Daily Archives: February 26, 2015

Bill Shorten addressing the crowd at the Lonsdale Street Festival. Photo: Kostas Deves.

After touching on the topic of the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles at the Lonsdale Street Festival, federal opposition leader Bill Shorten has gone a step further and promised diplomatic assistance to Greece on the issue.

Mr Shorten said he would use Australia’s “close ties” with the United Kingdom to help the reunification talks go in Greece’s favour.

“Labor will, through our diplomacy, good offices and close ties with the United Kingdom, look to assist the Greek government in this respect,” he told Neos Kosmos.

Mr Shorten believes Australia’s experience in successfully securing the return of indigenous remains to the country will help the Greek government improve their case.

“As Australia has sought the return of the remains of indigenous Australians taken abroad we can fully appreciate the cultural significance placed on these objects by the Greek people and their desire to see them returned home.”

At last week’s Lonsdale Street Festival, Mr Shorten received the biggest applause when he passionately voiced his support of getting the Parthenon Marbles returned to their country of origin.

Currently Australian David Hill heads the International Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures.

He, alongside famous international lawyers Geoffrey Robertson, Amal Clooney and Professor Norman Palmer visited Greece late last year to help the Greek government work on a legal case to get the marbles back home.

source: Neos Kosmos

Multicultural NSW CEO Hakan Harman.

Ethnic community leaders in Sydney are demanding the removal of the NSW government’s most senior official in charge of the state’s multicultural affairs, claiming guidance he gave to local councils promotes the agenda of his Turkish homeland.

Chief executive of Multicultural NSW Mr Hakan Harman has been accused of serving Turkish interests by issuing guidelines which say public memorials should not “assign blame” where a memorial is constructed to mark what he described as a “contentious” historical event.

Mr Harman’s actions – without first advising Minister for Communities Victor Dominello – has been widely condemned by Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian community leaders who have released a joint statement demanding Mr Harman’s resignation.

Signatories to the statement include the Assyrian Universal Alliance, the Australian Hellenic Council of NSW, the Greek Orthodox Community of NSW, the Cyprus Community of NSW, the Armenian National Committee of Australia, and the Korean Society of Sydney.

The statement said that in October 2014, the Australian Turkish Advocacy Alliance (ATTA) presented Mr Harman with a set of draft guidelines relating to the recognition of historical events, and that the Multicultural NSW CEO had adopted a version of the ATTA-conceived guidelines without the approval of NSW’s Minister for Communities Victor Dominello.

According to the statement, Mr Harman subsequently distributed the guidelines to local councils “to negatively influence recognition of important historical events, such as the Assyrian Genocide, the Korean and Chinese Comfort Women, and the Armenian Genocide in this Centenary year”.

While the published guidelines did not specifically mention the Armenian Genocide, Neos Kosmos understands that a letter from the ATAA to Mr Harman encouraged him to introduce criteria that would restrict public money being used by “specific ethnic groups” to promote their “own interpretations of historical events”.

“We do not believe that it is appropriate for government, at any level in Australia, to ‘weigh in’ on those historical matters,” the letter added.

On February 3, the ATTA issued a media release applauding Multicultural NSW for adopting the guidelines prior to their official distribution.

Mr Harman was forced to withdraw the guidelines eight days later after the intervention of Minister Dominello, who had been only made aware of their existence by community leaders. Mr Harman said this week that he had “made an error of judgement by not consulting more widely”.

In 1997, the NSW Legislative Assembly unanimously acknowledged the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks between 1915 and 1922 and a memorial marking the Legislative Assembly’s resolution – which “condemns and rejects all attempts to deny or distort the historical truth” – was erected at Parliament House.

Genocide scholar Dr Panayiotidis Diamidis told Neos Kosmos that Mr Harman’s position as head of Multicultultural NSW was now untenable.

“Nothing less than [his] resignation or dismissal is satisfactory action, given the severity of his actions in jeopardising NSW Government policy-making.

“Harman’s attempted manipulation of Multicultural NSW, his blatant attempt at entrenching a denialist position – in contradiction of the positions of the Parliament and Government he works for – only adds to Harman’s offence.”

