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The new euro parliament and perspective for the experiment termination

by system failure The political scene in the EU after recent euro elections reveals a politically and ideologically divided Europe. In most cases there was a clear rise of the eurosceptics mostly from the nationalist groups, while the Left achieved a historical win in Greece without, however, to manage to become a significant political power in other European countries. The big rise of the nationalists in UK and France should not be considered accidental. Nationalists use a rhetoric, which is concentrated to a high degree against migrants - Farage turned against European migrants too (Burlgarians, Romanians etc.) - and through this, they managed to become leading powers in UK and France. It is remarkable that both UKIP and National Front will share equal seats in the new euro parliament (24 each), while they are also quite close considering the number of votes in each country. However, the first place in euro elections by the nationalists in UK and France has to do w

Totally dominant lobbies in a downgraded Europe – (part 3)

Barroso administration: Golden medal in serving interests A research by the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) “ Through the course of the crisis, attempts by corporations and corporate lobby groups to influence EU policies have probably been more successful than ever, in part due to a close relationship with the Commission.” “ Corporate Europe Observatory has gathered a lot of evidence over time and covering many different areas that shows how the Commission is easily captured by corporate interests. This report is an attempt to produce a condensed version of how the Commission has come to act on behalf of corporations over the past five years, focusing on climate policies, agriculture and food, finance, economic, and fiscal policies.” 3 - Single market trumps stability Key findings “ In November 2009, the ALTER-EU coalition released a report that showed a marked dominance of people with links to financial corporations in all the advisory bodies that had help

Το νέο ευρωκοινοβούλιο και η προοπτική τερματισμού του πειράματος

του system failure Το πολιτικό σκηνικό στην Ευρωπαϊκή 'Ενωση μετά τις ευρωεκλογές δείχνει μια Ευρώπη διχασμένη πολιτικά και ιδεολογικά. Στις περισσότερες περιπτώσεις είχαμε μια σαφή άνοδο των ευρωσκεπτικιστών του εθνικιστικού κυρίως τόξου, ενώ η Αριστερά σημείωσε μια ιστορική νίκη στην Ελλάδα, χωρίς όμως να καταφέρει να αναδειχθεί σε μια υπολογίσιμη πολιτική δύναμη στις υπόλοιπες χώρες. Η μεγάλη άνοδος των εθνικιστών σε Βρετανία και Γαλλία δεν μπορεί να θεωρηθεί τυχαία. Οι εθνικιστές χρησιμοποιώντας μια ρητορική που επικεντρώνεται σε πολύ μεγάλο βαθμό εναντίον των μεταναστών - μάλιστα ο Farage στην Βρετανία τα έχει βάλει και με τους Ευρωπαίους μετανάστες (Βούλγαρους, Ρουμάνους κ.λ.π.) - κατάφεραν να αναδειχθούν σε πρώτες δυνάμεις σε Βρετανία και Γαλλία. Είναι αξιοσημείωτο το γεγονός ότι, τόσο το Ukip του Farage, όσο και το Εθνικό Μέτωπο της Le Pen, θα μοιράζονται ίσο αριθμό εδρών στο νέο ευρωκοινοβούλιο (από 24 το κάθε κόμμα), ενώ και σε απόλυτο αριθμό ψήφων βρίσκον

Totally dominant lobbies in a downgraded Europe – (part 2)

Barroso administration: Golden medal in serving interests A research by the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) “ Through the course of the crisis, attempts by corporations and corporate lobby groups to influence EU policies have probably been more successful than ever, in part due to a close relationship with the Commission.” “ Corporate Europe Observatory has gathered a lot of evidence over time and covering many different areas that shows how the Commission is easily captured by corporate interests. This report is an attempt to produce a condensed version of how the Commission has come to act on behalf of corporations over the past five years, focusing on climate policies, agriculture and food, finance, economic, and fiscal policies.” 2 - Crisis response: austerity and attacks on social rights Key findings “ After the six-pack came many other measures, including the European Semester, the two-pack and the Fiscal Compact 13, all of which had basica

Επιστροφή στους σκοτεινούς χρόνους της Φεουδαρχίας

του Gilbert Mercier Η ιστορία δεν επαναλαμβάνεται, αλλά από καιρό σε καιρό, συνειδητά ή όχι, κάποιοι άνθρωποι που ασκούν επιρροή, προσπαθούν να μας οδηγήσουν στις φανταστικές τους τερατώδεις χρονομηχανές, για να μας γυρίσουν δεκαετίες πίσω, και στην περίπτωση της φεουδαρχίας, να ακυρώσουν σχεδόν μια χιλιετία κοινωνικής προόδου. Στα μέσα του 20ου αιώνα έκανε την εμφάνισή της η συλλογική ψύχωση του Αδόλφου Χίτλερ, “χίλια χρόνια Ράιχ”, και πιο πρόσφατα, αυτό που μπορεί να θεωρηθεί ως το μανιφέστο του ιμπεριαλισμού των ΗΠΑ, ή, το αποκαλούμενο “Σχέδιο για τον Νέο Αμερικανικό Αιώνα”, που επινοήθηκε το 1997, αλλά που είναι ακόμα σε ισχύ σήμερα με την τωρινή κυβέρνηση, με στόχο την αυτοαποκαλούμενη "προώθηση της Αμερικανικής παγκόσμιας ηγεμονίας" με αποφασιστικότητα και με στρατιωτική βία, εάν είναι απαραίτητο. Ο Μοντεσκιέ και οι συνάδελφοί του από τα μέσα του 18ου αιώνα, όπως ο Βολταίρος, ο Ντιντερό και ο Ρουσσώ της εποχής του Διαφωτισμού, κατήγγειλαν τη φεουδαρχία ω

