The Mazeika Report October 28, 2008 go to "blog" link to http://mazeikabloginternationalnews.blogspot.com/ for archival reports for the months of September, August, July and June, 2008Pass this link on to other readers! Breaking stories.....your comments are welcome.... Place this "blog link" into your computer favorites for easy access.
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Visit our interactive website and new featured listings....at http://www.ocrelocate.com/ Ocean to Mountains Real Estate for Southern California, Orange County, & San Diego Tony & Danute Mazeika...... 949 929-9051 cell
Celebrating 21 years and more than 500 successful real estate transactions... Don't miss incredible market opportunities....... Prices are at Year 2002 level... OPctober home sales up significantly ...Positive signs of market recovery are here. Inventory is decreasing. You may qualify for a credit on closing costs and savings on escrow fees...Ask us how...... Don't delay..call us today! 949 929-9051
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Visit our interactive website and new featured listings....at http://www.ocrelocate.com/ Ocean to Mountains Real Estate for Southern California, Orange County, & San Diego Tony & Danute Mazeika...... 949 929-9051 cell
Celebrating 21 years and more than 500 successful real estate transactions... Don't miss incredible market opportunities....... Prices are at Year 2002 level... OPctober home sales up significantly ...Positive signs of market recovery are here. Inventory is decreasing. You may qualify for a credit on closing costs and savings on escrow fees...Ask us how...... Don't delay..call us today! 949 929-9051
=============================================================== Please support this unique blog.....Buy your ....Books, Dvds, and CDs on our special link access to Amazon.Com Tony & Danute =====================================================================
Red Terror on the Amber Coast
Completion and Release of Documentary Film
“A Story that needs to be told!”
DVD copies: $20.00 each (plus $2.00 postage)
You Tube trailor preview for
Red Terror...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYET4bk0gvU
Film-maker Ken Gumbert and producer David O’Rourke have announced that their documentary film, Red Terror on the Amber Coast, has been completed and released for distribution, and has been accepted for broadcast on Rhode Island Public Television, at a time yet to be set. The film, in the works for five years, describes the Soviet occupation of the Baltics following the Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939, the fifty year reign of terror the Soviets imposed on the once free and democratic republics, and the resistance to the illegal takeover. The film’s focus is principally on Lithuania. But the film-makers know that the story they present is the story of all three countries.
Almost by accident in 2001, the team of editor and writer David O’Rourke and documentary film-maker Ken Gumbert came upon photographs of prison and torture abandoned by the KGB when they fled their headquarters in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. Startled by the blunt cruelty of what they saw, they decided that the terrible story the pictures revealed had to be told.
In June of 2006 they were able to film interviews with a cross section of people, from President Adamkus and Vytautas Landsbergis to the wives of captured partizanai (freedom fighters) who had to fight just to survive while their husbands were in Soviet prisons. And with the full support of the National Genocide and Resistance Center in Vilnius and the Occupation Museum and Film Archives in Riga they have been able to illustrate the personal narratives with rare archival films and photographs.
At present the film-makers, both Dominican priests, are working with Lithuanian-American groups and others to promote the scheduling of the film on public television, in film festivals, and in local communities. They may be contacted directly by interested people. kgumbert@providence.edu dkorop@sbcglobal.net Tony@TonyMazeika.com
For more information, contact Tony & Danute Mazeika 949 929-9051
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Breaking news & commentary ....click on active links for multiple photos!
Senate 110th Session of Congress (2007 - 2008)
Click the tabs directly below to see vote descriptions and ACT! for America's positions. Then find the vote in the scorecard below and scroll down to the House or Senate member you're looking for. The percentages on the far right indicate the percent of the time each Member voted with ACT! for America's positions.
http://www.actforamerica.org/index.php/senate-110th-session-of-congress-2007-2008
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George Soros Funds Catholic Left
An organization founded by billionaire investor and Democratic financier George Soros has funded two “left-wing” Catholic groups that support abortion rights, according to Catholic League President Bill Donohue.
Soros “is connected to two apologists for abortion rights: Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, and Catholics United,” Donohue said in a Catholic League release.
“In 2006, Soros’ Open Society Institute gave Catholics in Alliance $100,000 [double the amount he gave in 2005], and in the same year, Catholics in Alliance listed Catholics United . . . as an organization with which it has a formal relationship.
“John Podesta, who runs the Soros-funded organization Center for American Progress, admits that he works closely with Catholics in Alliance and Catholics United.”
Donohue asks, “Why would any Catholic organization take money from a man like George Soros? . . . And why would Soros have any interest in funding Catholic groups? He doesn’t give the Catholic League any money, and if he offered, I would refuse it.
“The reason Soros funds the Catholic left is the same reason he lavishly funds Catholics for Choice, the pro-abortion group that has twice been condemned as a fraud by Catholic bishops. They all service his agenda, namely, to make support for abortion rights a respectable Catholic position.”
On Oct. 17, Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput accused Catholics in Alliance and Catholics United of doing a “disservice” to the Catholic Church, according to Donohue, who added, “He’s right — and now we know what really makes them tick.”
Chris Korzen of Catholics United sought to counter the criticism from Donohue by asserting that Soros’ organization also contributes to Catholic Charities, Catholic Relief Services, and Catholic Legal Immigration Services.
But Donohue told LifeNews.com, “Unlike the three Catholic organizations cited by Korzen, Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance are apologists for abortion.
“Their passion for abortion rights is so strong that they refuse to endorse the legal ban on partial-birth abortion.”
http://news.newsmax.com/?Z6ODXcSjvM18yhQcOT6Ow3QZkXbzxJRAZ
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We as a society have only ourselves to thank for this insidious situation. What is remarkable is that these Leftist-pro Marxist instructors and professors have now declared themselves publically on the stage of public opinion. When students go to a university without core belief systems cultivated from parents, church, and family, why should we be surprised when our children join the ranks of radicals. The "boomer" generation did a terrible job with their "generation x" children. So what is next in the devastating culture war ravaging this nation? We deserve the cultural and political consequences based upon our choice of the politicians and educators that serve us.
Tony Mazeika
More Than 3,000 Academics Sign Pro-Ayers Petition
Educators signed a petition praising William Ayers as an education reformer whose ties to the domestic terrorist group Weather Underground are just "history."
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/22/academics-sign-pro-ayers-petition/comments/
Reader comments:
"Really outrageous and alarming. All this has been going on for a loooong time and building up. My daughter Kai is the local chapter head of Parents Televisioon Council (PTC) which monitors television programs for suitability for kids and takes action against bad, lewd, violent shows. It is absolutely shocking what is being shown early in the evening. As well as which companies are advertising on these programs. http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/faqs/main.asp God help us all.
Love,"
Mari-Ann
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Geopolitical Diary: The World According to Riyadh
October 24, 2008 0207 GMT
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will be meeting in Vienna on Friday, a month ahead of schedule. The issue on the table is whether or not to cut OPEC production in light of declining global demand for crude as countries the world over are coming down with the financial flu.
OPEC members like Venezuela, Iran, Libya and Algeria — all of which are pulling their hair out watching oil prices slide down to around $70 a barrel — have been issuing statement after statement over the past week, calling on their fellow OPEC members to cut production so that they can maintain the flow of petrodollars coming into their government coffers. Going by their statements, it seemed as if it was inevitable that OPEC would make a decision to cut production and buoy the price of crude.
But earlier in the week, Stratfor cautioned that an OPEC production cut is anything but inevitable — especially with the Saudis in play.
As the world’s largest oil producer and exporter and the cartel’s undisputed heavyweight champion, Saudi Arabia is the ultimate decider when it comes to the issue of increasing or decreasing OPEC production. Since the Saudis have the most oil, they are the only ones who can take enough crude off the market to make a meaningful difference in price.
Upon arriving in Vienna, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi was asked whether his country supports the idea of cutting output when the cartel meets Friday. His answer: “Who said anything about a cut? Prices will be determined by the market.”
We have a feeling a number of leaders in oil-producing countries across the globe nearly went into cardiac arrest upon hearing those words.
Anything can still happen at this OPEC meeting, but Saudi Arabia is very clearly indicating that is in no big rush to prop up the price of oil. On the one hand, you might consider Riyadh crazy not to want to keep the petrodollars flowing at a healthy pace when global demand is sliding. But Saudi Arabia isn’t worried about the cash right now (the Saudis already have a nice cushion of at least US$1 trillion in petrodollars to fall back on.) Riyadh’s plans for OPEC run on a much deeper geopolitical calculus.
The 1973 oil embargo was the first time Saudi Arabia learned what it meant to use oil as a tool of foreign policy. The Venezuelans ultimately knocked the legs out from under the embargo when Caracas decided to fill the gap by increasing its own oil exports. But nonetheless, the Saudis developed a taste for using oil as a weapon. In the 1980s, the Saudis, in private collaboration with the Americans, shifted gears and increased oil production to flood the markets. The Saudi move was one of the variables that helped bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union, allowing the Saudi Arabia to drive a major competitor out of the energy market for a good ten years and dismantle what was at the time the greatest foreign policy threat to the West in one fell swoop.
