Showing posts with label London. Show all posts
Showing posts with label London. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Protesting Violence In London.
Protesters run riot as violence erupts on London's streets
Several hundred masked protesters clashed with police, attacked shops and occupied a top store in London after hundreds of thousands of people rallied against government austerity measures.
About 4500 police officers struggled to control escalating violence on Saturday in the British capital's main shopping district, where a breakaway group of demonstrators went on the rampage.
The unrest overshadowed a peaceful march earlier in the day of up to 300,000 protesters against harsh public spending cuts introduced by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government.
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Riot ... a flare is thrown in Trafalgar Square during the protest march. Photo: AP
Clad in black and covering their faces with scarves, the protesters clashed with police, hurling fireworks, petrol bombs and paint.
Clothes store Topshop and bank HSBC had their windows smashed, while some protesters hurled missiles at London's landmark Ritz Hotel. Others lit a bonfire at Oxford Circus, in the heart of the shopping district.
UK Uncut, a group running a campaign against government cuts and corporate tax avoidance, said it had occupied luxury department store Fortnum & Mason in the shopping district. They accused the owners of tax-dodging.
Standing firm ... riot police guard Jermyn Street in London. Photo: Getty Images
Five police officers were injured, with one being taken to hospital, Scotland Yard said. Twenty-eight members of the public were injured over the course of the day and seven were taken to hospital, police said.
Commander Bob Broadhurst, who led the police operation, said a group of around 500 protesters were behind the violence.
"I wouldn't call them protesters. They are engaging in criminal activities for their own ends," he said.
"We anticipated there would be some problems. We have minimised the damage caused," he added.
"We'll never have enough officers to protect every building in central London. It cannot be done."
Several student demonstrations descended into violence last year, with one culminating in protesters damaging the car carrying heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles and his wife Camilla.
The violent end to the day came after the peaceful rally which organisers the Trades Union Congress (TUC) said was attended by between 250,000 and 300,000 people.
It was the largest protest in the British capital since around one million people marched against the Iraq war in February 2003.
Public sector workers, students and pensioners waving signs which read "Don't Break Britain" and "No to Cuts" thronged the streets of the capital.
Many families with children were among the protesters and the air was filled with the low-pitched bellow of the vuvuzela, the plastic trumpet whose droning provided the soundtrack for the football World Cup in South Africa.
Bagpipers, steel bands, choirs and dancers were also out for the event.
The march started by the river Thames and passed the Houses of Parliament and Prime Minister David Cameron's Downing Street residence before ending in a rally in Hyde Park addressed by opposition Labour party leader Ed Miliband.
"Our struggle is to fight to preserve, protect and defend the best of the services we cherish because they represent the best of the country we love," Miliband told the rally.
view our great source here: http://www.smh.com.au/world/protesters-run-riot-as-violence-erupts-on-londons-streets-20110327-1cbj4.html
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
EU presidency: US stimulus is 'the road to hell'
EU president calls Obama's plans to spend his way out of recession 'the road to hell'
Aoife White, AP Business Writer
Wednesday March 25, 2009, 3:38 pm EDT
BRUSSELS (AP) -- The head of the European Union slammed President Barack Obama's plan to spend nearly $2 trillion to push the U.S. economy out of recession as "the road to hell" that EU governments must avoid.
The blunt comments by Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek to the European Parliament on Wednesday highlighted simmering European differences with Washington ahead of a key summit next week on fixing the world economy.
It was the strongest pushback yet from a European leader as the 27-nation bloc bristles from U.S. criticism that it is not spending enough to stimulate demand.
Shocked by the outburst, other European politicians went into damage control mode, with some reproaching the Czech leader for his language and others reaffirming their good diplomatic ties with the United States. The leaders of EU's major nations -- France, Britain and Germany, among others -- largely ignored Topolanek and his remarks.
Obama pays his first official visit to Europe next week, aiming to thrash out reforms to the global financial system with the Group of 20 nations and call on NATO allies to commit more troops to the U.S. war in Afghanistan.
Europeans leaders hope the new U.S. administration will agree with them on tightening oversight over the global financial system -- which they see as crucial to fixing the global economy.
Instead, the United States is focusing its efforts on economic stimulus and plans to spend heavily to try and lift itself out of recession with a $787 billion plan of tax rebates, health and welfare benefits, as well as extra energy and infrastructure spending.
