Presenting news from around the world…………

From Spain……

Top PP officials shown to have taken payments on the side

Newly released records reveal corruption and political graft in the land of austerity.  Too many politicians love telling their citizens that the government cannot help them and that they will simply have to do without.  Corrupt politicians around the world believe that they are privileged and generally see their graft as a perk of their jobs.  Amazingly detailed records of kickbacks and bribes reveal massive corruption within Spain’s conservative party.  I’m always amazed when criminals keep highly detailed accounts of their crimes.

Mayor refuses to register unemployed immigrants

Immigration, legal and otherwise, is a hot button issue in virtually every country.  Times of economic hardship usually lead to more animosity towards immigrants.  In a violation of Spanish law, a Spanish mayor is refusing to allow unemployed immigrants to register as residents.  The mayor rationalizes his hatred of immigrants by saying, "I don't care whether people like it or not. Immigrants without a job can forget about coming here to sponge off us. It's that simple."  Hate is universal.

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From Russia……

Last Year's Repression Worst in Decades

The international activist organization, Human Rights Watch, charges Russian dictator (his official title is President, however, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck) with leading the worst political crackdown since the collapse of the Soviet Union.  From the imprisonment of the band Pussy Riot to the oppression of gay citizens, Putin has attacked his enemies, real and imagined, with a paranoid fever that would make Stalin proud.    

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From Switzerland……

Court States: Spying on Employee's Computer Use Illegal

Don’t expect to see a similar ruling in America anytime soon.  A Swiss municipality suspected an employee was spending too much time ‘surfing the net’.  They installed tracking software on his computer and determining that he spent too much time in unrelated work activities, the employee was fired.  A Swiss court has ruled that installing the tracking software was too invasive and, therefore, the firing was illegal.  Wow.  Americans can be fired for no reason, any reason and everything in between. 

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From Hungary……

Ruling Hungarian Party Adopts Policies of Far Right

Does that headline sound familiar?  Since the Reagan presidency, the modern Democratic Party has drifted to the right.  Obama has advanced policy after policy that originated on the American Right.  The same is happening in Hungary.  This is a very informative article that shows the dangers of ‘triangulation’ and foregoing principals in the pursuit of votes.  As usual, the Right needs a villain to justify their extreme policies.  In Hungary, the Right has made the Rome their chosen boogeyman.  Most American’s are not aware of the vitriolic hate that many Europeans feel towards the Roma (gypsy) community.  In good economic times they are barely tolerated and in troubled times they are easy targets for every problem that a country is suffering.  Look at these two policies that the Hungarian Right was pushing and that have now been adopted:

In a measure geared mainly toward members of the Roma minority, the government has made it necessary for citizens to perform volunteer work and allow their living spaces to be inspected for orderliness in order to receive social-assistance payments.

The rights of paramilitary militias have been bolstered. And, in a concession to Roma-haters, a right to use arms for self-protection on one's own property has been introduced.

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From Iceland……

IMF Learned New Lessons from Iceland

Iceland was nearly devastated during the 2008 financial collapse.  The country is now doing better than many of its European counterparts.  Iceland’s President Olafur Grimsson explains how Iceland reacted to the crisis and what the IMF could and should learn from their example.  I think that anyone interested in the 2008 collapse will find this to be a very interesting interview.