Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Friday 29 November 2013

The European Union Times


Posted: 28 Nov 2013 11:37 AM PST

Key American allies in East Asia, Japan and South Korea, have followed US lead by sending military aircraft to fly through disputed airspace, which China unilaterally included last week in its air defense zone.
Tokyo and Seoul sent its aircraft into the disputed areas following a similar flight on Monday by two unarmed American B-52 bombers. Neither country informed the Chinese of their plans beforehand, stressing their defiance of Beijing’s claim over the airspace.
China announced last week that it now considers new airspace as part of its Air Defense Identification Zone and demanded that aircraft passing it notify Chinese authorities of their flight plans and identify themselves as they pass. The claimed zones include those over islands, the sovereignty over which China contests other nations.
Japanese military said Tuesday that it sent surveillance missions over the islands in the South China Sea, which are called the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.
“They are carrying out surveillance activity as before in the East China Sea, including the zone,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular news conference.
The area is routinely patrolled by Japanese naval ships and P-3C aircraft, Suga said.
“We are not going to change this [activity] out of consideration to China,” he stressed.
Meanwhile South Korean forces flew over the Socotra Rock in the Yellow Sea, the northern part of the South China Sea. Both South Korea and China consider it to be within their respective exclusive economic zones and call it Ieodo and Suyan Rock respectively.
The Philippines, also engaged in a dispute with Beijing over islands, said it also was rejecting China’s declaration.
The demonstrations of military defiance by the US and its allies so far did not draw any response from Beijing. Chinese military said it monitored the passage of the US bombers, but did not comment on whether they plan to take any action to enforce the new rules.
Some experts and policymakers believe the declaration of the defense zone was rather a symbolic gesture aimed at eroding Japanese and South Korean influence over the disputed territories rather than a practical move.
“China will not implement [the zone] fully because they do not have enough assets … but they will try to scare smaller nations,” told Reuters a source in the Japanese government, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue with the media.
While choosing to ignore China’s claims in practice, its rivals are not hesitating to voice their displeasure on diplomatic level. On Thursday, a resolution approved by PM Abe’s party demanded that China rescinded the new defense zone, calling the move “unreasonable expansionism.” The panel however refrained from using the wording “pre-modern and imperialist,” as was initially suggested.
Beijing rejected on Thursday calls from Tokyo and Seoul to rectify the zone. It also accused Japan of using double standards over the issue, pointing out that it implemented its own zone back in 1969.
“Japan consistently blames others and smears the name of other countries but never examines its own conduct,” China’s Defense Ministry spokesman, Yang Yujun, said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website.
“If they want it revoked, then we would ask that Japan first revoke its own air defense identification zone and China will reconsider it after 44 years,” Yang added.
The conflict gives a chance for the US to reiterate its ties with its Asian allies. In a telephone call on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told his Japanese counterpart Itsunori Onodera that the defense pact covered the disputed islands. He also commended Japan for “for exercising appropriate restraint,” a Pentagon spokesman said.
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Posted: 28 Nov 2013 11:33 AM PST

The rising unemployment rate in Germany has forced an increasing number of people to permanently move to campgrounds in an attempt to save money.
According to a report published by Spiegel Online International on Wednesday, thousands of people have transformed campsites from holiday spots to residential communities.
They say they cannot afford living in urban areas.
“Over the last 10 years, more and more campers have moved in full time,” said Leo Ingenlath, the chairman of the Association of Recreational and Camping Enterprises in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia.
The report stated that, due to a relaxation of laws, tenants are not needed to present certification from their landlords when they register their address with the government, which allows them to choose to register themselves as living at a campground.
Campground websites advertise the option of registering a campsite lot as a main address.
Even Germany’s postal service, Deutsche Post, is now offering tips “on its website to those planning to move to a campground full time,” the report added.
Official data released by Germany’s Labor Office on Thursday indicated that the country’s jobless rate jumped to its highest level since April 2011 on a seasonally-adjusted basis in November.
The number of the unemployed people in Germany increased by 10,000 to 2.985 million in the noted month, the official figures showed.
Germany’s Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) and the European Union’s statistics office, Eurostat, reported in October that 16.1 percent of the German population or approximately 13 million people run the risk of plunging into relative poverty.
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Posted: 28 Nov 2013 11:15 AM PST

