Ukraine: NATO should not waiver : destroy Buk and other missile launchers in and around the border of Ukraine

"Come on NATO do what you are supposed to do"

A missile launcher allegedly used to destroy Flight MH17 has been smuggled across the Ukrainian border into Russia to cover up its role in the strike, Ukraine’s interior minister claimed Friday.

Amid mounting evidence that Russian-backed separatists were behind the disaster, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said “technical assistance” from Russia could not be ruled out.

In a pointed reference to Moscow, Samantha Power added that the perpetrators should not be “sheltered” by any UN member state.

In a day of claim and counter-claim, Ukraine’s interior minister, Arsen Avakov, said a Buk mobile launch vehicle had been moved since the destruction of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 on Thursday, and that it was missing at least one rocket. He claimed the launcher had been tracked by Ukrainian intelligence agents as it passed by the town of Krasnodon in the Luhansk region.

A 13-second video showed a tarpaulin-covered vehicle being driven through a semi-rural location with green and white missiles still visible, but it was not possible to confirm the veracity of the claim.

Mr. Avakov wrote on Facebook: “To all appearance, this is exactly the Buk rocket complex which fired at the aircraft flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.”

Photographs also emerged purportedly showing a Buk battery being moved in a rebel-held area close to the crash site.

Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, dismissed suggestions that Moscow was involved in the alleged strike. The separatists also denied involvement, claiming that they did not have a weapon capable of such an attack.

However, the separatists themselves announced last month that they had seized at least one Buk missile launcher from a Ukrainian army base in Donetsk.

Ms. Power told the UN Security Council: “We assess Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 … was likely downed by a surface-to-air missile, [likely] an SA-11 [the U.S. designation for a Buk missile], operated from a separatist location in eastern Ukraine.” She added: “We cannot rule out technical assistance from the Russians.

The perpetrators must be brought to justice, they must not be sheltered by any member state of the United Nations.”

The father in a Dutch family which had lost relatives in the Russian missile shoot down of the Malaysian Airliner above Ukraine said:   "Why doesn't NATO, which never hesitates to us drone attacks on anything they find suspicious or smell of terrorism, doesn't destroy these Buck bases in and on the border of Russia". 

"What will Russia do? Probably nothing. Mr. Putin certainly can't be that stupid to risk the third world war by striking back ? - the world owes it to the victims of the crash to do something dramatic, so the perpetrators never do this again."

EU-Digest
 

The Netherlands: 154 Dutch citizens die in Malaysian Airlines crash at Ukraine Russian border as their flight from Holland to Malysia gets shot down by Russian missile

U.S. officials have confirmed to several media outlets that the Malaysia Airlines passenger plane that crashed near the Ukraine-Russia border Thursday was shot down by a surface-to-air missile.

The origin of the missile remained unclear and both government officials and pro-Russia separatists fighting in the region denied responsibility.

The number of fatalities in the crash was not immediately clear.

There were 295 people on board, 280 passengers and 15 crew members. Ukrainian authorities told U.S. Embassy officials that everyone on the plane was "believed dead" and that the aircraft debris was scatted over a 10-mile swath of land, ABC News reported.

Malaysia Airlines released a partial list, published by the Washington Post, of the nationalities for 233 of the plane's 280 passengers: 154 Dutch, 27 Australian, 23 Malaysian, 11 Indonesian, 6 British, 4 German, 4 Belgian, 3 Filipino and one Canadian. The airline said it did not yet know the nationalities of the remaining passengers yet.

Every member of the 15-person crew was Malaysian, the airline said.

An aide to Ukraine's interior minister quoted by Interfax said the total number of dead in the crash was more than 300 and included 23 U.S. citizens.

Note: the number of Dutch casualties has now risen to 194

Read more: Malaysia Airlines plane carrying 295 people shot down in missile strike near Ukraine-Russia border: U.S. official - Yahoo News

Europe Is Sick - Changing Course Towards A Social Europe - by Reiner Hoffmann:

Joseph Stiglitz, who won the Nobel Prize in 2001 for his work on how markets work inefficiently was once asked about his opinion on austerity measures. “It reminds me of medieval medicine,” he said. “It is like blood-letting, where you took blood out of a patient because the theory was that there were bad tumours. And very often, when you took the blood out, the patient got sicker. The response then was more blood-letting until the patient very nearly died.” He drew the conclusion: “What is happening in Europe is a mutual suicide pact!”

Jospeh Stiglitz is right. The manner in which the crisis is dealt with is likely to be of far-reaching significance to Europe and to the rest of the world. Therefore, it’s about the correct decision on the future direction: On the one hand a Europe based on the logic of commerce and competition or on the other hand a Social Europe that tackles the crisis in solidarity and does not leave the young out in the rain when the going gets tough!

I believe that even the Germans do not live on an isolated island of the blessed. We cannot remain indifferent to how the people in those countries who are affected the most by the crisis are suffering. In the long term, things will only go well for us if they are going well for our neighbours too.

