European Tribune - Comments - Is Gazprom really expecting Europe to take its side against Ukraine?

Is Gazprom really expecting Europe to take its side against Ukraine? | 102 comments (102 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Flattery or what? (none / 0)

Sue him for plagiarism - your writing has timestamps!

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Jan 13th, 2009 at 05:33:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]

okay, (none / 0)

who knows how to do that?

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Tue Jan 13th, 2009 at 05:54:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (none / 0)

It is not possible under present law. There is no intellectual copyright in concepts - only in the precise way in which they are written.

One should be happy that good ideas spread.

There can only be moral victory if such concepts break through media consciousness and one can claim - by time stamps - to have been the source.

And never ever go for 'pity points' ;-)

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Tue Jan 13th, 2009 at 06:11:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (none / 0)

Well, did the guy copy verbatim or just paraphrase?

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Jan 13th, 2009 at 09:02:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (4.00 / 5)

European Tribune - Ukraine-Russia: some background and context		The Misperception of the Russian-Ukrainian Gas Problem
The reality is that the Soviet gas industry was born in Ukraine in the 1930s, and the infrastructure was built from there and Ukraine is still a central part of the gas pipeline network even as the focus of activity moved to Western Siberia. Splitting the Soviet Union along Republic borders made for an often unworkable allocation of physical assets, and nowhere was this more true than for gas. The consequence is that vital assets for Gazprom are located in Ukraine and thus no longer under its direct control.		The Soviet gas industry was set up in the Ukraine in the 1930s; and the infrastructure was built from there. The Ukraine is still a central part of the gas pipeline network even as the focus of activity for new gas fields has moved to Western Siberia. At the end of the Cold War, the division of the Soviet Union along Republic borders made for an often unworkable allocation of physical assets. Nowhere was this more true than for gas. The consequence is that vital assets for Gazprom (the massive Russian state gas company) are located in Ukraine and thus no longer under its direct control.

This is clear plagiarism. IANAL, but I would start by sending him a "cease and desist" letter asking him to cite the source within so many days or face a lawsuit.

I would copy his page before sending him the e-mail.

I mean, if you pulled this kind of trick in a freshman term paper for a humanities class at UC Riverside you'd face charges of academic dishonesty and could be expelled from the university. I kid you not.

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Jan 13th, 2009 at 09:09:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (none / 1)

Nice one, mig

Send him an invoice,Jerome.......or a nice request for a donation......

"Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky

by ChrisCook (cojockathotmaildotcom) on Tue Jan 13th, 2009 at 09:40:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Ocnus (none / 0)

This is from Doc Gary's very own 'about us':

* FAIR USE NOTICE. This site contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorised by the copyright owner. It is being made available without profit to those who have expressed an interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance their understanding of international relations, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.See http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
Editor: Dr. Gary K. Busch
Email: gary@ocnus.net

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 02:01:06 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Ocnus (none / 0)

Oh damn - I should take the trouble to read all the comments....sorry.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 02:01:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Ocnus (none / 0)

Oh, while I was composing mine, you were on the same track!

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 02:26:48 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (4.00 / 2)

Unfortunately going to court over this is expensive and uncertain to produce results. Busch doubtless knows this, because he surely does this kind of thing often.

From his About page (read carefully, I have bolded bits):

http://www.ocnus.net/Ocnusnews.htm

* FAIR USE NOTICE. This site contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorised by the copyright owner. It is being made available without profit to those who have expressed an interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance their understanding of international relations, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.See http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

In plain English: I lift stuff from other people's work to constitute my articles, this is "fair use" under American law, if you want to quote my articles track down the copyright holders and get permission.

Objections are that he doesn't quote material, he lifts and slightly adapts it, and he doesn't attribute. He fits it seamlessly into an article (where does the rest come from, one wonders?) that he publishes under his byline.

Also that American law, dear friends, does not apply all over the planet. Busch and his "news org" are in London, our article was published in the European edition of the FT.

Still doesn't mean we can easily do anything about it. We can write to ask him to take it down ("cease and desist" is an American term as is "fair use", just shows how colonised we are) or provide satisfactory attribution. Not much more.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 02:25:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (4.00 / 3)

It seems that for articles that are not 'Editorials' he reprints stuff with attribution. I.e.

