Bilderberg.org

[marektysis]

One of the eldest statesmen of international diplomacy, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, on Thursday offered some pearls of wisdom to one of the newest entrants to great power politics, Turkey.

Speaking at a conference held by TPG Capital in Istanbul, Mr. Kissinger’s gravelly top line was that Turkey will fill part of a regional void left by the U.S. as it withdraws from Iraq and, eventually, Afghanistan. But Ankara, said Mr. Kissinger, should be careful not to cross Washington’s vital interests in the region.


“Turkey’s influence is growing at a time that the U.S. is withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan, plus Libya is opening up – so Turkey can play a significant role,” Mr. Kissinger said. “It shouldn’t run across interests that the U.S. considers imperative. I expect relations will be constructive.”

As evidence that the U.S.-Turkish relationship remained on a sound foundation, despite the potential for competition, Mr. Kissinger singled out Turkey’s recent decision to host a missile-defense radar, part of a U.S.-inspired system designed to protect the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from Iran.

“I see this as an expression of the fact that on some issues the U.S. and Turkey have parallel interests,” Mr. Kissinger said.

Relations between Turkey and Iran, which share a border, have become significantly complicated recently by the violence in Syria – a Turkish neighbor and Iranian client state – and by the rapidly shifting environment created by the Arab Spring. Only last year, Turkey incurred Washington’s wrath by voting against U.S.-backed sanctions on Iran at the United Nations Security Council.

Turkey continues to say that the radar isn’t directed at any one country.

Addressing the meltdown in relations between Turkey and Washington’s other strong ally in the region, Israel, Mr. Kissinger suggested both sides were at fault in their dispute over whether Israel should apologize for killing eight Turks and a U.S. citizen of Turkish extraction onboard the Mavi Marmara aid ship, as it sought to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza last year.

“Both sides will have to make an adjustment in terms of their position – this is not just a problem of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu. People know what the problem is, they know what the solution is, but they can’t bring themselves to do it,” Mr. Kissinger said.
enry Kissinger,
Turkeys influence is growing at a time that the U.S. is withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan, plus Libya is opening up – so Turkey can play a significant role,” Mr. Kissinger said. “It shouldn’t run across interests that the U.S. considers imperative. I expect relations will be constructive.”

As evidence that the U.S.-Turkish relationship remained on a sound foundation, despite the potential for competition, Mr. Kissinger singled out Turkey’s recent decision to host a missile-defense radar, part of a U.S.-inspired system designed to protect the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from Iran.

“I see this as an expression of the fact that on some issues the U.S. and Turkey have parallel interests,” Mr. Kissinger said.

Relations between Turkey and Iran, which share a border, have become significantly complicated recently by the violence in Syria – a Turkish neighbor and Iranian client state – and by the rapidly shifting environment created by the Arab Spring. Only last year, Turkey incurred Washington’s wrath by voting against U.S.-backed sanctions on Iran at the United Nations Security Council.

Turkey continues to say that the radar isn’t directed at any one country.

Addressing the meltdown in relations between Turkey and Washington’s other strong ally in the region, Israel, Mr. Kissinger suggested both sides were at fault in their dispute over whether Israel should apologize for killing eight Turks and a U.S. citizen of Turkish extraction onboard the Mavi Marmara aid ship, as it sought to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza last year.

http://blogs.wsj.com/emergingeurope/2011/10/12/kissinger-sees-greater-role-for-turkey/

Marek Tysis writes: what dear Henry has forgotten to say is that Turkey is
full of envy towards the huge petroleum Leviathan in Mediterranean sea between Israel and CYPRUS HE HELPED TURKISH GOVERNMENT TO INVADE IN 1974.

Marek

[marektysis]

Davignon Says Prevent Greek Default to Avert a Chain Reaction
October 14, 2011, 1:06 PM EDT

By Andra Timu

Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Etienne Davignon, the Belgian billionaire and Suez board member, said that a Greek default has to be prevented in order to avert a chain reaction.

