Hundreds of Thousands Protest Labour “Reform” in Spain

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On Sunday, our RIA-Novosti correspondent reported that hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in 60 cities across Spain to protest against the government’s new labour “reform” and present austerity measures. Some 500,000 people took part in demonstrations in Madrid and another 450,000 joined protests in Barcelona. Major anti-austerity rallies took place in Sevilla, València, Bilbao, and dozens of other cities and towns across the country. The largest Spanish trades unions called the demonstrations in protest against a bill approved by the government in mid-February, and passed on Thursday by the country’s parliament, reducing social welfare payments and make it easier for employers to fire workers. Demonstrators described the new legislation as “against the citizen” and “the most regressive reform in the history of democracy in Spain”. The trade unions have also called a general strike for 29 March to protest the labour “reform” and the present government’s austerity measures. Spain has the highest unemployment rate in the EU at 23 percent, and protesters fear that the new reform would push the figure even higher. The government hopes the new law will encourage businesses to take on more employees.

11 March 2012

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/society/20120311/172101175.html

Editor’s Note:

Fox News or Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin aren’t giving their audiences any hint of the power that the Left is wielding in Europe and America. In Spain, the rightwing slimers stole the election through chicanery and gerrymandering (they only received 45 percent of the votes cast). Yet, the unions aren’t sitting back; they’re fighting back. In Hungary, massive labour demonstrations are toppling the pro-American rightwing nutters in power. In Slovakia, Robert Fico’s Leftists won a decisive victory, they can rule without a coalition. In Russia, Putin turned Leftwards to win the election, vastly increased taxes on the greedy Neoliberal oligarch piggies are in the works. In France, Sarkozy’s worried, he’s turning to racialist fear-mongering in an attempt to distract the voters. In America, the attempts by the rightwing to distract people with the contraception non-issue (such laws have been in existence in 28 states for years… and the RCs had no complaints) and Rush’s “Slut” remarks failed.

All European observers are united. President Obama’s not only going to win, he’s going to win in a landslide reminiscent of 1964. He’s not perfect, and he’s not Left (he’s a rightist centrist, which is better than the Hard Right populism of the GOP), but he’s far better than the alternative is. So, far, the rightwing has seen to it that the McMansion slimers haven’t felt the pinch of the “bad times”. It’s time to roll back the clock to 1980 as far as taxes are concerned and force them to pay to their fair share (the affluent effluent were with us then, they won’t be embeggared, trust me). There’ll be enough for public single-payer healthcare and Social Security… and for a sane reasonable defence, too.

That’s what I call PRO-LIFE… not marching in bootless Far Right “Marches for Life”. You can have one or the other… choose well.

BMD

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Libya: A Failed State? An Interview with Charles Heyman, Chief Analyst With armedforces.co.uk.

THIS is what the West brought Libya… I think that Syrians don’t want such “liberty”… would you? “Might makes right”… that’s the motto of the Neoliberal West… I don’t think that’s very Christian at all, is it? If this is what the American Enterprise Institute supports throughout the world (and it does), why did JP speak there?

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Charles Heyman

The country does appear to be in desperate stress and, if we aren’t careful, Libya could become a failed state within the next year or so. I’ve been speaking to quite a lot of Libyans who come to London and the situation that they describe on the ground in Libya is really difficult, there’s no doubt about that. This latest move in the east of the country to declare itself semi-autonomous really does suggest that the country is in danger of breaking up.

Yekaterina Kudashkina

Is there something we can already describe as a civil war going on or is it just instances of some kind of militant insurgency? What is it?

Charles Heyman

What’s going on really is that Libya’s breaking down into tribal units. The tribes are still very important in Libya; each tribe controls its own particular area in most cases, and it doesn’t want a very strong central authority. The tribes are administering their own areas and, of course, that means that there’s a whole raft of problems being thrown up with tribes actually beginning now to fight each other over particular sort of things left over from the Gaddafi regime which they want to appropriate for themselves.

Yekaterina Kudashkina

Do I get it right that the power of the Central Government is nonexistent?

Charles Heyman

It’s as good as nonexistent. It seems to exist in the Tripoli area, but really nowhere else, I mean people decide whether they are going to obey them or whether they aren’t going to obey them. At this moment, the Central Government doesn’t have the army and the police it needs to make sure that its will is obeyed throughout the country. So, the Central Government’s in control only in the Tripoli area. The Central Government isn’t even in control of Tripoli airport, as far as I can make out, for the airport’s in control of what we call the Zintan militia. Besides that, various militias around Tripoli itself control various areas on the outskirts.

