Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
March 25, 2012
The UK press led by Murdoch’s Sunday Times – is going to town with the story.
But why is anybody surprised?
The Tory Party co-treasurer, Peter Cruddas, was caught on film by some intrepid Murdoch reporters from the Sunday Times pointing out the benefits of paying for access. He has now resigned – for being caught on tape it would seem. He surely did not resign for doing what was expected of him in his job.
“One hundred grand is not Premier League… it’s not bad… But two hundred grand to 250 is premier league… what you would get is, when we talk about your donations the first thing we want to do is get you at the Cameron/Osborne dinners.”
“It’ll be awesome for your business. You’ll be… well pleased. Because your guests will be photographed with David Cameron. We do that, you know.”
“If you’re unhappy about something, we will listen to you and put it into the policy committee at number 10 – we feed all feedback to the policy committee.”
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Tags:Cash for access, David Cameron, Peter Cruddas, political corruption, Sunday Times, UK corruption
Posted in Corruption, Ethics, European Union, Politics, UK | Comments Off on Who’s surprised? £250k for dinner with Cameron and Osborne and some policy input
March 11, 2012
When can “ends” no longer justify the “means”?
At what level does “collateral damage” become unacceptable?
And even after all the blood-letting in Iraq and Afghanistan there are still those who would like to see the US and Israel launch attacks on Iran. Iran dossiers are no doubt being “sexed-up” by those who are worried that not being at war with someone is not sustainable for business.
BBC News:
‘Rogue’ US soldier kills Afghan civilians
A US soldier in Afghanistan has killed at least 16 civilians and wounded five after entering their homes in Kandahar province, senior local officials say. He left his military base in the early hours of the morning and opened fire in at least two homes; women and children were among the dead.
Nato said it was investigating the “deeply regrettable incident”.
The New York Times does cover this as its top story, but Fox News only reports – as its third story – that a US soldier has been detained for the alleged killing of civilians! It is Sunday and Huff Post and the Drudge Report – as of 1300 CET – have not even managed to report this “regrettable incident”.
UPDATE! And now Reuters reports that it wasn’t one, lone, disturbed, “rogue” soldier but “a rampage that witnesses said was carried out by American soldiers who were laughing and appeared drunk”.
Tags:Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, massacre of the innocents, rogue soldier, war
Posted in Business, Ethics, Politics, War | Comments Off on A “regrettable incident”
February 12, 2012
Al-Qaeda has come out in strong support of the Syrian opposition and becomes a strange bedfellow for the US and Western European nations who have aligned themselves more against President Assad than for anybody in particular.
Just how the US and France and UK and others will now be reconciled with Al-Qaeda jumping into bed with them remains to be seen. But it seems that Al-Qaeda has been fostering the rebellion in Syria for well over a year. Perhaps they have always been in that Syrian bed and have only recently been joined by the others?
Last week the Russians and Chinese exercised their vetoes in the UN to stop a resolution against the Syrian regime and which called for President Assad to step down. Initially I felt that the Russians and Chinese had balked at the idea of supporting any resolution supporting regime-change since this could someday be turned against them. They claimed that their vetoes were primarily because the resolution was unbalanced since it did not condemn opposition groups for the use of violence and for causing some of the bloodshed. Now with the Al-Qaeda support for the opposition “giving” them the right to use whatever means they saw fit to get rid of a “cancerous regime”, it begins to look as if the picture in Syria is not as one-sided as it has appeared.
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Tags:AlQaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Bashar al-Assad, Syria
Posted in Politics, Syria, UN | Comments Off on “The enemy of my enemy …” makes for strange bedfellows in Syria as AL-Qaeda joins with the US
January 22, 2012
I have long felt that Håkan Juholt was inappropriate as the leader of the Swedish Social Democrats. But what was most disturbing – in this time of transparency – was the opaque manner of his being “appointed and anointed” as leader of the party some 10 months ago.
But it is the party’s Executive Committee (Verkställande utskott) who come out of this debacle as being particularly incompetent. No doubt Juholt himself was lacking in the competence and leadership qualities necessary to unite the party behind him. But it was the Executive Committee which displayed gross incompetence; first in choosing a leader who would be constantly sniped at from within the party; secondly, incompetent in the coup-like manner in which they pulled Juholt’s name out of a hat; thirdly incompetent in not being able to discern Juholt’s lack of the leadership qualities necessary for the position; and finally incompetent in not being able to shield their “appointed” leader from the snipers and the baying media.
