Arts: Music: Best pop-music history, told here around the alternative female singer, Patti Smith (1975 album Horses)
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National Public Radio ÷≥≤µ˜∫∫√ç≈ç√∫˜ ˜µ (November 29,2k11)
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Tuesday, November 29, 2011
PoliticsEgypt: Parliamentary Elections: Polls now closed, Christians fear Freedom and Justice party Muslim-Brotherhood-dominated Shariahist5s
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Christian Science Monitor (November29,2k11)
—Reposted by Politicarp
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Today Egyptians are wrapping up the first of several rounds of voting for the first Egyptian parliament since the ousting of former President Hosni Mubarak. Two-thirds of the parliamentary seats will be chosen via a proportional list system, and the other third will be chosen as individual candidates.
Every voter will choose two candidates from their governorate and one local list of candidates, often including candidates from multiple parties. The more votes a list gets, the more candidates on its list will be in parliament.
Every voter will choose two candidates from their governorate and one local list of candidates, often including candidates from multiple parties. The more votes a list gets, the more candidates on its list will be in parliament.
Below are the options facing Egyptians as they go to the polls.
The Democratic Alliance for Egypt
The Democratic Alliance for Egypt, which counts among its members the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), was the first electoral coalition to emerge after Egypt’s uprising. The alliance extended an offer of membership to every party in Egypt, and began with 28 parties. Its membership surged to 40 at one point, but has since dropped to 11 [parties] and is now dominated by the FJP.
According to Egypt Elections Watch – produced by online magazines Jadaliyya and Ahram Online with the Arab studies programs at Georgetown University and George Mason University – the FJP tops the Alliance’s electoral lists.
The FJP is fielding more than 500 candidates in the parliamentary elections, compared with only 16 from Al Karama Party and 15 from Ghad Al-Thawra. These are the only significant parties other than FJP that are left in the alliance, according to Egypt Elections Watch.
Some prominent parties who were initially members left the coalition:
- Al-Wafd Party
– this liberal party left the coalition in October, saying that there wasn’t enough room for both parties on the Alliance’s electoral lists; the incompatibility between the FJP’s Islamist agenda and Al-Wafd’s secular emphasis created problems.
- Al-Nour Party
– this Salafist party said it left because it was being “marginalized” by the liberal parties in the Alliance’s decisionmaking process; some observers say it actually left because the Brotherhood was crowding out its candidates at the top of the lists.
– this Salafist party said it left because it was being “marginalized” by the liberal parties in the Alliance’s decisionmaking process; some observers say it actually left because the Brotherhood was crowding out its candidates at the top of the lists.
"The Copts should blend into Egyptian society and there should not be a religious symbol (in politics) that would influence people's decision," said Emad Abdel Ghafour, head of the ultra-conservative Islamist Salafi Al-Nour party." -- See Reuters article below "Egypt’s Christians seek to be heard in election where Islamists favoured".
- Democratic Front Party
– said it left because a partnership with Islamist groups violated its principles
- Al-Tagammu Party
– objected to Islamist members’ calls for the establishment of an Islamic state and sharia
yadadaddayadadadyadadaddayadadad
Previous
Reuters Blog (November 29, 2k11)
— Reposted here by Politicarp
Egypt’s Christians seek to be heard
in election where Islamists favoured
(A Coptic priest queues to vote outside a polling station in the parliamentary election in Shubra neighbourhood, Cairo November 28, 2011. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic)
Coptic Christians are trying to make their voices heard in Muslim-majority Egypt’s parliamentary election, fearing Islamists could sweep in and deepen their sense of marginalisation. Egypt’s Christians are reeling from a spate of attacks on churches since Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February that they blame on Islamists.
An October protest over one such attack led to clashes with military police in which 25 [Coptic Christian] people were killed. This has deepened a feeling of isolation in a community that makes up about a tenth of a population of 80 million and whose roots in Egypt pre-date the emergence of Islam.
Fady Badie, like many Egyptians, voted for the first time in this week’s parliamentary vote, seen as meaningful unlike the rigged polls of Mubarak’s time. But one of [Fady Baidi]s main concerns was to dilute the Islamist vote and voice his other worries.
