Italian Senate expels former PM Silvio Berlusconi from parliament for six years for fraud conviction

 

Video: Silvio Berlusconi expelled from parliament over fraud convictions (ABC News)

Map: Italy

Italian senators have expelled three-time former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from parliament, due to his criminal conviction for tax fraud.

The Senate speaker declared Mr Berlusconi ineligible for a seat in parliament after the house rejected a series of challenges by his supporters.

"The conclusions of the committee on elections have been approved, abolishing the election of senator Silvio Berlusconi," Senate speaker Pietro Grasso said.

In August, Berlusconi was sentenced to four years in prison, commuted to a year under house arrest or in community service, for masterminding an illegal scheme to reduce the tax bill of his media company Mediaset.

Under a law passed with Berlusconi's support last year, politicians convicted of serious criminal offences are ineligible for parliament, but his expulsion had to be confirmed by a full vote in the Senate.

The move also strips Berlusconi of his parliamentary immunity from arrest, leaving him vulnerable to prosecution in a series of other cases, where he is accused of offences including political bribery and paying for sex with a minor.

Berlusconi not 'retiring to some convent'

During the Senate vote Berlusconi addressed a rally of his supporters outside his Rome residence, promising to remain a thorn in the side of the current Prime Minister, Enrico Letta's, coalition government.

"I'm not going to be retiring to some convent," he told supporters. "We're staying here!"

Berlusconi, who has dominated politics in Italy for two decades, has already pulled his party out of Mr Letta's coalition after seven months in government, accusing leftwing opponents of mounting a "coup d'etat" to eliminate him.

The former prime minister, who owns Italy's biggest private broadcaster, has adopted an increasingly euro-sceptical tone, attacking Brussels, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Mr Letta's euro-friendly government. Such attacks are likely to increase in the run-up to the European parliamentary elections in May.

However he no longer commands enough support in parliament to bring down the Italian government, which easily won a confidence vote on the 2014 budget earlier this week.

Photo: Not going anywhere: A defiant Silvio Berlusconi addresses supporters as the Italian Senate votes to expel him. (AFP)

The battle over Berlusconi has already disrupted any serious  overhaul of the stagnant Italian economy, which is stuck in a  recession that has lasted more than two years, sending youth  unemployment over 40 percent.

The centre-right split may have removed the immediate threat  to Letta, who has won two confidence votes in parliament since  Berlusconi's conviction. But the risk of further judicial  conflict over any of the other criminal trials and  investigations hanging over Berlusconi could inflame his  supporters still further.

Wednesday's rally, which attracted several hundred  supporters, was smaller than many previous protests but  Berlusconi retains a solid core of backing.

"Not only is he being judged but it's a form of  humiliation," said Gianluca d'Avanzo, a 40-year-old office  worker from the southern region of Puglia who came to Rome for  the demonstration. "They are doing this to a man who has done so  much for Italy. We are a country of ungrateful people."

Berlusconi joined Letta's Democratic Party in an unlikely  coalition after an election in February but relations were rocky from the start, worsened by rows about tax policy and tensions  over Berlusconi's tax fraud conviction in August.

AFP/ Reuters

Italian Senate expels former PM Silvio Berlusconi from parliament for six years for fraud conviction - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Egypt asks Turkish ambassador to leave over support for Muslim Brotherhood

Staff and agencies theguardian.com, Saturday 23 November 2013

Military government accuses Turkey of seeking to create instability by backing party of ousted president Mohamed Morsi

Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticised the trial of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi. Photograph: Itar-Tass/Barcroft Media

The Egyptian government has asked Turkey's ambassador to leave in protest for its support of the Muslim Brotherhood, the party of the deposed president Mohamed Morsi.

Egypt's military government accused Turkey of supporting organisations bent on spreading instability. Turkey has denounced removal of the elected Morsi as an "unacceptable coup".

Since the coup in July, thousands of the new government's opponents have been detained and hundreds killed by security forces.

Turkey was "attempting to influence public opinion against Egyptian interests, supported meetings of organisations that seek to create instability in the country," said a foreign ministry spokesman, Badr Abdelatty, on Saturday.

Turkey's ruling AK party has a similar background to the Muslim Brotherhood and both have endured a rivalry with their national armies.

Turkey and Egypt recalled their ambassadors in August after Turkey criticised Egypt's new leaders over the overthrow of Morsi. Turkey's ambassador returned weeks later, but Egypt had declined to return its envoy to Ankara.

Saturday's decision comes after the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, renewed his criticism of Egypt's new leaders. He dismissed the trial of Morsi on charges of inciting murder of his opponents while in office, which opened this month, and on Thursday described the situation in Egypt as a "humanitarian drama".

The Egyptian foreign ministry said Turkey "has persisted in its unacceptable and unjustified positions by trying to turn the international community against Egyptian interests and by supporting meetings for groups that seek to create instability in the country and by making statements that can only be described as an offense to the popular will".

Egyptian officials and media have repeatedly accused Muslim Brotherhood leaders of meeting in Turkey to plan protests and other ways to undermine the new government in Cairo.

In response to Egypt's decision, the Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, said: "I hope our relations will again get back to its track."

But a Turkish foreign ministry spokesman said Ankara was in touch with the ambassador "and we will respond with reciprocal steps in coming hours".

Egypt asks Turkish ambassador to leave over support for Muslim Brotherhood | World news | theguardian.com

Syria, Egypt Reveal Erdogan’s Hidden “Neo-Ottoman Agenda”

By Nicola Nasser Global Research, November 20, 2013

The eruption of the Syrian conflict early in 2011 heralded the demise of Turkey ’s officially pronounced strategy of “Zero Problems with Neighbors,” but more importantly, it revealed a “hidden agenda” in Turkish foreign policy under the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

What Sreeram Chaulia, the Dean of the Jindal School of International Affairs in India ’s Sonipat, described as a “creeping hidden agenda” (http://rt.com on Sept. 15, 2013) is covered up ideologically as “Islamist.”

But in a more in-depth insight it is unfolding as neo-Ottomanism that is pragmatically using “Islamization,” both of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s legacy internally and Turkey ’s foreign policy regionally, as a tool to revive the Ottoman Empire that once was.

Invoking his country’s former imperial grandeur, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davotoglu had written: “As in the sixteenth century … we will once again make the Balkans, the Caucasus, and the Middle East, together with Turkey , the center of world politics in the future. That is the goal of Turkish foreign policy and we will achieve it.” (Emphasis added)

Quoted by Hillel Fradkin and Lewis Libby, writing in last March/April edition of www.worldaffairsjournal.org, the goal of Erdogan’s AKP ruling party for 2023, as proclaimed by its recent Fourth General Congress, is: “A great nation, a great power.” Erdogan urged the youth of Turkey to look not only to 2023, but to 2071 as well when Turkey “will reach the level of our Ottoman and Seljuk ancestors by the year 2071” as he said in December last year.

“2071 will mark one thousand years since the Battle of Manzikert,” when the Seljuk Turks defeated the Byzantine Empire and heralded the advent of the Ottoman one, according to Fradkin and Libby.

Some six months ago, Davotoglu felt so confident and optimistic to assess that “it was now finally possible to revise the order imposed” by the British – French Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 to divide the Arab legacy of the Ottoman Empire between them.

Davotoglu knows very well that Pan-Arabs have been ever since struggling unsuccessfully so far to unite as a nation and discard the legacy of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, but not to recur to the Ottoman status quo ante, but he knows as well that Islamist political movements like the Muslim Brotherhood International (MBI) and the Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami (Islamic Party of Liberation) were originally founded in Egypt and Palestine respectively in response to the collapse of the Ottoman Islamic caliphate.

However, Erdogan’s Islamist credentials cannot be excluded as simply a sham; his background, his practices in office since 2002 as well as his regional policies since the eruption of the Syrian conflict less than three years ago all reveal that he does believe in his version of Islam per se as the right tool to pursue his Ottoman not so-“hidden agenda.”

Erdogan obviously is seeking to recruit Muslims as merely “soldiers” who will fight not for Islam per se, but for his neo-Ottomanism ambitions. Early enough in December 1997, he was given a 10-month prison sentence for voicing a poem that read: “The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers;” the poem was considered a violation of Kemalism by the secular judiciary.

