Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Wednesday, 19 March 2014

The European Union Times


Posted: 18 Mar 2014 06:59 AM PDT

It is very likely flight MH370 had its communications “deliberately disabled” before it went missing, but there has been no confirmation the plane was hijacked, Malaysian PM Najib Razak said at a press conference.
“There is a high degree of certainty” that the communications systems of flight MH370 were disabled by someone on board the plane, Razak said. Citing evidence from satellite images and radar tracking, Razak said the actions taken before the plane’s disappearance were “consistent with the deliberate action of someone on the plane.”
Flight MH370 was on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing last week when it vanished from radars. It was carrying 239 people. Responding to rumors that the Boeing 777 was hijackied, Razak said that this had not been confirmed.
“Despite media reports the plane was hijacked, I wish to be very clear, we are still investigating all possibilities as to what caused MH370 to deviate,” Razak said.
The investigation into the planes disappearance has entered a “new phase,” said Prime Minister Razak, adding that the search for wreckage in the South China Sea had come to an end.
“We are ending our operations in the South China Sea and reassessing the redeployment of our assets. We are working with the relevant countries to request all information relevant to the search, including radar data,” Razak.
‘Act of piracy’
Sources inside the investigation say that key evidence has been revealed that points to the possibility of “human intervention” in the crash. An unnamed US official told AP that the disappearance of the Boeing 777 could have been the product of an act of piracy.
“This official says that it’s also possible the plane may have landed somewhere,” AP journalist Joan Lowy reported Friday afternoon. “The official wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter and spoke only if not identified,” she said.
Other reports based on sources participating in the ongoing investigation claim that the missing flight could have stayed in the air for more than five hours after it lost contact with air traffic controllers.
Washington has also deployed agents and technical experts to help with the ongoing investigation into the whereabouts of the plane. White House spokesman Jay Carney said that investigators are considering “a number of possible scenarios” and collaborating with the Malaysian government.
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Posted: 18 Mar 2014 06:41 AM PDT
Vice Admiral John McAnally (R) and the Second Sea Lord Vice Admiral Sir Charles Montgomery from the British Royal Navy.
Vice Admiral John McAnally has warned that Britain will be forced to abandon its nuclear weapons arsenal if Scotland votes for independence in September.
In an article published on Sunday by The Daily Telegraph, McAnally wrote that Scottish independence poses “the biggest strategic threat” to the UK’s military might.
There is “every possibility” that a unilateral nuclear disarmament would be waiting for Britain, whose Royal Navy’s fleet of nuclear submarines is based at Faslane in Scotland, said McAnally, a former commandant of the Royal College of Defense Studies.
“Today, we can still say with pride that the Armed Forces are one of the great UK brands… Dividing the Union would do them immense damage, leaving both Scotland and Britain with huge bills to make up for the gaps in lost infrastructure,” added McAnally.
“Our relationship with the United States, our status as a leading military power and even our permanent membership of the UN Security Council would all probably be lost,” he stated.
He also warned authorities of the Scottish National Party (SNP), pointing out that their proposed budget would not be enough to establish a new defense force in Scotland.
The SNP is vigorously campaigning for an independent state.
The independence referendum is due to be held on September 18, when Scots will decide on whether they should break away from, or stay with, the UK after more than 300 years of political union.
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Posted: 18 Mar 2014 06:35 AM PDT

