European Tribune - Community, Politics & Progress.

Sinking to new lows

by Hannah K OLuthon
Thu Jul 14th, 2005 at 03:42:10 AM EST

Promoted by Colman: looks like all the authoritarians are going to use the London attack to push forward their pet plans, most of which would have no effect whatsoever on this sort of attack.

The headlines in Italy today are, for the most part, quite depressing, and seem to magnify the personal sadness I feel this week for the passing of a close friend and colleague. As expected, the aftermath of the London bombs continues to dominate the news, and it would seem that terrorism has won:

France's decision to abrogate (temporarily, one hopes) the Schengen accords represents a real blow, and features prominently at the Web sites of la Repubblica, il Manifesto, Corriere della sera and l'Unità
Corriere carries a report of the proposal of Britain's Minister of the Interior Charles Clark for archiving of the time, origin, and recipient of all phone calls and e-mail for a period of one year rather than the present 3 months, as well as the proposal for the introduction of an official identity card in Britain
The l'Unità, website also headlines searches and security checks throughout Italy in response to the threat of a terrorist strike against Rome.

All in all, a picture of European governments very visibly "taking steps" to combat (at least ostensibly) terrorism. Citizens of the EU will have to live within this new, less liberal framework for the foreseeable future.

In a similarly unhappy vein the massacre of 32 Iraqi children is widely reported, in particular in a front-page cartoon (scroll down) of questionable good taste from il Manifesto (Caption: "Never accept candy from strangers!")

There is some good, or at least less horrible news: a Palermo court has sentenced Marcello d'Utri to 9 years of jail for having acted as intermediary between Cosa Nostra and Fininvest (which is, of course, Silvio Berlusconi's holding company). Berlusconi is also mentioned in the judicial findings. Furthermore, Corriere also reports that the so-called "save Previti"-bill is encountering unexpected difficulty is passing in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. This bill would have the effect of a sort of "get out of jail free" card for Cesare Previti, another close collaborator of Prime Minister Berlusconi. Previti has "minor" problems with Italian justice for having bribed a judge, but may well get off the hook for the remaining fragment of the indictments on the grounds of his advanced age and the "save Previti" bill. American readers may think this sort of thing only happens in the U.S., but as the Italians say "tutto il mondo è paese" (I hope de Gondi will offer further illumination.)

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Sinking to new lows | 7 comments (7 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Sinking to new lows (none / 0)

Actually, the archiving of communications data is closer than we think, Europe-wide:

Europe to push ahead with ISP snooping law

Published: June 9, 2005, 10:53 AM PDT

By Sylvia Carr

Special to CNET News.com
Legislation that would require telephone companies and Internet service providers to save information about customers' communications is set to proceed despite being rejected by the European Parliament.
The legislation's draft proposal was introduced jointly by France, Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom to aid law enforcement in combating terrorist acts. It will require phone companies and ISPs to retain for 12 to 36 months customer data such as the time, date and location of sent and received e-mails and phone calls. The content of the communications, however, will not be retained.
The European Parliament on Tuesday rejected the proposal, partly on grounds it could be illegal.

The cynical bastards are just exploiting this opportunity to plug their plans.

(I posted on this a little while back.)

"Ideas or the lack of them can cause disease." - Kurt Vonnegut

by dvx (dvx.clt ät gmail dotcom) on Thu Jul 14th, 2005 at 05:02:34 AM EST

Re: Sinking to new lows (none / 0)

Yes, one suspects (but admittedly can't prove) that all this and worse is already being done sub rosa. Echelon, Carnivore and God knows what other "vacuum cleaners" have undoubtedly been scanning our e-mail for years. The only consolation is that it's all a bit like the kid who is taught that God is Everywhere and Knows All Things - one soon finds that for the most part God doesn't seem to give a damn what you do in the privacy of your boudoir or boutique.

Hannah K. O'Luthon

by Hannah K OLuthon on Thu Jul 14th, 2005 at 05:46:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Sinking to new lows (none / 0)

A look at this Cryptome link gives substance to the earlier posts.

Hannah K. O'Luthon

by Hannah K OLuthon on Thu Jul 14th, 2005 at 06:14:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Sinking to new lows (none / 0)

Yeah it's weird how Spanish and Italian dailies all lead with the info that France is shuttering its border yet the French dailies don't even mention it.

Warsaw had an incident the other day and in Romania the jendarmarie is all over the subways in Bukarest. Sarkozy said Holland is cracking down on its borders as well.

Pax

Night and day you can find me Flogging the Simian

by soj on Thu Jul 14th, 2005 at 07:53:19 AM EST

Re: Sinking to new lows (none / 1)

I think it just means that they are tightening some controls, as is allowed under the Schengen accords. It's not a full abandon of the free circulation rules, but a temporary return to some controls. It's done whenever the alert plans ("vigipirate") goes to the color "red", like now. This has a lot of other consequences, like soldiers patrolling the metro, the doors to our kindergarden being locked, and a rent-a-cop in the entrance to our office building.

I wouldn't make too much of it.

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

by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Thu Jul 14th, 2005 at 04:32:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Sinking to new lows (none / 0)

By the way it looks like Italy has now closed off its borders with Austria and Slovenia :(

Pax

Night and day you can find me Flogging the Simian

by soj on Thu Jul 14th, 2005 at 10:56:12 AM EST

Re: Sinking to new lows (none / 0)

Berlusconi has denied that Italy will suspend the Schengen agreements, or at least that he doesn't believe so. Jerome is probably right to minimize, and Coleman's point on non-paranoid interpretations is also well taken. Still, one wonders about certain "alternative explanations" and "interesting coincidences" (e.g. those reported at WRH).

Hannah K. O'Luthon

by Hannah K OLuthon on Fri Jul 15th, 2005 at 01:09:43 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Sinking to new lows | 7 comments (7 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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