Deceiving ‘Window of Opportunity ’

However, Erdogan’s Machiavellianism finds no contradiction between his Islamist outreach and his promotion of the “Turkish model,” which sells what is termed as the “moderate” Sunni Islam within the context of Ataturk’s secular and liberal state as both an alternative to the conservative tribal-religious states in the Arabian Peninsula and to the sectarian rival of the conservative Shiite theocracy in Iran.

He perceived in the latest US withdrawal of focus from the Middle East towards the Pacific Ocean a resulting regional power vacuum providing him with an historic window of opportunity to fill the perceived vacuum.

“Weakening of Europe and the US’ waning influence in the Middle East” were seen by the leadership of Erdogan’s ruling party “as a new chance to establish Turkey as an influential player in the region,” Günter Seufert wrote in the German Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) on last October 14.

The US and Israel , in earnest to recruit Turkey against Iran , nurtured Erdogan’s illusion of regional leadership. He deluded himself with the unrealistic belief that Turkey could stand up to and sidestep the rising stars of the emerging Russian international polar, the emerging Iranian regional polar and the traditional regional players of Egypt and Saudi Arabia , let alone Iraq and Syria should they survive their current internal strife.

For sure, his allies in the Muslim Brotherhood International (MBI) and his thinly veiled Machiavellian logistical support of al-Qaeda – linked terrorist organizations are not and will not be a counter balance.

He first focused his Arab outreach on promoting the “Turkish model,” especially during the early months of the so-called “Arab Spring,” as the example he hoped will be followed by the revolting masses, which would have positioned him in the place of the regional mentor and leader.

But while the eruption of the Syrian conflict compelled him to reveal his Islamist “hidden agenda” and his alliance with the MBI, the removal of MBI last July from power in Egypt with all its geopolitical weight, supported by the other regional Arab heavy weight of Saudi Arabia, took him off guard and dispelled his ambitions for regional leadership, but more importantly revealed more his neo-Ottoman “hidden agenda” and pushed him to drop all the secular and liberal pretensions of his “Turkish model” rhetoric.

‘Arab Idol’ No More

Erdogan and his foreign policy engineer Davotoglu tried as well to exploit the Arab and Muslim adoption of the Palestine Question as the central item on their foreign policy agendas.

Since Erdogan’s encounter with the Israeli President Shimon Peres at the Economic Summit in Davos in January 2009, the Israeli attack on the Turkish humanitarian aid boat to Gaza, Mavi Marmara, the next year and Turkey’s courting of the Islamic Resistance Movement “Hamas,” the de facto rulers of the Israeli besieged Palestinian Gaza Strip, at the same time Gaza was targeted by the Israeli Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009 then targeted again in the Israeli Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012, Turkey’s premier became the Arab idol who was invited to attend Arab Leage summit and ministerial meetings.

However, in interviews with ResearchTurkey, CNN Turk and other media outlets, Abdullatif Sener, a founder of Erdogan’s AKP party who served as deputy prime minister and minister of finance in successive AKP governments for about seven years before he broke out with Erdogan in 2008, highlighted Erdogan’s Machiavellianism and questioned the sincerity and credibility of his Islamic, Palestinian and Arab public posturing.

“Erdogan acts without considering religion even at some basic issues but he hands down sharp religious messages … I consider the AK Party not as an Islamic party but as a party which collect votes by using Islamic discourses,” Sener said, adding that, “the role in Middle East was assigned to him” and “the strongest logistic support” to Islamists who have “been carrying out terrorist activities” in Syria “is provided by Turkey” of Erdogan.

In an interview with CNN Turk, Sener dropped a bombshell when he pointed out that the AKP’s spat with Israel was “controlled.” During the diplomatic boycott of Israel many tenders were granted to Israeli companies and Turkey has agreed to grant partner status to Israel in NATO: “If the concern of the AKP is to confront Israel then why do they serve to the benefit of Israel ?” In another interview he said that the NATO radar systems installed in Malatya are there to protect Israel against Iran .

Sener argued that the biggest winner of the collapse of the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad would be Israel because it will weaken Lebanon ’s Hizbullah and Iran , yet Erdogan’s Turkey is the most ardent supporter of a regime change in Syria , he said.

Erdogan’s Syrian policy was the death knell to his strategy of “Zero Problems with Neighbors;” the bloody terrorist swamp of the Syrian conflict has drowned it in its quicksand.

Liz Sly’s story in the Washington Post on this November 17 highlighted how his Syrian policies “have gone awry” and counterproductive by “putting al-Qaeda on NATO’s (Turkish) borders for the first time.”

With his MBI alliance, he alienated Egypt , Saudi Arabia and the UAE, in addition to the other Arab heavy weights of Syria , Iraq and Algeria and was left with “zero friends” in the region.

According to Günter Seufert, Turkey ’s overall foreign policy, not only with regards to Syria , “has hit the brick wall” because the leadership of Erdogan’s ruling party “has viewed global political shifts through an ideologically (i.e. Islamist) tinted lens.”

Backpedaling too late

Now it seems Erdogan’s “ Turkey is already carefully backpedaling” on its foreign policy,” said Seufert. It “wants to reconnect” with Iran and “ Washington ’s request to end support for radical groups in Syria did not fall on deaf Turkish ears.”

“Reconnecting” with Iran and its Iraqi ruling sectarian brethren will alienate further the Saudis who could not tolerate similar reconnection by their historical and strategic US ally and who were already furious over Erdogan’s alliance with the Qatari financed and US sponsored Muslim Brotherhood and did not hesitate to publicly risk a rift with their US ally over the removal of the MBI from power in Egypt five months ago.

Within this context came Davotoglu’s recent visit to Baghdad , which “highlighted the need for great cooperation between Turkey and Iraq against the Sunni-Shiite conflict,” according to www.turkishweekly.net on this November 13. Moreover, he “personally” wanted “to spend the month of Muharram every year in (the Iraqi Shiite holy places of) Karbala and Najaf with our (Shiite) brothers there.”

Within the same “backpedaling” context came Erdogan’s playing the host last week to the president of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government, Massoud Barzani, not in Ankara , but in Diyarbakir , which Turkish Kurds cherish as their capital in the same way Iraqi Kurds cherish Kirkuk .

However, on the same day of Barzani’s visit Erdogan ruled out the possibility of granting Turkish Kurds their universal right of self-determination when he announced “Islamic brotherhood” as the solution for the Kurdish ethnic conflict in Turkey , while his deputy, Bulent Arinc, announced that “a general amnesty” for Kurdish detainees “is not on today’s agenda.” Three days earlier, on this November 15, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said, “Turkey cannot permit (the) fait accompli” of declaring a Kurdish provisional self-rule along its southern borders in Syria which his prime minister’s counterproductive policies created together with an al-Qaeda-dominated northeastern strip of Syrian land.

Erdogan’s neo-Ottomanism charged by his Islamist sectarian ideology as a tool has backfired to alienate both Sunni and Shiite regional environment, the Syrian, Iraqi, Egyptian, Emirati, Saudi and Lebanese Arabs, Kurds, Armenians, Israelis and Iranians as well as Turkish and regional liberals and secularists. His foreign policy is in shambles with a heavy economic price as shown by the recent 13.2% devaluation of the Turkish lira against the US dollar.

“Backpedaling” might be too late to get Erdogan and his party through the upcoming local elections next March and the presidential elections which will follow in August next year.

Nicola Nasser is a veteran Arab journalist based in Birzeit, West Bank of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. nassernicola@ymail.com

Egypt: Fears Replace Christians' High Expectations

MAR GIRGIS MONASTERY, Egypt November 16, 2013 (AP)

By HAMZA HENDAWI Associated Press

There is no sign of the hundreds of thousands of Christian pilgrims who flock here every November. No tattoo artists inscribing crosses on the wrists of babies or images of saints on the arms of young men. No stalls selling crosses, icons or pillows embroidered with portraits of patriarchs.

Kidnappers are targeting Christians in a southern province in Egypt.

The only noise disturbing the quiet of the Monastery of Mar Girgis these days is the call for prayers blaring from the nearby mosque.

The week-long festival of Mar Girgis, or St. George, has been held here annually for more than a century, attracting as many as 2 million pilgrims from across Egypt to one of the biggest and most exuberant events of the year for Orthodox Coptic Christians.