The Armenian Apostolic Church is planning to erect a new memorial in Willoughby to mark the Genocide later this year.

Chinese and Korean Australians also have intentions to erect a statue in Strathfield to commemorate hundreds of thousands of so-called “comfort women” – sex slaves from occupied countries who were abused by Japanese soldiers during WWII.

After meeting with representatives from Assyrian, Armenian, Greek and Cypriot community organisations this week, Minister Dominello said that the guidelines supplied to local councils had been circulated without his approval and without prior community consultation.

The minister added that he has asked Multicultural NSW to conduct a review of the process by which the guidelines were developed.

Η μεγάλη έκπληξη στους πρώτους αγώνες των «16» του Champions League έγινε στο «Εμιρεϊτς». Η Μονακό του Λεονάρντο Ζαρντίμ, νίκησε 3-1 την Αρσεναλ και απέκτησε ξεκάθαρο προβάδισμα πρόκρισης στους «8», για πρώτη φορά μετα το 2004 όταν είχε παίξει στον τελικό της διοργάνωσης.

Η πρώτη αναμέτρηση του Αρσέν Βενγκέρ εναντίον της Μονακό, 20 χρόνια μετά την αποχώρησή του από το πριγκιπάτο, έκρυβε μια… τραυματική εμπειρία για τον Αλσατό.

Στο 38′ ο Κοντογκμπιά άνοιξε το σκορ, καθώς το σουτ που επιχείρησε βρήκε στην πλάτη του Μερτεζάκερ, άλλαξε πορεία και ξεγέλασε τον Οσπίνα. Οι «κανονιέρηδες» μπήκαν δυνατά στο β΄ ημίχρονο, έχασαν δύο σημαντικές ευκαιρίες με τον Ζιρού, αλλά στο 53΄ σε μια υποδειγματική αντεπίθεση, ο Μπερμπάτοφ από ασίστ του Μαρσιάλ έγραψε το 0-2.

Στο πρώτο λεπτό των καθυστερήσεων (90+1′) ο Αλεξ Οξλέιντ-Τσάμπερλεϊν με εξαιρετικό σουτ έξω από την περιοχή μείωσε σε 1-2 και έδωσε δικαίωμα στην ελπίδα στους Λονδρέζους. Ομως, οι ελπίδες… έσβησαν στο 90+4΄ σε ακόμα μία «φονική» αντεπίθεση των φιλοξενούμενων με τον Φερέιρα Καράσκο να «εκτελεί» τον Οσπίνα και να διαμορφώνει το τελικό σκορ.

Η Μονακό του Λεονάρντο Ζαρντίμ βρίσκεται πλέον στο «κατώφλι» των προημιτελικών. Οσο για την Αρσεναλ, συμμετέχει για 15η διαδοχική χρονιά στους  «16», όμως κινδυνεύει να αποκλειστεί στην ίδια φάση για πέμπτη συνεχόμενη σεζόν!

Διαιτητής: Ντενίζ Αϊτεκίν (Γερμανία)

Κίτρινες: Κοκλέν, Μπεγερίν, Οζίλ – Ελντερσον, Μουτίνιο

AΡΣΕΝΑΛ (Αρσέν Βενγκέρ): Oσπίνα, Γκιμπς, Μερτερζάκερ, Κοσιελνί, Μπεγιερίν, Οζίλ, Σάντι Καθόρλα (82΄ Ροζίτσκι), Κοκλέν (68΄ Οξλέιντ-Τσάμπερλεϊν), Ζιρού (60΄ Γουόλκοτ), Αλέξις Σάντσες, Γουέλμπεκ.

ΜΟΝΑΚΟ (Λεονάρντο Ζαρντίμ): Σούμπασιτς, Φαμπίνιο, Αμπντενούρ, Γουάλας, Έλντερσον, Τουρέ, Ντιράρ (82΄ Κουρζαουά), Ζοάο Μουτίνιο, Κοντογκμπιά, Μπερμπάτοφ (75΄ Φερέιρα-Καράσκο), Μαρσιάλ (84΄ Μπερνάρντο Σίλβα).

