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Friends & Tatjana Daily News
“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” ― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray.
US soldiers and military contractors sexually abused at least 54 children in Colombia between 2003 and 2007, according to a recently released historic document on the country’s conflict. The suspects have allegedly not been prosecuted due to immunity clauses in bilateral agreements.
The 800-page independent historic report was commissioned by the Colombian government and rebel group FARC to establish the causes and violence aggravators of the 50-year-long conflict they are negotiating to end.
The document is to help negotiators determine who is responsible for the more than 7 million victims of the armed conflict between leftist rebels and the state while they are negotiating peace.
Greece’s eurozone creditors have approved the reform plan it put forward, which paves the way for the country's €172 billion bailout to be extended until June.
"National procedures for extension of the Greek programme can begin," EU Euro Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said on Twitter after a conference call Tuesday.
Final approval will come from the parliaments of several eurozone countries, the Eurogroup said .
Regardless of rumors of pending resolution, the crisis in Greece is escalating with capital flight, an imminent government funding shortfall and terms being forced on it by the European North, particularly Germany, that are (1) politically, economically and socially untenable and (2) guaranteed to exacerbate the manufactured economic crisis that the EU claims it wants to resolve. The intransigence of the European North in the face of its clearly failed policies is increasingly punitive and risks rapid decline into regional, and possibly global, crisis. And left largely unsaid, but increasingly in evidence to the European periphery, is that Germany has both benefited from its trade with Greece and through its largest bank, Deutsche Bank, is in some measure responsible for the Greek crisis.
Surrender! Capitulation! Betrayal! Syriza hasn't even been in office for a month, but already the obituaries are being written.
Some on the left, of course, had written them long before January's election. Syriza, you see, has failed to declare the revolution. So far, so familiar. But over the last few days some more sensible forces seem – as with the coalition deal in the early days of the Syriza government – to have got a little carried away in their horror at this week's debt deal, believing the German government's crowing rhetoric that Syriza has suffered total humiliation.
This is a deal that has been described in quite the opposite terms by Greek prime minister Alexis Tspiras: he called it 'a decisive step, leaving austerity, the bailouts and the troika'. Unless he has quite suddenly and unexpectedly taken leave of planet Earth, there is more going on here than meets the eye.
To discover the truth we need to not only look at the deal, or even the media spin around the deal, but examine what the text they have signed up to will mean in practice.
No agreement to austerity
Much of the reporting of th
"This is how the international community should work in the 21st century." Obama said.
“So long as the Libyan people are being threatened, the Nato-led mission to protect them will continue.” Obama said
"To the Libyan people: this is your chance." Obama said.
"Today, the Libyan people are writing a new chapter in the life of their nation. After four decades of darkness[?], they can walk the streets[?], free from a tyrant," Obama said.[ and free of LIFE!]
"To the Libyan people: this is your chance," Obama said.
Remember the time when Libya was being held up by the American, British, French and Qatari governments as a striking example of benign and successful foreign intervention? It is worth looking again at film of David Cameron grandstanding as liberator in Benghazi in September 2011 as he applauds the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi and tells the crowd that "your city was an example to the world as you threw off a dictator and chose freedom".
Mr Cameron has not been back to Benghazi, nor is he likely to do so as warring militias reduce Libya to primal anarchy in which nobody is safe. The majority of Libyans are demonstrably worse off today than they were under Gaddafi, notwithstanding his personality cult and authoritarian rule. The slaughter is getting worse by the month and is engulfing the entire country.
Our government is not asking our partners for a way out of repaying our debts. We are asking for a few months of financial stability that will allow us to embark upon the task of reforms that the broad Greek population can own and support, so we can bring back growth and end our inability to pay our dues.
Rockets slam into a soup kitchen in eastern Ukraine, forcing terrified workers to duck for cover
The Guardian Exposed as Tool of US Propaganda:
This footage was shot by Patrick John Lancaster during a shelling of soup kitchen in a residential area in east Ukraine BY KIEV'S FORCES. The Guardian added audio blaming the attack on the self-defense forces, an outright lie.
With US Special Forces troops already filmed being a part of this conflict, and US General. Ben Hodges, Commander of the US Army in Europe, handing out medals to wounded Ukrainian soldiers, this report also warns, the Federation is already in a de facto war with the Obama regime.