Irrational Economic Man

Irrational Economic Man
By Michael Shermer, City Journal 11/1/09
Jan 12, 2009 - 9:51:18 AM

Russia Wins Round 2 of Gas Fight

Russia Wins Round 2 of Gas Fight
By Vladimir Frolov, Moscow Times 13/1/09
Jan 13, 2009 - 11:28:08 AM

Urgent Review of Zim Diamonds

Urgent Review of Zim Diamonds
By Waldimar Pelser, News 24 11/1/09
Jan 12, 2009 - 10:12:56 AM

Chinese Inroads in DR Congo

Chinese Inroads in DR Congo
By Wenran Jiang, China Brief 12/1/09
Jan 13, 2009 - 11:13:19 AM

Etc. Perhaps he considers blogs to be unworthy of attribution? But, since when is reproducing whole articles, without commentary or anything, considered to fall under fair use?

by someone (s0me1smail(a)gmail(d)com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 03:13:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (4.00 / 3)

Here's the key: he's attributing Jerome's content in an editorial, that is, as his own.

In addition, he does attribute other content even with the warning that others should contact the authors for permission to reuse the materials he quotes.

In the editorial in question he's not showcasing nor attributing. He's appropriating Jerome's work.

It so happens that this was an Op-Ed in the FT... It wasn't in the print edition in the UK and US, but it was in the online edition.

I agree with everyone who said this is too expensive to bother litigating over, so I think it is imperative that a very well crafted "cease and desist" (pace afew) letter be drafted. I am not a lawyer and I don't dare write that letter.

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 04:08:46 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (none / 1)

Yes, agree completely. I was just questioning whether even the articles he does credit, but reproduce in full, fall under 'fair use' law. As far as I remember, 'fair use' allows for reproduction for the purpose of artistic appropriation or criticism. He does neither. So, altogether a fishy operation.

by someone (s0me1smail(a)gmail(d)com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 04:14:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (4.00 / 2)

Yes, but there are lots of 'scavenging' sites on the internet. One I used to read often was http://www.commondreams.org/

But both Common Dreams and this dude's newsletter, while scavenging, fully attribute the articles they reprint. The editorial in question is a thinly disguised plagiarism of Jerome's text. The sophistication of the paraphrase is sophomoric. Like I said in another comment, a 1st year student in, say, History at, say, UCR would be failed for submitting that as a class essay, as well as referred for academic dishonesty and quite likely disciplined by the campus administration.

As for "it's okay to copy from blogs", this here blog takes a scrupulous and stringent approach to source attribution and we would like to see our material accorded the same respect we accord others'. Hey, I explicitly licence my own contributions under a Creative Commons license, but I require attribution.

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 04:21:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (none / 1)

Unfortunately, standards that may be applied in an academic context (to students' papers) are much trickier to apply in plagiarism cases before the courts. We can complain to this guy and demand attribution, but that's about it.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 04:25:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (none / 0)

Are you telling me the paraphrase he did of the paragraph I quoted side by side would not stand up in court? All he did was change the connective words between clauses, replace a period with an 'and' and stuff like that.

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 04:27:58 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (none / 1)

These cases are more difficult than you seem to think. Especially concerning factual information, more than "creative" writing, and even there court cases can drag on.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 04:35:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Not only that (none / 1)

But even if you win the "case" the judge may take the view the damage was trivial, award trivial damages, and leave you to pay your own substantial costs.

Far better that pissing the guy off with a quasi legal threatening letter which he knows you can't follow up on, I would suggest a "nice" letter noting that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but requesting attribution and links back.

notes from no w here

by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot dotty communists) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 09:45:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Not only that (4.00 / 2)

Right. We don't have a big stick, and shouldn't use a threatening tone as if we did! We'll write to him of course, asking for attribution on the three sites he's posted this on. Apart from Ocnus:

Nigeria Village Square

RussiaProfile

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 10:11:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (none / 0)

You know what might be worth doing? Googling sentences out of his previous "editorials" to see where he lifted them from. We can then assemble a large enough collection of aggrieved parties that suing the guy might become a possibility.