H Λεβερκούζεν… λύγισε την Ατλέτικο

Κατώτερη του αναμενόμενου εμφανίστηκε η Ατλέτικο Μαδρίτης στην «Μπάι Αρένα» του Λεβερκούζεν και γνώρισε την ήττα με 1-0 από την Μπάγερ, η οποία θα πάει στη ρεβάνς του «Βιθέντε Καλντερόν», στις 17 Μαρτίου, έχοντας ένα μικρό προβάδισμα στα προγνωστικά για την πρόκριση.

Η γερμανική ομάδα κυριάρχησε στο μεγαλύτερο διάστημα του αγώνα απέναντι στην (ανεξήγητα) κακή πρωταθλήτρια Ισπανίας, είχε δοκάρι στο 26΄ με τον Σπάχιτς και τελικά έφτασε στο γκολ με τον Τσαλχάνογλου στο 57΄, από ενέργεια του Μπελαραμπί.

Σαν να μην έφτανε η τραγική απόδοσή της, η Ατλέτικο έμεινε με δέκα παίκτες στο 77ο λεπτό, όταν αποβλήθηκε με δεύτερη κίτρινη ο Τιάγκο, κι ενώ ούτε ο Γκοντίν θα είναι διαθέσιμος στη ρεβάνς, αφού επίσης συμπλήρωσε κάρτες.

ΔΙΑΙΤΗΤΗΣ: Πάβελ Κράλοβετς (Τσεχία)

ΚΟΚΚΙΝΗ: 77΄ Τιάγκο (2η κίτρινη)

ΚΙΤΡΙΝΕΣ: Γουέντελ, Κ. Παπαδόπουλος, Μπέντερ, Κάστρο, Κίσλινγκ – Τιάγκο, Γκοντίν, Τόρες, Γκάμεθ

ΜΠΑΓΕΡ ΛΕΒΕΡΚΟΥΖΕΝ (Ρότζερ Σμιντ): Λένο, Σπάχιτς, Χίλμπερτ, Κ. Παπαδόπουλος, Γουέντελ, Κάστρο, Μπέντερ (68΄ Ρόλφες), Τσαλχάνογλου (87΄ Μπραντ), Κάστρο, Μπεραλαμπί, Σον Μιν, Ντρμιτς (80΄ Κίσλινγκ).

ΑΤΛΕΤΙΚΟ ΜΑΔΡΙΤΗΣ (Ντιέγκο Σιμεόνε): Μόγια, Γκοντίν, Σικέιρα (38΄ Γκάμεθ), Χουανφράν, Μιράντα, Τιάγκο, Γκριζμάν, Τουράν (64΄ Τόρες), Γκάμπι, Σαούλ (42΄ Ραούλ Γκαρθία), Μάντζουκιτς.

Σε αναμετρήσεις για τη φάση των «16» σημειώθηκαν τα αποτελέσματα:

Παρί Σεν Ζερμέν (Γαλλία)-Τσέλσι (Αγγλία) 1-1 (11/3)

Σαχτάρ Ντόνετσκ (Ουκρανία)-Μπάγερν Μονάχου (Γερμανία) 0-0 (11/3)

Σάλκε (Γερμανία)-Ρεάλ Μαδρίτης (Ισπανία) 0-2 (10/3)

Βασιλεία (Ελβετία)-Πόρτο (Πορτογαλία) 1-1 (10/3)

Μάντσεστερ Σίτι (Αγγλία)-Μπαρτσελόνα (Ισπανία) 1-2 (18/3)

Γιουβέντους (Ιταλία)-Ντόρτμουντ (Γερμανία) 2-1 (18/3)

Λεβερκούζεν (Γερμανία)-Ατλέτικο Μαδρίτης (Ισπανία) 1-0 (17/3)

Άρσεναλ (Αγγλία)-Μονακό (Γαλλία) 1-3 (17/3)

Πηγή:in.gr

Here displaced people from the Yazidi sect flee the Islamic State in Sinjar, Iraq. Amnesty has accused governments of “pretending the protection of civilians is beyond their power.” Photo: Reuters

World leaders have proved “shameful and ineffective” in failing to protect civilians from groups like Islamic State (IS), Amnesty International said Wednesday, calling 2014 a “catastrophic” year.

