Showing posts with label 2015 at 10:20PM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2015 at 10:20PM. Show all posts

Monday, December 14, 2015

Eurosphere agenda: Front National wins regional polls; defeated in key vote…

http://ift.tt/1Z8nEb3

French far right defeated in key vote

France’s far-right National Front fails to win a single region, despite leading in nearly half in the first round of voting.

MAIN FOCUS: Front National wins regional polls | 07/12/2015

The far-right Front National won the first round of France’s regional elections on Sunday, with both the conservatives and the Socialists trailing behind. The Front National’s success is a result of the terrorist attacks in Paris, some commentators conclude. Others stress that the rise of the Front National must be seen in a historical context.

Le Pen says French elite ‘crumbling’

The leader of France’s far-right National Front says voters rejected the “old political class” in regional elections that put her party top.
Front National: victorious defeat

After Sunday’s regional elections, will the French be able to stop FN from finally breaking through the fragile glass ceiling? And what about the renewed political world that voters want?

After regional elections marked by a surge in support for the French National Front (NF), in which the party still failed to gain any power, all eyes are already turning to the 2017 presidential campaign.

French regional election: Lessons learnt

French regional election: Lessons learnt

Raid on ‘Europe’s biggest drug dealer’
Dramatic footage from Spain shows a raid on the home of a British man accused of running Europe’s largest drug-trafficking network.
The Paris climate deal – how did the British press react?

If this was an historic deal, most of the papers clearly didn’t agree.

Only one paper led with the deal, the Observer:

Podemos: the challenge in Spain

We need to expand the emancipatory space for what is possible from within acontaminated and contaminant discourse, far removed from pure rationality and a theoretical superiority over ‘the masses’. Español.

Demotix/Marcos del Mazo. All rights reserved.To grasp how stunningly Podemos burst onto the political scene in recent Spanish history, one must understand and reflect upon an idea that has already been explored in politics: namely that the hitherto leading role of the working class, as well as its historical role in social struggles, should be taken into consideration alongside other emerging social forces of similar ‘critical’ relevance.

By the end of the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris 196 states had agreed to attempt to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Some commentators celebrate the agreement as a milestone and praise the global village for its new awareness. Others criticise the absence of business representatives and the lack of binding obligations.

Podemos: instrument, work, subject. Aphorisms

Podemos, rather than being a prosthesis for the 15-M multitude, should be conceived as a weapon it needed to be able to navigate this fluid and unstable historical conjuncture.

Podemos emerged as the instrument of a new multitude that gestated and developed in the weeks of 15-M and after. That multitude did not consist in an aggregated set of demands, or a collection of fragments, nor was it already a constituted ‘people’. Instead, the multitude that emerges with 15-M is a specific kind of invention, which nevertheless corresponds to the definition of a political multitude – something that has existed ever since Spinoza and which, contra Hobbes, sees it as a heterogeneous multiplicity with variable contours which is nonetheless capable of acting as one mind, to organise itself functionally, aggregate, disperse and take decisions. This means that Podemos as an instrument, rather than being a prosthesis for this multitude, should be conceived as a weapon, a necessary weapon for it to be able to navigate this fluid and unstable historical conjuncture.

 

Assange to be questioned by Sweden

Ecuador has agreed to allow Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to be questioned by the Swedish authorities at the Ecuadorean embassy in London.

The “European refugee crisis”: why all migrants matter

With the closure of the Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian and Macedonian borders to all migrants who are not of Syrian, Iraqi or Afghan nationality, the international community has sent out a worrying signal.

Migrants stuck at the Greek-Macedonian border. Demotix/Tasos Markou. All rights reserved.With the closure of the Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian and Macedonian borders to all migrants who are not of Syrian, Iraqi or Afghan nationality, the international community has sent out a strong signal. Any migrant who is not from one out of three nationalities and attempts to travel via the Western Balkan route to the EU is not welcome.

Germany on course for 1m asylum-seekers

New figures show Germany has registered 964,574 new asylum-seekers in the first 11 months of the year, putting it on course for more than a million in 2015.

‘Terrorist’ Tube stabbing footage plea

Police investigating a “terrorist incident” at an east London Tube station ask witnesses who filmed the stabbing to share their footage with detectives.