To encourage banks to lend again, the U.S. government will also pump $1 trillion into the financial system by buying up treasury bonds and mortgage securities in an effort to clear some of the "toxic assets" -- devalued and untradeable assets -- from banks' balance sheets.
Obama insisted Tuesday that his massive budget proposal will put the ailing U.S. economy back on its feet. "This budget is inseparable from this recovery," he said, "because it is what lays the foundation for a secure and lasting prosperity."
But Topolanek took aim at Washington's deficit spending.
"All of these steps, these combinations and permanency is the road to hell," Topolanek said. "We need to read the history books and the lessons of history and the biggest success of the (EU) is the refusal to go this way."
"Americans will need liquidity to finance all their measures and they will balance this with the sale of their bonds but this will undermine the liquidity of the global financial market," Topolanek said.
Topolanek spoke the day after he was ousted by his own parliament. The Czech Republic currently holds the six-month rotating EU presidency but its leadership is in question, with Topolanek hanging on to a caretaker government at home after losing a "no confidence" Tuesday.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said he did not expect the Czech poltical turmoil to affect Obama's upcoming trip to Prague because the president was traveling to attend an EU event.
Analyst Nicolas Veron, a research fellow at the Bruegel think tank, said Topolanek's view is not widely shared by EU leaders.
"I don't think the damage can be as large as the very strong wording of this would lead one to think," he said. "Many people have doubts about the U.S. plan but what he said is much stronger."
Veron said European leaders worry that the U.S. plan may not work or could cost taxpayers heavily -- but he did not doubt the U.S.' "fiscal robustness" or that it still had extra room to maneuver to stoke economic growth.
Martin Schulz, leader of the Socialist group in the European parliament, immediately chided Topolanek, saying his comments were "not the level on which the EU ought to be operating with the United States."
"You have not understood what the task of the EU presidency is," he told the Czech premier.
EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also said it was "not helpful ... to try to suggest that Americans and Europeans are coming with very different approaches to the crisis."
"On the contrary, what we are seeing is increased convergence," he told the parliament.
But Europe's resistance to the U.S. call for new stimulus measures is starting to weaken despite Germany's fierce opposition to any new spending program this year.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday he is prepared to support the economy with a new spending package. EU officials say they can't rule anything out -- even an EU-wide stimulus that could help nations like Ireland and Spain, which can't afford any extra stimulus.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has also supported U.S. calls to ramp up fiscal stimulus -- government spending and tax cuts -- although the Bank of England has warned that Britain's swelling public deficit may make it unable to afford new spending.
Associated Press writers Raf Casert in Strasbourg, France, Jane Wardell in London and Desmond Butler in Washington contributed to this report.
Aoife White, AP Business Writer
Wednesday March 25, 2009, 3:38 pm EDT
BRUSSELS (AP) -- The head of the European Union slammed President Barack Obama's plan to spend nearly $2 trillion to push the U.S. economy out of recession as "the road to hell" that EU governments must avoid.
The blunt comments by Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek to the European Parliament on Wednesday highlighted simmering European differences with Washington ahead of a key summit next week on fixing the world economy.
It was the strongest pushback yet from a European leader as the 27-nation bloc bristles from U.S. criticism that it is not spending enough to stimulate demand.
Shocked by the outburst, other European politicians went into damage control mode, with some reproaching the Czech leader for his language and others reaffirming their good diplomatic ties with the United States. The leaders of EU's major nations -- France, Britain and Germany, among others -- largely ignored Topolanek and his remarks.
Obama pays his first official visit to Europe next week, aiming to thrash out reforms to the global financial system with the Group of 20 nations and call on NATO allies to commit more troops to the U.S. war in Afghanistan.
Europeans leaders hope the new U.S. administration will agree with them on tightening oversight over the global financial system -- which they see as crucial to fixing the global economy.
Instead, the United States is focusing its efforts on economic stimulus and plans to spend heavily to try and lift itself out of recession with a $787 billion plan of tax rebates, health and welfare benefits, as well as extra energy and infrastructure spending.
To encourage banks to lend again, the U.S. government will also pump $1 trillion into the financial system by buying up treasury bonds and mortgage securities in an effort to clear some of the "toxic assets" -- devalued and untradeable assets -- from banks' balance sheets.
