PoliticsGreece: Mass Demonstrations: 'Thousands protest' ruling party's austerity policy

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Financial Times email newsletter (June6,2k11)

Thousands protest against Greek austerity

Thousands of Greeks protested outside parliament against a fresh austerity package agreed in return for the country’s second  bail-out in 13 months by the European Union and International Monetary Fund http://link.ft.com/r/ZE9K33/M9E4G9/A2VTN/PRIXGV/26BO62/6C/h?a1=2011&a2=6&a3=6 -- FT materials posted by Politicarp

EconomyUSA: Crisis: 'How the banks put the economy underwater'

I found this blog-entry on Yves Smith's Naked Capitalism via Technorati.

Our New York Times Op-Ed: How the Banks Put the Economy Underwater
Several regular readers were kind enough to send congratulatory e-mails on our New York Times op-ed, which appears in the Sunday edition. I hope you enjoy it. The text follows:

In Congressional hearings last week, Obama administration officials acknowledged that uncertainty over foreclosures could delay the recovery of the housing market. The implications for the economy are serious. For instance, the International Monetary Fund found that the persistently high unemployment in the United States is largely the result of foreclosures and underwater mortgages, rather than widely cited causes like mismatches between job requirements and worker skills.

This chapter of the financial crisis is a self-inflicted wound. The major banks and their agents have for years taken shortcuts with their mortgage securitization documents — and not due to a momentary lack of attention, but as part of a systematic approach to save money and increase profits. The result can be seen in the stream of reports of colossal foreclosure mistakes: multiple banks foreclosing on the same borrower; banks trying to seize the homes of people who never had a mortgage or who had already entered into a refinancing program.

-- EconoMix

Click on the t+mstamp to Read more ... 

PoliticsNigeria: Senate: Threatens retaliation for being placed on terrorism watchlist

According to Amos Dunia (Abuja), "Terrorism: Senate threatens to take action against US" (Jan6,2k10), the Nigerian Senate leadership is furious at USA's placing the country's international travellers on a watchlist of 14 countires, simply on the basis of nationality.

“We also want to advice America that it is in their own best interest to conduct this matter very well in a manner that will not result into diplomatic row between America and Nigeria because Nigeria has never been found wanting in her dealings with America. So, for them to embarrass this country with this kind of classification for no justification is completely unacceptable.

“It is not America alone that has citizens to whom the government is responsible, we also have citizens and we are responsible for them, we will not allow Nigerians to be molested wherever they go. I think that this message should be put out clearly that when we resumes, if the situation is still there, it is going to be one of the major issues that we are going to tackle and the Senate president has told me to state categorically that he is unhappy about this and being the chairman of the National Assembly, it means also on behalf of the National Assembly.”

So says Senator Ayogu Eze, speaking apparently for the President of the Senate, David Mark. The Nigeria National Assembly is bicameral, but the present initiatve in the diplomatic war of words with the Obama Administration is being launched by upper chamber, Nigeria's Senate.

-- Politicarp

Terrorism: Northern Ireland: IRA resurgents kill Brit soldiers, policeman

I've been hearing thru blogs (closer to the situation in Ulster), there seems to be widespread discontent in the working-class ranks of the Protestant Democratic Unionist Party members and their more independent brethren ("the prods"). But word most timely now comes via BBC that the Loyalists 'will not strike back' at the IRA resurgent terrorist splinter-groups (Mar11,2k9). At least so says Frankie Gallagher of the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRGP) who had met Sinn Fein's Tom Harley on Wednesday. Gallagher advises the "loyalist paramilitary UDA.

--Politicarp

Politics Greece: Universities hub of anarchist revolutionary surge among students

Athens Polytechnic University today serves as a hub for revolutionary anarchists leading the violent students protests there, according to Nicole Itano, "A Sanctuary for dissent in Greece?" (CSM, Dec15,2k8).

As Greeks try to make sense of the chaos – and prepare for another week of protests, ranging from sit-ins to nationwide roadblocks – many here are beginning to ask whether the asylum law is protecting free speech or simply harboring criminals.

"The university asylum is for the freedom of movement of ideas, but not of commitment of criminal actions," says George Bergeles, a professor at the Polytechnic who is sympathetic to the students' complaints, but not their harsh tactics. "The law about university asylum I believe is a fantastic achievement of the university movement, but we should protect it by not allowing criminal offenses to happen inside."

The Polytechnic holds historic importance for Greeks. In November 1973, students barricaded themselves inside in rebellion against the country's military junta, which had been in power since 1967. Fearful that the revolt would spread, on Nov. 17 the national police moved in with tanks, killing a still-disputed number of protesters.

The revolutionaries have no goal of replacing one government with another, as they are led apparently by anarchists. The week-long revolution began as a protest against the death of a student shot by a policeman.

Politics: Pakistan moves against terrorist leader of Mumbai slawter

The ignominious name of slawter-mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi has been added to the list of terrorist leaders cawt!--in Pakistan! This development is extremely important to note, in that the organization which conducted the Mumbai, India, mass-slawter operation a week ago, has up until now been untouchable by the Pakistan govt. Untouchable because that org, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), was sponsored by Pakistan's military intelligence (ISI). Altho it was banned two years ago, many well-informed sources believe that LeT continues to be supported by at least an element in ISI, Pakistan's only intelligence unit, which is firmly embedded in the nation's military forces.

Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi

The photo and the title link reference the story by AP's Chris Brummit with writers Munir Ahmad in Islamabad, Roshan Mughal in Muzaffarabad and Sam Dolnick in New Delhi, India. No photographer is mentioned by AP.

Politicarp

Politics: France: UMP under Sarkozy set to win increased representation in parliamentary elections

Javno carries a Reuters story about France's upcoming parliamentary elections, Sarkozy UMP Extends Lead -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP political party could win up to 460 seats in parliamentary elections to be held later this month (Jun2,2k7):

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP political party could win up to 460 seats in parliamentary elections to be held later this month, four times as many as the opposition Socialists, according to a poll on Saturday. The IFOP poll for Sunday's Journal du Dimanche newspaper put support for the UMP and Socialists steady at 41 percent and 27 percent respectively, but movement in support for other parties meant Sarkozy's UMP was forecast to win more seats than before.

France's parliamentary elections are due to be held over two rounds on June 10 and 17. A big win for the UMP would cement Sarkozy's grip on power after he was elected president on May 6.

The survey projected the UMP could win 420 to 460 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly compared with a projected 410 to 450 in IFOP's previous survey and 359 currently.

The Socialists were seen winning 80 to 120 seats compared with a previously forecast 90 to 130 and down from 149 now.

The Socialists are having their own fierce internicene battle, with some of their candidates standing firm for orthodox Socialism-by-peaceful-means and others seeking seats on the basis of a turn of the Party to social democracy which accepts capitalism but seeks to control it and promotes a a strongly welfarist-capitalism under a social-democratic government and an all-powerful all-responsible state (little sphere sovereignty or sphere-responsiblity for other societal spheres), as in many other European countries. In France, one could well imagine that in due time the present SP will split in two (SP vs. SDP).

The main loser in the poll was Francois Bayrou's new centre-right Democratic Movement, with support falling to 9 percent from 12 percent.

