Cuatro perlas
sobre el mundo en que vivimos, tomadas de Russia Today esta mañana. Las
primeras dos noticias proceden del mundo árabe; las dos siguientes, de Europa.
Acá van:
Título: 20yo
woman drowns in Dubai after father refuses to let lifeguards ‘touch &
dishonor her’
Texto: A man who
prevented Dubai lifeguards from saving his drowning 20-year-old daughter,
saying he would rather she died than be dishonored by being touched by male
lifeguards, has been arrested and charged in the United Arab Emirates.
The man, an expat
from an undisclosed Asian country who has not been identified by police, took
his wife and children to the beach for a picnic. His daughter was having fun
swimming, when she suddenly got into difficulty in the water and screamed for
help.
“Two [lifeguards]
were at the beach, and they rushed to help the girl.” Lt. Col. Ahmed Burqibah,
deputy director of Dubai police’s search and rescue department, told Emirates
24/7.
”However, there
was one obstacle, which prevented them from reaching the girl and helping her…
the belief of this Asian man, who considered that if these men touched his
daughter, then this would dishonor her. It cost him the life of his daughter.”
According to Lt.
Col. Burqibah, the father – a tall and strong man – physically prevented the lifeguards from
reaching his daughter.
“He started
pulling and [holding back] the [lifeguards] and got violent with them. He told
them that he prefers his daughter being dead than being touched by a strange
man.”
By the time the
father had stopped fighting with the lifeguards, the young woman's heart had
stopped beating.
“She died
unfortunately, at a time when she had a chance to live, especially [since the
lifeguards] were so close to her to [pulling] her out of the water,” Burqibah
said. “This is one of the incidents [that] I cannot forget. It shocked me and
many others who were involved in the case.”
The young woman’s
father was later arrested by Dubai police and charged in connection with the
incident.
***
Título: ‘Chaos
& lawlessness’: The West’s Libyan legacy
Texto: With peace
talks between Libyan political factions beginning in Geneva, seeking to forge a
unity government in a country crippled by chaos and lawlessness, the West’s
role in the destabilization should be questioned.
Out of the many
examples of Western military campaigns in recent times, none has been more
grievous or disastrous than NATO’s 2011 intervention in Libya, which only
helped turn the country into a failed state.
Unleashed under
the auspices of UN Security Council Resolution 1973 – a mandate abused to
effect the toppling of the Gaddafi regime in Tripoli despite its official and
stated objective of ‘protecting civilians’ – NATO’s intervention in the form of
airstrikes did not result in the democratic society so gushingly anticipated by
those responsible and their supporters.
Instead it
ushered in crisis and chaos as Libyan society promptly fragmented and broke
down into the tribal, sectarian, and brutal internecine conflict that has
turned a once-functioning state and society into a dystopia into which Islamic
State (IS) has gained a foothold and been able to spread its malign influence.
The result has been the usual barbaric ritual beheadings by IS of prisoners,
the persecution of women and minorities, and in June the slaughter of 37
tourists in Tunisia in a terrorist attack prepared and organized across the
border in Libya.
Here it should be
noted that there were no terrorist training camps in Libya and IS was not a
presence there prior to NATO’s military intervention and the toppling of the
Gaddafi regime in 2011.
Another grievous
consequence of the chaos in Libya is a refugee/migrant crisis that has seen
tens of thousands desperate to escape the hell the country has become, willing
to risk a perilous voyage across the Mediterranean in barely-seaworthy vessels
in order to do so. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, have drowned in the attempt
thus far with more sure to follow.
Not that they are
welcomed with open arms and given sanctuary if they somehow manage to survive
the voyage and reach mainland Europe. On the contrary, not merely content with
helping to destabilize and destroy Libya, European governments have shamefully
denied rightful refugee status to those who are naturally attempting to flee
the hell into which they have been plunged. Instead these desperate people are
being demonized and dehumanized, treated not as human beings fleeing war and
persecution, but as criminals intent on staging an invasion. British Prime
Minister, David Cameron, recently described them as constituting a “swarm.”
The reason it is
important to record this litany of disaster in such detail is to counter the
moves that are afoot in European capitals and in Washington, as the Libyan
talks in Geneva begin, to claim that Libya is on the way to the becoming the
flowering example of democracy it was claimed the 2011 ‘revolt’, aided by NATO,
was certain to create.