This year, however, the government canceled the festival, fearing it would be a target for Islamic militants who have stepped up attacks since the July 3 ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

The cancellation — along with those of two similar festivals the past few months — has fed Christians' fears that they are not benefiting as they had hoped from publicly supporting the military's removal of Morsi. Their worst fear, some say, is the discrimination against them will endure.

Christian activists have been pushing for solid gains after the removal of Islamists from power. They want the revised constitution to clearly state that all Egyptians are equal and to remove draconian restrictions placed on the construction and restoration of churches. They also want an end to the illegal but routine practice of denying Christians top positions in the military, security services, academia and the judiciary. Many seek a set quota for Christians in parliament to ensure a proportionate representation for the community.

So far, however, they appear to have gotten no stronger language in the constitution protecting their rights, as the 50-member panel drawing up amendments to the mainly Islamist-drafted charter passed under Morsi begins to put together a final draft.

"The Copts have paid a high price since Jan. 25 and until now," said Maher Shoukri, a Christian activist, referring to the start of the 2011 uprising that ousted longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

"The Copts must reap the fruits of the revolution and feel the change," said Shoukri, from the Christian-led rights group, the Association of Maspero Youth.

Egypt's Christian minority, about 10 percent of the population of some 90 million, long has complained of discrimination.

The Coptic Orthodox Church, to which most of them belong, has done away with its customary caution about involvement in politics when Pope Tawadros II publicly supported Morsi's ouster. On July 3, the pope stood with Egypt's top Muslim cleric behind military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi when he announced Morsi's ouster.

Since then, Christians have been hit by a backlash from Islamists. Mobs torched, looted or destroyed at least 40 churches across Egypt. Tawadros has been vilified in graffiti painted over church walls and Christian homes and businesses.

Kidnapping Christians for ransom has seen a dramatic rise in areas south of Cairo, particularly Minya, home to the highest percentage of Christians in any of the nation's 27 provinces. Activists report a rise in Christians leaving the country, and even some churches have advertisements offering help in getting visas abroad.

Now some Christians feel their church was used to give the coup the appearance of inclusiveness. They complain that the new order in Egypt has failed in its first test — protecting Christians — underscored by the cancellation of the Mar Girgis festival.

"Christians are deluding themselves into believing that their safety lies with the military," said Nirvana Mamdouh, a Christian activist.

Another activist, Ebram Louis, noted how authorities quickly repaired Cairo's Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque, which was damaged when security forces violently broke up a pro-Morsi sit-in there in mid-August, killing hundreds of his supporters. In contrast, none of the churches damaged in attacks the same month have been repaired despite promises by the military, he said.

Safwat el-Bayadi, head of the Anglican church in Egypt and one of three Christians on the panel amending the constitution, said, "The only gains we are looking for is equality in the rights and duties for all."

"We do not accept the division of rights according to religious affiliation even if that works for our benefit," he told The Associated Press.

A senior church leader known to be close to Tawadros aired his fears over the future of Christians in post-Morsi Egypt in an interview with the AP. The cleric spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the internal and confidential discussions of the church's leadership.

He complained that nothing has been done to repair damaged churches or to stem rising kidnappings.

"It is time that the issues of the Christians are not diluted or cast aside," he said, adding that the constitution must enshrine a "civil and democratic state and a clear and straight line separating state from religion."

Church leaders say they observed the cancellation of the festival at Mar Girgis to help the military-backed government to restore security. But it fuels Christians' bitter perception that they are pushed to make concessions. For example, Tawadros canceled celebrations marking his enthronement a year ago. Churches across much of the country have canceled social activities for security reasons.

Father Arsenious, head of the Mar Girgis Monastery, said security officials told the church that even if they deployed a large number of police they could not guarantee the festival's safety. "It's better to cancel it this year, rather than allow a tragedy to take place," he said.

The annual pilgrimage to the walled monastery in the deserts of southern Egypt overlooking the Nile, 400 miles (660 kilometers) south of Cairo, is a festival of faith, a time to pay homage to the 3rd century saint who is one of their most revered figures. It is also an opportunity for Christians to celebrate their identity in an atmosphere free from discrimination.

"It is an occasion where Christians feel free and behave without inhibitions," the 64-year-old Arsenious said. "It is like they are exercising all their rituals and chanting their slogans without a worry about the consequences."

During last year's festival, men and women flaunted the cross tattoos on the inside of their wrists, which they normally keep discreet. Men showed off more elaborate tattoos of favorite saints on their arms. Tens of thousands lived in a tent city outside the monastery's walls as hymns blared out of speakers and special envoys from the pope headed ceremonies and Mass.

The monastery put up a notice saying it would be closed to visits during the time of the festival — which was to have begun on Monday — and word spread through churches and social media. Still, a handful of pilgrims showed up at the monastery's imposing iron gates demanding to come in to pray.

Despite the current atmosphere, Arsenious says he's optimistic things will change. He said he dreams of a return to the days of the 1970s, before the rise of Muslim conservatism and Islamic militancy.

"It is unrealistic to expect that people, like in the West, would never ask about one's religion," he said. "But I want to at least comfortably spend a whole day with a Muslim friend without fear that he could turn against me at any moment."

Egypt: Fears Replace Christians' High Expectations - ABC News

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood offers negotiations to end Morsi crisis

 

An Islamist coalition led by the Muslim Brotherhood has offered negotiations to end the deadly tumult since Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi was overthrown, without explicitly insisting on his reinstatement.

Photo: Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood shout slogans against the military and interior ministry at El-Thadiya presidential palace in Cairo. (Reuters: Amr Abdallah Dalsh)

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The coalition "calls on all revolutionary forces and political parties and patriotic figures to enter a deep dialogue on exiting the current crisis," it said in a statement on Saturday.

The proposal is the Islamists' most flexible yet made in public, and comes "with no conditions", a coalition official said.

The coalition, which has organised weekly protests despite a harsh police crackdown, insisted in its statement on keeping up "peaceful opposition", but said it wanted a "consensus for the public good of the country".

The proposal comes after more than 1,000 people, mostly Morsi supporters, have been killed in clashes with police and thousands more have been arrested.

Much of the Brotherhood's leadership has been put on trial, including Morsi himself.

"We have no conditions, and neither should they," said Imam Youssef, a leader of the Asala party, which is part of the Islamist coalition.

We want a democratic solution, and it does not necessarily mean we have to be in power

Leader of the Asala party, Imam Youssef

But he added that the talks must lead to a "democratic" solution, and the coalition wanted them to start within two weeks.

The coalition was prepared to discuss "all solutions that lead to stability".

The Islamists were prepared to respect the demands of the millions of protesters who took to the streets calling for Morsi's ouster, Mr Youssef said.

"We want a democratic solution, and it does not necessarily mean we have to be in power," he added.

Asked if the coalition would insist on Morsi's return to office, he replied: "We don't want to get ahead of ourselves."

Calls to release Islamists prisoners, reopen broadcasters

The Islamists proposed conditions for the dialogue, including the release of Islamist prisoners and the reopening of Islamist broadcasters shut down after Morsi's July 3 overthrow by the military.

They also insisted that the military, which has formally handed power to an interim civilian government, must "return to the barracks".

Unlike previous offers, which all hinged on Morsi's return to power before negotiations, the Islamists were pointedly vague on their end goals.

They demanded "a return to constitutional legitimacy and the democratic process with the participation of all political groups, without one group monopolising the process or excluding any group".

The vague formulation allows the Islamists room to manoeuvre.

Morsi's reinstatement is often included in what they describe as "legitimacy", in addition to that of the suspended constitution and senate.

But privately Brotherhood officials have said they might agree to a "constitutional" exit for the president, such as his nominal resignation.

The interim government has insisted that the Islamists unconditionally accept its authority and schedule for elections.

It says those who have not taken part in violence would be free to stand in the polls.

But a court has banned the Brotherhood, and on Saturday a panel of judges also recommended that its Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) be dissolved.

Such recommendations are non-binding but often adopted in the final verdict.

Morsi himself insisted at the start of his trial on November 4 that he was still Egypt's legitimate president and could only be removed by a parliamentary vote.

Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood veteran who headed the FJP before his election, appeared in court to answer charges of involvement in the killings of opposition protesters.

The interim government will organise parliamentary elections in February or March, followed by presidential elections in the summer.

The Islamist-dominated parliament had already been suspended by a court before Morsi's election in June 2012, and the senate was dissolved on his overthrow.

