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Australia expels Israeli diplomat over Mabhouh hit

Ma’an/Agencies – 24/05/2010

Jerusalem – Australia has expelled an Israeli diplomat after a probe revealed Israel was behind the forging of four Australian passports linked to the murder of a Hamas operative in Dubai, various media outlets reported Monday.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told parliament that Israel’s conduct was “not the actions of a friend,” the British Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Investigations into the assassination of Mahmoud Mabhouh in January 2010 in a Dubai hotel room revealed the use of a whole host of European and international passports used by an alleged Mossad hit squad. At least four fake Australian passports are known to have been used in the incident.

The originals reportedly belonged to Australians living in Israel, with Australia deciding to hold Israel responsible for the forgeries, the BBC wrote.

Following an investigation by the Australian Federal Police, which visited Israel as part of its inquiries, the government was left in no doubt that Israel was behind what it called “the abuse and counterfeiting of the passports,” according to the British news site.

“The decision to ask Israel to remove from Australia one of its officers at the Israeli embassy in Canberra is not something which fills the Australian government with any joy,” the foreign minister said.

“On the contrary, the decision was made much more in sorrow than in anger.”

In March, Britain expelled an Israeli diplomat over the use of forged passports by suspected Israeli agents, noting that it was not the first occasion during which UK passports had been used in Israeli assassination plots. At the time, Britain had received a promise from Israel that a similar incident involving forged passports would not reoccur.

Meanwhile, Dubai police investigations revealed that one genuine British passport was used by a suspect in Mabhouh’s killing. The British government responded by saying, “We’re very concerned that someone who has possession of what appears to be a genuine British passport may have been involved in some way with the killing of Al Mabhouh. We cannot rule out the possibility that the passport was obtained by deception,” British consulate spokesman in East Jerusalem Fadi Adeeb told Ma’an.

The British government is providing its full assistance to the Emirati authorities in their investigation, Adeeb added.

May 24, 2010 Posted by | Aletho News | Leave a comment

UK to withdraw troops from Afghanistan

Press TV – May 22, 2010

In a U-turn in Britain’s policy regarding the Afghan war, senior government officials say they want UK soldiers to return home as soon as possible.

In an interview with The Times newspaper before arriving in Kabul on Saturday, Defense Secretary Liam Fox described the Afghan war as Britain’s most urgent priority. He said no more troops will be deployed in Afghanistan, adding that he wants to speed up the withdrawal of UK soldiers and training of Afghan forces.

Fox emphasized that the new government in London will put national security issues on top of its priority list.

“National security is the focus now. We are not a global policeman. We are not in Afghanistan for the sake of the education policy in a broken 13th-century country. We are there so the people of Britain and our global interests are not threatened,” Fox said.

Britain is the second-largest contributor of troops to Afghanistan. It has deployed some 10,000 soldiers in the war-torn country. The number of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001 stands at 286.

May 22, 2010 Posted by | Aletho News, Illegal Occupation | Leave a comment

Oyoun Qarra Massacre, 20 May 1990

20/05/2010 — reham alhelsi

In the early hours of Sunday, May 20th, 1990, a group of 100 Palestinian labourers from the Gaza Strip were waiting at the Oyoun Qarra (Rishon Lezion) bus stop to be transported to their working place. An Israeli occupation soldier, Ami Popper, from nearby Rishon Lezion Zionist colony approached the workers and asked them for their IDs. After making sure all the workers were Palestinians, Popper lined them up, asked them to kneel down in 3 lines and using his M16 sub-machine gun he opened fire killing 7 on the spot and injuring others. When the Israeli police finally arrived to the scene of the massacre, they started beating the Palestinians workers who had survived the death machine. On that day, later known as “Black Sunday”, at least another 6 Palestinians were killed by Israeli occupation forces in subsequent demonstrations while protesting the massacre.

