MyParl.eu, the project meant to bridge the gap between Parliamentarians of the EU-27, at the national and European level, is dead. Senior officials of the Commission and Parliament confirmed that the plugged has been pulled. Apparently, it was the Parliament that lost faith and requested to pull the plug three weeks ago. It seems that the Conference of Presidents met about the matter late last month. The project of about 5 million Euro was run by Euractiv and Mostra Communications. The motives for the termination of the project are unclear, but initial reactions to the termination cite the bad press. Whether or not a project like this should have gotten the green light in the first place has been heavily commented upon in the press and blogosphere. Controversial blog England Expects first announced the death of MyParl.eu last Thursday: "The madness that is Myparl (myparl.eu), the facebook for MEPs is dead. I am informed that a letter has been sent by the European Commission to Mostra Communications cancelling the contract. Let there be great rejoicing. Indeed and step forward Jon Worth, Tim Worstall, Bruno Waterfield and others who have succesfully embarressed the colleagues into cancelling it."
MyParl.eu, the project meant to bridge the gap between Parliamentarians of the EU-27, at the national and European level, is dead. Senior officials of the Commission and Parliament confirmed that the plugged has been pulled. Apparently, it was the Parliament that lost faith and requested to pull the plug three weeks ago. It seems that the Conference of Presidents met about the matter late last month.
The project of about 5 million Euro was run by Euractiv and Mostra Communications. The motives for the termination of the project are unclear, but initial reactions to the termination cite the bad press. Whether or not a project like this should have gotten the green light in the first place has been heavily commented upon in the press and blogosphere.
Controversial blog England Expects first announced the death of MyParl.eu last Thursday: "The madness that is Myparl (myparl.eu), the facebook for MEPs is dead. I am informed that a letter has been sent by the European Commission to Mostra Communications cancelling the contract. Let there be great rejoicing. Indeed and step forward Jon Worth, Tim Worstall, Bruno Waterfield and others who have succesfully embarressed the colleagues into cancelling it."
Romania is open to investing in the Gazprom pipeline South Stream, not just the EU Nabucco project, designed to reduce energy dependency on Russia, Romanian minister of economy Varujan Vosganian said on Thursday, contrary to the president's statements. A Gazprom delegation is expected in Bucharest next week, just a month ahead of general elections. Russian gas is currently imported and at a price of €418 per thousand cubic meters, is almost double the price a year ago "Romania is ready to support any EU project, both Nabucco and South Stream," the liberal minister, whose party is at odds with the country's conservative President Traian Basescu, said, newswires report. Only a day before, Mr Basescu renewed his calls on the European Commission and EU member states to "accelerate Nabucco," in order to decrease the EU's energy dependency on Russia. The divergent remarks come a few days after Romanian gas officials went to Moscow, with Russian newspaper Kommersant claiming Gazprom is considering re-routing South Stream through Romania
Romania is open to investing in the Gazprom pipeline South Stream, not just the EU Nabucco project, designed to reduce energy dependency on Russia, Romanian minister of economy Varujan Vosganian said on Thursday, contrary to the president's statements.
A Gazprom delegation is expected in Bucharest next week, just a month ahead of general elections.
Russian gas is currently imported and at a price of €418 per thousand cubic meters, is almost double the price a year ago
"Romania is ready to support any EU project, both Nabucco and South Stream," the liberal minister, whose party is at odds with the country's conservative President Traian Basescu, said, newswires report.
Only a day before, Mr Basescu renewed his calls on the European Commission and EU member states to "accelerate Nabucco," in order to decrease the EU's energy dependency on Russia.
