saying that, however, and told Mr Falter that he was sorry if he had offended him.

Laxton previously told the court that he was embarrassed by what happened and was aware he had embarrassed the Foreign Office.

He said during an earlier hearing: “We are all human. I erred. I don’t normally swear.”

Laxton also said “f***ing despicable” while watching the television report and admitted that it was an “unhelpful and gratuitous comment”. >>> Adam Fresco, Crime Correspondent | Thursday, September 24, 2009

Sarkozy : «Nous devons inventer un monde nouveau»
LE FIGARO: Pour le président français, les grandes puissances doivent actuellement affronter un défi comparable à l'après-Seconde Guerre mondiale, afin d'enrayer la crise et éviter une «catastrophe écologique planétaire».

A la veille du G20 de Pittsburgh et à moins de trois mois du sommet de Copenhague sur le climat, Nicolas Sarkozy a mis la pression sur ses homologues étrangers, lors de la 64e Assemblée générale de l'ONU. Pendant quinze minutes, le président français a énuméré à la tribune les défis à relever, «en plein milieu d'une crise économique et financière sans précédent» et «à la veille d'une catastrophe écologique planétaire». «Nous devons maintenant inventer un monde nouveau où les folies d'hier ne seront plus possibles», a-t-il déclaré, quelques heures après l'intervention de Barack Obama. Selon lui, les grandes puissances se trouvent face à une situation comparable à celle de l'après-Seconde Guerre mondiale.

Pour mettre en place cette «nouvelle gouvernance», Nicolas Sarkozy a notamment défendu une réforme de provisoire du Conseil de sécurité, «avant la fin de l'année». «La crise nous oblige à faire preuve d'imagination et d'audace», a-t-il lancé.

Selon lui, «les pays les plus développés ne peuvent prétendre gouverner seuls l'humanité» et il faut «élargir le cercle des membres permanents et non permanents du Conseil de sécurité».

La France réclame depuis des mois un élargissement du Conseil de sécurité, qui semble toutefois peu probable. «Il est inacceptable que le continent africain n'ait pas un membre permanent au Conseil de Sécurité, ou que le continent sud-américain avec cette grande puissance qu'est le Brésil, ou l'Inde avec son milliard d'habitants, ou encore le Japon ou l'Allemagne en soient exclus», a-t-il de nouveau jugé. «Il en va de la légitimité de l'ONU, de sa capacité à agir dans un moment où le monde a tant besoin que la Communauté internationale tout entière se mobilise pour relever des défis sans précédent». >>> lefigaro.fr (avec AFP) | Mercredi 23 Septembre 2009

Diplomatie : Hans-Rudolf Merz a rencontré Mouammar Kadhafi
LE TEMPS: En marge de l’Assemblée générale de l’ONU, le président de la Confédération a exigé le retour des deux Suisses retenus en Libye.

Selon un communiqué du Département fédéral des finances diffusé aujourd’hui, Hans-Rudolf Merz et Mouammar Kadhafi se sont rencontrés en marge de l’Assemblée générale de l’ONU à New York. A cette occasion, ils ont confirmé leur volonté de «mettre rapidement en œuvre l’accord conclu entre les deux Etats le 20 août dernier». Durant l’entretien, le président de la Confédération a exigé «le retour immédiat des deux Suisses retenus en Libye» depuis plus d’un an, «conformément à ce qui a été promis à la Suisse à plusieurs reprises». Le chef d’Etat libyen «a assuré qu’il s’engageait personnellement en ce sens», a indiqué le DFF.

Les services de Hans-Rudolf Merz n’ont pas précisé quand la rencontre avait eu lieu. Selon l’agence officielle libyenne Jana, les deux hommes se sont vus mercredi soir. A 12h30 heure de New York (18h30 en Suisse), le président de la Confédération devrait tenir une conférence de presse à l’ONU.