As with all massacres committed by Zionists, the Israeli government rushed to declare Popper deranged. But when it was proven that he wasn’t, he was tried and charged with murder in 7 cases. However, while in detention, the terrorist Popper receives “special treatment”; he was allowed to get married, had 3 children with his wife and is allowed 48-hour furloughs. In 1997, the Israeli government reduced the prison sentences of 4 Zionist terrorists convicted of murdering Palestinians and ordered the release of a fifth Zionist terrorist. Popper’s sentence of 7 life terms was reduced to 40 years.

The 7 Palestinian martyrs were all refugees. Their parents were expelled from their homes and villages in 1948 by Zionist terrorists. To feed their families, these Palestinians were forced to work as slaves for the Zionists who had made refugees out of them. The martyrs of Oyoun Qarra massacre are:

Abdil Rahim Mohammad Salim Baraka, 23 yrs, from Khan Younis

Ziyad Mousa Mohammad Swe’id, 22 yrs, from Rafah

Zayid Zeidan Abdel Rahim Al-’Mour, 33 yrs, from Khan Younis

Suleiman Abdel Raziq Abu ‘Anza, 22 yrs, from Khan Younis

Omar Hamad Ahmad Ad-Dahleez, 28 yrs, from Khan Younis

Zakariya Mohammad Qdeh, 35 yrs, from Khan Younis

Yousif Ibrahim Mansour Abu Daqa, 36 yrs, from Khan Younis

Palestinian martyrs killed by the IOF in subsequent demonstrations on 20.05.1990:

Iyad Ismail Abdallah Saqir, 17 yrs from Ash-Shati’

Shifa’ Naim Ali Al-Hummus, 23 yrs, from Khan Younis

Mousa Ibrahim Abdel-Hay Hassounah, 27 yrs, from Ash-Shati’

Ali Mahmoud Mohammad Az-Za’amrah, 21 yrs, from Halhoul

Husam Abdel Rahman Abdallah Ghazal, 14 yrs, from Qabatia

Wail Mohammad Al-Badrasawi

© http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com

May 21, 2010 Posted by | Aletho News | Leave a comment

Japan backs Tehran declaration

Press TV – May 21, 2010

As Washington is trying to impose new sanctions on Tehran, Japan’s foreign minister has backed a nuclear declaration signed by Iran, Turkey and Brazil.

During the separate teleconference with his Turkish and Brazilian counterparts, Katsuya Okada stressed the importance of implementing the new initiative in settling Iran’s nuclear issue, Kyodo News quoted Japan’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday.

The declaration was signed by the foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey, and Brazil in Tehran on Monday.

It commits Iran to deposit 1,200 kilograms of 3.5% low-enriched uranium in Turkey, which would be exchanged for 120 kilograms of 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel for the Tehran research reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment.

Okada called on Ahmet Davutoglu and Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim to keep in close consultation with Iran on the declaration.

The foreign ministers said that the declaration “provides a chance to settle the standoff diplomatically,” the ministry added.

The talks came as the top Japanese diplomat is scheduled to meet US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Tokyo on Friday to discuss Iran’s nuclear program.

US officials have stressed that despite the declaration they will continue pursuing the imposition of more UN restrictions on Iran and have stepped up efforts to garner the support of veto-wielding members of UN Security Council on a draft sanctions resolution.

Iran argues that as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) it is entitled to a civilian nuclear program.

May 21, 2010 Posted by | Aletho News | Leave a comment

Pentagon Plan to Beef Up Afghan Base Near Iran May Rile Regime

By Tony Capaccio | Bloomberg | May 21, 2010

A U.S. plan to upgrade its airbase in southwestern Afghanistan just 20 miles from Iran’s border will likely rile the Islamic regime, bolstering suspicions the West is trying to pressure it with military might, analysts say.

The Defense Department is requesting $131 million in its fiscal year 2011 budget to upgrade Shindand Air Base so it can accommodate more commando helicopters, drone surveillance aircraft, fuel and munitions.

Plans to expand the base come as the U.S. works to strengthen the militaries and missile defenses of allies in the region and presses at the United Nations for a new round of sanctions aimed at forcing Iran to curb its nuclear program.