Portugal, a member of the EU since 1986, is rapidly losing its population due to significant emigration. In terms of the economic indicators Portugal is approaching the level of the least developed countries in the Eastern Europe. The decline became particularly rapid three years ago, when Portugal began to receive financial assistance from the EU. Isn’t it an odd coincidence?
The country is deteriorating politically, economically, and morally. Public debt and unemployment are on the rise, and increasingly more able-bodied people of reproductive age are leaving the country. According to the data by Observatório da Emigração, since 2008 about 400,000 people left Portugal, it terms of the percentage of the total population (10.6 million people) this is the second maximum rate in Europe after Malta with a population of just under one million. The country has lost a fifth of its resources in the skilled labor segment.
In addition, Portugal has become the country with the fewest immigrants as a percentage of the total population, according to the Portuguese media.
According to Associação Portuguesa de Psicologia da Saúde Ocupacional, nine out of ten Portuguese want to change their life and are dissatisfied with their jobs. The Association warns that constant stress and depression cause significant harm to the public health. Such conclusions can be safely extrapolated to all EU countries on the “southern periphery” of the Union.
They all have planned budget spending reduction for wages, pensions, social needs, and privatization, which means a significant reduction in jobs. Particularly hopeless, according to European statistics, are Lithuania, Romania and Bulgaria.
Portugal gets help from the EU tranches (totaling 78 billion euros). The assistance was allocated in 2010 for economic recovery and paying the enormous public debt. However, it appears that over the three years the situation has not stabilized but worsened.
“Portugal is close to the least developed countries in the Eastern Europe,” Rui Pena Pires, representing the University of Lisbon ISCTE-IU, told newspaper Económico Rui Pena Pires. Rui Pena Pires believes that the situation can be rectified, but it all depends on the resumption of economic growth. If this process is delayed, it will be very difficult to fix the demographic failure, and there is also the likelihood of worsening of its consequences, said the expert.
Experts predict the exodus of the Portuguese to be at the level of 100 – 120 thousand people a year. Analyzing qualifications and age bracket of the immigrants, they came to the conclusion that those who leave are mainly semi-skilled workers who have sufficient means to rent housing overseas, and a small capital to survive for some time without work. The poorest population does not emigrate, except for rare cases where they are invited to reunite with their families.
Skilled workers are a minority. For example, in Luxembourg, where 19 percent of the population is Portuguese, only two percent are qualified employees of the financial and scientific sector. Mostly the Portuguese overseas work in construction, utilities, hospitality sector, trade, and services.
Despite popular misconception, the majority of emigrants are not unemployed (unemployment in the country is at 17.5 percent) but people dissatisfied with their lives. They want to develop their career, be paid more competitive salaries, and have status and recognition they cannot get at home. In some sectors, such as medical, the situation is catastrophic. Both doctors and hospital staff are leaving the country. This is the industry where the state spends a great deal of money on training. For example, about 16.5 thousand Euros is spent to train a nurse.
Most emigrants are young people of reproductive age, which causes a decline in the natural population growth. According to the National program of early diagnosis, in 2011, Portugal for the first time in history has reached its lowest level of birth – 100,000 babies.
The situation continued to worsen, and in 2013 there were only 90,026 newborns. This year, this figure is projected to be 8,000 lower. “Emigration of young people is a sign of the current unfavorable regulatory process of the Portuguese economy, and the major factor limiting its growth potential,” warned the Bank of Portugal.
The leader of the opposition Socialist Party (the ruling coalition is headed by the Social Democrats) Albert Martins said that the government was pursuing a policy that lead to unemployment, poverty, immigration, insecurity, and depression.
However, in order to see the Portuguese abyss more clearly, let us look at data presented by not the alleged leader of the opposition (the Social Democrats in power are replaced by the socialists, creating the appearance of the opposition) but the Communists who are represented in the Parliament and have influence among the people of Portugal.
On February 22, the National Assembly of the CPR provided the following figures. Since the inception of the EU assistance, none of the goals set by the three creditors (European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund) have been reached. The GDP losses amounted to 5.8 percent, twice the planned amount. In the absolute terms, GDP decreased by 9.4 billion euro.
Falling investment were expected at 15 percent, and over the three years of help this number has already reached 37 percent. The number of jobs has been reduced five times more than it was announced, which means that 464,000 jobs have been destroyed. The country’s debt in 2010 was 93 percent of GDP, and it was promised that it would not rise above 115 percent, but today it is 130 percent of GDP and grew by over 51.5 billion euros.
The budget deficit has not reached the promised three percent, and will be higher than five this year, despite a sharp decline in spending on social services and public sector. The victory belongs to the mega-banks cartel that controls the real sector, and the country and future generations are the losers, said in his speech Secretary General of PPC Jeronimo de Sousa.
What is next? Next is servicing of the debt that is only expected to grow because the banks borrow from the ECB at 0.25 percent per annum, and then invest in Portuguese securities at 5.1 percent (the average yield on government bonds), yielding a huge profit. This is why Portugal has to pay over 7 billion euros per year in interest alone.
The government does not take responsibility for the rampant destruction of the real sector of the country and thousands of bankrupt companies, for the brutal and massive unemployment that contributes to the daily emigration of thousands of Portuguese, weakening of the country and its future, for the increase in labor exploitation and concentration of wealth that leads to an accelerated process of impoverishment for millions of Portuguese, spread of poverty and social exclusion, for the violation of fundamental constitutional rights to employment, health, social security and education, said Jeronimo de Sousa.
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Posted: 18 Mar 2014 05:19 AM PDT