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Tags:Executive Committee, Håkan Juholt, Party leader, Sweden, Swedish Social Democratic Party
Posted in Politics, Sweden | Comments Off on Swedish Social Democrats implode as Juholt resigns
January 8, 2012
I am not Tony Blair’s greatest fan and don’t have very high expectations of him. Nevertheless, the manner in which he cashes in on his former position is breathtaking! Personal ethics are clearly unknown to him.
Paying 2.5% of his income as tax is a pretty impressive case of tax avoidance (which is probably perfectly legal and not tax evasion). But it makes him a parasite. Some parasites are useful but he is not one of them.
The Telegraph:
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair channelled millions of pounds through a complicated web of companies and paid just a fraction in tax
Official accounts show a company set up by Mr Blair to manage his business affairs paid just £315,000 in tax last year on an income of more than £12 million. In that time, he employed 26 staff and paid them total wages of almost £2.3 million. ….
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Tags:administrative costs, £8 million, ethics, Tax, Tony Blair
Posted in Ethics, Politics | 5 Comments »
December 19, 2011
North Korea’s Dear Leader Kim Jong-il passed away yesterday at the age of 69.
He will be succeeded (probably) by Kim Jong-Un but exactly who he is is a matter of some speculation.
My crystal ball tells me that the reunification of Korea will be a reality within 5 years. The scenario I see is that after much noise and threats the North will ask for help – mainly for food. S Korean industrialists will get heavily involved in these “compassionate” projects and will develop the North Korean market in the interests of their own conglomerates. And then the changes will escalate and will be irreversible.
Nearly all countries and even China publicly support the reunification of the Koreas. But this will be a much more traumatic process than the German reunification – which was not cheap and is not complete even after 20 years. With a population of about 50 million in the South and about 25 million in the North it will inevitably seem like an “acquisition” of the North by the South. While the 25 million is a mouth-watering additional (and captive) market for the industrial conglomerates of the South, the social pressures of what should be seen to be a “merger” appearing to be an acquisition would place an unprecedented and formidable challenge for the politicians of the South. The politicians themselves have a reputation for being in the pockets of the various chaebols and whether they will have the vision and skill to manage the social upheaval remains to be seen.
Though the process may well start within the next 5 years, it will likely take much longer to complete than the German experience.
Kim Jong-Un
Tags:Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un, Korea, Korea reunification, North Korea
Posted in Business, Korea, Politics | Comments Off on Kim Jong-Who and the reunification of Korea
December 18, 2011
BBC:
Václav Havel, the Czech Republic’s first president after the Velvet Revolution against communist rule, has died at the age of 75. As president, he presided over Czechoslovakia’s transition to democracy and a free-market economy. He oversaw its peaceful 1993 split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Havel first came to international fame as a dissident playwright in the 1970s through his involvement with the human rights manifesto Charter 77.
.. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt wrote on Twitter: “Vaclav Havel was one of the greatest Europeans of our age. His voice for freedom paved (the) way for a Europe whole and free.”
In the early 1990’s I was once trying to sell a district-heating and power plant to be built in Ostrava in the then Czechoslavakia. Eventually the project did not go forward with the split in 1993 into Slovakia and the Czech Republic but I had the opportunity (and the privilege) to once present the project to President Vaclav Havel. He was a playwright by profession but his questions were pointed and precise. I found him remarkably sharp and capable in grasping the finer points in technical and economic arguments.
The Charter 77 declaration is here: Charter 77 declaration
Czeck President Vaclav Klaus (L) as he succeeds outgoing President Vaclav Havel (R) in 2003. SNA File photo
SNA: Havel passed away on Sunday after a protracted respiratory disease, just after turning 75 October 5.
“It was Havel who invited me to the emerging Civic Forum,” said Klaus in an official address Sunday, referring to the platform that led then-Czechoslovakia to democratization away from the communist regime.
The two Vaclavs went on to become arch-rivals in their visions for the development of the Czech Republic.
