Algeria and the American Black Panther Party
►https://africasacountry.com/2018/07/algeria-and-the-american-black-panther-party
In the 1970s, Algiers served as refuge to African Americans who confronted US racism with force and had to flee the country. Some Panthers hijacked planes.
Après ce que j’apprends sur le sort de Julian Assanage je me demande où on rencontre aujourd’hui les révolutionnaires du monde.
Je réponds un peu en retard, mais il s’agit de :
Alger, la Mecque des révolutionnaires (Mohamed Ben Slama, 2017)
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/599672
Swiss court says S. #Bayartsogt may have signed disadvantageous contract with #Oyu_Tolgoi | The UB Post
▻http://theubpost.mn/2018/03/22/swiss-court-says-s-bayartsogt-may-have-signed-disadvantageous-contract-wit
The highest judicial authority in Switzerland, the Federal Supreme Court, has ruled to uphold the seizure of 1.85 million USD in Swiss bank accounts closely linked to former Minister of Finance S. Bayartsogt. The former finance minister was integral in signing the 2009 Oyu Tolgoi Investment Agreement.
[…]
The court documents reportedly refer to Oyu Tolgoi but do not accuse the company of wrongdoing on the project.
According to the court documents, the corruption investigation by the OAG was launched in 2016 when the bank accounts used to transfer 10.1 million USD to S.Bayartsogt in September 2008 were seized by Swiss authorities.
The Swiss court has raised concern that the transfer of 10.1 million USD came the month he was appointed finance minister.
The Swiss Federal Tribunal’s three-judge panel wrote that evidence pointed to “concrete clues that large amounts of money of questionable origin” had flowed in transfers that were “typical of money laundering”.
“It is very suspicious that the minister of a foreign country, immediately after taking a ministerial post, would be the recipient of such a large sum,” the ruling said.
“There are indications that (S.Bayartsogt) as finance minister signed a contract that was disadvantageous to the Mongolian state,” the Swiss ruling said.
The 2009 investment agreement was negotiated when Turquoise Hill Resources was named Ivanhoe Mines and was chaired by prominent mining entrepreneur Robert Friedland. Rio owned less than 10 percent of Ivanhoe at the time and only acquired more than 50 percent ownership of Ivanhoe until January 2012. Rio was still involved in the striking of the investment agreement.
S.Bayartsogt was forced to resign as Deputy Speaker of Parliament after his offshore dealings were revealed during the publication of the #Panama_Papers.
« J’aurais p’têt’ pas dû… »
#Mongolie : mandat d’arrêt (garde à vue ?) contre l’ancien ministre des finances et le président de la holding gérant les participations minières de l’état
S.Bayartsogt, B.Byambasaikhan, and B.Ariunsan to be detained for 30 days over #Oyu_Tolgoi deal allegations | The UB Post
▻http://theubpost.mn/2018/04/05/s-bayartsogt-b-byambasaikhan-and-b-ariunsan-to-be-detained-for-30-days-ove
The Independent Authority Against Corruption (IAAC) filed for a warrant of arrest for former Finance Minister S.Bayartsogt and two other individuals, including former CEO of Erdenes Mongol B.Byambasaikhan, for possible abuse of power in the negotiations of the 2009 Oyu Tolgoi Investment Agreement.
In the request to the prosecutor’s office, the IAAC stated that it was necessary to arrest the three individuals as the agency believes there is sufficient evidence to back the allegations of abuse of power.
Former finance minister S.Bayartsogt has been the main subject of the investigation, as he is known to be one of the architects of the 2009 Oyu Tolgoi agreement.
B.Byambasaikhan is a former CEO of the state-owned Erdenes Mongol, the primary company delegated to manage the government’s shares in Mongolia’s world-class mining assets, including Oyu Tolgoi. He currently is the chairman of the Business Council of Mongolia and was recently appointed as a non-executive independent member of Erdene Resource Development.
Jared Kushner’s Real-Estate Firm Sought Money Directly From Qatar Government Weeks Before Blockade
▻https://theintercept.com/2018/03/02/jared-kushner-real-estate-qatar-blockade
The real estate firm tied to the family of presidential son-in-law and top White House adviser Jared Kushner made a direct pitch to Qatar’s minister of finance in April 2017 in an attempt to secure investment in a critically distressed asset in the company’s portfolio, according to two sources. At the previously unreported meeting, Jared Kushner’s father Charles, who runs Kushner Companies, and Qatari Finance Minister Ali Sharif Al Emadi discussed financing for the Kushners’ signature 666 Fifth Avenue property in New York City.
En prime
▻https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/mueller-team-asking-if-kushner-foreign-business-ties-influenced-trump-n8526
Mueller team asking if Kushner foreign business ties influenced Trump policy
by Carol E. Lee, Julia Ainsley and Robert Windrem
WASHINGTON — Federal investigators are scrutinizing whether any of Jared Kushner’s business discussions with foreigners during the presidential transition later shaped White House policies in ways designed to either benefit or retaliate against those he spoke with, according to witnesses and other people familiar with the investigation.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team has asked witnesses about Kushner’s efforts to secure financing for his family’s real estate properties, focusing specifically on his discussions during the transition with individuals from Qatar and Turkey, as well as Russia, China and the United Arab Emirates, according to witnesses who have been interviewed as part of the investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign to sway the 2016 election.