U.S. military officials say the base is only to support U.S. and Afghan military operations in Afghanistan. Iran will likely view the Shindand buildup as another step to squeeze it, said Kenneth Pollack, director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

“Whatever U.S. intentions, the Iranian regime will see it as a threat — as another American effort to surround Iran with U.S. military forces,” Pollack said in an interview.

“The Iranians are almost certainly going to assume that a beefed-up intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance presence is really about spying on them,” he said.

Andrew Krepinevich, president of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, shares that view.

“The positioning of the base gives us the opportunity to monitor any efforts by Iran to serve as a sanctuary for anti- government Taliban and allied forces, and to support operations in Iran itself if that were to become necessary,” he said.

Sanctions

The Pentagon planning for Shindand comes as the U.S. is helping to strengthen missile defense systems in Israel and allied nations in the Persian Gulf.

The U.S. Navy is coordinating its ship-borne Aegis missile defense with Israel’s land-based systems, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates and other top U.S. military officials have encouraged Persian Gulf nations to strengthen and coordinate their individual defenses.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also are upgrading their air, ground and naval forces, spurred by Iran’s military buildup.

The United Arab Emirates has spent $18 billion since 2008 on U.S.-supplied training, munitions and equipment such as the Patriot missile defense built by Lockheed Martin Corp.

Fighter Jets, Missiles

Saudi Arabia has bought 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets and is in negotiations to buy 24 more. The nation also has bought Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, laser-guided equipment to enhance the accuracy of its air-to-ground missiles, Black Hawk helicopters and U.S. kits to upgrade Apache helicopters and armored personnel carriers.

“We have worked hard in the region to build a network of shared early warning, of ballistic missile defense and of other security relationships,” General David Petraeus, the U.S. military commander in the Middle East and Central Asia, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 16.

Strengthening Gulf partners is important because containing Iran “will be a challenge as long as Iran’s theocracy keeps building asymmetric forces, moving towards nuclear capability and using proxies and non-state actors in neighboring states,” Anthony Cordesman, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said.

Asymmetric forces are used in an attempt to offset the capabilities of a more advanced military foe. Iran might deploy speedboats in a swarm to attack U.S. warships, military officials have said.

Containment Strategy

Iran will view the U.S. base expansion and acceleration of “missile defense and other systems in the Gulf states” as part of a containment strategy, said Kenneth Katzman, a Middle East analyst with the non-partisan Congressional Research Service.

The U.S. should be prepared for what could be a vigorous reaction, he said. “‘Iran will almost certainly respond by stepping up weapons shipments to Taliban militants in Herat and Farah provinces, and Tehran might direct these militants to use the assistance to attempt attacks on the airfield,” he said.

Pollack gave a similar warning. “We need to go in with eyes wide open that we could be provoking them,” he said. “We should not be expanding our operations in this area unless we are ready to deal with the potential.”

Michael O’Hanlon, a military analyst for the Brookings Institution who is in Afghanistan, said he heard from U.S. military officials that Shindand is in line for “a limited tactical expansion for Afghan-specific purposes.”

“I think it would be a big mistake to provoke Iran with an airfield actually designed for possible operations there and potentially encourage Tehran to up its involvement in Afghanistan,” O’Hanlon said. “So I am hoping that we have no such designs and doubt that we do in fact.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Capaccio at acapaccio@bloomberg.net

May 21, 2010 Posted by | Aletho News, Militarism, Wars for Israel | Leave a comment

What explains the anti-establishment sentiment?

By Glenn Greenwald | May 19, 2010

After last night’s election results, there’s no doubt that the electorate has contempt for Washington incumbents and the political establishment.  Virtually every media account dutifully recites the same storyline — that these results reflect an “anti-incumbent” mood — but virtually none of these stories examines the reasons for that “mood.”  Why do Americans, seemingly regardless of party affiliation or geographic location, despise the political establishment?

