Anti-Austerity Protests Grow in Europe

By PATRICK DONAHUE | BLOOMBERG | APRIL 30, 2012

A recession in Spain and forecasts of rising unemployment in the 17-nation euro area are amplifying criticism of the German-led austerity agenda in election campaigns this week in France and Greece.

With Spain’s largest unions leading marches involving thousands of protesters in 55 cities yesterday, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government battled to prevent Spain from becoming the next country to seek a bailout. In France, where the presidential-election runoff is set for May 6, Socialist frontrunner Francois Hollande pushed back against German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s focus on deficit reduction.

“Watching Spain now is exactly like watching Ireland around October 2010 before Ireland was forced into its bailout,” Megan Greene, a senior economist at Roubini Global Economics LLC, told Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart” on April 27. “The government can’t win no matter what it does.”

Spain’s economy shrank in the first quarter as the nation officially entered its second recession since 2009. Gross domestic product contracted 0.3 percent. Joblessness in the euro area probably to rose to 10.9 percent last month, the highest since 1997, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

As Spanish joblessness reached almost one in four of the working-age population, Hollande demanded that euro-area leaders move to promoting growth from cutting budgets, as agreed by 25 European governments in the so-called fiscal pact. Merkel drew the line at re-opening talks on the fiscal treaty, though she said growth could be boosted with labor-market reform and European Union funding.

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Missile Sites Spread Across London before Olympics

By JUSTIN DAVENPORT | LONDON EVENING STANDARD | APRIL 30, 2012

London will be ringed by six missile sites to guard against a 9/11-style suicide jet attack during the Olympics.

One battery could be positioned near a playground in Waltham Forest with the others providing round-the-clock cover from Blackheath Common, the Lea Valley Reservoir, Oxleas Wood, Barn Hill in Epping Forest and on top of a block of flats in Bow.

David Cameron will have ultimate responsibility for any decision to fire the surface-to-air Starstreak and Rapier missiles.

The weapons travel at three times the speed of sound with a range of 3.4 miles. General Sir Nick Parker, in charge of Olympic operations, said: “We are practising for the worst-case scenario, not the most likely scenario but we believe that it is prudent to be prepared. It is sensible to prepare for the worst.”

Starstreaks can be fired from the shoulder or armoured vehicles while Rapiers are mounted on trailers. They will be aimed at defending the Olympic Park.

He said people were being consulted over the sites. General Parker said Typhoon fighter jets patrolling the skies would be the first line of defence followed by snipers in helicopters whose role would be to shoot the pilots of planes which failed to turn back from the stadium.

The surface-to-air missiles are being deployed as the third tier of defence aimed at slower or smaller aircraft. The Rapiers will be sited farther out and Starstreak High Velocity Missiles will be deployed in Bow and Waltham Forest just a few miles from the stadium.

The general said dummy missiles would be used during a major army and police security exercise which starts on Wednesday. The eight-day exercise codenamed Olympic Guardian will see the Navy’s largest ship HMS Ocean moored at Greenwich and Typhoon jets conducting low flying runs across London.

He revealed that Typhoon jets had been operating on exercise in London airspace as recently as last Friday. Of the missile sites, he added: “I understand that this is unusual and people may be concerned but I believe that for the greater good it is prudent to us to provide this sort of air security.”

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Mineral Management Service Colluded with BP in Oil Spill Disaster

By LUIS MIRANDA | THE REAL AGENDA | APRIL 30, 2012

A new chapter in the book of corporate-public collusion against the people has been written in regards to the British Petroleum Oil Spill disaster. Not only has the government denied citizens the possibility to clean the Gulf of Mexico, but it has also worked together with BP to hide the real cause of the spill, allowed the company to remain on the loose and free from judgement and allowed it to dig two wells illegally. In our last report about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, we revealed the sequence of events carefully staged by BP to deliberately mislead the public and hide the fact that a third (3rd) well had been drilled without a permit (Well BE).

Now, a new document obtained by The Real Agenda, shows how the Minerals Management Service (MMS) joined BP on the lies and cover-up. According to the PDF provided by FASEI, For a Safer Energy Industry, BP’s permit to drill well A, the first of the three wells, expired back on July 24, 2009. The oil spill, as we all remember, occurred on April 20, 2010. Since the disaster, only one engineer who worked for BP has been charged with deleting text messages in order to hide information the corporation did not want to make public about its actions before, during and after the oil spill. According to the UK Guardian, Kurt Mix was a drilling and project engineer on the Deepwater Horizon. He was also part of the team trying to stop the leak, according to court documents.