Europe > France

Bayrou's party said it would distribute thousands of orange flowers in Paris on Sunday -- Mothers' Day in France -- in an effort to drum up support.

Another story, this time from a marginal Trotskyite websource Indymedia Bay Area offers a telltale report, in its own desultory way, on Sarkozy's deft navigation among the splintered vote-pools of the French political panorma, "France: Guy Môquet, Sarkozy and the Stalinist school of falsification" (Jun2,2k7):

"After his official installation as French president May 16, Nicolas Sarkozy’s first engagement was a memorial ceremony to fallen Resistance fighters against the Nazi occupation of France during the Second World War.

Sarkozy used the event to issue his first presidential decree: the obligatory annual public reading in schools of Guy Môquet’s letter to his family shortly before his execution by a Nazi firing squad on October 22, 1941. Sarkozy intends this to serve as an example of “heroism” and “sacrifice” for the “nation.” The 17-year-old Môquet was a member of the Young Communists.

The visit to the memorial ceremony and his proclamation about the letter brings to light an important historical episode that reveals the counter-revolutionary essence of French Stalinism.

The latter expression is Trot-speak for France's Communist Party which at one time commanded 20% of the vote, while in the last election the orthodox Communists garnered 1.6%. However, together with the half-a-dozen other small ultraleft parties that have picked up refugees from the Commies, the total of the whole farleft wing is about 10%--who largely voted against Sarkozy in favour of the mainstream Socialists.

The initial indignation of French Communist Party (PCF) leader Marie-George Buffet at Sarkozy’s cynical use of Môquet’s death to promote nationalism during his election campaign was short-lived. “The reading of Guy Môquet’s last letter before his execution is a strong message,” she declared, after Sarkozy had pronounced his presidential decree, “because this young man was a patriot through his engagement in the Resistance, but also because his combat for the emancipation of humanity had a goal, that of constructing a Republic of rights and liberties in a democracy.”

Buffet’s servile falling into line with Sarkozy reinforces the latter’s attempts to present himself as president of “all the French.”

With such gestures, Sarkozy seems intent on chipping away at his opposition to win more seats in the Parliament than even Jacques Chirac could muster. For his interim cabinet, Sarkozy has named at least one Socialist to an important ministerial portfolio.

Politics: Riot: Ahead of G8 Summit, Europe's violent nutcult seriously hurt 18 police, injure 128 others

"The world shaped by the dominance of the G-8 is a world of war, hunger, social divisions, environmental destruction and barriers against migrants and refugees," [protest] organizers said in leaflets handed out on the streets.

CNN.com carries a dreadful story from Rostock, Germany: "146 German police officers injured in violent G-8 protests" (Jun2,2k7):

Masked demonstrators showered police with grapefruit-sized rocks and beer bottles, then were driven back with water cannon and tear gas during a protest march Saturday against the upcoming Group of Eight summit in Germany.

The clashes left smoke from burning cars and the sting of tear gas drifting through the harborfront area in the north German port of Rostock. Some 146 police were hurt, 18 of them seriously.

Radicals "are smashing everything in their way to pieces," said Karsten Wolff, a police spokesman.

The officially permitted march preceded a three-day summit beginning Wednesday in the seaside resort of Heiligendamm, where German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosts the leaders of the other G-8 nations -- Britain, France, Japan, Italy, Russia, Canada and the United States.

The leaders are expected to discuss measures against global warming, the fight against AIDS and poverty in Africa, and the world economy. As in previous years, the summit drew protesters of various stripes opposed to globalization, capitalism and the G-8 itself.

Most marchers were peaceful, but others pried up paving stones and broke them into chunks before charging police. Officers in helmets and full body armor fell back, then charged the demonstrators.

Five large green police trucks with twin water cannons mounted on top blasted groups of rioters. A police car was destroyed and several parked cars burned, spreading black smoke over the area.

Protesters torched a large blue recycling bin.

Police spokesman Frank Scheulen estimated the number of violence-minded demonstrators at about 2,000. Police put the size of the demonstration at 25,000, while organizers said it was 80,000.

Officials said 17 people were arrested.

Werner Raetz, an anti-globalization activist with Attac, one of the organizing groups, distanced himself from the violence: "There is no justification for these attacks."

Politics: Latin America: Bolivia and Ecuador join ultraleftist suppression of privately-owned news media begun by Cuba, Venezuela

Washington Times carries a story by Martin Arostegui, "Morales, Correa target TV foes" (May31,2k7):

>SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia -- The leaders of Bolivia and Ecuador are moving with Cuban encouragement and in concert with their mentor, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, to restrict press freedom in their countries.

Bolivian President Evo Morales and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa both announced steps to crack down on independent broadcasters within days of Mr. Chavez's closure on Sunday of Venezuela's main independent television station, RCTV.

My editor has asked me to develop analysis of the full report on refWrite refBlogger Insert, which he will post. I hope to add there some musings on the future role of blogging in these no-free-speech totalitarian countries.

Politics: Darfur: USA Prez Bush declares further sanctions against Sudan's alleged genocide to exterminate the Darfurians

Marketplace a radio newscast carries the audio link to hear US Prez George W. Bush declaration of further sanctions on Sudan, and personal sanctions on 2 govt officials and 1 "rebel leader," whether Janjaweed or Darfurian, I have no idea yet. In the background, there will be lurking the charges related to genocide, which easily could bring the International Criminal Court into action. Bush's Sudan statement on American Public Media [APM] radio.

The Save Darfur Coalition is urgently asking people to campaign for the President to take up the issue in the UN Security Council on an emergency basis.

North Africa > Darfur, Sudan

But just today I see a news report where the umbrella group is saying it may be too late. Despite the headline, the article makes clear SDC is by no means playing a blame-game, because the Save Darfur Coalition are diplomatic realists.

President Bush today directed the Treasury Department to tighten existing economic sanctions against Sudan. It's already a crime for American companies to do business with the country. [The] new US economic sanctions against Sudan intend ... to pressure the Sudanese government to stop the bloodshed in the Darfur region.

In the strange world of international diplomacy, the President had to dot all his "i"s and cross all his "t"s to avoid China's reaction (Sudan is one of China's oil sources). A negative reaction on a time-consuming diplomatic technicality would have had a bad outcome for the effort to save Darfur, as a negative Chinese response would (and still may) effect the UN SC's discussion of worlwide enforcement of the additional sanctions. China is a permanent member of the Security Council, and thus has veto power over any decision of the Council.

Politics: Canada's Humanitarian Aid: Agency fawlted for slothful biz-as-usual in Afghanistan war zone

National Post reports in an article by Andrew Mayeda, "Canada’s aid failures a threat to Afghan mission: NGO" (May28,2k7) CanWest News Service

OTTAWA - Canada's "failures" on the development and aid front are endangering the military mission in Afghanistan, says a non-governmental organization that operates in Kandahar province.

Notice at the outset of reporter Mayeda's article that a new framework of geostrategic thawt is employed when he uses quite interestingly the phrase development and aid front, tho only momentarily at the outset, sweeping aside the previous decades of the Cdn Lib policy of parallelism, military was one strait-line task, paralleled by a distinct CIDA-ethos of "humanitarian aid."

