|
Post by jdredd on Dec 28, 2014 14:11:07 GMT -5
america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/12/27/swedish-governmentmakesdealtocontainnationalists.html"Sweden's mainstream political parties reached a deal Saturday that will allow the minority center-left government to remain in office and sideline the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats. Sweden's normally stable politics were thrown into turmoil in December when Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said he would call a snap election in March after his budget was voted down by the center-right opposition and the Sweden Democrats. Had the vote taken place, it would have been the nation's first snap election since 1958. The Sweden Democrats, a far-right nationalist party of the kind currently gaining ground across Europe, more than doubled its seats in the last parliamentary election. Because Sweden's center-left governing coalition does not command a majority, the Sweden Democrats hold the balance of power between them and the center-right opposition coalition. Yet neither the government nor the opposition wants to work with the hardline anti-immigration party." Is this a generational thing? I haven't found any detailed demos. But as I have said before, ideas never die, even bad ones. Just like in the USA, where somehow people expect to preserve the ethnic balance of 100 years ago (Caucasian majority, African and Hispanic minorities) forever despite sharing a hemisphere with hundreds of millions of people from other ethnic groups, apparently there are many Europeans who think they can maintain isolation from Asia and Africa, despite their history of invasions by peoples from the East and South.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Dec 30, 2014 2:00:55 GMT -5
www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30629269"News that Greece faces a snap election on 25 January has been met with international concern, with the radical left scenting victory. Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza, has vowed "austerity will be history" if his left-wing party wins on 25 January. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned there was "no alternative" to Greece's reforms. Greece's economy has begun to recover after six years of recession but many Greeks want an end to austerity." This would be more interesting if I didn't think Greek voters will wimp out at the last minute and reject Syriza.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Jan 23, 2015 11:43:19 GMT -5
www.bbc.com/news/uk-30946159"David Cameron has said he was "deeply saddened" to hear of the death of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz. The prime minister said the king would be remembered for his "commitment to peace and for strengthening understanding between faiths". The Prince of Wales is to travel to Saudi Arabia to represent the Queen and "to pay his condolences". Really? Cameron was "deeply saddened" at the death of this vicious dictator? And the Prince of Losers is going to the funeral? One more example of Western hypocrisy.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Feb 25, 2015 2:29:31 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2015/02/25/business/european-lenders-to-review-greece-overhaul-plan.html?ref=business“The Greek people do not yet understand the size of the U-turn,” said Mujtaba Rahman, a chief European analyst for the Eurasia Group, a research firm in London. In reality, said Mr. Rahman, “the government is going to have to do 95 percent of what the last administration had to do.” Mr. Rahman predicted that Mr. Tsipras might end up needing to reshuffle his government, to receive access to further bailout money while staying in power. “The Greek electorate wants different things,” Mr. Rahman said. “They want their membership in the euro and they want to end austerity, and at some point these desires will become mutually incompatible.” Geez, it didn't take long for the so-called "leftists" of the newly elected Greek government to roll over for the international bankers. I wonder what threats were made behind the scenes? Assassination? Bribery? Maybe this all needs to go into the "Democracy. Who needs it?" thread, since obviously voting is a waste of time.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Mar 18, 2015 10:02:15 GMT -5
america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/3/17/israeli-voting-ends-in-deadlock.html"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling Likud Party scored a resounding victory in the country's election, final results showed Wednesday, after a tight race that had put his lengthy rule in jeopardy. With nearly all the votes counted, Likud appeared to have earned 30 out of parliament's 120 seats, and was in a position to be able to build with relative ease a coalition government with its nationalist, religious and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies. Netanyahu had already declared victory late Tuesday after the vote appeared to give him the upper hand in forming the country's next coalition government." Israel decides to stick with it's paranoid leadership. And I put it in this thread because Israel is a European colony.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Mar 19, 2015 1:48:42 GMT -5
www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/mar/18/suzanne-fields-benjamin-netanyahu-is-bulwark-again/"Foreign elections don’t always interest Americans very much. But Benjamin Netanyahu has become a familiar name in America, almost pronounceable, since his speech to Congress. Many Americans, Democrats and Republicans, cheered him to the polls in Israel this week. They were persuaded by his argument, expressed in near-rchillian rhetoric, that the negotiations with Iran to prevent an Islamic bomb could lead to a “very bad deal.” They know the only democracy in the Middle East stands in mortal danger, and that means America and the West are in danger, too." I wonder how many more righties will jump on the "Bibi as rchill" bandwagon? Are they getting memos from somewhere? Sad for the GOP, not one of their Prez candidates measures up to this Bibi worship.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Mar 30, 2015 1:09:11 GMT -5
america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/3/29/french-conservatives-win-local-elections-by-wide-margin.html"The far-right National Front made only limited gains in French local elections won by a wide margin on Sunday by ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy's conservatives and their centrist allies. Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movemenet (UMP) and its allies will take over two thirds of the 102 local "departements," exit polls for the second round of voting showed, up from 41 now, in a boost for the former president, whose recent comeback at the helm of the UMP is challenged within the party. "The French people have massively rejected the policies of (President) Francois Hollande and his government," he told party supporters. "The time for change is now." Hollande's Socialist party was set to lose half of the 61 departements it held before the election, exit polls showed. The Socialists, which control the majority of the departments, are deeply unpopular after the government's failure to turn around France's economy." Fickle French voters turn back to Sarkozy. Like it will make any difference. Real power has moved out of Paris, or London, or Berlin and into the hands of multinational investors. Just like it makes little difference if a Democrat or Republican is in the WH.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Apr 22, 2015 11:02:54 GMT -5