Protesters demonstrating against the administration of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro have clashed with police in the capital, Caracas.
Demonstrators, many of them hooded, threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at police officers and clogged up streets in busy areas of the city with makeshift barricades on Saturday.
In response, police used tear gas and riot vehicles to disperse the angry mob.
President Maduro has warned protesters to clear the Plaza Altamira square in eastern Caracas.
“I am giving the Chuckys [referring to the name of a murderous doll in a horror movie], the killers, just a few hours,” said Maduro, adding, “If they do not retreat, I am going to liberate those spaces with the security forces.”
The violent protests came shortly after several hundred supporters of the Venezuelan government staged a colorful demonstration in Caracas on Saturday.
“The people and the armed forces are on the streets defending the Bolivarian revolution and the legacy of Hugo Chavez, the country and our constitution,” National Assembly speaker, Diosdado Cabell, said, referring to the late Venezuelan president.
The country has been the scene of demonstrations against and in support of the government since mid-February.
The opposition blames the government for the high crime rate and economic hardships, claiming that the policies of the Maduro administration have led to a shortage of essential goods and a high inflation rate.
President Maduro, however, says the Venezuelan opposition seeks to launch a coup d’état in the country with the support of the United States.
Nearly 30 people were killed and around 400 others were injured in similar protests launched by university students in February.
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Posted: 18 Mar 2014 04:44 AM PDT

The referendum on independence in Crimea was conducted in strict accordance with democratic principles and the international law, President Vladimir Putin told the Federal Assembly, as he was welcomed by a standing ovation.
Putin stressed that the results of the referendum, in which more than 82 percent of Crimean residents came to polling stations and more than 96 percent of those voted for rejoining Russia, leave no room for equivocation.
He said the history of Crimea, its cultural, religious and spiritual ties bind it with the peoples of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, which explains the attitude Russians have towards the peninsula.
The president said Crimea had dark pages in its past, particularly the persecution of Crimean Tatars and other minorities in the USSR. The authorities of Crimea seek to recompense for those ills. One such move would be accepting the language of Crimean Tatars as an official language in Crimea on par with Russian and Ukrainian.
Putin lashed out at former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, under whose rule Crimea was attached to the Soviet Ukraine without any regard for Crimeans’ wishes and in violation of the laws of the time.
Crimean separation from Russia was reinforced again after the split of the Soviet Union, Putin said. This could be partially blamed on Moscow too, as it hailed the so-called “parade of sovereignty” of the Soviet Republics.
Russia has since respected the results of the USSR’s dissolution, including Crimea’s being part of Ukraine.
Russia’s position was based on the assumption that Ukraine would remain a friendly partner respecting the historic ties between the two countries. Russia continues and will continue to see these relations as most important.
Putin criticized several governments in Kiev for neglecting average Ukrainians, seeing the country as a source of profit.
He said he sympathized with Ukrainians who took to the streets of Kiev in protest against President Yanukovich, whom they saw as profoundly corrupt.
But the new authorities who replaced Yanukovich after an armed coup are to a large degree controlled by the radical nationalists, Putin stated.
Those same radicals voiced threats against Ukrainians who resist their rule, particularly those living in Crimea.
Turning a blind eye to those threats and the moves of the new authorities, which violated the rights of ethnic Russians in Ukraine, would be betrayal on part of Russia, Putin said.
The president brushed aside the allegations that Russia “invaded” Crimea ahead of the referendum. He said Moscow only reserved the right to use its troops to protect ethnic Russians from the radicals, but never did so.
Whatever troops Russia has in Ukraine are present lawfully, since Russia can deploy up to 25,000 troops as part of the contract to maintain its naval base in Crimea, Putin said.
Putin dismissed criticism of the Crimean referendum, which calls the move illegitimate. He cited Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence as an example of self-determination praised by the West.
That ballot was ruled legitimate from the standpoint of international law by the International Court of Justice, and the same rule applies to Crimea, he said.
He dismissed the notion that Kosovo was a unique case due to the bloodshed and ethnic conflicts in Yugoslavia, a position maintained by Washington.
The ICJ says nothing about number of victims in justifying Kosovo’s secession from Serbia, Putin said.
Russia dismisses the “need” for victims for Crimea to declare independence, Putin said. He added that there could be victims there, if it were not for the Crimean self-defense forces, which prevented any possible provocations.
The Russian president also praised the Ukrainian military in Crimea, who showed restrained during the crisis and did not allow any bloodshed in the defiant peninsula.
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Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 17:48