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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 15-Sep-2010
15-Sep-10 News -- Europe bitterly attacks France on Roma Gypsy expulsions

Web Log - September, 2010

15-Sep-10 News -- Europe bitterly attacks France on Roma Gypsy expulsions

Mideast peace talks start again under strong U.S. pressure

European Commission bitterly attacks France on Roma Gypsy expulsions

Journalists and politicians alike were stunned on Tuesday when the European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship bitterly attacked France for its policy of expelling Roma Gypsies, and returning them to their homelands, usually Bulgaria or Romania.

Speaking in Brussels, Viviane Reding is quoted by AFP as follows:

"[I am] appalled by a situation which gave the impression that people are being removed from a member state of the European Union just because they belong to a certain ethnic minority.

This is a situation I had thought Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War. ...

The role of the commission as guardian of (Europe's) treaties is made extremely difficult if we can no longer have confidence in the assurances given by two ministers in a formal meeting.

This is not a minor offence. After 11 years of experience in the commission, I even go further: this is a disgrace."

This is a nasty, shocking accusation from a member of the European Commission, and it was accompanied by specific threats of legal action. Now that the accusation has been made, the European politicians are going to have to figure out a way of dealing with it, and that will be very ugly.

What triggered the outburst was a leaked memo, signed by the French interior minister's chief of staff saying that "300 camps of illegal settlements must be cleared within three months, Roma camps are a priority." This memo implies that the French are specifically targeting the Roma ethnic group, and targeting a specific ethnic group allegedly violates EU law.

Viviane Reding is a politician from Luxembourg, and on the BBC I heard a French politician mocking Reding. Apparently a number of other countries, including Luxembourg and Italy, are also expelling Roma Gypsies, and the claim was the Reding was being naīve.

One thing that's certain is that this will be an increasingly bitter issue in Europe, and will have a lot of nasty twists and turns.

Mideast peace talks start again under strong U.S. pressure

Skepticism is so high that the new Mideast talks will accomplish anything that nobody is providing any clue what the two sides are talking about. The talks are between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

However, it's certain that the U.S. is putting enormous pressure on both the Israelis and the Palestinians to come to an agreement on a two-state solution. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. peace envoy George Mitchell are both attending the meeting of Netanyahu and Abbas in order to turn the screws any way they can. (CS Monitor)

The question on everyone's mind is whether the talks will collapse on September 26. That's the day that the ten-month moratorium on building new settlements in the West Bank expires. Netanyahu has said that the freeze will not be extended. Israel's foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who is part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition, said last week, "A promise is a promise. We will not agree to any extension. I promise that if there's a proposal that we don't accept, it will not pass." (Associated Press)

In addition, groups of Jewish settlers are promising to 'declare war' on Netanyahu if he tries to extend the moratorium, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Abbas has said that the talks will collapse if the freeze is NOT extended.

The U.S. diplomats are praying that a compromise involving a selective lifting of the moratorium can be worked out before September 26.

From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, nothing has changed since I made my first major prediction on this subject in 2003. (See "Mideast Roadmap - Will it bring peace?") There is no chance of a lasting peace deal because Arabs and Jews will be re-fighting the genocidal war that they fought in 1948, after the partitioning of Palestine and the creation of the state of Israel.

Additional links

France's Senate has voted to ban wearing the Islamic full veil in public. BBC. In the article, check out the pictures of the various styles of Muslim women's headscarves.

The number of undernourished people in 2010 is lower than in 2009, but prices of grain, meat and sugar are still rising. They haven't yet reached the crisis levels of 2008, but they're up significantly, and they're creating instability. Reuters

China, which as overtaken Japan as the second largest economy in the world, says that the world should not expect it to increase its foreign aid to developing countries. "The international community should not ask China to replace developed countries, to assume their obligations," said a Chinese official. "Though China is not rich and still faces many development bottlenecks ... we are providing support to the extent we can to other developing countries." Reuters

Maoist (Naxalite) terrorists in India, who the government calls the biggest threat to India's internal security, are growing in numbers, but are turning into plunderers, extoring money from contractors of construction companies. Asia Sentinel

After Monday's explosion of violence that killed 17 Muslim protesters in Indian-controlled Kashmir, a strict curfew has been put into effect. However, protests continued on Tuesday, with sporadic violence that killed one more person. Hindustani Times

The Kremlin is angered by an activist movement in Siberia to allow people to identify themselves as having Siberian 'nationality' in the upcoming Russian census. Eurasia Review

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 15-Sep-10 News -- Europe bitterly attacks France on Roma Gypsy expulsions thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (15-Sep-2010) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 15-Sep-2010 15-Sep-10 News -- Europe bitterly attacks France on Roma Gypsy expulsions

European Commission bitterly attacks France on Roma Gypsy expulsions

Mideast peace talks start again under strong U.S. pressure

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 15-Sep-2010
15-Sep-10 News -- Europe bitterly attacks France on Roma Gypsy expulsions