One reason why media mavens seem reluctant, even unable, to grapple with this question is because it so plainly falls outside their familiar, comfortable narratives.  Contrary to efforts earlier this year to depict the problem as one aimed at Democratic incumbents due to the unpopular health care plan and the growing “tea party” movement, Republican voters — as demonstrated in Florida, Utah, and last night in Kentucky — clearly hate their own party’s leadership at least as much as the animosity directed toward Democratic incumbents.  The trend is plainly trans-partisan and trans-ideological, and the establishment political media has a very difficult time understanding or explaining dynamics about which that is true.

So extreme is the anger toward the political establishment that not even popular politicians have any impact on it.  Despite the fact that he remains quite popular with his state’s GOP voters, Mitch McConnell’s handpicked candidate was slaughtered in Kentucky by a highly unconventional and establishment-scorned Rand Paul.  And just as Massachusetts voters did in December when President Obama traveled there to plead with them to elect Martha Coakley, only for them to reject those pleas and send Scott Brown to the Senate, Democratic voters completely ignored Obama’s vigorous support for incumbent Senators Arlen Specter and Blanche Lincoln, sending the former to ignominious defeat after 30 years, and forcing the latter into an extremely difficult run-off with Bill Halter (who was recruited by Accountability Now, an organization I helped found and continue to run).

It makes perfect sense that the country loathes the political establishment.  Just look at its rancid fruits over the past decade:  a devastating war justified by weapons that did not exist; a financial crisis that our Nation’s Genuises failed to detect and which its elites caused with lawless and piggish greed; elections that seem increasingly irrelevant in terms of how the Government functions; grotesquely lavish rewards for the worst culprits juxtaposed with miserable unemployment and serious risks of having basic entitlements (Social Security) cut for ordinary Americans; and a Congress that continues to be owned, right out in the open, by the very interests that have caused so much damage.  The political establishment is rotten to its core, and the only thing that’s surprising is that the citizenry’s contempt isn’t even more intense than it is.  But precisely because that dynamic so clearly transcends Left/Right or Democratic/GOP dichotomies, little effort is expended to understand or explain it.

One of the most interesting and important questions is whether this trans-partisan, anti-establishment anger can bring about some cracks in the rigid partisan polarization that serves, more than anything else, to preserve the status quo.  Consider, for instance, that Rand Paul’s campaign included some serious questioning of the war in Afghanistan and that Sen. Tom Coburn recently threatened to filibuster the $33.5 billion war supplemental spending bill if it isn’t independently paid for, combined with the Democrats’ realization that they will be forced on their own to fund the endless — and increasingly ugly — war in Afghanistan.  Or consider the odd spectacle that numerous Republicans are beginning to take the lead in questioning and even objecting to the Obama administration’s efforts to further whittle away civil liberties and vest itself with greater unchecked power.

It’s possible that the pervasive, trans-partisan anger can muddle, even re-arrange, the rigid partisan divisions that prevent citizens of similar interests from working together against the factions that control Washington.  One saw that in the alliance between progressives (such as Alan Grayson and Bernie Sanders) and conservatives (such as Ron Paul) that led to the enactment of the Audit the Fed bill, as well as in similar alliances during the Bush years in opposition to the assaults on the Constitution (such as the one forged by Al Gore and Bob Barr).  This isn’t Broderian bipartisanship where the two parties’ mix their policies into a muddled, watered-down mish-mash of nothing for its own sake.  It’s far more substantive than that:  a refusal to allow ordinary citizens to be divided (and thus weakened) along artificial tribal lines, thereby enabling the establishment factions that feed at the Washington trough to maintain their same power in unchallenged form.

I’m not particularly optimistic about this possibility.  The reality is that the American Right is still the movement of Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and Sarah Palin, really no different — despite its “tea party” re-branding — than what spawned the Bush/Cheney extremism of the last decade.  And even Rand Paul, who some are trying to depict as a crusading civil libertarian and anti-war advocate, ran on a platform (as Scott Brown did) of opposing the closing of Guantanamo, the use of civilian trials for accused Terrorists, and the granting of visas to people from numerous Muslim countries.  Many of the key ignorant and primitive orthodoxies of modern conservatism are as strong as ever.  Other than some (extremely hypocritical and opportunistic) war questioning and some anger over the growing corporate-Government overlap, I have a very hard time looking at the American Right and finding much cause for optimism about any of what’s taking place over there.

