country:bulgaria

Liban. Hezbollah (21 mai 2013)

La Grande Bretagne demande que la branche militaire du Hezbollah soit inscrite sur la liste européenne des organisations terroristes. (1) Bruxelles pourrait examiner cette requête début juin. Londres argue que le Hezbollah est responsable de l’attentat à l’aéroport de Burgas (Bulgarie, 18 juillet 2012) qui a coûté la vie à cinq Israéliens et un Bulgare (juillet 2013) et qu’il a été impliqué dans la préparation d’opérations contre des touristes israéliens à Chypre. Les Etats membres de l’Union européenne – notamment la France et la Suède - ont toujours été réticents à adopter cette mesure avec le souci de préserver le fragile équilibre politique libanais, de continuer à considérer le Hezbollah comme un parti politique et de garder une ligne de communication avec un mouvement qui, par ailleurs, offre de nombreux services sociaux à la population libanaise. Certains s jugent que la distinction entre parti politique et branche militaire du Hezbollah n’est pas pertinente et que le Hezbollah devrait être considéré comme une seule entité (2).

Le contexte est favorable à l’examen de la demande britannique par les Européens. La participation du Hezbollah libanais aux combats dans la ville de Qoussaïr (Syrie) aux côtés du régime d’Assad ne peut que contrecarrer les objectifs de ceux qui soutiennent l’opposition syrienne. La Grande Bretagne (en 2008) et les Pays Bas sont les deux seuls Etats membres qui ont déjà inscrit le Hezbollah (branche militaire) sur leur liste nationale de personnes et d’organisations terroristes. C’est aussi le cas des Etats Unis. La France (3) et la Suède ont fait savoir qu’elles n’avaient encore rien décidé. L’inscription sur une « liste terroriste » européenne vaut interdiction de toutes opérations bancaires sur le territoire européen (ce qui rend impossible par exemple la collecte de fonds à destination), gel des avoirs, interdiction de circuler, etc. Les sanctions sont modulables. Elles doivent être décidées à l’unanimité des 27.

Britain asks EU to put Hezbollah armed wing on terror list (21 May 2013)

(1) http://www.euronews.com/newswires/1963974-uk-asks-eu-to-put-hezbollah-military-wing-on-terror-list-diplomat
(2) http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/why-doesnt-europe-think-hezbollah-is-a-terror-group
(3) http://basedoc.diplomatie.gouv.fr/vues/Kiosque/FranceDiplomatie/kiosque.php?type=ppfr

Tsvetan Tsvetanov and Hezbollah
http://angryarab.blogspot.fr/2013/05/tsvetan-tsvetanov-and-hezbollah.html

You might remember that this Tsvetan Tsvetanov is the Interior minister that pretended to have “well-grounded reasons” to implicate Hezbollah in an attack against Israeli tourists:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/05/bulgaria-hezbollah-bus-bomb-attack
“We have well-grounded reasons to suggest that the two were members of the militant wing of Hezbollah,” said Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Bulgaria’s interior minister

So, with 2 major political scandals on the Tsvetanov, I would bet that the accusation against Hezbollah is now dead.

Incidemment, l’accusation du Hezbollah en Bulgarie, mis en cause par l’ancien ministre de l’intérieur Tsvetan Tsvetanov, s’effondre : Bulgarian police seize 350,000 ’fake’ ballots.
http://www.aljazeera.com/video/europe/2013/05/2013511165252491385.html

Private BGNES news agency named the party as Borisov’s GERB, whose deputy leader Tsvetanov headed the interior ministry until GERB’s ousting from power in end-February.

The prosecution did not comment on this information.

The allegations come at an awkward time for Tsvetanov, already embroiled in late April in a scandal about alleged illegal wiretapping of the party’s opponents and businesspeople.

#zionist_hoodlums

Refworld | Europe : End forced evictions of Roma in Europe

http://www.refworld.org/docid/5177d75d4.html

Signalé par @cdb_77 qui n’aura peut-être pas pensé à le seenthiser...

Europe: End forced evictions of Roma in Europe by Amnesty International

Encyclopedia of International Boundaries

International Boundaries Research Unit, Gideon Biger

http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-International-Boundaries-Research-Unit/dp/0816032335

An international group of geographers has compiled this first comprehensive reference source on the land boundaries of 200 contemporary independent states and 35 dependencies. The contributors are from academic institutions in Israel, the U.S., Croatia, and the International Boundaries Research Unit, University of Durham, England.

