The European Union Times |
- Madrid court suspends Catalonia’s Independence Referendum
- Media censor Argentina president’s remarks at UN
- New Car Exhaust Attachment Eliminates Emissions to Zero, No More Taxes?
- US war with China in future ‘inevitable’
- Nearly $1billion already spent on US military campaign against ISIS
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Posted: 30 Sep 2014 06:25 AM PDT
 Spain’s Constitutional Court decided Monday that Catalonia has no right to vote for its independence. The independence referendum planned by Catalonia’s President for this November was unanimously suspended by 12 judges. Speaking in a televised address after an emergency cabinet meeting Monday, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he regretted Catalonia’s president Artur Mas’s decision to call for separation from Spain: “I regret it because it’s against the law; it’s beyond democratic law, divides Catalans, distances them from Europe and the rest of Spain and seriously damages their welfare.” Madrid has not yet voiced the government’s further plans beyond the appeal, although Rajoy is sure the Catalan president’s initiative, “being illegal won’t see the light of the day”. “Nobody and nothing will be allowed to break up Spain”, the Prime Minister said. A little earlier, the Spanish Conservative central government filed two appeals – one against the law by the Catalonian parliament allowing for the region’s vote for independence and the second one against the decree signed by the Catalonian president calling for independence. Now that the suspension of the November 9 independence referendum has been approved, the court has five months to examine the matter. Meanwhile in Catalonia, a large majority of the local population wish to hold a referendum, according to the latest polls. Many people have been encouraged by the September 18 Scottish referendum, where independence supporters were quite close to victory, losing by only about 10 percent to those in favor of staying in the United Kingdom. Some Catalans, unhappy with the Spanish ‘no’, have even been seen waving Scottish flags during the recent protests. Experts now expect that the region’s president will call early local elections. “We will not stand by idle after this suspension,” said Francesc Homs, spokesman for Mas’s government, following Rajoy’s announcement. On September 19, the regional parliament in Catalonia voted by 106 to 28 in favor of granting the president the power to hold the referendum. “We want to be free, we want a new country,” ran the slogan of local political parties that support the government of President Mas. According to the Catalan leader himself, “the future is something you conquer, not a gift, and we have to earn that.” Just as the court was deciding against the Catalan vote, Mas presented a so-called “white book” in Barcelona. The 18-chapter document covers the issues of defense, social security, trade relations and financial viability plus some other steps that Catalonia will take if it manages to gain independence and integrate with the EU. Catalonia is considered one of Spain’s richest industrialized regions. With the population of 7.5 million people – about 16 percent of the Spanish inhabitants – the region has its own language, culture and is proud of its independent-minded citizens. Back in 2006, the region formally gained nation status. However, the claim was subsequently overruled by the Constitutional Court. Source           |
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Posted: 30 Sep 2014 06:21 AM PDT
 During her speech before the United Nations 69th General Assembly on September 24, Argentina’s President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner covered a variety of issues from economic reforms needed at the International Monetary Fund to the plight of Palestinians and the global fight against terrorism. The Argentine president questioned countries such as the United States for attacking groups, including the ISIL Takfiri terrorists which Washington previously backed against the Syrian government. “Where do ISIS (ISIL) and Al-Qaeda take their guns from? Yesterday’s freedom fighters are today’s terrorists,” Cristina Fernandez said, blasting US policies vis-a-vis terrorism. The ISIL terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, control large parts of Syria’s northern territory. The group sent its members into neighboring Iraq in June and seized large parts of land there. The US and its allies recently launched airstrikes against ISIL terrorists in Iraq and later extended the aerial campaign to Syria. Fernandez also touched on judicial cooperation with Iran over the issue of the 1994 AMIA Jewish center bombing in the capital, Buenos Aires, and the political pressure that has been exerted on Argentina by the US and Israeli lobbies in that regard. Tehran and Buenos Aires signed a memorandum of understanding on January 27, 2013 to jointly probe the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA), which killed 85 people and wounded 300 others. The Argentine president dismissed the allegations against Iran concerning the 1994 deadly bomb attack, saying the investigations conducted by Buenos Aires proved that Iran was not involved in the bombing. Under intense political pressure imposed by the US and Israel, Argentina had formally accused Iran of having carried out the bomb attack. Tehran has denied any involvement in the attacks and denounced accusations against Iranian citizens in connection with the blast as a false flag to screen the real perpetrators behind the bombing. Source      |
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Posted: 30 Sep 2014 04:42 AM PDT
 The carbon dioxide from car exhausts is one of the biggest contributors to air pollution, which allegedly also leads to the greenhouse effect and contributes to the so-called global warming hoax… even though it has been proven real scientists (instead of “specialists” such as Al Gore) that the one and only who dictates the temperatures on Earth is the Sun and only the Sun. CO2tube is a new and interesting idea aimed to making the world a better place to live by reducing the CO2 emissions and to make its inventor filthy rich of course. Up for public funding on Kickstarter, the CO2tube technology sounds like it could work, but only real-life, large-scale testing could prove this. The CO2tube is basically a bio-filter attachment to the end of the exhaust canister. Derived from the bioreactor technologies, this filter contains selected algae which feed on CO2: the biochemical process turns CO2 into seemingly harmless components. The creators of the CO2tube say their method is superior to other carbon capturing technologies because the carbon is not released back into the environment. These filters can be used for 8 to 10 weeks, according to Param Jaggi, the inventor of the CO2tube, but no figures in terms of driving distance are provided yet. In case the technology