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As the war of words over expulsions of Roma from France escalates, the leader of France’s Socialist Party (PS) has been accused of hypocrisy for herself demanding the dismantling of a gypsy camp at Lille where she is mayor.

Martine Aubry has been vocal in her opposition to French government policy, announced at the end of July, of dismantling illegal traveller camps and “repatriating” their non-French inhabitants, mainly to Romania and Bulgaria. Both countries are members of the European Union.

Last week, in a speech concluding the PS summer conference, Aubry accused French President Nicolas Sarkozy of playing on “irrational fears” in his treatment of Roma, thereby “debasing the French Republic”.

Aubry believes the initiative poses a moral problem because it targets a community group, and says it is being used as a pretext by the ruling UMP party to divert attention from its economic problems.

On Wednesday, right-leaning daily Le Figaro published a letter written by Aubry’s lawyer on July 19 to the main court in Lille, asking for an order for police to evict forcibly a Roma encampment in the northern French city.

The letter, according to the Figaro, reads: “Over the last few days a number of vehicles and caravans have arrived [in the Villeneuve d'Ascq district of Lille], constituting a flagrant breach of property law and risking becoming a source of problems for neighbouring residents. There is an urgent need to order their expulsion.”

Aubry was quick to defend her actions and distance the “evacuation” of the Lille camp from the government’s more hard-line policy of repatriation.

She said that the dismantling of the Lille camps, which took place at the end of August, had been ordered well before Sarkozy’s speech in Grenoble at the end of July, where he outlined his policy against illegal Roma camps.

Read more here.

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Police spokesperson Pedro Cossa on Thursday denied rumours that the army has been called on to restore public order. According to Cossa, “the army was called on to carry out the clean-up in the cities and not to restore order. Since last night it has helped Maputo City Municipal Council to clean the city”.

Cossa stated that the police have the responsibility to ensure the safe movement of people on the roads.

Commenting on the situation on Thursday morning, the spokesperson said that all is relatively calm. There were still points of disturbances on the outskirts of Maputo, with incidents along the Avenida Acordos de Lusaka, Avenida de Angola, the neighbourhood of Magoanine and the city of Matola.

Three people have died and dozens injured in the neighbourhood of Benfica, on the outskirts of Maputo, as a result of riots that have spread in the southern Mozambican cities of Maputo and Matola.

Because of this, Cossa called on the population to return to normal life, but for parents and carers to avoid abandoning children to make sure that they are not harmed in the disturbances.

Currently the police are patrolling all entrances to Maputo and are out in force in the city centre.

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The self-proclaimed Republic of Transdniester, a breakaway territory in the Republic of Moldova, is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its de facto independence.

The city of Tiraspol, its capital, is holding a military parade to symbolize the might of the republic. The day will end up with colorful fireworks to celebrate the occasion.

On September 2, 1990, the tiny strip of land between the Dniester River and the Ukrainian border announced its secession.

It was followed by a brief but bloody war that claimed hundreds of lives and ended only due to a peacekeeping mission led by the Russian Federation.

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Transdniester was part of Moldova in the USSR. As the Soviet Union collapsed, Moldovan government policies discriminating against the ethnic Russian community – including outlawing the language – led to violence.

The Russian community feared nationalists wanted unity between Moldova with Romania – leading to Transdniester’s declaration of independence in 1990.

War was to follow just two years later, when Moldovan troops attacked to seize back the territory their country claims as theirs.

“Back then, it all started with words, with threats against ethnic Russians. And then came the war. For us it was a national war, and we defended our country. We weren’t invaders,” says Igor Smirnov, President of Transdniester.

The fighting, in which around 700 died in just four months, pitted ordinary civilians fighting to defend their homes and families against Moldovan troops.

Mikhail Paskar, Resident of Transdniester and former soldier recalls that “The defense of the city was conducted just by the local population. When they attacked, we didn’t even have guns to start with. Our aim was to defeat all the incoming attacks of the Moldovans and prevent their invasion, and we succeeded in that aim.”

“The first thing I did was to take my wife and two daughters away from the city. Then I returned to my defensive position near the border and started fighting. They brought tanks to try and scare us into surrendering, but their tactics only provoked a stronger defense from us,” Paskar added.