Davignon, speaking today in Bucharest, said the euro region needs tools to punish states that violate debt and deficit limit rules. He said he doesn’t believe in the idea of creating a euro-region finance ministry.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andra Timu at atimu@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Leon Mangasarian at lmangasarian@bloomberg.net

[marektysis]

This time they asked and I replied
friday, October 14, 2011
mab@hurriyet.com.tr
MEHMET ALİ BİRAND

I was invited to deliver a speech at Çırağan Palace Kempinski Hotel on Wednesday evening.

I froze when I entered the hall.

I had imagined that those dining peacefully at the tables would be very famous names, but I was not expecting this many. I was surprised and excited. All of them had filled significant portions of my 45-year-old journalistic career. It was once impossible even to approach them.

They were those people who not only established the equilibriums in Turkey but also internationally.

At one table, there was the legendary American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, “that” Kissinger whose every speech and every attitude had oriented the world.

At another table, a name who had governed the U.K. for 10 years, Tony Blair, was sitting with his wife.

Yet at another table was the former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, a name Turkey knows very closely.

Also present were those managing the domestic politics of the U.S., its foreign relations or funds of billions of dollars. From Richard Haas to former president of Colombia, the event consisted of top level names.

The Council on Foreign Relations had brought such high level names to Istanbul. The person who had persuaded this most prestigious association in the U.S. to hold its annual meeting in Istanbul happened to be a member, Mustafa Koç. Moreover, there had been unprecedentedly high participation.

I explained Turkey and Prime Minister Erdoğan to those people who I have, for years, written and commented about and focused so hard on their speeches.

I explained both the negative and the positive of what the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has changed, what is being experienced in domestic politics and what kind of a change has been seen in foreign policy.

You can easily imagine that the subject they were most interested in was relations with Israel… It was also Syria… It was Erdoğan’s approach to Washington… Was Turkey’s axis shifting?

One thing attracted my attention during my speech. None of the guests spoke to the person beside him or her and all listened. I guess I was able to deliver balanced information about Turkey.

Piri Reis vessel

We are pushing ourselves into funny situations. I am talking about the vessel Piri Reis.

When news of Greek Cyprus’ oil and gas exploration broke, all of a sudden we remembered this 33-year-old ship. We did not have any other option. We had no preparation. In a desperate measure to challenge Greek Cyprus, we decorated Piri Reis and sent it to the sea.

What happened? Its motors collapsed.

It returned. They said it would be repaired and sent back to continue exploring. Officials denied it, but the impression in the public is that this vessel is disintegrating. Anyway, it is enough proof just to take a look at its picture.

Really, we are making ourselves look defective.

We are buying plenty of arms and equipment. We are equipped with the world’s most advanced technology. But we have not purchased an appropriate ship even though this was known for years. The seismic equipment in it might be very good, but the ship itself is obviously falling apart.

Is that possible?

Let us obtain a proper search vessel. Let us not ridicule ourselves.

No one likes price hikes

No one likes price hikes. You can heavily criticize the latest price hikes. You can actually make fun of Economy Minister Mehmet Şimşek’s statement of “These are not price hikes; these are adjustments.” But the price hikes this time had a very important psychological effect on the markets.

We are involved in so much expectation of a crisis and we are so much in a conversation evolving around “The crisis is around the corner” that the government needed to take a measure. Everyone is talking about crisis and frightening society, including Ali Babacan. And then they said, “Don’t worry, we are prepared.” Yet they never said, “The necessary measures have been taken, we are standing strong.” There was an expectation of a concrete step.

Actually the expected storm is not of a kind that can be overcome with these price hikes.

But even that much was enough to pump confidence into markets. It gave the impression that the government was prepared.