But in Mayeda's phrasing, in the new barely-mentioned framework of one war, integrated but fawt on differentiated fronts. Development and aid in what should be Canada's integrated policy for it's mission in Afghanistan, is just one front of an integrated three-pronged war policy.

In fact, the situation is so severe that the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) should be relieved of its duties and replaced with a special envoy who will co-ordinate development, aid and counter-narcotics policy, argues Senlis Council.

"When you're on the ground in Kandahar, it's sad to say that despite good intentions, CIDA's efforts are non-existent," Vancouverite Norine MacDonald, the group's founder, said today.

"We are confronted every day by people without food, without water, without medical aid, without shelter."

Senlis is calling for a major overhaul of Canada's strategy that would see its development and aid budget increased to the same level as the military budget.

The logic of this equation depends on the validity of the quantifications and accounting philosophy presupposed in "military" and "development, aid." The almitey dogma of Equality spread beyond its appropriate stretch of meaningfulness.

Currently, Canada spends more than 10 times on military operations than it does on development.

I don't think it's prudent to starve Canadian soldiers to feed starving Aghans. By that I mean, funds alloted to reach toward the hokum ideal of "equality" of dollars, should only gradually be phased in.

"Our military are doing a remarkable job in the most difficult circumstances, but our government is not doing what needs to be done in development, aid or counter-narcotics policies to be sure that we have the support of the Afghan people," said Ms. MacDonald. "Without winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan people, we will continue to win the battles but we will not the war."

Almost six years since the United States and its allies invaded the country, people in southern Afghanistan are actually worse off economically, said Ms. MacDonald.

The province is gripped by "extreme poverty" and "growing disenchantment" with NATO forces, she said.

Refugee camps are teeming with starving people, making the camps an "easy recruiting ground" for the Taliban, who pay recruits about $200 per month.

No substantial food aid has been delivered to Kandahar province since March 2006, said Ms. MacDonald.

Meanwhile, mounting civilian casualties are feeding resentment toward Canadian troops and their allies.

According to a Senlis survey of 17,000 Afghan men this spring, more than 80% of men in southern Afghanistan worry about feeding their families.

North America > Canada's Aid2Afghans

Fifty percent [50%!--Owlb]believe the Taliban will defeat the NATO coalition.

Senlis also slammed the U.S.-driven policy to stamp out the opium trade by eradicating poppy crops. Opium production has actually increased while leaving poor farmers without work.

Instead, the group is proposing a "poppy-for-medicine" pilot project that would license Afghan farmers to grow opium for use as morphine or codeine, an approach that has worked in countries such as Turkey and India.

If well-regulated and controlled, doubling as an anti-Taliban program, this Senlis suggestion could solve the problem of illicit trade in opium. To accomplish this bureaucratically, however, would require a system of inspection, accounting, and paperization / digitalization almost unheard of in Afghan culture.

Senlis also recommends that Canada adopt the UN's Millennium Development Goals [MDGs] success criteria for the Afghanistan mission . The goals target progress in areas such as poverty and hunger, universal primary education and gender equality.

Rookmaker Club for geostrategic analysis

Vitally interesting to me, is how the Senlis Council's report adopts UN MDG goalism such as reformational Christian economist Bob Goudzwaard has severely criticized (see the exchange between Dr Bruce Wearne and refWrite's publisher, "Public Justice and Emerging World Society," pointing out how the priority of goals over norms is an evasion of facing the issue of norms. Norms are precedent to goals. Utopian goals can be at first exhilarating, then frustrating, then widely nodded-to but disregarded (like Kyoto Enviro and the G8's goals for African aid), then the whole idea of goals becomes numbing.

Nothing happens ... but Senlis wants to put Canada on record as supporting wannabe DMG goals to turn Kandahar into the very image of a Canadian middle-class suburb.

... Ms. MacDonald reserved her harshest words for CIDA, which has been criticized for the slow pace of its development efforts.

Perhaps whipping up fury because CIDA is insufficiently motivated by artificial and utopian goals such as DMGing Afghan's plite? Are we seeing the emergence of A new development-doctrine orthdoxy? Via Senlis?

"For some reason, CIDA has a structure in historical development that makes it difficult for them to work in a war zone," said Ms. MacDonald.

However, she was vague on exactly how a special development envoy would turn things around. She said the envoy would decide on the strategy after consulting with government, military and aid-agency officials.

A Senate committee on national defence also found no evidence of a "visible" Canadian development effort and called on CIDA to funnel money through the military to deliver aid.

The office of Josee Verner, the minister in charge of CIDA, did not respond to a request for comment.

Despite its concerns, Senlis is not calling for a Canadian withdrawal from Afghanistan. In fact, Canada should not set a timetable for leaving, but instead set clear goals for the mission and not leave until they are accomplished, said Ms. MacDonald.

This military doctrine is remarkably sensible in regard to Canadian foreign policy vis a` vis strong support for the new democracy of Afghanistan--a democracy which the Taliban is trying to bring to its knees. Senlis is more than hot air.

Canada has about 2,500 troops in the Kandahar region in the southern part of Afghanistan. Fifty-five Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have died there since 2002.

Senlis was founded in 2002 and is bankrolled by Swedish philanthropist Stephan Schmidheiny, an early investor in the Swatch Group. It has offices in London, Paris, Brussels, Ottawa and Kabul, as well as field offices in Kandahar and Helmand provinces.

Meantime, one should remember that CIDA has functioned as well as could be expected in pre-tsunami, war-torn Sri Lanka--and serves in that war zone to this very day, a war zone that is at the same time a post-tsunami culture under the invasion of do-gooders, whose massive presence attracted do-good cadres to the point where the famous Tamil city of Batticaloa (Mattapuku), one sees foreign experts swarming en masse that one sees changed the entire complexion of the faces on the streets, suddenly an international conclave, not a Tamil city--if my sources hold, and my facts not too stale.

In any case, Senlis is not reported as having even a single word to say on the demographics that Afghanistan is up against, whether the West is present there or not. It more than reproduces its population, which it cannot feed to begin with (only the opium trade is capable of supplying jobs and incomes aside from aid and taxes ... but taxes of whom?). And in that circumstance, there is no mention of policies to free up entrepreneurial energies and skills in the Afghan population to create businesses, no mention of loans to business small and large, of workable banking and accounting in Afghanistan, of manufacturing goods some of which Canadians could purchase. Afghans need money incomes like everyone else in today's world. Sure, build schools (and pay teachers and professors) and hospitals (and pay nurses and doctors), but where's the tax-base to keep the schools and hospitals and their non-profit employees going?

Politics: Europe: Republic of Ireland voters stunned with the win of Bertie Ahern's Fianna Fail Party, spurned coalition with Sinn Fein Party in Rpblc

BBC carries an article by James Helm, "Irish PM achieves 'unlikely' victory" (May26,2k7):

A couple of weeks ago, in the corridors of Stormont, the seat of devolved government in Northern Ireland, Bertie Ahern [Republic of Ireland "prime minister"] looked happy and relieved.

After 10 years of negotiations and frustrations, a power-sharing government - something that had at times seemed a distant, unlikely prospect - had been achieved [in Northern Ireland, which has remained part of the UK with local self-govt, but a UK working hand-in-glove with the Irish Republic which straddles most of the island from the Irish Sea to the Atlantic Ocean.]