Since then, the Saudis have used their oil wealth primarily as a means of policy to keep U.S. interests in line with those of Saudi Arabia, particularly when it has come to issues of maintaining Sunni power in Iraq and keeping their Persian rivals in Tehran in check. Now, the Saudis are presented with a situation in which the world’s three major economic centers — the United States, Europe and Asia — are approaching recessions nearly simultaneously. The inevitable global economic slowdown spells bad news for the more-vulnerable oil-producing countries such as Venezuela and Iran, whose regime security is almost wholly dependent on oil prices not taking a deep plunge.
From Saudi Arabia’s point of view, it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to hold out a bit longer and allow the price of crude to drop a few more dollars to drive some select competitors out of the market. For instance, by turning the screws on Venezuela, Saudi Arabia could get payback for 1973 and knock down a major irritant in the U.S. backyard.
The Russians also have reason to be worried. The Saudis do not like the idea of a resurgent Russia, especially when it comes to meddling in the Middle East. With the Russians already suffering from major liquidity problems, draining their oil revenue would help deflate their ambitions even more.
The Iranians, who have most vociferously called for a production cut, are on the top of Saudi Arabia’s geopolitical target list. The Saudis want to prevent the Iranians and their Shiite allies from radically upsetting the regional balance of power that has historically been in favor of the Sunnis. With Iran already under deep economic distress, the Saudis would be more than inclined to knock Iran down a few more pegs.
There are, of course, other side effects to bringing down the price of oil, particularly for countries less hostile to U.S. interests — such as Mexico, Canada and Brazil, which are going to take a hit from a decline in energy revenues. Of most concern for the United States is Mexico, which might require substantial bailouts to prevent the chaos from spilling over onto the U.S. side of the border as the country is already struggling with a fight against powerful drug cartels and a tight fiscal crisis. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia’s major energy clients — including the United States — would greatly appreciate a break in oil prices to help reduce production costs at home and ease the pains of the coming recession.
In any case, it would be foolish to think that the cost-benefit analysis running through Riyadh’s head right now is simply based on short-term income numbers. Major geopolitical opportunities are dancing before the Saudis’ eyes. We’ll see in Vienna just how hard and how seriously the Saudis intend to play.
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Fact Sheet: Extending Travel Opportunities to Our Allies
President Bush Discusses the Visa Waiver Program
Today, President Bush hosted representatives from seven nations that have met the criteria for admission into the United States' Visa Waiver Program (VWP) and six nations on track to be admitted. In about a month, the citizens of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and South Korea will be able to travel to the United States for business or tourism for up to 90 days without a visa. So-called "roadmap" countries, which are on track to qualify for VWP admission, at today's event were Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Poland, and Romania.
The 13 countries represented at today's event are close friends and allies whose leaders told the President that their citizens believed it unfair that they had to wait in line and pay for visas to travel to the United States when other allies are allowed to travel visa-free. The President agreed while pointing out that in the post-9/11 world, expanding visa-free travel would be possible only as travel security measures are strengthened.
Today's announcement represents a milestone in the long effort by the Administration to modernize the VWP. During a November 2006 visit to Estonia, the President announced that he would work with Congress to expand opportunities for visa-free travel as we strengthen the security of the VWP. The President appreciates the bipartisan support this initiative received on Capitol Hill. As part of the "Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007," Congress acted to give the Administration greater flexibility to admit new countries into the VWP provided that they agree to a number of new security enhancements, notably to share information about threats to our people. The law also requires foreign citizens who want to travel under VWP to register through a new online program that screens for potential security threats.
Extending Travel Opportunities To Some Of Our Closest Allies Deepens Our Friendship And Makes All Our Countries Safer
The VWP currently allows the citizens of 27 countries to travel to the United States for tourism or business without obtaining a visa. Nationals participating in the VWP must travel only for business, pleasure, or transit; stay in the United States for 90 days or less; and, if arriving by sea or air, hold a valid ticket for return or onward travel and enter the United States aboard an air or sea carrier designated as a participant in the VWP.
President Bush believes the best foreign policy for America is one that lets visitors get to know this great country firsthand. Throughout history, some of the strongest advocates of freedom have been those who came to America and saw the blessings of liberty with their own eyes. The President is grateful to these 13 countries for seeking to strengthen ties between our citizens and looks forward to an even stronger partnership in the years ahead.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/10/print/20081017-15.html
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The Moscow Times » Issue 4018 » News
U.S. Sees Double Hit For Russia's Economy
27 October 2008By Nikolaus von Twickel / Staff WriterRussia will take a double hit from the global financial crisis because it is not isolated from the world and lacks domestic economic stability, a senior U.S. diplomat said.Russia is seeing "the worst of both worlds," David Merkel, deputy assistant secretary of state for Russia, said in an interview Friday.Reiterating the harsh rhetoric that the U.S. administration has adopted since Russia invaded Georgia in August, Merkel blamed the Russian government for the domestic stock market's disastrous performance and a jump in capital flight in the early days of the crisis. Among the government's mistakes, he said, was the "talking down of certain companies." In July, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attacked mining company Mechel, causing its shares to drop."There was already a downturn when the global downturn began," Merkel said.After the brief August war in Georgia, Russia's stock market spiraled downward. President Dmitry Medvedev has said 75 percent of the drop was caused by global turmoil and 25 percent was because of domestic problems.Merkel said Russia was not that isolated from the global economy. "Russia is not an insulated island outside of the world community," Merkel said. "With globalism, Russia is affected by things that happen outside its borders."Merkel reiterated previous remarks by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the Georgia war had reduced Russia's chances of joining the World Trade Organization. "Russia's actions have put in jeopardy its membership in WTO, its accession to the OECD and others," he said, adding that Moscow would probably not make it into the WTO next year.Asked whether he considered Russia imperialist, Merkel said that although Moscow had cooperated with the United States and Europe in the past, its "recent actions are more in line with a 19th-century imperial country."He also said Moscow needed to comply more fully with a peace plan for Georgia brokered by French President Nicholas Sarkozy and Moscow's decision to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent would backfire."I am concerned of what precedent Russia is setting" with regard to other former Soviet republics with ethnic minorities, he said. "I think that is why we did not see anyone in the former Soviet Union pick up Russia's rhetoric and recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia."Merkel made clear that Washington would not soften its position on NATO expansion, seen as one of the reasons for Moscow's stance on Georgia. NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine is just a matter of time, he said.Merkel, who served under the national security adviser to President George W. Bush before moving to the State Department in March, did not say which U.S. presidential candidate he preferred but indicated that Russia had been better off with a Republican administration in the past: "When the Bush administration came in [in 2000], what the Kremlin was saying was, 'Oh, thank goodness. We know how to work with Republicans. This will make things very, very straightforward and productive.'" Merkel said he would return to his native Texas when the next president takes office in January. "I have been in Washington for too long," he said.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/articles/detail.php?ID=371928&print=Y
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TRANSITIONS ONLINE: Our Take: Wrong Time for NATO by TOL24 October 2008
Western allies come to the rescue, but they should resist calls to open the door to membership in the military alliance.
Entire commentary: http://www.tol.cz/look/TOL/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue=292&NrSection=2&NrArticle=20100&tpid=10
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October 25, 2008
Despite Crisis, Germany Sees Russia as Land of Opportunity
By JUDY DEMPSEY
From left, Gerhard Schröder of Germany, Vladimir Kotenev of Russia and Thomas Jurk of Germany met last month in Dresden.
DRESDEN — Troubled finances can strain many a relationship. But the marriage of business interests between Russia and Germany is strengthening even as the global financial crisis deepens.
Despite a rapid downturn in both economies, German companies are planning to ramp up long-term investments in Russia, a move likely to increase Germany’s dependence on its largest trading partner.
Nowhere was this growing business connection more apparent than at a top-level gathering last month at a castle overlooking the Elbe River. Many of the hundreds of guests oozed confidence that, despite the conflict in Georgia and the storm in world finance, Russia and Germany would deepen their centuries-old bonds — perhaps even realizing a dream long held by some of binding Russia closer to the West.
“The long-term goal is about integrating the Russian economy with Europe,” said Peter Danylow, director of the East and Central European Association, an independent business body that promotes contacts between Germans and Eastern countries. “We are a long way from that. But Germany is not prepared to give up. There is too much at stake.”
Russia’s vast natural resources and Germany’s engineering skills bring the countries together more often than they drive them apart. Today, the relationship is centered on Germany’s thirst for Russian oil and natural gas, as well as on Russia’s need for capital investment and German manufacturing acumen.
German exports to Russia are vital to the continued flowering of the small and midsize German companies that are the backbone of its export prowess. Their presence in Russia has nearly doubled in five years, to more than 4,600, from 2,500 in 2003, said Peter Schulze, a professor of international politics and a Russia expert at the Georg-August-University in Göttingen. Of these, more than 90 percent are midsize companies known as Mittelstand, which produce things as diverse as machine tools, automobiles and chemicals.