The winds blowing from Europe and the U.S. should scare us all. It is all the better if we can cross this hurdle with this much of a measure. Otherwise we may face catastrophe.
Friday, October 14, 2011

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=this-time-they-asked-and-i-replied-2011-10-14

[marektysis]

Sorry Mr. Monti but Europe will need a Project Phoenix. 13 October, 2011
Posted by Willy De Backer in sustainability

The following longer comment is based on a shorter intervention I wanted to make during Friends of Europe annual debate on the “State of Europe”, which this year took place under the very appropriate title “”Re-thinking the European Project”. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I did not get the floor so I decided to use this blog to develop my thoughts further.
The session where I wanted to intervene had been given the following positioning and questions by Friends of Europe:

“Project Phoenix: setting out a real political agenda for Europe
In this second decade of the 21st century, Europe must confront global challenges which are very different from those that were the catalyst for the European project in the first place. How can Europe confront such challenges as its waning competitiveness, resource competition, energy insecurity, food scarcities, demographic and labour imbalances and, of course, climate change? … How can leaders rebuild Europe around a political, social and sustainability narrative capable of protecting its values and prosperity rather than inflicting what amount to cutbacks in the EU’s budget?”

At the beginning of the debate, two VIP speakers were given the floor to set the scene: Polish finance Minister Jacek Rostowski and ex-Commissioner for Internal Market Mario Monti. Both opening speakers clearly had not understood that the session was supposed to tackle more than just the Euro crisis. Mr Rostowki presented in an elegant way the views on the Euro crisis seen from a country outside of the Eurozone and Mario Monti found it necessary to ridicule the idea of a project Phoenix altogether by referring to a funny Wikipedia entry on finding extra-terrestrial intelligence (which looking at the spectacle of failing political elites might well be needed in the end – WDB).

Both European leaders were apparently unable to frame the debate in any other narrative than the one which Monti himself nicely described later as the “tyranny of the emergency”. The debate which followed therefore remained stuck in that short-term Euro crisis narrative and had no eye for the broader long-term challenges mentioned in the session description. So, let’s develop here further how I would have wished to reframe the debate.

Let’s start with one point Mario Monti made which I did like. Several countries in the Eurozone “feel cheated”, the former commissioner said. Indeed correct, dear Commissioner, but not just countries but European citizens “feel cheated” and not just because of the current “emergency”. Having worked for more than 25 years in EU affairs, I remain a strong believer in Europe but even I “feel cheated” by the growth-obsessed and consumption- and debt-driven “Internal Market first” Europe which certainly in the last ten years has not improved the happiness or prosperity of its ordinary citizens. Looking at the increased social inequalities, rising youth unemployment and all the sustainability challenges which our children will be facing, was this the Europe we were promised in 1992? We had the famous Cecchini report on the costs of non-Europe, maybe we should do the exercise again but this time on what this neo-liberal project Europe is costing us?

The big problem is, of course, that Europe is not facing ONE emergency crisis but TWO interrelated and re-enforcing crises which both have their root cause in the fact that we have been living above our means. Our inherently growth-dependent casino economy has been based on financial debt (cheap money) and ecological debt (free ecosystem services and cheap oil). Now that we are witnessing the geopolitical shift to the emerging economies which want our way of life and our “wealth”, we have reached the limits of debt and the limits of growth. We have entered a fundamentally different world. From the rich and ivory towers of Brussels it seems hard to recognise that this transition to a post-growth, post-carbon economy needs a new Europe. Business as usual is indeed not an option (a phrase used all the time in Brussels’ debates but without seriously questioning what it means).

Therefore also, Eurobonds, more economic integration, a stronger ESFS will not be enough. Sure we will have to solve this Eurozone emergency crisis but we will have to do this with the citizens, not against them and taking into consideration the interconnections with the sustainability crisis. And yes austerity will be needed but much more social and fair austerity (also ecological austerity, a theme for another blog post).

