Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Monday, 22 September 2014

The European Union Times


Posted: 21 Sep 2014 02:56 PM PDT
Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond
London politicians gulled Scottish voters out of independence by making a false “vow” to grant Glasgow extra powers, First Minister Alex Salmond has said. He also raised the prospect of another referendum, saying the break-up is inevitable.
Alex Salmond, leader of the ‘Yes’ campaign and the outgoing head of the Scottish National Party (SNP), told the BBC’s Sunday Politics program that the UK government won last Thursday’s referendum vote by 55-45 percent by deceiving the people ahead the referendum and promising to rapidly expand Scottish autonomy.
“I think the vow was something cooked up in desperation for the last few days of the campaign and I think everyone in Scotland now realizes that,” said Salmond.
“It is the people who were persuaded to vote no, who were misled, who were gulled, who were tricked effectively,” he added. “They are the ones who are really angry.”
Just over a week before the historic referendum, Britain’s major political parties promised Scots more autonomy over tax and welfare spending if they chose to stay in the UK.
Following the referendum results and Scotland’s decision to stay in the union, British Prime Minister David Cameron said that constitutional reforms, including in Scotland, would not be delivered until after the general election, and the changes would be linked with those in Britain.
Salmond said he was “surprised by the speed” in which the UK authorities started breaking their vow, adding that they are “totally shameless in these matters.”
“Within 24 hours they started to tear up the commitments,” he said.
On Sunday, Downing Street dismissed Salmond’s claims that Britain’s three major political parities are continuing to disagree over handling the process of devolution.
The spokesman for David Cameron said the government is still committed to move forward with the new powers over tax, spending, and welfare, stating the issues are to be agreed on by November and the legislation is to be drafted by January.
Salmond raised the prospect of a future referendum, which could be justified if the UK parties fail to honor their pledge. He said that in his “personal view,” a referendum could only be staged around once in every 20 years. However, “there are always things can change circumstances.”
In another interview with Sky News’ Murnaghan program on Sunday, Salmond elaborated on the issue, saying the break-up of the UK is inevitable and is only a matter of time.
“I mean when you have a situation where the majority of a country up to the age of 55 is already voting for independence then I think the writing’s on the wall for Westminster. I think the destination is pretty certain, we are only now debating the timescale and the method,” he said.
“I think Scots of my generation and above should really be looking at themselves in the mirror and wonder if we by majority, as a result of our decision, have actually impeded progress for the next generation which is something no generation should do.”
He argued that there might be other ways to break ties with the UK, including Scotland’s parliament gaining more leverage and then declaring independence. However, he stressed that a referendum still remains “the best route.”
Salmond, who announced his resignation on Friday, told BBC that he will still “be part of the political process,” but he wants to give a chance to others after serving as leader of the SNP for two ten-year stretches.
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Posted: 21 Sep 2014 02:51 PM PDT

Russia has announced it has delivered a third shipment of aid to eastern Ukraine where government troops are engaged in fighting with pro-Russia forces.
The Russian Emergency Ministry stated on Friday that a convoy of nearly 200 vehicles carrying some 2,000 tons of cereals, canned food, generators, medicine, warm clothes, and bottled water has been unloaded in the city of Donetsk.
The convoy of trucks, however, crossed a border checkpoint in the Rostov region without Kiev’s authorization.
This is while Russian authorities stated that they had repeatedly offered to allow the Ukrainian border guards to check the vehicles on the border, but the guards declined to do so without any apparent reason.
The authorities further added that the trucks have started unloading the relief aid in two of the city’s storehouses.
Russia’s first humanitarian convoy was sent to Ukraine’s eastern city of Lugansk in August and the second one delivered goods to the region just last week.
On both occasions Kiev reportedly refused to clear the cargoes, alleging that Russia invaded Ukraine. Moscow in turn accused the Ukrainian authorities of deliberately stalling the relief missions.
While Kiev says the aid shipments for pro-Russia held regions are provocative and must be halted, Moscow insists that people in the conflict zone are in dire need of supplies.
Meanwhile, deputy Head of Russia’s Emergency Service Vladimir Stepanov said on Wednesday that Russian authorities will continue delivering humanitarian aid to cities in eastern Ukraine.
“In Russia, [we] are continuing to collect humanitarian aid and form volunteers’ brigades,” he said.
The development comes as the situation in the city of Donetsk remains unstable despite the ceasefire deal reached by Kiev and pro-Russia forces, said a Friday statement issued by the Donetsk city council.
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Posted: 21 Sep 2014 02:37 PM PDT