The conflict only ended when Russian forces intervened. A ceasefire was signed in July 1992. Since then an uneasy calm has been monitored by a tripartite peacekeeping force of Russian, Moldovan and local forces.

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On the eve of the silliest peace talks in history, the big question is this. What makes Obama’s envoy George Mitchell, a negotiator of high repute, say there is ‘no role’ for Hamas?

The talks are silly because they seek to overturn what the United Nations has already decided for resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict and drive a bulldozer through the building blocks of justice.

It might be music to Zionist ears, but to people of good will it’s a cruel, futile and immensely damaging ploy.

The talks are also silly because they bring together two people who by no stretch of the imagination could qualify as partners for peace. And they sit down under the auspices of a third party with an appalling track record in the Middle East and whom no-one trusts to act fairly.

So Mitchell has been dealt a terrible hand. The former US senator, we’re told, has had an illustrious career in politics. Honours have been heaped upon him for his part in the Northern Ireland ‘Good Friday’ agreement.

Accepting one of those awards – the Liberty Medal in 1998 – Mitchell said: “I believe there’s no such thing as a conflict that can’t be ended… No matter how ancient the conflict, no matter how hateful, no matter how hurtful, peace can prevail. But only if those who stand for peace and justice are supported and encouraged, while those who do not are opposed and condemned. Seeking an end to conflict is not for the timid or the tentative. There must be a clear and determined policy not to yield to the men of violence…”

How about that? Conflict can be ended only by supporting those who stand for peace and condemning those who don’t. But does he know – has he really taken the trouble to find out – who actually stands for peace and justice in the ever-escalating obscenity of the Israeli occupation of Palestine? And is he absolutely clear who “the men of violence” are? Get it wrong and matters are made worse.

Read more here.

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Israel is ready to cede parts of Jerusalem to the Palestinians in the framework of a peace deal, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Wednesday ahead of the start of talks in Washington.

Partition in Jerusalem – at the heart of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict — would include a “special regime” for managing the city’s holiest sites, Barak told Haaretz.

He said the killing of four Israelis by Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank on Tuesday should not stop the talks starting.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who meets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House on Wednesday for their first face-to-face negotiations, has
publicly balked at dividing the city.

Barak’s disclosure suggested the Netanyahu government was willing to yield on Jerusalem, including its walled Old City where al-Aqsa, Islam’s third-holiest shrine, abuts the Western Wall, the vestige of Judaism’s two ancient temples and today a Jewish prayer plaza.

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Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi continued to cause a stir during a Rome visit Monday by wheeling out another four busloads of young women to receive another lecture on the Koran.

Islam is “the last religion and if you want to believe in a single faith then it must be that of Mohammed,” the colonel reportedly told 200 women hired by a Rome hostess agency, some of them wearing headscarves and one sporting a picture of Gaddafi around her neck.

“He didn’t try to convert us,” said Elena Racoviciano, 21, from Naples, after emerging from a photography exhibit at the new Libyan Cultural Institute.

Gaddafi held a similar meeting with 500 women provided by the same agency on Sunday, three of whom reportedly converted to Islam.

“Women are more respected in Libya than in the West and the United States,” was another of Gaddafi’s remarks conveyed by Racoviciano.

In his first encounter with the hostesses, after an impromptu stroll around central Rome, the dictator urged them to marry Libyan men.

Gaddafi’s lectures to the women and his statement that Islam should be “Europe’s religion” have sparked opposition from Catholic and feminist groups as well as prompting accusations that Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi is pandering to him.

Read more here.

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In a rare reversal, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has backed down on his opposition to halting the construction of an $8 billion highway through a centuries-old oak forest north of Moscow — even as loggers said they already cut down almost half of the trees in question.

Putin said he was open to an alternative route Friday, a day after President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a halt to the deforestation needed to make way for the highway from Moscow to St. Petersburg.

“The question about what route the road will take is an important one,” Putin told reporters during a tour of the Far East, according to a transcript on the government’s web site.

But he also said the highway was a “necessary” project.

Meanwhile, Teplotekhnik, the contractor hired to clear the forest, said it had cut down about 60 hectares of the 144 hectares scheduled for destruction, Vedomosti reported Friday.

Putin and Medvedev made no public comment about Teplotekhnik’s announcement by Sunday.

Yevgenia Chirikova, leader of the Khimki forest defenders, told The Moscow Times that restoring the destroyed trees would take more than 70 years.