AFP

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood offers negotiations to end Morsi crisis - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Italy's Silvio Berlusconi hits out at defectors after party split

 

Italy's Silvio Berlusconi has hit out at former loyalists in his centre-right party who have set up a "renewal" faction led by the media tycoon's ex-protege Angelino Alfano.

 Photo: Silvio Berlusconi says the split in his party was created by different personalities that created a "poisonous atmosphere". (AFP Photo: Tiziana Fabi)

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The billionaire former prime minister blamed the split, without ever naming Mr Alfano, on "differences not of policy or values but between personalities who have created a poisonous atmosphere".

Mr Alfano, who announced the "divorce" after late-night talks on Friday, stayed away along with some 50 other defectors from a meeting on Saturday of Mr Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) party.

During a rambling speech lasting an hour and a half, the scandal-tainted Mr Berlusconi, 77, drew frequent applause.

Admitting to having had a sleepless night, once appearing on the verge of fainting before recovering himself, the media and construction baron expressed his "sadness" at the break-up.

In a conciliatory gesture, Mr Berlusconi added however that Mr Alfano's grouping would be a "necessary member" of the 200-strong centre-right voting bloc.

The PDL meeting was meant to be a happy event at which the party would be rebaptised Forza Italia (Go Italy), the sporty name Mr Berlusconi used when he first launched the party in 1994.

Mr Alfano, whose faction is to be called the New Centre Right, said his decision had been "very bitter, painful but fair".

The 43-year-old Sicilian lawyer told a news conference: "It was unthinkable for us to throw the country into a situation that would have further aggravated things for Italians."

He said on Friday he would not be part of the reborn Forza Italia because "these past few weeks have shown to what extent extreme forces have prevailed within our movement", referring to a belief by his supporters that Mr Berlusconi was pandering to hardliners.

Mr Berlusconi's party has been in turmoil since September when he tried to bring down Italy's uneasy left-right coalition government by withdrawing his ministers, but was forced into a humiliating climb-down when they refused to heed his orders.

The five ministers - all Alfano supporters - will stay on as members of the rump PDL, meaning that Forza Italia will not be represented in the government.

The daily La Stampa described the break-up as the "first post-Berlusconi act" with an immediate consequence: "The government is saved, with a new, smaller but also more united (parliamentary) majority."

Mr Berlusconi will face another humiliation on November 27, when the Senate votes whether to eject him from parliament's upper chamber under a law banning convicted criminals from the body.

Italy's supreme court on August 1 turned down Mr Berlusconi's final appeal in a tax fraud case, handing him his first-ever definitive conviction in a long history of legal woes.

AFP

Italy's Silvio Berlusconi hits out at defectors after party split - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Mohamed Morsi accuses army chief of treason

Patrick Kingsley in Cairo theguardian.com, Thursday 14 November 2013

Former Egyptian president's speech damns man who toppled him, General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, marking escalation in rhetoric

Link to video: Mohamed Morsi accuses Egypt's army of coup

Egypt's deposed president has accused the army chief who overthrew him of treason, in a speech made on his behalf by his legal team on Wednesday. In only his second public statement since being arrested and held incommunicado this July, Mohamed Morsi also repeated the accusation that his overthrow constituted a military coup.

"This is a crime and treason," read lawyer Mohamed al-Damaty on Morsi's behalf. "A crime because it has all the manifestations of a coup, and treason because it betrayed the oath that the defence minister swore to the armed forces and to the Egyptian people when he took his position."

The statement marked an escalation in rhetoric from his outbursts on the first day of his chaotic trial last Monday. While appearing in court on charges of incitement to murder, Morsi had stopped short of laying the blame for his overthrow on General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, the army chief and defence minister who toppled Morsi following days of mass protests calling for military intervention.

The speech appeared to be an attempt to rally his Islamist support base, with little to mollify the millions who marched for his removal in July. It also appeared to ignore the realities of Egypt's new status quo, which sees Morsi's supporters firmly on the back foot against a resurgent security state. Thousands of his followers have been arrested since July, and around 1,000 killed at various protests since his overthrow.

"This coup will fall by the strength of the Egyptian people and their fight for rights and freedom," Morsi's statement said. It added: "What has happened won't convince me to give up what I promised you before my election – to uphold the interests of the people above all else."

Morsi's lawyers said the former president would continue to reject the authority of the court. He caused chaos at his trial last week by refusing to recognise the court or let his legal team formally represent him, and by frequently speaking out of turn. After meeting him in jail in Alexandria for the first time since he was arrested, his defence team said this strategy would continue.

Morsi later claimed that Egypt – rocked by protests and an insurgency in the Sinai peninsula since his removal – would not see stability unless he was reinstated. "Egypt won't heal unless we end all the aspects of this coup and bring to justice all those who shed blood in all the corners of the nation," Damaty said on his behalf.

Morsi's statement also seemed to suggest that he had been arrested a day before Sisi officially announced his removal. Sisi told Egyptians of Morsi's overthrow in a televised speech on the evening of 3 July. But Morsi's statement on Wednesday said he was arrested on 2 July, an odd claim given that he himself made a televised speech to the nation that night. One of Morsi's senior aides also met the Guardian on the morning of 3 July near where Morsi was staying, and said that even at that late stage the president's fate was not yet sealed.

Morsi is currently on trial for inciting the murder of protesters outside Cairo's presidential palace last December. His allies say the charges are political. But lawyers for the victims say that whatever the circumstances of his arrest, the accusations are valid and were laid long before any suggestion that Morsi would be overthrown.

Mohamed Morsi accuses army chief of treason | World news | theguardian.com

Sorry, Venezuela haters: this economy is not the Greece of Latin America

 

Mark Weisbrot The Guardian, Friday 8 November 2013

Predicting a Venezuelan apocalypse won't make it happen: in this oil-rich country the only thing imploding is poverty

Women queue to buy toilet paper at a supermarket in Caracas as a result of the shortage of basic goods. Photograph: Reuters/Jorge Silva

For more than a decade people opposed to the government of Venezuela have argued that its economy would implode. Like communists in the 1930s rooting for the final crisis of capitalism, they saw economic collapse just around the corner. How frustrating it has been for them to witness only two recessions: one directly caused by the opposition's oil strike (December 2002-May 2003) and one brought on by the world recession (2009 and the first half of 2010). However, the government got control of the national oil company in 2003, and the whole decade's economic performance turned out quite well, with average annual growth of real income per person of 2.7% and poverty reduced by over half, and large gains for the majority in employment, access to health care, pensions and education.

Now Venezuela is facing economic problems that are warming the cockles of the haters' hearts. We see the bad news every day: consumer prices up 49% over the last year; a black market where the dollar fetches seven times the official rate; shortages of consumer goods from milk to toilet paper; the economy slowing; central bank reserves falling. Will those who cried wolf for so long finally see their dreams come true?

Not likely. In the opposition's analysis Venezuela is caught in an inflation-devaluation spiral, where rising prices domestically undermine confidence in the economy and currency, causing capital flight and driving up the black market price of the dollar. This adds to inflation, as does – in their theory – money creation by the government. And its price controls, nationalisations and other interventions have caused more structural problems. Hyperinflation, rising foreign debt and a balance-of-payments crisis will mark the end of this economic experiment.

But how can a government with more than $90bn in oil revenue end up with a balance-of-payments crisis? Well, the answer is: it can't, and won't. In 2012 Venezuela had $93.6bn in oil revenues, and total imports in the economy were $59.3bn. The current account was in surplus to the tune of $11bn, or 2.9% of GDP. Interest payments on the public foreign debt, the most important measure of public indebtedness, were just $3.7bn. This government is not going to run out of dollars. The Bank of America's analysis of Venezuela last month recognised this, and decided as a result that Venezuelan government bonds were a good buy.

The central bank currently holds $21.7bn in reserves, and opposition economists estimate that there is another $15bn held by other government agencies, for a total of $36.7bn. Normally, reserves that can cover three months of imports are considered sufficient; Venezuela has enough to cover at least eight months, and possibly more. And it has the capacity to borrow more internationally.

One problem is that most of the central bank's reserves are in gold. But gold can be sold, even if it is much less liquid than assets such as US treasury securities. It seems far-fetched that the government would suffer through a balance-of-payments crisis rather than sell its gold.