As to the outcome of these latest dire events it should be noted, and as we had previously reported on, Putin’s “Shock of March” battle plan remains a grave option on this bloodied table of war that may soon engulf us all.
Actually, let me stress the “unnecessary” aspect. What Greece is asking for — although German voters probably don’t know this — is not a fresh infusion of money. All that’s on the table is a reduction in the primary surplus — that is, a reduction in Greek payments on existing debt. And we have often been told that everyone understands that the official target surplus, 4.5 percent of GDP, is unreasonable and unattainable. So Greece is, in effect, only asking that it get to recognize the reality everyone supposedly already understands.
Why, then, are things boiling over? Partly because what “everyone knows” has never been explained to northern European electorates, so that the time to recognize reality is always at some future date. Partly also, I suspect, because creditors have come to expect the symbolism of debtor governments abjectly abandoning their campaign promises in the name of responsibility, and are waiting for the new Greek government to pay the usual tribute of humiliation.
But as I said, the dynamic is very different this time.
Letters: Fundamental principles of common cause will be totally undermined if the eurozone powerhouses continue to demand austerity from Greece
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So why no coverage? Certainly one of Washington’s stanchest Latin American allies co-authoring a blistering report about systemic US military child rape of a civilian population should be of note–if for no other reason than, as the report lays out, it undermined American military efforts to stop drug trafficking and fight leftist rebels:
The ISIL terrorists release a video showing its militants destroying ancient artifacts in Iraq.
The main points of neo-liberalism include:
THE RULE OF THE MARKET. Liberating "free" enterprise or private enterprise from any bonds imposed by the government (the state) no matter how much social damage this causes. Greater openness to international trade and investment, as in NAFTA. Reduce wages by de-unionizing workers and eliminating workers' rights that had been won over many years of struggle. No more price controls. All in all, total freedom of movement for capital, goods and services. To convince us this is good for us, they say "an unregulated market is the best way to increase economic growth, which will ultimately benefit everyone." It's like Reagan's "supply-side" and "trickle-down" economics -- but somehow the wealth didn't trickle down very much.
CUTTING PUBLIC EXPENDITURE FOR SOCIAL SERVICES like education and health care. REDUCING THE SAFETY-NET FOR THE POOR, and even maintenance of roads, bridges, water supply -- again in the name of reducing government's role. Of course, they don't oppose government subsidies and tax benefits for business.
DEREGULATION. Reduce government regulation of everything that could diminsh profits, including protecting the environmentand safety on the job.
PRIVATIZATION. Sell state-owned enterprises, goods and services to private investors. This includes banks, key industries, railroads, toll highways, electricity, schools, hospitals and even fresh water. Although usually done in the name of greater efficiency, which is often needed, privatization has mainly had the effect of concentrating wealth even more in a few hands and making the public pay even more for its needs.
ELIMINATING THE CONCEPT OF "THE PUBLIC GOOD" or "COMMUNITY" and replacing it with "individual responsibility." Pressuring the poorest people in a society to find solutions to their lack of health care, education and social security all by themselves -- then blaming them, if they fail, as "lazy."
Paul Verhaeghe: An economic system that rewards psychopathic personality traits has changed our ethics and our personalities
If Greece got the boot on Friday, it’s humanitarian crisis would have deepened overnight while the blow to the capital markets would have paved the way for another financial crisis. Fortunately, the catastrophe was averted mainly because Varoufakis was able to cobble together a viable plan for meeting the Eurogroup’s basic requirements while creating significant opportunities to ease conditions in Greece. Don’t get me wrong; this isn’t a perfect deal by any stretch, but it is the best deal that could have been reached given the circumstances and the unbridled hostility from German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble who was eager to scuttle the whole project and throw Greece to the wolves. Varoufakis managed to out maneuver the irascible Schaeuble and get some of what he wanted, but only through stiff-necked resolve and significant compromise. As a result, Greece is still a member of the Eurozone, but just barely. A rejection of its reform package today (Monday) could push the beleaguered country out of the 19-member Union for good.
