Syrian rebels to get Russian anti-aircraft missiles

Rebels reportedly acquire the Russian Osa ("Wasp") anti-air system • CBS News reports that the CIA has been involved in training Syrian opposition forces since last year • Russia reaffirms its commitment to selling Syrian regime the S-300 missile system.

Reuters, Daniel Siryoti, Yoni Hirsch, Eli Leon and Israel Hayom Staff

The Friends of Syria group greenlights arming the rebels while U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visits Qatar  |  Photo credit: Reuters

Η Ε.Ε. αναγνώρισε ότι το νερό δεν μπορεί να πουληθεί!

Μεγάλη νίκη του Right2Water, οργάνωσης που μάχεται για να μην ιδιωτικοποιηθεί το νερό στις χώρες της Ε.Ε., καθώς οι 1,5 εκατομμύριο υπογραφές που συγκέντρωσε ανάγκασαν τον αρμόδιο για την ΕσωτερικήΑγορά επίτροπο Μισέλ Μπαρνιέ να δηλώσει ότι «η ιδιωτικοποίηση του νερού της βρύσης δεν υπήρξε ποτέ ως πρόθεση, ούτε ως πραγματικότητα για την Ε.Ε.».

Running out of time on Iran, and all out of options

Richard A. Clarke was the counterterrorism chief for both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

It was Clarke who was in the hot seat, running the White House Situation Room, on 9/11 — he it was who had overseen the efforts to prevent 9/11, and he who wrote a devastating book on 9/11, “Against All Enemies,” after resigning in 2003. The book castigated George W. Bush’s administration for failing to heed his warnings on al-Qaeda before 9/11, for squandering the opportunity to eliminate al-Qaeda in the wake of 9/11, and for deciding instead to go to war in Iraq.

Financial Sector Thinks It’s About Ready To Ruin World Again

The nation’s major banks and investment firms say they are ready to give utterly decimating the world’s economies “another go.”

NEW YORK—Claiming that enough time had surely passed since they last caused a global economic meltdown, top executives from the U.S. financial sector told reporters Monday that they are just about ready to completely destroy the world again.

Erdoğan's fall from grace in Turkey is pure Shakespearean tragedy

Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has turned 'an insignificant protest in a scrubby little park into a national emergency.' Photograph: Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images

As the protests in Turkey continue, spare a thought for the man whose personal tragedy few have the grace to acknowledge – Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Until three weeks ago Erdoğan was destined to go down as one of the greatest reformers in Turkish history alongside Ataturk and Suleiman the Magnificent, despite all the bullying and the backsliding of the past three years.

How Austerity Has Failed, Martin Wolf

Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images

British Prime Minister David Cameron and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, Brussels, May 2012

Austerity has failed. It turned a nascent recovery into stagnation. That imposes huge and unnecessary costs, not just in the short run, but also in the long term: the costs of investments unmade, of businesses not started, of skills atrophied, and of hopes destroyed.

What is being done here in the UK and also in much of the eurozone is worse than a crime, it is a blunder. If policymakers listened to the arguments put forward by our opponents, the picture, already dark, would become still darker.

Obstacles to a Syrian Regime Victory in Aleppo

In the wake of their seizure of Qusair in western Syria, Syrian loyalist forces are bent on capitalizing on their newfound momentum by wresting more of the loyalist core from the rebels and advancing on rebel-held territory. In order to continue their advance, however, loyalist forces will have to address logistical difficulties, potentially fight through powerful rebel blocking positions and overcome increasing U.S. weapons aid to the rebels. 

Analysis

The regime has by and large proved that the loyalist core is not seriously threatened at the moment. However, for their resurgence to seriously undermine the rebellion, the loyalists would need a victory in Aleppo. Seizing Aleppo would simultaneously give the loyalists effective control of the vast majority of Syria's population centers, defeat perhaps the largest concentration of rebel forces and inflict a terrible blow to the rebels' morale.

ΑΝΤΑΛΛΑΓΗ ΚΑΤΗΓΟΡΙΩΝ ΓΙΑ ΠΑΡΑΤΥΠΙΕΣ Νίκη προεξοφλούν οι δύο μονομάχοι των αλβανικών εκλογών

Τη νίκη τους στις βουλευτικές εκλογές της Κυριακής ανακοίνωσαν και τα δύο μεγάλα κόμματα της Αλβανίας εν μέσω αλληλοκατηγοριών για παρατυπίες στην εκλογική διαδικασία, η οποία βάφτηκε με αίμα μετά τη δολοφονία 52χρονου αντιπροσώπου της αντιπολίτευσης και τον τραυματισμό άλλων δύο.

Ο απερχόμενος πρωθυπουργός και επικεφαλής του συνασπισμού της δεξιάς Σαλί Μπερίσα.

Πρώτος ο ηγέτης της αντιπολίτευσης Έντι Ράμα ανακοίνωσε ότι «η "αναγέννηση" νίκησε απέναντι στην καταστροφή».

Στο εδώλιο του ΟΗΕ καθίζουν το δημόσιο Έλληνες ομολογιούχοι

Στον Οργανισμό Ηνωμένων Εθνών αναζητούν της δικαίωσή τους οι Έλληνες ιδιώτες ομολογιούχοι που εξαναγκάστηκαν σε κούρεμα με το PSI+ πέρυσι το Φεβρουάριο με αποτέλεσμα να υποστούν σημαντικότατες ζημίες ενώ παράλληλα αναμένουν την ερχόμενη Τέταρτη 26 Ιουνίου και την απόφαση του Συμβουλίου της Επικρατείας στο οποίο έχουν προσφύγει για το ίδιο θέμα. 

Την ίδια ώρα το Γενικό Λογιστήριο του Κράτους, σύμφωνα τουλάχιστον με την μέχρι στιγμής πρακτική των τελευταίων 3 κυβερνήσεων, αναμένεται να αποπληρώσει την Τρίτη στο ολόκληρο το υπόλοιπο ομολόγου του ελληνικού δημοσίου, αλλοδαπού δικαίου, που δεν κουρεύτηκε ύψους 1,127 δισ. δολ στους κατόχους των χρεογράφων και 10 ημέρες αργότερα 650 εκατομμύρια ελβετικά φράγκα για έτερο χρεόγραφο επίσης αλλοδαπού δικαίου που ωριμάζει και αυτό. Παράγοντες της αγοράς εκτιμούν ότι το μεγαλύτερο μέρος των δυο αυτών ομολογιακών εκδόσεων διακρατείται από hedge funds . 

Can national parliaments make the EU more legitimate?

The EU has long had a problem of legitimacy, but the euro crisis has made it worse. According to Eurobarometer, 72 per cent of Spaniards do not trust the EU. The Pew Research Centre finds that 75 per cent of Italians think European economic integration has been bad for their country, as do 77 per cent of the French and 78 per cent of the Greeks.


For more than 60 years, the EU has been built and managed by technocrats, hidden from the public gaze – or so it has seemed. In fact national governments have taken most of the key decisions, but public scrutiny has been insufficient. This model cannot endure, because the EU has started to intrude – particularly in the euro countries – into politically sensitive areas of policy-making.