Hyperinflation is also a very remote possibility. For the first two years of the economic recovery that began in June 2010, inflation was falling even as economic growth accelerated to 5.7% for 2012. In the first quarter of 2012, it reached a monthly low of just 2.9%. This shows that the Venezuelan economy – despite its problems – is very capable of providing healthy growth even while bringing down inflation.

What really drove inflation up, beginning a year ago, was a cut in the supply of dollars to the foreign exchange market. These were reduced by half in October of 2012 and practically eliminated in February. This meant more importers had to purchase increasingly expensive dollars on the black market. This is where the burst of inflation came from.

Inflation peaked at a monthly rate of 6.2% in May, then fell steadily to 3% in August as the government began to provide more dollars to the market. It jumped to 4.4% monthly in September, but the government has since increased its auctions of dollars and announced a planned increase of food and other imports, which is likely to put some downward pressure on prices.

Of course Venezuela is facing serious economic problems. But they are not the kind suffered by Greece or Spain, trapped in an arrangement in which macroeconomic policy is determined by people who have objectives that conflict with the country's economic recovery. Venezuela has sufficient reserves and foreign exchange earnings to do whatever it wants, including driving down the black market value of the dollar and eliminating most shortages. These are problems that can be resolved relatively quickly with policy changes. Venezuela – like most economies in the world – also has long-term structural problems such as overdependence on oil, inadequate infrastructure, and limited administrative capacity. But these are not the cause of its current predicament.

Meanwhile, the poverty rate dropped by 20% in Venezuela last year – almost certainly the largest decline in poverty in the Americas for 2012, and one of the largest – if not the largest – in the world. The numbers are available on the website of the World Bank, but almost no journalists have made the arduous journey through cyberspace to find and report them. Ask them why they missed it.

Sorry, Venezuela haters: this economy is not the Greece of Latin America | Mark Weisbrot | Comment is free | The Guardian

Conservative party deletes archive of speeches from internet (should they be allowed to do that?)

Randeep Ramesh and Alex Hern The Guardian, Thursday 14 November 2013

Decade's worth of records is erased, including PM's speech praising internet for making more information available

A speech in which David Cameron said the internet would help people hold politicians to account was among those deleted. Photograph: Barcroft Media

The Conservatives have removed a decade of speeches from their website and from the main internet library – including one in which David Cameron claimed that being able to search the web would democratise politics by making "more information available to more people".

The party has removed the archive from its public website, erasing records of speeches and press releases from 2000 until May 2010. The effect will be to remove any speeches and articles during the Tories' modernisation period, including its commitment to spend the same as a Labour government.

The Labour MP Sheila Gilmore accused the party of a cynical stunt, adding: "It will take more than David Cameron pressing delete to make people forget about his broken promises and failure to stand up for anyone beyond a privileged few."

In a remarkable step the party has also blocked access to the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, a US-based library that captures webpages for future generations, using a software robot that directs search engines not to access the pages.

The Tory plan to conceal the shifting strands of policy by previous leaders may not work. The British Library points out it has been archiving the party's website since 2004. Under a change in the copyright law, the library also downloaded 4.8m domains earlier this year – in effect, anything on the web with a .co.uk address – and says although the Conservative pages use a .com suffix they will be added to the store "as it is firmly within scope of the material we have a duty to archive". But the British Library archive will only be accessible from terminals in its building, raising questions over the Tory commitment to transparency.

Computer Weekly, which broke the story, pointed out that among the speeches removed were several where senior party members promised, if elected, to use the internet to make politicians accountable.

"You have begun the process of democratising the world's information," Cameron told the Google Zeitgeist Europe conference in 2006. "By making more information available to more people, you are giving them more power." That speech has been removed from the Tory party website and the archive. But users can find it on the Guardian website.

"It's clear to me that political leaders will have to learn to let go," Cameron told Google a year later, in another removed speech. "Let go of the information that we have guarded so jealously."

"We need to harness the internet to help us become more accountable, more transparent and more accessible – and so bridge the gap between government and governed," said George Osborne in 2007, in a third removed speech.

Computer Weekly's Mark Ballard, who broke the story, told the Guardian that it "shows how fragile the historic record is on the internet".

A Conservative spokesman said the changes to the website would improve the experience for visitors. "We're making sure our website keeps the Conservative party at the forefront of political campaigning," he said. "These changes allow people to quickly and easily access the most important information we provide – how we are clearing up Labour's economic mess, taking the difficult decisions and standing up for hardworking people."

The Wayback Archive was used by the Guardian last year when it began to investigate the software company set up by the Tory party chair Grant Shapps, who used the name Michael Green in the business. Traces of his family firm, which marketed software that the police said if sold could constitute the offence of fraud, disappeared from the archive a few weeks after the newspaper printed stories about Shapps. A slew of websites disappeared, leaving no trace of Michael Green's offer to make $20,000 (£12,500) in 20 days "or your money back" or details of phone lines offering expert internet marketing advice for $297 an hour.

Using a file named "robots.txt", website owners can tell computers that automatically scan the internet (called "crawlers") which parts of their sites to access. At the same time as the speeches were removed from the Tory party site, the Conservatives' robots.txt file was updated to prevent crawlers visiting the pages the speeches had been stored on.

The Internet Archive, which maintains the world's largest archive of old and defunct webpages, deletes its records of any site blocked by robots.txt.

Google's copy of some of the removed pages is still available, allowing readers to verify that where the website once displayed, for example, Cameron's speech on the "big society" in March 2010, it now just shows a 404 "page not found" error.

Conservative party deletes archive of speeches from internet | Politics | The Guardian

Ex-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat may have been poisoned with radioactive polonium, tests show

By Middle East correspondent Matt Brown, wires

Photo: Yasser Arafat's body was exhumed in 2012 so his remains could be tests amid claims he was murdered. (AFP: Abbas Momani, file photo)

Related Story: Poison test samples taken from Arafat's corpse

Related Story: Arafat to be exhumed amid poison claims

Related Story: France opens Arafat murder inquiry

Map: Palestinian Territory, Occupied

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat may have died from radiation poisoning, tests carried out by Swiss scientists suggest.

The Al Jazeera television network commissioned the report as part of an investigation into Arafat's death.

The scientists found higher than expected levels of a radioactive element, polonium-210, in his pelvis and a rib.

"New toxicological and radio-toxicological investigations were performed, demonstrating unexpectedly high levels of polonium-210 and lead-210 activity in many of the analysed specimens," said the report by 10 experts at the Vaudois University Hospital Centre.

It added that polonium levels in "bones and soft tissues were up to 20 times larger" than hypothesised, firmly ruling out the possibility previously reported in some media that passive smoking had caused greater than normal polonium levels in Arafat's body.

The scientists say their tests "moderately support" the theory that Arafat was poisoned with polonium.

They also says their tests were limited by a lack of samples and the fact that eight years had passed since his death.

Samples have also been analysed by Russian and French scientists, but their results are yet to be released.

What is polonium?

 

• Polonium was discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898.
• It is a highly radioactive material rarely found outside military and scientific circles.
• Also known as Radium F, it is a rare but naturally occurring metalloid found in uranium ores that emits highly hazardous alpha, or positively charged, particles.
• The same radioactive substance was used to kill defecting Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.
• Small doses of polonium-210 exist in the soil and atmosphere, and even in the human body, but in high doses it is highly toxic if ingested or inhaled.
• It is one of the rarest natural elements: in 10 grams of uranium there is a maximum of a billionth of a gram of polonium.
• The substance loses 50 per cent of its radioactivity every four months.

Arafat's widow, Suha Arafat, says the results from the Swiss lab tests show her husband was the victim of a political assassination.

"I don't know who did it, but it's terrible," she said.

Remains exhumed last year

Arafat was besieged by Israeli troops at his headquarters north of Jerusalem when he became seriously ill in late 2004, but Israel has long denied being responsible and Arafat had many enemies.

Some 60 samples were taken from his remains in November last year for a investigation into whether he was poisoned by polonium.

The samples were divided between the Swiss and Russian investigators and a French team carrying out a probe at the request of Arafat's widow.

Arafat fell ill in October 2004, displaying symptoms of acute gastroenteritis with diarrhoea and vomiting. At first Palestinian officials said he was suffering from influenza.

He was flown to Paris but fell into a coma shortly after his arrival at the Percy military hospital where he died on November 11, aged 75.

The official cause of death was a stroke but French doctors said at the time they were unable to determine the origin of his illness.

