"The WAR on error"
The chairman of the Social Democratic Party, Kurt Beck, said that the painful social and economic reforms introduced by Chancellor Merkel had hurt Germans badly and that people wouldn’t accept more.
German papers on...
When Germany takes over the EU presidency, Romania and Bulgaria will also become new member states. Not much is likely to change, but it's a happy bit of synchronicity - the EU's expansion to the east situates Berlin, more than ever, at the heart of Europe.
For Germany, 2006 was a year of unexpected successes. Next year may be one of rare opportunity. But the challenges are daunting.
Germany takes over the leadership of the G8 presidency next year and says it wants to refocus the group on problems facing the global economy.
Germany is well-positioned to restart a Middle East peace process when it takes over the EU presidency. The recent violence in the Gaza Strip has Berlin concerned the fragile ceasefire could collapse.
UPI analysis...
Europe in 2006 has become increasingly engaged in security conflicts in the Middle East, a trend that looks to continue next year in light of ever-sinking U.S. standing in the region because of failure to stabilize Iraq.
The world's 6th smallest country announced yesterday that all this time it had been underestimating its size: surveyors had discovered that the country did not measure 160 square kilometres but was, in fact, a slightly more impressive 160.475 square kilometres. Liechtenstein's 35,000 inhabitants, some of the wealthiest on Earth, celebrated 200 years of independence this year, which was achieved when Napoleon convinced the principality to break away from the Holy Roman Empire.
A narrow majority of French people think the euro is a “bad thing” for France, according to a survey that chimed with criticism from senior politicians of the European Central Bank’s stewardship of the common currency. The French poll was conducted as a number of politicians from both the main parties criticised the ECB and called for measures to stop the euro from strengthening further against the dollar. A separate poll last week showed 58% of Germans wanted the deutschemark back.
"We are an independent country. We should have our own currency!" Such skepticism about the euro is spreading across the EU's newest member states. While the EU's newcomers grapple with whether to join the euro club, those already in it are having their own doubts. In Italy, France and the Netherlands, there has been a public backlash against a perceived rise in prices since the euro's introduction. Five years later, most Germans still long to have their old currency back. In Italy, a growing tide against the euro has culminated in some politicians calling for the country to back out of the single currency.
Four in 10 Europeans using the euro still have difficulty handling the currency, according to a survey. Many big purchases, such as homes and cars, are still being priced in old currencies rather than the euro. One thing the euro has not done is make Europeans feel more European. “Most citizens in the euro area do not think that the euro has had any effect on their feelings of being European,” said the poll.
Ehud Olmert told European Union countries and foreign ministry officials that Syrian President Bashar Assad "is up to his neck in activities in support of terrorism" and therefore cannot be considered a part of peace negotiations. He contrasted Assad with Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who he said is a moderate force in the PA.
Premier Paranoid Protestant
Prophecy Propagandist Preaching Poop...
I believe God has blessed the US, for reason, because of America's unflagging support for Israel. But if we back away, then God's promise to them will fall on us.
Executing Saddam Hussein would be "avenging a crime with another crime", the head of the Vatican's Justice and Peace department said. "The Church proclaims that human life should be protected from conception to natural death. The death penalty is not a natural death. And no one can kill, not even the state."
While Saddam Hussein faced death with a letter of farewell, the former Iraqi dictator's looming execution has exposed a deep divide between the United States and Europe, with opposition building in the Continent's major capitals.
Sudan raised new questions Wednesday about its commitment to a U.N. peace effort in the violence-wracked Darfur region as its ambassador ruled out any U.N. peacekeeping troops — an element of the world body's proposal.
It is tempting to wink at Ethiopia's stunningly successful offensive in Somalia. It pushed back a hateful Islamic militia that was defying the United Nations, threatening to impose religious tyranny and, according to Washington, harboring international terrorists. But if there's anything we should have learned over the past few sad years, it is that this kind of unilateral pre-emptive attack seldom solves anything. Washington should use their influence to push for a swift cessation of hostilities, lest the conflict pull in neighboring countries and explode over the entire region.
(LT op-ed: The world must not ignore the Horn of Africa)
With a Western embargo looming, President Ahmadinejad is launching a charm offensive towards Christians. In his Christmas message he exalted the return of Jesus and acknowledged the value of the Christian community in Iran. In his Christmas message, in itself almost a 'Christmas miracle' in the country considered to be the 'land of the Magi,' Ahmadinejad spoke of Jesus Christ as 'a divine prophet' and of 'Holy Mary' as 'a great model for women'.
[WAR: Sorry Ahmad, but the Magi didn't come from Persia - they were from Ethiopia. They went up the King's Highway and entered Jerusalem "from the east", then went back home "by another way" - headed west into Egypt, then south to Ethiopia.]
Supreme leader:
The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei today stressed that the colonialist politicians know well that if a united Islamic identity is formed, the door will be closed to their political and economic domination. He made the remark in his message to the Hajj pilgrims, during the disavowal of pagans ceremony held in Arafat Desert.
(IRNA: Full text of message)
The Iranian government has finally developed the ultimate “nuclear” weapon that can swiftly destroy the financial system underpinning the American Empire. From a purely economic point of view, should the Iranian Oil Bourse gain momentum, it will be eagerly embraced by major economic powers and will precipitate the demise of the dollar.
On the BBC...
The Conspiracy Files investigates whether the Oklahoma City bombing was the work of lone bomber Tim McVeigh, or whether there were others involved who are being protected in a government cover-up. The programme talks to conspiracy theorists who claim that the US government not only had foreknowledge of the attack, they had informants inside the conspiracy who actively encouraged the bombing.
In the US today, demonization and propaganda substitute for facts and analysis. Professors and journalists are quick to lend their names and voices to the untruths that rule our lives. Just as Hitler’s foreign policy was based in propaganda, so is Bush’s and Blair’s. In America today each faction’s "truths" are defined by the faction’s dogma or ideology. Each faction bans factual analysis that it doesn’t want to hear. The US has entered a dark age of dogmas and unaccountable power.
What we see today is a fringe-economy sector that is growing fast, taking advantage of the ever-larger part of the U.S. population whose economic lives are becoming less secure.
Totalitarian sects have been often in the spotlight following cases of massive suicide of cultists or terrorist attacks carried out by members of Aum Shinrikyo. Just a short while ago the term “sect” stood for a small religious group in opposition to the official church. A variety of religious beliefs of limited popularity, nothing special about it. Nowadays the public more frequently raise the issue of destructive or totalitarian sects, referring to any organization with a high level of manipulation being one of its main characteristics.
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