Therefore we do not need just a Treaty change, we need a new European narrative and a new social contract with European citizens built around a new definition of prosperity and a strategy to defend our European social welfare. We need to go “beyond GDP” and re-think our future as Europeans. The “kicking the ball forward” strategies that we are witnessing now are the flames which might in the end burn our great European house.

Europe is not reduced to ashes yet but if we remain locked into the 1992 narrative and vision of Europe, we will need a project Phoenix before the end of this decade. Let’s start thinking about it.
http://3eintelligence.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/sorry-mr-monti-but-europe-will-need-a-project-phoenix/

[marektysis]

Ackermann Says Bigger Rescue Plans May Be Illegal, Bild Reports

By Richard Weiss - Oct 16, 2011 1:54 PM GMT+0200

inceasing the size of financial rescue packages for troubled countries in Europe may be illegal and people won’t allow it, Bild am Sonntag reported, citing Josef Ackermann, Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Bank AG.

Increasing such funds “may be right from an investor’s point of view, but won’t solve the problem,” the publication cited Ackermann as saying at a conference in Berlin on Oct. 13.

He added that the only solution to the current crisis is for countries in trouble to step-by-step reduce their debt, a process that will slow future economic growth, the newspaper said.

Banks and countries remain unable to refinance themselves on financial markets and the situation needs to be resolved, Bild cited Ackermann as saying.

Ackerman also said the euro can only be saved by a closer political and economic integration of Europe, a process that may force the creation of a “new Europe,” Bild reported.

To contact the reporter on this story: Richard Weiss in Frankfurt at rweiss5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Benedikt Kammel at bkammel@bloomberg.net
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-16/ackermann-says-bigger-rescue-plans-may-be-illegal-bild-reports.html

[marektysis]

The former President of the Romanian Academy, Eugen Simion , Officer of Legion of Honour Order The genuine Romania is the profound, cultural, loyal to the exemplary traditions, francophile and francophone Romania, former President of the Romanian Academy, literary critic Eugen Simion said Friday evening after he was granted the insignia of the Officer of the Legion of Honour - the highest France's highest Order, during the ceremony taking place at the residence of France's Ambassador in Bucharest Henri Paul.

'For me, a Romanian intellectual, the Order is a great honour, rewarding my big love for the French culture,' said Academician Eugen Simion, who thanked France for ranking him as an Officer, when he is but a private of the Romanian Army. Simion was given the insignia by the founder and the president of the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) Thierry de Montbrial, with France's Ambassador also attending.

IFRI president praised the personality of Academician Eugen Simion, his exhaustive work as a literary critic, his love for France, whose fruit is two books devoted to the Hexagon's cultural world, but also to his prodigious activity at the head of the Romanian Academy, and pointed out that the decoration rewards the long friendship road linking Romania and France.

Academician Eugen Simion, (76) born on May 25, 1933, in Chiojdeanca village of Prahova County, is one of the most important names of the contemporary Romanian literary world, a remarkable literature historian and an essayist, alike, Agerpres informs. A major critic of the Romanian literature, a continuator of his outstanding precursor Eugen Lovinescu (1881-1943), Simion published over 3,000 articles and studies in literary and cultural magazines, and more than 18 books of literary critics and history. At present, he is heading the Philology and Literature Department of the Romanian Academy and the George Calinescu Institute of Literary History and Theory, and is also the chairman of the National Foundation for Science and Arts (FNSA).
http://www.actmedia.eu/2011/10/17/top+story/the+former+president+of+the+romanian+academy,+eugen+simion+,+officer+of+legion+of+honour+order+/36180

[marektysis]

Euro zone eyes yet another "comprehensive strategy"


Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou briefs the media after a meeting with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy in Brussels, October 13, 2011. REUTERS/Thierry Roge

By Paul Taylor

BRUSSELS | Mon Oct 17, 2011 8:12am EDT

(Reuters) - A cloud of gloom hangs over Brussels ahead of yet another summit to thrash out yet another "comprehensive strategy" to tackle a sovereign debt crisis that Europe has failed for two years to stem, and that now threatens the world economy.