After an introduction about boundaries in modern states, the work is arranged alphabetically by country. Each entry includes a brief description of the state; its area, population, and political structure; and a summary of its history. Following this general information are sections on its relationship to adjoining nations, with a description of the boundaries, geographic setting, wars and treaties that determined the boundaries, and the present situation. For example, under Bulgaria, there are separate sections on each nation with which it shares a boundary—Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Turkey. A cross-reference notes when a boundary has been described in an earlier entry. As a result of the alphabetical arrangement, this results in seven references at the Serbia entry.

#bibliographie #livre #cartographie #frontières

Pour archive. Qui est le kamikaze de Burgas? L’enquête piétine
http://journal.tdg.ch/kamikaze-burgas-enquete-pietine-kamikaze-burgas-enquete-pietine-ulgarie-

Trois jours après l’attentat, un groupe se réclamant du djihad mondial, Qaedat al-Jihad, avait revendiqué l’attentat, promettant d’en commettre d’autres durant le mois de ramadan. Une hypothèse qu’avait aussitôt réfutée Israël.

Mossad, CIA join Bulgaria’s hunt for Burgas attack accomplice
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=5140

Meanwhile, the little known Qaidat al-Jihad organization, a branch of al-Qaida, has claimed responsibility for last week’s attack in Burgas. Arab media over the weekend ran a statement by the organization, saying, “With Allah’s help and accurate preparation, one of our men was able to blow up a bus in Bulgaria carrying Jewish tourists. We will continue to fight Jews and Americans until they get out of Islamic lands.”

Poverty Blamed for Bulgaria’s Suicide Wave - NYTimes.com
http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/23/poverty-blamed-for-bulgarias-suicide-wave/?partner=rss

Bulgaria’s caretaker government will launch a plan on Monday to try to tackle an epidemic of suicides that is afflicting the impoverished eastern European nation.

In the past month, six men have set themselves alight in apparent protests against the country’s economic plight.

There are also daily reports of people hanging themselves, jumping from bridges and high buildings and throwing themselves under trains, according to the Sofia News Agency, a Bulgarian wire service.

#pauvreté #désespoir #suicide

Bulgaria will not take lead in blacklisting Hezbollah, says PM

La Bulgarie fait-elle marche arrière?

Haaretz Daily Newspaper

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/bulgaria-will-not-take-lead-in-blacklisting-hezbollah-says-pm-1.509874

Bulgaria’s new interim prime minister said on Saturday he would not initiate any move to impose EU sanctions on the Islamist group Hezbollah, even though the country had implicated the Islamist movement in a bombing at a Black Sea resort.

#Liban

L’info n’intéresse pour l’instant que les usuals suspects du Nahar, de l’Orient le Jour : Un Libanais jugé à Chypre admet des liens avec le Hezbollah (média)
http://www.lorientlejour.com/category/Derni%C3%A8res+Infos/article/801857/Un_Libanais_juge_a_Chypre_admet_des_liens_avec_le_Hezbollah_(media).h

Un Libanais jugé à Chypre pour espionnage et planification d’attaques contre des cibles israéliennes a affirmé être un membre du mouvement chiite libanais Hezbollah, bête noire d’Israël, a rapporté un quotidien chypriote jeudi.

Mais en ce moment, l’actualité de Chypre (crise tellement grave qu’elle menacerait l’Europe) rend le pays encore moins susceptible de résister aux pressions israéliennes et américaines que, disons, le gouvernement bulgare.

Important: Inside the Hezbollah Bombing “Hypothesis” of an Israeli Tour Bus (Gareth Porter)
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/02/18/inside-the-hezbollah-bombing-hypothesis

Major revelations about the investigation by the former head of the probe and by a top Bulgarian journalist have further damaged the credibility of the Bulgarian claim to have found links between the suspects and Hezbollah.

The chief prosecutor in charge of the Bulgarian investigation revealed in an interview published in early January that the evidence available was too scarce to name any party as responsible, and that investigators had found a key piece of evidence that appeared to contradict it.

[…]

The decision to call the conclusion an “assumption” or even the weaker “hypothesis” about Hezbollah was obviously a compromise between the preference of the investigators themselves and the demands of the United States and Israel.

[…]

Tsvetanov admitted that the Hezbollah “assumption” had been adopted only “after the middle of January”. That admission indicates that the decision was reached under pressure from Washington, not because of any new evidence.