The man known across Ireland simply as "Bertie" told me that, as a politician, this was "as good as it gets".

For Mr Ahern, the events of the last couple of days may push that achievement close for top billing. For much of the campaign, he was on the back foot, criticised and scrutinised, his strategy derided and his personal credibility called into question.

The polls had, more than once, suggested that voters might dump him out of office.

Third term

The two largest opposition parties, Fine Gael and Labour, with their "Alliance for Change", had suggested that the Irish electorate had an appetite for new faces and different policies.

Many pundits joined in, asking if this might be the end of the road for the man who has led Ireland since 1997.

Instead, he has won a remarkable victory, and is heading for a third term in office.

His personal popularity, which has carried him through tough times before, has again paid off. The man once dubbed the "Teflon Taoiseach", [Taoiseach is the Irish word for Prime Minister - P] because criticism just never seems to stick to him, has done it again. Mr Ahern may well be feeling pretty satisfied.

So how did Mr Ahern confound the pollsters, the pundits and the bookies?

Perhaps it was that personal popularity, or the fact that Irish voters objected to the questions and scrutiny of Mr Ahern's own financial dealings back in the 1990s - something those around him suggested had become a witch hunt.

Or maybe it was a satisfaction with the status quo.

Europe > Republic of Ireland

Media 'intrusion'

Much of Ireland, though not all, has had it pretty good [economically] in recent years, enjoying rapid economic growth. The campaign focussed on the state of public services, especially the health system.

Enda Kenny had been favoured to unseat Mr Ahern. But, as some looked down at their ballot papers, they might have wondered whether it really was the moment to sweep the current government from power.

Mr Ahern, never one to blow his own trumpet, said Fianna Fail had done well because of a surge in support among young voters. He also complained about what he said was an increasingly intrusive media.

Yet in the next couple of weeks Bertie Ahern will have little time for his favourite leisure pursuits, watching sport or tending his beloved hanging baskets. ...

Thursday's election saw Mr Ahern's Fianna Fail emerge as the largest party, while the biggest opposition grouping, Fine Gael, made strong gains.

Voters selected two main parties to set the tone of the national political debate--one to govern, the other to offer a serious loyal opposition--with the remaining parties pretty well particalized.

But the smaller parties - Labour, Greens, Sinn Fein and the Progressive Democrats [PDs] - were squeezed. Independents also suffered.

Sinn Fein had gone into the election with high hopes, seemingly riding the crest of a wave after joining the power-sharing government in Northern Ireland.

But afterwards its president, Gerry Adams, talked of his party "dusting itself down" and looking at why it failed to build on past successes.

The very good news is that Sinn Fein--now presumably thoroly disconnected from IRA terrorists that targetted Northern Ireland for so many years--is losing what bloc of interest and influence that they had had during the previous election in the Irish Republic.

For all its satisfaction, Fianna Fail does not have an overall majority in the 166-member parliament.

For the past ten years, the right-of-centre PDs have been its coalition partners. But their support drained away this time round, and its leader, the controversial Justice Minister Michael McDowell, was the election's most high-profile casualty.

So the most likely options are that Mr Ahern forms a coalition with Labour Party or Greens. Either way, it means a possible change of political direction.

Mr Ahern is 55, and has said he will leave active politics when he turns 60. In his retirement, when he has more time for gardening and football-watching, he may look back at May 2007 with a great deal of fondness.

I hope that Bertie, tho he may be somewhat the scoundrel some of his detractors amplify, has another full term. Realignments in the Irish array of parties, where coalition govts are the norm, are taking place already. The process will continue. At some point, Fianna Fail will have a new younger Taoiseach at its helm, Sinn Fein will disappear from the Republic of Ireland.

Politics: Iraqi factions: Shiite firebrand Moqtada Sadr leaves other Shiites holding the bag, announces plan for his militia's alliance with Sunnis

BBC reports "Sadr calls for Sunni co-operation--Moqtada Sadr delivers sermon at Kufa" (25,2K7). The unsigned article continues, "Moqtada Sadr's faction has met for talks with Sunni moderates."

Moqtada Sadr, the radical Shia cleric, has backed a peace plan with Sunni factions in a bid to calm Iraq's sectarian violence.

Mr Sadr, who appeared in Iraq for the first time in months at Friday prayers, said his followers would co-operate with Sunnis against US occupation.

A senior aide told the BBC Mr Sadr had met moderate Sunni groups, aiming to forge a "united and democratic Iraq".

Iraq's vice-president called Mr Sadr's statement "quite encouraging".

Tarek al-Hashemi described Mr Sadr as "number one... the most influential leader" and said he would welcome a new approach to Sunni-Shia relations.

Speaking in the city of Kufa, Mr Sadr blamed foreign troops for Iraq's problems, and said Sunnis and Shias alike should oppose their continued presence in the country.

"I am ready to cooperate with [Sunnis] at all levels - this is my hand I stretch out to them."

Moqtada Sadr

"I say to our Sunni brothers in Iraq that we are brothers and the occupier divided us in order to weaken the Iraqi people," he said.

"In unity is strength, and in division weakness. We say to them, welcome at any time.

"I am ready to cooperate with them at all levels. This is my hand I stretch out to them - in so doing, I seek only God's satisfaction."

Mehdi politics

A senior political aide to Mr Sadr, Abd al-Mahdi al-Mutairi, told the BBC how the cleric's organisation was now seeking a compromise with moderate Sunnis.

He said Sadrist representatives met a group called the Anbar Awakening Council with the aim of preventing "sectarian sedition".

The Mehdi army has fought serious rebellions against US forces.

"We want a united and democratic Iraq that does not follow the occupation's agenda," Mr Mutairi said.

Mideast > Iraq

"We signed with them a pledge charter which we hope will be the nucleus of future agreements with other brothers, whether Sunni, Kurdish or otherwise."

Mr Sadr's followers have not always preached peace and co-operation.

His Mehdi Army, a Shia militia responsible for some of the sectarian killings in Iraq, has become one of the targets of the US-led surge.

But when the US began its security drive in Baghdad in February, Mr Sadr ordered his militants off the streets to avoid confrontation.

And during his recent absence from Iraq on security grounds, Mr Sadr withdrew six ministers loyal to him from the Iraqi cabinet, in an effort to press Prime Minister Nouri Maliki to set a timetable for a US troop withdrawal.

Sadr 'unstable'?

In a characteristically fiery sermon in Kufa, Mr Sadr led the 6,000 worshippers in the mosque in chanting: "No, no for Satan. No, no for America. No, no for the occupation. No, no for Israel."

However, the cleric urged his followers to use peaceful means of opposition.

The cleric's brand of nationalism and populism has made him a popular figure among Iraq's Shia Muslims, but it is not clear why he has chosen this moment to return.

Moqtada Sadr is one of the most important players in Iraq's complex sectarian and political mosaic, says the BBC's security correspondent Rob Watson.

One theory for his return is a desire to re-assert control over his militia, which is reported to be increasingly fragmented.

Mr Sadr may also see a chance to strengthen his position in the absence of his great Shia rival Abdul Aziz Hakim, who has left Iraq for medical treatment, our correspondent says.