Gallows humor was rife among the grandees of European integration at the annual conference of the Friends of Europe think-tank on "the state of the union" last week.

"Hopefully next year we won't be talking about Greek debt," Etienne Davignon, 79, a Belgian former European Commissioner and patriarch of the European project, joked in his closing remarks.

"Either it will have gone or we will have gone."

The opening session was billed as: "The EU's three ages: rise, decline and fall?"

The question mark was the only concession to hope.

Weary cynicism surrounds next Sunday's (October 23) summit of the 27 EU leaders, their sixth attempt this year to draw a line under the euro zone crisis that has led to bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal and is now singeing Italy and Spain.

They trumpeted a "comprehensive response" back in March, but, due mainly to German caution, adopted a catalog of half-measures described by British Prime Minister David Cameron last week as "a bit too little, a bit too late".

In July, with bond market contagion spreading for the first time to Italy, the euro zone's third biggest economy, leaders of the 17-nation single currency area agreed on a second bailout for Greece involving "voluntary" writedowns for private bondholders and more powers for their EFSF rescue fund.

Traders quickly spotted that the accord would take months to implement and might be derailed in any of the 17 national parliaments that had to approve it, or by Greece's failure to achieve its fiscal targets. Confidence evaporated.

Spanish and Italian borrowing costs were driven so high that the European Central Bank had to intervene in emergency in August to buy those countries' bonds and force yields down.

After weeks of bruising debate, first in the German then in the Slovak parliament, and haggling with Finland over its demand for collateral on Greek loans, the beefed-up 440-billion-euro European Financial Stability Facility is finally ready to act.

But the goalposts have moved in the meantime. The situation has deteriorated and more radical action is now required.

MOVING TARGET

Greece has strayed off course again and doubts about whether it will ever be able to repay its debts have hardened as the country has slumped deeper into recession and public resistance to austerity measures has mounted.

Germany and its north European allies are demanding that private bondholders be made to contribute more toward a second rescue for Greece, but still on a "voluntary" basis with no losses for taxpayers or the European Central Bank.

The talk now is of building a firewall around Greece and convincing investors that other euro zone sovereigns are safe, without another ghastly round of ratifications in member states.

The key elements in the latest "comprehensive strategy" are: reducing Greece's debt and giving it longer to recover; bolstering European banks' ability to absorb losses; leveraging the rescue fund to prevent contagion to larger economies; and launching steps toward closer euro zone fiscal integration.

Yet there is scope for each of these elements to fall short, or be overtaken by events, especially with the economic growth outlook darkening as austerity measures cripple demand.

Greek debt relief may be too small to avoid a hard default. Banks may struggle to raise capital and governments fearful for their own credit ratings may equivocate about what to do if they can't raise it on the markets.

Policymakers hope to stabilize the euro zone bond market by using the EFSF to offer partial loss insurance to investors buying new Spanish or Italian bonds.

This may not be enough to restore confidence if Italy's chaotic politics, compounded by the economic slowdown, thwart austerity plans. Markets are bound to test Europe's defenses.

Further credit ratings downgrades could exacerbate the crisis. If France's AAA rating were pulled into doubt due to the capital needs of its banks, heavily exposed to peripheral euro zone debt, then the entire rescue strategy could falter.

With so many "ifs", the chances of this "comprehensive strategy" being the one that does the trick are anything but certain.

Pressure for decisive action from other major economies, which dominated last weekend's G20 finance chiefs' meeting in Paris, may improve the Europeans' chance of success.

The world's treasuries and central banks are so alarmed at the risk of a financial meltdown that they may be ready to pile in to support even a shaky European plan.

European policymakers still reject the nuclear option of a mandatory restructuring of Greek debt, which would trigger a "credit event" with the payment of default insurance and send a shockwave through the financial sector.