Still, it’s hard not to be encouraged by the disgust which the citizenry clearly has for the political establishment regardless of party, as well as the resulting (and increasing) fear and confusion on the part of the political class.  This sort of citizenry anger can re-arrange political alignments and explode political orthodoxies in fundamental and unpredictable ways.  There is, to be sure, a risk in that, but there is a far greater risk in simply allowing the destructive political status quo to linger in unchanged form for much longer.

May 19, 2010 Posted by | Aletho News | Leave a comment

Australia: Save Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary from uranium mining, says Liberal Senator

Arkaroola too precious to mine

Minchin , The Independent Weekly, 14 May, 2010

South Australia’s Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary is too precious to turn over to uranium mining, South Australian Senator Nick Minchin says.

The Liberal Senator says he is appalled that the Australian Workers Union is in favour of opening the sanctuary to the uranium industry. The senator and the Greens want a complete ban on uranium mining in the Arkaroola reserve in SA’s mid-north……

“I am shocked and appalled that the Australian Workers Union is advocating the destruction of the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary,” Senator Minchin said today.

“It is extraordinary that the AWU wants to turn one of Australia’s most precious and valuable natural wonders into a factory for the production of uranium……

SA Greens MP Mark Parnell says although not all of the 450 submissions to the State Government are currently available online, his information is that over 82 per cent of the published submissions want less mining.

The SA Museum, academics, scientists, business operators and even mining companies are saying Arkaroola is too precious to mine, he said in a statement.

Last year the South Australian Government suspended Marathon Resources’ drilling operations at Mt Gee in the sanctuary, after an investigation found the company had inappropriately buried drill cuttings and other waste material there.

May 18, 2010 Posted by | Aletho News, Environmentalism, Nuclear Power | Leave a comment

Half an hour of mobile use a day ‘increases brain cancer risk’

A landmark study into the health dangers posed by mobiles has found people who speak on their handset for more than half an hour a day over 10 years are at greater risk of brain cancer.

Telegraph | 17 May 2010

The World Health Organisation’s Interphone report, to be published this week, will say that “heavy users” are more at risk of developing glioma tumours.

It concludes that there is no increased risk of developing the disease in other users. However, the minimum amount of time which researchers designated at heavy use was just 30 minutes a day.

The study also excluded anyone under 30 from its results, prompting scientists to demand further research into the health implications of mobile ‘phone technology.

“Today mobile ‘phone use has become much more prevalent and it is not unusual for young people to use mobile ‘phones for an hour or more a day,” said the scientists in a statement.

The project conducted studies in 13 countries, interviewing tumour sufferers and people in good health to see whether their mobile phone use differed. It questioned about 12,800 people between 2000 and 2004.

A spokesman for the Mobile Operators Association has previously indicated that more than 30 scientific reviews had found no adverse health effects.

May 17, 2010 Posted by | Aletho News | Leave a comment

Erdogan eyes better ties with Greece

Al-Jazeera | May 13, 2010

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, is set to travel to Greece for talks in an effort to improve historically tense relations between the two countries.

Erdogan, accompanied by almost a dozen cabinet ministers and more than 100 Turkish businessmen, arrives in Athens on Friday for the start of a two-day visit.

Dimitris Droutsas, Greece’s alternate foreign minister, said the visit would allow Greek officials to discuss investments and business opportunities.

“Business activity in Turkey has displayed impressive growth, and I think this is a very good opportunity, particularly in the economic situation Greece is going through,” he said.

EU accession

George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister, said his talks with Erdogan will include discussion of Turkey’s bid to join the European Union. Greece supports Turkish accession, which has been delayed for years.

Turkey went through a banking crisis in 2001, so Erdogan may offer advice to his Greek counterpart, currently implementing a series of tough austerity measures to address a debt crisis.

