1. Beyond the debate on body scanners at airports: a plea for reasonable foreign policy
2. The danger of nuclear terrorism, why was potentially seen anything with the attacks of September 11
3. History, geography, oil: The underside of the assault against footballers from Togo
4. The world's tallest tower in Dubai: a symbol of the last decade
5. Far from the Bread and Roses: Romania 20 years after the end of communism
6. The press in Ecuador: a typical fight against progressive government media powerful right
body scanners VS FOREIGN POLICY
The Harper government, following pressure from Washington has decided to move the front and install a quarantine of body scanners in Canadian airports ...
which a dozen major cities immediately in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver
There's lots of debate about it since, in the public and the media, because activities in the Canadian parliament have been suspended, recalled, until the end of the Olympics
Is this an invasion of privacy? Is it going to work this machine there?
There is the whole issue of human rights and racial profiling, too.
question to which we must now add the Yemen, where the bomb was sewn to the undergarment of the terrorist from Nigeria
All matters of security at our airports and airplanes taking off from home to avoid the central problem I think.
Instead of implementing new machinery and inflate budgets Security ... amounts that will be passed on to consumers, as usual, would seek to reverse the trend of terrorism
The obsession with safety distances us from our foreign policy
like chewing gum and walk at the same time, you'd think it would be possible to talk about security and foreign policy at the same time
yet, no, there is the issue of security throughout
So all the plaster and nothing about the source of the bohemian as of
habit So why does he want Yemen to the U.S.?
Because unmanned drones have invaded their airspace and threatened innocent people in 2002and again last month
We did not like the invasion of Iraq in 2003, not more
The first attack against the U.S. embassy had place immediately after that, well before that which was planned recently
reserves remain without terror funds especially if we continue to fill with illegal invasions, wars and what kind of foreign policy
The hostile reaction to the Western countries is not unlike what we are told, based in religion ... in the kind of nonsense, they hate our freedom
remember that Iraq was a secular country before the 2003 invasion
hit someone in the face and often enough it will return to the racial memory and tribal gods
But instead of having serious discussion of our foreign policy, we flip the ears with the discussions on air transport
This week Transport Minister John Baird has recommended a variety of filtering techniques, saying that the reality of our generation is that the we should be concerned with terrorism
it would have been fun it has a more urgent approach to climate change when he was environment minister in any case
The war on terror is so vague that it can not be defined, and it may be that it lasts forever
approach Smart is that western countries redo its entire policy towards the Muslim world
But there are too many powerful people who benefit from the current situation for this: the oil companies, arms traders, producers of body scanners
There is also a deep need to be afraid of something, to have an enemy in mind, even if it is vague and undefinable ... Should a more
war against fear to replace the war on terror ...
we hear about
NUCLEAR TERRORISM
The recent rage against a failed attempt of a Nigerian student who tried to detonate his underwear distracts us a lot right now, as to forget that terrorism is born of the actions of our governments in their foreign policy
Worse still, will consider the possibility of a terrorist act much worse than blow up a plane
make a nuclear weapon detonated in a densely populated
Such a disaster which would kill hundreds of thousands of people, not at all an impossibility
Although terrorist groups have no fissile material, ie, the equipment needed to trigger a nuclear chain reaction
therefore fissile material needed for nuclear weapons production
there is evidence that it's been a long time they try to get them
that for decades they are trying to get their hands on it, either by purchase or theft
we say that Osama bin Laden has sought to procure at least since 1992
Not only was there a dozen theft and sale of fissile material for potential terrorists, who have all allegedly been arrested
but a significant amount of nuclear weapons have been lost by countries that possess
In addition, if nuclear weapons or materials fissionable material were available to terrorists overseas ....
It would quite easy for them to have them enter the U.S.
many experts say that if our governments continue with their current policies, a nuclear attack would be almost inevitable
The problem is a combination of terrorist activity and the ease with which they could cross the U.S. border with weapons
And the accessibility of nuclear weapons and fissile materials
Terrorism, as we know, is not about to disappear
Although on the surface, war on terror seems to have produced a decline in terrorist activity, although the cause-effect relationships are not at all obvious
although police activity has reduced the possibilities of terrorist acts, acts of terror are almost inevitable in today's world
So to avoid the worst case scenario, would have access to nuclear weapons and fissile material is impossible
Quite simply, without fissile material, no nuclear explosion
there is a vast amount of material there in the world, but it is not infinite, and it is indeed possible to properly secure
But there is still no treaty on access to fissile material
such a treaty would ban production of fissile material for nuclear weapons production
there too, I do not know me, the simple solution to remove large quantities of nuclear weapons in reserve in nine countries
When I speak, there are some 23,000 nuclear weapons, especially in Russia and the U.S.