Instead, private bondholders face a bigger "voluntary" writedown of up to 50 percent while euro zone governments and the ECB are shielded from losses on Greek debt to avoid a public backlash that would make further rescue measures impossible.

It is easier for European politicians to support banks that are unable to raise private capital than it would be to admit they had poured taxpayers' money down a Greek hole.

Radical solutions such as using the ECB as Europe's lender of last resort or issuing joint euro zone bonds, are politically taboo in Germany.

Barring such game-changers, expect the euro zone debt crisis to rumble on and on, if it doesn't explode.

(Writing by Paul Taylor, editing by Mike Peacock)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/17/us-eurozone-strategy-idUSTRE79G0SH20111017

[marektysis]

EU pins hopes on yet another ‘complete’ plan
Reuters

Posted: Tuesday, Oct 18, 2011 at 0259 hrs IST
Tags: EU Pins | Greek Debt | Bailouts Of Greece | World Economy

Brussels: A cloud of gloom hangs over Brussels ahead of yet another summit to thrash out yet another “comprehensive strategy” to tackle a sovereign debt crisis that Europe has failed for two years to stem, and that now threatens the world economy.

Gallows humour was rife among the grandees of European integration at the annual conference of the Friends of Europe think-tank on “the state of the union” last week. “Hopefully next year we won’t be talking about Greek debt,” Etienne Davignon, 79, an ex-Belgian European commissioner and patriarch of the European project, joked in closing remarks. “Either it will have gone or we will have gone.”

The opening session was billed as: “The EU’s three ages: rise, decline and fall?”

The question mark was the only concession to hope.

Weary cynicism surrounds next Sunday’s summit of the 27 EU leaders, their sixth attempt this year to draw a line under the euro zone crisis that has led to bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal and is now singeing Italy and Spain.

They trumpeted a “comprehensive response” in March, but, due mainly to German caution, adopted a catalogue of half-measures described by British Prime Minister David Cameron last week as “a bit too little, a bit too late”.

In July, with bond market contagion spreading for the first time to Italy, the euro zone’s third biggest economy, leaders of the 17-nation single currency area agreed on a second bailout for Greece involving “voluntary” writedowns for private bondholders and more powers for their European Financial Stability Facility or EFSF rescue fund.

Traders quickly spotted that the accord would take months to implement and might be derailed in any of the 17 parliaments that had to approve it, or by Greece’s failure to achieve its fiscal targets. Confidence evaporated.

Spanish and Italian borrowing costs were driven so high that the European Central Bank had to intervene in emergency in August to buy those countries’ bonds and force yields down.

After weeks of bruising debate, first in the German then in the Slovak parliament, and haggling with Finland over its demand for collateral on Greek loans, the beefed-up 440-billion-euro EFSF is finally ready to act.

But the goalposts have moved in the meantime. The situation has deteriorated and more radical action is now required. Greece has strayed off course again and doubts about whether it will ever be able to repay its debts have hardened as the country has slumped deeper into recession and public resistance to austerity measures has mounted.

The talk now is of building a firewall around Greece and convincing investors that other euro zone nations are safe, without another ghastly round of ratifications.

The key elements in the latest “comprehensive strategy” are: reducing Greece’s debt and giving it longer to recover; bolstering banks’ ability to absorb losses; leveraging the rescue fund to prevent contagion to larger economies; and launching steps towards closer euro zone fiscal integration.

Yet there is scope for each of these elements to fall short, or be overtaken by events, especially with the economic outlook darkening as austerity measures cripple demand.

Greek debt relief may be too small to avoid a hard default. Banks may struggle to raise capital and governments fearful for their own credit ratings may equivocate about what to do if they can’t raise it on the markets.