Education will be another issue on the agenda with Turkish officials having reportedly promised to change passages in textbooks which portray Greece as a threat to Turkish sovereignty.

Turkey and Greece are both NATO member states, but they have been rivals for decades, particularly over Cyprus.

The island has been split since Turkey occupied its northern third in 1974, a response to an Athens-engineered Greek-Cypriot coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece. The two countries also disagree on sovereignty in some areas of the Aegean.

Turkish fighter planes routinely fly in airspace claimed by Athens, leading to regular mock dogfights with Greek jets. Though the dogfights are usually harmless, a Greek pilot died in 2006 in a mid-air collision.

Erdogan’s last official visit to Athens came in 2004. He canceled a scheduled trip last year for health reasons.

May 13, 2010 Posted by | Aletho News | Leave a comment

Senate unanimously approves measure to audit the Fed

Bill would have Fed disclose names of bank recipients of emergency loans

By Ronald D. Orol | MarketWatch | May 11, 2010

WASHINGTON — A compromise measure requiring the government to conduct a one-time and unprecedented audit of the Federal Reserve’s emergency-response programs was unanimously approved Tuesday by the Senate as part of sweeping bank reform legislation.

The amendment also calls for releasing the names of institutions that received in total more than $2 trillion in loans from the central bank during the peak of the financial crisis.

The provision received a vote of 96-0, with support following a compromise reached late Thursday.

“This makes it clear that the Fed can no longer operate under the kind of secrecy it has been operating under,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the measure’s author.

The legislation is attached to sweeping bank-reform legislation under consideration on Capitol Hill. It would need to be reconciled with a more expansive audit-the-fed provision approved in the House last December.

The Senate measure would — for the first time in the central bank’s 95-year-history — require a Government Accountability Office audit of the financial institutions that borrowed from the Fed during the financial crisis.

In addition, the legislation would require the Fed on Dec., 1, 2010, to put on its Web site all of the recipients of the central bank’s emergency assistance between December 2007 and the date of the statute’s enactment.

Sanders agreed to make several changes to the legislation to garner the support of the Obama administration and wavering senators who had concerns with the original measure. With the changes, Sanders obtained the support of Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., which he said was important to bringing on board other senators needed to obtain the 60 votes necessary for passage.

The legislation originally would have left open the possibility of future audits, however, Sanders eventually compromised to stipulate that it would be a one-time audit. The measure’s house counterparty, which was introduced by long-time Fed opponent, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, permits continuing periodic audits.

The Senate measure originally would have required the names of bank recipients of the Fed’s emergency lending to be posted within 30 days of the reform bill’s approval, but the section was later changed so that the names need only be posted on Dec. 1, 2010. The original measure would have required posting of names annually.

With the compromise language, the GAO is also prohibited from conducting studies on the Fed’s interest rate policy. This change was in response to concerns from the Fed and others that such studies would impact the central bank’s independence when it came to monetary policy such as whether to raise or lower interest rates.

It also prohibits the GAO from auditing the Fed’s so-called normal discount window lending. However, it does permit an audit of the discount window emergency lending programs, such as Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, in response to the financial crisis. The discount window is a government lending facility through which commercial banks and, in response to the crisis, investment banks borrowed reserves.

The GAO would be required to begin its Fed audit within 30 days of enactment and completed within a year.
House vs. Senate on audit the Fed

The House measure’s language is much shorter, yet in its brevity it gives the GAO leeway to conduct continuing periodic audits of a wide-range of issues beyond the Fed’s financial crisis response.

The Senate bill is more specific. The House bill says the GAO “may” post the names of recipients of Fed emergency loans where the Senate bill requires the GAO to do so. The Senate measure instructs the GAO to look into conflicts of interest at the Fed, while the House bill doesn’t provide any such instructions.

The measure has the backing of senators with wide-ranging political backgrounds, including Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. It seeks to make clear that the audits won’t interfere with the Fed’s monetary policy.