The Eurozone crisis and the future of Europe, as viewed from Greece

As new rulers (and their voters) gradually realize that austerity cannot be simply voted out of existence, or prosperity into existence, the prevailing mood is that of a bad hangover.

'We stay in Europe' rally in Athens, June, 2015. ‘We stay in Europe’ rally in Athens, June, 2015. Demotix/ Chrissa Giannakoudi. All rights reserved.Having spent the best part of the last six years talking and writing about the Greek crisis, I often find myself wondering what else one might add to that subject.

Spain election: New faces as campaigning kicks off

Spain election campaign kicks off with fresh faces

A new generation takes over Spain

Whatever happens in the Spanish general election, the real story will be about a profound transformation taking place at the heart of Spanish society: generational change.

VIDEO: Macedonia border reopens for refugees

The border between Macedonia and Greece has re-opened after being closed for two days.
France’s National Front and its efforts to change

Tube stabbing a ‘terrorist incident’

A stabbing at Tube station in east London, in which one man was arrested, is being treated as a “terrorist incident,” police say.

Far right leads France regional polls

France’s far-right National Front makes big gains in regional elections, estimates suggest, three weeks after the Paris attacks.

Greece approves austere 2016 budget

Greece’s parliament approves a budget for 2016 that includes sharp spending cuts and some tax increases amid economic recession.

Vía Erkan’s Field Diary http://ift.tt/1RkDNch


Filed under: Uncategorized

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Monday, June 1, 2015

Apparently Erdoğan does not take a dump on golden seats in his Palace… #TurkeyElections

http://ift.tt/1BDMK4P

Turkey’s Erdoğan invites opposition to get to bottom of gold toilet seat claims

President invites Kemal Kiliçdaroğlu to inspect lavatories in his palace after secular party leader accused him of spending public money on luxuries

Turkey’s president has invited the country’s main opposition leader to inspect the lavatories in his lavish palace, insisting he would not find any gold-plated toilet seats.

ERDOGANHaving constructed a billion-dollar palace for himself to occupy, Tayyip Erdogan is yet angered by suggestions that he is a lavish spender. He “vowed to resign if the leader of the main opposition can find a single golden toilet seat.”
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) were aiming to pressure the opposition parties with a full-page newspaper advertisement
Voters from Mersin suppose CHP and MHP are on the rise while AKP is declining day by day. Voters think HDP should pass the election threshold.
Turkey’s main opposition leader has said he proved that he could recite a Quranic verse when a potential voter put him to an impromptu test
Kurdish problem-oriented Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş challenged Turkey’s president and prime minister to attend a televised live discussion program with him, where they could openly debate
The Turkish currency fell for the eighth consecutive day on June 1, down around 0.8 percent against the U.S. dollar to 2.68
The world’s most unfair election system – how would your parliament fare?

In Turkey, parties need 10% to get into parliament or they lose their seats to bigger rivals. How would this system affect chambers in more established democracies like the UK, Germany and Australia?

A Turkish actor appears in two opposing party ads, as a man who lives on social benefits in the ruling AKP’s election ad, while in a HDP ad, he laughs.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu announced on June 1 that Turkey will finish the prototype of its first domestically-produced car in August
An independent deputy candidate went missing in a district in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa on May 30, prompting the interrogation of six people in the resulting investigation, according to the governor.
President Erdoğan claims the main opposition CHP, Turkish nationalist MHP, Kurdish problem-focused HDP, Gülenists, the outlawed PKK and even the Armenian diaspora have joined a grand coalition against his plans to impose a presidential system on Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has slammed a recent New York Times editorial as ‘shameless,’ calling on the U.S. daily to ‘know its place.’
Kurdish problem-focused Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder has said his party represents a historic chance in the upcoming general elections for the country to live together in harmony
Every time Turkey stumbles on its path towards a fully functioning democracy, critical voices rising from Europe talk about suspending the country’s accession talks with the European Union.
Turkey’s Erdogan accuses New York Times of meddling in country’s affairs

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blasts editorial accusing him of a crackdown ahead of the 7 June election, telling the US daily to ‘know your place’

A young politician has set his eyes on becoming Turkey’s first Armenian party leader by “staging a coup” inside Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)
The voting for Turkey’s June 7 general elections has ended in 54 countries with more than 1 million people voting abroad, mainly in European countries.
President Erdoğan has justified the controversial allocation of a luxury car to Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs head, comparing the situation to the allocation of armored vehicles and private plane to the pope.