Policymakers hope to stabilise the euro zone bond market by using the EFSF to offer partial loss insurance to investors buying new Spanish or Italian bonds. With so many “ifs”, the chances of this “comprehensive strategy” being the one that does the trick are anything but certain.
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/eu-pins-hopes-on-yet-another-complete-plan/861151/0

[marektysis]

friends,
You certainly noticed differences between the texts written by
the financial express and the other paper done by reuters....
journalists are free people...

Marek

[marektysis]

Cain tells McFarland: Only preemptive strike can stop Iran


By ALEXANDER BURNS | 10/17/11 3:39 PM EDT Updated: 10/17/11 5:08 PM EDT

I posted earlier on Herman Cain’s unusual list of foreign policy role models: Henry Kissinger, John Bolton and Fox News contributor and 2006 Republican Senate candidate KT McFarland.

It turns out that Cain and McFarland have discussed foreign policy together — on the air, no less. The presidential candidate appeared on McFarland’s web show, “DEFCON 3,” and took on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the threat of Iran, missile defense and more.


Cain told McFarland he thinks only military action can stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, explaining: “I don’t think we can stop them from getting a nuclear weapon without some sort of pre-emptive strike.”

“I would have to talk to a lot of people before I would go so far as to say we should do a pre-emptive strike,” he added.

And here’s how Cain described his general foreign policy doctrine: "The Cain doctrine, as it relates to foreign affairs and foreign relations, is an extension of the Reagan philosophy. Reagan's philosophy, as you know, was peace through strength. My philosophy peace through strength and clarity. We need to clarify who our friends are, clarify who our enemies are, stop giving money to the enemies and make sure that our enemies know who our friends are, that we are going to stand solidly behind."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/66182.html#ixzz1b4lDiAF2

yes, my dear friends, we are on the eve of something new since 72 years,
did you know that the best mean to get out of a big problem is a good war?
If no, you will learn it of experience...

Marek

[marektysis]

The link is in french, the assault is in english.
Just for the fun, have a look (and hear)

http://www.wikistrike.com/article-david-rockefeller-insulte-a-la-commision-trilaterale-video-86720895.html

i don t approve this kind of behavior, but i believe it is merited...

Marek

[marektysis]

https://spinelessliberal.wordpress.com/2011/10/18/british-mps-to-vote-on-referendum-to-leave-the-european-union/

Marek

[marektysis]

for instructive goal to a limited public


KISSINGER : ARAB SPRING BEGINS COMPLICATED TRANSFORMATION
************************************************************
Friday, 28 Oct 2011 04:24 AM

By Sandy Fitzgeral


The Arab Spring kicked off a long and potentially perilous transformation for the Middle East, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told a Pittsburgh audience this week. The uprisings that deposed several dictators could also lead to “a war of all against all,” he said.

"The excitement of the first month is the end of the first scene of the first act of a five-act drama," Kissinger said during an appearance at Pittsburgh’s Middle East Institute, the Pittsburgh Tribune Review reported.

“The next administration, whoever wins, is going to have a very complicated challenge,” especially advancing the peace process between Israel and Palestine, he said.

Kissinger discussed a wide-range of foreign affairs issues, including the rise of China, and the WikiLeaks disclosures of military and diplomatic cables, which he said “horrified” him.

The event was marred by demonstrators, who came out to protest Kissinger’s appearance, most carrying signs accusing him of Vietnam war crimes from during the Nixon era.

Kissinger admitted Vietnam remains “a painful subject” and said “nobody could have had a greater incentive to end the war” than Nixon's administration.

"Serious people on both sides were arguing a question that really depended on an assessment of the role of America in the world," Kissinger said. "That was the underlying issue, and it is often the underlying issue now."