In its 415-page annual report detailing abuses in 160 countries, the group accused governments of “pretending the protection of civilians is beyond their power.”

It said millions of civilians had been killed from Syria to Ukraine, Gaza to Nigeria, while the number of displaced people around the world exceeded 50 million last year for the first time since the end of World War II.

Amnesty International France President Genevieve Garrigos holds a copy of the 415-page annual report, which details abuses in 160 countries. Photo: AFP

“2014 was a catastrophic year for millions caught up in violence,” said Amnesty’s secretary general, Shalil Shetty.

“The global response to conflict and abuses by states and armed groups has been shameful and ineffective.

“As people suffered an escalation in barbarous attacks and repression, the international community has been found wanting.”

Islamic State militants force Egyptian Coptic Christians to kneel before beheading them in Libya in just one of many atrocities committed by the terrorist group. Photo: Reuters

It warned that the situation would get worse this year unless leaders took immediate action.

Amnesty singled out the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for criticism, with Shetty saying it had “miserably failed” to protect civilians.

The five permanent UNSC members – Britain, China, France, Russia and the US – “consistently abused” their veto right to “promote their political self-interest or geopolitical interest above the interest of protecting civilians,” he added.

Syrian refugees failed by EU

Amnesty is now urging the five states to give up their right to veto action in cases where genocide and other mass killings are being committed.

This proposal is similar to a push being led by France with the backing of 70 countries, but Amnesty hopes its support will give the idea fresh impetus.

It believes the move would give the UN a better chance to save civilian lives in conflict zones.

Amnesty also urged all states to abide by a treaty regulating the international arms trade which came into force last year, saying this could help stop huge shipments of weapons to countries like Syria and Iraq.

In addition, it called for new restrictions on the use of explosive weapons like mortars and rockets in populated areas.

The human rights group, which says it has seven million campaigners worldwide, sharply criticised the European Union’s response to the four million Syrian refugees displaced by conflict in the world’s worst refugee crisis.

By the end of 2014, only 150,000 Syrian refugees were living in EU states, it said, while 3400 refugees and migrants had died in the Mediterranean Sea trying to make their way to Europe.

“The response of the EU and its member states was, with few exceptions, driven above all by the desire to keep them out,” the report said.

Shetty added that the European response to the problem was “actually pushing people into the water of the Mediterranean.”

The report said only two per cent of refugees from Syria had been resettled by the end of last year, and called for this figure to at least triple this year.

Overall, armed groups like IS, Boko Haram and Shebab were found to have committed abuses in 35 countries last year, Amnesty said – over one in five of those investigated for the report.

Across the border from Syria in Iraq, Amnesty said there was a “marked deterioration in human rights” across the board, as fighting against the IS group intensified.

“IS fighters committed widespread war crimes, including ethnic cleansing of religious and ethnic minorities through a campaign of mass killings of men and abduction and sexual and other abuse of women and girls,” the report said.

“Government forces carried out indiscriminate bombing and shelling in IS-controlled areas, and government-backed Shiite militias abducted and executed scores of Sunni men in areas under government control.”

source:smh.com.au

Some readers have reminded me about my recent post, “Why Europe Will Cave to Greece.” Europe didn’t cave, they smile — Greece caved to Europe.

Well, it’s true, things haven’t gone as I expected when I wrote that post at the end of January. You can count on dysfunction in the European Union, but rarely to this degree. Still, it’s too early to say who caved to whom. The most one can say at the moment is that this is no way to run a monetary union.

The outcome of the negotiations was prefigured at the end of last week by Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, who said he was asking Europe to meet him «not half-way but one- fifth of the way.” That’s about what happened — though in judging who gave way and how far, a lot depends on what was really at stake.

Before arriving at the recent impasse, Greece had already abandoned its demands for outright debt write-downs, deliverance from the “troika” (the European Commission, the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund), and a clean exit from its bailout program. That was capitulation of a sort, but not so consequential, because it was more about abandoning political postures than making real concessions. Substantively, less ground was yielded than you might think.