Undoubtedly, we do not need an over-regulated EU which wants to ban the serving of olive oil in dipping bowls or wants to regulate the physical appearance of fruit and vegetables. 

What we need are better regulated financial markets and we need banks which serve the real economy and are useful for industry. We do not need banks rewarding managers with substantial cash-bonuses for short-term gains, filling up balloons with air and then letting it out again – and getting the European taxpayer to pick up the bill.

Ten Eurozone countries have committed to introducing the proposed European Union financial transaction tax (FTT) by 2016. The FTT and the step towards the creation of a European banking union are major developments for dealing with the current problems. However, it’s not enough! We need further EU action on combating tax avoidance and tax evasion. A competitive approach to cutting company taxes we cannot and will no longer afford in Europe.

What worries me is that little discussion appears to focus explicitly on the costs of economic crises in terms of human lives. The crisis management strategy adopted by politicians, comprising austerity mandates and cuts in wages, pensions and welfare payments, has not only led to a downward spiral in economic terms, but is also having a devastating impact on citizens. Social risks are increasing and individuals and families are under constant worry. 

Unemployment – particularly among the young – is sky-high, living standards are falling and signs of the crisis range from soup kitchens in Athens to Portugal’s crowds protesting in the streets against austerity.

If unemployment was a country it would be, with 19,2 million inhabitants, the fifth biggest in the EU. In the US, Greece, Italy, Spain, the UK and elsewhere in Europe there were more than 10,000 additional suicides from 2007-2010, a figure that is over and above historical trends, with the largest rises concentrated in the worst performing economies. 

Greece is in the middle of a public health disaster: HIV, TB, and malaria epidemics will now cost more to control than they would have been to prevent. An increase in infant and child mortality was observed in Portugal. In Italy, the education system is falling down. In about half of Italian school buildings, including universities, pieces of plaster are falling off the ceiling, water penetrates walls and floors are giving way. And the youth unemployment rate in Spain has increased to over 50 percent.

The European election results clearly reveal that Europe is ill (to steal the title of an essay by Perry Anderson in the London Review of Books). The symptoms of this illness are apparent – but what can we do to bring Europe out of intensive care? To relief Europe from the consequences of the neoliberal arbitrariness and lack of commitment?

Special weight must be given to German politics. The coordinates in the new grand coalition have shifted from centre-right to centre-left. This is an important change of direction. The grand coalition is marginally more pro-European and less keen on forcing austerity onto the Eurozone.

There is a big difference between therapeutic fasting and strangulation of the patient. The one contributes to recovery the other leads in the best case to a coma. Andreas Fischer-Lescano, Professor at the Centre of European Law and Politics (ZERP) at Bremen University presented a legal opinion on the EU’s austerity policy. According to him, the EU’s austerity policy is unlawful.

Read more: Reiner Hoffmann: Changing Course Towards A Social Europe

EU's New President: Pro-EU Juncker wins parliamentary endorsement for powerful EU job

Luxembourg’s former conservative premier Jean-Claude Juncker won the endorsement on Tuesday of the European Parliament to become president of the powerful European Commission for the next five years.

Despite sharp opposition from Britain and Hungary, Mr Juncker had been put up as a candidate for the job by 26 of the European Union’s (EU’s) 28 leaders, but needed a majority of at least 376 votes in parliament to take up the post.

He mustered 422 votes in favour — with 250 votes against, 47 abstentions and 10 spoiled ballots — which was a little short of the 480 legislators that make up the three main groups: the conservatives, the social-democrats and the liberals.

Ahead of the ballot, Mr Juncker made a heartfelt plea to revive both Europe’s economy and spirit as he laid out his vision for the future.

"Europe has lost much of its credibility, the gap between the EU and its citizens has grown," he said.

The vote paves the way to an extraordinary EU summit on Wednesday in Brussels that will allow EU leaders to complete a jigsaw of appointments for the next few years, including a new EU foreign policy chief as well as a successor to Herman van Rompuy as EU Council president.

Read more: Juncker wins parliamentary endorsement for powerful EU job | Europe | BDlive

EU-US Trade negotiations: Germany emerges rightfully as most vocal opponent of potentially "bad" EU-US trade deal

"say no to the potentially bad EU-US Trade deal"

Could EU-US Trade Agreement become the biggest corporate scam in history?

At one point in the past Chancellor Angela Merkel said she wished "for nothing more than a free-trade agreement between the USA and the EU". But she did not wish for it to become a lop-sided agreement favoring mainly US multi-national corporations.

To the dismay of many in Brussels and Washington, Germans are now taking a very different view. That is putting Europe's biggest exporter in the unusual situation of becoming one of the most vocal opponents of what is advertised by the US as potentially the world's biggest trade deal.

Today European concerns about the threat to food and the environment have found their strongest voice in Germany, amplified by the country's influential Green party and anger at reports of US spying.

