Posted by seumasach on March 28, 2013
27th March, 2013
The new world order comes to Durban this week – for the fifth BRICS Summit, and the first in Africa. Dilma Rousseff, Vladimir Putin, Manmohan Singh, Xi Jinping and Jacob Zuma represent a changing world, as gravity and power gradually shift from North to South, and West to East. Between them, they preside over nearly half of the world’s population, and nearly a quarter of its GDP.
Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: BRICS(Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa), Durban Summit | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on March 28, 2013
The peace dividend promised at the end of the Cold War has not materialised- it is imperative for humanity that it should do so
Global Day of Action on Military Spending
In 2011, global military spending surged to US $1.74 trillion. Given the numerous crises facing the planet — economic, environmental, health, diplomatic — it is imperative that we create a global movement to shift this money to human needs. We know that there are thousands of organizations and millions of individuals who support this point of view – what is needed is to begin a serious mobilizing effort to make it visible.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Global Day of Action on Military Spending(GDAMS, peace dividend, peace process | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on March 28, 2013
“Further militarisation of the conflict, I’m not sure that is the way to help the Syrian people. They are waiting for the killing to stop. You find some people far away from Syria are the ones very keen for putting in weapons.”
28th March, 2013
Western backers of the Syrian opposition have left it too late to mount a military invention that would bring the conflict to a close, according to Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary General.
Posted in Syria | Tagged: peace process | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on March 28, 2013
Egypt’s NSF calls for mass rally in solidarity with summoned activists
27th March, 2013
Main opposition group holds President Mohamed Morsi culpable for ‘divisions’ and ‘bloodshed’ in Egypt, accusing him of fascism in fierce attack
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Egyptian revolution, Muslim Brotherhood | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on March 28, 2013
Britain resembles Cyprus in many ways. It is also dependent on its financial sector and its financial sector is also bankrupt and as what’s left of the real economy implodes the accumulation of bad debt accelerates. The solution is also similar: write down most of the debt and renegotiate Britain’s international status with a view to rebuilding the real economy through incoming investment.
Fasten your seat belts – a balance of payments crisis looms
Jeremy Warner
27th March, 2013
Whatever happened to the holy grail of a more balanced UK economy? Britain has been living substantially beyond its means for more than thirty years now. Spending more than we earn long pre-dated the Labour years. And it’s getting worse, not better.
Posted in UK economy | Tagged: bankrupt Britain | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on March 26, 2013
Syrie Algérie arab league : l’Algérie s’oppose à l’octroi à l’opposition syrienne d’un siège à la Ligue arabe
24th March, 2013
L’Algérie a émis des réserves sur l’octroi à l’opposition syrienne d’un siège à la Ligue arabe, expliquant sa position par le fait que les contours de cette opposition ne sont pas à ce jour “clairement définis”.
Posted in Syria | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on March 26, 2013
It seems unlikely that NATO would want to implicate Israel in an attack on Syria- that would just be plain silly. Erdogan has gained greatly from his perceived antagonism to Israel and Obama’s move could be seen as tying his hands. If Obama is foolish enough to attack Syria he will face enormous consequences- China has warned him and must respond. At the very least they will sink the dollar. Similarly how could Russia stand by and let it happen as they did in Libya.
An alternative interpretation of all this is that a peace process has begun with all the contradictions implied in a withdrawal from empire. We saw similar contradictions during the Northern Ireland peace process with the UK ruling class speaking out of both sides of their mouth. Obama is strangely ambivalent about the overthrow of Assad if that is really what he envisages. As in Ireland the outbreak of peace is the worst case scenario in certain circles. The pullback from the hegemonist project will be long, arduous, contradictory and fraught with danger for Obama
M.K.Bhadrakumar
25th March, 2013
The BRICS summit in Durban is meeting as war drums can be heard beating for Syria. The drum beat is coming nearer and nearer by the day.
Posted in Syria | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on March 26, 2013
So the Home Office concedes that the Syrian insurgency consists substantially of foreign fighters: “hundreds” of Europeans to say nothing of tens of thousands from Tunisia, Libya and the Muslim world in general. Britain finds itself in a difficult situation having tried to repeat the Libya scenario and having failed. We are left visibly linked to some very unsavoury allies and no longer backed by the Americans. Time then for a rethink.
British Muslims fighting in Syria could commit terrorist attacks in UK
26th March, 2013
There are “hundreds” of Europeans now fighting in Syria, some of whom are with groups linked to al Qaeda, the Home Office has told MPs.
Posted in Syria | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on March 26, 2013
It’s either the banks or the real economy and Europe has just outlined a new approach completely divergent from that of the Anglosphere. In US/UK the survival of the banks is a categorical imperative and the means to achieve this is bailout without end via QE or money-printing. This statement from Europe signals that the banks are to allowed to go under or rather, implicitly, a new banking system, Euroland regulated and subordinate to general economic development is to created. This is a welcome development and any Anglo-Saxon schadenfreude regarding the inevitable pain accompanying it will prove to be misplaced. The QE approach is painless only to the banks: it has already seriously depleted deposits and can only lead to falls in both the pound and the dollar with devastating consequences for economies based on importing essential goods.
Cyprus bail-out: savers will be raided to save euro in future crises, says eurozone chief
25th March, 2013
The new policy will alarm hundreds of thousands of British expatriates who live and have transferred their savings, proceeds from house sales and other assets to eurozone bank accounts in countries such as France, Spain and Italy.
Posted in Battle for Europe, Financial crisis, UK economy | Tagged: bankrupt Britain, dollar collapse, failing banks, stop the bailout | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on March 24, 2013
This could mean end intervention in Syria or we’ll ditch the dollar
24th March, 2013
Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned against foreign interference in the affairs of other nations during a speech in Moscow, sending a signal to the West and echoing a message often repeated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Posted in Syria | Tagged: Chinese soft power | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on March 24, 2013
“For the Government, these sorts of figures are terrifying, implying some form of additional taxpayer support for either Lloyds Banking Group, or more particularly, the Royal Bank of Scotland, in which it has major stakes.”
23rd March, 2013
Britain’s banks are under-capitalised. Not just by a little bit, but a lot. Under the Bank of England’s worst-case estimate, lenders need to raise something in the order of £60bn, more than three times the amount required to bail out Cyprus, which gives some idea of the scale of the problems officials think the industry faces.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: no more bailouts-put banks into receivership, no more bombing!-no more bailouts!, stop the bailout, UK bank bailout | Leave a Comment »
In These New Times 