Outright debt forgiveness? It would be better if the creditors granted this and, in the end, they probably will. But in the meantime there are other ways to provide relief (extended maturities, lower interest rates, yields linked to growth in gross domestic product, and so forth). These alternatives are still on the table.

No more troika? Monday night’s proposals were indeed submitted to “the institutions,” but even here, notice that Monday’s letter from Varoufakis talks about doing things in agreement with the institutions, not about accepting their instructions. Earlier in the month, he’d already said: “Our citizens have rejected the role of the ‘troika’ in Greece. Our government will however maintain dialogue and continue to cooperate fully with the European Commission, the ECB and the IMF as a member country of the European Union.”

Also, the institutions aren’t happy. To deal with the immediate danger, they’ve accepted the vacuous language of the euro group statement — which says the latest Greek proposal “is sufficiently comprehensive to be a valid starting point for a successful conclusion to the review” — but have big reservations. The IMF says, “In quite a few areas, however, including perhaps the most important ones, the letter is not conveying clear assurances that the Government intends to undertake the reforms envisaged in the Memorandum on Economic and Financial Policies.”

In short, Greece hasn’t really submitted to the judgment of the troika — and if it had, the troika would apparently have rejected its offer.

Finally, is this a clean exit from the bailout program? Depends what you mean by clean. Whether the next few months of financial support, if it’s granted, amount to an extension of the bailout, a loan extension but not a program extension, a bridging arrangement, a successful conclusion of the existing review, a provisionally valid starting-point for a preliminary discussion of tentatively extended bridging memorandum with flexibility according to the circumstances, is doubtless fascinating to some. Between now and Greece’s new program, all that matters to Varoufakis & Co. is that they aren’t bound by each and every promise made by their predecessors, and that they can find the cash to meet Greece’s next few months of debt- service obligations.

At the end of last week, Greece was threatened with a cessation of the necessary liquidity support unless it committed unconditionally to the existing program. It hasn’t made that commitment; the principle that flexibility will be shown during the transition to the new program appears to have been accepted; and the financial threat has been lifted — for now.

You could say neither side has caved, because nothing is decided. The immediate danger of a run on Greek banks may have eased, but could resume at any point. Discussions on the short- term relief will continue and talks on the new program haven’t even started.

Here’s the main thing: This was a crisis, still unresolved, that was willed in the first place by the euro zone’s leaders. There was no need to let it happen. Greece could and should have been calmly granted a financial breathing space to negotiate a successor program weeks ago.

It’s mismanagement on a remarkable scale. I admit I was wrong. I just hadn’t understood what Europe’s leaders were capable of.

source:ekathimerini.com

Racists and nationalists will be the only ones to benefit if European leaders “shoot down” Greece’s new anti-austerity government, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has told France’s Charlie Hebdo newspaper.

In an interview published on Wednesday – the second edition since the satirical weekly was attacked by Islamist gunmen – the leftist academic says European government’s will suffer if governments like his are “asphyxiated.”

“This is what I tell my counterparts: if you think it is in your interest to shoot down progressive governments like ours, just a few days after our election, then you should fear the worst,” he said.

Greece’s SYRIZA party – a coalition of leftist groups vehemently opposed to austerity measures imposed as part of a European Union/International Monetary Fund debt bailout – was elected to power in Athens in January.

It secured a four-month extension of its financial rescue from euro zone partners this week, but only after it was forced to back down on some of the promises it made during the campaign to alleviate social distress.

Charlie Hebdo, some of whose staff was murdered in a attack by Islamist gunmen in January, also published an article headlined “SYRIZA is the future of Europe.”

While the weekly did not attract the same around-the-block early morning queues in front of kiosks than the first edition after the attack, the second edition was published at 2.5 million copies, well up from 60,000 before the attack.

Seventeen people died in three attacks in January by two groups of gunmen, attracting worldwide attention and support for freedom of the press as well as sometimes violent protests by those offended by the weekly’s anti-religious stance.”

source:ekathimerini.com