1982 Top 40 23rd May # 29 UB40
39 minutes ago
Monday, 7 February 2011
Chelsea 0 VS 1 Liverpool
Meireles strikes as Liverpool win on Fernando Torres's Chelsea debut
Longy - you was robbed! Fifty million AND three points LOL!
#batshitcrazy
johannhari101 Johann Hari
Glenn Beck just claimed India and Ireland are about to fall to Islamic revolution in a wave spreading from Egypt. #batshitcrazy
Massive UN-Supported African Palm Plantations Leading to Oppression, Kidnapping and Murder
Since the 2009 coup that overthrew the government of President Manuel Zelaya in Honduras, the countryside of the lower Aguan Valley, a long embattled region and one of Central America's richest agricultural areas, has undergone a brutal rash of kidnappings, murders, detentions and intimidation.The region has been long marked by conflicts over land and land reform; but today in the Aguan Valley -- prime real estate for plantations of African palm -- the stakes have increased dramatically. With the global biofuel rush, and with the expansion of carbon markets, which can provide massive underwriting for projects that appear "green," but in many cases may be anything but, the promise of carbon credits and free money from climate-financing schemes like the U.N.-backed Clean Development Mechanism, appear to be among the causes of renewed violence.
A signal occurrence was the recent kidnapping of a local campesino (peasant farmer) named Juan Chinchilla. Chinchilla is a leader of the Unified Peasant Movement of the Aguan (MUCA in its Spanish acronym) and a member of the National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP), a movement that rose up after the 2009 coup that ousted President Zelaya. On January 8, Chinchilla was on the road when his motorcycle was fired on. He was quickly taken captive by men identified as wearing police and military uniforms and uniforms of the private security guards of Miguel Facussé, a Honduran businessman who owns vast plantations of African palm in the Aguan Valley.
By the time Chinchilla managed to escape two days later, he had been burned and beaten, though suffered no critical injuries. When he was interviewed, Chinchilla said his captors included "several foreigners who spoke English, and another language I didn't recognize." When asked why he thought he'd been kidnapped, Chinchilla said, "We're in a war with the landowners. We know that our enemies are Miguel Facussé, Rene Morales, and Reinaldo Cabales, and that the government sides with them, not with the people."
In poring over accounts from the Aguan Valley, including frequent reports by Italian journalist Giorgio Trucchi who has been in the Aguan during much of the past year, the name Facussé comes up again and again. A widely known figure in Honduras, Facussé owns thousands of hectares of African palm, among the fastest-growing biofuel feedstock crops. His agribusiness consortium, Grupo Dinant, has reportedly received millions of dollars from International Financial Institutions. If its registration is approved in coming weeks, one of Grupo Dinant's key projects will become the latest of about sixteen projects in Honduras -- including hydroelectric dams, biomass electricity, and methane capture projects -- to receive financing under the Clean Development Mechanism...
A signal occurrence was the recent kidnapping of a local campesino (peasant farmer) named Juan Chinchilla. Chinchilla is a leader of the Unified Peasant Movement of the Aguan (MUCA in its Spanish acronym) and a member of the National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP), a movement that rose up after the 2009 coup that ousted President Zelaya. On January 8, Chinchilla was on the road when his motorcycle was fired on. He was quickly taken captive by men identified as wearing police and military uniforms and uniforms of the private security guards of Miguel Facussé, a Honduran businessman who owns vast plantations of African palm in the Aguan Valley.
By the time Chinchilla managed to escape two days later, he had been burned and beaten, though suffered no critical injuries. When he was interviewed, Chinchilla said his captors included "several foreigners who spoke English, and another language I didn't recognize." When asked why he thought he'd been kidnapped, Chinchilla said, "We're in a war with the landowners. We know that our enemies are Miguel Facussé, Rene Morales, and Reinaldo Cabales, and that the government sides with them, not with the people."
In poring over accounts from the Aguan Valley, including frequent reports by Italian journalist Giorgio Trucchi who has been in the Aguan during much of the past year, the name Facussé comes up again and again. A widely known figure in Honduras, Facussé owns thousands of hectares of African palm, among the fastest-growing biofuel feedstock crops. His agribusiness consortium, Grupo Dinant, has reportedly received millions of dollars from International Financial Institutions. If its registration is approved in coming weeks, one of Grupo Dinant's key projects will become the latest of about sixteen projects in Honduras -- including hydroelectric dams, biomass electricity, and methane capture projects -- to receive financing under the Clean Development Mechanism...