Ukraine is claiming that Russia has broken the truce… with the use of a tactical nuclear weapon at Luhansk airport.
Last night’s headlines crowed in bright red flashing text that Russia and Ukraine had (once again) agreed a cease-fire and terms over the borders between the two nations. Perhaps not surprisingly, mere hours later, Ukraine is claiming that Russia has broken the truce… with the use of a tactical nuclear weapon at Luhansk airport. This comes on the heels of claims by the pro-Russia separatists that Kiev forces destroyed a massive military plant in Donetsk. Russia’s defense ministry flatly denies the ‘nuclear strikes’ adding that “no reasonable person will take them seriously.”This truce-breaking action has once again raised calls among Ukrainians for the nation to get its nuclear status back; something Russia is clearly strongly against.
Earlier in the day, a massive military facility in pro-Russian separatist-held Donetsk was destroyed. As RT reports, a neighborhood official told Ukrainian 112 television that a shell hit the plant.
“There was a direct hit at the No 47 industrial explosives shop, where some explosives were present. It detonated and caused another explosion. Luckily it didn’t hit the main storage facility where we have some 2.5 tons of explosives,” said Ivan Prikhod’ko, deputy chair of the local community council.
He added that while the incident caused considerable damage, nobody was hurt.
…
There is no verified report about what kind of weapon hit the plant. But there are rumors of it being targeted by a Tochka-U tactical missile launched by Kiev’s troops.
“According to our information, three Tochka-U missiles were fired and there you have it,” a militia member who identified himself as codename ‘Scorpio’ told RT.
Then, as ITAR-TASS reports, Ukrainian media earlier in the day quoted Geletei as telling one of the journalists that the Russian army had delivered two tactical nuclear strikes on the Lugansk airport from a self-propelled Tyulpan 2S4 mortar system, thus causing the Ukrainian troops to leave the area.
“The strikes were so powerful that they demolished buildings completely from top to bottom,” media reports quoted him as saying.
And as Inforesist notes, this was confirmed by the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Valery Geletey during the return of the Ukrainian delegation from Poland.
It is reported on your page in the Facebook Roman Bocskai.
In particular, the forces of the Russian Federation made two impact of self-propelled mortar 2S4 “Tulip” in Lugansk airport. It is for this reason that our military had left him. Blows were so powerful that “completely destroyed the building from the fifth floor to the basement” – described the minister.
The devastation at Luhansk Airport…
Which, as ITAR-TASS reports, the Russian Defense Ministry flatly denied…
Ukrainian media reports said that Defence Minister Geletei had made this statement upon return from talks in Poland.
“The leadership of Ukraine should consider sending Geletei through a basic military training course where rookies learn the main effects of a nuclear explosion and its consequences,” the Russian Defence Ministry said in what meant to be a jock.
“Speaking seriously, Geletei’s regular attempts to justify the failures of the punitive operation in the south-east of Ukraine by alleged actions of Russian army units look like paranoia. But no reasonable person will take them seriously,” the ministry said.
* * *
What is somewhat comical is that these incidents comes just hours after Friday’s signing of an extended ceasefire deal between Kiev and rebel forces, which hopes to put an end to hostilities in eastern Ukraine. The deal includes pulling back all heavy weapons from cities and frontlines.
The blast happened just as a Russian humanitarian aid convoy was unloading elsewhere in the city. Some 200 trucks carrying 2,000 tons of aid crossed the border earlier on Saturday.
NATO chimed in… UKRAINE HAS CEASE-FIRE `IN NAME ONLY,’ TOP NATO GENERAL SAYS
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Posted: 21 Sep 2014 12:33 PM PDT