Vía Erkan’s Field Diary http://ift.tt/1FpI4B3


Filed under: Uncategorized

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Eurosphere agenda: Looking at Blatter’s defensive positions and arguments… He might have some gone thru some Turkification….

http://ift.tt/1HYgO2y

Blatter ‘victim of a conspiracy’
Fifa president Sepp Blatter is the victim of a conspiracy from “behind the scenes”, his daughter tells the BBC, amid a corruption crisis.
FIFA’s Blatter slams US action, Europe ’hate’ campaign
FIFA leader Sepp Blatter said May 30 he was “shocked” at the way the US judiciary has targeted football’s world body and slammed what he called a “hate” campaign by Europe’s football leaders
Fifa re-elects Blatter president
Fifa re-elects Sepp Blatter president as his rival withdraws after the first round of a vote dominated by allegations of corruption in football.
Sexual politics in Ireland

If marriage depended on the exclusion of gay love, then its inclusion fundamentally shakes its core function for patriarchy.

Dubliners celebrating Ireland's marriage equality referendum. Dubliners celebrating Ireland’s marriage equality referendum. Demotix/ Robin English. All rights reserved. Since its greedy omnipotence in the 1980s, the catholic church in Ireland has been blown into ignominy.

This afternoon I tried to go into the European Parliament. The EU institution that is supposed to represent people like me – citizens of the European Union.

I am not a lobbyist or a journalist or an employee of another EU institution. So I could not get in.

Golden Dawn: organising, encouraging, sustained by violence

Sixty nine members of Golden Dawn are currently on trial in Greece for serious crimes. Can it really be mere coincidence that so many Golden Dawn members are implicated in such serious and violent offences?

Poles are getting older. By 2050, 33% of Poland’s population will be over 65 years old, and 10% over 80. It reflects a broader trend in the whole Europe: people are living longer. EurActiv Poland reports.

The Polish presidential election: what happens now?

Everything you need to know about Poland’s recent presidential election, at a glance.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said a British referendum on whether to leave the EU was “very risky”, ahead of a visit by Prime Minister David Cameron to Paris on May 28
Finance ministers and central bank governors of the Group of Seven wealthiest nations gathered in Dresden May 28 to discuss the global economy and tax evasion, but the Greek crisis was also high on everyone’s minds
Ja, aber: Germany and Cameron’s quest for EU reform

The European Commission firmed up its plans for refugee quotas on Wednesday. 40,000 people are to be transferred to other states from Greece and Italy. The opposition of many countries to taking in migrants is selfish, some commentators criticise. Others believe the proposed quotas could overburden smaller countries.

 

Tony Blair to step down as Middle East envoy
After June, ex-UK PM will focus on regional diplomacy as part of effort to strengthen Israeli-Arab ties, sources say.
Britons will be asked to vote “yes” if they want to stay in the European Union when vote is held within next two years.
Europe and Anti-Europe

The worst-case scenario for the EU’s future looks increasingly likely: “Grexit” (Greece leaving the eurozone), “Brexit” (the UK leaving the EU), and a Spanish election result that resembles Greece’s. In other words, nearly 60 years of European integration could be undone in the next 18 months.

Italy rescues 3,300 boat migrants
Italy rescued a total of more than 3,300 migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean on Friday, the country’s coastguard says.
Pressure grows for gay marriage in Germany
Irish vote inspires German gay marriage cause
Regional elections in Italy: Could Renzi’s honeymoon be over?

On Sunday, 31 May, regional elections will be held in seven very sensitive regions in Italy. Though Renzi has been predicting a victory, the rise of eurosceptic parties in Italy and in Europe could have an unpredictable effect.

Matteo Renzi should be feeling worried.

 

Ten years ago today, the French voted down the European Constitution Treaty, which was supposed to replace existing EU Treaties and institute key changessuch as the appointment of a EU foreign minister. This was followed by an even stronger ‘No’ in the Netherlands three days later. These ‘No’ votes succeeded where the Danish 1992 ‘No’ to Maastricht and the Irish 2000 ‘No’ to Nice had failed, forcing EU leaders to come-up with a new reform Treaty, the Lisbon Treaty.

Vía Erkan’s Field Diary http://ift.tt/1KwmYnY


Filed under: Uncategorized