A tempting target for any serial killer
so any significant reduction of these weapons is to reduce opportunities for hands on
and schedule, although it would reduce the possibility of nuclear war, as
I hope these points will be raised during the Review Conference of the Non-proliferation is coming in May to the nations United
ATTACK ON THE FOOTBALL TEAM OF TOGO
Let's strafing the team bus Togo's football that left two dead, 8 January, in the enclave of Cabinda.
Tragedy raises the question of organizing an international competition in a country at war.
According to the secretary general of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC), Rodrigues Minga, by mistake the football team of Togo have been attacked on January 8.
FLEC fighters were planning to shoot the Angolan security forces
Which opened the way to Togo convoy as it crosses the enclave of Cabinda, located mainly in the Democratic Republic Congo
On 11 January, two FLEC rebels were arrested by the Angolan police.
Behind this attack there as is often the case in Africa, a complex mixture of history, geography, oil and politics
Today, Angola is a country at peace, while the devastation of the long civil war from 1975 to 1992 becomes a bad memory
Except for the province of Cabinda, a coastal enclave that has no common border with the rest of the country
Cabinda has for several years a dangerous region because of the separatist insurgency operating the Mayombe rainforest
Now the blame rain around since the attack on January 8 against the football team of Togo who was moving his opening match at the African Cup of Nations
we asked why the players of Togo were conducted in Pointe Noire in Congo to the city of Cabinda
For the Liberation Front of the Enclave of Cabinda, FLEC, it was an irresistible invitation
The group launched a series attacks over the past two years
When the civil war in Angola ended in 2002, Angola has deployed about 30,000 troops Cabinda, for a population of 300 000
Nevertheless, the army has not been able to eliminate the threat of violence from the FLEC has several independent
aspirations range from FLEC decentralization, autonomy to full independence
And the attack against the football team of Togo reflects this fragmentation
Two factions of FLEC, the military position and FLEC-FAC claim responsibility for the attack during that others will distance
So this conflict, as many struggle for independence in Africa, has its roots in colonial times
The Cabinda region was established in 1885 as a Portuguese protectorate known as the Portuguese Congo
At a time when Angola was in full during the reign of Portugal and the Congo under Belgium
Separatists say that this region has never been administered as part of Angola
And so deserves to be considered a separate entity
Interestingly, the physical isolation of Cabinda from Angola could soon end
A Chinese company has been responsible for building a bridge 19km long, which would cross the territory of the DRC for connecting the province to Angola
The bridge, built at a cost of $ 2.55 billion expected to be completed in October 2012
But in the short term is expected to continuing insurgency operations in the northern Cabinda
During the football tournament, the security forces of Angola will do everything to prevent a future attack
but after the tournament, other operations of the FLEC are strong probable
TOWER DUBAI DEBT
The new tower in Dubai might be the symbol of the last decade must say it does not end until 2011
The building constructed at a cost of $ 1.5 billion had its unveiling Monday of last week ... it goes without saying that this is the tallest in the world
800 meters high, more than twice the height of the Empire State Building
Tower Dubai has 169 floors, the pool most high in the world, the place of worship the highest, etc. As
before the Empire State, the Dubai Tower was built at a time of global depression where cheap labor was easy to find
this marvel of engineering was built in the desert heat by workers from cheap labor abroad
mainly Indians and Pakistanis paid 5 to $ 20 per day
and it is a state secret how many have lost their lives in the process
The tower has 144 apartments and a hotel designed by Giorgio Armani
The super rich can spend their holidays and live in the tower without ever leaving
Mostly they are at ease, comfort requiring 14 million kg of ice per day for air conditioning
and consumption of billions of gallons of desalinated water in a city state that has the largest carbon consumption per capita in the world
Dubai tower was renamed the Tower Khalifa, Khalifa Burj
is that Sheikh Khalifa, the chief of the neighboring state of Abu Dhabi, Dubai has repeatedly saved from disaster Financial
There are only three weeks when the debt payments were not made
But there is none, by cons, to save people who live in the shadow of the tower
A tower abyssal debt where the rich continue to live in the stratosphere, no matter the state of the real economy
As I said, the perfect symbol of the last décennie
ROUMANIE 20 ANS APRÈS LA CHUTE DU COMMUNISME