Obama insisted Tuesday that his massive budget proposal will put the ailing U.S. economy back on its feet. "This budget is inseparable from this recovery," he said, "because it is what lays the foundation for a secure and lasting prosperity."
But Topolanek took aim at Washington's deficit spending.
"All of these steps, these combinations and permanency is the road to hell," Topolanek said. "We need to read the history books and the lessons of history and the biggest success of the (EU) is the refusal to go this way."
"Americans will need liquidity to finance all their measures and they will balance this with the sale of their bonds but this will undermine the liquidity of the global financial market," Topolanek said.
Topolanek spoke the day after he was ousted by his own parliament. The Czech Republic currently holds the six-month rotating EU presidency but its leadership is in question, with Topolanek hanging on to a caretaker government at home after losing a "no confidence" Tuesday.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said he did not expect the Czech poltical turmoil to affect Obama's upcoming trip to Prague because the president was traveling to attend an EU event.
Analyst Nicolas Veron, a research fellow at the Bruegel think tank, said Topolanek's view is not widely shared by EU leaders.
"I don't think the damage can be as large as the very strong wording of this would lead one to think," he said. "Many people have doubts about the U.S. plan but what he said is much stronger."
Veron said European leaders worry that the U.S. plan may not work or could cost taxpayers heavily -- but he did not doubt the U.S.' "fiscal robustness" or that it still had extra room to maneuver to stoke economic growth.
Martin Schulz, leader of the Socialist group in the European parliament, immediately chided Topolanek, saying his comments were "not the level on which the EU ought to be operating with the United States."
"You have not understood what the task of the EU presidency is," he told the Czech premier.
EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also said it was "not helpful ... to try to suggest that Americans and Europeans are coming with very different approaches to the crisis."
"On the contrary, what we are seeing is increased convergence," he told the parliament.
But Europe's resistance to the U.S. call for new stimulus measures is starting to weaken despite Germany's fierce opposition to any new spending program this year.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday he is prepared to support the economy with a new spending package. EU officials say they can't rule anything out -- even an EU-wide stimulus that could help nations like Ireland and Spain, which can't afford any extra stimulus.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has also supported U.S. calls to ramp up fiscal stimulus -- government spending and tax cuts -- although the Bank of England has warned that Britain's swelling public deficit may make it unable to afford new spending.
Associated Press writers Raf Casert in Strasbourg, France, Jane Wardell in London and Desmond Butler in Washington contributed to this report.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
912 Petition
We the People, in seeking Redress of Grievances, as is our right under Amendment I of the United States Constitution, ask this question of each branch of Federal Government:
“Where in the Constitution do you find authorization for each and all of the following?”
1. The redistribution of property by force and subterfuge; and the unequal application of tax laws amounting to punitive action against certain groups of American People and providing favored status to other groups
2. A paper money system that is morally and economically equivalent to counterfeiting
3. Willful and purposeful devaluation and destruction of American currency
4. Deploying military to fight undeclared wars
5. Targeting and labeling law-abiding American citizens as domestic terrorists
6. Declarations that disagreeing with policy is unpatriotic or disloyal to our
country
7. Intrusions into the privacy of law-abiding American citizens
8. Perpetual massive indebtedness to foreign countries
9. Infringement upon the rights of the People to keep and bear arms through oppressive regulation and taxation designed for the very purpose of infringement
10. Passing laws and taxes without deliberation and without reading the legislation; said action is tantamount to the American People not having any representation
11. Enacting ex post facto laws and Bills of Attainder
12. Granting Constitutional rights and privileges to illegal aliens and prisoners of war
13. Funding mercenary organizations that engage in voter fraud and paid harassment of law abiding American citizens
14. Maintaining and deploying armies in peace time on United States soil
15. Unprecedented and arbitrary federal power, through the United States Treasury, for government intervention into, control of, and confiscation of, private property, private industry including but not limited to banking, insurance, manufacturing, farming and other sectors of the private economy (current and proposed)
16. Requiring involuntary servitude or governmental service other than a draft during a declared war, or pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law (proposed)
17. Requiring involuntary servitude or governmental service of persons under the age of 18 other than pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law (proposed)
18. Acts regarding religion; further limitations on freedom of political speech; or further limitations on freedom of the press (proposed)
To read more click HERE
“Where in the Constitution do you find authorization for each and all of the following?”