america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/4/european-officials-may-be-pushing-regime-change-in-greece.html"But this narrative misses the elephant in the middle of the negotiating table: While the Greek government cannot do anything to replace its negotiating partners with people more to their liking, the European officials on the other side seem to believe they can do exactly that. And it is becoming increasingly clear that this is their current strategy. The idea is to do enough damage to the Greek economy during the negotiating process to undermine support for the current government, and ultimately replace it. The destabilization actually began before the Jan. 25 election, when officials from the then-ruling New Democracy Party announced that if Syriza won the election, Greece would leave the euro and people would not be able to get money from their bank accounts. In a nasty breach of protocol, they were supported by important European officials. As I have noted previously, the European Central Bank not only trained its guns on the new government but started firing on Feb. 4, just nine days after the election. That is when they cut off the main line of credit to the Greek government even though they had weeks to make this decision. This was followed by limits on the amount that Greek banks could lend to the government – limits that the ECB did not impose on the previous government." All I have to say is, "Well, DUH!" I would also be shocked if the CIA was not working for a military coup behind the scenes. Worked in Chile.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on Apr 26, 2015 21:26:36 GMT -5
www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/26/us-eurozone-greece-blame-analysis-idUSKBN0NH05320150426 "We're going bust." "No, you're not." "You're strangling us." "No we're not." "You owe us for World War Two." "We gave already." The game of chicken between Greece and its international creditors is turning into a vicious blame game as Athens lurches closer to bankruptcy with no cash-for-reform agreement in sight. Europe's political leaders and central bankers and Greek politicians agree on only one thing: if Greece goes down, they don't want their fingerprints on the murder weapon. If Athens runs out of cash and defaults in the coming weeks, as seems increasingly possible, no one wants to be accused of having pushed it over the edge or failed to try to save it. Greece's leftist government has already identified its culprit of choice - Germany, Europe's main paymaster, accused of having inflicted toxic austerity policies on Greeks, causing a "humanitarian crisis". Gee, the Greeks are reluctant to continue austerity so they can borrow money to pay the interest on previous loans. What a bunch of deadbeats. I guess Europe will have to break Greece's legs.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on May 4, 2015 23:35:49 GMT -5
www.economist.com/news/leaders/21650113-despite-risk-europe-coalition-led-david-cameron-should-have-second-term-who?spc=scode&spv=xm&ah=9d7f7ab945510a56fa6d37c30b6f1709"If the stakes are high, the trade-offs are uncomfortable, at least for this newspaper. Our fealty is not to a political tribe, but to the liberal values that have guided us for 172 years. We believe in the radical centre: free markets, a limited state and an open, meritocratic society. These values led us to support Labour’s Tony Blair in 2001 and 2005. In 2010 we endorsed David Cameron, the Tory leader, seeing in him a willingness to tackle a yawning budget deficit and an ever-expanding state. Five years on, the choice has become harder. The Tories’ Europhobia, which we regretted last time, could now do grave damage. A British exit from the EU would be a disaster, for both Britain and Europe. Labour and the Liberal Democrats are better on this score. But such is the suspicion many Britons feel towards Brussels that a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU is probably inevitable at some point. And we believe that the argument can be won on its merits." Yes, the Economist is endorsing Murdoch toady Cameron for another term. He'll probably win, but perhaps England is having second thoughts about the effort to keep the English vassal formerly called Scotland in the United Kingdom, because the residents there lean heavily to the left, and could possibly put Labour back in at 10 Downing. Unintended consequences...
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on May 6, 2015 10:41:23 GMT -5
america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/5/6/last-chance-for-cameron-and-miliband-to-break-uk-election-deadlock.html"Campaigning in the U.K.’s most unpredictable election for a generation entered a final day Wednesday, with rival political leaders scrambling for votes across the country as polls suggest no party will be able to command a majority in parliament — an outcome that could lead to messy attempts to cobble together a coalition. Weeks of campaigning have failed to see either Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative party or Ed Miliband's opposition Labour open up a lead, handing a fillip to smaller parties in the race which have traditionally been sidelined in Britain’s first-past-the-post system. The parliamentary strength of the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) in particular could be crucial in the post-ballot wrangling over who will govern the country, with Labour thought by some to be marginally the more likely to lead a government, but only with help from the SNP and others. Miliband has consistently ruled out a formal coalition with the Scottish nationalists, but an informal deal may still be on the cards." Perhaps Murdoch's hold on Britain's elections is beginning to wane.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on May 7, 2015 3:17:56 GMT -5
Oh boy, tomorrow is the big day in England after that grueling and seemingly endless six week campaign.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on May 7, 2015 13:54:29 GMT -5
www.bbc.com/news/business-32625968"The Greek government will stick to the "red line" promises it made to its electorate and not make concessions in negotiations with creditors, it said. Spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis told the press in Athens that labour and pension issues are non negotiable. "We won't go beyond the limits of our red lines. It's clear that we cannot cut pensions." Talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union (EU) will continue over the weekend. Creditors have demanded cuts in spending, including plans to trim the civil service and privatisation of state assets, in order for Greece to continue receiving loans." A government that keeps it's word? That's unacceptable. I'm sure a number of billionaires would love to buy the Parthenon and turn it into a casino. Libertarians would have no problem with that.
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on May 8, 2015 12:46:52 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by jdredd on May 9, 2015 1:40:02 GMT -5
So what is up with Commonwealth governments? Tory Cameron was just re-elected, and both Australia and Canada have far right PM's. Is it all Murdoch's doing? And the right-wing media here led by Fox News is set to try to buy the White House in 2016 for the GOP. Disgusting. Do you Millennials care, or are you blissfully apathetic?
Your funeral.
|
|