Putin’s government previously supported the partial destruction of the forest. But speaking to reporters Friday, Putin stressed that this was not the first time that he had changed previously approved construction plans because of environmental concerns.

Russian journalist Mikhail Beketov, the founder of Khimkinskaya Pravda, was brutally assaulted in 2008 sustaining injuries which have left him brain damaged and in a wheelchair and have caused him to have one leg and three fingers amputated for editorializing opposition to the Khimki roadway.

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The lawyer acting for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout submitted a petition to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Monday against the extradition of his client to the United States.

Lak Nitiwattanawichan requested better protection for Mr Bout and also that the government abide by the laws pertaining to extradition.

The unfair extradition of Mr Bout could be detrimental to his life and his freedom, he said, and asked to meet Mr Abhisit in person to discuss the matter.

An official at Government House received the petition.

Mr Lak said the meeting of Sirichoke Sopha, a Democrat MP for Songkhla and a close aide of Mr Abhisit, with Mr Bout,  would not affect the extradition case.

The 11-page petition was written by Mr Lak and was signed by Mr Bout.

Mr Abhisit said later he had asked the agencies involved to increase security for Mr Bout, because the case is the centre of a conflict.

He said he had not received the petition and would have to see it first before deciding whether to allow Mr Lak to meet him to discuss the matter.

In the morning, Sirichoke Sopha, a Democrat Party MP and close aide to Mr Abhisit, insisted his controversial meeting with the Russian arms dealer would not damage Thailand’s relations with Russia and the United States.

“I met Mr Bout because I needed some facts and I was doing my duty as an MP. The meeting will not affect Mr Bout’s court case,” Mr Sirichoke said.

He had not discussed this matter with Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, but believed Mr Suthep was well aware of the situation.

Read more here.

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A torrent of water threatening to deluge a city in flood-hit Pakistan has begun to recede, officials said Monday, as emergency workers plugged a breach in defences against the swollen Indus river.

Pakistani troops and workers were on a “war footing” over the weekend battling to save the southern city of Thatta after most of the 300,000-strong population fled the advancing waters.

“The breach near Thatta has been half-plugged and fortunately the flood has also changed its course and is moving away from the city and populated areas,” senior city official Hadi Bakhsh Kalhoro told AFP.

“The water is flowing into the sea and its level is receding, and many people are returning to their homes,” he said.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department said inflows at the nearby Kotri barrage were receding but maintained its “significant” flood forecast. The Flood Forecasting Centre said the Indus river at Kotri would “continue in exceptionally high flood level” for another 24 hours. Torrential monsoon rain has triggered massive floods that have moved steadily from north to south over the past month, engulfing a fifth of the volatile country and affecting 17 million of Pakistan’s 167 million people.

Southern Sindh is the worst-affected province, with 19 of its 23 districts ravaged as floodwaters swell the raging Indus river to 40 times its usual volume.

One million people have been displaced over the past few days alone and hundreds of thousands fled Thatta ahead of the approaching torrents.

Read more here.

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German newspapers have poured scorn on Thilo Sarrazin, the Bundesbank board member who has published a book claiming Muslim immigrants are undermining German society. His words are racist and divided, say some editorials. Others say he is voicing important points, albeit in the wrong tone.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has joined a chorus of criticism of Bundesbank board member Thilo Sarrazin for claiming in a book released on Mondaythat Germany is in decline because of its Muslim immigrants. Merkel said in a television interview on Sunday that Sarrazin’s choice of words in the integration debate was “completely unacceptable.”

“He is making a discussion of these issues much more difficult,” Merkel told the German public television station ARD. “The words being used here divide society.”

Sarrazin, a member of the center-left Social Democrats, provoked further criticism at the weekend by saying in a newspaper interview that “all Jews share a certain gene.”

Sarrazin, a former minister of finance for the city-state of Berlin, has repeatedly caused controversy by criticising Turks and Arabs in Germany. The latest controversy has led to renewed calls for him to be sacked from his Bundesbank job and evicted from his party.

In his book, Sarrazin argues that Muslims undermine German society and that young Muslim men are aggressive due to sexual frustration.

Some media commentators call Sarrazin’s comments racist, divisive and misguided and one even draws parallels between it and Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.” But others direct their criticsm more at his choice of words, and voice qualified agreement with the points he makes.

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