Agrégateur de flux

Journée chaotique vendredi 16 décembre au Parlement polonais à cause d'une loi limitant l'accès des journalistes aux députés. Plusieurs dizaines d'élus de l'opposition ont occupé et bloqué pendant quelques heures la tribune de l'hémicycle pour protester contre cette loi qui doit entrer en vigueur au 1er janvier. Au même moment, des centaines de personnes ont bloqué les issues du Parlement.

Le Centre était moins impliqué dans la déstabilisation de l'élection présidentielle de 1980 qu'il ne l'avait été quatre ans plus tôt. Moscou n'avait le choix qu'entre l'administration Carter qui était influencée par la politique intransigeante de Brzezinski, et l'anti-soviétisme de Reagan. "Lassé de Carter et mal à l'aise vis-à-vis de Reagan" écrit Dobrynine, "je décidai de ne pas m'impliquer". Après l'élection de Reagan, Moscou regretta de ne pas s'être impliquée, convaincue que la nouvelle administration représentait "l'aile la plus conservatrice, nationaliste et belliqueuse du paysage politique américain ... soucieuse de retaurer le leadership mondial des USA après la défaite du Vietnam". Au grand désarroi de Dobrynine, le Kremlin succomba à une "interprétation paranoïaque" de la politique de Reagan, craignant -particulièrement en 1983- qu'il n'ait l'intention de lancer des frappes nucléaires surprises. C'est le résident du KGB à Washington, Stanislav A Androsov, qui révéla à Dobrynine l'existence dе l'opération RYAN. Menée conjoitement par le GRU et le KGB, elle avait pour but de détecter les préparatifs inexistants d'une attaque surprise. Mais RYAN demeura tellement secrète que la plupart des ambassadeurs soviétiques n'en apprirent jamais l'existence.
C'est probablement à cause de la priorité extrême que donnait le Centre à la nécessité de discréditer la politique de l'administration Reagan, qu'Andropov décida par le décret du 12 avril 1982 - qui fut l'une des dernières décisions de ses 15 ans passés à la tête du KGB - qu'il était du devoir de tous les agents de renseignements, quelles que soient leurs attributions, de participer aux mesures actives. Pour le Service A [service de désinformation du KGB ndt] il s'agissait désormais de faire en sorte que Reagan ne puisse pas faire un second mandat. Le 25 février 1983 le Centre donna des instructions à ses trois résidences américaines pour qu'elles commencent à planifier un ensemble de mesures actives visant à obtenir une défaite de Reagan lors des élections présidentielles de novembre 1984. Elles reçurent l'ordre d'établir des contacts avec des membres des équipes de campagne de chacun des candidats et dans les QG des deux grands partis. On demanda aux résidences d'autres pays si elles avaient des agents disponibles afin qu'ils fussent envoyés aux USA pour participer à l'opération.

Le Centre fit clairement savoir que n'importe quel autre candidat, quel que soit son parti, serait préférable à Reagan. Toutes les résidences du monde furent chargées de populariser le slogan "Reagan, c'est la guerre !". Le Centre annonça cinq mesures actives visant à discréditer la politique étrangère de Reagan : son aventurisme militaire, sa responsabilité dans l'accélération de la course aux armes, son soutien à des régimes autoritaires, les tentatives de son administration d'écraser les mouvements de libération nationale, et sa responsabilité dans les tensions avec ses alliés de l'OTAN. Les mesures actives visant sa politique intérieure incluaient : de prétendues discriminations envers les minorités ethniques, la corruption de son administration, et la soumission de Reagan au complexe militaro-industriel.
La large victoire de Reagan en 1984 fut la preuve flagrante des limites des mesures actives soviétiques aux USA. Même sur les campus universitaires, Reagan fut surpris par les "débordements d'affection et de soutien" (de l'avis de tous loin d'être unanimes) : "ces étudiants des années 80 étaient très différents de ceux que j'avais connu en tant que gouverneur une décennie auparavant". Bien que le Service A se refusât toujours de l'admettre, il ne pouvait pas faire grand'chose contre un président populaire. Ses attaques eurent toutefois un écho plus grand en Europe et dans le Tiers-Monde où l'on se moquait volontiers du côté populiste qu'avaient ses fréquentes références à "l'American Way".

in "The Mitrokhin Archives : the KGB in Europe and the West" pp 316-317.

Un garçon germano-irakien de 12 ans est soupçonné d'avoir tenté de faire exploser fin novembre un engin à clous. Selon les autorités allemandes, l’incident a eu lieu à Ludwigshafen, dans l'ouest du pays. La presse allemande évoque une piste islamiste.

Pour la septième année, la section éducation permanente de Siréas asbl vous propose son festival Let's Art, consacré cette année à la Grèce.
Tous nos événements auront lieu à Muziekpublique au Théâtre Molière - Galerie de la Porte de Namur - 3, Square du Bastion - 1050 Bruxelles.
Mercredi 30 novembre 2016 — 18h00 Vernissage de l'expo-photo "De Syriza à Idomeni. Chronique d'une crise annoncée".
Max Gyselinck est un photoreporter belge basé à Athènes depuis 2002. Son travail s'est principalement concentré sur (...)