Backers pointed out that no scrutiny would be placed on transcripts and minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee meetings, through which the central bank sets policy on interest rates.

“We should allow the GAO to audit the Fed since they have moved far beyond their traditional role of monetary policy,” said Grassley.

The Fed has argued that it would weaken its traditional independence and hamper its ability to protect the financial system. The central bank argues that institutions would be afraid to borrow from the discount window when they need to because they would be stigmatized as troubled firms, and the result would be a more troubled economic situation.
Next up: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

The Senate is expected next to vote on a controversial measure introduced by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that would end the government’s control of mortgage finance giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae within two years of the enactment of the overall bank reform legislation.

Fannie and Freddie have been under government control since September, 2008. The measure, which has broad Republican support, would cap the amount of assets held on the entities books to 95% of the mortgage assets it owned at the end of the prior year. The measure would also have the entities pay state and local taxes.

However, Dodd is opposed to the measure arguing it is reckless because it doesn’t provide any alternative structure for the entities.

Ronald D. Orol is a MarketWatch reporter, based in Washington.

###

See also:

Senate Rejects Vitter’s Audit the Fed Amendment 37-62

By RonPaul.com on May 11, 2010

Senator David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, put forward an amendment that would have mirrored Ron Paul’s tough Audit the Fed language, but the Senate rejected it today. The vote was 37 to 62.

Before the vote, Vitter appealed for support: “I urge all of my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, to support both amendments to have full openness and accountability and transparency with all the protections that are included against politicizing individual Fed decisions.”

May 11, 2010 Posted by | Aletho News, Corruption, Economics | Leave a comment

EU Open to Iran Nuclear Talks

DPA | May 10, 2010

Brussels – The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said Monday she was ready to give direct talks with Iran another chance, while warning that United Nations sanctions against its nuclear programme could be adopted “very rapidly.”

Turkey, which currently sits on the UN Security Council as a non- permanent member, last week suggested the EU could have another shot at finding a compromise with Tehran in order to avert new UN sanctions.

Speaking in Brussels at the end of regular monthly talks between the EU’s foreign ministers, Ashton said those sanctions were only “four to six weeks away.”

But she added that “if Iran wishes to contact me directly to propose that we have real discussions on the issue of nuclear weapons capability, (I would) be pleased to discuss that with my 3+3 colleagues and to move forward.”

The so-called 3+3 includes EU’s France, Germany and Britain, as well as Russia, China and the United States.

A spokesman said that during a meeting which followed on from the foreign ministers’ talks, Ashton asked Ankara’s top diplomat Ahmet Davutoglu to help arrange a meeting with Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Saeid Jalili.

Davutoglu later told reporters that after meeting Ashton and later speaking on the phone with his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, he was “positive and optimistic.”

“Our efforts will continue in the coming days and I hope that these diplomatic efforts will help to solve the problem without having to resort to any type of sanctions,” the Turkish foreign minister stressed.

Ashton’s predecessor, Javier Solana, negotiated with Iran on behalf of the 3+3 for years, but never succeeded in convincing the country to subject its nuclear programme to international scrutiny.Ashton, who took office last December, has so far not been asked by the six-country group to continue Solana’s work.

She stressed the negotiations could restart on the condition that they focus only “around the specific and only subject … of nuclear weapons for Iran.”

The EU’s foreign policy supremo said the international community is still following a “twin track” approach with Iran, meaning that it is open to dialogue while at the same time preparing for stronger sanctions if no positive signals came from Teheran.

“We are supporting the process at the (UN) Security Council on new restrictive measures. I believe a proposal will be adopted very rapidly,” she said.

“They are expecting to bring in some kind of resolution over the coming weeks,” she added. “So I anticipate we are talking about the next four to six weeks, though I can’t be certain at this stage.”

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said negotiations would continue throughout May at the UN to convince China, a permanent Security Council member with veto powers, to back the move.

“At the beginning of June, it will be possible to discuss a resolution,” Frattini indicated.

May 11, 2010 Posted by | Aletho News | Leave a comment

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