A reduced ability to control privatisations is going be a bitter pill for Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to swallow, as he confronts civil unrest on the streets of Athens and a slender majority in the country’s parliament..
A further shadow was cast over Greece’s future yesterday after a leading European policymaker warned that the debt-stricken country’s sovereignty would have to be reined in..In plain language, the leading countries in the EU will have a rather large share of influence, when public companies go on the block..
Effectively, Greece has, by accepting Eurozone bailout money, abrogated it's financial right to govern to those from whom they borrowed the money.. and this will certainly not sit well with the average Greek man on the street..
It was always going to be a problem.. joining a hegemony the likes of the EU, means that while a country can expect help in times of fiscal meltdown, it can also expect to lose sovereignty.. the right to govern themselves as they see fit.
It would do well, for contries the likes of Serbia to examine this scenario thoroughly.. for if they need help in re-establishing a separate economy, they may not get it unless they're willing to give up their right to govern to the EU.. specifically Germany and France.
We warned a couple of years ago, that a union of European States would eventually lead to a central government.. as in a republican model, wherein States must defer to a Central Administration..
This may well be the path for the future.. as individual countries decide the advantages outweigh the disadvantages of going it alone..
Prey Britain doesn't fall into this mishmash of a coalition.. for as there were problems deciding what was the purview of the individual States when the US was formed.. there will be far greater concessions demanded from countries, when they choose to fall under the European umbrella..

Accoding to American military sources, hundreds of American 'Special Forces' members will be shipped into Afghanistan, to ensure the Karzai government isn't over-run by factions undesirable to the West..
A mini-surge of Navy Seals, Army “Green Beret” Rangers and other special units is being drafted from across the world.. including Iraq and the Philippines.. to ensure that there is enough combat power to expand covert raids as America withdraws 33 thousand troops over the next 15 months.. The secret deployment reflects the concerns of military commanders that the withdrawal will be a blow to military progress in the country..
By 'military progress'.. read government stability..
While Barack wants to ensure that America’s withdrawal is well under way before the next presidential election, he is also anxious that it will not be seen to have undermined the gains that allied forces have made against the Taleban..
And that, is going to prove difficult. For just a scenario came to pass when the Russians pulled out.. rival tribal factions, terrorist groups, all those the US and Britain have fought so hard to at least contain, if not eradicate, will come flooding back into the country..
Never has an armed force managed to bring peace to Afghanistan since the days of the Ottoman Empire.
It's doubtfull the US has managed to achieve any more than any other..

A mention of the former Serbian General Ratko Miladic.. He's not refusing to attend his trial in the Hague.. boycotting the proceedures so to speak..
Not that it will have much impact on the outcome of the trial..

Professor Martin Lombard, England's National Clinical Director for Liver Disease, has delivered some disturbing news.. half a million British children are at serious risk of liver disease, due to obesity..
These are kids between the ages of 4 to 14..
The British diet, or at least that enjoyed by some, could well lead to diabetes and cirrhosis of the liver later in life..
Now While the rate of increase in childhood obesity seems to be flattening out, the total number of overweight children is still very high.. to say the very least..
Government figures for child obesity in England in the school year 2009/10 showed that nearly a fifth of children in reception class (aged four) were obese or overweight..
Among thos children in their 6th year of primary school.. that would be 10 to 11-year-olds.. the figure was one in three..
This is bordering on the obscene.. that we would allow our children to get into such a state..
One can see yet another government agency stepping in, for this over-eating would seem to preclude some deeper problem, both with the parents of these children, and with the kids themselves..

This might have been expected..
New York’s district attorney is expected to drop the criminal case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn after the chambermaid who accused him of sexual assault was alleged to be married to a drug dealer who sought to make money from the charges..
The former head of the IMF was arrested in New York last month and charged with seven counts of sexual assault, attempted rape and false imprisonment..He spent a weekend in jail..appeared dishevelled and weary in a New York Court.. was publicly humiliated as his other indiscretions were publicly aired.. and lost his job as the head of IMF Fund.. Then, cracks appeared in the credibility of the complainant..so he was put under house arrest.. and his bail and bond was returned.
Strauss-Kahn has denied all charges..
The days of political assassination have yet to pass it would seem..

Muammar is welcome to live out his retirement inside Libya as long as he gives up all power.. acording to Libya's rebel chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil.. the clearest concession the rebels have so far offered..
Gaddafi has fiercely resisted all international calls for him to go and vowed to fight to the end, but members of his inner circle have given indications they are ready to negotiate with the rebels.. including on the Libyan leader's future..
This could put a different complexion on this standoff.. If Mohammar stays in Libya, it's going to be difficult for the Courts to extradite him to face charges of genocide.. which could be one of the most pressing points on his mind.
After all, they hanged Saddam..

In February, the wheelchair-bound, gray-haired Shi'a anti-government activist Abduljalil al-Singace was released from a six-month prison stint in Bahrain.. that was short lived.. A week ago, Singace was sentenced to death in a military court, along with seven other prominent Bahraini activists, the highest-profile verdict in the weeks since the regime began trying arrested members of the opposition. Another 13 were handed sentences ranging from two to 15 years in prison..
Now while the government is taking a softer stance on protesters.. it's Courts are going the job of removing the leaders of the opposition for it.
International Observers at the trials of those above, described the proceedings as a travesty.. Human Rights Watch issued a note declaring the country's ongoing trials as unjust on the 14th of June.. saying "International human rights bodies have determined that trials of civilians before military tribunals violate the right to be tried by a competent, independent, and impartial tribunal.."
Yet another Western backed regime, falling to bits..

As millions of Americans struggle in foreclosure with little hope of relief, big banks are going to borrowers who are not even in default and cutting their debt or easing the mortgage terms, sometimes with no questions asked..
Two of the nation’s biggest lenders, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, are quietly modifying loans for tens of thousands of borrowers who have not asked for help but whom the banks deem to be at special risk..
Mind you, this is indeed on the quiet.. what they don't need are tens of thousands of applications for reductions from those who feel their position is untenable..
But if the other banks follow suit.. it could be the boost homeowners need..
But it won't offset fuel prices, and the unemployment problem..