The efforts post oil disaster included top kill procedure which failed to seal up the well with heavy drilling mud. The report by the Guardian says that Mix is accused of ignoring several instructions to keep all information related to the well, including his texts. Because this engineer was involved in two very important phases of the disaster respond, and perhaps also knew of other relevant decisions made pre disaster, one has to wonder whether those text messages included information about the validity of BP’s permits to drill Wells A and B. Although deleted messages are usually recoverable, right now there is no way to know if they were related to part of BP’s cover up and if it was an action taken by him to cover his own tracks, BP’s tracks or decisions made between the oil company and government agencies. So far, everything that investigators have recovered are said to be related to failures with the top kill procedure, which at the time Mix and other engineers said was working.

As we have already reported, BP has maintained that it only drilled two wells, well A, and well B, which it claimed was the well responsible for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. However, we now know that BP drilled one other wells (the 3rd well, or well BE). But even if BP had only drilled two wells (well A and B) up to the point when the disaster occurred, it would still mean that the company has done so illegally, because the permit to drill well A had expired back on July 24, 2009. BP should have reported this to MMS, as well as requested an extension or filed for a new permit. Instead, BP reported that they were carrying by-passes from well A. In the 100 days that passed since the permit expired, MMS should have made the decision to ask BP for explanations on the future of well A, wait for BP’s response, analyze it, and then either extend the permit to drill or cancel it once and for all. The agency didn’t do anything. By not taking any action, MMS, intentionally or not, colluded with the BP criminals.

Another detail revealed by the documents posted above is that well B was scheduled for drilling for the dates of April 15, 2010 to July 24, 2010. This confirms once again that BP lied about the oil spill being originated from well A and saying that well A was the one where the spill began as supposed to the illegally drilled 3rd well. We now know that the oil spill came from the illegally drilled well BE (the 3rd well), not well A or B. When the oil spill explosion took place, BP and MMS realized that making these details public would confirm that both BP and MMS had ignored existent laws. The only way to close the door to possible prosecution was to file a Revised Application for a Bypass that ignored the coordinates and the fact that this by-pass was for another well.

BP’s intention when filing a Revised Application for By-pass was to make it look as if the actions had been done under the law. If the Revised Application was filed on April 15, 2010, just a week or so before the explosion, it also means that they knew about the planned detonation of the oil well. Efforts to make this fake Revised Application public and part of the pile of documentation against BP was met with claims of forgery by people like Thad Daly. But if this document was such a fake, why didn’t MMS investigate it as such? Why would British Petroleum file a fake Application if this would be a blatant open crime? MMS and BP violated safety regulations existent laws.

The Refusal to Clean it up

While the crime committed by BP and covered up by the US government continues unpunished, efforts to clean the oil spill are also lacking. In a recent report, the Gulf Rescue Alliance (GRA), shows how the alleged intention to clear the oil has been ineffective at best. In fact, the supposed intent to clean the Gulf hasn’t even been about cleaning it up, but about corporate monopoly and control. From the beginning, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave the green light to use Corexit (Corexit EC9500A and Corexit EC9527A), the known toxic oil dispersant produced by Nalco, which is associated with BP and Exxon. Two strange facts immediately jump out when a not so deep investigation of the facts is conducted. First, Corexit is a very toxic product, that according to its safety data sheet, is made of  2-butoxyethanol and a proprietary organic sulfonate with a small concentration of propylene glycol. Although is complete composition is not of public knowledge, the manufacturer has had to reveal some of its ingredients. Among them are: sorbitan, butanedioic acid, and petroleum distillates. Corexit EC9500A has hydrotreated light petroleum distillates, propylene glycol and a proprietary organic sulfonate.

As we reported back on April 20, Corexit toxicity has undoubtedly caused the death of large numbers of marine life in the Gulf of Mexico as well as sickened thousands of residents who are exposed to the constant spraying of the product. Although more effective products to clean up oil spills are part of the EPA’s National Contingency Plan (NCP), this government agency and BP used false claims to reject those and other less harmful products and chose Corexit, which is banned almost everywhere else in the world due to its high toxicity.