The divergent remarks come a few days after Romanian gas officials went to Moscow, with Russian newspaper Kommersant claiming Gazprom is considering re-routing South Stream through Romania
For while there can be no doubt that many Poles are going, they are not taking everything with them. A little Polish attitude, for one thing, will endure. "Culture is a thing that always stays behind," says Joerg Tittel from the Polish Cultural Institute. "Polish culture means hard work. Also, family and personal relationships are very important. It's a far less cynical society than here. We [Poles] are importing old-school notions that history has proven work rather well." Indeed, one can argue that Poles have brought with them something far more important than just a way with the towel-rail: a no-nonsense ethic that mines a deep nostalgia in Britain for an age of hard-working, Hovis-delivering simplicity. In an age of financial products so complex that even the bankers don't understand them, that outlook is sure to grow more popular still. "The Polish influx was like importing our parents' generation into today's UK," says Paul Statham, professor of sociology at Bristol University. "It has been about values - a mass arrival of people with traditional values that have been eroded here." Allied with "a Catholic way of viewing the world, with family and community values at its centre", Prof Statham argues that Poles have effected a "basic cultural trend". "Simple things like being treated politely in bars and restaurants had all but disappeared before Poles arrived in large numbers to work here. Now that has changed and will remain changed. Britain is changing itself." So farewell, fair Poles. Thank you for the economy (while we still had one) and the healthcare, and the farmwork. But most of all, thank you for a reminder of the good old days.
For while there can be no doubt that many Poles are going, they are not taking everything with them. A little Polish attitude, for one thing, will endure.
"Culture is a thing that always stays behind," says Joerg Tittel from the Polish Cultural Institute. "Polish culture means hard work. Also, family and personal relationships are very important. It's a far less cynical society than here. We [Poles] are importing old-school notions that history has proven work rather well."
Indeed, one can argue that Poles have brought with them something far more important than just a way with the towel-rail: a no-nonsense ethic that mines a deep nostalgia in Britain for an age of hard-working, Hovis-delivering simplicity. In an age of financial products so complex that even the bankers don't understand them, that outlook is sure to grow more popular still.
"The Polish influx was like importing our parents' generation into today's UK," says Paul Statham, professor of sociology at Bristol University. "It has been about values - a mass arrival of people with traditional values that have been eroded here."
Allied with "a Catholic way of viewing the world, with family and community values at its centre", Prof Statham argues that Poles have effected a "basic cultural trend".
"Simple things like being treated politely in bars and restaurants had all but disappeared before Poles arrived in large numbers to work here. Now that has changed and will remain changed. Britain is changing itself."
So farewell, fair Poles. Thank you for the economy (while we still had one) and the healthcare, and the farmwork. But most of all, thank you for a reminder of the good old days.
thanks for reminding us what human relations felt like before we contracted.... (timpani rolls).... the dreaded....ANGLO disease.... ~Government budget deficits are not nearly as dangerous as the deficits we have created in vital and complex natural systems.~ Naomi Klein.
HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Cuba and the European Union formally restored ties Thursday, signing a cooperation agreement that put an end to five years of chilly relations, officials said.
"Maroni should do exactly what I did when I was minister for Internal Affairs. In the first place, he should just leave the high school students alone, because, just think what would happen if a youngster were to be killed or seriously injured... Leave them be (the university students - Ed). Pull the Police forces off the streets and out of the University, then send in some "agents provocateurs" to infiltrate the movement, people that are up for anything and leave the demonstrators for about ten days or so to ravage the shops, set fire to vehicles and lay waste to the cities. Then, having gained the support of the public, the sound of the ambulance sirens must drown out the sirens of the Police and Carabinieri vehicles. This is because the forces of law and order should not show any pity whatsoever and should send the lot of them to hospital. Don't arrest them, after all, the judges would immediately allow them back onto the streets. Rather, you must beat them and also beat up those lecturers that are spurring the students on. The lecturers above all. I'm not saying the elderly ones, certainly, but the little girl teachers yes... this is the recipe for democracy: put out the flames before the fire takes over ". Interview with Francesco Cossiga. Honorary President of the Italian Republic and senator for life. Cossiga has finally confessed. This must be noted. At the end of the day, you have to admire his sincerity, because not even Totò Riina ever risked this much. All he did was say what the majority of Italians already knew: Italy is not a true democracy. Perhaps it never was. How many lies have they told us ever since the days of Piazza Fontana? Regarding the events surrounding the G8 meeting in Genoa? Who was it then that set the timer running for the Government sponsored massacres? Cossiga has given us a masterful lesson in applying the strategy of tension. Now however, after those statements, he should be kicked out of the Senate and his nomination as honorary president of the Italian Republic should be withdrawn. I am keen to see whether or not any member of Parliament or Senator will bother to propose such action to Parliament. If Cossiga retains his position, it will be shameful for the country and an insult to the professors and their students. He should not be beaten because he too is an elderly lecturer. He should simply be taken off to a private retirement home. I would suggest villa Wanda in Arezzo so that he doesn't feel too much alone. There, together with Licio Gelli, he will be able to re-live the old days and talk about Gladio, Moro and the secret services...