/ Grèce, Belgique et Luxembourg

"The pivot to Asia is a pivot to conflict with China."

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned today's attack against a military post in Nassoumbou, province of Soum in the north of Burkina Faso, in which Burkinabè soldiers were killed and injured.

Sanctions don't scare Kim Jong-un. The thought of his own people, educated and awakened, does.

The devil lies in the details.

Le gouvernement néerlandais a approuvé l'accord modifié avec l'Ukraine. Ces modifications apportées ce jeudi 15 décembre lors du sommet européen sont en fait des concessions faites par l'UE aux Pays-Bas pour leur permettre de ratifier l'accord politique et commercial avec l'Ukraine malgré un référendum national lors duquel les bataves l'avait rejeté. C'est le fameux accord euro-ukrainien qui avait provoqué en Ukraine l'Euromaidan puis la destitution du pro-russe Viktor Ianoukovitch.

Lance Cpl. Rick Mercer, a rifleman with Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, emerges from the tree line during the Advanced Infantry Course aboard Kahuku Training Area, September 20,...

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Given the scale of the disaster in South Sudan, the United Nations Security Council, regional organizations and the international community must step up to their responsibility to the help the country’s people, who have suffered through three years of bloody conflict, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today in an opinion piece published by Newsweek.

Kezdjük talán azzal, hogy ki is Janka: meghatározatlan fajtájú, szeretetreméltó, dinamikusan növekvő kutyus. Miért kiválasztott? Mert testvérkéivel együtt sorsára hagyták, szerencsére Radu Țermure valamennyiüket begyűjtötte és Kolozsvár melletti menhelyére vitte. A sors úgy hozta, hogy rövidesen arr...

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Voraussichtlich gibt es kein Referendum gegen das Gesetz zur Umsetzung der Zuwanderungsinitiative. Die Auns geht nun mit einer Initiative zur Kündigung der Personenfreizügigkeit in die Offensive.

The messages the West sends to the Middle East matter.

Just ask President Obama -- or better, ask Jackson Diehl, Deputy Editorial Page Editor of The Washington Post. Back in 2010, Diehl described How Obama sabotaged Middle East peace talks:
So why does Abbas stubbornly persist in his self-defeating position? In an interview with Israeli television Sunday night, he offered a remarkably candid explanation: "When Obama came to power, he is the one who announced that settlement activity must be stopped," he said. "If America says it and Europe says it and the whole world says it, you want me not to say it?"

The statement confirmed something that many Mideast watchers have suspected for a long time: that the settlement impasse originated not with Netanyahu or Abbas, but with Obama -- who by insisting on an Israeli freeze has created a near-insuperable obstacle to the peace process he is trying to promote. [emphasis added]
Abbas had a point -- why bother to get involved in negotiations with Israel that would require concessions on both sides, when Obama telegraphed to the Arab world that a major demand of the Arab world could be forced out of Israel by Obama without Abbas ever having to come to the table? If Obama was signalling to the Arab world he would do their work for them, why not just sit back and wait?

Abbas -- no time for negotiations. Credit: Flash90Even when Netanyahu agreed to suspend building in the settlements for 10 months, as an opening concession to bring Abbas to the negotiating table, Abbas waited until the last month before showing up -- and then demanded an extenstion. When he didn't get it, he left.

Obama thought the message he was sending to the Arab world would strenghen his street cred with the Arab world and bring Abbas to the negotiating table.

It had the exact opposite effect.

Enter MSNBC's Chris Matthews.

MSNBC's Chris Matthews. Source: Elder of Ziyon
Matthews is upset with the idea of moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as per President-elect Trump's promise. Matthews claims:
Why are we moving the embassy to — to Jerusalem at a time that the whole place over there could blow up? Why do we something that's right in the face of the Palestinians, right in the face of the Jordanians, the Saudis, the Egyptians. The one thing they say is leave you know, the Dome of the Rock alone, leave our — the hopeful capital of a Palestinian state alone. Don't desecrate it by saying it's the capital of Israel at this point?Elder of Ziyon points out that when you take away the emotionalism of his outburst, Chris Matthews doesn't have much of a reason not to move the US embassy to Jerusalem

Note that Mathews

• does not argue there is a legal reason not to move the embassy
• does not argue the move would violate Islamic law
• does not seem to realize the US embassy would be moved to the part of Jerusalem that has been under Israeli control since 1948

Instead, what Matthews argues is nothing should be done that might make the Arabs angry, and that assumed anger should dictate the actions of both Israel and the US.

And that is the problem -- the pre-conceived assumption that moving the US embassy to Jerusalem would infuriate the Arab world.

But that is all it is.
An assumption.