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 04:23:58 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (none / 0)

Good idea. Let's get to it.

by someone (s0me1smail(a)gmail(d)com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 04:24:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (4.00 / 7)

First find:

(britishbattles.com) Battle of Talana Hill - The Boer War		(Ocnus.net) The British, Ethnic Cleansing and Concentration Camps
Uniforms, arms and equipment: The Boer War was a serious jolt for the British Army. At the outbreak of the war British tactics were appropriate for the use of single shot firearms, fired in volleys controlled by company and battalion officers; the troops fighting in close order. The need for tight formations had been emphasised time and again in colonial fighting. In the Zulu and Sudan Wars overwhelming enemy numbers armed principally with stabbing weapons were easily kept at a distance by such tactics; but, as at Isandlwana, would overrun a loosely formed force. These tactics had to be entirely rethought in battle against the Boers armed with modern weapons.		At the start of hostilities the Afrikaners had more troops available, could live off the land; and had a better grasp of how African Wars were fought. The Boer War was a serious jolt for the British Army. At the outbreak of the war British tactics were appropriate for the use of single shot firearms, fired in volleys controlled by company and battalion officers; the troops fighting in close order. The need for tight formations had been emphasised time and again in colonial fighting. In the Zulu and Sudan Wars overwhelming enemy numbers armed principally with stabbing weapons were easily kept at a distance by such tactics; but, as at Isandlwana, would overrun a loosely formed force. These tactics had to be entirely rethought in battle against the Boers armed with modern weapons. These were not colonials or native soldiers.
In the months before hostilities the Boer commandant general, General Joubert, bought 30,000 Mauser magazine rifles and a number of modern field guns and automatic weapons from the German armaments manufacturer Krupp and the French firm Creusot. The commandoes, without formal discipline, welded into a fighting force through a strong sense of community and dislike for the British. Field Cornets led burghers by personal influence not through any military code. The Boers did not adopt military formation in battle, instinctively fighting from whatever cover there might be. The preponderance were countrymen, running their farms from the back of a pony with a rifle in one hand. These rural Boers brought a life time of marksmanship to the war, an important edge, further exploited by Joubert's consignment of magazine rifles. Viljoen is said to have coined the aphorism "Through God and the Mauser". With strong fieldcraft skills and high mobility the Boers were natural mounted infantry. The urban burghers and foreign volunteers readily adopted the fighting methods of the rest of the army.		In the months before hostilities the Boer commandant general, General Joubert, bought 30,000 Mauser magazine rifles and a number of modern field guns and automatic weapons from the German armaments manufacturer Krupp and the French firm Creusot. The commandoes, without formal discipline, welded into a fighting force through a strong sense of community and dislike for the British. Field Cornets led burghers by personal influence not through any military code. The Boers did not adopt military formation in battle, instinctively fighting from whatever cover there might be. The preponderance was countrymen, running their farms from the back of a pony with a rifle in one hand. These rural Boers brought a lifetime of marksmanship to the war, an important edge, further exploited by Joubert's consignment of magazine rifles. With strong field craft skills and high mobility the Boers were natural mounted infantry. The urban burghers and foreign volunteers readily adopted the fighting methods of the rest of the army.
Other than in the regular uniformed Staats Artillery and police units, the Boers wore their every day civilian clothes on campaign. After the first month the Boers lost their numerical superiority, spending the rest of the formal war on the defensive against British forces that regularly outnumbered them.		Other than in the regular uniformed Staats Artillery and police units, the Boers wore their every day civilian clothes on campaign. However, the pressure of constant conflict reduced the Boer numbers. After the first month the Boers lost their numerical superiority, spending the rest of the formal war on the defensive against British forces that regularly outnumbered them.
British tactics, little changed from the Crimea, used at Modder River, Magersfontein, Colenso and Spion Kop were incapable of winning battles against entrenched troops armed with modern magazine rifles. Every British commander made the same mistake; Buller; Methuen, Roberts and Kitchener. When General Kelly-Kenny attempted to winkle Cronje's commandoes out of their riverside entrenchments at Paardeburg using his artillery, Kitchener intervened and insisted on a battle of infantry assaults; with the same disastrous consequences as Colenso, Modder River, Magersfontein and Spion Kop.		British tactics, little changed from the Crimea, were incapable of winning battles against entrenched troops armed with modern magazine rifles. Every British commander made the same mistake; Buller; Methuen, Roberts and Kitchener. When General Kelly-Kenny attempted to winkle Cronje's commandoes out of their riverside entrenchments at Paardeburg using his artillery, Kitchener intervened and insisted on a battle of infantry assaults; with the same disastrous consequences as Colenso, Modder River, Magersfontein and Spion Kop.

by someone (s0me1smail(a)gmail(d)com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 05:06:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (4.00 / 3)

This guy is a piece of work.

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 06:04:56 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (none / 1)

I thought of doing that with this one first of all. If he's woven our stuff in, he may have lifted other parts too from other sources.