Yekaterina Kudashkina

What about Benghazi?

Charles Heyman

Benghazi’s a different scenario and it always has been, even in the days of the Gaddafi régime. Historically, Libya was three different countries, we had the Fezzan in the south, we had Tripolitania, the area out to the west towards the Egyptian border, and Cyrenaica around Benghazi. So, it’s beginning to revert to three almost-independent entities again. It’s possible, in the longer term, that the best scenario is probably a federal arrangement in Libya, to keep some form of the Libyan national state together. However, as things are going at the moment, that’s probably unlikely and the situation seems to be getting worse by the day.

Yekaterina Kudashkina

Now, Libya seems to be a vast armaments market. So, do I get it right that arms are still being supplied and getting into the country?

Charles Heyman

Well, as far as I can make out, it isn’t that arms are coming into the country; it’s that arms are going out of the country.

Yekaterina Kudashkina

Oh, really?

Charles Heyman

Various militias have seized a lot of the arms, there are huge stockpiles of arms from the Gaddafi era, and they’re selling them worldwide, making large profits for arms dealers who are in league with the Libyans themselves. Of course, some of those weapons are getting into Syria and arming the opposition. However, in the longer term, a lot of this has to be modernised, and, of course, the arms dealers are banging on the doors of the Libyan Transitional Government in Tripoli saying, “We can give you all the modern weapons you want once you’ve got enough money and once the situation’s calmed down”. So, there’s a lot of people who’re trying to get in on arms deals with the Libyan Government for the future, but for now, a lot of older Libyan weapons from the Gaddafi era are being sold throughout the world.

Yekaterina Kudashkina

Some militant groups or Islamist groups in neighbouring countries, like those in Nigeria, also seem to draw inspiration from the developments in Libya, and they’re becoming increasingly active in those countries.

Charles Heyman

Well, I think that there’s some truth in that. Certainly, what’s happened in Libya inspired a lot of people, especially the fundamentalist factions, and they believe that it’s easy to take down a state. In Libya, you see some instances now of fundamentalism breaking through, and I think it’s almost certain that’s somewhat encouraging to other fundamentalist groups throughout the region. How far that encouragement goes is a little bit early to tell, but that’s what the suspicion is, and the suspicion is that some of the fundamentalist groups allied to al-Qaeda are actually benefiting now in Libya from the breakdown of law and order.

Yekaterina Kudashkina

Doesn’t it resemble the situation in Iraq?

Charles Heyman

It’s different from the situation in Iraq.

Yekaterina Kudashkina

How different?

Charles Heyman

It is very, very different because in Iraq there’s a huge Sunni–Shia split, whereas in Libya most of the population are Sunnis of one persuasion or another, but, you know, just because they’re Sunni it doesn’t mean that everybody thinks exactly  the same way and follow exactly the same policies. That’s one of the reasons for difference. Besides, I think the tribal aspect in Libya’s far stronger than it is in Iraq. What you’re seeing is a huge upsurge in the power of the twelve really, really important tribes in Libya.

Yekaterina Kudashkina

Which means that I must’ve been mislead by some seeming outward resemblances, because Iraq seems to be falling into three parts, too, and it also seems the consequence of external invasion.

Charles Heyman

Absolutely. In Iraq, we see the direct consequences of an external invasion, whereas, of course, in the first place, Libya had a home-grown insurgency, which was aided by NATO air power. So, I’d hesitate to say that what we had in Libya was a foreign invasion, certainly, there was a lot of foreign interference, but it was a home-grown insurgency, started in Libya, and it had a lot of support in Libya. So, I think, you know, its right to point out that there are some similarities between Iraq and Libya, but Libya’s different in a number of other ways.

Yekaterina Kudashkina

Could we compare the actual situation in Libya to the potential situation in Syria?

Charles Heyman

I think there are far more similarities between Libya and Syria, than there are with Libya and Iraq. Syria’s probably different because I think that Assad’s government has more support than Gaddafi’s Government probably did. There’s no doubt that Assad’s régime survives because it still has considerable support in the country and I suspect it has more support than the rebel factions do, although it’s very, very difficult to tell. It’s been more successful in clearing some areas of insurgency than the Gaddafi régime was. However, of course, the Gaddafi régime had NATO air power pounding its military assets all the time. Assad hasn’t got the problem of being attacked by NATO airpower. So, the chances are much higher that the Assad régime will survive.