No autopsy was carried out at the time, at the request of his widow.

His remains were exhumed in November 2012 and samples taken, partly to investigate whether he had been poisoned - a suspicion that grew after the assassination of Russian ex-spy and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.

Polonium one of the rarest natural elements

Photo: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat surrounded by doctors shortly before his death in 2004. (Hussein Hussein: Reuters)

In an October report, published by The Lancet, eight scientists working at the Institute of Radiation Physics and University Centre of Legal Medicine in Lausanne confirmed they found traces of polonium in separate tests on clothing used by Arafat which they said "support the possibility" he was poisoned.

Polonium is a highly radioactive material rarely found outside military and scientific circles.

Small doses exist in the soil and atmosphere, and even in the human body, but in high doses it is highly toxic if ingested or inhaled, and can damage the body's tissues and organs.

It is one of the rarest natural elements - in 10 grams of uranium ore there is a maximum of a billionth of a gram of polonium.

Polonium-210 is the least rare of its 33 known isotopes.

The substance has been used industrially for its alpha radiation in research and medicine, and as a heating source for space components, but in those forms it is not conducive to easy poisoning.

ABC/AFP

Ex-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat may have been poisoned with radioactive polonium, tests show - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Legitimate charges, illegitimate trial: Morsi in the dock

By Amro Ali

Photo: The Muslim Brotherhood's narrative around Mohammed Morsi's trial has pushed his popularity to levels that are even higher than he enjoyed during his presidency. (News Online Brisbane)

The charges against Egypt's former president, Mohamed Morsi, are legitimate. But legitimate charges do not necessarily lead to a legitimate trial. What Egypt desperately needs is transitional justice, national reconciliation, and security sector reforms, writes Amro Ali.

It is an irony that former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi's trial – which highlighted the deep divisions in Egyptian society – was held on the country's Valentine's Day.

The only thing Morsi and his 14 co-defendants from the Muslim Brotherhood had in common with the military-backed interim government was the desire by both sides to use the trial as a theatre to address the Egyptian public by pushing their own agendas and accusations. 

Morsi and the Brotherhood wasted no time in seeking to embolden their domestic base and tell the rest of the nation that the Brotherhood was not going away.

To undercut Morsi's predictable grandstanding, state TV muted the sound. "I am here by force and against my will. The coup is a crime and treason" shouted Morsi, who set the tone for the non-cooperative atmosphere.

For the prosecutors, the goal was to send a signal to the wider Egyptian public about who is in control and to parade Morsi and his colleagues before the court as a form of political emasculation.

The charges against Morsi are in fact legitimate - they were filed on 5 December 2012 by human rights activists after the Brotherhood stormed a sit-in outside the presidential palace.

The actions of the Brotherhood sparked clashes that resulted in the deaths of ten protestors.

Even the case on its own skews the course of justice when there is a lack of enquiry into the security debacle and the Brotherhood chain of command on that day.

But legitimate charges do not necessarily lead to a legitimate trial.

Nor has the state all of a sudden developed a desire to see justice take its place for Egypt's innumerable victims.

As the veteran blogger The Big Pharaoh tweeted "Irony = Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood cadets tortured people at the presidential palace gates. Police regularly torture people yet they're securing Morsi's Trial today!".

Across the country soldiers, police and security-vetted thugs have killed an untold number of Egyptians at sites like Maspero, Mohamed Mahmoud, Port Said and the latest and arguably largest in modern Egyptian history, Rabaa al-adawiya.

Despite that, many security figures are still manning their posts and walking the streets.

A reinvigorated alliance has formed between the military, interior ministry, and former regime loyalists. This alliance is made ever easier by a splintered revolutionary camp and a high popular support for the crackdown on the Brotherhood, with the lines between Sinai's Jihadi extremists and the Brotherhood's rank and file members become increasingly blurred.

Since Morsi's overthrow on July 3 a consistent pattern has emerged in the power struggle between Brotherhood supporters and the security forces. Security forces have arrested Brotherhood leaders and their supporters, they shut down Islamist television channels and state media and demonised the Islamist group.

There has been a rise in hyper-McCarthyism in which expressing even mere sympathy for the Brotherhood is equated with treason and disloyalty.

All the while a fair trial is supposed to be taking place in this toxic and polarised atmosphere in which, among all other factors, many of the judges are known adversaries of Morsi.

Yet this should not negate the role of Morsi and the Brotherhood in authoring Egypt's current mess.

Like the Incredible Hulk swinging his arms aimlessly about, the Brotherhood set Egypt on a destructive course that was defined by virulent identity politics, alienating political and social forces, and accommodating the brutal security sector instead of attempting to reform it.

They chose, in effect, to keep intact the repressive apparatus that was a feature of Mubarak's leadership. This suited the Brotherhood's world view – tinged with authoritarianism.

It was not long before the former regime loyalists capitalised on the growing discontent and turned against Morsi's government.

Now Morsi and his crew are back to their grim and familiar surroundings – in prison if not on the run.

The trial had to be adjourned and Morsi has now been moved to Borg Al-Arab Prison, on the outskirts of Egypt's second largest city, Alexandria.

Such a move is intended to try to take the pressure off the capital city, Cairo, where Morsi's physical presence threatens to inflame his supporters.

In Alexandria, the prison is relatively far from the city centre which deters large groups of protesters from gathering at the site where Morsi is being held.

But isolation and trials are of little use when vengeance and power struggles are the only modus operandi of the unimaginative elites and the deep state.

What Egypt desperately needs is transitional justice, national reconciliation, and security sector reforms.

Ignoring this is will inadvertently fuel the Brotherhood's narrative around Morsi, which has reconstructed him as a defender of democracy and Islam.

This plotline has raised Morsi's popularity to levels that are even higher than he enjoyed during his presidency, when he was seen domestically as Egypt's version of a bumbling George W Bush. 

Not content with a prison sentence, many wish to drive Morsi towards martyrdom: a number of Egyptian journalists, in contravention of any semblance of professional integrity and respect for due process, shouted in the courtroom at the former president: "You will get execution, Morsi!".

Valentine's Day can bring out the wildest of passions.

Amro Ali is a Middle East analyst and PhD scholar at the Institute of Democracy and Human Rights, and the Department of Government and International Relations, at the University of Sydney. View his full profile here.

Legitimate charges, illegitimate trial: Morsi in the dock - The Drum (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

CIA Operated Aerial Spraying Plane Carrying “Mutated” Virus Shot Down In China

 

No Chinese government photos available, photo shown is of a similar aircraft crash.

Reports circulating in the Kremlin today are stating that a US government contracted airplane piloted by American CIA agents and carrying a cargo of a “mutated”swine flu virus intended for aerial spraying was shot down at China’s Shanghai Pudong airport by a saboteur team of what are believed to be Israeli Mossad soldiers seeking to prevent an American attack upon one of their Central Asian bases located in the Central Asian Nation of Kyrgyzstan.

According to Chinese media reports on this incident the stricken Zimbabwean MD-ll plane, owned by the CIA linked Avient Aviation company operated by a former British military officer named Andrew Smith and registered in the UK, killed 3 American CIA agents and injured 4 other personal who are reported to be from United States, Indonesia, Belgium and Zimbabwe.

Most interesting to note in these reports on the victims of this plane shootdown is that the Indonesian man currently being treated for his injuries has ‘confessed’ to Chinese secret police forces that he is a technician employed by the United States Navy at their mysterious Naval Medical Research Unit No. 2 (NAMRU-2) located in Indonesia that Indonesian Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono had previously called for the closing of “because its operations were too secretive and were incompatible with Indonesia’s security interests.”

Even more interesting to note about this US Navy secret bio-weapons base in Indonesia (the World’s largest Muslim Nation) was its establishment in cooperation with the Rockefeller Institute, especially with it being the main center for the Americans Viral Diseases Program (VDP) they describe as the research of “epidemiologic and laboratory research on viral hemorrhagic fevers, influenza, encephalitis, and rickettsioses” and the head of this institute, David Rockefeller, long calling for a massive reduction in our World’s population.

And to the agenda currently underway to radically change our World through the mass death of its population we need look no further for its explanation than David Rockefeller’s own words he spoke before the secretive Trilateral Commission in June, 1991, when he said:

“We are grateful to The Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during those years. But, the work is now much more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto determination practiced in past centuries.”