From the report issues by the Gulf Rescue Alliance:

“This has effectively supported and protected a monopoly owned by big oil companies, by setting the situation up in such a way that no other products can compete. Moreover, the pre approval hurdle has prevented technologically superior and environmentally safe clean up applications from being used—the EPA’s own bureaucratic web has blind sighted itself off track and in effect forced residents and sea life into enduring exposure to horribly toxic chemical concentrations through the use of these pre approved dispersants in their living environments.”

One of the most effective and environmentally friendly options to clean the oil spilled on the Gulf is the product OSEI, produced by the OSEI Corporation.  Its product (OSE II) is listed on the NCP and it has been used to clean some 18,000 spills. Despite the fact the bioremediation product has proven effective and almost harmless – after rigorous scientific testing – the EPA refused to use it in the Gulf of Mexico and instead allowed BP to use Corexit. Corexit’s own label warns about the potential for kidney failure and death, and its data safety sheet explicitly asks not to use the product on surface waters. Additional testing performed to learn more about Corexit’s effects on marine life have shown that it causes the toxicity of the oil spill to increase.

What products like Corexit effectively do, is to hide the extent of oil spills, by breaking down large patches of oil into smaller particles. This doesn’t mean the oil is being cleaned, but that it simply becomes less visible to humans. By sinking the oil, Corexit exposes marine life to more oil, as the particles sink into the ocean water to depths where most animal and plant forms live. A report issued by geologist James Kirby, shows that Corexit is indeed present in harmful amounts and that it threatens residents and tourists who visit the beaches around the Gulf of Mexico. “The track record has clearly been dismal and there is  ample documentation on sick and dying responders and millions of dead species of the sea, waters and the shores,” reads the report issued by GRA.

“Now we have the Deepwater Horizon accumulating reports of tens of thousands of sick Gulf residents and responders, dolphins and other life suffering from an overdose of the by-product of these EPA enforced clean up protocols.  What is really sad is that we can’t get approval to apply a proven bioremediation product (OSE II) to truly clean it up.  Corexit plus MC252 DWH Oil is a cancer causing combination of chemical compounds which is quite contrary to the premise and purpose of the Clean Water Act,” said a Gulf Rescue Alliance spokesperson Susan Aarde.

Economic Dispair Makes Suicide Rate Explode in Greece

By ERIK KIRSCHBAUM | REUTERS | APRIL 28, 2012

On Monday, a 38-year-old geology lecturer hanged himself from a lamp post in Athens and on the same day a 35-year-old priest jumped to his death off his balcony in northern Greece. On Wednesday, a 23-year-old student shot himself in the head.

In a country that has had one of the lowest suicide rates in the world, a surge in the number of suicides in the wake of an economic crisis has shocked and gripped the Mediterranean nation – and its media – before a May 6 election.

The especially grisly death of pharmacist Dimitris Christoulas, who shot himself in the head on a central Athens square because of poverty brought on by the crisis that has put millions out of work, was by far the most dramatic.

Before shooting himself during morning rush hour on April 4 on Syntagma Square across from the Greek parliament building, the 77-year-old pensioner took a moment to jot down a note.

“I see no other solution than this dignified end to my life so I don’t find myself fishing through garbage cans for sustenance,” wrote Christoulas, who has since become a national symbol of the austerity-induced pain that is squeezing millions.

Greek media have since reported similar suicides almost daily, worsening a sense of gloom going into next week’s election, called after Prime Minister Lucas Papademos’s interim government completed its mandate to secure a new rescue deal from foreign creditors by cutting spending further.

Some medical experts say this form of political suicide is a reflection of the growing despair and sense of helplessness many feel. But others warn the media may be amplifying the crisis mood with its coverage and numbers may only be up slightly.

“The crisis has triggered a growing sense of guilt, a loss of self-esteem and humiliation for many Greeks,” Nikos Sideris, a leading psychoanalyst and author in Athens, told Reuters.

“Greek people don’t want to be a burden to anyone and there’s this growing sense of helplessness. Some develop an attitude of self-hatred and that leads to self-destruction. That’s what’s behind the increase in suicide and attempted suicide. We’re seeing a whole new category: political suicides.”

Police said the geology lecturer, Nikos Polyvos, who hanged himself, was distraught because a teaching job offer had been blocked due to a blanket hiring freeze in the public sector.