RIP
Tags:Czech Republic, Czechoslovakia, Slovakia, Václav Havel, Velvet Revolution
Posted in Czech Republic, Politics | Comments Off on Václav Havel – RIP
December 6, 2011
While I have been travelling over the last week, the IPCC Durban circus has been performing to dwindling audiences.
The Climategate 1 and 2 emails that have been released so far (about 1,000 + 5,000) are focused mainly on a 3-way nexus between a group of rather mediocre scientists, a few willing (and gullible) reporters and some of the bureaucrats/politicians who have seized on the advantages of fear-mongering.
The mediocrity of the so-called climate scientists is palpable. Michael Mann leaves out data whwnever he feels like it, Phil Jones can’t fathom the intricacies of an Excel table, Tom Wigley (appropriate name) tries to get the PhD’s of his opponents retracted, etc …….. . And all for “The Cause”.
We have seen the blatant lobbying activities of Harrabin and Revkin undermine the reputation of the BBC and the New York Times. At least George Monbiot does not pretend to be anything other than a lobbyist. Harrabin’s pompous defence of his blinkered view is particularly nauseating.
Now we find that the IPCC itself was not averse to falsifying data when it felt the message needed strengthening.
The Global warming fraternity have been busy defending themselves, denying that what they have been engaged in has been bad science or bad journalism. But the politicians and bureaucrats have escaped scrutiny — at least so far.
But there are 200,000 further emails waiting to be un-encrypted by the release of a decrypting phrase (the emails themselves have already been released). And some bureaucrats, some IPCC functionaries, some carbon trading entrepreneurs and some amoral, fear-mongering politicians have to wait their turn.
But they will probably not have to wait very long!!!!
Tags:Andy Revkin, Climategate 2.0 emails, ethics, global warming, IPCC, Mann, Phil Jones, Roger Harrabin
Posted in Academic misconduct, Alarmism, Climate, Corruption, Media, Politics, UN | Comments Off on Climategate 2.0: What’s in the encrypted 200,000 emails?
November 20, 2011
Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg is serving his self-imposed 2 year exile on the other side of the Atlantic. But he is beginning the process of his own rehabilitation in the public eye. He seems to have subtly changed his look – probably part of a determined effort to create a new “cleaner” image.
Deutsche Welle:
Guttenberg's developed a new look, sans glasses and hair gel: Deutsche Welle
Germany’s disgraced former Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg has returned to the political stage, albeit far away in Canada. After the dodgy doctorate debacle, is this the first sign of a comeback? …
Guttenberg, sporting a new look at the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada, was referred to as “the honorable Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, distinguished statesman, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)” when introduced to the audience of some 300 people. Guttenberg moved to the US with his family in the summer, and works at CSIS, a think tank based in Washington.
….. Guttenberg’s doctoral title has since been revoked by the University of Bayreuth, and he may yet face trial on charges of violations of copyright law in writing his thesis. The former defense minister did not speak to journalists on the sidelines of the forum.
Tags:Canada, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Germany, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, PhD thesis plagiarism, Plagiarism, retracted doctorate, United States, zu Googleberg
Posted in Academic misconduct, Ethics, Germany, Politics | 5 Comments »
November 17, 2011
The US Inspector General has issued a report of an investigation into how the Department of the Interior manipulated and altered a 30-day report from the National Academy of Engineers. It was in response to the explosion of British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20th 2010, that the Department of the Interior declared a moratorium on deepwater drilling, which it extended for six months on May 27th claiming support from the 30 day report. But the executive summary implied – falsely – that the moratorium decision had been peer-reviewed by the National Association of Engineers. The President’s Climate Change Advisor Carol Browner was the key figure involved in altering the language to make the false implication.
What is disturbing is not that politicians make political decisions but it is their cowardice in standing for their own views when they distort and manipulate what professional engineers and scientists say to imply – falsely – that there is objective support for their views.
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Tags:Carol Browner, Deepwater Horizon, Department of the Interior, distortion of science, drilling mratorium, Inspector General, Salazar, United States Secretary of the Interior
Posted in Alarmism, Politics, scientific misconduct | Comments Off on Inspector General finds that Department of the Interior manipulated a scientific report to fit a political agenda
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