To the United States employing planes to spread a mutated swine flu virus around the World we have further reports from China, and as we can read:

“June 26 Suspicious aircrafts were forced to land. A US operated AN-124 changed its call sign from civillian to military which then triggered a response from the IAF upon entering Pakistani air space, the plane was forced to land in Mumbai while the second one was forced down by Nigerian figther jets that also arrested the crew.

According to reports China (China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force) contacted the Indian and Nigerian intelligence officials about the presence of these US operated Ukranian aircrafts amidst growing concern that the United States were spreading “biological agents” in the Earth’s atmosphere also which some Chinese officals believed to be a attempt to mass genocide via the spread of h1n1 swine flu.

The strange thing about these reports and arrests as well as the forcing down of the planes were that these aircrafts were carrying “waste disposal” systems that could spray up to 45000kg or 100pounds of aerial type mist from sophisticated network of nano pipes that led throughout the trailing edges of the wings thereby dispersing whatever was in these tanks through a mist.”

Reports of these US planes over Ukraine have been reported as well, and as we can further read:

“Authorities in the town of Kiev, Ukraine denied any spraying of “aerosolized medication” by aircraft over the city. This after it was reported that light aircrafts were seen flying over the forest market area that sprayed a aerosol substance to fight h1n1 or swine flu.

5 Sources confirms this and the local newspapers of Kiev also received hundreds of phone calls from residents and business owners close to the area the planes were spraying the suspicious substance. Not only that but local businesses and retailers were “advised” to stay indoors during the day by the local authorities.

As if that is not enough, the government authorities also pushed the radio stations in Kiev to deny the reports. Online on forums, websites and blogs reports came in about eye witness accounts that confirms this. There was also reports of helicopters spraying aerosols over Kiev, Lviv, Ternopil and throughout Ukraine.”

Most disturbing of the effects of the spraying of this mutated swine flu virus over the Ukraine is the devastating toll it has taken on the people of that country, and as we can read:

“Almost 40 000 people got infected since yesterday in the Ukraine by what we still call the “Ukraine plague” but doctors have said recently that this is a stronger case of h1n1 or swine flu that has mutated and has that affect on the lungs where it destroys the lungs and fills it with blood.”

But, to the most horrible outcome of this mutated swine flu virus is the World Health Organization now reporting that it is killing people in France, Norway, Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico, Ukraine, and the United States as the death toll from this Global Pandemic is now reported to be nearing 8,000 and China now reporting that this deadly disease has now crossed over into dogs.

Important to also note in these reports is that the US spray plane shot down in China was reported to be targeting a secret Israeli base located in the Central Asian Nation of Kyrgyzstan, which many Ashkenazi Jews (Ashkenazi Jews make up approximately 80% of Jews Worldwide) consider their ‘spiritual homeland’ after their long exile their under Soviet Communist rule, and where Russian Intelligence Analysts report the Israelis are nearing the end of their decades long deciphering of the ancient Epic of Manas manuscript (with close to half a million lines the Epic of Manas is twenty times longer than Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad combined) that they believe contains our World’s oldest warning to our present age and which (coincidentally?) agrees with the ancient Mayan peoples that the year of 2012 will see the ending of our present age.

To the final outcome of these events it is not in our knowing; other than to state the obvious, that the truths of these things are continued to be ignored, even scoffed at, by the very people whose extermination has been longed planned by these monsters and is now being carried out, and who still have no idea whatsoever how truly easy it has become for them to be controlled by their propaganda masters.

One can only hope that they awaken before all is lost for them, the facts suggest they won’t.

CIA Operated Aerial Spraying Plane Carrying “Mutated” Virus Shot Down In China

Mohamed Morsi trial adjourned as chaos breaks out in Egyptian court

Patrick Kingsley in Cairo theguardian.com, Tuesday 5 November 2013

Former president rejects trial's legitimacy amid chanting from co-defendants and scuffles among lawyers and journalists

Link to video: Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's ousted president, appears in court

Egypt's former president Mohamed Morsi claimed he remains Egypt's only legitimate leader as he stood trial on Monday, in his first public appearance since being deposed four months ago.

His presence sparked chaos in the courtroom, with Morsi's 14 co-defendants chanting against the army who ousted him, local journalists shouting for his execution and scuffles breaking out between rival lawyers. Amid the melee, Morsi and his colleagues rejected the authority of the court before the bedlam forced the presiding judge to adjourn proceedings until 8 January.

"What is happening now is a military coup," boomed Morsi after arriving in the defendants' cage – his first words in public since 2 July, when he gave a rambling televised speech the night before he was deposed by the army, following days of mass protests in which millions had called for the military to intervene.

"I am furious that the Egyptian judiciary should serve as cover for this criminal military coup," he continued.

Following days of uncertainty about whether Morsi would even be allowed to attend, he entered the courtroom shortly after 10am, his 14 colleagues greeting him with a polite round of applause. But proceedings quickly descended into farce, with the defendants' legal team chanting "the people demand the return of the president" and flashing a four-fingered "Rabaa" salute that has become a calling-card for Morsi supporters. Local journalists responded by shouting "execution", a reference to the death penalty some Egyptians hope await Morsi and his allies from the Muslim Brotherhood.

Then followed a scrum of journalists, who clambered over the court stalls and pushed past policemen to catch their first glimpse since July of Egypt's first democratically elected president. He appeared well, wearing a tieless dark suit – unlike his fellow defendants, who were clad in white prison tracksuits – and did not appear to have lost weight during his period of incommunicado incarceration. Other defendants had earlier spoken of a more difficult time in prison, with one claiming to journalists from inside the defendants' cage that they had almost all been tortured. The hair of former MP Mohamed Beltagy had turned from black to grey.

After the room quietened enough to let the presiding judge, Ahmed Sabry Youssef, formally begin proceedings, each defendant rejected the legitimacy of the court – arguing they had been imprisoned on political grounds. "I am Dr Mohamed Morsi and I am the president of the republic," shouted Morsi, when asked to identify himself. "This coup is a crime and treasonous, and the court is held responsible for it."

Another melee followed, with some journalists and policemen in the courtroom calling Morsi a traitor. One lawyer tried to throw a shoe, while others held up pictures of a reporter who was shot during street clashes last December – violence that Morsi is now accused of inciting.

Morsi is alleged to have encouraged the murder of protesters demonstrating outside Cairo's presidential palace last December, charges also faced by the 14 other senior officials from the Muslim Brotherhood. The 15 defendants are accused of ordering hundreds of Brotherhood cadres on 5 December 2012 to attack secular protesters camped outside his presidential palace demanding the abandonment of a constitution drafted by Morsi's allies. The confrontation sparked night-long clashes that left at least 11 dead, some of them Brotherhood supporters, and began a spiral of political upheaval that led to the army overthrowing Morsi in July, following days of mass protests.

Though Morsi and his co-defendants say they were arrested for political reasons resulting from July's regime change, human rights lawyers acting for those who died last December reminded journalists during a break in proceedings that their charges predate Morsi's overthrow.

"This is not a case that has been orchestrated," said Ragia Omran, a lawyer for the victims' families. "It's important to note that we filed the charges on 5 December itself."

Pandemonium inside the court on Monday twice forced the trial's adjournment. Each time it reconvened, Morsi made a further speech – speaking aloud four times in total. "This is not a court," he said in his final outburst. "This court, with all due respect to the people in it, is not specialised to deal with the trial of the president of the republic. This is a coup. I am held against my will. The coup is treasonous and a crime, and I am president of the republic."

The defendants' outburst led to unlikely exchanges between them and Youssef. "Mohamed, you are not the one running the court," the judge told Beltagy, a Muslim Brother who had earlier said he had been held in solitary confinement. "I am the one running the court."

During Morsi's final outburst, Youssef told the former president "malesh" – "never mind" – before giving up and leaving the courtroom for good. An official later announced the next session would be on 8 January, and said Morsi would be sent to prison instead of being held incommunicado in a military facility.

Throughout the session, Morsi refused to recognise the validity of the trial and rejected the right of his lawyer – Selim al-Awa, a prominent figure who also ran for president last year – to represent him. One of the Brotherhood's legal team later grudgingly admitted they would have to engage with the trial.

"The defendants don't want to recognise it, but this is the de facto court, and we are going to have to deal with it," said Bahaa Abdelrahman, a lawyer acting for Essam el-Arian, the senior Brotherhood official arrested only last week.