1. The redistribution of property by force and subterfuge; and the unequal application of tax laws amounting to punitive action against certain groups of American People and providing favored status to other groups
2. A paper money system that is morally and economically equivalent to counterfeiting
3. Willful and purposeful devaluation and destruction of American currency
4. Deploying military to fight undeclared wars
5. Targeting and labeling law-abiding American citizens as domestic terrorists
6. Declarations that disagreeing with policy is unpatriotic or disloyal to our
country
7. Intrusions into the privacy of law-abiding American citizens
8. Perpetual massive indebtedness to foreign countries
9. Infringement upon the rights of the People to keep and bear arms through oppressive regulation and taxation designed for the very purpose of infringement
10. Passing laws and taxes without deliberation and without reading the legislation; said action is tantamount to the American People not having any representation
11. Enacting ex post facto laws and Bills of Attainder
12. Granting Constitutional rights and privileges to illegal aliens and prisoners of war
13. Funding mercenary organizations that engage in voter fraud and paid harassment of law abiding American citizens
14. Maintaining and deploying armies in peace time on United States soil
15. Unprecedented and arbitrary federal power, through the United States Treasury, for government intervention into, control of, and confiscation of, private property, private industry including but not limited to banking, insurance, manufacturing, farming and other sectors of the private economy (current and proposed)
16. Requiring involuntary servitude or governmental service other than a draft during a declared war, or pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law (proposed)
17. Requiring involuntary servitude or governmental service of persons under the age of 18 other than pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law (proposed)
18. Acts regarding religion; further limitations on freedom of political speech; or further limitations on freedom of the press (proposed)
To read more click HERE
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By Kevin Murphy
KANSAS CITY, Kan., May 25 (Reuters) - Republican Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed a bill aimed at keeping state courts and agencies from using Islamic or other non-U.S. laws when making decisions, his office said on Friday, drawing criticism from a national Muslim group.
The law has been dubbed the "sharia bill" because critics say it targets the Islamic legal code. Sharia, or Islamic law, covers all aspects of Muslim life, including religious obligations and financial dealings. Opponents of state bans say they could nullify wills or legal contracts between Muslims.
Supporters said the law will reassure foreigners in Kansas that state laws and the U.S. Constitution would protect them. Opponents said it singled out Muslims for ridicule and was unnecessary because American laws prevail on U.S. soil.
Sherriene Jones-Sontag, a spokeswoman for the governor, said in an e-mail that the bill "makes it clear that Kansas courts will rely exclusively on the laws of our state and our nation when deciding cases and will not consider the laws of foreign jurisdictions."
Legislators supporting the bill said there were many cases around the country where judges or state agencies cited sharia law in deciding cases, especially involving divorce-related custody and property matters where Islamic code differs from U.S. law.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington denounced the Kansas law and said it is considering legal action.
About 20 states have considered similar legislation but the Kansas law is the only one signed in recent weeks, council spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said.
"It's unfortunate the governor chose to pander to the growing Islam-phobia in our society that has led to introduction of similar unconstitutional and un-American legislation in dozens of state legislatures," Hooper said.
Hooper said legislators have often referred to sharia law in supporting such legislation, but he said they take the word out of the bill to stave off legal challenges. The Kansas bill does not mention sharia.
Federal courts struck down an Oklahoma law voters approved in 2010 that barred state judges from considering sharia law in making decisions. The court called the law discriminatory. (Editing by Greg McCune and Stacey Joyce)
Scrubbing the Internet and gagging clerics will not eradicate the anger felt by Muslims when they witness the outcome of US and American wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere on their TV screens. That anger is justifiable; the way that a few — like the 7/7 London transport bombers, the Boston bombers and the two men who boasted about carving up a British soldier — unleash their fury on innocents, who have no say over their government’s actions, is cowardly and abhorrent. Moreover, they’re no warriors for Islam when the faith explicitly states that killing one innocent is akin to slaying all of humanity.
Leaders of Muslim communities in the UK have loudly condemned the barbaric incident but law-abiding British Muslims are suffering a backlash from right-wing groups, such as the British National Party (BNP) and the English Defense League (EDL), which have organized marches to ignite Islamophobic sentiment. The leader of the BNP says mass immigration is to be blamed and the perpetrators should be shot again and wrapped in pigskin. The EDL announced the movement is “at war” with Islamic extremism. British Muslims are being targeted by balaclava-wearing Nazi-leaning fascists. In recent days, mosques have come under attack or daubed with racist graffiti. Muslims are being spat at or threatened in the streets; women’s head scarves are being pulled off their heads by passersby. In short, Muslims in Britain are living in fear through no fault of their own.