One senior US official described Mr Sadr as a highly unstable 33-year-old whose own aides often find hard to predict.

If he pulls this one off, Moqtada will definitely rise in my evaluation of his historical relevance. But to accomplish a broad-distribution Sunni ally (there are many differences between Iraq's Sunnis) would be monumental labour and solomonic diplomatic skills.

Reflecting on this development as reported, one must recall Imam Sadr's longtime mainstay alliance with Iran's mullocracy. Thus, as only an Iranian establishmentarian could imagine, Sadr has orders to woo Iraq's Sunnis into alliance with the 30 Sadrite Shia members of the Iraq parliament, his 30,000 troops in his Sadrite Shiite militia, and a whole district of mostly-poor folk in xone of Baghdad called "Sadrland."

Politics: USA: Plame-Wilson cell's bizarre civl suit against Cheney, Libby, Rove, Armitage

Washington Post carries a news report by Carol D. Leonnig, "Judge Told Leak Was Part of 'Policy Dispute'" (May18,2k7).

Attorneys for Vice President Cheney and top White House officials told a federal judge yesterday that they cannot be held liable for anything they disclosed to reporters about covert CIA officer Valerie Plame [Plame was no longer covert--P] or her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV.

The officials, who include senior White House adviser Karl Rove and Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, argued that the judge should dismiss a lawsuit filed by the couple that stemmed from the disclosure of Plame's identity to the media.

Joseph C. Wilson IV and Valerie Plame say revealing Plame's job endangered their family. They are suing administration officials.

The perjury trial of Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff calls up high-profile witnesses.

The suit claims that Cheney, Libby, Rove and former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage violated the couple's privacy and constitutional rights by publicly revealing Plame's identity in an effort to retaliate against Wilson. Plame's identity was disclosed in a syndicated column in July 2003, days after Wilson publicly accused the Bush administration of twisting intelligence to exaggerate Iraq's nuclear threat and justify an invasion.

Libby was convicted in March of lying to a grand jury investigating the leak.

Valerie Plame was not undercover when she was exposed. The Plame-Wilson cell worked to advance John Kerry's campaign for President; after Kerry's defeat, the cell continued to use their positions in government to undermine the elected government.

Politics: Fiji: New strategy proposed for coping with constitutional and military crisis in the Fiji Republic

Fiji Daily Post carries an Editorial that deserves thawtful consideration from friends of the island Republic around the world, "State of emergency brings peace to the nation" (May16,2k7). Hat Tip for the heads-up from correspondent Dr. Bruce Wearne. The Editor-in-Chief of the independent and courageous Fiji Daily Post is Dr. Robert Wolfgramm.

The decision to extend the state of emergency decree is a wise one. Without the furtherance of the decrees, the nation would surely disintegrate into violence of a scale sometimes warned about by our traditional prophets and doomsday commentators, but (thankfully) not witnessed on these shores in the past.

Every passing day brings more economic slowdown and unrelenting signs of a military clamp-down on free speech of some of our alleged dissidents. Qarase remains island-bound and his court case appears moribund in the administrative and legal processes of the courts.

The SDL case likewise appears becalmed. The combination of an economic downturn with no sign of a speedy return to democracy, coupled with the selective repression of the freedoms of some, is a recipe for turning patience into anger. And if the bubble of security is going to burst, the question is when and what will trigger it. The Interim regime knows that and so it is to their great credit and for the safety of all citizens that we must all put up with more, not less, state of emergency. It is the only way to keep a lid on potentially growing dissent and mounting opposition to Interim control. That is to say, we are as far from satisfying the doctrine of acquiescence as we ever have been and may be even further now than we were on December 5.

Yes, there are a few scattered voices raised here and there in support of the interim regime, but their influence and representativeness, is far from known or acknowledged. On the other hand, anti-Interim websites proliferate. Until the conditions which give rise to opposition to the Interim regime are moderated or allayed completely - that is, until democracy is restored and in its train assistance packages refurbished to our ailing economy and the rights of dissidents respected - a state of emergency is the best option for the foreseeable future.

We must get back top democracy as a priority, but not if an all-out war between the political factions that currently divide the nation is allowed to erupt. The state of emergency may not be pleasant, but like a leash on a dog, it restrains tempers and lets most people walk the streets and sleep safely at night. It allows for a sense of well-being for most and ensures the nation is at peace.

I chime in, thinking Dr Wolfgramm has alerted us in the past to the antidemocratic and unconstitutional actions of the military in dismissing the elected governmtment of Quarase, while replacing it with an illegal "Interim" government by the self-appointed "guardians"--namely, the military. At this distance, I find myself trusting editor Wolfgramm, a principled Christian-democratic thinker.

The fleeting glimpses the Editor-in-Chief gives us of the economic downturn (resulting from the withdrawal of aid packages from New Zealand, Australia, and the European Union -- if I recall correctly); and of the understandable rise of militant blogging against the military regime; both of these glimpses lead on to certain geostrategic considerations that make the overall picture in Fiji grim, to say the least.

SouthWest Pacific > Fiji

Undoubtedly there are countries who would want a SouthWest Pacific listening post and puppet showcase--Russia, even more so China, and not forgetting the India-heritage population-segment now in Fiji for generations, let's add India to this list. One or all of these could suddenly prioritize Fiji by offering an aid package that could outdo whatever the island Republic was receiving from elsewhere. To my mind, what argues against this scenario is the military leadership's apparent adulatory cultivation of American politicians and Survivor-escape tourist ventures. But, I don't think these affinities are enuff to push aside the constraining American reliance on the New Zealand + Australian sphere of influence in the SouthWest Pacific. [I've further thawts on all these countries in relation to Fiji, from the stamdpoint of world geostrategic reflection, but that's for another time; and I would pursue them in my Neo-Constantinian Horizons blog, not here in my refWrite frontpage column.]

Rookmaker Club geostrategic analysis

As to the proliferation of militant regime-overthrow bloggers (I may be forecasting instead of reporting by using the term "regime-overthrow" here, as such trends sometimes develop an inner dynamic all their own, sometimes becoming dominated by forces without a peaceful democratic society honestly in mind as their goal and at heart as their envisioned norm), Dr Wolfgramm states simply that "anti-Interim websites proliferate." Who is financing them, just the irate citizens that have had enuff? Or do we look to countries or corporations that would have an interest in financing such dissidents and which have a new or old interest in Fiji--an interst in Fiji not for its own sake, but for its value as a stepping stone to other countries in the region? Does China want a capitalist-communist pro-China base--a Hong Kong?, a Macao?, a Cuba--nearby its prized customers / espionage targets New Zealand and Australia? Just asking. Or, turning the question about, is such worriment precisely what the Interimist-military complex fosters and seeks to use as leverage in furthering its own ends. So the residual questio: whether only an Interimist fictional scenario is behind anti=Interimist support for anti-regime bloggers?, or whether a real political praxis by an expansive Chinese communo-capitalist state (for instance) is behind much / some / a few of the dissident bloggers?

Dr Wolfgramm concludes:

Until the conditions which give rise to opposition to the Interim regime are moderated or allayed completely - that is, until democracy is restored and in its train assistance packages refurbished to our ailing economy and the rights of dissidents respected - a state of emergency is the best option for the foreseeable future.

