Western European News Digest
British Labour Suffers Worst Election Defeat in Decades
British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party suffered a "kicking" in local council elections in England and Wales, because of opposition to the Iraq war, John Prescott, Labour Deputy Prime Minister, had to admit June 11. Blair himself, who was at the G-8 summit in Georgia earlier in the week, admitted that Britain's role in invading Iraq had cast "a shadow" over the elections, but he claimed his government's record on the economy and jobs, "would stand us in good stead." In reality, the British economy is a ticking, trillion-pound debt bubble ready to blow.
Labour, still the ruling party in Britain, fell to third place in vote share, in local elections, its worst results in living memory. This is the first time a ruling party came in third in local elections. Results from 144 of 166 councils, show Labour lost 406 seats, from the 2,737 they held before and lost control of seven councils so far.
BBC projections on the basis of 300 key wards, put the Tories in first place with 38% of the vote, Liberal Democrats with 30%, and Labour 26%! Liberal Democrats have consistently opposed the war in Iraq.
The elections include governments of a number of large cities. In the election for Mayor of London, popular Ken Livingstone is in a race too close to call against his Tory opponent. Livingstone was kicked out of the Labour Party in 2000, for running against the official nominee, and rejoined before this election.
Voter turnout for the pollswhich include the European Parliament, which results will be released on June 13was low at 40%, but up 9% from the last local elections.
So far, the Tories have gained 208 seats, up from the 1,426 they already held, and won control of several important councils. The Liberal Democrats so far won 111 more seats from the 1,139 they already held. Labour's Home Secretary, David Blunkett, had to admit to BBC Radio 4, that the Iraq war had "split" the Labour Party and public opinion in Britain. "I'm mortified that we're not doing better than we have done. We know it has been a bad night, but we are obviously going to have to present the facts as they are."
Labour has lost a number of its key cities, including Newcastle, which it ruled for 30 years, to the Liberal Dems. This is very important, because the core "New Labour" crew, including Blair, Peter Mandelson, Steve Byers, and Alan Milburn, are from northeast England, where Newcastle is the biggest city.
Tony Blair Delusional To Persist on Iraq WMD
UN Weapons Inspector David Kay mused that British Prime Minister Tony Blair must be "delusional" to continue to insist, as he did the first week in June, that WMD could still be found in Iraq, the London Guardian reported June. 6. "Anyone out there holding, as I gather Prime Minister Blair has recently said, the prospect that the Iraq Survey Group is going to unmask actual weapons of mass destruction is really delusional. It's amazing that occasionally they slip back into talking about it. The problem is the unwillingness to take the responsibility of saying a few simple words: "We were wrong."
UK Elections Seen as Referendum on Bush-Cheney
The disastrous election results for Tony Blair's Labour Party must be seen as a referendum against the entire Blair-Bush-Cheney complex, rather than just local election results, a leading British Atlanticist, himself a Labour Party activist, commented to EIR June 11.
The source said: "The results we see from yesterday's local elections are atrocious for the Labour Party, but more than local issues are involved. I was canvassing votes for Labour yesterday, going house to house, and what I was told in one out of every two houses, was, 'Get rid of Blair, and I'll vote Labour.' In many houses, I was met with attacks on Bush, as well. So this election yesterday amounted to a referendum on the Blair-Bush relationship."
When asked about Cheney, he responded. "You should know that I am picking up significant soundings from Republicans, that Cheney should be dumped. This is what my contacts in Republicans Abroad, here in Britain, are saying."
Normandy Commemoration Highlights Franco-German Ties
French President Jacques Chirac strongly stressed the importance of friendship between France and Germany, 60 years after the June 1944 Allied invasionespecially at a separate Franco-German event with Chancellor Schroeder in Caen, in addition to the general commemorative event with 16 other heads of state and government at Arromanches.
Chirac said, both in Caen, and in interviews with French TV and NBC-TV, that "war is never a good way of solving problems," that cooperation between France and Germany proves that "even after the worst wars, reconciliation is possible," that "hate never offers a future, and there is always a way for peace." Without once mentioning Iraq, Chirac's message was clear.
Also notable is France more prominently than ever before highlighted the existence of the German resistance to the Nazi regime, at an official event of this kind.
Schroeder Plan To Discuss Strategic Oil Reserves with Bush
Several media leaked that German Chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder would take the occasion of a bilateral meeting with President George W. Bush at the June 8, G-8 meeting to discuss the oil-price crisis. Schroeder believes that present U.S. oil-market activities are contributing considerably to the drastic increase of the oil price, in particular, the building up of a strategic oil reserve in the U.S. According to the leaks, Schroeder was to tell Bush that if the U.S. keeps buying up gasoline at Rotterdam, it will have a disastrous effect on the German and European gasoline market.