The former Soviet Union is suffering from Europhilia, a centuries-old disease of the intellectuals that moved to the level of the masses in the 20th century, Sergei Mikheyev, the Director of the Caspian Cooperation Institute said in a live feed of Pravda.Ru. This idea is fed by the Western propaganda machine that the weak state of Ukraine cannot resist.
“Living in Europe is my dream,” thinks the younger generation in Ukraine. “This is a limited point of view, and the example of the Baltic countries is the evidence to it,” said Mikheyev. “Thirty percent of the population of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia live outside the country, the entire industry is destroyed, and agriculture is barely alive. In the event of joining the EU Ukraine will have to pay for the obscure paradise of the few by misfortunes of millions who will lose jobs, will be impoverished and will kicked out, the analyst believes.
What do we have today in Ukraine? President Viktor Yanukovych has suspended the vector for integration with the EU for three reasons. The first one is the firm stance of the Kremlin tired of being a barbarian centralized by Europe through Ukraine. The second one is that he understands that if Yulia Tymoshenko is released from prison, she would be his political rival. The third is that the economy will collapse due to the loss of preferences in trade and economic relations with Russia. Yanukovych tried to negotiate with Europe, increasing the amount of compensation and tried to agree on Tymoshenko, but to no avail. This does not mean that Ukraine is headed for the Customs Union, said Mikheyev. It is difficult to make firm predictions. It is highly likely that Ukraine will continue to sit on two chairs, pressured both from within the country and the West.
The political scientist believes that now the opposition will try to build a “new Maidan” with the goal of overthrowing legitimate or illegitimate Yanukovych, but who will fund this effort? In the near future it will be clear whether such people exist. For Yanukovych this is the issue of paramount importance. He would like to be re-elected for the second term, and it is possible that in this respect he consulted with his elite – oligarchs, including Rinat Akhmetov (a Donetsk businessman, industrialist billionaire, the richest man in Ukraine).
The West, and primarily the United States, for its part, will never give up Brzezinski’s idea of ​​ tearing Ukraine away from Russia, while Ukraine does not clearly answer this question. The United States is operating through its close allies in Europe – Lithuania and Poland. However, general hysteria that Ukraine has lost Europe is unfounded. “It is Europe that has lost Ukraine, this is how this issue should be stated,” said Mikheyev. “Europe could make the agreement much softer and not make absurd demands on Tymoshenko.” What is the EU offering? Some mythical Western values ​​and reforms that can be compared with the slogan “we will build communism in 20 years.” According to the analyst, the proposal of the Russian Federation was much better, and included preferences on gas prices, refining, and lucrative cooperation agreements.
The analyst believes that the West has missed a historic opportunity to make Russia its friend after the collapse of the USSR. “The Russian leadership in the late 1980′s and early 1990′s wanted to join the EU. Credibility of the West in the 1980-90s was incredible. We have collapsed the USSR with our own hands, made ​​a gift to the West, and waited for an invitation to the civilized world. We were ready to join the EU and NATO. But we got nothing. Moreover, we were called barbarians, uncivilized nation, and the “Ukrainian democracy” was forced on us. It is funny to think of Ukraine where power belongs to six oligarchs as of a democratic country, said Mikheyev.
The West has been influencing public opinion in Ukraine for over 20 years through its institutions. How do they work? “Here is their model: Ukraine is our vassal, Ukraine is your (Russia’s) enemy, it will sling mud on you, call you occupiers, authoritarian state, call you barbarians. But you need to provide trade preferences, low gas prices and you will be civilized.” Russia does not do a tenth of what the West does, nevertheless, a huge part of the population in Ukraine likes Russia. “The task at hand is to be smarter than third parties, our goal is not to start hating each other to please the West,” said Mikheyev.
Answering the question whether Ukraine has its own path, Sergei Mikheyev said that shadow of NATO was looming over the Association Agreement with the EU. This conflicts with the Constitution of Ukraine that speaks of neutrality. Maybe Ukraine has its path, but signing of the agreement would cancel it. Mikheyev personally accused Yanukovych of the situation. From the onset, the president has been acting extremely inconsistently, said the analyst. Yanukovych came to power on the shoulders of Russia, and he relied on the electorate who sympathized with Russia, but betrayed both Russia and the electorate, making a bet on the EU. Then he refused to sign an agreement with Russia, initiated a process against Tymoshenko, and made ​​her a political prisoner for some reason. “Then he drew a European vector only to abandon it later.”
Ukraine’s future looks very foggy to Mikheyev. There can be even a civil war, and Russia could implement such a scenario, but responsibly, because it considers itself responsible for the security of Europe. This is how the Americans act, reminded Mikheyev, “if the model is unfit, they destabilize the situation.” Ukraine is a country that exists within the imaginary boundaries, but the conflict there for that reason is not imaginary. Ukraine is broken because there is no statehood, and the government is managed by the elite. Instead of smoothing the divide between East and West, Ukrainian politicians began escalating the situation from the get go.
Take, for example, nationalist party “Svoboda.” It is pretty ridiculous. Because of hatred for Muscovites, “Svoboda” is pulling Ukraine to the West where Jewish lobby is strong, their enemy number two. It opens the door to the West, which entails tolerance for homosexuals and immigrants from Arab that Ukrainian nationalists hate. But “Svoboda” is pulling the country into the EU.
All Ukraine’s projects are short-term, Mikheyev concluded. “The main idea of ​​any politician is to fool the enemy, and make Muscovites angry.” There is an increasing separatist threat in the Crimea. The Russian Federation had a great proposal – issuance of a common currency with the emission center in Kiev. Much could have been done, but the West does not allow it. “Now by it reactions it is obvious how important it is to pull Ukraine into a zone of political and military influence.”
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Posted: 28 Nov 2013 04:50 AM PST