Sadly, I have to concur. I do so out of a Christian-democratic neo-Constantinian anti-revolutionary framework of political values and geostrategic thinking. But the anti-revolutionary component has its limits, as does the neo-Constantinian.

Yet, we should keep in mind, sometimes the doctrine of acquiescence is definitively blocked in a potentially revolutionary situation, and intransigence prevails past its shelf-date. If one can't retreat from Fiji and the kairos moment comes when the peace on the street is broken, even for the general public of the island once-upon-a-time Republic, what criteria could be proposed for direct action to preserve / restore the Republic in democratic fullness? By peaceful means only, in the first instance? How to coalesce bloggers calling for direct action yet wanting peaceful democracy in an independent Republic distinct from any bloggers who may turn to revolutionism that really works toward a dictatorship alternative to the military-Interimist regime? How to discern the spirits if direct action becomes a cause? How to configure a coalition that isolates out from the circle of democratic and Christian-democratic co-belligerents, those others following a revolutionistic path pure and simple? Fiji is not Nepal, but....

Could Christian-democratic discussion clubs focused on these issues help in this situation at this moment?

Speaking in regard to action, one could ask: How to divide the bloggers who are authentic Fijian patriots from those who are serving foreign interests (whether foreign states or mega-corporations which may be the root of the military's coup, or may be a new force seeking to wedge its way into influence / power in this moment of weakness for all Fijian democracy and constituitonality)?

I will be posting further on the Fiji dissident bloggers on refWrite refBlogger Insert--a reformational blog which is devoted to exposing blog abuse and to supporting bloggers who are repressed, denied at least a modicum of freedom of speech in various represssive countries. As regular readers will know, I do not believe in an absolute freedom of speech, but there is a time and place for much expression that you or I may detest and consider to be quite anti-normative. In that lite, we must search for guidelines for our communal Christian reformational stance, an intelligence-fortified basic argument to defend the freedom of speech / blogging by the new Fijian extra-parliamentary opposition (a very mixed designation, I'd guess), freedom of speech within normative limits, and opposition to any imposed illegal extra-constitutional regime--that principled core of ideas remains de rigeur.

Politics: France: Winnipeg Free Press gives an entirely alternative understanding of immigrant voters in France

Pembroke Daily Observer carries an Editorial in Winnipeg Free Press May12,2k7) that records how h+rise-housing immigrants voted in the recent Presidential election in France. I noted the absence in the press of mention regarding how these districts voted, but I did notice what the Free calls "a bit of stone-throwing and car burning."

Sarko also did well among blue-collar workers, to the chagrin not just of the Socialist Party's regular supporters, but also of that 10% who voted for ultraleft parties in the first round (where now the enfeebled Communists took only 1.6% of the vote, as against the 20% of the national vote they once commanded in 1st rounds, before they came to the aid of the Socialists in the 2nd round).

In the bitter run-up to the final round of the French presidential election on Sunday, Socialist party candidate Segolene Royal suggested that a win for her right-wing rival, Nicolas Sarkozy, would bring an explosion of ethnic violence to France.

In the wake of Mr. Sarkozy's substantial victory, there was a bit of stone-throwing and car burning at the Place de la Bastille in [downtown] Paris, but nothing like the riots of 2005 that Ms. Royal was trying to resurrect as a fear in French minds, reminding them that as interior minister at the time, Mr. Sarkozy had referred to the rioters as "scum.''

In fact, in those areas, the banlieues, or immigrant ghettos of France where the riots took place, Mr. Sarkozy did surprisingly well when the votes were counted, taking 44 per cent of them. He did surprisingly well among blue collar workers between 46 and 52 per cent across the country. He won the support of the greater part of voters who had supported centrist Francois Bayrou in the first round of voting. In short, French voters stood French politics on its ear and confounded the pundits by breaking away from tradition all of those [who] are Ms. Royal's more natural constituencies.

The election result may rejuvenate France, which is in danger of becoming the sick man of the European Union. Mr. Sarkozy promised that change, with 100 days of action to implement economic reforms, including a longer work week. France's mandated 35-hour work week, the shortest in Europe, is widely blamed for its deplorable productivity rate and competitiveness, a dismal 27th in word rankings; its high unemployment; and its extraordinarily high debt-to-GDP ratio. Mr. Sarkozy promises to address all those issues, and his victory indicates that the French agree with him, at least in principle.

France would seem set for change but Mr. Sarkozy's triumph is also a boost for Canada and the Western alliance. France is naturally a major player, an integral ally in that relationship, but under outgoing President Jacques Chirac, it was a difficult, even a disagreeable one. Mr. Sarkozy is an unabashed defender of the alliance and an admirer of the United States, although no one is likely to accuse him of being America's poodle. Rather, he will try to keep America in step with France and France in step with America, even if that takes some serious double-stepping, enabling the West to present a stronger front in an increasingly fractious world. As a former leader of the Western alliance might have said, on both fronts, domestic and international, the news from France is very good.

That Sarko did "surprisingly well" among blue-collar workers, gaining an estimated 46 to 52 per cent of their votes nationwide, is a factoid worth meditating. This factoid suggests that a good chunk of featherbedded workers now realize that the country must become competitive soon. It would be most interesting to see what the Transport workers did with their votes, as they are among the worst blackmailers among unionized employees when it comes to demanding exorbitantly h+ wages. But France does have a much more entrenched viewpoint pluralism in its system of workers-representation, with parallel unions functioning on the same shop floor, and often bargaining nationally. As I recall, however, France does not have collective agreements with the force of binding contracts, but only "agreements" that settle a strike, etc.

Politics: Iraq: Fissures and mistrust, war politics of Sunnis in Anbar Province, Iraq's neibours, oil production shortfall

Washington Post published a detailed overview of the current situation in Iraq in the immediately preceding period. The article by Sudarsan Raghavan explains why there is a stalemate in the Iraqi parliament, where seemingly completed negotiations come undone quickly, sometimes allegedly because Prime Minister al-Maliki signs a document for which he doesn't have a consensus. He seems to have a presidential view of his office, but he lacks the support of the pro-Iran Shia of the Sadrist sect who have withdrawn their 6 ministers from the cabinet, while keeping their 30-member delegation in parliament with reps on at least two key committees thereof. Mr. Raghavan's important coverage is entitled "Baghdad's Fissures and Mistrust Keep Political Goals out of Reach (Apr26,2k7).

With the parliamentary stalemate in the background, the "war on the ground" continues. Looking at it from the various Iraqi points of view, while recalling that it is supposed to be for them "a sectarian civil war," pure and simple, we find the fascinating developments in the mostly-Sunni province of Anbar. There the Iraqi Sunni tribal leaders are turning against their foreign fellow Sunnis, Al Quaeda in Iraq. The forces of the anti-AlQuaeda chieftans have knocked off some of the AlQaeda leaders in the last week or so. They are saying that once the Americans are gone, the real problem will be these foreign fanatical fellow Sunnis, reports Sam Dagher in Christian Science Monitor. The "warlords" are on the warpath in a self-interested alliance with the USA against Al Qaeda. Sam Dagher in a second report, "Sunni Muslim sheikhs join US in fighting Al Qaeda -- Iraqi tribal support is linked to drop in violence in Anbar Province" (May3,2k7).