Mohamed Morsi trial adjourned as chaos breaks out in Egyptian court | World news | theguardian.com

Egypt on high alert as Mohamed Morsi trial threatens to revive civil unrest

Patrick Kingsley in Cairo theguardian.com, Sunday 3 November 2013

John Kerry flies in for surprise visit day before ex-president is due to be tried for inciting murder of opposition demonstrators

Egypt's former president Mohamed Morsi plans to reject the authority of a court due to try him on Monday, in what could be his first public appearance since being deposed and hidden in a secret location in July.

The trial is expected to increase Egypt's political tensions, with Morsi supporters planning a series of nationwide protests and police announcing a state of alert. Security fears are so high that on Sunday court officials had not yet confirmed whether the trial would be televised, or even whether the ex-president would be allowed to attend in person.

Morsi stands accused of inciting the murder of protesters demonstrating outside Cairo's presidential palace last December, charges also faced by 14 other senior officials from the Muslim Brotherhood.

Morsi, who still regards himself as Egypt's legal president, plans to defend himself because he believes engaging a lawyer would be an indirect acknowledgment of the court's authority.

"Neither us nor President Morsi acknowledges the legitimacy of this trial," said Amr Darrag, a cabinet minister during Morsi's year in office, speaking on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood's political wing, the Freedom and Justice party.

Morsi's trial is likely to spark renewed unrest. A spokesman for the anti-coup alliance – a coalition of Morsi backers from the Brotherhood and its allies – has promised to "make this day an international day of protest. We will defeat this brutal traitorous military coup."

More than 1,000 pro-Morsi supporters and dozens of security officials have died during confrontations at protests since Morsi's 3 July overthrow. Terrorist attacks by Islamist extremists have also risen.

Fears that Morsi's re-emergence might reinvigorate his supporters have led Egypt's authorities to keep quiet about the precise arrangements for his trial. While it is likely to take place at a police compound on the eastern outskirts of Cairo, this has not been officially confirmed. An official at the prosecutors' office told the Guardian it had not yet been decided whether the trial would be televised orwhether Morsi would be allowed to attend, out of fear for public order.

In news that may exacerbate tensions further, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, arrived in Egypt on Sunday – the first time a US secretary of state has travelled to Egypt on what is known as an unannounced visit for security reasons.

A US official said Kerry's visit was entirely unrelated to Morsi's trial, but his presence could anger both Morsi supporters and his critics, who each accuse the US of meddling in Egyptian affairs and of siding with their opponents.

The US has never described Morsi's overthrow as a coup, but last month Washington cut the amount of aid it gives to Egypt. The unannounced nature of Kerry's arrival suggests he is keen to keep a low profile.

For the first time in its history, Egypt will have two ex-presidents on trial at the same time, with Morsi following his predecessor Hosni Mubarak into the dock. But whereas Mubarak's first trial (he is currently being retried) was greeted eagerly by most Egyptians, Morsi's prosecution has provoked mixed emotions.

"A lot of Egyptians feel pity for Morsi, even people who like Sisi [the army chief, General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi]," argued Ahmed Shabani, a 30-year-old doctor who took part in anti-Morsi protests this June, and who was also involved in the December demonstrations against Morsi that led to this trial.

"We know he was just a pawn for the Brotherhood, an engineering professor who became the president," Shabani added. "And now he's probably going to be sentenced to life."

In some quarters, the case is seen as a trial of the Brotherhood rather than just Morsi himself, said HA Hellyer, a Cairo-based analyst at the Royal United Services Institute, a foreign affairs thinktank.

"When Mubarak was in court, it was the prosecution of a president who'd been around for 30 years, and those who were very vigorously in support of the trial really wanted a death sentence," said Hellyer. "But with Morsi, it feels more like it's the Brotherhood on trial, rather than Morsi as an individual. I get the impression that as long as the Brotherhood get stamped out, it wouldn't go down so badly. I don't think they're looking for Morsi's blood."

Morsi and his co-defendants are accused of ordering hundreds of Brotherhood cadres on 5 December 2012 to attack secular protesters camped outside his presidential palace demanding the abandonment of a constitution drafted by Morsi's allies. The confrontation sparked night-long clashes that left at least 10 dead, and began a spiral of political upheaval that led the army to overthrow Morsi this July, following days of mass protests.

"It was a turning point in Egyptian history," said Shabani, the Morsi critic, of the December clashes. "For the first time two groups of people directly faced each other on the basis of their political beliefs. It was a civil war – a small one, just on one street. But ever since everything went violent."

Morsi was arrested along with several of his aides on 3 July, and has since been held virtually incommunicado in at least three government compounds. Beyond a visit from EU foreign affairs chief, Catherine Ashton, and two phonecalls with his family, his jailers have limited Morsi's contact with the outside world – treatment his supporters say is extrajudicial and does not bode well for a fair procedure in the courtroom.

"There is no evidence in Morsi's 4 November trial," Morsi's legal adviser, Mohamed el-Damaty, told Egypt's flagship state newspaper, al-Ahram.

But Egypt's new interim government says his treatment and his prosecution are legitimate. "He will have full rights to a free and fair trial," said Badr Abdellaty, a spokesman for Egypt's foreign ministry. "He will be charged on criminal charges before his normal judge according to the Egyptian penal code. Nothing extraordinary. Nothing exceptional."

Whatever else happens, Morsi's prosecution is unlikely to be speedy. Mubarak's trial was subject to frequent administrative delays and postponements. "If it's anything like Mubarak's trial, this session may start and finish within about five minutes," said Hellyer. "It could be the start of a very drawn-out process."

Egypt on high alert as Mohamed Morsi trial threatens to revive civil unrest | World news | theguardian.com

Former Egypt president Mohammed Morsi's trial set to begin as US pushes for democratic reform

 

Photo: Clashes between Morsi supporters and government forces cost hundreds of lives. (AFP: Fayez Nureldine)

Egypt's first freely elected president, Mohammed Morsi, will go on trial today under a security crackdown that has raised concerns the army-backed government is reimposing a police state.

Morsi, who was ousted by the army on July 3 after mass protests against his rule, is due to appear in court along with 14 other senior Muslim Brotherhood figures on charges of inciting violence.

He and the other defendants could face a life sentence or the death penalty if found guilty.

That would likely further inflame tensions between the Brotherhood and the army-backed government. It would also deepen the political instability that has decimated investment and tourism in a country where a quarter of people live under the poverty line.

In August, riot police backed by army snipers stormed camps of protesters in Cairo who were demanding Morsi's reinstatement. Hundreds were killed.

Morsi has been held in an undisclosed location since his removal from office. The trial is expected to be held at a police institute near Cairo's Tora prison.

The charges of inciting violence relate to the deaths of about a dozen people in clashes outside the presidential palace in December after Morsi enraged his opponents with a decree expanding his powers.

"What concerns me about this trial is that the justice system has been extremely selective and there has been almost near impunity for security services for the killing of hundreds of protesters," Heba Morayef, Egypt director for Human Rights Watch, said.

"And in that kind of environment of politicised prosecutions, the likelihood for real justice is compromised."

There are indications that the authorities are growing less tolerant of freedom of expression.

Recently, Egypt's top television satirist was pulled off the airwaves a week after he poked fun at army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

"It can't be judged on what we do today and what we do tomorrow," foreign minister Nabil Fahmy said. "I promise you we will succeed in doing this, but I am sure we will stumble on the way."

US pushes for democracy following aid suspension

US secretary of state John Kerry arrived in Cairo on Sunday morning (local time) to push Egypt's military-installed rulers for democratic progress, just weeks after Washington suspended part of its $1.5 billion in annual aid.

He is the most senior US official to visit the country since Morsi was overthrown, and it is the first time a US secretary of state has travelled to Egypt on what is known as an unannounced visit for security reasons.

Video: John Kerry speaks in Egypt (ABC News)

Observers say it is a sign of US concerns about continued instability in the country - but it is also a reaction to the high level of anti-American resentment in Egypt.

"We are committed to work and we will continue our cooperation with the interim government," Mr Kerry told reporters, urging "inclusive, free and fair elections."

He also played down Washington's suspension of its aid.

"US-Egyptian relations should not be defined by assistance," he said.

Reuters

Former Egypt president Mohammed Morsi's trial set to begin as US pushes for democratic reform - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)