Bulgaria expels visiting Hamas delegation after pressure from Israel
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2013/02/15/266420.html

Bulgaria on Friday expelled a visiting delegation from the Palestinian group Hamas, the head of the organization that invited the lawmakers to the EU-member state told AFP.

Bulgarian security service agents “entered the hotel rooms of the three deputies early on Friday morning and drove them to the airport,” said Mohd Abuasi of the Centre for Middle East Studies.

“The agents explained to them that they had to leave because of strong political pressure on Bulgaria from Israel,” he said, adding that they had departed for Istanbul.

Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said in televised remarks that the lawmakers had left Bulgaria, without specifying if they had been expelled.

Roma in Germany forced into abject poverty - World Socialist Web Site

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/02/14/roma-f14.html

Roma in Germany forced into abject poverty
By Sybille Fuchs
14 February 2013

A recent report aired by the German public broadcaster ARD provided a shocking exposure of the contempt shown by local authorities and church institutions in the city of Dortmund for impoverished workers from southeastern Europe.

The extreme poverty in the countries from which these workers have emigrated—above all, Bulgaria and Romania—has been deliberately exacerbated by the policies of the European Union (EU). This, in turn, has acted as a mechanism to drive living standards down sharply in countries such as France and Germany.

#roms #discrimination

Why Did Bulgaria Link Hizballah To The Burgas Bus Blast? http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/10153/why-did-bulgaria-link-hizballah-to-the-burgas-bus-

Bulgaria – A Smokescreen for US-Israel?

The statement released by the Bulgarian government has sparked a great deal of speculation. It marks the end of a hectic three-months in which Tsvetanov, the Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Mladenov spent a considerable amount of time shuttling between the US and Israel. The high-level visits included meetings with the US President Barack Obama, his chief counterterrorism advisor John Brennan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

This all makes it easy to speculate that the US and Israel have been heavily involved in the investigation and invested in any possible outcome that sought to hasten blame on Hizballah.

The US Congress adopted a declaration in December urging the EU to denounce Hizballah as a terrorist organization and asking Obama to provide all necessary support to Bulgaria to conduct its investigation. As the Bulgarian opposition suspected, it is highly possible that government officials were under considerable pressure from the US and Israel, which are trying to use the bombing as a smokescreen to further complicate the intricacies in the Middle East in view of the current situation in Syria and Lebanon.

À peine prononcée l’accusation officieuse par la Bulgarie, le Christian Science Monitor (entre autres), qui est un journal américain, se passionne pour une unique question : le placement du Hezbollah sur la liste européenne des organisations terroristes. C’est vraiment formidable de voir la presse libre américaine se passionner spontanément pour les mêmes choses que Benyamin Netanyahou.

Bulgaria blames Hezbollah for 2012 bombing, refueling terrorist listing debate
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2013/0205/Bulgaria-blames-Hezbollah-for-2012-bombing-refueling-terrorist-listing-de

The long-awaited results of the Bulgarian investigation into the bombing will place greater pressure on the European Union to proscribe Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, a classification repeatedly called for by the US and Israel but so far rejected by the EU.

BBC.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21359254

Une conjoncture on ne peut plus favorable pour la chose.

Analysts had questioned how Bulgaria’s police and government were confident enough of their evidence to make the link to Hezbollah.

The country inevitably “relied heavily on resources from foreign security services” Tihomir Bezlov from the Centre for the Study of Democracy, a Sofia think-tank, told the AFP news agency.

Others described Bulgaria’s decision to accuse Hezbollah as part of a wider “game” linked to various conflicts in the Middle East, AFP reported.

Bulgarian Opposition Blasts Burgas Bombing Charge
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/bulgarian-opposition-blasts-burgas-bombing-charge

The announcement was quickly challenged by Sergei Stanishev, leader of Bulgaria’s parliamentary opposition and the head of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, who charged that finger-pointing against Hezbollah was unfounded and politically motivated.

“It is obvious that Bulgaria’s government has chosen a political approach and is only repeating the interpretation alleged by Israel on the very next day following the attack, when the investigation had not even started,” he said, as quoted by the Sofia News Agency.

“The investigation is currently underway, and there is no way one can be talking about decisive evidence regarding the direct perpetrators, much less regarding the organization that is behind this tragic event,” Stanishev added.

Bulgarian opposition questions blaming of Hezbollah for bomb | Reuters
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/02/06/uk-bulgaria-bombing-idUKBRE9150L320130206

Bulgaria’s opposition criticised a government statement that Hezbollah carried out a bomb attack that killed Israeli tourists, saying on Wednesday the conclusion was unjustified and dangerous.