Last year, 3 percent of all German exports went to Russia, and trade volume between the countries reached 57 billion euros, or $73.1 billion. In the first quarter of this year alone, Germany sent 25 percent more goods and services to Russia, according to Klaus Mangold, chairman of the Ost-Ausschuss, an influential group that promotes Germany’s economic interests throughout Russia and the former Soviet bloc.
German companies are also present in the energy sector — although they have been careful not to present a competitive threat to Russian firms. “With some exceptions, the German companies tend to keep away from the big high-profile projects,” Mr. Schulze said.
And many German operations have already ventured far outside the traditional bases of Moscow and St. Petersburg to expand what they see as potentially lucrative opportunities as Russia invests in its future.
“Every fourth Mittelstand company exports to Russia or is planning to increase its market share there,” Mario Ohoven, president of the Federation of the Mittelstand, said.
German businesses are looking at juicy contracts for investments like the Winter Olympics at the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, in 2014. Beyond Sochi, even fatter contracts beckon. “There is a massive need of investments in the infrastructure, whether roads and water, railways and airports and energy,” said Mr. Danylow. “There is a huge need for technological know-how.”
Burckhard Bergmann, a former chairman of the German energy company E.on Ruhrgas, told the gathering that Russia would need to spend an estimated $525 billion through 2030 just to modernize its railway tracks. A further $165 billion is needed by 2012 to upgrade the energy sector, he said.
Some German investors acknowledge that the turmoil in the global financial system has raised new risks. Russia’s stock market, already weakened after its conflict with Georgia, has been among the hardest hit in the world by the crisis. This has forced officials to repeatedly close stock exchanges, prop up the ruble and spend billions to promote liquidity. Oil, which helped Russia flex its political muscle, is now cutting into its income as the price plunges.
The turmoil has also made it harder to pull investments together. “It is not so easy to finance projects now,” Frank Schauff, a German who heads the Association of European Businesses in the Russian Federation, said.
And then there are problems endemic to Russia itself. Other German managers based there pointed to the absence of property rights and the lack of progress against both inflation and corruption, which President Dmitri A. Medvedev has vowed to fight.
But if Germans have doubts about Russia, they tend for the most part to keep them behind closed doors. Privately, for example, German managers say they were rattled by the jailing in 2003 of Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, the former chairman of the Yukos energy company, who politically challenged Vladimir V. Putin, then president. Publicly, German businesses largely keep quiet about Yukos and say little about the pattern of troubles that other Western oil companies, including Royal Dutch Shell and BP, have run into in Russia since then.
If anything, German politicians and business executives have pursued closer ties with Russia. This bond was highlighted by the attendance of powerful players at the castle on the Elbe, where German managers from Moscow mingled with Russian officials, and East German veterans of Soviet enterprises chatted up younger Russian entrepreneurs.
Gerhard Schröder, a former German chancellor who went straight to the payroll of the Russian energy giant Gazprom after he lost a 2005 re-election bid, spoke supportively of Russia as a reliable energy partner and a stable place to invest — Moscow’s war with Georgia notwithstanding.
Unlike Western companies that have posed threats to Russia’s strategic industrial or political interests, German businesses, at least publicly, have not fallen out with the Kremlin. The longstanding cultural, political and educational ties between Russia and Germany may explain why.
According to government officials, German managers in Russia squirm when the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, criticizes the clampdown on Russian media and dissenters. German companies have not been punished or penalized, despite her outspokenness, according to the Ost-Ausschuss.
In fact, Mrs. Merkel and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the foreign minister, have suggested that Germany codify its status as a crucial partner to help Russia modernize its infrastructure. Mr. Medvedev, in Berlin in June on his first presidential visit to a Western European capital, was enthusiastic. German business people are merely waiting for the lawyers to draft the agreement.
The investment opportunities sound enticing, but Mr. Schauff, who now heads the Ost-Ausschuss organization from Moscow, sounded a note of caution.
“I think Russian officials underestimate the task and scale of modernizing Russia,” he said. “Look at the reunification of Germany and how much money and planning was needed to modernize East Germany.”
Mr. Schauff said Russia’s $157 billion stabilization fund, created from energy export revenues, could be used for infrastructure projects. “But it is an enormous task,” he said. “It requires immense planning, strategic thinking, identifying concrete projects and following them through.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/25/business/worldbusiness/25dresden.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=world&pagewanted=print
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Belarus asks for Russian aid
Oct 26, 2008 2:37 PM
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, seeking extra funds to help his ex-Soviet state ride out the global financial crisis, held talks with traditional ally Russia on Saturday.
A delegation from the International Monetary Fund is to arrive in Belarus on Monday to consider its request for a $2 billion (NZD$3.6 billion) loan, and Lukashenko's government has also been offered a loan for the same sum over two years from Russia.
The Kremlin said in a statement Lukashenko held talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at an official residence outside Moscow which touched on the global financial crisis. It gave no details of any agreement.
Market analysts say Belarus has a total debt of $14 billion (NZD$25.1 billion). It also faces the prospect of a sharp hike in the amount it pays for imports of Russian gas in 2009.
Belarus's largely state-controlled economy has suffered little in the global crisis and analysts forecast robust growth. But they say the liquidity crunch means Belarus will struggle to refinance its debt and it lacks the reserves to make debt repayments on its own. A planned Eurobond issue faltered because of the turmoil on world markets.
Belarus's central bank has said it is seeking loans as a "precautionary measure" to ensure problems in neighbouring economies caused by the crisis do not spread to Belarus.
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411366/2232013
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Tunne Kelam: Speeches at the plenary session of the European Parliament on Holodomor, October 22 and 23, 2008
Strasbourg, 22.10. 2008
Artificial, man-made famines were used systematically as a tool by Communist totalitarian regimes to increase their hold on enslaved populations.
75 years ago, Soviet dictator Stalin decided to uproot Ukrainian national identity and Ukrainian resistance by creating a famine in the bread basket of Europe. He not only confiscated all available grain to be used for exports in order to buy Western technology for enforcing industrialization and militarization of the Soviet Union, but he also decided to use the resulting famine to punish millions of farmers who resisted forced collectivisation – the establishment of total state control over their lives and traditional ways of production.
Regions struck by the famine were not merely denied assistance. Even worse, hundreds of villages were cordoned off by the Red Army. Hundreds of thousands of starving people were denied a most elementary human right - the right to escape from certain death. People who tried to flee were hunted down like animals and shot.
Finally today we are reacting to one of the most appalling crimes by the Communist dictatorship – deliberately starving people to death. An authoritative moral and political assessment of such crimes is long overdue.
All victims of crimes against humanity deserve the same status. There cannot be first class victims of Nazism and second class victims of Communism just because Europe still lacks an integrated approach to the totalitarian crimes of the past century and because Europe has hesitated to take a concrete stand on the crimes that took place in the Eastern part of the continent.
We have a duty to learn what happened under Stalin just as well as we know what happened under Hitler.
We need not only to extend our solidarity to the Ukrainian nation, indeed, to all victims of these mass crimes against humanity, but also to pass a moral verdict. Only in this way can we reach the goal of the current debate - to guarantee that this monumental, destructive disregard for human lives and dignity will never again be repeated in any part of Europe.
What we really need is an all-European reconciliation. However, reconciliation can only result from truth and justice. Our duty is to make sure that the famous "Never Again!" will equally apply to the Ukrainian nation.
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Explanation of the vote on Holodomor resolution, adopted by the European Parliament on October 23, 2008.
Today I voted for the resolution on Holodomor – the great Ukrainian famine.
The resolution rightly calls Holodomor an appalling crime against the Ukrainian people and, indeed, against humanity.
However, due to the position taken by certain political groups, the resolution has not used the term “Genocide” that would be fair and appropriate to be used in the case of the Ukrainian national tragedy.
The Ukrainian Parliament and 26 states have defined this crime that caused the deaths of at least four million people as genocide.
Recital B of today’s resolution quotes the United Nations Convention on the crime of genocide from 1948 that unequivocally covers the Ukrainian case.
I hope that in the near future the European Parliament will follow the example of the Ukrainian Parliament and the other 26 states mentioned.
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Russia Must Pull Out Troops From S. Ossetia - Estonia President
Thursday, October 23, 2008 6:54 PM
(Source: Daily News Bulletin; Moscow - English)TALLINN. Oct 23 (Interfax) - Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said Russian troops stationed in South Ossetia must be pulled back to where they were before August 7 and that international observers must be let into the republic.
"Russia must abide by the obligations assumed under the Medvedev- Sarkozy peace plan and to pull its troops back to the position they were at before August 7," Ilves told German President Horst Koehler in Berlin on Thursday, according to the Estonian presidential service.
"Refugees must return to their homes, and humanitarian aid and international observers must have unrestricted access to the conflict territories, primarily South Ossetia," the Estonian president said.
