Daily Archives: March 20, 2015

Malcolm Fraser at home in Merricks in 2014. Photo: Simon Schluter. Photo: Simon Schluter

Tributes focus on Malcolm Fraser’s achievements

Malcolm Fraser has been embraced in death by many of those from whom he became estranged in life.

Liberal elders emphasised the achievements of Australia’s 22nd Prime Minister, rather than dwell on his fallout with his party, his reluctance to embrace economic reform, and his strident criticism of the governments of John Howard and Tony Abbott, both of whom revealed they had reconciled with Mr Fraser in recent times.

Labor luminaries overlooked Mr Fraser’s pivotal role in the notorious 1975 dismissal of the Whitlam government to honour his statesmanship and adherence to progressive policies in his post-political career.

“If Gough could reconcile that, we should really put that aside,” said Labor’s Bob Hawke, who deposed Mr Fraser in 1983 and is now one of the nation’s five surviving former prime ministers.

The final “Yes” rally held at Parliament House in Melbourne with. Malcolm Fraser, Steve Bracks and Gough Whitlam. Photo: Simon Schluter Photo: Simon Schluter

source:afr.com

Σήμανση που απαγορεύει την είσοδο στο σημείο που συνετρίβη το αεροσκάφος  

Ένα μεταλλικό θραύσμα, που βρέθηκε στον τόπο της συντριβής του Boeing 777 το οποίο εκτελούσε την πτήση MH17 της Malaysia Airlines, είναι παρόμοιο με τη γόμωση του πυραύλου εδάφους-αέρος BUK, μετέδωσε ολλανδικός τηλεοπτικός σταθμός, εξέλιξη που μοιάζει να ενισχύει τη θεωρία ότι το αεροπλάνο καταρρίφθηκε από φιλορώσους αυτονομιστές στην ανατολική Ουκρανία.

Το θραύσμα εντοπίστηκε από έναν ολλανδό δημοσιογράφο στο Χράμποβο πριν από αρκετούς μήνες, κοντά στο σημείο όπου συνετρίβη το αεροπλάνο. Από τους 298 επιβαίνοντες σε αυτό, επιβάτες και πλήρωμα, δεν επέζησε κανείς.

Ο τηλεοπτικός σταθμός RTL μετέδωσε ότι το θραύσμα του πυραύλου εξετάστηκε από ειδικούς, ανάμεσά τους και αναλυτές του ινστιτούτου άμυνας IHS Jane’s στο Λονδίνο, και ότι είναι παρόμοιο με την εκρηκτική γόμωση των πυραύλων του BUK, ενός προηγμένου αντιαεροπορικού συστήματος ρωσικής κατασκευής.

Η κατάρριψη του αεροπλάνου αποτέλεσε σημείο καμπής της σύγκρουσης στην Ουκρανία. Το Κίεβο και δυτικές χώρες κατηγόρησαν τους αντάρτες ότι ευθύνονται για την τραγωδία, κάτι που ενέτεινε την αποφασιστικότητα των δυτικών κυβερνήσεων όσον αφορά την επιβολή κυρώσεων σε βάρος της Μόσχας.

Η Ρωσία υποστήριξε αντίθετα ότι το αεροπλάνο καταρρίφθηκε από ουκρανικό μαχητικό αεροσκάφος.

Το Συμβούλιο Ασφάλειας της Ολλανδίας που ερευνά τα αίτια της συντριβής, ανέφερε ότι η έρευνά είναι σε «πλήρη εξέλιξη και επικεντρώνεται σε πολλές πηγές».

Στα προκαταρκτικά συμπεράσματα της έρευνας που δόθηκαν στη δημοσιότητα το 2014 αναφέρθηκε ότι το αεροσκάφος χτυπήθηκε από αντικείμενα υψηλής ταχύτητας, χωρίς να προσδιορίζεται από πού προέρχονταν.

«Κάθε επιπλέον υλικό έρευνας είναι ευπρόσδεκτο, αλλά είναι επιτακτική ανάγκη να αποδειχθεί πέραν πάσης αμφιβολίας ότι υπάρχει σχέση ανάμεσα στο υλικό αυτό και το αεροσκάφος» ανέφερε η επιτροπή που ερευνά τα αίτια της συντριβής.