Yekaterina Kudashkina

So, generally speaking, the situation in the region does seem to be extremely volatile, doesn’t it?

Charles Heyman

It could be cataclysmic, certainly for the West, for northern Europeans, and for NATO as well.

9 March 2012

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_03_09/67929820/

11 March 2012. Suspended OCA Deacon Pasonick Gets a Year in the Slam… NO News of It on oca.org (Of Course)

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Click here for a news report on suspended OCA Deacon Michael Pasonick getting a year’s worth of the slam and a 250 G fine (rather a “slap on the wrist, if you were to ask me). Earlier, I wrote:

The Feds found Deacon Michael Pasonick guilty on corruption charges and his lawyer’s pulling shyster tricks in an attempt to keep him out of the slam. Click here for a link to back what I’m saying. Once there, look on the right-hand side of the webpage, it’ll give you all the info that you need to access more information on this scumbag. The good word has it that Fr John Kowalczyk wanted Posonick made a priest. The buzz is that Kowalcyk’s Herman’s spy (Hermie’s Uriah Heep, if you will)… several sources tell me that Kowalczyk was snooping around on Memorial Day (is Herman the real OCA bishop in Eastern PA?)… tells you volumes, no? Some say that Kowalcyk’s a major problem in Eastern PA… Tikhon Mollard is a gutless Cadillac Escalade-driving punk… he lets Kowalczyk run the store.

At that time, a kitchen cabinet member sent me this:

You know, some time ago you wrote that the whole “old order” as we knew it (with its respective ROCOR and OCA royal families and Good Ole Boys clubs, etc) is collapsing, and that something completely new is emerging in its place. This is precisely right. The problem is that the members of said royal families, Good Ole Boys clubs, et al, know this as well, and they’re terrified. The notion of a world where being Schmemann’s grandniece-in-law twice removed, or an Ossorgin relation, or whatever will not settle an argument is too much for them to handle.

I withheld comment on l’Affaire Pasonick for a few days for two main reasons:

• I wanted to see if oca.org would run any comment
• I wanted to ferret out some more intel on the situation

As for the first proposition, does it surprise anyone that oca.org said NOTHING, not even a “we’re not responsible for Mr Pasonick’s actions, and they don’t reflect on the OCA”. This has become all too familiar… Fathausen always DENIES. He’s a juvenile self-centred dweeb, who refuses to reply to people that he finds inconvenient, who simply lies when confronted with previous statements and actions. It’s following a pattern. Fathausen refused to publicise his suspension of Ray Velencia. Fathausen refused to allow publication of the Holy Synod‘s actions against Dickie Wood. Now, Fathausen refuses to speak when a former OCA clergyman goes to the slammer. Ray Velencia calls himself “Father Raymond Velencia” in his court papers, yet, as a disgraced and suspended clergyman, that’s not appropriate, fitting, or truthful. I’d say that ANY judge would perk up his ears if he heard that Sir Ray was no longer a priest in good standing… it’d torpedo his case for sure, and the shit would hit the fan, spraying the OCA apparat with its noisome ordure. Oh… I was NOT called by the OCA Holy Synod for anything connected with his suspension… I thought that you’d like to know that. THIS is what Fathausen’s brought the OCA… secrecy, duplicity, and a noxious hyper-clericalism. The upshot of all of this has been that a priest was sued during the first week of the Great Lent by another priest… THAT’S the bitter fruit of Fathausen’s thumb-sucking California New Age blather. Is this what YOU want?

As for the second point, I received the following from a kitchen cabinet member:

I think that he’ll face a spiritual court and be defrocked. He’s dirty. Some were pressuring the bishop to ordain him to the priesthood because he was a big donor to STS. [Pasonick’s] attached to the OCA cathedral in Wilkes-Barre PA, and was on the STS Board of Trustees for many years. He was a student at STS, years ago, and provided some of the funds for the new dorms and bookstore. However, somebody told the bishop that [Pasonick] was secretly cooperating with FBI, so he didn’t ordain him.

You can believe that or not, as you will. As for me, I find it very probable. Oh… one last thing… Pasonick served as a deacon with Fathausen at St Tikhon’s Memorial Day 2010 when Fathausen concelebrated openly and freely with Feodosy Lazor and Herman Swaiko. Remember that whenever you hear fulminations about homosexuality from ANY OCA hierarch. If “birds of a feather” flock together, what does that tell you about Fathausen’s proclivities? Methinks the pot doth call the kettle black…

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Sunday 11 March 2012

Albany NY