Un tête-à-tête à New York entre les deux dirigeants avait été annoncé par Hans-Rudolf Merz lui-même dans une interview diffusée jeudi sur le site de la Télévision suisse romande. Interrogé sur le moment de la rencontre, le président de la Confédération, faisant preuve de prudence, avait refusé de répondre, précisant néanmoins qu’il ne s’agissait pas «d’une rencontre décisive». Les deux parties vont «poursuivre» les efforts «pour résoudre» la crise entre les deux pays. Et le conseiller fédéral de poursuivre: «Je crois qu’à la fin, on fera la paix même si cela requiert un peu plus d’énergie que j’avais pensé au début». >>> ATS | Jeudi 24 Septembre 2009

Présomption d'innocence: Villepin va assigner Sarkozy
LE FIGARO: Le président a provoqué la fureur des avocats de l'ex-premier ministre en parlant mercredi soir de «coupables» à propos des prévenus de l'affaire Clearstream.

Un dérapage verbal dont s'est aussitôt emparée la défense de Dominique de Villepin. L'ex-premier ministre, jugé dans l'affaire Clearstream, a décidé jeudi d'assigner Nicolas Sarkozy pour atteinte à la présomption d'innocence. La veille, ses avocats avaient jugé «scandaleux» les propos du président de la République sur TF1 et France 2 au sujet des prévenus du procès Clearstream : «Deux juges indépendants ont estimé que les coupables devaient être traduits devant un tribunal correctionnel». Déjà «coupables», donc, aux yeux de Nicolas Sarkozy, alors qu'ils n'ont pas encore été jugés.

Regardez cette séquence en vidéo :

Sarkozy s'assoit sur la justice
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La défense a précisé qu'il s'agirait d'une assignation au fond et non en référé. Une «assignation au fond» signifie qu'une personne (ici Dominique de Villepin) invite une autre personne (en l'occurence, Nicolas Sarkozy), à comparaître à une date fixée par le tribunal : il s'agit d'une procédure tout à fait habituelle et souvent longue. Le référé, en revanche, est une procédure d'urgence qui permet d'obtenir dans des délais très courts une décision de justice. Une procédure inutile, puisque Nicolas Sarkozy est protégé par son immunité politique durant la durée de son mandat. Ce dernier pourrait toutefois être jugé après son départ de l'Elysée. >>> Flore Galaud (lefigaro.fr) | Jeudi 24 Septembre 2009

Eklat vor UNO: Ahmadinejad wirft Israel Völkermord vor
DIE PRESSE: Aus Protest gegen die Hasstirade des iranischen Präsidenten gegen Israel verließen zahlreiche Delegierte den Saal. Die Vertreter Österreichs blieben hingegen sitzen.

Der iranische Präsident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hat mit einer Hasstirade gegen Israel für einen Eklat in der UN-Vollversammlung gesorgt. Er nannte das Vorgehen gegen die Palästinenser "Völkermord" und warf den Juden vor, die internationale Politik zu dominieren.

Israel boykottierte die Sitzung am Mittwochabend (Ortszeit) in New York. Zahlreiche andere Teilnehmer verließen den Saal während der Rede des iranischen Präsidenten. Neben den USA zogen sich unter anderem auch die Delegationen aus Deutschland, Großbritannien, Frankreich, Italien, Dänemark und Ungarn aus Protest zurück. Die Vertreter Österreichs blieben hingegen während Ahmadinejads Rede im Saal, wie der "ORF" berichtete. Dafür hagelte es am Donnerstag Kritik.

Holocaust geleugnet

Ahmadinejad hatte schon im Vorfeld seines New-York-Besuchs für Protest gesorgt, als er bei einer Versammlung in Teheran erneut den Holocaust leugnete. Um das hermetisch abgesperrte UN-Gebäude gab es den ganzen Tag über Protestdemonstrationen von Menschenrechtsgruppen.

In seiner von langen religiösen Ausführungen durchsetzten Rede griff Ahmadinejad auch die USA und die Vereinten Nationen scharf an. Ohne Israel ausdrücklich zu nennen, sagte er: "Es ist nicht länger akzeptabel, dass eine kleine Minderheit die Politik, Wirtschaft und Kultur großer Teile der Welt durch ihre komplizierten Netzwerke beherrscht und eine neue Form der Sklaverei betreibt." >>> Ag. | Donnerstag, 24. September 2009

Herzlich Willkommen!
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Nude hikers in Germany have a new place to indulge their hobby. One keen naturist has announced the opening of a hiking trail exclusively for those who enjoy walking in the buff.

Heinz Ludwig, who owns a campsite and restaurant in the small village of Dankerode in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, has another passion beside serving food and providing tents: naked hiking. He is the initiator of a new walking path meandering 18 kilometers (11 miles) through the Harz mountain range in central Germany, which he claims is Germany's first official naked hiking trail.