The Australian government is planning to introduce new anti-terror legislation in parliament after allegedly foiling a plot by militants linked to the ISIL in the country.
Attorney-General George Brandis said on Saturday that the National Security Legislation Amendment Bill is due to go before the Senate on Wednesday.
“The government has gone about this task of re-writing Australia’s national security legislation for the first time in a generation…to ensure that the agencies have all the powers that they need to keep Australians safe without in anyway diminishing the oversight by parliament and…without in anyway diminishing protections,” he added.
According to Australian media reports, under the new legislation, advocating a terrorist act would become illegal and the offence would carry a maximum five-year jail sentence.
The legislation would also make it illegal for an individual to deliberately counsel, promote, encourage or urge a terrorist act while police would also be granted powers to secretly search the homes of suspects.
Canberra would be also authorized to ban visits to cities or regions where terror groups are active. Those who travel to such areas without a valid reason could face prosecution.
On Thursday, hundreds of police officers raided dozens of locations in the country’s most populous city of Sydney as well as the eastern city of Brisbane.
Fifteen people were arrested during the raids, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott saying that they had been plotting to carry out gruesome “demonstration executions” that could have taken place within days.
Canberra believes up to 60 Australians are fighting alongside the ISIL Takfiris, while another 100 are actively working to back the terrorist group in Australia.
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Posted: 21 Sep 2014 12:29 PM PDT
Iskander-M ballistic missile complexes
Russia has successfully fired Iskander-M missiles during Vostok-2014 maneuvers in the Far East. It was the first launch of its kind for the Eastern Military District.
Early on Saturday, the Iskander-M missile brigade was ordered to move to the firing pad in the remote woodlands of the Jewish Autonomous Region. The missile strike eliminated all training targets.
The aim of the exercise is to check the coordination between staff and commanders of different combat arms, as well as improve the command and control of troops while performing advanced tasks.
“Iskander is…one of our strongest weapons; the guarantor of our security,” Major General Mikhail Matvievsky, chief of Strategic Missile Forces and the Artillery of the Russian Ground Forces, remarked following the test.
The Iskander (also referred to as NATO’s reporting name SS-26 Stone) is characterized by high mobility and maneuverability, as it takes just 20 minutes to place the system in operational readiness.
The system is capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 400 kilometers, with a precision of around 30 centimeters. It can hit adversary troops or underground command centers, depending on the warheads placed on the rockets. If necessary, its missiles can also be armed with nuclear warheads.
The advanced missile system has been used by the Russian military since 2006.
The strategic command and staff exercise, code-named Vostok-2014, kicked off in the Eastern Military District on Friday and will continue until September 25.
“About 100,000 servicemen, up to 1,500 tanks, 120 aircraft, 5,000 pieces of weaponry, military and special hardware, and 70 ships will take part in the exercises,” the Russian Defense ministry said.
Tactical and cruise land, sea, and air-launched missiles will be fired during the drill, which is taking place at more than 20 training ranges from Anadyr in the north to Vladivostock in the south.
Russian troops will train to defend the coastal area and the islands in Sakhalin, Kamchatka, Chukotka, and the southern part of Primorsky Kray.
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Posted: 20 Sep 2014 02:56 PM PDT

A coalition of anti-establishment politicians and internet freedom advocates led by entrepreneur Kim Dotcom, who promised to shake up New Zealand politics, suffered a humiliating defeat at the country’s parliamentary elections.
The Internet-Mana party gained just 26,500 votes, 1.3 percent of the total, and short of the five percent needed to cross the parliament threshold. With half the parliament seats contested through proportional representation, and half in a first-past-the-post local election, the party also lost its only previous locally elected MP, Hone Harawira, who couldn’t hold onto his seat.
“I take full responsibility for this loss tonight, because the brand Kim Dotcom was poison for what we were trying to achieve, and I did not see that before and it only became apparent to me in the last couple of weeks,” Kim Dotcom told a hall of supporters, before storming off and entering his SUV.
The Internet-Mana coalition, formed in May, always appeared like somewhat awkward bedfellows, with Mana, a predominantly Maori left-wing party, promising free education and significant nationalization, and the Internet Party focusing on technology and citizens’ rights.
“Being realistic the Internet Party has existed for months rather than years and we both set very high standards of our expectations, but I think the Internet Party will have to be evaluated over a longer period of time than just one election,” said Internet Party chief executive Vikram Kumar.
Kim Dotcom, the 40-year-old German-Finnish founder of defunct file-sharing site Megaupload, who may have been a paper billionaire at one point, has become one of the country’s most prominent public figures, despite not even holding a local passport.
The US has forcefully attempted to extradite Dotcom, whose real name Kim Schmitz, for copyright infringement, sparking a series of protracted legal battles, seen as a litmus test for internet freedoms. So far, New Zealand’s legal system has protected Dotcom from extradition, and absolved him from copyright infringements committed by users of Megaupload.
Meanwhile, Kim has launched MEGA, a successor to Megaupload that has achieved some of its predecessor’s popularity. But an attempt to enter the public arena may have been a step too far, with colorful Dotcom at risk of appearing brazen and attention-seeking in a country that has fallen out with Washington repeatedly while protecting his legal rights.
The election was won by the incumbent right-wing National Party, which gathered more than 47 percent of the vote, and will form the new government.
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Posted: 20 Sep 2014 02:27 PM PDT