Ilves also said that the NATO operation in Afghanistan should be continued. "NATO has no right to give up Afghanistan, or to get tired," he said.
"In Afghanistan the Alliance must strengthen the will and increase the role of the states involved in the ISAF operation, which will make our activities more powerful and trustworthy. Their success will demonstrate that NATO should be taken seriously," he said.
Ilves backed NATO's open-door policy, saying that the admission of new members is "the Alliance's independent decision which third countries have no right to veto."
"NATO's doors remain open for those who have opened themselves to democratic reform and law, and who are consistent and successful and want to join NATO," he said.
"NATO today is not opposed to any state. It advocates common values and principles, and democracy," the Estonia president said.
(c) 2008 Daily News Bulletin; Moscow - English. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
Window on Eurasia: South Ossetians Want to Be Independent of Russia Too, Moscow Paper Says
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Anti-Kremlin party wins Lithuanian ballot
October 27, 2008
VILNIUS, Lithuania - A conservative party critical of Russia won Lithuania's parliamentary ballot, the Baltic country's election commission said yesterday, signaling the return of a center-right government after seven years of leftist rule.
The Homeland Union led by former prime minister Andrius Kubilius won the first round of the vote two weeks ago and extended its lead in Sunday's runoff to capture a total of 44 seats in the 141-member Parliament, the commission said.
The governing Social Democrats finished in second place with 26 seats, losing their grip on power in the former Soviet republic, which joined the European Union and NATO in 2004.
The conservatives are expected to join forces with three smaller center-right parties to form Lithuania's 15th government since breaking free from the crumbling Soviet empire in 1991.
"We will take the responsibility to form a coalition," said Kubilius, a strong critic of Russia who has been stuck in opposition since leading a short-lived government between 1999 and 2000.
Kubilius said he expected to be nominated as prime minister.
"I do not see a reason why I can't be in the position, which I have already worked in during difficult times," he said.
Earlier yesterday, President Valdas Adamkus said that he would offer the prime minister's job to the party that won the most seats.
Lithuanian voters have been exasperated with scandals surrounding the governing Social Democratic Party. They also fear rising energy dependence on Russia, as their country of 3.4 million people closes a Soviet-era nuclear plant next year under an agreement with the European Union.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2008/10/27/anti_kremlin_party_wins_lithuanian_ballot?mode=PF
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Lithuania votes in centre-right coalition - Summary
Posted on : 2008-10-27 Author : DPA News Category : World
Vilnius - Lithuania was set Monday for a new political landscape after centre-right parties triumphed in the Baltic nation's general election Sunday night. According to preliminary results, the right-wing Homeland Union - Christian Democrats secured 44 seats in the country's 141-seat parliament, the Seimas, making it comfortably the largest party.
Rounding out a new four-party ruling coalition will be 16 seats belonging to the Rising Nation Party, 11 seats to the Liberal Movement, and a further eight from the Liberal and Center Union.
Thus, the coalition will control at least 79 seats, while opposition parties will be able to muster a maximum of 62.
Even while votes were still being counted on Sunday night, the leaders of the four centre-right parties had joined to appear before the TV cameras and make clear their intention to work together.
"Lithuania is choosing change - which will be implemented by a centre-right coalition," Andrius Kubilius of the Homeland Union told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Kubilius is now set for a second spell as prime minister, after serving previously in the position from November 1999 to October 2000.
The Social Democrats of current Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas will be the largest opposition party, having secured 26 seats.
Alongside them will be the Order and Justice Party of former president Rolandas Paksas, taking 15 seats and the Labor Party of Viktor Uspaskich with 10 seats. The remainder will consist of minor parties and independents, whose loyalties are unpredictable, at best.
Once Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus performs the formality of inviting Kubilius to form a new government, coalition partners will have to agree about who will control which ministries.
The Homeland Union insists it must control the four key ministries of finance, economics, defence and foreign affairs, while the Rising Nation Party is believed to covet the parliamentary speaker position.
Monday morning, the four party leaders formalised their alliance by signing a document stating their willingness to work together to tackle "the challenges Lithuania is facing under the developing conditions of the global financial and market crisis."
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/238774,lithuania-votes-in-centre-right-coalition--summary.html#
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Lithuanian center-right parties agree to form coalition government after winning vote
October 27, 2008 - 07:59 a.m.
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) - Four center-right parties in Lithuania have signed an agreement to form a center-right government.
The coalition is led by the conservative Homeland Union, which won the most seats in the Baltic state's parliamentary election.
The agreement stresses that Lithuania is facing an economic crisis and the four parties are prepared to help steer the country of 3.4 million people through the upcoming challenges.
President Valdas Adamkus said Monday that he expect the new coalition would be able to begin reforms as soon as possible.
The center-right coalition won 79 seats in Lithuania's 141-member legislature after Sunday's runoff.
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/market_news/article.jsp?content=D942QS100#adSkip
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Kubilius: the right man for a Lithuanian crisis - Feature
Posted on : 2008-10-27 Author : DPA News Category : Europe
Vilnius Leaders of Lithuania's parties include a stunt pilot who was the first European president to be impeached, a fugitive gherkin magnate and a game show host who was once arrested in connection with a bomb scare. In such a bizarre political landscape, Andrius Kubilius seems unusual for being a professional politician. Kubilius is seen as the country's likely next prime minister after a round of coalition-building wraps up in the wake of recently finished elections.
Born 1956 in Vilnius, Kubilius grew up in communist Lithuania, graduating from the physics faculty of Vilnius University in 1979. He joined the Sajudis Movement, the main centre of political opposition to Soviet occupation, in 1988 and quickly rose through its ranks during the struggle for independence.
After independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, he entered parliament in 1992 as a protege of president Vytautas Landsbergis. In 1993 he was a founding member of the Homeland Union.
Kubilius has already had one brief spell as prime minister, in 1999-2000, during which time he proved to be business-friendly without being tied too closely to vested interests. He played a key role in the liberalization and privatization of key industries such as gas, electricity and the transport sector.
As a result, he has retained more respect than many other politicians who emerged in the first few years after Lithuania regained its independence.
Even Viktor Uspaskich, the aforementioned gherkin magnate, who lies at the other end of the political, personal and social spectrum from the dapper Kubilius spoke in glowing terms of his rival's upright character recently - though that could have had as much to do with trying to get into the good books of the next prime minister as anything else.
Kubilius is a good organizer and established the Homeland Union as an efficient, opposition political machine, complete with a slick website, personal blog and media-friendly attitude.
He gradually built pressure on the government of Gediminas Kirkilas, but resisted overt populism. However, by doing so, opened up the door for the avowedly populist Rising Nation, or "Showbiz" Party, to gather up that vote. They will now likely be Kubilius' main coalition partner.
The future stability of a Kubilius-led government is likely to rest on whether he can develop a good working relationship with Arunas Valinskas, the leader of Rising Nation and a former TV game show host.
But perhaps the real reason for Kubilius' return to the top of the Lithuanian political scene is simply a case of history repeating itself. The Sajudis Movement was a broadly-based right-leaning coalition designed to keep Lithuania intact during a political crisis. This time, Kubilius has managed to assemble another centre- right coalition that will aim to take Lithuania safely through an economic crisis.
Kubilius says he is relishing the challenge and cites Ireland as an example of how a small country can achieve a big turnaround in its fortunes.
"We have a situation which is really challenging. But challenges can mean more interesting times for government than a calm period," he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
"My personal experience in government was in the crisis of 1999, so I think this government will be of a similar type. We shall not be afraid of making deep changes. We have the example of Ireland in the middle of the 1980s when, during a crisis, they made a national agreement. That became exactly the basis of the success of Ireland in later years. Perhaps also this crisis is needed for Lithuania to go into the future," he said.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/238749,kubilius-the-right-man-for-a-lithuanian-crisis--feature.html#
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Vilnius and Riga lagging behind other Baltic Sea region cities
Danuta Pavilenene, BC, Vilnius, 27.10.2008.
Vilnius was considered far behind other cities in the Baltic Sea region in terms of economic development and potential competitiveness according to a survey, published by German researchers in Rostock, Radio Vilnius informed.
Vilnius.
The survey compares nine cities in the region: Kiel and Rostock in Germany, Poland's Gdansk, Vilnius of Lithuania, Riga – Latvia's capital, Tallinn of Estonia, Turku of Finland, Umea of Sweden and Aarhus of Denmark. The evaluation of potential in the study is based on the assumption that competitive advantage not only depends on traditional factors, such as real estate prices, transportation costs and the labor force, but that it also depends on factors with indirect effects on the economy, such as innovation, expertise and openness, reports ELTA.
Based on all these factors, Vilnius, together with Riga and Gdansk, ranked in the group with the worst potential, far behind both the lead group of Turku, Umea and Aarhus and the middle group of Kiel, Rostock and Tallinn.
The survey shows that Vilnius has serious problems in terms of innovation and level of knowledge. Concerning innovation, the authors of the survey emphasize that the investment Vilnius makes into research and technological development, at just 0.76% of gross domestic product (GDP), is less than half of the European Union average of 1.9% of GDP. They also point to the fact that research facilities are poorly funded and scientists earn a pittance, which has led to the loss of intellectual and professional personnel.