NATION IN SHOCK

Experts say the numbers are relatively low – less than about 600 per year. But increases in suicides, attempted suicides, the use of anti-depressant medication and the need for psychiatric care are causing alarm in a nation unaccustomed to the problems.

Before the financial crisis began wreaking havoc in 2009, Greece had one of the lowest suicide rates in the world – 2.8 per 100,000 inhabitants. There was a 40 percent rise in suicides in the first half of 2010, according to the Health Ministry.

There are no reliable statistics on 2011 but experts say Greece’s suicide rate has probably doubled to about 5 per 100,000. That is still far below levels of 34 per 100,000 seen in Finland or 9 per 100,000 in Germany. Attempted suicides and demand for psychiatric help has risen as Greece struggles to cope with the worst economic crisis since World War Two.

Nikiforos Angelopoulos, a professor of psychiatry, has a busy psychotherapy practice in an upmarket Athens neighborhood. He said the crisis has exacerbated the problems for some already less stable people and estimates that about five percent of his patients have developed problems due to the crisis.

“We’re a nation in shock,” he said, even though he suspected that it was the media coverage of suicides that had increased dramatically rather than the actual numbers of suicides. He nevertheless says the crisis is behind a notable rise in mental health problems in Greece.

“I had one patient who came in with a severe depression – he owns a furniture making company that got into financial trouble and he had to lay off 20 of his 100 workers,” he said. “He couldn’t sleep and couldn’t eat because of that. He said his good business was being ruined and he couldn’t cope anymore.”

The furniture maker spent four months in therapy and was also helped by anti-depressants, Angelopoulos said.

“He’s better now. He realized what happened just happened. But there are many others who are unstable or psychotic to begin with and the crisis is increasing their anxiety and insecurity.”

Angelopoulos, 60, has also suffered himself because about 20 percent of his patients can no longer afford his 100 euro ($130) per hour sessions. Some have asked for a half-price discount while others tell him they simply can’t afford to pay anything.

“I never turn people away,” he said. “If a patient says to me ‘I have no money’, I couldn’t tell them to go away. I tell them okay you don’t have to pay now but remember me later.”

HAPPY GREEKS?

There are several possible explanations for Greece’s low suicide rate that go beyond the fact that the country has an abundance of sunshine and balmy weather.

To avoid stigmatizing their families, some suicidal Greeks deliberately crash their cars, which police often charitably report as accidents. Families often try to cover up a suicide so their loved ones can be buried because the Greek Orthodox church refuses to officiate at burials of people who commit suicide.

Another important factor behind the low suicide rate is that Greeks have extremely close knit families as well as a highly communicative and expressive culture.

“Greece is a country where everyone will talk to you,” said Sideris, the Athens psychoanalyst. “You’ll always find someone to share your suffering with and someone’s always there to help.

“It’s not only the good weather. It’s the powerful network of support that has made the suicide rate in Greece so low. It’s still there but this crisis is still too much for some people.”

Many Greeks have also not lost their sense of humor.

Dimitris Nikolopoulos, a 37-year-old salesman, laughed at the idea that the suicide rate was so low because Greeks are well-adjusted and a generally happy people.

“Greeks used to be very happy people because we were living off money that didn’t belong to us,” he said with a wry smile. “But sometimes you have to face reality. It wasn’t our money.”

Gaddafi ‘agreed to fund Sarkozy’ with €50m cheque

AFP | APRIL 28, 2012

French investigative website Mediapart reported Saturday that deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi agreed to fund President Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign with a 50 million euro cheque.

Moamer Kadhafi’s regime agreed to fund French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign to the tune of 50 million euros, a news website reported Saturday, publishing what it said was documentary evidence.

The 2006 document in Arabic, which website Mediapart said was signed by Kadhafi’s intelligence chief Mussa Kussa, referred to an “agreement in principle to support the campaign for the candidate for the presidential elections, Nicolas Sarkozy, for a sum equivalent to 50 million euros.”

The left-wing investigative website made similar assertions on March 12, based on testimony by a former doctor of a French arms dealer alleged to have arranged the campaign donation, which Sarkozy slammed as “grotesque.”

“If he had financed it, I wasn’t very grateful,” Sarkozy said sarcastically, in an apparent reference to the active role that France played in the NATO campaign that led to the strongman’s ouster.

The latest report comes as Sarkozy trails Socialist rival Francois Hollande in opinion polls ahead of the run-off second round of presidential elections on May 6.

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