EU to consider listing Hezbollah as terror group | Al Akhbar English
►http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/us-urges-europe-sanction-hezbollah-after-bombing-accusation

The European Union will consider adding Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement to its list of terrorist organizations after it was implicated in a bombing in Bulgaria last year, an EU foreign affairs spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

However, she said listing the group was just one of several options and said no decision had been taken.

“Currently, Hezbollah is not on the list of terrorist organizations in the EU and member states will look into several options. This is one of them but not the only one,” Maja Kocijancic told reporters.

EU foreign ministers meet on February 18 for a regular gathering at which the issue could be discussed.

C’est le même article déjà signalé, mais le Akhbar vient d’y ajouter la citation de la porte-parole européenne.

Et voilà, ça n’aura pas tardé. En même temps… mais de quoi je me mêle?
►http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/us-urges-europe-sanction-hezbollah-after-bombing-accusation

The United States on Tuesday pressed Europe to help choke off funds and aid to Hezbollah after Bulgaria blamed the group for an attack that killed five Israeli tourists in July.

“We strongly urge other governments around the world — and particularly our partners in Europe — to take immediate action to crack down on Hezbollah,” new Secretary of State John Kerry said.

“We need to send an unequivocal message to this terrorist group that it can no longer engage in despicable actions with impunity,” he added in one of his first statements since taking up the reins of US diplomacy.

L’accusation du Hezbollah par la Bulgarie est très importante : c’est l’élément qui manquait aux différents gouvernements pro-israéliens d’Europe pour faire inscrire la Résistance libanaise sur la liste européenne des organisations terroristes.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/02/20132515350158754.html

Bulgaria has pointed an accusing finger at the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah over a bus bombing last July that killed five Israeli tourists.

Tsvetan Tsevtnov, Bulgarian interior minister, said on Tuesday that two of the suspects had entered the country respectively with an Australian and a Canadian passport.

“We have established that the two were members of the militant wing of Hezbollah,” he said.

“They had Canadian and Australian passports ... [and] lived in Lebanon since 2006 and 2010.”

Speaking after a meeting of the country’s National Security Council, Tsevtnov said Bulgaria expects “the government of Lebanon to assist” in the investigation.

Affaire à suivre, donc. (Pour l’heure, peu de commentaires sur le sujet.)

Immigration: Romanian or Bulgarian? You won’t like it here

Ministers consider launching negative ad campaign in two countries to persuade potential immigrants to stay away from UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jan/27/uk-immigration-romania-bulgaria-ministers

#campagne #pub #Roumanie #Bulgarie #UK #anti_immigration

Russia starts construction of the South Stream pipeline
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/dec2012/pipe-d14.shtml

Russia starts construction of the South Stream pipeline
By Clara Weiss
14 December 2012

On December 7, the first two sections of the South Stream pipeline were laid in the southern Russian city of Anapa on the Black Sea. The pipeline will run along the bottom of the Black Sea and transport gas from southern Russia through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia to Italy, bypassing Ukraine on the way.

South Stream is to be completed by 2015 and will provide Central Europe with up to 63 billion cubic metres of gas per year. Along with the Russian state company Gazprom, which holds 50 percent of shares, other major participants in the project are the German company Wintershall, the French company EDF, and the Italian energy group Eni.

Twitter / GazaYBO : Voted against: Israel, Nauru, ...
https://twitter.com/GazaYBO/status/274274944295268352

Voted against: Israel, Nauru, Palau, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Panama, Canada, Czech Republic and the U.S.

EU ban on Hezbollah may hinge on Burgas ... JPost - International
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=291555

L’ambassadeur de France en Israël, qui a plutôt tendance à représenter Israël que son pays, avertit que Paris pourrait mettre le Hezbollah sur la liste des organisations terroristes en fonction de l’enquête sur un attentat en Bulgarie.

A Dutchman’s Vendetta Against Hezbollah | Al Akhbar English
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/dutchman%E2%80%99s-vendetta-against-hezbollah

However, in his response to Rosenthal’s call, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius indicated that steps were already being taken to attempt to criminalize Hezbollah, and that they should run their course before further action was considered.

Fabius replied that “to designate a group as a terrorist organization, you have to have a judicial process under way against this organization, which is not the case at the present time.”

It could become the case, however, if investigations in Bulgaria into last June’s bombing on the Black Sea coast in which Israelis were killed uphold Israel’s claim that Hezbollah and Iran were behind the attack.