According to the survey, Vilnius, with 135 university students for every 1000 residents is well above the EU average, yet the city is falling behind the rest of Europe in terms of people employed in the knowledge economy sector.
The authors value the multi-cultural nature of Vilnius as well as the fact that the number of employed women in the city is above the EU average.
However, the survey states that residents of Vilnius face many challenges when trying to reach a balance between their family and work. According to the research, this fact relates to the poorly developed system of nursery schools and kindergartens in the city.
The research was carried out by the Hamburg Institute of International Economics in cooperation with the Hamburg office of the professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/analytics/?doc=6536&ins_print
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Red Terror on the Amber Coast
Completion and Release of Documentary Film
“A Story that needs to be told!”
DVD copies: $20.00 each (plus $2.00 postage)
You Tube trailor preview for
Red Terror...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYET4bk0gvU
Film-maker Ken Gumbert and producer David O’Rourke have announced that their documentary film, Red Terror on the Amber Coast, has been completed and released for distribution, and has been accepted for broadcast on Rhode Island Public Television, at a time yet to be set. The film, in the works for five years, describes the Soviet occupation of the Baltics following the Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939, the fifty year reign of terror the Soviets imposed on the once free and democratic republics, and the resistance to the illegal takeover. The film’s focus is principally on Lithuania. But the film-makers know that the story they present is the story of all three countries.
Almost by accident in 2001, the team of editor and writer David O’Rourke and documentary film-maker Ken Gumbert came upon photographs of prison and torture abandoned by the KGB when they fled their headquarters in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. Startled by the blunt cruelty of what they saw, they decided that the terrible story the pictures revealed had to be told.
In June of 2006 they were able to film interviews with a cross section of people, from President Adamkus and Vytautas Landsbergis to the wives of captured partizanai (freedom fighters) who had to fight just to survive while their husbands were in Soviet prisons. And with the full support of the National Genocide and Resistance Center in Vilnius and the Occupation Museum and Film Archives in Riga they have been able to illustrate the personal narratives with rare archival films and photographs.
At present the film-makers, both Dominican priests, are working with Lithuanian-American groups and others to promote the scheduling of the film on public television, in film festivals, and in local communities. They may be contacted directly by interested people. kgumbert@providence.edu dkorop@sbcglobal.net Tony@TonyMazeika.com
For more information, contact Tony & Danute Mazeika 949 929-9051
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Breaking news & commentary ....click on active links for multiple photos!
Senate 110th Session of Congress (2007 - 2008)
Click the tabs directly below to see vote descriptions and ACT! for America's positions. Then find the vote in the scorecard below and scroll down to the House or Senate member you're looking for. The percentages on the far right indicate the percent of the time each Member voted with ACT! for America's positions.
http://www.actforamerica.org/index.php/senate-110th-session-of-congress-2007-2008
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George Soros Funds Catholic Left
An organization founded by billionaire investor and Democratic financier George Soros has funded two “left-wing” Catholic groups that support abortion rights, according to Catholic League President Bill Donohue.
Soros “is connected to two apologists for abortion rights: Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, and Catholics United,” Donohue said in a Catholic League release.
“In 2006, Soros’ Open Society Institute gave Catholics in Alliance $100,000 [double the amount he gave in 2005], and in the same year, Catholics in Alliance listed Catholics United . . . as an organization with which it has a formal relationship.
“John Podesta, who runs the Soros-funded organization Center for American Progress, admits that he works closely with Catholics in Alliance and Catholics United.”
Donohue asks, “Why would any Catholic organization take money from a man like George Soros? . . . And why would Soros have any interest in funding Catholic groups? He doesn’t give the Catholic League any money, and if he offered, I would refuse it.
“The reason Soros funds the Catholic left is the same reason he lavishly funds Catholics for Choice, the pro-abortion group that has twice been condemned as a fraud by Catholic bishops. They all service his agenda, namely, to make support for abortion rights a respectable Catholic position.”
On Oct. 17, Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput accused Catholics in Alliance and Catholics United of doing a “disservice” to the Catholic Church, according to Donohue, who added, “He’s right — and now we know what really makes them tick.”
Chris Korzen of Catholics United sought to counter the criticism from Donohue by asserting that Soros’ organization also contributes to Catholic Charities, Catholic Relief Services, and Catholic Legal Immigration Services.
But Donohue told LifeNews.com, “Unlike the three Catholic organizations cited by Korzen, Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance are apologists for abortion.
“Their passion for abortion rights is so strong that they refuse to endorse the legal ban on partial-birth abortion.”
http://news.newsmax.com/?Z6ODXcSjvM18yhQcOT6Ow3QZkXbzxJRAZ
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We as a society have only ourselves to thank for this insidious situation. What is remarkable is that these Leftist-pro Marxist instructors and professors have now declared themselves publically on the stage of public opinion. When students go to a university without core belief systems cultivated from parents, church, and family, why should we be surprised when our children join the ranks of radicals. The "boomer" generation did a terrible job with their "generation x" children. So what is next in the devastating culture war ravaging this nation? We deserve the cultural and political consequences based upon our choice of the politicians and educators that serve us.
Tony Mazeika
More Than 3,000 Academics Sign Pro-Ayers Petition
Educators signed a petition praising William Ayers as an education reformer whose ties to the domestic terrorist group Weather Underground are just "history."
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/22/academics-sign-pro-ayers-petition/comments/
Reader comments:
"Really outrageous and alarming. All this has been going on for a loooong time and building up. My daughter Kai is the local chapter head of Parents Televisioon Council (PTC) which monitors television programs for suitability for kids and takes action against bad, lewd, violent shows. It is absolutely shocking what is being shown early in the evening. As well as which companies are advertising on these programs. http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/faqs/main.asp God help us all.
Love,"
Mari-Ann
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Geopolitical Diary: The World According to Riyadh
October 24, 2008 0207 GMT
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will be meeting in Vienna on Friday, a month ahead of schedule. The issue on the table is whether or not to cut OPEC production in light of declining global demand for crude as countries the world over are coming down with the financial flu.
OPEC members like Venezuela, Iran, Libya and Algeria — all of which are pulling their hair out watching oil prices slide down to around $70 a barrel — have been issuing statement after statement over the past week, calling on their fellow OPEC members to cut production so that they can maintain the flow of petrodollars coming into their government coffers. Going by their statements, it seemed as if it was inevitable that OPEC would make a decision to cut production and buoy the price of crude.
But earlier in the week, Stratfor cautioned that an OPEC production cut is anything but inevitable — especially with the Saudis in play.
As the world’s largest oil producer and exporter and the cartel’s undisputed heavyweight champion, Saudi Arabia is the ultimate decider when it comes to the issue of increasing or decreasing OPEC production. Since the Saudis have the most oil, they are the only ones who can take enough crude off the market to make a meaningful difference in price.
Upon arriving in Vienna, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi was asked whether his country supports the idea of cutting output when the cartel meets Friday. His answer: “Who said anything about a cut? Prices will be determined by the market.”
We have a feeling a number of leaders in oil-producing countries across the globe nearly went into cardiac arrest upon hearing those words.
Anything can still happen at this OPEC meeting, but Saudi Arabia is very clearly indicating that is in no big rush to prop up the price of oil. On the one hand, you might consider Riyadh crazy not to want to keep the petrodollars flowing at a healthy pace when global demand is sliding. But Saudi Arabia isn’t worried about the cash right now (the Saudis already have a nice cushion of at least US$1 trillion in petrodollars to fall back on.) Riyadh’s plans for OPEC run on a much deeper geopolitical calculus.
The 1973 oil embargo was the first time Saudi Arabia learned what it meant to use oil as a tool of foreign policy. The Venezuelans ultimately knocked the legs out from under the embargo when Caracas decided to fill the gap by increasing its own oil exports. But nonetheless, the Saudis developed a taste for using oil as a weapon. In the 1980s, the Saudis, in private collaboration with the Americans, shifted gears and increased oil production to flood the markets. The Saudi move was one of the variables that helped bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union, allowing the Saudi Arabia to drive a major competitor out of the energy market for a good ten years and dismantle what was at the time the greatest foreign policy threat to the West in one fell swoop.
Since then, the Saudis have used their oil wealth primarily as a means of policy to keep U.S. interests in line with those of Saudi Arabia, particularly when it has come to issues of maintaining Sunni power in Iraq and keeping their Persian rivals in Tehran in check. Now, the Saudis are presented with a situation in which the world’s three major economic centers — the United States, Europe and Asia — are approaching recessions nearly simultaneously. The inevitable global economic slowdown spells bad news for the more-vulnerable oil-producing countries such as Venezuela and Iran, whose regime security is almost wholly dependent on oil prices not taking a deep plunge.