French authorities have evicted some 800 Roma immigrants from a campground in northern France, as the controversial treatment of the Roma population in the European country continues.
Around 300 police forces attacked the Roma camp in Saint-Ouen in the northern suburbs of Paris early on Wednesday, forcing hundreds of Roma people, including women and children, to leave the place.
The cleared shantytown is one of the country’s largest Roma camps.
“I don’t know where I’m going to go,” said Cassandra Punca, a 22-year-old mother of four originally from Bucharest who lived in the camp for three months.
“We have no money, we came to France to be able to eat,” she added.
A Roma rights group, La Voix des Roms, criticized the eviction as “an operation of great brutality” that “throws several hundred people on to the streets at the start of winter.”
On September 24, French Interior Minister Manuel Valls said most of some 20,000 Roma migrants housed in makeshift camps around French cities could never be integrated into the French society and so should be “taken back to the border” for transfer back to Romania and Bulgaria.
The east European countries of Romania and Bulgaria are reportedly home to the biggest population of the Roma people.
In 2012, around 37,000 immigrants, many of them Roma, were deported from France, which indicated a nearly 12 percent rise from 2011.
France’s decision to forcibly evacuate the Roma camps and send the people back to their fatherlands has strongly been criticized by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.
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Posted: 28 Nov 2013 04:41 AM PST

The US military is handing over leftover equipment from the Iraq conflict to police under a military surplus program. Civil liberties groups have criticized the initiative as unnecessary and a move toward the militarization of American law enforcement.
American law enforcement agencies have received 165 MRAPs – 18 ton, armored vehicles with gun turrets – this year, according to an AP investigation. Military officials say police have filed requests for 731 more, but none are available.
“It’s armored. It’s heavy. It’s intimidating. And it’s free,” Craig Apple, the sheriff of Albany County, told AP.
Each of the hulking military vehicles costs around $500,000, and before the MRAPs can be used by law enforcement agencies they have to be refitted for civilian use. Even after retro-fitting, the vehicles are still limited. Because of their size, the vehicles are unable to cross some bridges and travel on narrow roads.
The investigation revealed that some of the MRAPs have already been put to use. In the city of Boise, Idaho, police deployed the vehicle because they suspected a suspect was in possession of heavy firearms and explosives. In Nampa, police used their MRAP to protect officers from a potential explosion.
The distribution of the armored military vehicles to police forces has prompted strong opposition from US rights groups. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has attacked the military surplus program, branding it a move to militarize law enforcement.
“One of our concerns with this is it has a tendency to escalate violence,” ACLU Center for Justice senior counsel Kara Dansky told AP. The ACLU has been investigating the use of military equipment in US police forces since 2012 as part of their campaign against the militarization of law enforcement under the slogan: “Towns don’t need tanks.”
On its website, the NGO records examples of occasions when police have used military equipment in situations when it was unnecessary, disproportionate or counterproductive.
In one such incident earlier this year, police in North Dakota used a $154 million MQ-9 Predator B drone to arrest a family of anti-government separatists who had refused to return six cows who had wandered onto their property to their owners. Local police borrowed the drone from the Department of Homeland Security, the ACLU reported.
Apple, the Albany County sheriff, argued that the police force was not becoming more militarized and was instead preparing itself for every eventuality.
“Our problem is we have to make sure we are prepared to respond to every type of crisis,” he said. For example, he said, if SWAT teams need to get close to a shooter or protect passers-by, a MRAP would be the vehicle for the job.
The ACLU argues that MRAPs might just be the tip of the iceberg, as it is not known “how militarized the police have become, and how extensively federal money is incentivizing this trend.”
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Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 10:29