Saksittua 18.4.2011
Mielenkiintoista muualla:
- Vaihdos ilman muutosta – Takku
“vaaleilla on paljon vähemmän merkitystä kuin parlamentaristinen vasemmisto antaa ymmärtää. Kamppailu oikeistopopulismia vastaan ei lopu vaaleihin, vaan niiden jälkeen se vasta tosissaan alkaa.” - While the Saudi elite looks nervously abroad, a revolution is happening | Soumaya Ghannoushi | Comment is free | The Guardian
The Saudi regime is under siege. To the west, its heaviest regional ally, the Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, has been ousted. To its north, Syria and Jordan are gripped by a wave of protests which shows no sign of receding. On its southern border, unrest in Yemen and Oman rages on. And troops have been dispatched to Bahrain to salvage its influence over the tiny kingdom exerted through the Khalifa clan, and prevent the contagion from spreading to Saudi Arabia’s turbulent eastern provinces, the repository of both its biggest oil reserves and largest Shia population. - Violence spikes in Greek rebel town – Europe, World – The Independent
Hälytyssireeni soi ja Keratean kaupunginjohtaja pyytää kaupunkilaisia puolustautumaan. Valtion poliisi hyökkää. - Ai Weiwei only the most prominent activist targeted in broad Chinese crackdown – CSMonitor.com
The fiercest wave of repression that the Chinese government has launched in more than a decade, targeting lawyers, bloggers, social activists, journalists, and artists, signals a harsh new intolerance of criticism, local and foreign analysts say. - UN Document Would Give ‘Mother Earth’ Same Rights as Humans | Common Dreams
“It’s going to have huge resonance around the world,” Barlow said of the campaign. “It’s going to start first with these southern countries trying to protect their land and their people from exploitation, but I think it will be grabbed onto by communities in our countries, for example, fighting the tarsands in Alberta.” - Iceland broke the rules and got away with it | Aditya Chakrabortty | Comment is free | The Guardian
You don’t hear much about the insolvent island any more – apart from occasions such as this weekend, when Icelandic voters were asked to repay the £3.5bn owing on collapsed bank Icesave, and replied with a firm “Nei”.
Unnoticed it may be, but Reykjavik now serves as a very different kind of parable, of how to minimise the misery of financial collapse by ignoring economic orthodoxy. And in those other broke European economies – from Dublin to Athens to Lisbon – politicians and voters are starting to pay attention. After its three biggest banks – 85% of the country’s financial system – failed in the same week, Iceland did two remarkable things. First, it let the banks go under: foreign financiers who had lent to Reykjavik institutions at their own risk didn’t get a single krona back. Second, officials imposed capital controls, making it harder for hot-money merchants to pull their cash out of the country. - China’s power consumption up 13.4% in March
- Elderly ‘must expect to sell their homes to pay for care’ – Telegraph
Näin taitaa käydä Suomessakin. Palvelutalot imevät suurten ikäluokkien keräämän omaisuuden – eli nuorten perinnöt. - European Politics – EU Debt Crisis Boosting Far Right – CNBC