MidEast > Iraq

In yet a third dispatch the same Sam Dagher asks
"Can US sustain Anbar success?--While Al Qaeda in Iraq has been largely driven out of Ramadi, the US is hoping to build on the gains by fixing basic services and mediating tribal hostilities" (May4,2k7).

At the same time as the parliamentary stalement and the encouraging developments of the shift among the Sunnis, CSM carries a further report by
Howard LaFranchi regarding the just-concluded regional conference that included both Syria and Iran, with representatives of which US Secretary of State, Mdme. Condoleeza Rice, met. "Iraq's neibors wei next steps after regional conference --
Participating countries – including Syria and Iran – now face the test of fulfilling promises of security and economic aid" (May3,2k7).

But, cumulatively the juncture of the parliamentary stalemate and the shift of many Sunnis away from Al Qaeda in Anbar Province and the tenuous break-thru with various Iraqi neibours make all the more important what Peter Grier discusses under the title, "Iraq's oil production falls short of goals -- Despite years of rebuilding, petroleum production continues to fall short of targets, due to insurgency vandalism, poor field management, and corruption" (May7,2k7). At the same time, the success/failure of the oil industry in the country is dependent upon the disposal of the anticipated profits down the line. Which Iraqis--Shia, Sunnis, Kurds (also mostly Sunnis)--which of these will benefit from the oil fields is a key problem that impacts upon the three big problems: parliamentary stalemate, Sunnis breaking with AlQaeda, and again the neibours.

Enviro: Canada: An action plan to reduce greenhouse gases and air pollution

Two weeks ago, Canada's Conservative minority-government introduced its EcoAction plan in a presentation by recently-appointed Minister of the Environment, John Baird. His submission launched new draft federal legislation on the environment and is entitled "Turning the Corner: An action plan to reduce greenhouse gases and air pollution" (Apr28,2k7). The intro page can be found on the govt's website.

The Government of Canada's plan to regulate both greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants from industrial emitters will pave the way for a cleaner, healthier environment.

Released on April 26, 2007, the Action Plan to Reduce Greenhouse Gases and Air Pollution will:

* Impose mandatory targets on industry to achieve a goal of an absolute reduction of 150 megatonnes in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.

* Impose targets on industry so that air pollution from industry is cut in half by 2015.

* Regulate the fuel efficiency of cars and light duty trucks, beginning with the 2011 model year.

* Strengthen energy efficiency standards for a number of energy-using products, including light bulbs.

On May1,2k7, the govt released the following statement to the news media:

Actions by Canada's New Government to Reduce Greenhouse Gases and Air Pollution

May 1, 2007

Canada's New Government is committed to delivering real reductions on greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.

Diverse and complementary measures announced to date include:

* The Regulatory Framework for Air Emissions, which imposes mandatory targets on industry and gives them access to a range of cost-effective options to meet the targets, including:
o a capped technology fund to help the Canadian industrial sector develop new solutions critical to reducing greenhouse gases;
o a domestic emissions trading system. We will also look at future linkages with emissions trading systems in the US, and possibly Mexico, with further international linkages to be explored over time;
o domestic offset credits to engage other sectors of the Canadian economy to make greenhouse gas reductions, and;
o access to the Clean Development Mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

* Our Plan also:
o addresses emissions from transportation by regulating for the first time the fuel efficiency of cars and light duty trucks, beginning with the 2011 model year,
o strengthens energy efficiency standards for a number of energy-using products, including light bulbs, and
o recognizes the urgent need to take action to improve indoor air quality and commits to implement measures to do so.

* $1.5 billion to support to support environmental provincial and territorial projects, to reduce greenhouse gases and air pollution;

* $2 billion to support renewable fuel production;

North America > Canada (Enviro)

* 5% renewable fuels content in gasoline by 2010 and 2% renewable content in diesel fuel and heating oil by 2012 ;

* $2 billion for EcoEnergy Initiatives to help Canadians use energy more efficiently, boost renewable energy supplies and develop cleaner energy technologies;

* $1.3 billion for public transit;

* $100 million for EcoTransport Strategy for new initiatives in clean transportation;

* $36 million over the next two years for "scrappage" programs to retire older vehicles;

* Rebate of up to (+) $2,000 on fuel-efficient vehicles and levy of up to (-) $4,000 on vehicles that are fuel-inefficient;

* Tax credit for the purchase of monthly public transit passes;

* The formation of the EcoEnergy Carbon Capture and Storage Task Force to recommend the best ways for Canada to implement on a large scale this promising technology to capture carbon dioxide and store it deep underground; and

* $160 million over two years to offer performance-based rebates on new light duty vehicles.

Canada's New Government is also taking action to preserve Canada's natural heritage, strengthen the implementation of the Species at Risk Act, implement a new National Water Strategy and improve the enforcement of environmental protection laws.

The govt's plan has been severely criticized by all three opposition parties in the House of Commons (Libs, NDP, Bloc Quebecois), by Al Gore, and David Suzuki. So, the criticisms are better known than the plan itself.

One feature of the plan not clearly outlined above is the treatment of two industries. The first is the oil/gas industry in the zone of the Alberta Tar Sands where production willl increase by a factor of five (altho its market has been affected by the announcement of geological studies in Colorado, USA, which are said to hold enuff reserves to obesolesce US dependent on Middle East oil, the USA being a prime market for Albert gas and oil). The govt has in the plan a development effort to remove carbon dioxide emmissions from the product at the source in Alberta and pump it undergone into the empty holes left by extraction. Suzuki has come down very hard on this, but there is interest in the technics of proposal. However, even if feasible, affordable, and technically possible, the idea of storage of CO2 is as welcome in many quarters as is the storage of nuclear waste.

The second zone is located a world away (so to speak) in industrial Ontario, where the auto industry and its workforce are given delays regarding enforcement of the plan's features. Industry generally and the Canadian Auto Workers are pleased with the delays which give them an adjustment period in which Canada's contribution to greenhouse gases [GHG] will increase, rather than decrease. The govt argues that the plan's ambiguity results from balancing environmental concerns with the continuing health of the an economy, that over time can and will adjust. Of couse, Suzuki will have none of this.

Politics: France: Sarkozy wins Presidency of France on Conserve platform, Socialists crumble into deep divide

Bloomberg's Celestine Bohlen reports "Sarkozy Signals Shift in France's Ties With US, Europe" (May7,2k7)

Nicolas Sarkozy, in his acceptance speech after being elected president last night, signaled a shift in tone in France's relations both with the United States and Europe.

``I want to call out to our American friends to tell them that they can count on our friendship,'' said Sarkozy, a half hour after he was declared the winner. He also threw down a challenge to the U.S. to take the lead in the fight against climate change.

Similarly, he said ``France is back in Europe,'' while adding that the European Union should listen more closely to the citizens it is supposed to protect.

Sarkozy's approach marks a change from the policies of the outgoing President Jacques Chirac [12 years in office], who set himself up as an opponent of the Bush administration on a number of issues, most notably on the US-led invasion of Iraq [altho France is a NATO participant in the Afghanistan War].

Chirac has also been held responsible for the defeat in May 2005 of the proposed European constitution in France, which is one reason why the European Union's attempts to modernize have come to a halt. ...