Πηγή:in.gr

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was due to meet late on Thursday night with a number of key European Union figures in Brussels in a bid to kick-start the stalled negotiations between Athens and its lenders but was warned not to expect a breakthrough.

Following a European Union leaders summit in the Belgian capital, Tsipras was due to meet with a group consisting of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem and European Council President Donald Tusk.

The meeting was arranged following requests from Athens as technical teams from Greece and its creditors have made limited progress in the last few days on agreeing reforms that could help unlock at least some of the 7.2 billion euros in remaining bailout tranches that the government needs to avoid running out of cash.

“The talks in Athens were paused yesterday,” an EU official told Reuters. “This is normal procedure and can be helpful to take stock. There is willingness to talk but the Greeks must deliver.”

There appeared little prospect, though, of any significant achievements being made at last night’s meeting.

Merkel played down expectations of any noticeable progress at the meeting, stressing that it is still up to the 19 euro-area finance ministers to define the process.

“I want to say: Don’t expect a solution, don’t expect a breakthrough. It’s not the right setting,” she told reporters on arrival at the summit. “Decisions are made in the Eurogroup and that is how it will remain.”

Dijsselbloem also dismissed any hopes that the various parties would come to some kind of conclusion at the mini-gathering.

“Tonight we’ll just take stock of the progress being made, which seems to be small, and I hope we can get the whole thing moving again because we have a lot of work to do,” said the Dutch finance minister.

Ahead of the summit, Tsipras insisted that Greece’s partners needed to do more. “The EU needs more political initiatives that respect both democracy and its treaties so that we leave behind the crisis and move to growth,” he told journalists.

Government sources said that during the European Council meeting that took place ahead of the talks on Greece, Tsipras expressed frustration at the country’s lenders for their objections to the legislation aimed at tackling the social impact of the crisis. Sources said Tsipras told his counterparts that it was unfair for Athens to be accused of unilateral actions.

source:ekathimerini.com

Greek demands for billions of euros in reparations for the brutal Nazi occupation in World War Two may be falling on deaf ears in the German government, but some legal experts say Athens has grounds for a case.

The emotive issue is bound to come up when Alexis Tsipras visits Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin for the first time as prime minister on Monday, in an atmosphere poisoned by charges of broken promises and personal jibes between their ministers.

The Greek leftist leader and his ministers have invoked Nazi war crimes as part of their drive to renegotiate the terms of Athens’ 240 billion euro bailout with their eurozone partners.

Hundreds of villages were razed and more than 20,000 civilians killed in 1941-44 by German soldiers bent on crushing Greek resistance. Resentment runs deep and demands range from 3.5 billion euros to 162 billion euros.

Compounding the pressure on Merkel to make at least a symbolic gesture, some German lawmakers have said Berlin has a moral duty to consider reparations.

Yet there is scant sign that the government, fearing it could open the floodgates to future claims, will budge.

“There’s no (justified) claim. The Greeks should do their (economic) homework and not seek culprits elsewhere,” said Volker Kauder, parliamentary leader of Merkel’s conservatives.

Germany has paid about 72 billion euros in overall compensation for Nazi wrongs since the war and is widely seen as having tried to make amends for its Nazi past, a legacy that still shapes its diplomacy, from Israel to the European Union.

Central to Germany’s argument is that a 115 million deutsche mark payment to Greece in 1960 rules out individual claims.

Similar deals were made with other European states.

Courts have supported this. In 2012, the International Court in the Hague ruled that Nazi victims in Italy could not sue Germany for compensation as the states had settled.

But some lawyers say the issue is not clear-cut, partly because after its unconditional surrender in 1945 Germany never agreed a universal peace deal to clear up reparations questions.

The nearest thing to it, says Berlin, is the “Two plus Four Treaty” signed by then-East Germany and West Germany and the four wartime allies before German reunification in 1990.

In this, Russia, the United States, Britain and France renounced future claims. Berlin says this also settles the issue for other states, including Greece, who raised no objections.

Flimsy

Yet some lawyers say Greece has not renounced its claims.

“The German government’s argument is thin and contestable,” said international law specialist Andreas Fischer-Lescano. “It’s not permissible to agree a treaty at the expense of a third party, in this case Greece.”

Several other experts agree.