Elder of Ziyon points out:
I just did a quick search in Arabic news sites to see if there is any anger over this possible move of the embassy. There is very, very little. For the most part, this is not even a story, although some Arab news outlets are covering it dispassionately.

Of all the things for Arabs and Muslims to worry about in an impending Trump administration, moving the US embassy from one part of Israel to another part within the Green Line is not even on their radar.Matthews is making a bigger deal out of the US embassy move than the Arabs are.
Of course, Matthews is not the only one predicting an angry Arab response.

Aaron David Miller is a former advisor to Republican and Democratic Secretaries of State on Arab-Israeli negotiations, and he feels the same way. When he describes Why Trump’s Plan to Move the U.S. Embassy in Israel Is Unwise.

Miller writes that the move would damage US interests and credibility -- though one might argue that seeing the US pursuing the interests of an ally might increase credibility, given the novelty of the idea of the US standing behind its allies after 8 years.

He also argues that such a move could "chill" or "kill" efforts by a Trump administration to pursue peacemaking in the area. Even Miller recognizes the current comatose state of negotiations. He just doesn't want to kill it outright. Fair enough, but just how long should decisions and actions by Israel and the West be held hostage, waiting for Abbas to show willingness for honest negotiations?

Finally, Miller believes that moving the US embassy would undercut Israel's recently improved relations with several Arab states. Those improved negotiations are a result of Israeli initiatives and years of preparation. If Israel feels that it is worth the potential Arab backlash for the US embassy to be in Jerusalem, with the political validation it brings to Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, then let Israel make the choice.

The message Matthews and Miller are sending, like Obama's hint to Abbas that the US would force concessions from Israel, serves to strengthen the hand of those Arab leaders who exert influence by doing nothing, and letting the fear of their potential angry response keep the West in line.

The West has worked hard not to upset the apple cart.
There are those in the Arab world who do not share philosophy.
The current situation in the Middle East is the result.

Strenghening Democratic allies might not be such a bad idea after all.


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Following an intense night of press conferences held after the European Council, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on December 16.

In the days leading up to the European Council, Merkel had vehemently criticised how Greece was handling the immigration crisis. She criticised Greece before an astonished audience at the European People’s Party pre-summit meeting in Brussels. Together with her Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, Merkel scolded Greek officials for not keeping tabs on a 17-year-old convicted Afghan who managed to make his way to Germany where he has since been arrested on suspicion of rape and murder.

Meanwhile, Tsipras arrived in Berlin ready to emphasise Greece’s progress on reforms. He also aimed to make a clear point to Germany about the importance of the second review of the third bailout programme.

It has been a week since Tsipras surprised the EU institutions and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by announcing he would pass legislation to give pensioners a one-off Christmas bonus and to lower VAT on migration-hit islands.

Tsipras’ announcement triggered a week-long rant that resulted in the EU institutions’ common assessment on Greece’s measurements.

“According to a preliminary assessment by the institutions, which was distributed to the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) members, the proposed measures by the Greek government raise significant concerns on both process and substance as regards MoU commitments, especially regarding pensions,” said the ESM’s spokesperson.

“While those measures reduce the safety margin around the 2016 fiscal target, they are not expected to change significantly the projected fiscal outcomes in 2017 and 2018, although they raise risks regarding the targets, should the measures be extended in the future. Euro area member states will decide how to proceed with the short-term debt measures agreed in the Eurogroup meeting on 5 December,” concludes the joint assessment of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the ESM.

At the same time, Greece’s Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos admitted that the Greek government did not inform the above EU institutions about the measures before these were announced by Tsipras. This was confirmed by several MPs in the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel. Tsakalotos, however, insisted that Greece has the right to decide on pension and tax policies.

During the high-level meeting, Tsipras said: “the projections for the Greek economy are extremely positive for next year”.

“We want it to heal the wounds of the crisis and to alleviate all those who have over these difficult years made huge sacrifices in the name of Europe,” added Tsipras.

Since the European Council, Merkel made clear that she is unwilling to take a position in the dispute over whether Athens’ initiative to hand out Christmas bonuses is compatible with its bailout obligations. Instead, Merkel passed the issue to the Eurozone’s finance ministers and mainly to the three institutions handling negotiations with Greece (European Commission, European Central Bank and the IMF).

“I am not a finance minister,” Merkel said.

“Don’t take initiatives without asking,” Merkel added, explaining that these actions can have negative effects on trust between institutions and the Greek government. Furthermore, Merkel made her discomfort about Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble, more than evident.

According to Berlin sources, the Greek programme will not survive without the presence of the IMF.

The post Tsipras meets Merkel in Berlin after negotiation storm appeared first on New Europe.

The Federal Reserve will likely need to raise U.S. interest rates more than three times next year.

Aufgrund der Ratifizierung ist die Schweiz ab Januar 2017 wieder voll assoziiertes Mitglied beim EU-Forschungsprogramm «Horizon 2020».

Baghdadi, an Iraqi whose real name is Ibrahim al-Samarrai, declared himself the caliph of a huge swath of Iraq and Syria two years ago.