He called for a return to a foreign policy based on France's historic commitment to human rights.

``I want to tell all those in the world who believe in the values of tolerance, liberty, democracy and humanism, that France will be at their side, that they can count on her,'' he said.

Bloomberg again: reporter Francois de Beaupuy, "Sarkozy Claims French Mandate to Push Tax-Cut, Labor Measures" (May7,2k7).

Nicolas Sarkozy claimed a mandate for change after his election as French president, pledging to unify the country as he began promoting a program of tax cuts, tougher prison sentences and tighter immigration rules.

``The people of France have chosen to break with their ideas, habits and behavior of the past,'' Sarkozy, 52, said late yesterday in a victory speech in Paris after congratulating his Socialist opponent, Segolene Royal. ``I will restore the value of work, authority, morals, respect, and merit. I'll restore national pride and national identity.''

Sarkozy, candidate of the governing Union for a Popular Movement [UMP], took 53.2 percent against 46.8 percent for Royal, the Interior Ministry said, with 96 percent of the vote counted.

Provided his party wins June parliamentary elections, lawmakers will be asked to vote on a budget that scraps payroll charges and income taxes on overtime hours. It would also eliminate inheritance taxes for all but the richest 5 or 10 percent and introduce a tax deduction for mortgage-interest payments.

Criticized as divisive and dangerous by Royal, 53, during the campaign, Sarkozy may not have much of a honeymoon. He has said he would push through a law in September requiring a minimum level of service by transport workers unless unions negotiate a deal by the end of summer. An impasse may lead to strikes that could set the tone for the rest of his presidency. ...

`Casus Belli'

``Transport reforms could be a casus belli,'' said Nicolas Sobczak, a Paris-based economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. ``But it's hard for grass-roots unionists to mobilize with Sarkozy winning with a big margin.''

Strikes crippled the French economy for three weeks in 1995, when Chirac unsuccessfully tried to reduce pension privileges of public-sector workers in his first year.

Sarkozy also risks running into opposition from public- sector employees because he has pledged not to replace half of the civil servants retiring over the next five years and to roll back some transport workers' pension benefits. ...

Sarkozy inherits an economy whose share of European exports is shrinking and whose growth is likely to lag behind Germany's for a second year. The jobless rate of 8.7 percent is the highest among the 13 nations that share the euro.

He blames the 35-hour work week, above-average taxes, and generous unemployment benefits for discouraging initiative and holding down salaries.

To boost hiring, Sarkozy, who was Chirac's interior minister and finance minister for four years, has pledged that his government will confer with business federations and labor unions by the end of the year to make firing procedures quicker and more predictable in exchange for increased unemployment benefits and extra training for jobseekers.

Sarkozy says he'd make students' earnings tax free and [promised] to give universities more autonomy to manage their staff and real estate and to create partnerships with businesses.

Chirac's successor, who campaigned on law and order, said he'd introduce a law in July [after June elections for a new Parliament] that toughens sentences for repeat offenders, and a separate law that will aim from preventing immigrants who don't have a job and an apartment from being joined by family members.

He also faces hurdles abroad. Sarkozy, who made criticism of the European Central Bank one of his campaign staples, may also clash with fellow European Union leaders on Turkey. He opposes the nation's entry into the 27-nation EU. Negotiations on Turkey joining the EU, approved in 2005, are partially suspended amid a dispute over Cyprus.

In his post-election comments he urged ``our European partners not to remain deaf to the anger of people who see the EU as a Trojan horse'' for globalization.

Bloomberg in a third report features the loser in France's two-way election last nite, a story by Helene Fouquet and Sandrine Rastello, "Royal's Election Loss Tolls `End of Era' for French Socialists" (May7,2k7):

Segolene Royal's loss to Nicolas Sarkozy in yesterday's presidential election amplified divisions among French Socialists that may fracture the nation's second- biggest party.

A leadership purge won't be enough to heal the split between [Socialist party] skeptics of global capitalism and [that party's social democrats] who seek an alliance with centrist Francois Bayrou, who finished third in the April 22 first round, said Bernard Kouchner, a former Socialist health minister.

``This is the end of an era, the end of French socialism,'' Kouchner, 67, said in an interview.

Royal's six-point loss to Sarkozy marked the party's third straight defeat in presidential elections and followed a rout five years ago. In 2002, Lionel Jospin failed to make it into the runoff against Jacques Chirac when he was beaten by anti- immigration leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.

``They had five years to reinvent themselves, but instead of starting over from scratch, they took the same people and stayed where they were,'' said Etienne Schweisguth, a senior fellow at the Institute for Political Studies in Paris. ...

``You know what social democracy means? It means compromising with the right wing and at the Socialist Party we're against that,'' David Assouline, a Socialist senator from Paris and a Royal campaign aide, said in an interview on May 4.

Sensing the looming defeat, Socialists had already begun campaigning for what they call the ``third round'' -- the legislative elections on June 10 and June 17. ...

``Even Communist China has taken the road of capitalism, even them,'' Kouchner said. ``Is France the only country where we will keep thinking capitalism is perverse, vulgar and dangerous?''

Each of these stories is worth clicking-up to read in their entireties, along with the title-link from Reuters that appeared in Times of India. However, the Bloomberg trio of stories by Celestine Bohlen, by Francois de Beaupuy, and by Helene Fouquet and Sandrine Rastello taken together are exceptional as an au courant source. Even in my foreshortened excerpts, the reader has access to a veritable course on the current political situation in France. This sustained non-repetitive reporting speaks well also for Bloomberg.com (click for the frontpage) which basically focuses on on financial and business news.

In my opinion Sarkozy is going to have one hell of a term of office, because France is featherbedded as no other country on Earth. And all the featherbedded "workers" and their unions, who opposed giving non-white youth better job-market chances (easy to hire, easy to fire) in small businesses (therefore non-unionized) out of sheer racism-socialism will fite the new President tooth and nail from his first day in office to his last. We wish him good luck, because at present France can't compete with in Europe, let alone globally.

Politics: UK: Scottish National Party (SNP) wins a plurality, becoming Scotland's largest party under proportional representation

BBC reports Scotland's election thru the prism of how the winners will form a coalition in the multi-party outcome of the vote, breaking Labour's 8-yr hold on the realm. "SNP begins coalition discussions" (May5,2k7).

The table of results looks like this:

Scottish National Party......47 seats
Labour Party.................46 seats
Conservative Party...........17 seats
Liberal Democratic Party.....16 seats
Green Party...................2 seats
Independent...................1 seat

The Electoral Commission has launched an inquiry after the election was marred by technical problems, delays and a high level of spoiled ballot papers.

Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he had concerns about the complexity of the voting system when he was Scottish secretary [in Westminster, London].

Most likely, it seems to me, SNP will make a written promise not to hold a Quebec-style referendum of separation from the United Kingdom (altho the Queen and her Heir would still be the successive monarchs of an independent Scotland, if I understand the constitutional situation correctly). The written agreement with the Liberal Democrats would permit the latter to enter the governing coalition, with the Greens then being all too happy to fill in the final 2 votes to secure the government's majority. Otherwise, it would have to be SNP + Tories + Greens + Independent. Is the math there? Perhaps, but not the poitics, it would seem.