In this regard
the US Special Envoy to Libya, Jonathan Winer, recently had the astounding
temerity to claim in an article that appeared on the US State Department’s
official blog that the overthrow of Gaddafi was a “moment of pride for Libyans
and those who supported them.”
By “those who
supported them,” Winer is obviously referring to the US and its European
allies, responsible for the previously-mentioned NATO intervention without
which the so-called Libyan rebels would not have succeeded, given that their
revolt did not have the mass support of the Libyan people, which is just one of
the many myths conjured up in order to support the toppling of the Gaddafi
regime.
But leaving that
aside for a moment, the gall of US and European leaders and their functionaries
in claiming Gaddafi’s overthrow should be considered a source of pride is truly
staggering – not only because it has ushered in the aforementioned chaos and
destabilization, but also because only just prior to Gaddafi’s overthrow the
West was doing lucrative business with the Libyan leader and referring to him
in the most convivial terms.
If Gaddafi was
the ‘tyrant’ the US claimed he was upon his death at the hands of a mob, what
was he before when President Obama was shaking hands with him at the G8 Summit
in Italy in 2009, to which the Libyan president was invited as head of the
African Union?
The only word to
describe the ease with which the West turned on its former trade partner and
‘friend’ is opportunism. The truth is that by the time the Arab Spring spread
to Libya it had reached the end of its momentum, lacking the popular support it
had enjoyed in Tunisia and Egypt before it. When Gaddafi claimed that in Libya
the revolt in Benghazi in the east was being led by Al-Qaeda, governments and
opinion formers the West scoffed, preferring to regard the rebels as democrats.
Of course there were those among the rebels who were fighting to bring about
democratic change, but they were by no means the driving force of the struggle.
In June 2011, for
example, a few months before Colonel Gaddafi met his grisly end, the influential
American conservative magazine, National Review, carried a story on its website
citing a report compiled by two French think tanks. It revealed that “jihadists
have played a predominant role in the eastern Libyan rebellion against the rule
of Muammar Gaddafi, and that ‘true democrats’ represent only a minority in the
rebellion.”
Yet despite this
we have Washington, in the shape of the aforesaid US Special Envoy to Libya,
Winer, trying to claim that in 2015 Libya is on the verge of emerging from the
abyss of terrorist violence, social fragmentation, and lawlessness into a
Western-style democracy underpinned by the rule of law.
“Many Libyans are
working to bridge differences and to realize the democratic aspirations of the
revolution for which so many sacrificed so much. These efforts reflect the
common desire to live in a unified country with other Libyans who reject
violence and seek a civil, democratic state committed to human rights and the
rule of law,” Winer writes.
Only someone
reaching deep down into a well of desperation and denial could come up with
this analysis. Libya was turned into a failed state by Washington and its
allies, yet rather than admit the fact they are intent on claiming that the
country is merely going through a difficult process of transition towards
democracy. The tens of thousands of men, women and children who have risked,
and are still risking, their lives trying to escape across the Med in anything
that will carry them offer a far stronger rebuke to this staggering and, it has
to be said, bonkers narrative than any words ever could.
The Libyan people
are victims of the West’s crude attempt to hijack the momentum of the Arab
Spring at the very point at which it came to the end of its reach. The speed of
its spread and mass support in Tunisia and Egypt, where it succeeded in
toppling two pro-Western dictators in the shape of Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak,
caught Washington and its allies by surprise.
Libya is where
they decided to try and place themselves at the head of its momentum, motivated
not by the desire to help effect democratic change, but to ensure that the
extensive and lucrative oil exploration contracts and economic ties forged with
the Gaddafi regime were protected and upheld after its demise.
This was their
motivation and a failed state is the result. While, of course, a world
interested in justice and human rights supports the attempt to forge a unity
Libyan government that can start to rebuild the country and achieve a measure
of stability, any such attempts that involve those responsible for the disaster
in the first place have to be viewed with caution.
Washington and
Europe have never been a source of stability in the Middle East or North
Africa. On the contrary, their presence and double dealing has only ever
brought people living there unremitting suffering and despair.
***
Título: EU can’t
‘bully’ nations into extending sanctions on Russia forever – Mattias Westman to
RT
Texto: EU
sanctions against Russia are unlikely to continue far into the future, as it
will become increasingly harder to “bully” nations that want to lift the
measures, founding partner at Prosperity Capital Management Mattias Westman
told RT.