"Maroni should do exactly what I did when I was minister for Internal Affairs. In the first place, he should just leave the high school students alone, because, just think what would happen if a youngster were to be killed or seriously injured... Leave them be (the university students - Ed). Pull the Police forces off the streets and out of the University, then send in some "agents provocateurs" to infiltrate the movement, people that are up for anything and leave the demonstrators for about ten days or so to ravage the shops, set fire to vehicles and lay waste to the cities. Then, having gained the support of the public, the sound of the ambulance sirens must drown out the sirens of the Police and Carabinieri vehicles. This is because the forces of law and order should not show any pity whatsoever and should send the lot of them to hospital. Don't arrest them, after all, the judges would immediately allow them back onto the streets. Rather, you must beat them and also beat up those lecturers that are spurring the students on. The lecturers above all. I'm not saying the elderly ones, certainly, but the little girl teachers yes... this is the recipe for democracy: put out the flames before the fire takes over ". Interview with Francesco Cossiga. Honorary President of the Italian Republic and senator for life.
Cossiga has finally confessed. This must be noted. At the end of the day, you have to admire his sincerity, because not even Totò Riina ever risked this much. All he did was say what the majority of Italians already knew: Italy is not a true democracy. Perhaps it never was. How many lies have they told us ever since the days of Piazza Fontana? Regarding the events surrounding the G8 meeting in Genoa? Who was it then that set the timer running for the Government sponsored massacres? Cossiga has given us a masterful lesson in applying the strategy of tension. Now however, after those statements, he should be kicked out of the Senate and his nomination as honorary president of the Italian Republic should be withdrawn. I am keen to see whether or not any member of Parliament or Senator will bother to propose such action to Parliament. If Cossiga retains his position, it will be shameful for the country and an insult to the professors and their students. He should not be beaten because he too is an elderly lecturer. He should simply be taken off to a private retirement home. I would suggest villa Wanda in Arezzo so that he doesn't feel too much alone. There, together with Licio Gelli, he will be able to re-live the old days and talk about Gladio, Moro and the secret services...
oops moment... ~Government budget deficits are not nearly as dangerous as the deficits we have created in vital and complex natural systems.~ Naomi Klein.
Perhaps one of the more authoritative texts on "agents provocateurs" is "La sottile linea nera" by the historian Mimmo Franzinelli. It is literally mind boggling the cynical manipulation of the leftist movements by factions within the state with the crucial help of subversive rightwing revolutionaries.
As Sciascia said, "Neither with the State nor with the BR."
The demonstrators are doing an excellent job of isolating the violent elements that attempt to infiltrate the student movement. But the big day will be next Tuesday when the Senate tries to wrap up the voting on the Gelmini decree.
From what I have seen in Rome, the police are very laid back with the students. They are minimal and discreet for now. In fact, the students could easily have bypassed police blocks had they so desired. For now it seems much a tacit agreement on both sides to not overstep bounds.
