Category Archives: Analysis 🙌

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Congo Warlord who used Child Soldiers gets 14 years

10 Tuesday Jul 2012

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Thomas Lubanga has been sentenced to 14 years in jail for recruiting and using child soldiers in his rebel army in 2002 and 2003.

Taking into account time spent in custody, this will mean the warlord from Congo will now serve a further eight years.

Lubanga would go to people’s homes and ask them to donate something for the war effort, the court heard. He would ask for cash, a cow, or for a child to fight for his rebel army. The court was shown video footage of Lubanga at a training camp, where children as young as 10 were being prepared for battle.

Another video showed young children working as bodyguards.

Lubanga became the first person to be convicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) since it was set up 10 years ago.

The conflict between ethnic groups in Ituri, north-eastern DR Congo, is estimated to have killed 60,000 people.

The Lubanga case is closely related to the current fighting in DR Congo, where forces loyal to Gen Bosco Ntaganda are threatening the main eastern city of Goma.Gen Ntaganda has been accused of the same crimes as Lubanga and his M23 group resumed its rebellion shortly after Lubanga was convicted.

Lubanga was arrested in March 2005 by UN peacekeepers, along with other militiamen.

Although, he showed no emotion as he was sentenced, Lubanga cried when he was transferred to The Hague in March 2006.

Posted by | Filed under Africa 🗺, Analysis 🙌, Children, Crime 🔪 🔫, Europe 🇪🇺, International News, Politics 💼 🗳 🪖, Terrorism, UK, USA 🇺🇸

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A Woman is executed outside Kabul

09 Monday Jul 2012

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ANALYSIS

Adam was the first Prophet of God, and Muslims believe that Muhammed was the last.  What the last Prophet of God would have made of the images that emerged from outside Kabul yesterday, one can never really know.

My guess is that a man who was comfortable in the company of women, who actively encouraged women to be firm in their opinions, and who fell in love with a strong woman fifteen years his senior, would have been as horrified as everyone else with the video that was posted online.

The 22-year-old woman was crouched with her back to her executioners, before being shot. That action was also accompanied with the words ‘Allah -o-Akbar’.

The video with its chilling echo of that execution in a stadium of a woman in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan more than a decade ago is of course a reminder of many things – the brutality of a culture marked by decades of senseless war, the fact that men from certain cultures still have not learned to behave in a civilised, (with akale) manner, etc, etc.

Perhaps, the most depressing thing though is that the Taliban don’t seemed to have learned from being in the wilderness for more than a decade.

The best thing they could do is to look at the Hadith of the Prophet, which clearly documents HOW a Muslim should treat a woman.

Posted by | Filed under Analysis 🙌, Asia 🌐, Crime 🔪 🔫, International News, Politics 💼 🗳 🪖, Terrorism, USA 🇺🇸, Women

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Could Spain be joining Portugal, Greece and Ireland?

09 Monday Jul 2012

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Fears that Spain could be joining Portugal, Greece, and Ireland in need of a major European bailout rose today.

And there were also concerns about the state of Italian finances too.

The yield on Spanish 10-year bonds, which are taken as a strong indicator of the interest rate the government would have to pay to borrow money, rose above 7%.

Italian bond yields have also risen to 6.1%.

Yields above 7% are considered to be unsustainable in the long-term.

Details of the bailout of Spain’s banks are expected from eurozone ministers.

Eurozone finance ministers are meeting today, while those from the 27-nation EU will meet on Tuesday.

Posted by | Filed under Analysis 🙌, Breaking News 📺 🎙🗞, Comment, Financial 💷 💲 🏦

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Libor Rate-Fixing Scandal, Barclays release Bank of England memo following resignation of Bob Diamond

03 Tuesday Jul 2012

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Here is the e-mail that Barclays has released in which it discloses details of a phone call between Bob Diamond and the deputy governor of the Bank of England, Paul Tucker, in 2008.

Emailed to John Varley on 30/10/2008. Copied to Jerry del Missier.

Date: 29th October 2008

Further to our last call, Mr Tucker reiterated that he had received calls from a number of senior figures within Whitehall to question why Barclays was always toward the top end of the Libor pricing. His response was “you have to pay what you have to pay”. I asked if he could relay the reality, that not all banks were providing qutoes at the levels that represented real transactions, his response “oh, that would be worse”.

I explained again our market rate driven policy and that it had recently meant that we appeared in the top quartile and on occasion the top decile of the pricing. Equally I noted that we continued to see others in the market posting rates at levels that were not representative of where they would actually undertake business. This latter point has on occasion pushed us higher than would otherwise appear to be the case. In fact, we are not having to “pay up” for money at all.

Mr Tucker stated the levels of calls he was receiving from Whitehall were “senior” and that while he was certain we did not need advice, that it did not always need to be the case that we appeared as high as we have recently.”

Bob Diamond, who resigned his position as Barclays Chief Executive over the Libor rate-fixing scandal, is to appear on Wednesday before the Treasury Committee.

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Banking System marked with “shoddy treatment of customers” needs reform, says Bank of England boss

29 Friday Jun 2012

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The Banking Industry needs urgent reform, Sir Mervyn King, Bank of England Governor said today.

Speaking at the launch of the Bank’s twice-yearly Financial Stability Report, Sir Mervyn said the banking culture and structure suffered from  “excessive levels of compensation, shoddy treatment of customers, as well as deceitful manipulation of one of the most important interest rates.”