Italian press today published claims that ISIS has threatened to release the huge wave of migrants to cause chaos in Europe if they are attacked
And letters from jihadists show plans to hide terrorists among refugees
In 2011, Muammar Gaddafi ominously predicted war would come to Libya
He was deposed in a violent coup and killed in October of the same year
Islamic State executed 21 Egyptian Christians on Libyan beach this week
Crisis in Libya has led to surge in number of migrants heading for Europe
“I am convinced that we have one option only: to shun any temptation to treat this pivotal moment as an experiment in strategizing and, instead, to present honestly the facts concerning Greece’s social economy, table our proposals for re-growing Greece, explain why these are in Europe’s interest, and reveal the red lines beyond which logic and duty prevent us from going,” the finance minister said.
"I promise you: Greece will then, in six months' time, be a completely different country,” the Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told Germany’s Stern magazine over the weekend.
Varoufakis: For the past five years, Greece has been subjected to austerity measures that it cannot, under any circumstances, meet. Our country is literally being pushed under water. Just before we suffer an actual cardiac arrest, we are granted a momentary respite. Then we're pushed back under water, and the whole thing starts again. My aim is to end this permanent terror of asphyxiation.
Solidarity rallies – pinned by @Northaura
Με επευφημίες υποδέχθηκαν τον Αλέξη Τσίπρα στην πλατεία, μπροστά στο Μέγαρο της Καγκελαρίας στη Βιέννη...πολλές δεκάδες Ελλήνων και Αυστριακών.
Οι συγκεντρωμένοι φώναξαν ενθουσιώδη συνθήματα, φέροντας πλακάτ στα οποία -μεταξύ άλλων- ζητείται η διαγραφή του ελληνικού χρέους.
Τους συγκεντρωμένους χαιρέτισε ο Έλληνας πρωθυπουργός, εκφράζοντας προς αυτούς τις ευχαριστίες του.
Τον κ. Τσίπρα υποδέχθηκε ο Αυστριακός Καγκελάριος Βέρνερ Φάιμαν, παρουσία μεγάλου αριθμού εκπροσώπων του διεθνούς Τύπου και δεκάδων τηλεοπτικών συνεργείων, τα οποία βρίσκονται στο Μέγαρο της Καγκελαρίας, υπογραμμίζοντας το τεράστιο ενδιαφέρον των διεθνών μέσων ενημέρωσης για τις συνομιλίες αυτές.
Η συνάντηση των δύο αντρών ίνεται κατόπιν προσκλήσεως του καγκελαρίου ο οποίος, μεταξύ άλλων, θα ενημερώσει τον Έλληνα πρωθυπουργό σχετικά με την αυστριακή πολιτική απασχόλησης.
Υπενθυμίζεται πως σε πρόσφατη συνέντευξή του στην εφημερίδα Oesterreich, ο κ. Φάινμαν είπε πως εκείνοι οι οποίοι τώρα ελπίζουν πως η νέα ελληνική κυβέρνηση θα αποτύχει, «πέφτουν έξω» και τονίζει ότι «μια τέτοια χαιρεκακία είναι ανάρμοστη».
Greece Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis denied that there is conflict with the Eurozone after his meeting with the head of the Euro Working Group Thomas Wieser and the head of the European Commission's delegation in the EU-IMF troika Declan Costello.
The meeting was held in Athens to prepare the special meeting of the Eurogroup (Eurogroup) on Wednesday, February 11th.
"There was no conflict. We had a discussion and consultation, as we always do in the European family" Varoufakis said.
The Greek Finance Minister was besieged by dozens of journalists as he walked to the ministry in Athens. Under constant pressure to make statements he jokingly said: "I hope you don’t expect me to announce the state budget walking on the street".
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration is pushing euro zone leaders to compromise more with Greece's new government as fears grow that a protracted budget stand-off could damage the global economy, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
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![Libya S.O.S. - war diary 2011/12: NATO SLAUGHTERING CHILDREN IN SIRTE - "To the Libyan people: this is your chance." Obama said. [22. September 2011. Sirte, Libya] | Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth. | Scoop.it](http://img.scoop.it/jjVzh8pfqYKA_-SI9yF10Dl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBVvK0kTmF0xjctABnaLJIm9)