Back to the Dark Ages of Feudalism

by Gilbert Mercier History never repeats itself, but from time to time, consciously or not, some influential men attempt to force us into the monstrosity of their imaginary time machines to try to reverse decades, and in the case of feudalism, almost a millenium of social progress. The mid-20th century brought the years of collective psychosis of Adolf Hitler’s “thousand year Reich,” and more recently what can be viewed as the United States of America’s imperialist manifesto or so-called “Project for the New American Century”, concocted in 1997 but still in effect today under the current administration, with the self-proclaimed objective to “promote American global leadership” resolutely and by military force, if necessary. Montesquieu and his colleagues of the mid-18th century, such as Voltaire, Diderot and Rousseau of the Age of Enlightenment, denounced feudalism as being a system exclusively dominated by aristocrats who possess all financial, political and

Totally dominant lobbies in a downgraded Europe – (part 1)

Barroso administration: Golden medal in serving interests A research by the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) “ Through the course of the crisis, attempts by corporations and corporate lobby groups to influence EU policies have probably been more successful than ever, in part due to a close relationship with the Commission.” “ Corporate Europe Observatory has gathered a lot of evidence over time and covering many different areas that shows how the Commission is easily captured by corporate interests. This report is an attempt to produce a condensed version of how the Commission has come to act on behalf of corporations over the past five years, focusing on climate policies, agriculture and food, finance, economic, and fiscal policies.” 1 - The corporate trade and investment agenda Key findings “ During the past four years, DG Trade [Commission’s Directorate General for Trade] has negotiated far-reaching free trade agreements for their friends in the

Venezuela: A plan for coup d'état and assassination of Maduro

The top political leadership in Venezuela, presented on 28/5/2014, evidence for the involvement of the former MP of the Opposition, María Machado, in planning a coup d'état in Venezuela and the assassination of president Nicolas Maduro. According to Prensa Latina news agency, the member of the political leadership, Jorge Rodríguez, presented the corresponding judicial inquiry in detail, held by the judicial authorities of the country. This is related to several email messages sent by the former MP which connect her with the violence acts in the country since the beginning of the year. It involves also US officials, like Kevin Whitaker, current US ambassador in Colombia. "In the streets, more in the streets, anti-government acts in metro, buses, this struggle will go to the end", wrote in one of her email. In another message to the former politician and UN ambassador, Diego Arria, she points the need to eliminate Revolution, stating that "we

Το πάρτι των λόμπι σε μια Ευρώπη που παρακμάζει

Μπαρόζο: Χρυσό μετάλλιο στην εξυπηρέτηση συμφερόντων κατά τη διάρκεια της “λαμπρής” του θητείας “ Το μεγαλύτερο δώρο όμως που προσέφερε ο Μπαρόζο στις μεγάλες ευρωπαϊκές επιχειρήσεις ήταν η δυνατότητα της Κομισιόν να παρεμβαίνει άμεσα στον καθορισμό των μισθών των Ευρωπαίων εργαζομένων. Τα μεγαλύτερα επιχειρηματικά λόμπι της Ευρώπης όπως το BusinessEurope και η Στρογγυλή Τράπεζα Ευρωπαίων Βιομηχάνων (ERT) χειροκροτούσαν εκστασιασμένα τις αποφάσεις του Μπαρόζο, τις οποίες τα ίδια είχαν παρουσιάσει σαν προτάσεις ήδη από το 2002 – χωρίς όμως τότε να βρουν ανταπόκριση από την Επιτροπή και το Συμβούλιο. Σε αρκετές περιπτώσεις οι προτάσεις που κατέθεσε η επιτροπή για τον περιορισμό της προστασίας των εργαζομένων ήταν κυριολεκτικά αντιγραφή, λέξη προς λέξη, από τις προτάσεις του BusinessEurope, δηλαδή της ένωσης Ευρωπαίων εργοδοτών.” “ Η μεγαλύτερη 'καινοτομία' του Μπαρόζο όμως ήταν να συμπεριλάβει τις ίδιες τις εταιρείες στους μηχανισμούς λήψης αποφάσεων των θεσμικών ο

Greece: Unprecedented propaganda before euro elections

A mainstream media message: Vote for "stability"=current government regime or you will get chaos They are called "Psychological Operations" and used normally during periods of war. Their goal is to demonize the opponent through terrorising population. During the Cold War, one of the most famous American propagandistic films was depicting Soviets attacking US with nuclear weapons and the reactions of American pupils in a school. In Greece we had similar operations last week. This time, however, were not conducted by the government, but by a private TV station. All the Greek mainstream media excessively promoted politicians' statements like Evangelos Venizelos who warned that in case that voters would not support his party Elia (ex-PASOK), chaos will come to country. However, in one of the biggest TV channels of Greece, the "dirty job" has been done by the "reporters". It was like a thriller or a farce comedy when these reporters