The Scots have lost their stab at independence by a tiny 10-percent margin. Analysts predicted that only a ‘yes’ vote would send waves throughout Europe, but the dire economic situation of other independence-seeking regions can’t be eclipsed so easily.
In a historic referendum on Thursday, Scotland voted 55 to 45 percent to stay in the four-nation United Kingdom.
This ‘yes’ vote, many have said, would become a major precedent for others to follow – but can this apparent loss by an already prosperous Scotland serve as a demotivator for others? After all, according to the Venetians, or the Catalans, the far more centralized nature of their own main governments – just one factor to consider here – puts them in a markedly different situation to that of Scotland.
Catalonia’s secession movement has been growing in Spain for decades. The region has its own unique language, culture, cuisine, and architecture.
For the third year in a row, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Barcelona, Catalonia’s capital, on September 11 demanding the right to vote on independence.
Catalans are set to hold a referendum on November 9, which the Spanish government strongly opposes, branding it unconstitutional. A referendum is expected to ask a two-part question: “Should Catalonia be a state?” For those who vote yes to the first question, they will then have the option to vote on the second one: “Should that state be independent?”
Catalonia represents one fifth of Spain’s economy and has its own parliament, police force and control over education and health.
On Tuesday, Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel García Margallo, said his government would do everything it could to block any sort of referendum from taking place in Catalonia. “Each and every Spaniards is the owner of each and every square centimeter of the country,” he said.
He also raised concerns about the consequences of Scottish independence, saying that Scottish secession would “start a process of Balkanization that nobody in Europe wants.”
What the Catalans do regarding independence will likely have an impact on Spain’s Basques, who already have some autonomy.
The Basque region on the border between Spain and France has long sought independence. Around 150,000 Basques formed a 123km-long human chain on June 8 in a “Right to Decide” event, based on the human chains of 1989 in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as they demanded freedom from the Soviet Union.
However, the Basque region’s independence movement has been characterized by violence in the past. ETA, the primary Basque separatist and independence movement, became notorious for its terrorist activities. But in 2011, ETA declared a ceasefire.
Less publicized rumblings for independence have also been heard in equally scenic locals. Venice, one of Italy’s most romantic and visually stunning cities, declared that it wants to break away from the country. Venice and the surrounding Veneto area used to be an independent republic until the region became a part of Italy in 1866.
In March this year, nine out of ten people living in the Veneto region voted for independence in an unofficial online referendum. The question for residents was: “Do you want the Veneto to become an independent and sovereign Federal Republic?” According to the organizers, around 2.3 million people took part in the poll – 89 percent of whom voted for a split from Italy. However, experts warned that the result is not representative, because voters knew there would not be any real consequences.
Lodovico Pizzati, spokesperson for the Veneto Independence Movement, begs to differ. While he says that Italy would never allow a referendum for the simple reason that 70 percent of people would vote to secede “for sure”, he also gives legitimate economic reasons for the push to secede.
“Veneto has been a net giver to Italy for [decades]. We’re talking tens of billions of dollars going to Rome and not returning. Unlike the United Kingdom, Italy is a very centralized country. So even the taxes of the smallest town have to go to Rome. Only a fraction comes back. The situation is unbearable because it’s making everyday life go toward economic decline [in a way that] people only a few years ago would not have thought of independence, and are now strongly in favor of it.”
Aside from Spain and Italy, Belgium is also facing a regional separatist movement.
Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north of Belgium has aspirations to break away from the considerably poorer French-speaking Wallonia in the south.
The New Flemish Alliance, a party that wants to split Belgium along linguistic lines, stormed to power in Flanders’ municipal elections in October last year and has pledged to achieve self-government, through independence, if necessary. The New Flemish Alliance in fact became Belgium’s biggest party in the 2010 federal elections.
Although not all Flemish citizens want outright independence, many seek greater autonomy from the current Belgian government, in order to protect Flemish culture and the Dutch language.
There are also other, more marginal separatist movements in Europe, including the small Faroe Islands in Denmark and Occitania, a region in southern France, as well as other small parts of Italy, Spain and Monaco.
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Posted: 20 Sep 2014 02:22 PM PDT