The difficulty of selling the benefits of a deal, which could generate ( the US says - but nobody knows from which hat they pulled that)  $100 billion a year in economic growth for both the EU and the United States, is a sign of the challenge for governments seeking to contain a growing hostility to the talks and the corporate influence in this potential deal.

"We do not want this sort of agreement," said Ska Keller, a 32-year-old Parliamentarian who gained prominence at home during European elections in May by putting the trade deal at the centre of her campaign. "I don't expect anything positive to come out of the negotiations," she told Reuters.

The trade deal is bad for Europe. It is advertised as creating more jobs and economic wealth, but nothing is said about where the wealth is going to and the uncontrolled power it is giving to tax evading multi-national corporations ( mainly American) and damage to the health of European citizens by allowing the consumption of genetically modified foods and the use of GM in agriculture and life-stock into this deal.  Only five EU countries presently  grow GM crops at all — Spain, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia.

Speaking ahead of a protest in Dublin against GM foods on Saturday,  an Irish official said that food standards are much higher in the EU than the US.

“You want trade between these countries but our standards are much higher than for the US. In the US the whole thing is run by multinational companies who are really only interested in the bottom line and money.

“The standard of food in Europe is much higher than it is there. My biggest concern would be is that you would have GM products all over the place and no body is going to know about it.
 
Political parties, focus groups, special interest groups throughout Europe should use every method at their disposal to stop this agreement from being adopted without major modifications, which includes removing corporate influence as part of the political process and decision making in administration this deal, establishing a permanent ban on the use of GM processes and products in the EU, and being far more specific in showing where and how new jobs will be produced and to whom and where the income generated will be going to.

In the case of the NAFTA agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico, similar optimistic predictions were made about economics and job creation,  as are being made today in relation to this new potential EU-US trade deal, but the actual results of the NAFTA agreement have been dismal, except for multi-national corporations which are making out like bandits as a result of the corporate loopholes in that treaty. 

EU-Digest

Religion: Muslims have deeper problems than Bill Maher's caustic critique - by David Horsey

If Allah exists, can he possibly approve of the savagery exhibited by the militant Sunni army that has swept down from Syria to capture a third of Iraq? Can he be OK with Boko Haram, the Muslim rebel group in Nigeria that kidnapped hundreds of teenage girls and threatens to sell them into slavery? Could he be approving of the Taliban burning schools in Afghanistan and forcing women back into cultural captivity?

And another question: Can Americans talk about the wickedness of some of those who claim to be doing the will of Allah without slipping into a condemnation of all Muslims or, conversely, shying away from any critique of the dark side of Islamic culture for fear of appearing politically incorrect?

That last question is at the heart of the current media kerfuffle over comedian Bill Maher’s unrestrained criticism of Islam. An ardent atheist, the host of HBO’s “Real Time” slams Islam as the worst belief system of them all. A staunch liberal himself, he scoffs at fellow liberals who condemn abuses of human rights around the world but refuse to admit that, in many parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, “Islam is the problem.”

But Maher is comedian, not a journalist or a diplomat, and his aggressive satire does dig into uncomfortable truths that many would rather avoid. And the truth is that Islam has a deep problem. It is not a problem with the faith as a philosophy of life nor as it is lived out by millions of peaceful Muslims; it is a problem with the way fundamentalist interpretations of the faith have found violent, inhumane and oppressive expression in so many places.

It is the same problem Christianity had for centuries, from the Crusades to the Salem witch trails and through all the blood, battles and burnings in between. During much of that time when Christians were busy killing one another and anyone who was not like them, Islam went through an enlightened period. A pan-national system allowed a relatively tolerant, multiethnic and religiously diverse culture to flourish in the Middle East and North Africa.

Those days are long gone.

Note EU-Digest: This is not only a problem of Islam. Christianity has for centuries, from the Crusades to the "Salem witch trail"s and through all the blood, battles and burnings in between. During much of that time when Christians were busy killing one another and anyone who was not like them, Islam went through an enlightened period. A pan-national system allowed a relatively tolerant, multi-ethnic and religiously diverse culture to flourish in the Middle East and North Africa under the Ottomans. 

So maybe instead of arguing which "religion" has the upper-hand over the other maybe when we go to a Mosque or Church we should try and remember that this does not give us extra points but rather that it reminds us that WE are not the "center" of the universe. Spiritually a most liberating and humbling thought in coming to grips with the fact that we are all basically totally insignificant creatures.

Read more: Muslims have deeper problems than Bill Maher's caustic critique - Los Angeles Times

Corporate Influence: Poll: 99% of people polled say corporations wield too much power

In the latest EU-Digest poll which ran through the month of June on: "Do Corporations Have Too Much Influence On Global Governance ?" -  99% of the people polled said corporations wield too much power.

In our new July EU-Digest poll the question focuses on the possibility of Britain leaving the EU.
Should Britain Quit the EU ?

EU-Digest