Allons en Roumanie, un pays près de mon cœur depuis que j'ai la chance d'y aller en 2006 pour le sommet de la francophonie
il y a 20 ans, un peu avant noël, le pays est tombé dans une révolution chaotique
275 corps de jeunes hommes et de jeunes femmes ont été enterrés à Bucarest au jour de l'an en 1989
En tout, 1000 personnes ont perdu leur vie alors que les combats contre les forces communistes faisaient rage
Et là, 20 ans après la fin du régime communiste de Ceausescu
The country is in much worse unfortunately
There are no jobs, a housing crisis, no social safety net
Millions of Romanians must go abroad to find Revenue
so in two decades of economic transition to a market-based, Romania has been mired in debt
With a recent loan of $ 27 billion from the IMF, the external debt of Romania exceeds $ 100 billion
The country, at the end of communist rule, had no debt in 1989
Although wages and pensions in Romania are the lowest in Europe, though prices are comparable to those of rich countries
In 2005, 25% of Romanians were living below the poverty line
The three million Romanians have left the country since 1989 are a diaspora that sends billions to their homeland every year since
But the Romanians were not allowed to work in other European countries before 2014, they have signed contracts Temporary Epsagne, Italy and Germany for not much
Those who suffer most are the 300,000 children left behind in villages
Who is to blame for disaster transformation of the Romanian economy?
Who sold all businesses, farms, and who failed to established a solid infrastructure?
Ironically, the Communists. Since 1989, these are only the former communists in power ... and they sold out to line their pockets.
GOVERNMENTS VS PROGRESSIVE MEDIA RIGHT
past month in Ecuador there is a fight for media regulation
That makes the headlines in recent weeks, often daily
It reacts very strong against the government's decision to close a major television station for three days from December 22 to 25
And as is usually the case with private media monopolies are challenged by government
progressive point of view presented by these companies and their powerful ally the U.S. is biased and simplistic
Ecuador with his leftist government, faces the same challenges that all center-left governments of Latin America
Private media are dominated by corporate monopolization, and often highly partisan right, totally opposed to socio-economic reforms Progressive voters chose
As I said, all progressive governments had to face this challenge
In Argentina, a new media law is to break the monopoly held by media group Clarin, which controls 60% of media in the country
The Brazilian government has created for the first time in 2007, a public television channel
The Government of Bolivia, who faces the most hostile media in the hemisphere, has also been involved in public media
it's all in order to bring some media toward the center, away some content of interest that affect only the rich and upper middle class
Left or right, the most important thing is that all media adhere to the norms and principles of journalism, that is to say away from the pure disinformation media are a direct partisan political actor
In the case of Ecuador, have to say why the channel Teleamazonas was suspended for three days because for the second time in a year
The news of this channel have released a new fake that led to social disruption
During the first offense, a fine has been deposited
The news was that the government's electoral commission has a clandestine center that handles the election results ... new completely false
The second offense, committed in May, was a false report saying that given the exploration for natural gas to the island of Puna, the people there could not fish for six months
So all well deserved to suspend the station for three days ... especially if the evidence is there as is the case that stories were fabricated
The best solution for progressive governments, I believe, will introduce more competition in the media, increase the diversity of voices
The proposed law on media in Argentina could spread more equitably among the media the private, public and community
It is possible that Ecuador should go in the same direction
These changes are very important in a region where the coverage of Internet visits than a third of the population
And so the vast majority of people take their news from TV and radio should be noted
, the supposed defenders of freedom of speech, that the airwaves are public property, a lien fee, but certainly not a right
Until the day when the media become more democratic structure in Latin America, there will be conflicts between governments so progressive and right-wing media
course it is possible that governments abuse their regulatory authority
but so far it has always been the other way
The private media have the right abused their power and their control over the means of communication, so as to undermine the democratic process
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