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Jeff Conant @'Alternet'
Sunday, 6 February 2011
Julian Assange: The man who played with fire
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@'ABC'
W Most Wanted
A planned trip to Switzerland next week by George W. Bush was canceled after human rights activists called for demonstrations and threatened legal action over allegations that the former president sanctioned the torture of terrorism suspects.
The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights and several European human rights groups said they were planning to file a complaint against Bush and wanted Swiss prosecutors to open a criminal case against him once he arrived in the country.
David Cameron sparks fury from critics who say attack on multiculturalism has boosted English Defence League
The prime minister, David Cameron, and US secretary of state Hillary Clinton arrive at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. Photograph: Johannes Simon/AP
David Cameron was accused of playing into the hands of rightwing extremists today as he delivered a controversial speech on the failings of multiculturalism within hours of one of the biggest anti-Islam rallies ever staged in Britain.
Muslim and anti-fascist groups questioned the prime minister's judgment and sensitivity to the issues, saying he had handed a propaganda coup to the hard-right English Defence League as 3,000 of its supporters marched through Luton chanting anti-Islamic slogans.
Some of crowd were jubilant, saying that Cameron "had come round to our way of thinking". Paul Bradburn, 35, from Stockport, said Cameron was "coming out against extremism".
He added: "The timing of his speech is quite weird as it comes on the day of one of the biggest EDL demos we've ever seen. If he wants to start sticking up for us, that's great."
Matt, 16, a school pupil in Birmingham who was at the march said: "He believes what we believe to some extent."
Downing Street issued a robust defence saying the prime minister was "absolutely unapologetic".
A spokeswoman said the speech had been "in the diary for months". She added: "The idea that he would be blown off course on an issue as fundamental as this by the English Defence League is ridiculous and extraordinary."
Cameron told the Munich Security Conference, attended by world leaders, that state multiculturalism had failed in this country and pledged to cut funding for Muslim groups that failed to respect basic British values.
He blamed the radicalisation of Muslim youths and the phenomenon of home-grown terrorism on the sense of alienation that builds among young people living in separate communities and the "hands-off tolerance" of groups that peddle separatist ideology.
Just a few hours later, EDL leader Stephen Lennon told the crowd they were part of a "tidal wave of patriotism" that was sweeping the UK.
Activists, some wearing balaclavas and others waving English flags, chanted "Muslim bombers off our streets" and "Allah, Allah, who the fuck is Allah". EDL supporters from Newcastle, Scotland, London, West Yorkshire and Sheffield joined Luton-based supporters. There were also flags representing German, Dutch and Swedish Defence Leagues.
Nick Lowles, director of anti-extremist group Hope Not Hate, said the timing of Cameron's remarks had allowed EDL members to claim the government was on its side.
"The prime minister's comments were unhelpful. On a day when extremist groups of varying persuasions were descending on Luton, his words were open to misinterpretation at best, and at worst were potentially inflammatory.
"Whatever the intention, the timing of this speech has played into the hands of those who wish to sow seeds of division and hatred."
Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, said Cameron had handed a "propaganda coup to the EDL and their extremists".
Labour also weighed in, attacking the timing of the speech and rejecting implications from Cameron that it had failed to address issues of Islamic extremism and the complex issues of multiculturalism during 13 years in office.
Former home secretary Jack Straw said it was "ill-timed" and "ill-judged". Former Labour minister Margaret Hodge said: "This is a hugely difficult area. I agree that there are some areas where we need strong assimilation – speaking English and abiding by British law.
"But Cameron appears to suggest we can impose a much wider assimilation with British values and the danger is that this approach will perversely entrench those separate identities that he wants to meld.
"The state has to be very cautious in using its power to mould cultural values. Comparisons with far-right groups on the day the EDL is mounting a demonstration is needlessly provocative.
"It is not merely the Muslim community's responsibility to combat extremism; we all have responsibilities, particularly to ensure that minority communities do not feel excluded."
As the row over the prime minister's remarks intensified, Tory co-chairman Baroness Warsi called for an apology from shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan after he accused Cameron of "writing propaganda for the EDL".
"For Sadiq Khan to smear the prime minister as a rightwing extremist is outrageous and irresponsible. David Cameron has made it clear that he wants to unite Britain around our common values and he has done so in measured language," she said. "It is right that we make it clear: extremism and Islam are not the same thing.
"And, as David said, it's important to stress that terrorism is not linked exclusively to any one religion or ethnic group."
Toby Helm, Matthew Taylor and Rowenna Davis @'The Guardian'
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