contributions

As 2014 winds to a close and 2015 beckons, noted European financier Christophe Mazurier reflects on a year in which French President François Hollande finally started turning the tide of the French economy.
In August, Hollande relieved his economy minister Arnaud Montebourg from duty. It was a controversial decision, considering Montebourg was one of the most popular cabinet ministers and a longtime Socialist darling. But in the end, Mazurier and many pundits and financiers agreed that (…)

Do I stand with Charlie? No, I do not and I’ll tell you why.
But first, let me clarify something.
I do believe in free speech; probably more than you the reader.
I also believe in freedom of the press; again, probably more than you the reader.
However, unlike some others in the media, I recognise that today we’re involved in a war against people who will shoot you dead in the street, without batting an eye. Are you prepared to do that? I am. These Muslim extremists will blow you up (…)

THIS IS WHAT WAR DOES
John Chuckman
A Canadian photographer named Bryan Adams (yes, the rock singer) has done something extraordinary in publishing a book of photographs of what war does to soldiers. The wounds of his subjects are not covered with gore as they would be on the battlefield. His pictures are clean studio shots. The subjects sometimes even are smiling. Their wounds are healed, at least as much as such wounds can ever be called healed, but the surrealistic sense of the (…)

Mr. President Obama The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
Washington DC 20500 (USA)
Mr. President,
Just as the millions of people who are attached to liberty, I experienced an intense emotion when I learned of your decision to render the liberty to the three remaining Cubans of the Cuban Five, who were so unjustly imprisoned in the USA. This first step, as well as the reestablishment (…)

We have been witnessing, for years now, forms of latent tension between police forces and other institutions. What is happening in these days in New York, with the repeated protests by policemen (and police unions) against the city mayor refers to other episodes - also to Italian ones. Let’s think to the vehement requests made in the last years by the police unions in order to have free rein against the No Tav movement in Val Susa : (…)

AMERICA STUMBLES THROUGH ANOTHER YEAR, SPREADING CHAOS AND TRIVIA EVERYWHERE IN ITS PATH
John Chuckman
The Palestinians are seeking a vote in the United Nations’ Security Council on a resolution favoring their statehood, unquestionably a reasonable proposal in the minds of most of the world’s people. Of course, the United States, a permanent member of the Security Council, would automatically veto such a resolution, as it vetoes all efforts to restore order to the chaos of the Middle (…)

American, Canadian, Australian, British and notably Murdoch Empire Mainstream media have exposed their remorseless self-censorship on behalf of the US Government by extraordinarily refusing to report the key testament by a Ukrainian military witness that a Captain Vladislav Voloshin of the Ukrainian air force had returned to base on 17 July 2014 in his Su25 fighter jet minus his 2 air-to-air guided missiles and had effectively admitted to shooting down Malaysian Airlines MH17. In (…)

Lancashire Constabulary officer David Underwood (PCSO 7144) just can’t seem to keep his mouth shut. Currently the subject of an IPCC (Independent Police Complaints Commission) complaint involving Montgomery High School and his unorthodox interrogation of at least two children; young girls (11 years old) without first notifying parents and without a responsible adult being present, Underwood hasn’t ceased the behaviour that originally landed him into hot water.
The complaint against (…)

By Nicola Nasser*
Defying a consensus that it is a priority by the world community comprising international rivals like the United States, Europe, Russia and China and regional rivals like Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia, Israel, like Turkey, does not eye the U.S. – led war on the IS as its regional priority. Nor fighting Israel is an IS priority.
The Israeli top priority is to dictate its terms to Syria to sign a peace treaty with Israel before withdrawing its forces from the occupied (…)

AND TO ALL, A GOOD NIGHT A Contemporary Christmas Tale
John Chuckman
It was only a matter of time before Santa Claus himself came under the Neanderthal-eyed scrutiny of American intelligence. After all, Santa’s citizenship is unknown, and he crosses borders with no passport or other form of identification. No one knows whether he even has a valid pilot’s license.
Although his image is well known, there is no official photograph on file with American border control, and he has never (…)