From Saudi Arabia’s point of view, it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to hold out a bit longer and allow the price of crude to drop a few more dollars to drive some select competitors out of the market. For instance, by turning the screws on Venezuela, Saudi Arabia could get payback for 1973 and knock down a major irritant in the U.S. backyard.
The Russians also have reason to be worried. The Saudis do not like the idea of a resurgent Russia, especially when it comes to meddling in the Middle East. With the Russians already suffering from major liquidity problems, draining their oil revenue would help deflate their ambitions even more.
The Iranians, who have most vociferously called for a production cut, are on the top of Saudi Arabia’s geopolitical target list. The Saudis want to prevent the Iranians and their Shiite allies from radically upsetting the regional balance of power that has historically been in favor of the Sunnis. With Iran already under deep economic distress, the Saudis would be more than inclined to knock Iran down a few more pegs.
There are, of course, other side effects to bringing down the price of oil, particularly for countries less hostile to U.S. interests — such as Mexico, Canada and Brazil, which are going to take a hit from a decline in energy revenues. Of most concern for the United States is Mexico, which might require substantial bailouts to prevent the chaos from spilling over onto the U.S. side of the border as the country is already struggling with a fight against powerful drug cartels and a tight fiscal crisis. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia’s major energy clients — including the United States — would greatly appreciate a break in oil prices to help reduce production costs at home and ease the pains of the coming recession.
In any case, it would be foolish to think that the cost-benefit analysis running through Riyadh’s head right now is simply based on short-term income numbers. Major geopolitical opportunities are dancing before the Saudis’ eyes. We’ll see in Vienna just how hard and how seriously the Saudis intend to play.
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Fact Sheet: Extending Travel Opportunities to Our Allies
President Bush Discusses the Visa Waiver Program
Today, President Bush hosted representatives from seven nations that have met the criteria for admission into the United States' Visa Waiver Program (VWP) and six nations on track to be admitted. In about a month, the citizens of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and South Korea will be able to travel to the United States for business or tourism for up to 90 days without a visa. So-called "roadmap" countries, which are on track to qualify for VWP admission, at today's event were Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Poland, and Romania.
The 13 countries represented at today's event are close friends and allies whose leaders told the President that their citizens believed it unfair that they had to wait in line and pay for visas to travel to the United States when other allies are allowed to travel visa-free. The President agreed while pointing out that in the post-9/11 world, expanding visa-free travel would be possible only as travel security measures are strengthened.
Today's announcement represents a milestone in the long effort by the Administration to modernize the VWP. During a November 2006 visit to Estonia, the President announced that he would work with Congress to expand opportunities for visa-free travel as we strengthen the security of the VWP. The President appreciates the bipartisan support this initiative received on Capitol Hill. As part of the "Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007," Congress acted to give the Administration greater flexibility to admit new countries into the VWP provided that they agree to a number of new security enhancements, notably to share information about threats to our people. The law also requires foreign citizens who want to travel under VWP to register through a new online program that screens for potential security threats.
Extending Travel Opportunities To Some Of Our Closest Allies Deepens Our Friendship And Makes All Our Countries Safer
The VWP currently allows the citizens of 27 countries to travel to the United States for tourism or business without obtaining a visa. Nationals participating in the VWP must travel only for business, pleasure, or transit; stay in the United States for 90 days or less; and, if arriving by sea or air, hold a valid ticket for return or onward travel and enter the United States aboard an air or sea carrier designated as a participant in the VWP.
President Bush believes the best foreign policy for America is one that lets visitors get to know this great country firsthand. Throughout history, some of the strongest advocates of freedom have been those who came to America and saw the blessings of liberty with their own eyes. The President is grateful to these 13 countries for seeking to strengthen ties between our citizens and looks forward to an even stronger partnership in the years ahead.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/10/print/20081017-15.html
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The Moscow Times » Issue 4018 » News
U.S. Sees Double Hit For Russia's Economy
27 October 2008By Nikolaus von Twickel / Staff WriterRussia will take a double hit from the global financial crisis because it is not isolated from the world and lacks domestic economic stability, a senior U.S. diplomat said.Russia is seeing "the worst of both worlds," David Merkel, deputy assistant secretary of state for Russia, said in an interview Friday.Reiterating the harsh rhetoric that the U.S. administration has adopted since Russia invaded Georgia in August, Merkel blamed the Russian government for the domestic stock market's disastrous performance and a jump in capital flight in the early days of the crisis. Among the government's mistakes, he said, was the "talking down of certain companies." In July, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attacked mining company Mechel, causing its shares to drop."There was already a downturn when the global downturn began," Merkel said.After the brief August war in Georgia, Russia's stock market spiraled downward. President Dmitry Medvedev has said 75 percent of the drop was caused by global turmoil and 25 percent was because of domestic problems.Merkel said Russia was not that isolated from the global economy. "Russia is not an insulated island outside of the world community," Merkel said. "With globalism, Russia is affected by things that happen outside its borders."Merkel reiterated previous remarks by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the Georgia war had reduced Russia's chances of joining the World Trade Organization. "Russia's actions have put in jeopardy its membership in WTO, its accession to the OECD and others," he said, adding that Moscow would probably not make it into the WTO next year.Asked whether he considered Russia imperialist, Merkel said that although Moscow had cooperated with the United States and Europe in the past, its "recent actions are more in line with a 19th-century imperial country."He also said Moscow needed to comply more fully with a peace plan for Georgia brokered by French President Nicholas Sarkozy and Moscow's decision to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent would backfire."I am concerned of what precedent Russia is setting" with regard to other former Soviet republics with ethnic minorities, he said. "I think that is why we did not see anyone in the former Soviet Union pick up Russia's rhetoric and recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia."Merkel made clear that Washington would not soften its position on NATO expansion, seen as one of the reasons for Moscow's stance on Georgia. NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine is just a matter of time, he said.Merkel, who served under the national security adviser to President George W. Bush before moving to the State Department in March, did not say which U.S. presidential candidate he preferred but indicated that Russia had been better off with a Republican administration in the past: "When the Bush administration came in [in 2000], what the Kremlin was saying was, 'Oh, thank goodness. We know how to work with Republicans. This will make things very, very straightforward and productive.'" Merkel said he would return to his native Texas when the next president takes office in January. "I have been in Washington for too long," he said.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/articles/detail.php?ID=371928&print=Y
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TRANSITIONS ONLINE: Our Take: Wrong Time for NATO by TOL24 October 2008
Western allies come to the rescue, but they should resist calls to open the door to membership in the military alliance.
Entire commentary: http://www.tol.cz/look/TOL/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue=292&NrSection=2&NrArticle=20100&tpid=10
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October 25, 2008
Despite Crisis, Germany Sees Russia as Land of Opportunity
By JUDY DEMPSEY
From left, Gerhard Schröder of Germany, Vladimir Kotenev of Russia and Thomas Jurk of Germany met last month in Dresden.
DRESDEN — Troubled finances can strain many a relationship. But the marriage of business interests between Russia and Germany is strengthening even as the global financial crisis deepens.
Despite a rapid downturn in both economies, German companies are planning to ramp up long-term investments in Russia, a move likely to increase Germany’s dependence on its largest trading partner.
Nowhere was this growing business connection more apparent than at a top-level gathering last month at a castle overlooking the Elbe River. Many of the hundreds of guests oozed confidence that, despite the conflict in Georgia and the storm in world finance, Russia and Germany would deepen their centuries-old bonds — perhaps even realizing a dream long held by some of binding Russia closer to the West.
“The long-term goal is about integrating the Russian economy with Europe,” said Peter Danylow, director of the East and Central European Association, an independent business body that promotes contacts between Germans and Eastern countries. “We are a long way from that. But Germany is not prepared to give up. There is too much at stake.”
Russia’s vast natural resources and Germany’s engineering skills bring the countries together more often than they drive them apart. Today, the relationship is centered on Germany’s thirst for Russian oil and natural gas, as well as on Russia’s need for capital investment and German manufacturing acumen.
German exports to Russia are vital to the continued flowering of the small and midsize German companies that are the backbone of its export prowess. Their presence in Russia has nearly doubled in five years, to more than 4,600, from 2,500 in 2003, said Peter Schulze, a professor of international politics and a Russia expert at the Georg-August-University in Göttingen. Of these, more than 90 percent are midsize companies known as Mittelstand, which produce things as diverse as machine tools, automobiles and chemicals.
Last year, 3 percent of all German exports went to Russia, and trade volume between the countries reached 57 billion euros, or $73.1 billion. In the first quarter of this year alone, Germany sent 25 percent more goods and services to Russia, according to Klaus Mangold, chairman of the Ost-Ausschuss, an influential group that promotes Germany’s economic interests throughout Russia and the former Soviet bloc.
German companies are also present in the energy sector — although they have been careful not to present a competitive threat to Russian firms. “With some exceptions, the German companies tend to keep away from the big high-profile projects,” Mr. Schulze said.
And many German operations have already ventured far outside the traditional bases of Moscow and St. Petersburg to expand what they see as potentially lucrative opportunities as Russia invests in its future.
