German press...
When Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski chose to bring up Poland's suffering at the hands of Nazi Germany on the eve of this week's EU summit, most of Europe was shocked. German commentators fired back on Friday.
(LT cartoon: Whatever you do - don't mention the twins)
Germany and Poland were locked in a high-stakes standoff on Friday as Warsaw threatened to veto an agreement designed to replace the EU's defunct constitution and Berlin warned that it could sideline the Poles.
The German EU presidency has presented a draft treaty compromise that caters for most of the issues raised by problem countries but risks upsetting a larger camp of pro-constitution states that feels the good balance of previous drafts has been lost.
After a marathon round of talks, the EU has finally agreed the outline of a new treaty for the bloc with formal intergovernmental negotiations to start on 23 July. In the end, after threats of launching treaty talks without Polish approval, they finally agreed that the current Nice treaty voting system continues until 2014.*
(IHT: EU leaders reach deal)
(LX: Britain hails EU deal)
Main points of the deal struck by EU leaders after marathon negotiations preparing the way for a new treaty to underpin the EU.
* [WAR: Hmmm ... could it be?! When I first saw this number (2014) pop-up yesterday, my curiosity was aroused. As I've mentioned before, the fulfillment of Daniel 9:27 will not be by some kind of peace treaty between the state of Israel and the Arabs - as the Paranoid Protestants passionately proclaim. But here we have Germany/Assyria (Kingdom of the North) securing an "treaty/agreement/covenant with many for one seven" (7 years, from 2007-2014). Is this it?! Was the first sentence of Daniel 9:27 just fulfilled at dawn on this Sabbath day - the day before Pentecost, when YAHWEH had confirmed His covenant with Israel?? . . . ]
President Sarkozy's sleight of hand in removing one of the EU's key objectives almost slipped through the final meeting of the 27 nations' top diplomats preparing for the Brussels summit. The so-called sherpas took 5 hours on Tuesday night to go through the draft German proposals line by line. It was a Hungarian diplomat who saw that something was missing.
(LX op/ed: No competition)
Angela Merkel is the listening, practical fixer and Nicolas Sarkozy is a persuasive charmer, with overtones of menace, in a new deal-making Franco-German alliance that emerged at the summit. The pairing of the EU's two most powerful leaders signals the beginning of a new era on the European stage as Tony Blair departs.
Paranoid propaganda...
Iran moved significantly closer towards acquiring the essential material for a nuclear bomb yesterday when the regime claimed to have stockpiled 100 kg of enriched uranium.
The Israeli Air Force has been training on long-range flights, including refueling in mid-flight, in preparation for potential strikes against Iranian nuclear targets.
The US naval build-up off the shores of Iran marks rising military tensions in the region. The USS Enterprise CVN 65-Big E Strike Group will join the USS Stennis and the USS Nimitz carriers, building up the largest sea, air, marine concentration the US has ever deployed opposite Iran.
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