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- End of the Tillack saga?Yesterday
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Media for Freedom reports that the accusations of bribery against the journalist Hans-Martin Tillack have been dismissed by a Belgian court for lack of evidence. Aparently the International Federation of Journalists is now calling on the EU "to tell the whole truth" about the complaints and why they were made. I guess it is a little difficult to work out why there should be ridiculous legal attempts to silence journalists who write about corruption about the European Union and its anti-corruption unit, OLAF.
Herr Tillack's supporters are calling for a formal apology from EU officials. We are calling for a full display of the Porcine Air Force in the skies above Brussels.
Daniel Hannan gives the full story in First Post, adding: On Tuesday, the Belgian state was ordered to pay Tillack €10,000 in compensation and €30,000 costs. At least the poor fellow will - Another crisis, another opportunity …Yesterday
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If it was not for the Gaza crisis, then number one item in the headlines would most certainly be the Russian gas crisis. As with Gaza, though, nothing is quite what is seems, the media is as always totally unreliable and there are numerous hidden (and some not so hidden) agendas.
With a tentative resolution on the cards, Russia and the European Union having clinched a deal on monitoring gas shipments through Ukraine, thus paving a way for the resumption of deliveries to EU countries, the EU's real agenda is the same as it has always been – more political integration.
To that effect, this current spot of bother with Russia provides yet another opportunity to invoke the mechanism that has been tried in the past – the beneficial crisis, a mechanism attempted in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War.
It is ironic now, as then, that there was another Middle East Crisis going on, but this time the two crises are not directly related – except in the eyes of the EU commission pr - I don't think they understandYesterday
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On the whole I have great respect for UN Watch, an NGO that tries to show up the UN for the sort of pernicious organization it is, though, I suspect, that is not how they would put it themselves. Something about getting the UN to live up to its principles may be how UN Watch sees its role.
Having said that, I have to point out that they do not appear to understand anything about the European Union. Like many other people I received an e-mail from the organizaion, asking me to take action immediately to prevent a completely duplicitous UN resolution that calls for an immediate truce in Gaza and a withdrawal of Israeli troops, without once mentioning Hamas terrorism from being passed.
The idea is that we all send e-mails to Javier Solana and to Karel Scwarzeneger, the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs, asking them to stop the EU from voting for the resolution. Please help us ensure the EU will live up to its principles tomorrow by voting No to this one-sided resolution.I am not sure what principles UN Watch have in mind but it is the EU that has consistently aided and protected Hamas just as in the days of long ago, it revived the career of that late unlamented mass-murderer, Chairman Yasser Arafat.
Furthermore, the EU does not vote in the UN. It is individual countries that do and they seem to have come - If we did this?Yesterday
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As it stands – and the numbers vary from hour to hour – there are 28,595 individual media stories posted on Google News covering the Gaza conflict. But how many of them are genuine, individual stories, based on accurate, reliable first-hand information?
That the media indulges in group-think and plagiarises each others' stories is hardly new, but it is a useful corrective to remind ourselves of how prevalent and blatant this practice really is.
Step away from Gaza for one moment, and look at a completely different issue – one we tackled yesterday, the great light-bulb story. Go to The Daily Mail and you will see a follow-up story by David Derbyshire headlined, "The low-energy bulbs that won’t fit your light sockets". It is datelined 11:03 PM on 07th January 2009.
The story is original, based on Derbyshire's own work (this, I know), and he writes: "Low-energy bulbs are incompatible with millions of lamps and sockets in homes, it has emerged … L - Gosh, what a surprise!Yesterday
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It seems that Arab states and governments are secretly relieved that Israel is waging war against Hamas and may well destroy that group's ability. In some cases the opposition to Hamas and the support for Israel have not been all that secret. Well, colour me surprised. After all, anyone with half a brain would have realized some time ago that despite the rhetoric Arab states, rich or poor, give very little support to their Palestinian brethren and tend to urge them to ever greater suicidal missions.
Nor have the pictures of demonstrations in the Middle East shown enormous crowds; not if one compares numbers to demonstrations when something really important happens like the bread riots in Egypt last spring.
However, not all is lost. Hamas will still have the EU, the UN, various NGOs and other tranzis on their side. Somebody should do a psychopathological study on people who wander round the corridors of all these organizations.
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