In June, the
European Union extended sanctions against Russia until January 2016. However,
this required a unanimous decision from all member countries – something that
will become harder and harder to achieve, according to Westman.
“Already in the
summer, when [the sanctions] were prolonged...there were a lot of countries who
did not want to do it...I think each time it will become harder and harder to
bully the countries who want to lift the sanctions,” said Westman, a founding
partner and director at Prosperity Capital Management Ltd.
“They [EU
leaders] probably might not want to spend so much political capital on bullying
their countries into agreeing on prolongation very much longer.”
He stressed that
Moscow’s counter-sanctions are “biting a bit” in the south of Europe, which
increases the likelihood of sanctions against Russia being lifted.
However, Westman
stated that this would be “politically inconvenient” for Washington, which does
not want to appear weak against Moscow.
The economist
also largely disagreed with comments made by US President Barack Obama, which
claimed that the sanctions have “seriously weakened” the Russian economy.
Though he
admitted the sanctions have had some negative impact on Russia, he said that
the country’s economic slowdown had more to do with the price of oil which has
fallen by 50 percent, concluding that this was “inevitably going to have an
effect on the Russian economy, particularly on the ruble.”
“I think the
Central Bank did the right thing in terms of allowing the ruble to fluctuate
and to decline with the terms of trade in order to preserve the margins and the
competitiveness of the Russian industry,” he stressed.
It’s been one
year since the West imposed sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis,
prompting Moscow to respond with counter-sanctions. Those sanctions have
resulted in major economic losses for the EU, which are continuing to worsen.
In July the
former French minister for apprenticeship and professional formation, Nadine
Morano, said that the EU has lost €21 billion in revenue as a result of
Russia’s counter-sanctions so far – and that number could nearly quadruple to
€81 billion over time.
Meanwhile, the
Austrian Institute of Economic Research presented a projection of possible
economic losses for the EU in 2015 in a worst-case scenario. It shows that
Germany will be affected by the embargo the most, with losses of €29.9 billion.
The next in line are Italy (€16.3 billion), France (€11.1 billion), the UK
(€9.0 billion), and Spain (€8.5 billion).
“It’s unfortunate
that the West has taken has taken such a strong side for one part of an
internal conflict in Ukraine. I think there is lack of understanding what the
causes of this conflict are,” Westman said adding, however, that he has seen
some signs that “some more awareness is coming on, that this is not a simple as
it might have looked from the beginning.”
***
Título: Germany
made €100bn profit on Greek crisis – study
Texto: Greece’s
biggest creditor Germany has made a huge profit on the country’s debt crisis
over the last 5 years as it saved through lower interest payments on funds
borrowed amid investor "flights to safety."
Each time
investors got bad news about Greece, they rushed to the ‘safe haven’ of
Germany, with the interest rates on German government bonds falling, according
to the study from the private, non-profit Leibniz Institute of Economic
Research, Agence France-Presse reported Monday.
The estimated
€100 billion Germany had saved since 2010 accounted for over three percent of
its GDP, the report said.
"These
savings exceed the costs of the crisis - even if Greece were to default on its
entire debt," the study said.
The bonds of
countries such as the United States, France and the Netherlands had benefited
"to a much smaller extent."
Germany’s Finance
Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble who has always been against writing off the Greek
debt pointed to his own government's balanced budget.
The balanced
budget, however, was possible mainly as a result of Germany's interest savings
through the Greek crisis, the study claimed.
Schauble has
repeatedly said the Greek debt of €316 billion cannot be restructured within
the eurozone. He claimed Grexit [Greece’s exit from the Eurozone-Ed] might be a
solution for the country’s debt ‘haircut.’
While Greek and
EU officials say Athens and the creditors are close to the final agreement on
the third €86 billion rescue, Berlin continues hindering the process. Last
week, the creditors urged for more reforms from Athens, arguing that another
two-or three-week bridging loan was better than hurriedly striking a three-year
deal. Germany’s proposed option of a €5-billion bridging loan to give
negotiators more time is still on the table.
The multibillion
deal is expected to be reached by the August 20 deadline, when Greece has a
€3.2-billion debt repayment due to the European Central Bank (ECB).
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