Raising a stink about him is probably the best arm we have.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 04:28:30 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (4.00 / 3)

Another big copy-paste job in this "editorial" comes straight from the US Energy Information Administration's Ukraine NatGas page.

The EIA attributes to the Oil and Gas Journal, and Busch just copies that attribution in:

Busch:

The Misperception of the Russian-Ukrainian Gas Problem

According to the Oil and Gas Journal, Ukraine has roughly 40 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas reserves, from which roughly 0.68 Tcf was produced in 2005. In 2006, Ukraine produced 0.67 Tcf and consumed 3.1 Tcf of natural gas, making it the former Soviet Union's largest natural gas net importer (2.4 Tcf, or 78 percent of consumption). Ukraine is the sixth-largest consumer of gas in the world and consumes more gas than Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia combined. Since the early 1990s, Ukraineâ€^TMs usage of natural gas as a share of its total energy consumption has increased by 10 percent to comprise over half of Ukraineâ€^TMs energy usage.

...etc...

EIA:

Ukraine Energy Data, Statistics and Analysis - Oil, Gas, Electricity, Coal

According to the Oil and Gas Journal Ukraine has roughly 40 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas reserves, from which roughly 0.68 Tcf was produced in 2005. In 2006, Ukraine produced 0.67 Tcf and consumed 3.1 Tcf of natural gas, making it the former Soviet Union's largest natural gas net importer (2.4 Tcf, or 78 percent of consumption, see Fig. 2). Ukraine is the sixth-largest consumer of gas in the world and consumes more gas than Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia combined. Since the early 1990s, Ukraine's usage of natural gas as a share of its total energy consumption has increased by 10 percent to comprise over half of Ukraine's energy usage

...etc...

A piece of work indeed... The "editorial" is nearly all copy-paste with a few words changed.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 07:32:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (none / 1)

Maybe we should call rename our "Lazy Quote Diary" pieces to "Ocnus.net-style editorial, properly hyperlinked and blockquoted".

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 09:58:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (none / 0)

Here's a site that can be of use. Just paste in a URL and it crawls looking for copies of any part of the page.

Copyscape

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 05:13:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (none / 0)

Hum, de, dum.
It seems Robert Amsterdam is posting an excerpt of the Busch version. His blog allows comments. Perhaps someone should drop by and let him know the true origins of the text? Link

by someone (s0me1smail(a)gmail(d)com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 05:58:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (none / 0)

That would be a good thing. Jerome should post the comment.

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 06:05:43 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (none / 0)

That's what I was thinking.

by someone (s0me1smail(a)gmail(d)com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 06:06:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Can someone else do it? (none / 0)

I only have my phone to use until later this afternoon

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 06:20:10 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Can someone else do it? (none / 0)

Can afew do it? He's a coauthor.

Otherwise I'll do it.

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 06:32:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Can someone else do it? (none / 0)

Just got back online. I'll do it.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 06:47:35 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Can someone else do it? (none / 0)

See new top-level comment below.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 08:15:24 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (none / 1)

One thing he doesn't do is offer links. The Michael Shermer article, for instance, is freely available on the Net.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 04:17:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (none / 0)

Also that American law, dear friends, does not apply all over the planet. Busch and his "news org" are in London, our article was published in the European edition of the FT.

Oh, wait!

Can you compare his piece with the FT text? Maybe Jerome could ask the FT to get involved... After all, he's plagiarizing them...

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 04:04:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: okay, (none / 1)

No, the FT doesn't have copyright.

And the comparison is even harder.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 04:09:10 AM EST
[ Parent ]

yeah, i'd send that paper to judicial affairs (none / 1)

without a second look. be glad the guy didn;t just cut and paste off of wikipedia.

by wu ming on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 11:38:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: yeah, i'd send that paper to judicial affairs (none / 0)

(he did in another one of his 'editorials')

by someone (s0me1smail(a)gmail(d)com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 11:42:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: yeah, i'd send that paper to judicial affairs (4.00 / 2)

And he doesn't even bother cleaning up the html character codes to have it display correctly on his blog. What a hack!