Schroeder, in general, opposes state intervention to lower the oil price, but, he thinks any intervention that keeps oil prices high should be avoided
Successful Prisoner Swaps of Europeans in Iraq
Coalition forces in Iraq succeeded in freeing three Italians and a Pole, in a bloodless operation, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez announced June 8, according to Radio Free Europe. There was no exchange of fire in the operation, which was welcomed by Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi, who also paid respects to a fourth Italian, who was killed in captivity earlier.
However, seven Turks were kidnapped, and their captors paraded them, and claimed they had been kidnapped because they worked for Americans. They threatened companies cooperating with U.S. forces with more attacks, according to a videotape obtained by AP TV news.
Bilderberger Oligarchs Signal New Oil Shock
"We are always at risk of a shock on the markets," was the message delivered by the elite Bilderberger annual meeting in Stresa, Italy, June 3-6. Italy's Corriere della Sera reported briefly June 5 that the likes of Peter Sutherland of Goldman Sachs; John Brown of British Petroleum; and Jeroen van der Veer of Royal Dutch Shell, "made clear to the participants that there is a risk of a new oil shock much worse than the one that hit the West in 1973."
The June 3-6 meeting marks the 50th anniversary of the exclusive group, including such names as Rockefeller, Rothschild, Kissinger, as well as a number of royals.
Four European Countries in Coordinated Anti-Terror Raids
Coordinated raids in northern Italy, France, Spain, and Belgium contributed to the arrest June 8 of Rabi Usman Sayed Ahmad, also known as "Muhammad the Egyptian" (even though he is a Moroccan national) by Italian authorities. He is said to be one of the masterminds behind the massive March 11 Madrid train bombings.
Muhammad was arrested on a warrant issued by Spanish judge Juan Del Olmo, who is leading the investigation of the bombings. A second man, 21-year-old Palestinian Yahia Payumi, who owned the apartment rented to Mohammed, was also arrested. La Repubblica reported that three or four men had been arrested in three Northern towns, including Milan, who were thought to be planning new attacks.
Italian Media Call On Kerry To Back Torture Probe
Multiple Italian media covered U.S. Presidential candidate Lyndon H. LaRouche's call for candidate John Kerry to back a full investigation of the tales of torture coming out of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo, Cuba.
On June 9, AISE, an Italian international press agency, and Osservatore Politico Internazionale (OPI), both based in Rome, published LaRouche associate Paolo Raimondi's statement reporting that six Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives have called for a Congressional investigation on the tortures.
The statement quotes candidate LaRouche saying: "I challenge Kerry to show some courage. He has to immediately endorse the Commission. The next phase of the election campaign will have more Watergate characteristics, primarily against Cheney." The note invites Italian politicians to stop playing pro- and anti-USA games and to learn the strategic importance of this campaign.
Europe Reconsiders Nuclear Power
In several interviews over recent days, Hans Haider, head of the Verbund (industrialists) of Austria, said because of the uncertainty of oil and gas prices, nuclear power will experience an upsurge of interest in Europe.
While he is rather skeptical whether Austrians can overcome their opposition to nuclear technology, Haider said other European countries could be expected to build new nuclear-power plants.
In Germany, Friedrich Merz, deputy head of the parliamentary group of the Christian Democrats, said that the "exit from nuclear technology was wrong," that answers as to how new power plants can be built to be available after 2010, have to be found now, not 10 years from now.
Austrian Journal Gives Thumbs Up to Fusion Power
The June 10 issue of the Austrian Profil weekly ran a lengthy article on the technology of thermonuclear fusion and the perspective for the long-delayed ITER pilot project.
"The dreams of thermonuclear fusion, the solar energy on Earth, are becoming more real than ever, with rising oil prices and globally increased demand. The Iraq War and the terror attacks in Saudi Arabia have opened the eyes of the world to how vulnerable the oil lifeline is. All of a sudden, the world talks about new nuclear power plants. China wants to quadruple its nuclear power by 2020. Also in the USA and in Europe, new nuclear power plants will be built."
But scientists are already working on a cleaner and even safer alternative to fission, namely fusion, quoting Harald Weber of the Nuclear Institute of the Austrian Universities, saying that the technological problems posed in the past have been solved, so that fusion can be tested now: "We are convinced that such a facility would work."
The problems now, are more of a political, rather than an ideological nature, Weber said, referencing the politically motivated struggle over the ITER project between the U.S.-Japanese camp and the Euro-Russian-Chinese camp. Important pioneer work for the ITER has been done in Russia, with the Tokamak reactor, and in Britain, with the European JET reactor, therefore, the ITER should be built in Europe, Weber insisted.
|