“For sure Copts are afraid of this prospect (of Islamists in parliament). We have problems with the military council (of rulers), problems with Islamists and, now this year, we have found we even have problems with the general public,” he said, speaking during voting in the Cairo suburb of Maadi. “If the democratic process is challenged and what happened in Iran happens in Egypt, then I will start really worrying,” he said, adding that he was choosing the Egyptian Bloc alliance, which includes a party co-founded by a Christian billionaire [he's a telecom/media executive-owner].
The alliance that includes the Free Egyptians party of prominent Christian telecoms tycoon Naguib Sawiris is a popular choice among Christians and some liberal-leaning Muslims who are equally concerned by the rise of Islamists.
But the Bloc has drawn unwelcome attention. Supporters blame Islamists for what they say is a smear campaign to deter any Muslim voters from choosing it because of images posted on Facebook saying it is: “The voice for the Egyptian church.”
It reflects growing sectarian tensions in a nation where rights groups say flare-ups between Muslim and Christian communities that were increasingly common before Mubarak’s ouster have now erupted into even more deadly violence.
PhilippinesTerror: Zamboanga: 'Predominantly Christian trading hub' sees pensioner budget hotel, 3 dead from bomb, 27 wounded
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Huffington Post (November 27,2k11)
— Reposted here by Politicarp
My comment: The Philippines has been under terror-attack threat and actual attack for many years, mostly from the religio-ethnic Moros in the Southern Philippines, a nation of many islands. The society which the USA claims is its best friend in the Asian Pacific has had lots of trouble with its ruling elite, another former President now being tried for graft. Perhaps the terrorists, some 546 miles from the nation's capitol city of Manila, were atttempting to flank the current focus of attention by activists who are supporting the indictment, for trial before the country's Supreme Court, of former President, Gloria Arroyo.
In this situation of juridical and media focus elsewhere, the terrorists in the South who have long sawt an independent Islamicist state based on Shariah law, may have wanted to get in front of the news of the day and perhaps especially the h+level of focus on the activists. Becawz the Philippines has developed a relatively large-university educated middle class, the non-Muslim demographic that is traditionally Roman Catholic and increasingly Protestant has been a factor in seeking and supporting free news media, free enterprise, and civil rights.
However, there is a second source of terror to be found in the Maoist guerrillas that operate in areas where the largest demographic subsists, the urban and rural poor. Thus, the poor, who have not been able to struggle their way out of a rather squalid poverty, are the largest social concern constantly reminding civil society to seek more effective measures to release these neibors from the cycle of misery.
— Politicarp
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Atilano Pension House Explosion:
At Least 3 Killed, 27 Wounded
In Philippines Hotel Blast
MANILA, Philippines — A powerful blast killed at least 3 people and wounded 27 others in a budget hotel packed with wedding guests in the southern Philippines, officials said Monday.
The explosion, suspected to have been caused by a bomb, ignited a fire that gutted the two-story Atilano Pension House in downtown Zamboanga city late Sunday.
The blast was so powerful it caused much of the second floor to collapse, blew off the hotel roof and shattered glass panes and windows from nearby buildings, Zamboanga city Mayor Celso Lobregat said.
Two of the wounded were in serious condition in a hospital, he said.
Zamboanga city, a predominantly Christian trading hub 540 miles (860 kilometers) south of Manila, is located in a volatile region long troubled by a decades-long Muslim insurgency, extortion gangs and kidnap for ransom syndicates.
The blast occurred in room 226 on the second floor of the hotel, instantly killing two people staying in two adjacent rooms, which were devastated by the blast. A third body was found Monday on the ground floor, pinned by the cement slabs that collapsed from above.
Initial investigation pointed to a bomb, Lobregat said, adding that he has asked Zamboanga residents to stay calm.
"We should not show that we're panicking because that is what these troublemakers relish to see," Lobregat told The Associated Press by telephone. "We have good leads; we will get all of them."
Many of the victims were from a group of about 20 people, who occupied six of the hotel's 35 rooms for a wedding on Monday. The tragedy has forced the wedding to be postponed, he said.
Senior Inspector Cesar Memoracion said his local bomb squad recently informed the hotel owner to be on guard for a possible bomb attack, citing intelligence, which did not identify the source of the threat.