Argentina’s Foreign Ministry has accused the acting US ambassador of meddling in its internal affairs after inappropriate comments made on the South American country’s economy, Press TV reports.
On Tuesday, the Argentinean Foreign Ministry summoned Kevin Sullivan, the US ambassador to Buenos Aires, over inappropriate comments on the Latin American country’s failure to repay its debts to US companies.
“Our Foreign Ministry summoned Kevin Sullivan because we understand his statements were unfortunate and out of place, apart from being an undue interference in Argentina’s sovereignty,” Cabinet Chief Jorge Capitanich said.
Argentina denies any shortcomings in its repayment of its loans and blames the United States’ judiciary for not resolving the legal dispute.
Experts have recommended tougher measures against Washington, including the expulsion of the US diplomat for violating the Vienna Convention on international relations.
Meanwhile, New York District Judge Thomas Griesa has ruled to freeze Argentina’s June debt payment of USD 539 million in a US bank because two American hedge funds are demanding a full repayment of their money.
The two hedge funds, NML Capital and Aurelius Capital Management, have been described by Argentina as “vulture funds” that are seeking profit out of the country’s financial misery.
Barack Obama’s administration has voted against all resolutions passed by the United Nations and the Organization of American States condemning the international actions of specific hedge capitals in developing countries.
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Posted: 20 Sep 2014 02:09 PM PDT

Some 60,000 Syrian Kurds have crossed into Turkey in the past 24 hours, fleeing Islamic State (IS) militants who are advancing on dozens of villages close to the border.
Turkey opened a stretch of the border on Friday after Kurds fled their homes, fearing an attack on the border town of Ayn al-Arab, a Kurdish commander on the ground said.
Local Kurds also said they fear a massacre in Kobani, whose strategic location has been blocking the militants from gaining more power in northern Syria.
“Kobani is facing the fiercest and most barbaric attack in its history,” Mohammed Saleh Muslim, the head of Syria’s powerful Kurdish Democratic Union, told AP.
Lokman Isa, a 34-year-old farmer who escaped with his family, told Reuters: “They [Islamic State] have destroyed every place they have gone to. We saw what they did in Iraq in Sinjar and we fled in fear.” He added that Kurdish forces fighting against the radical group have only light weapons.
The Islamic State militants are known to be using rockets, artillery, tanks, and armored vehicles.
“I would have fought to my last drop of blood against Islamic State but I had to bring the women and children,” Mustafa Saleh, a 30 year-old water industry worker, said.
“The United States, Turkey, Russia, friendly countries must help us. They must bomb Islamic State. All they can do is cut off heads, they have nothing to do with Islam,” he added.
Meanwhile, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said that 60,000 people have crossed the 30-kilometer stretch of open border since Friday.
At least 100 villages have been evacuated since Tuesday, when the assault began. Since then, over 300 Kurdish fighters have come to Syria from Turkey to fight against the militants.
Eleven Kurdish civilians, including boys, were executed in the villages near Kobani, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
“The Islamic State sees Kobani like a lump in the body, they think it is in their way,” said Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the organization.
Mustefa Ebdi, director of a local radio station called Arta FM, confirmed the killings of the civilians. Speaking from the northern outskirts of Kobani, he told Reuters that the “Islamic State is killing any civilian it finds in a village.”
On his Facebook page, Ebdi put the total number of dead at 34 civilians – including women, the elderly, children, and the disabled. He also stated that 200 villages have been evacuated.
The news comes on the backdrop of the US and dozens of other countries drafting a roadmap for military action against IS in Syria, after the group took control over vast territories in Iraq and Syria.
On Tuesday, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said that the US Central Command has a plan to take “targeted actions against ISIS safe havens in Syria,” including striking infrastructure. The US is also set to arm 5,000 opposition fighters.
Syrian President Bashar Assad responded one day later, saying the fight against terrorism must begin by placing more pressure on those countries which are supporting and financing insurgents in Syria and Iraq.
Almost a week ago, the House of Commons Library stated that UK airstrikes against Islamic State extremists in Syria could be illegal without the agreement of Assad’s government or a UN Security Council resolution.
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Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 16:28