© Newsmax. All rights reserved.

http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/kissinger-arab-spring/2011/10/28/id/416011

Marek

[marektysis]

EU/Afghanistan
Ashton backs proposed fund to reintegrate Taliban foot soldiers
The European Union’s foreign policy
representative Catherine Ashton has given
her support to the strategy worked out at the
international conference on Afghanistan,
on 27-28 January in London, saying that the
plan to create a fund to help reintegrate Taliban
fighters could play a key role in bringing
peace. Ashton also said she aimed to take
an early decision on the appointment of an
EU special representative to Afghanistan
who will have strengthened powers under
the Lisbon Treaty.
Italy’s Ettore Francesco Sequi, who has
served as EU special representative for
Afghanistan since July 2009 and was given
added responsibility for Pakistan last year, is
well placed to stay in the post, but EU officials
told reporters in London that there are
also candidates from Poland, Lithuania and
Hungary.
The conference, which brought together
foreign ministers from 60 countries, laid out
a political and military strategy for reducing
the violence in Afghanistan. On the military
side it involves stepping up the development
of a well-trained, equipped and staffed
Afghan army alongside the short-term troop
surge of up to 40,000 additional international
forces this year. The aim is for Afghan
security forces to be able to replace foreign
troops province by province, starting with
the more secure parts of the country so that
NATO can begin to reduce its forces.
The political track aims at persuading
some elements of the insurgency to put
down their arms and come to some sort of
arrangement with the Afghan government.
To this end, the conference agreed to set up
a trust fund to entice low-level Taliban foot
soldiers to switch sides. NATO believes that
the Taliban’s core of ideologically committed
fighters form a relatively small group, but
that the insurgents can recruit many more
fighters through coercion, exploiting local
grievances or offering money, often earned
through the opium trade.
The fund agreed in London would seek to
counter that by offering financial incentives
to those who reject the Taliban. Nations
have already committed $140 million to the
fund, but Afghan officials have suggested up
to $1 billion may be needed.
“In any conflict anywhere in the world,
people get caught up in it who need to go
home,” Ashton told. “They need to go back
to their communities at some point and pick
up their lives and be part of that community
and you need to help them do it … it has to
be done well … but needs to happen if we’re
going to see a peaceful and secure Afghanistan
in the long term.”
However the plan has many potential
pitfalls, notably how to ensure that fighters
will not sign up for the money and then
simply return to join the Taliban after they
have been paid.
Ashton in London also expressed disappointment
that Iran had stayed away from
the conference. “I think people in the
region were keen for them to be invited
and wanted them to be there. They have
an important role to play in the region,” she said...


source: Europolitics on:

http://www.europolitics.info/external-policies/eas-sec-gen-lays-out-future-challenges-created-by-arab-spring-art317023-44.html
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So we now know where these guys in Lybia were coming from....
a good, really good initiative of our dark haloween baroness Ashton..

Marek

[marektysis]

Preventing financial crisis "true test" for G20: Zoellick
English.news.cn 2011-10-29 08:09:04 FeedbackPrintRSS

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- The true test for the G20 will be whether it can prevent a future financial crisis, World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick said Friday ahead of the upcoming G20 summit in Cannes.

"The world economy is hobbled not only by large deficits and troubled banks, but by joblessness and slow growth," Zoellick noted in an article carried on the website of the Washington Post Friday.

At the G20 summit to be held in France this coming week, the euro zone will present its new plan to recapitalize and strengthen European Union banks, using its new European Financial Stability Facility to enable Italy and Spain to roll over government debts, while assisting Greece, Portugal and Ireland, and easing the debt load on Greece to give it a chance of recovery, he added.

"Developing countries' economic growth has helped compensate for the lackluster performance of developed nations, but they are hardly immune to the shocks coming out of industrialized countries, " Zoellick noted.

He warned that all nations must at least agree "not to do dumb things" which includes a retreat to protectionism or trade wars.

The G20 also must help offset the damage to the poorest countries, which do not sit at the G20 table, Zoellick urged.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/business/2011-10/29/c_131218496.htm
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Please note that our fantastic Bilderberg man is connoting protectionism as a bad word against the magnific situation poor people in our countries are experiencing.We are at the crossroads of our common occidental destiny.This moment will never repeat in our entire life.

Marek Tysis