“Every fourth Mittelstand company exports to Russia or is planning to increase its market share there,” Mario Ohoven, president of the Federation of the Mittelstand, said.
German businesses are looking at juicy contracts for investments like the Winter Olympics at the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, in 2014. Beyond Sochi, even fatter contracts beckon. “There is a massive need of investments in the infrastructure, whether roads and water, railways and airports and energy,” said Mr. Danylow. “There is a huge need for technological know-how.”
Burckhard Bergmann, a former chairman of the German energy company E.on Ruhrgas, told the gathering that Russia would need to spend an estimated $525 billion through 2030 just to modernize its railway tracks. A further $165 billion is needed by 2012 to upgrade the energy sector, he said.
Some German investors acknowledge that the turmoil in the global financial system has raised new risks. Russia’s stock market, already weakened after its conflict with Georgia, has been among the hardest hit in the world by the crisis. This has forced officials to repeatedly close stock exchanges, prop up the ruble and spend billions to promote liquidity. Oil, which helped Russia flex its political muscle, is now cutting into its income as the price plunges.
The turmoil has also made it harder to pull investments together. “It is not so easy to finance projects now,” Frank Schauff, a German who heads the Association of European Businesses in the Russian Federation, said.
And then there are problems endemic to Russia itself. Other German managers based there pointed to the absence of property rights and the lack of progress against both inflation and corruption, which President Dmitri A. Medvedev has vowed to fight.
But if Germans have doubts about Russia, they tend for the most part to keep them behind closed doors. Privately, for example, German managers say they were rattled by the jailing in 2003 of Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, the former chairman of the Yukos energy company, who politically challenged Vladimir V. Putin, then president. Publicly, German businesses largely keep quiet about Yukos and say little about the pattern of troubles that other Western oil companies, including Royal Dutch Shell and BP, have run into in Russia since then.
If anything, German politicians and business executives have pursued closer ties with Russia. This bond was highlighted by the attendance of powerful players at the castle on the Elbe, where German managers from Moscow mingled with Russian officials, and East German veterans of Soviet enterprises chatted up younger Russian entrepreneurs.
Gerhard Schröder, a former German chancellor who went straight to the payroll of the Russian energy giant Gazprom after he lost a 2005 re-election bid, spoke supportively of Russia as a reliable energy partner and a stable place to invest — Moscow’s war with Georgia notwithstanding.
Unlike Western companies that have posed threats to Russia’s strategic industrial or political interests, German businesses, at least publicly, have not fallen out with the Kremlin. The longstanding cultural, political and educational ties between Russia and Germany may explain why.
According to government officials, German managers in Russia squirm when the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, criticizes the clampdown on Russian media and dissenters. German companies have not been punished or penalized, despite her outspokenness, according to the Ost-Ausschuss.
In fact, Mrs. Merkel and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the foreign minister, have suggested that Germany codify its status as a crucial partner to help Russia modernize its infrastructure. Mr. Medvedev, in Berlin in June on his first presidential visit to a Western European capital, was enthusiastic. German business people are merely waiting for the lawyers to draft the agreement.
The investment opportunities sound enticing, but Mr. Schauff, who now heads the Ost-Ausschuss organization from Moscow, sounded a note of caution.
“I think Russian officials underestimate the task and scale of modernizing Russia,” he said. “Look at the reunification of Germany and how much money and planning was needed to modernize East Germany.”
Mr. Schauff said Russia’s $157 billion stabilization fund, created from energy export revenues, could be used for infrastructure projects. “But it is an enormous task,” he said. “It requires immense planning, strategic thinking, identifying concrete projects and following them through.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/25/business/worldbusiness/25dresden.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=world&pagewanted=print
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Belarus asks for Russian aid
Oct 26, 2008 2:37 PM
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, seeking extra funds to help his ex-Soviet state ride out the global financial crisis, held talks with traditional ally Russia on Saturday.
A delegation from the International Monetary Fund is to arrive in Belarus on Monday to consider its request for a $2 billion (NZD$3.6 billion) loan, and Lukashenko's government has also been offered a loan for the same sum over two years from Russia.
The Kremlin said in a statement Lukashenko held talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at an official residence outside Moscow which touched on the global financial crisis. It gave no details of any agreement.
Market analysts say Belarus has a total debt of $14 billion (NZD$25.1 billion). It also faces the prospect of a sharp hike in the amount it pays for imports of Russian gas in 2009.
Belarus's largely state-controlled economy has suffered little in the global crisis and analysts forecast robust growth. But they say the liquidity crunch means Belarus will struggle to refinance its debt and it lacks the reserves to make debt repayments on its own. A planned Eurobond issue faltered because of the turmoil on world markets.
Belarus's central bank has said it is seeking loans as a "precautionary measure" to ensure problems in neighbouring economies caused by the crisis do not spread to Belarus.
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411366/2232013
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Tunne Kelam: Speeches at the plenary session of the European Parliament on Holodomor, October 22 and 23, 2008
Strasbourg, 22.10. 2008
Artificial, man-made famines were used systematically as a tool by Communist totalitarian regimes to increase their hold on enslaved populations.
75 years ago, Soviet dictator Stalin decided to uproot Ukrainian national identity and Ukrainian resistance by creating a famine in the bread basket of Europe. He not only confiscated all available grain to be used for exports in order to buy Western technology for enforcing industrialization and militarization of the Soviet Union, but he also decided to use the resulting famine to punish millions of farmers who resisted forced collectivisation – the establishment of total state control over their lives and traditional ways of production.
Regions struck by the famine were not merely denied assistance. Even worse, hundreds of villages were cordoned off by the Red Army. Hundreds of thousands of starving people were denied a most elementary human right - the right to escape from certain death. People who tried to flee were hunted down like animals and shot.
Finally today we are reacting to one of the most appalling crimes by the Communist dictatorship – deliberately starving people to death. An authoritative moral and political assessment of such crimes is long overdue.
All victims of crimes against humanity deserve the same status. There cannot be first class victims of Nazism and second class victims of Communism just because Europe still lacks an integrated approach to the totalitarian crimes of the past century and because Europe has hesitated to take a concrete stand on the crimes that took place in the Eastern part of the continent.
We have a duty to learn what happened under Stalin just as well as we know what happened under Hitler.
We need not only to extend our solidarity to the Ukrainian nation, indeed, to all victims of these mass crimes against humanity, but also to pass a moral verdict. Only in this way can we reach the goal of the current debate - to guarantee that this monumental, destructive disregard for human lives and dignity will never again be repeated in any part of Europe.
What we really need is an all-European reconciliation. However, reconciliation can only result from truth and justice. Our duty is to make sure that the famous "Never Again!" will equally apply to the Ukrainian nation.
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Explanation of the vote on Holodomor resolution, adopted by the European Parliament on October 23, 2008.
Today I voted for the resolution on Holodomor – the great Ukrainian famine.
The resolution rightly calls Holodomor an appalling crime against the Ukrainian people and, indeed, against humanity.
However, due to the position taken by certain political groups, the resolution has not used the term “Genocide” that would be fair and appropriate to be used in the case of the Ukrainian national tragedy.
The Ukrainian Parliament and 26 states have defined this crime that caused the deaths of at least four million people as genocide.
Recital B of today’s resolution quotes the United Nations Convention on the crime of genocide from 1948 that unequivocally covers the Ukrainian case.
I hope that in the near future the European Parliament will follow the example of the Ukrainian Parliament and the other 26 states mentioned.
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Russia Must Pull Out Troops From S. Ossetia - Estonia President
Thursday, October 23, 2008 6:54 PM
(Source: Daily News Bulletin; Moscow - English)TALLINN. Oct 23 (Interfax) - Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said Russian troops stationed in South Ossetia must be pulled back to where they were before August 7 and that international observers must be let into the republic.
"Russia must abide by the obligations assumed under the Medvedev- Sarkozy peace plan and to pull its troops back to the position they were at before August 7," Ilves told German President Horst Koehler in Berlin on Thursday, according to the Estonian presidential service.
"Refugees must return to their homes, and humanitarian aid and international observers must have unrestricted access to the conflict territories, primarily South Ossetia," the Estonian president said.
Ilves also said that the NATO operation in Afghanistan should be continued. "NATO has no right to give up Afghanistan, or to get tired," he said.
"In Afghanistan the Alliance must strengthen the will and increase the role of the states involved in the ISAF operation, which will make our activities more powerful and trustworthy. Their success will demonstrate that NATO should be taken seriously," he said.
Ilves backed NATO's open-door policy, saying that the admission of new members is "the Alliance's independent decision which third countries have no right to veto."
"NATO's doors remain open for those who have opened themselves to democratic reform and law, and who are consistent and successful and want to join NATO," he said.
"NATO today is not opposed to any state. It advocates common values and principles, and democracy," the Estonia president said.