The Bemba Arrest		Jean-Pierre Bemba - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bemba was born in Bokada, Ã °/°°quateur Province in the North of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (â€^~DRCâ€^TM) where his father was an important political figure before him. He is one of the richest men in the Congo, with an estimated fortune of several hundred million dollars. His businesses have included portable radios, aviation and private television stations. His father, Jeannot Bemba Saolona, was a businessman who was successful under former Zairien dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, and one of his sisters is married to Mobutu's son Nzanga, who was also a candidate in the 2006 presidential elections.		Bemba was born in Bokada, Équateur Province.[1] He is one of the richest men in the Congo, with an estimated fortune of several hundred million dollars. His businesses have included portable radios, aviation and private television stations. His father, Jeannot Bemba Saolona, was a businessman who was successful under former Zairien dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, and one of his sisters is married to Mobutu's son Nzanga, who was also a candidate in the 2006 presidential elections.[4]
In this election, where he ran against Joseph Kabila for the Presidency, Bemba received substantial support in the western, Lingala-speaking portion of the country, including the capital, Kinshasa. Kabilaâ€^TMs strength was in the East, although much ado was made of Kabilaâ€^TMs alleged foreign roots. Following the vote there was significant tension as to whether the results would give Kabila a majority of the vote, in which case there would not be a second round against Bemba, who was perceived as Kabila's main opponent. However, according to results announced on 20 August, Kabila won 44% of the vote and Bemba won 20%, and therefore the two faced each other in a second round, held on October 29. The electoral commission announced the official results on November 15, naming Kabila the winner with 58.05% of the vote; Bemba's supporters have since alleged fraud.		Bemba received substantial support in the western, Lingala-speaking portion of the country, including the capital, Kinshasa.[7] Following the vote there was significant tension as to whether the results would give Kabila a majority of the vote, in which case there would not be a second round against Bemba, who was perceived as Kabila's main opponent.[8] However, according to results announced on 20 August, Kabila won 44% of the vote and Bemba won 20%,[7] and therefore the two faced each other in a second round, held on October 29. The electoral commission announced the official results on November 15, naming Kabila the winner with 58.05% of the vote; Bemba's supporters have alleged fraud.[9]
On November 27, 2006, the Supreme Court of the DRC rejected the fraud charges brought by Bemba, and confirmed Kabila as the new elected Congolese President. A day later, Bemba said that he disagreed with the court's decision, but that he would make do by leading the opposition. He did not attend Kabila's swearing-in ceremony on December 6. On December 8, the MLC announced that Bemba would run for a Senate seat from Kinshasa in the January 2007 senatorial election, and he succeeded in winning a seat.		On November 27, 2006, the Supreme Court of the DRC rejected the fraud charges brought by Bemba, and confirmed Kabila as the new elected Congolese President.[10] A day later, Bemba said that he disagreed with the court's decision, but that "in the greater national interest and to preserve peace and to save the country from chaos and violence", he would participate in the system by leading the political opposition.[11][12] He did not attend Kabila's swearing-in ceremony on December 6. On December 8, the MLC announced that Bemba would run for a Senate seat from Kinshasa in the January 2007 senatorial election,[13] and he succeeded in winning a seat.[14]
On March 26, 2007 Kabila said that security could not be guaranteed through negotiation and referred to the importance of restoring order. He claimed Bemba's guards had tried to take over Kinshasa. Bemba warned of the potential for dictatorship and said that he might go into exile due to his security concerns. He said that the fighting had started as a result of an assassination attempt against him by soldiers who had surrounded his house. Hundreds of fighters loyal to Bemba, both in Kinshasa and the north of the country, reportedly surrendered following the fighting to be integrated into the army.		On March 26, Kabila said that security could not be guaranteed through negotiation and referred to the importance of restoring order. He characterized the dispute as a military one and said that Bemba could not be above the law; he also claimed that Bemba's guards had tried to take over Kinshasa. Bemba warned of the potential for dictatorship and said that he might go into exile due to his security concerns.[22] According to Bemba, the fighting had started as a result of an assassination attempt against him by soldiers who had surrounded his house.[23] Hundreds of fighters loyal to Bemba, both in Kinshasa and the north of the country, reportedly surrendered following the fighting to be integrated into the army.[24]

by someone (s0me1smail(a)gmail(d)com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 11:49:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: yeah, i'd send that paper to judicial affairs (none / 1)

He steals from Wikipedia???

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 12:12:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: yeah, i'd send that paper to judicial affairs (4.00 / 2)

You should write a diary about the guy's editorials ;-)

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jan 14th, 2009 at 12:14:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Is Gazprom really expecting Europe to take its side against Ukraine? | 102 comments (102 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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