In January 2000, the hotel was rocked by a blast that killed three suspected Muslim militants assembling a bomb in a room, officials said.
Monday, November 28, 2011
EconomicsEuroZone: Financial Sector: On verge of collapse?
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Financial Times via iPolitics Canada (November 23, 2k11)
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Eurozone really has only days
to avoid collapse 
In virtually all the debates about the eurozone I have been engaged in, someone usually makes the point that it is only when things get bad enough that politicians finally act — eurobonds, debt monetization, quantitative easing, whatever. I am not so sure. The argument ignores the problem of acute collective action.
Last week the crisis reached a new qualitative stage. With the spectacular flop of the German bond auction and the alarming rise in short-term rates in Spain and Italy, the government bond market across the eurozone has ceased to function.
The banking sector, too, is broken. Important parts of the eurozone economy are cut off from credit. The eurozone is now subject to a run by global investors, and a quiet bank run among its citizens.
This massive erosion of trust has also destroyed the main plank of the rescue strategy. The European Financial Stability Facility derives its firepower from the guarantees of its shareholders. As the crisis has spread to France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria, the EFSF itself is affected by the contagious spread of the disease. Unless something very drastic happens, the eurozone could break up very soon.
First, the European Central Bank must agree a backstop of some kind, either an unlimited guarantee of a maximum bond spread or a backstop to the EFSF, in addition to dramatic measures to increase short-term liquidity for the banking sector. That would take care of the immediate bankruptcy threat.
The second measure is a firm timetable for a eurozone bond. The European Commission calls it a “stability bond,” surely a candidate for euphemism of the year. There are several proposals on the table. It does not matter what you call it. What matters is that it will be a joint-and-several liability of credible size. The insanity of cross-border national guarantees must come to an end. They are not a solution to the crisis. Those guarantees are now the main crisis propagator.
The third decision is a fiscal union. This would involve a partial loss of national sovereignty and the creation of a credible institutional framework to deal with fiscal policy, and hopefully wider economic policy issues as well. The eurozone needs a treasury, properly staffed, not ad hoc co-ordination by the European Council over coffee and desert.
I am hearing that there are exploratory talks about a compromise package comprising those three elements. If the European summit could reach a deal on Dec. 9, its next scheduled meeting, the eurozone will survive. If not, it risks a violent collapse. Even then there is still a risk of a long recession, possibly a depression. So even if the European Council was able to agree on such an improbably ambitious agenda, its leaders would have to continue to outdo themselves for months and years to come.
How likely is such a grand deal? With each week that passes the political and financial cost of crisis resolution becomes higher. Even last week Angela Merkel was still ruling out eurobonds. She was furious when the European Commission produced its own proposals last week. She had planned to separate the discussion about the crisis from that of the future architecture of the eurozone. The economic advice she has received throughout the crisis has been appalling.
Her own very public opposition to eurobonds has now become a real obstacle to a deal. I cannot quite see how the German chancellor is going to extricate herself from these self-inflicted constraints. If she had been more circumspect, she could have travelled to the summit with the proposal of the German Council of Economic Advisers, who produced a clever, albeit limited and not yet fully worked-out plan. They are proposing a “debt redemption” bond – another candidate for this year’s top euphemism award. The idea is to have a strictly temporary eurobond, which member states would pay off over an agreed time. At least this proposal would be in line with the more restrictive interpretation of German constitutional law.
Merkel’s hostility to eurobonds certainly resonates with the public. Newspapers expressed outrage at the Commission’s proposal. I thought both the proposal itself and its timing were rather clever. The Commission managed to change the nature of the debate. Merkel can get her fiscal union, but in return she will now have to accept a eurobond. If both can be agreed, the problem is solved. It is the first intelligent official proposal I have seen in the entire crisis.
I have yet to be convinced that the European Council is capable of reaching such a substantive agreement, given its past record. Of course, it will agree on something and sell it as a comprehensive package. It always does. But the half-life of these fake packages has been getting shorter. After the last summit the financial markets’ enthusiasm over the ludicrous idea of a leveraged EFSF evaporated after less than 48 hours.
Italy’s disastrous bond auction on Friday tells us time is running out. The eurozone has 10 days at most.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011
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