(c) 2008 Daily News Bulletin; Moscow - English. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
Window on Eurasia: South Ossetians Want to Be Independent of Russia Too, Moscow Paper Says
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Anti-Kremlin party wins Lithuanian ballot
October 27, 2008
VILNIUS, Lithuania - A conservative party critical of Russia won Lithuania's parliamentary ballot, the Baltic country's election commission said yesterday, signaling the return of a center-right government after seven years of leftist rule.
The Homeland Union led by former prime minister Andrius Kubilius won the first round of the vote two weeks ago and extended its lead in Sunday's runoff to capture a total of 44 seats in the 141-member Parliament, the commission said.
The governing Social Democrats finished in second place with 26 seats, losing their grip on power in the former Soviet republic, which joined the European Union and NATO in 2004.
The conservatives are expected to join forces with three smaller center-right parties to form Lithuania's 15th government since breaking free from the crumbling Soviet empire in 1991.
"We will take the responsibility to form a coalition," said Kubilius, a strong critic of Russia who has been stuck in opposition since leading a short-lived government between 1999 and 2000.
Kubilius said he expected to be nominated as prime minister.
"I do not see a reason why I can't be in the position, which I have already worked in during difficult times," he said.
Earlier yesterday, President Valdas Adamkus said that he would offer the prime minister's job to the party that won the most seats.
Lithuanian voters have been exasperated with scandals surrounding the governing Social Democratic Party. They also fear rising energy dependence on Russia, as their country of 3.4 million people closes a Soviet-era nuclear plant next year under an agreement with the European Union.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2008/10/27/anti_kremlin_party_wins_lithuanian_ballot?mode=PF
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Lithuania votes in centre-right coalition - Summary
Posted on : 2008-10-27 Author : DPA News Category : World
Vilnius - Lithuania was set Monday for a new political landscape after centre-right parties triumphed in the Baltic nation's general election Sunday night. According to preliminary results, the right-wing Homeland Union - Christian Democrats secured 44 seats in the country's 141-seat parliament, the Seimas, making it comfortably the largest party.
Rounding out a new four-party ruling coalition will be 16 seats belonging to the Rising Nation Party, 11 seats to the Liberal Movement, and a further eight from the Liberal and Center Union.
Thus, the coalition will control at least 79 seats, while opposition parties will be able to muster a maximum of 62.
Even while votes were still being counted on Sunday night, the leaders of the four centre-right parties had joined to appear before the TV cameras and make clear their intention to work together.
"Lithuania is choosing change - which will be implemented by a centre-right coalition," Andrius Kubilius of the Homeland Union told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Kubilius is now set for a second spell as prime minister, after serving previously in the position from November 1999 to October 2000.
The Social Democrats of current Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas will be the largest opposition party, having secured 26 seats.
Alongside them will be the Order and Justice Party of former president Rolandas Paksas, taking 15 seats and the Labor Party of Viktor Uspaskich with 10 seats. The remainder will consist of minor parties and independents, whose loyalties are unpredictable, at best.
Once Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus performs the formality of inviting Kubilius to form a new government, coalition partners will have to agree about who will control which ministries.
The Homeland Union insists it must control the four key ministries of finance, economics, defence and foreign affairs, while the Rising Nation Party is believed to covet the parliamentary speaker position.
Monday morning, the four party leaders formalised their alliance by signing a document stating their willingness to work together to tackle "the challenges Lithuania is facing under the developing conditions of the global financial and market crisis."
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/238774,lithuania-votes-in-centre-right-coalition--summary.html#
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Lithuanian center-right parties agree to form coalition government after winning vote
October 27, 2008 - 07:59 a.m.
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) - Four center-right parties in Lithuania have signed an agreement to form a center-right government.
The coalition is led by the conservative Homeland Union, which won the most seats in the Baltic state's parliamentary election.
The agreement stresses that Lithuania is facing an economic crisis and the four parties are prepared to help steer the country of 3.4 million people through the upcoming challenges.
President Valdas Adamkus said Monday that he expect the new coalition would be able to begin reforms as soon as possible.
The center-right coalition won 79 seats in Lithuania's 141-member legislature after Sunday's runoff.
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/market_news/article.jsp?content=D942QS100#adSkip
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Kubilius: the right man for a Lithuanian crisis - Feature
Posted on : 2008-10-27 Author : DPA News Category : Europe
Vilnius Leaders of Lithuania's parties include a stunt pilot who was the first European president to be impeached, a fugitive gherkin magnate and a game show host who was once arrested in connection with a bomb scare. In such a bizarre political landscape, Andrius Kubilius seems unusual for being a professional politician. Kubilius is seen as the country's likely next prime minister after a round of coalition-building wraps up in the wake of recently finished elections.
Born 1956 in Vilnius, Kubilius grew up in communist Lithuania, graduating from the physics faculty of Vilnius University in 1979. He joined the Sajudis Movement, the main centre of political opposition to Soviet occupation, in 1988 and quickly rose through its ranks during the struggle for independence.
After independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, he entered parliament in 1992 as a protege of president Vytautas Landsbergis. In 1993 he was a founding member of the Homeland Union.
Kubilius has already had one brief spell as prime minister, in 1999-2000, during which time he proved to be business-friendly without being tied too closely to vested interests. He played a key role in the liberalization and privatization of key industries such as gas, electricity and the transport sector.
As a result, he has retained more respect than many other politicians who emerged in the first few years after Lithuania regained its independence.
Even Viktor Uspaskich, the aforementioned gherkin magnate, who lies at the other end of the political, personal and social spectrum from the dapper Kubilius spoke in glowing terms of his rival's upright character recently - though that could have had as much to do with trying to get into the good books of the next prime minister as anything else.
Kubilius is a good organizer and established the Homeland Union as an efficient, opposition political machine, complete with a slick website, personal blog and media-friendly attitude.
He gradually built pressure on the government of Gediminas Kirkilas, but resisted overt populism. However, by doing so, opened up the door for the avowedly populist Rising Nation, or "Showbiz" Party, to gather up that vote. They will now likely be Kubilius' main coalition partner.
The future stability of a Kubilius-led government is likely to rest on whether he can develop a good working relationship with Arunas Valinskas, the leader of Rising Nation and a former TV game show host.
But perhaps the real reason for Kubilius' return to the top of the Lithuanian political scene is simply a case of history repeating itself. The Sajudis Movement was a broadly-based right-leaning coalition designed to keep Lithuania intact during a political crisis. This time, Kubilius has managed to assemble another centre- right coalition that will aim to take Lithuania safely through an economic crisis.
Kubilius says he is relishing the challenge and cites Ireland as an example of how a small country can achieve a big turnaround in its fortunes.
"We have a situation which is really challenging. But challenges can mean more interesting times for government than a calm period," he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
"My personal experience in government was in the crisis of 1999, so I think this government will be of a similar type. We shall not be afraid of making deep changes. We have the example of Ireland in the middle of the 1980s when, during a crisis, they made a national agreement. That became exactly the basis of the success of Ireland in later years. Perhaps also this crisis is needed for Lithuania to go into the future," he said.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/238749,kubilius-the-right-man-for-a-lithuanian-crisis--feature.html#
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Vilnius and Riga lagging behind other Baltic Sea region cities
Danuta Pavilenene, BC, Vilnius, 27.10.2008.
Vilnius was considered far behind other cities in the Baltic Sea region in terms of economic development and potential competitiveness according to a survey, published by German researchers in Rostock, Radio Vilnius informed.
Vilnius.
The survey compares nine cities in the region: Kiel and Rostock in Germany, Poland's Gdansk, Vilnius of Lithuania, Riga – Latvia's capital, Tallinn of Estonia, Turku of Finland, Umea of Sweden and Aarhus of Denmark. The evaluation of potential in the study is based on the assumption that competitive advantage not only depends on traditional factors, such as real estate prices, transportation costs and the labor force, but that it also depends on factors with indirect effects on the economy, such as innovation, expertise and openness, reports ELTA.
Based on all these factors, Vilnius, together with Riga and Gdansk, ranked in the group with the worst potential, far behind both the lead group of Turku, Umea and Aarhus and the middle group of Kiel, Rostock and Tallinn.
The survey shows that Vilnius has serious problems in terms of innovation and level of knowledge. Concerning innovation, the authors of the survey emphasize that the investment Vilnius makes into research and technological development, at just 0.76% of gross domestic product (GDP), is less than half of the European Union average of 1.9% of GDP. They also point to the fact that research facilities are poorly funded and scientists earn a pittance, which has led to the loss of intellectual and professional personnel.
According to the survey, Vilnius, with 135 university students for every 1000 residents is well above the EU average, yet the city is falling behind the rest of Europe in terms of people employed in the knowledge economy sector.
The authors value the multi-cultural nature of Vilnius as well as the fact that the number of employed women in the city is above the EU average.
However, the survey states that residents of Vilnius face many challenges when trying to reach a balance between their family and work. According to the research, this fact relates to the poorly developed system of nursery schools and kindergartens in the city.
The research was carried out by the Hamburg Institute of International Economics in cooperation with the Hamburg office of the professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/analytics/?doc=6536&ins_print
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