works, we might be looking at yet another way to keep the planet clean but will the elitist globalists cut all taxes to zero? Normally since Western governments are so interested in pollution reduction and applying all these huge taxes on cars and taxes are now included even in the gasoline price itself, they should cut all taxes to zero for people who use these tubes or other similar methods of reducing emissions to zero, but then again no politician (except for Green loonies) really cares about the so-called global warming, simply because there is no global warming, in fact in recent years (2013-2014) Earth has cooled like never before. Polar bear populations are rising, ice caps are larger than ever, etc. West would never implement the CO2tube simply because that would mean loosing billions of Dollars in taxes each and every year. They could probably implement zero pollution methods but then again first they have to figure a way to tax those too so that the cash can keep flowing. The CO2ube is currently up for funding on Kickstarter, where it’ll cost you $35 to get one. The filter needs to be replaced every 8 to 10 weeks, so you might want to take the plunge and pledge $500 to get a year’s supply of the filters in case you wanna go green and pay both for these filters, plus taxes to your government. Until then there are a lot of ifs here, but the guy deserves a big hand for thinking about such a device.      |
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Posted: 30 Sep 2014 03:38 AM PDT
 A number of American politicians argue that a military conflict between the United States and China is inevitable in the future, a political commentator in Washington says. “It’s very definitely an element inside the US that is arguing that a war with China at some future point is almost inevitable, because China is a rising power, becoming a formidable military power in the region, and the US is static and some people feel even declining,” said Jeff Steinberg, a senior editor for the Executive Intelligence Review. He also added that despite China’s efforts to “build economic cooperation” in the South China Sea and de-escalate tensions in the region, the US military doctrine is seeking the “encirclement and containment” of China. There are “many people in China who believe that the whole underlying concept behind President Obama’s Asia pivot is an encirclement and containment of China for an eventual conflict,” he said. “They may view the US doctrine of Air-Sea Battle as a provocation and I think there’s very strong merit for thinking that that’s an accurate viewpoint,” Steinberg told Press TV on Monday. There are “elements of the Air-Sea Battle policy that could involve preemptive strikes against Chinese territory which not only would be a provocation for war, but would in some cases reduce the gap between conventional and nuclear conflicts,” he argued. According to a new report by Stars and Stripes, the recent war games over the western Pacific Ocean by the US military were focused on fighting an enemy like China in case it blocks US access to international waters and airspace. The exercise with 18,000 US forces tested the Air-Sea Battle doctrine, which is a set of tactics that blinds an enemy’s communications in space and cyberspace and destroys land- and sea-based weapons platforms, the report said. The report explained the Pentagon’s Air-Sea Battle concept during last week’s Valiant Shield exercise. The US Navy and Air Force are currently working on the doctrine, which forms a key component of the US military strategy. Source      |
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Posted: 30 Sep 2014 03:20 AM PDT
 The estimate is part of a report attempting to forecast how much the operation might cost in the future. It was published on Monday by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), that’s influential with the US Department of Defense. The think tank’s defense experts, many of whom are military veterans, have used a figure given by the Pentagon itself, which said that the military operations against the Islamic State cost $530 million through August 26. The group’s own estimate covers the period from August 27 through September 24 and is based on “what is publicly known about the number of targets struck, the types of aircraft and munitions used, the basing options available to US forces in the region, and the number US ground forces in the region.” The various costs associated with the military actions against the IS have been reflected in a graphic, issued by the CSBA.  “The total cost to date from mid-June through September 24 is likely between $780 and $930 million,” the report says. It further comes up with possible estimates of three scenarios of the way the military operation will develop in the region. “Assuming a moderate level of air operations and 2,000 deployed ground forces, the costs would likely run between $200 and $320 million per month,” the study says. If the airstrikes moderately intensify and 5,000 ground forces are deployed, the cost would be driven to $350 and $570 million per month. Finally, if the military campaign “expands significantly” and 25,000 US troops are deployed, the monthly cost of the operation might grow to $1.1 to $1.8 billion. Annually the first scenario would cost the American budget $2.4 to $3.8 billion per year, while the third, highest-intensity, one would require the US to spend $22 billion. The US started the military operation against the Islamic State in June 2014 by increasing support to Iraqi and Kurdish forces fighting the extremist group. The US airstrikes against the Islamic State targets in Iraq were launched August 8 and in Syria September 23. President Obama made a decision on the airstrikes without the authorization of the US Congress. Lawmakers might not vote on the move until next year, congressional aides told Reuters on Monday. Members of Congress left Washington in mid-September to campaign for upcoming elections. They will return in mid-November and will likely be reluctant to vote on authorization for the use of military force in Iraq and Syria in the last weeks of the current Congress. President Obama announced crackdown on the Islamic State group in a landmark September 10 speech. He specified that American ground troops would not be involved in the fight against the militants. Senior US military officials have, however, not excluded the ‘boots on the ground’ option. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, said in mid-September that should Obama’s current strategy not yield the desired results, he would recommend deploying American troops on the ground. Estimates on the possible cost of the military campaign have varied. Last week, a defense spending expert, Gordon Adams, a professor of US foreign policy at American University, told Huffington Post he estimated the United States’ war on the militant group could be costing taxpayers up to $1.5 billion a month. Source     |