However, British authorities don’t have clean hands either. The real scandal is that one of the perpetrators Michael Adebolajo, the son of Nigerian Christian immigrants, was known to UK anti-terror units three years prior to the attack after his arrest in Kenya when he was suspected of participating in an Al-Qaeda inspired plot. Upon his return to the UK, his family and friends say MI5 pressured him to infiltrate extremist groups and spy on Muslim scholars, which he allegedly refused to do. Likewise the dead Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarvaev was added to a CIA watch list following a tip-off from Moscow, 18 months before his home-made bomb exploded at the marathon’s finishing line.
History confirms that both the UK and the US have on occasion worked closely with Islamists and jihadists since the 1950s on the basis of as long as they’re “our terrorists” they’re good fellows. There are numerous examples dating back to the era of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser who swayed toward the Soviet Union.
In his memoir “The Game of Nations: The Amorality of Power Politics,” US intelligence veteran Col. W. Patrick Lang describes how the CIA sought to undermine Nasser’s popularity and nationalist spirit by seeking out “a religious spellbinder” on the lines of Egypt’s answer to Billy Graham. The CIA’s man in Cairo, Miles Copeland, came across the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and worked with the organization to topple the Egyptian leader, albeit unsuccessfully. Robert Baer writes in his book “Sleeping with the Devil” that the CIA funneled support to the MB because of “the Brotherhood’s commendable ability to overthrow Nasser.”
It won’t be news to you that the CIA was instrumental in the coup that rid Iran of its democratically-elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh and worked to overthrow the Shah. But you may not realize that the CIA and Britain’s MI6 actively promoted the Ayatollah Khomeini to the extent that prior to his return from exile in France, the Iranians dubbed the BBC “The Ayatollah BBC.”
Fast forwarding to the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda’s main training base “Bayt Al-Ansar” was founded with the assistance of the CIA chief in Peshawar at a time when the US manipulated religious belief to attract anti-Soviet jihadists to fight against communism. Under the umbrella of NSDD 166, the US took part in the radicalization of Afghan schoolchildren, encouraging them to join the anti-Soviet resistance with textbooks promoting jihad and featuring violent images.
Michel Chossudovsky, a Canadian professor and author, wrote, “Advertisements paid for from CIA funds, were placed in newspapers and newsletters around the world offering inducements and motivations to join the Jihad.” “Under the Reagan administration, US foreign policy evolved toward the unconditional support and endorsement of the Islamic “freedom fighters,” he writes, adding, “In today’s world, the ‘freedom fighters’ are labeled “Islamic terrorists.”
The CIA has also supported “freedom fighters” considered terrorists in Russia. Author John Laughland wrote that “the leading group which pleads the Chechan cause is the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya” with “the list of the self-styled “distinguished Americans” who are its members is a roll call of the most prominent neoconservatives who so enthusiastically support the “war on terror.”
Award-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh describes in the New Yorker under the heading “Our men in Iran” how US “Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) conducted training, beginning in 2005, for members of the Mujahideen-e-Khalq, a dissident Iranian group known in the West as the M.E.K.” which has been linked to the assassination of six American citizens and is listed by the State Department as a terrorist organization. Hersh alleges that members of the M.E.K. trained in Nevada but that program ended when Obama took office.
Some of the most explosive revelations come from former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds. In her book “Classified Woman” published last year, she accuses US government officials of collaborating with Al-Qaeda. During interviews she asserted that Al-Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawahri regularly met with US intelligence officials between 1997 and 2001. Sunday Times journalists wishing to remain anonymous allege a four-part series on this topic, scheduled to run in 2008, was dropped under pressure from “interest groups” associated with the US State Department.
It’s clear to me that the Islamic faith has been used and abused by Western intelligence agencies to suit their nation’s geopolitical agendas, nations that are almost as much to blame for terrorism acts, carried out by young and impressionable dupes, as those who light the fuse. Politicians, diplomats and spooks, who helped give birth to this Frankensteinian monster we call terrorism, can hardly complain when the creature turns on its master to wreak death and destruction wherever it goes.