The official opening ceremony and inaugural walk will take place at the start of the hiking season next May, but hikers are already using the trail, which opened to the public this week. "The only problem I have is that nobody seems willing to take part in the inaugural walk," Ludwig told local media.

Although plenty of people are interested in taking to the hills in nothing but their birthday suits, he says, many are afraid that, if they take part in the high-profile event, images of their naked bodies will pop up on the Internet and in newspapers and magazines all over the world.

However those who shun the pursuit of nude walking are given ample warning if they happen to stumble across the new path. "If you don't want to see naked people, then you shouldn't go past this point," a sign at the beginning of the path reads. The track also leads past a small lake, which has for years been known amongst locals as a hotspot for the unclothed.

The general response to the opening of the new path has so far been positive, which is not surprising given the fact that nudism is more entrenched in the history of Germany than many might expect. The country has a tradition of naturism -- known by its German acronym of FKK -- dating back to the late 19th century, and nude bathing is widely accepted, especially on designated beaches on the Baltic Sea coast. Naked Wanderlust: Germany's First Nudist Hiking Trail Opens >>> Josie Cox | Wednesday, September 23, 2009

FKK (Freikörperkultur) >>>

Very British: Das Mysterium Merkel
STERN.de: Sie ist die mächtigste Frau der Welt, ihre Umfragewerte sind großartig - und doch bleibt Angela Merkel vielen Briten auch nach vier Jahren an der Macht ein Rätsel. Sie steht für Sicherheit und Zurückhaltung. Ein krasser Gegensatz zum britischen Wahlkampf.

Die einen haben sich in Bierzelte gesetzt und waren Zeugen der Reden ihres Wirtschaftsministers Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg mitsamt seiner bayrischen Trinkfestigkeit. Andere haben Wahlveranstaltungen in Schwerin besucht, um Angela Merkels Beliebtheit im Osten Deutschlands auszuloten. Und ein Reporter der Sonntagszeitung "Observer" ließ sich ihre Beliebtheit von deutschen Kindergärtnerinnen und Müttern erklären, die Angela Merkel für die Einführung des Elterngeldes lobten. Die Deutschland-Korrespondenten der britischen Zeitungen bemühen sich redlich, ihren Lesern die Wahlstrategie der deutschen Kanzlerin zu erklären. Und tun sich schwer damit.

"Der schützende Staat ist wieder in Mode"

Denn für britische Verhältnisse scheint Deutschland ins politische Koma gefallen zu sein. In Großbritannien wird Wahlkampf über Schlagzeilen in den Medien geführt. Wer seinen Wählern etwas zu sagen hat, tut dies laut und deutlich und so oft wie möglich. In den Morgensendungen der Radiostationen beharken sich Journalisten und Politiker – und das, obwohl bisher noch nicht einmal der Termin für die Wahl in Großbritannien im nächsten Jahr festgelegt worden ist.

Die Briten bewerten die Fähigkeiten ihrer Politiker nach rhetorischem Geschick. Der Premier Gordon Brown hat es schwer, weil er bei seinen Auftritten wirkt, als habe jemand eine Puppe aufgezogen und ihr ein paar Textbausteine auf den Sprach-Chip gespielt. Dass in Deutschland eine Kanzlerin mit Umfragewerten von über 60 Prozent einen "zutiefst uninspirierten" Wahlkampf führt, wie es die Zeitschrift "Economist" beschreibt, wäre in Großbritannien nicht auszudenken.

Der Deutschland-Korrespondent Damien McElroy bilanziert für die Tageszeitung "Daily Telegraph" fast schon erstaunt: "Merkels Zuhörer werden instruiert, nicht inspiriert." Die deutsche Kanzlerin rüttele nicht auf, sondern beruhige: "Ihre Kampagne gibt das Motto aus: Ich beschütze euch." Es ist dieser Wunsch der Wähler nach den "alten Sicherheiten", der die Briten verwundert, wie es der Kolumnist Gideon Rachmann in der "Financial Times" schreibt: "Der schützende, eingreifende Staat ist wieder in Mode in Deutschland." Merkel ist keine Maggie >>> Von Cornelia Fuchs, London | Mittwoch, 23. September 2009