From Volume 36, Issue 39 of EIR Online, Published Oct. 9, 2009

Western European News Digest

Irish Turnaround on Lisbon Treaty Questioned

Oct. 3 (EIRNS)—According to the official results, Irish voters approved the Lisbon Treaty by a margin of 67.1% "yes" to 32.9% "no." This is quite a turnaround from the June 2008 referendum when 53.4% of Irish voters voted "no" and the treaty was defeated. While the ruling parties in Dublin are reported to be overjoyed at the result, along with Eurocrats, the London Daily Telegraph gives a different picture of the result.

"I'm here because I have a vote and, basically, I've been told what to do with it," one Irish voter told the Telegraph. "Every time I turn on the television some politician tells me that only the EU can save this country. I don't want to do it. I feel disloyal, but today I am voting yes. It isn't how I voted 16 months ago, but I've been left feeling I have no choice." The Telegraph story makes much of the economic collapse that has devastated Ireland since the June 2008 vote. Much of the electorate that voted "no" in 2008 "clearly felt they now had no choice but to switch allegiance and reluctantly come out in support of the European Union—presumably in the hope that it can help its failing fortunes."

Meanwhile, British Tory Party leader David Cameron vowed, today, to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty if it's still being debated by the time of the next general election, expected by June of next year. More important, however, might be the opposition of Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who said Prague's ratification of the treaty was "not in the cards" any time soon, because the Czech constitutional court has yet to rule on the matter. One can expect enormous pressure to come down on Klaus, in the aftermath of the Irish vote, and if he breaks, Tony Blair will soon be president of Europe and Cameron's promise of a referendum will be irrelevant.

Tories Say They Will Block Blair

Oct. 3 (EIRNS)—Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair might find resistance in Britain to his mad dash to become president of the European Union, if the Lisbon Treaty is passed. Speaking at the Conservative Party conference, William Hague, Shadow Foreign Secretary, told the Times that his party will work to block Blair from becoming "president" of Europe. "There could be no worse way to sell the EU to the people of Britain."

Obama Meets His Mustache in Copenhagen

COPENHAGEN, Oct. 2 (EIRNS)—President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama came to Denmark to put their reputations on the line, to try to make sure that Chicago would be the city where the Olympics would take place in 2016.

Three LaRouche activists held a demonstration close to the building where the conference was taking place. They featured a 2x1.5-meter poster with the picture of Obama and his Hitler mustache, captioned, "I've Changed," and the EIRNS logo underneath.

The media carried live pictures of the whole process, where the poster was briefly shown (however, in the replays, that clip was removed). Another part of the U.S. delegation also drove by the poster on their way into the Congress building.

Depression Threatens Europe's Social Stability

Oct. 2 (EIRNS)—Unemployment in the 16 eurozone countries is reaching a ten-year high, with 15.2 million now officially recorded. Spain, with unemployment at almost 19%, tops the list.

In this light, a memorandum prepared for today's Goeteborg meeting of the 27 European Union finance ministers tells a bit more about the difference between what the normal population is being told about alleged "recoveries," and what the EU experts know is really the situation: The memorandum, which was leaked to the London Financial Times, voices concern over the future of Europe's social systems, if the crisis deepens and erodes the budgets of the member states further, through decreasing tax revenues and increasing expenses for labor market support.

"The continued high joblessness with its potentially long-term effects on the labor markets and potential growth could threaten the European social state models, which already now are burdened by the aging of the populations," the report says.

Swedish Astronaut Promotes Manned Mars Mission

STOCKHOLM, Sept. 28 (EIRNS)—Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang hopes to be part of a project for new manned landings on the Moon, and, after that, Mars. This is what he said upon his return to Sweden, following his trip on the Space Shuttle Discovery two weeks ago. Both yesterday, at the airport, and at a special reception, and then again this morning in a TV interview, he used his time to not only discuss his two space trips, which probably are his last, but to promote the Mars project.

Answering a question on what now motivates him to go to work, he said: "I hope that the space program will have some more challenging goals: to go to the Moon and maybe to Mars." He then discussed a 1.5-year trip to Mars, and compared it to the discoverer Magellan, who was at sea for three years.

The 1.5 year-figure is based on a projected inertial trajectory. Lyndon LaRouche has proposed fusion energy-based propulsion, to permit a constant acceleration/deceleration of 1-gravity, which would make it possible to complete the trip in 2-3 days.

City of London Mouthpiece Demands Depopulation

Sept. 30 (EIRNS)—In an editorial appearing in its Sept. 25-26 edition, the Financial Times called for a renewed drive for population control, in the name of Parson Malthus. The piece, entitled "Malthus Redux," cites a study of Optimum Population Trust, which argued that the most "cost-efficient" manner to cut carbon dioxide production, was to reduce population. In fact, the Financial Times says, "it is hard to think of any aspect of life on earth that would be improved by having more people."

The Financial Times claims this could all be voluntary—and a lot easier with the Obama Administration than the previous Bush team. In fact, they are enforcing the very economic policies which are guaranteed to force massive depopulation, including in their own British Isles.

The Optimum Trust report was also hyped in the U.S., by the Washington Post, shortly after its release, two weeks ago.

French Rationalists Declare War on Malthusians

PARIS, Sept 28 (EIRNS)— Jean Pierre Chevènement, the President of the Parti radical de gauche (Radical Left Party), and former Research and Education Minister, has mounted an offensive against the Green fad rocking France since, in particular, this year's European elections. Chevenement had already attacked the Malthusian cult, at his party's summer school in August. In an interview with the Marianne website yesterday, he goes much further, blasting Sarkozy and the Socialist Party, the first out of "perversity," the second out of "stupidity," for having "created a vast media bubble around [Green leader] Daniel Cohn-Bendit, that no other political official has ever enjoyed. 'It's a sacred cow. Let me genuflect.' But, despite the efforts of Mr. Sarkozy to give CPR to the Greens, it is likely ... that this bubble will collapse at the upcoming regional elections."

All rights reserved © 2009 EIRNS