“There is a lot of room for interpretation,” said Anestis Nessou, a Greek lawyer who works in Germany and has studied the issue. “Greece was not asked, so the claims have not gone away.”

A separate question is that of a 476 million reichsmark occupation loan forced on the Bank of Greece in 1942 which the Nazis used to fund their military campaign in northern Africa.

While Germany says its reparations payments cover this, some experts see it as a financial transaction in its own right.

“The view of the German government is embarrassing,” historian Hagen Fleischer told Germany’s ARD television. “The Nazi regime even calculated how high the repayments should be on the loan.”

Fischer-Lescano said Greece could take their case on the loan to an international court.

Even if the government is legally in the right, some German politicians say it should make a conciliatory gesture.

“Merkel should send a signal and make available financial help for victims who are still alive,” Greens lawmaker Renate Kuenast told Spiegel Online.

source:ekathimerini.com

Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will plead with European counterparts at a summit in Brussels Thursday for cash to keep his country afloat and in the euro as officials warned that the situation was becoming “dangerous”.

European Union leaders will also debate whether to extend economic sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine conflict until December, although they will likely delay the decision until later this year.

While Greece is not officially on the agenda for the meeting of the bloc’s 28 leaders, a senior EU official said it was the “elephant in the room” amid fears of a catastrophic “Grexit” from the single currency.

Chancellor Angela Merkel told the German parliament Thursday that there was no reason to “despair” over Greece, although Europe’s most powerful leader played down the chance of any deal at the summit.

“It is absolutely clear that nobody can expect a solution to be found this evening in Brussels or on Monday evening,” when she is due to meet radical new leader Tsipras in Berlin, Merkel said.

EU President Donald Tusk has convened special talks on the sidelines of the summit on Thursday night among Tsipras, Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, at the request of the Greek premier, Tusk’s spokesman told AFP.

The meeting will also be attended by European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker, European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi and Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister who chairs the euro single currency group.

Leftist leader Tsipras, who won elections in January, will urge them to accept Greece’s promises of reform in return for relaxing the terms of its EU-IMF bailout, and to release vital funds to help his country avoid a looming cash crunch.

But Juncker said he would “repeat (to Tsipras) what I have said twice before: Greece must undertake the necessary reforms, Greece must ensure that the commitments it made to the Eurogroup in 2012 and more recently are followed up.”

European Parliament President Martin Schulz said that the situation in Greece was “dangerous” and that Athens needed “two or three billion” euros in the short term.

“Time is short. I think the government will have to give way in the end,” he told Deutschlandfunk public radio.

Sources said the Greek government believes the EU is “not respecting” last month’s deal for a four-month extension of its 240-billion-euro ($255-billion) bailout, and wants Brussels to give it the final tranche of around seven billion euros.

Greece’s deputy prime minister Ioannis Dragasakis accused creditors of “not letting us govern”, telling Alpha TV that “we have a liquidity problem.”

With the rhetoric toughening on all sides, the Greek parliament on Wednesday adopted a “humanitarian crisis” bill aimed at helping the poor, ignoring apparent pressure from the EU to halt the legislation.

Friday brings a key debt deadline when Greece must pay 300 million euros to the IMF and 1.6 billion euros in treasury bills.

Extending EU economic sector sanctions imposed on Russia last July after the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over rebel-held eastern Ukraine is the other key issue on the summit agenda.

In Brussels, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk warned EU leaders Thursday to keep the pressure on Russia, saying it would be a “disaster” if they allowed President Vladimir Putin to “split the unity” over sanctions.

The summit comes just after Russian celebrations over the first anniversary of the annexation of Crimea.

Some of the 28 EU member states want the summit to agree to rollover these economic sanctions to end-2015, linking them to the timeline — and the success or failure — of the February Minsk ceasefire accord.

Others believe the bloc should wait to see how the situation develops on the ground in eastern Ukraine, leaving a rollover decision to the June EU summit, or even until July.

Diplomatic sources said the most likely outcome is that EU leaders ask the European Commission, the EUs executive arm, to begin work so the sanctions can be rolled over in June.

“New sanctions won’t happen”, diplomats said.

The EU leaders are also expected to back the creation of a media team aimed at countering Russian “disinformation.”

source:ekathimerini.com