His comments accompanied news today that the UK’s big four banks have been found to have mis-sold complicated financial products to thousands of small businesses.

Yesterday, Barclays was fined £290m for fixing a key interest rate.

And there was also the mis-selling personal payment insurance to people who either did not need it, would not be able to claim on it, or did not know they had been sold it.

Sir Mervyn said: “We can see we need a real change in the culture of the industry.

“We don’t need any inquiry to know what we should be doing. There must be many people who work in banking today who know that they are honest, hard-working and feel they have been let down by some of their colleagues and indeed their leaders. What I hope is that everyone – everyone – now understands that something went very wrong with the UK banking industry and we need to put it right.”

He called for the government to implement the recommendations of the Vickers Commission on banking, which said that more risky investment banking should be separated from day-to-day banking needs of individuals and small businesses.”

Simon Walker, the head of the Institute of Directors, said in a statement: “As well as ripping off their customers, they have also harmed the reputation of business as a whole – they should feel deep shame for the damage they have done.”

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Euro 2012, Mario Balotelli propels Italy into the Finals

28 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in Analysis 🙌, Breaking News 📺 🎙🗞, Comment, Europe 🇪🇺, Football ⚽️, Germany 🇩🇪, Sport 🏏 🎾 ⚽️

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BREAKING NEWS

Germany 1  Italy 2

This Italian team did not look like they would have a chance against Germany.

Then Mario Balotelli decided to tell the world, that he had arrived.

A header and a brilliant conversion from this young maverick and Germany were on the back foot.

The longer the game went on the less convincing Germany looked.

Germany had their moments towards the end, but never looked like they were going to score, as Italy applied the squeeze.

Then, one minute into extra time, an excellent Ozul penalty pulled one back and the game was on, but they had left it too late.

The truth was when the pressure was on, Germany simply folded, but that would never have happened had a 21-year-old Italian not seized the moment.

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⚽️ Are Spain squeezing the life out of Football? 🇪🇸

28 Thursday Jun 2012

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Commentary

Apparently, that was the feeling amongst the crowd at the Donbass Arena last night, as Spain reached their third straight major final in a row.

Now, why would the Portuguese fans being saying and thinking like this – can’t imagine…

Spain’s emergence, which resembles all the excitement and artistry of the 1982 Brazilians has exposed a number of truths and hard realities.

Apart from Germany – and with Russia and Holland waiting in the wings – the other sides in this competition have been at best average.

Those of us who still wonder what would have been had those fouling bunch of players called Italy not beaten Socrates, Zico, Eder, Falcao…remember them… feel we have been thrown a new life line by this Spanish team that lives up to the hype.

And the team that will able to take them on in the final is of course Germany, who should be there, unless they are very unlucky.

So have Spain squeezed the life out of the game – of course not.

And what’s the best way to beat them – play better than them, Mr Ronaldo et al.

Posted by | Filed under Analysis 🙌, Comment, Europe 🇪🇺, Football ⚽️, Sport 🏏 🎾 ⚽️

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Euro 2012, Spain are through on penalties

27 Wednesday Jun 2012

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BREAKING NEWS

Portugal 0 Spain 0 (2-4 on penalties)

Portugal played lockdown and it was a tactic that worked.

Except for the occasional flashes, Spain found it difficult to penetrate the Portuguese game plan that intended to disrupt Spain’s rhythm in the hope of finding Cristiano Ronaldo at the front.

And as the game went on longer, it was clear Portugal were just playing for penalties.

This was not pretty, but when have Portugal played any other way.

And despite a better Spanish showing in extra time, the game went into penalties.

Posted by | Filed under Analysis 🙌, Comment, Europe 🇪🇺, Football ⚽️, Sport 🏏 🎾 ⚽️

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🗳 Egypt’s First Democratically Elected President 🇪🇬

27 Wednesday Jun 2012

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ANALYSIS

When Gamal Abdel-Nasser seized power of Egypt through an army coup, he immediately threw the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna into a concentration camp.

It did not matter that the Brotherhood had backed his struggle, he just did not want to see Islam playing a role in governing his people.

So, he is probably turning in his grave as crowds in Tahrer Square and elsewhere greet Mohammed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood as the country’s first ever democratically elected President.

Sunday’s momentous declaration has of course to be treated with caution.

Egypt’s army has seized on a court ruling to curtail the outcome of parliamentary elections that had given the Muslim Brotherhood the majority share of the vote.

Of course, the whole system was designed by Hosni Mubarak to ensure that the Muslim Brotherhood would never rule.

So, getting as far as they have is incredible.

Those who say that the ‘Arab’ Spring did not have this outcome in mind, may be right.

Yes, this is a vote for reactionaries, and yes it would be great to see a truly secular party born of the Islamic tradition being elected into both seats of power.

However, this result is also a consequence of the actions of Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak, all of whom were of course strong figures backed by a ruthless military. the very military that is now showing no sign of allowing the country’s first democratically elected President any room to rule.

And until that happens, the dreams and ambitions of the protesters will never be realised.

Posted by | Filed under Analysis 🙌, Arab World 🌎, Breaking News 📺 🎙🗞, Comment, International News, Politics 💼 🗳 🪖, Terrorism

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