Das Angasen ist sein Hobby, das Gasgeben war schon das Hobby seiner Vorfahren, alle tun es, er kann es besser, hier wird auf Tradition gehalten, weil einen sonst nichts hält. Das Land ist schön, aber was kann einen hier halten? Die Menschen im schönen Land würden nur zu gern mit ihrem Erlöser auf- und davongehen, aber das Entscheidende ist ja, daß er sie erlöst, wo sie sich bereits befinden, und von allen andren nichts wissen wollen und nichts wissen müssen, es sei denn, sie machten Urlaub, einmal im Jahr, bei andren, die aber Freunde sind. Sonst würde man sie nicht besuchen.
European Union governments gave formal approval Friday to a potentially costly system of capping greenhouse gases from any airline flying into or out of the trade bloc -- just as the airline industry reported new evidence of the impact of a worsening economy. <...> European justice ministers meeting in Luxembourg approved the greenhouse gas measures, which oblige airlines, regardless of nationality, that land or take off from an airport in the European Union to join the emissions trading system starting on Jan. 1, 2012.The system, created in 2005, already includes heavy industries like cement makers and electricity generators in Europe. <...> The airline industry says its gases represent a small fraction of greenhouse gas emissions and that the European measures will be ineffective without a global agreement. Environmentalists say the effect of vapor and emissions from jet engines at altitude could magnify their effect on the climate.
European Union governments gave formal approval Friday to a potentially costly system of capping greenhouse gases from any airline flying into or out of the trade bloc -- just as the airline industry reported new evidence of the impact of a worsening economy. <...>
European justice ministers meeting in Luxembourg approved the greenhouse gas measures, which oblige airlines, regardless of nationality, that land or take off from an airport in the European Union to join the emissions trading system starting on Jan. 1, 2012.
The system, created in 2005, already includes heavy industries like cement makers and electricity generators in Europe. <...>
The airline industry says its gases represent a small fraction of greenhouse gas emissions and that the European measures will be ineffective without a global agreement. Environmentalists say the effect of vapor and emissions from jet engines at altitude could magnify their effect on the climate.
It has come to this. Does anyone remember Nicolas Sarkozy of a year ago? Back then he was being feted by the anglospheric media as a French Thatcher, a neoliberal wind of change shaking a battery of outdated perceptions to its heart and mixing a few other metaphors whilst they were at it. We blogged a certain amount about how vacuous so much of this was; France, after all, did indeed go through a fearfully tough industrial restructuring in the 1980s, apparently entirely unnoticed by the media establishment. Its economic problems simply are not those of Britain in the early 1980s; anyway, a lot of people are now busy amending the level of confidence they have that those solutions were appropriate at all. (This London Review of Books article is required reading.) Without the original radical-right dream, which had little enough substance to begin with, the Sarko presidency basically returned to its default settings and ran on under automatic control. Now, however, the banking crisis has given him a new dose of authority, much as it has to Gordon Brown; but nobody is talking about making everyone work more hours, or facing down the trade unions, now. Instead, Sarko has found his inner Gaullist; perhaps it was never so far away. Here's the German newspaper whose website is slightly better organised these days; the factoid is that the prez wants to set up a state investment fund to buy into "strategic" industries, as part of a broader reflation strategy for which he intends to bring forward a lot of capital expenditure projects and cut taxes on business.
Without the original radical-right dream, which had little enough substance to begin with, the Sarko presidency basically returned to its default settings and ran on under automatic control. Now, however, the banking crisis has given him a new dose of authority, much as it has to Gordon Brown; but nobody is talking about making everyone work more hours, or facing down the trade unions, now. Instead, Sarko has found his inner Gaullist; perhaps it was never so far away. Here's the German newspaper whose website is slightly better organised these days; the factoid is that the prez wants to set up a state investment fund to buy into "strategic" industries, as part of a broader reflation strategy for which he intends to bring forward a lot of capital expenditure projects and cut taxes on business.
The rest is interesting, though I disagree with some of it.
the prez wants to set up a state investment fund to buy into "strategic" industries, as part of a broader reflation strategy for which he intends to bring forward a lot of capital expenditure projects and cut taxes on business.