#nuit_torride ou encore "#complotisme_autorisé
Groysman and new ministers take charge of government
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/ukraine-politics/groysman-and-new-ministers-take-charge-of-government-412052.html
Ukraine’s parliament voted on April 14 to appoint Volodymyr Groysman as the country’s new prime minister, with 257 lawmakers – 31 votes more than needed – supporting his candidacy.
But the new coalition that was formed to back Groysman and his new government proved unstable even on its first day, immediately raising questions about how long it can last.
Twenty-one lawmakers from factions in the new coalition didn’t support Groysman for prime minister. Ten of them were absent, but 11 lawmakers deliberately didn’t vote.
Groysman’s appointment was passed, though, thanks to the support of 11 independent lawmakers, all 23 lawmakers of the Vidrodzhennya (Renaissance) faction, a group that is associated with oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, and 16 lawmakers from the Volya Narodu (People’s Will) faction.
But just hours later, it took the parliament three attempts to scrape together enough votes to pass the program of Groysman’s Cabinet.
[…]
Meet the Cabinet
Groysman’s Cabinet was appointed with 239 votes in favor.
Several ministers from Yatsenyuk’s Cabinet kept their jobs, including Deputy Prime Minister Hennadiy Zubko, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko, Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak, and Minister of Sports and Youth Ihor Zhdanov. Ex-Social Policy Minister Pavlo Petrenko was promoted to deputy prime minister.
The position of health minister remains vacant, as the coalition is yet to agree on a candidate.
Former head of National Bank of Ukraine Stepan Kubiv was appointed economy minister. Deputy Head of President’s Administration Oleksandr Danyuliuk, who previously worked in the Yanukovych administration, is the new minister of finance. He replaced Ukrainian-American Jaresko.
As Groysman made his address as the new prime minister, his promises of hard work were barely audible above opposition chants of “Shame!” Opposition lawmakers were still outraged by the all-in-one vote that gave Groysman the premiership.
“I’m going to show you what it means to govern a country,” Groysman said at the end of his speech, looking irritated by the shouting.
Technocrats gone in new Ukrainian cabinet – EurActiv.com
▻https://www.euractiv.com/section/europe-s-east/news/technocrats-gone-in-new-ukrainian-cabinet
Groysman’s rebooted cabinet appears to strengthen the influence of Poroshenko in the government and on the economic side of policymaking in particular.
Oleksandr Danylyuk, 40, who is set to become finance minister, is the deputy head of Poroshenko’s administration, while the economy minister and first deputy prime minister positions will be given to Stepan Kubiv, who is currently the president’s representative in parliament.
They replace Jaresko, praised by Washington for her handling of Ukraine’s debt crisis, and Aivaras Abromavicius, who as economy minister spearheaded a drive to privatise graft-ridden state firms, but quit in protest over corruption in February.
Capitalism Will Eat Democracy — Unless We Speak up | Yanis Varoufakis
▻http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/capitalism-will-eat-democracy-unless-we-speak-up-yanis-varoufakis
Have you wondered why politicians aren’t what they used to be, why governments seem unable to solve real problems? Economist Yanis Varoufakis, the former Minister of Finance for Greece, says that...
Norwegian industry plans to up fossil fuel production despite Paris pledge | Environment | The Guardian
▻http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/29/norwegian-industry-plans-to-up-fossil-fuel-production-despite-paris-ple
Norway wants other countries to leave their coal and oil in the ground to meet new global climate change targets, but its industry is planning to increase production of its own fossil fuels.
“We know that if we burn all the coal, oil and gas available, the Paris agreement cannot be fulfilled. Significant parts of the total fossil resources must remain, untouched,” said Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen, director of the Norwegian oil and gas association and a former minister of finance.
Palestinian shot dead in Nablus after alleged attempted attack
Dec. 17, 2015 11:16 A.M. (Updated: Dec. 17, 2015 3:43 P.M.)
▻http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769379
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian teen near the Huwwara military checkpoint in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus on Thursday, locals and Israel’s army said.
An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that “during routine security activity” at the checkpoint Israeli forces approached a suspect for questioning, when the suspect “charged the forces while armed with a knife.”
The forces “responded to the immediate threat” and shot the teen, killing him, the spokesperson said.
Palestinian ambulance driver Kamal Badran identified the Palestinian as 15-year-old Abdullah Hussein Nasasra , from the Nablus-area village of Beit Furik.
Badran told Ma’an that Israeli soldiers gathered around the teen preventing medical teams from treating him after he fell.
Palestinian lives matter!
Vijay Prashad | Date of publication: 27 December, 2015
▻http://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2015/12/28/palestinian-lives-matter
On December 17, Naseer was driving from Nablus to Ramallah. Light rain fell as he approached the Israeli military’s checkpoint at Huwwara. In front of him was another car, moving cautiously. About fifty meters before that car was an Israeli military vehicle. Caution is the order of the day in the vicinity of the Israeli military. No sense in provoking their ire. Naseer kept some distance between the cars. They were moving slowly.
Beside the road, on the grass off the sidewalk, a young boy walked in the same direction of the cars. Naseer observed that the boy seemed to be on the grass to avoid the puddles on the sidewalk.
The Israeli military vehicle braked. An order must have come from the soldiers. The boy put his hands up. Naseer did not hear them but saw him obey. The car in front of his began to go around the military vehicle. Naseer followed. He saw the boy with his hands up. The next minute, in his rear view mirror, Naseer saw the boy on the ground. All this happened in a split second. One minute the boy was standing with his hands up, and the next minute he was dead on the ground.
Naseer stopped his car, as did the driver of the car in front of him. The two men exchanged information. They had both witnessed an execution. There was no opportunity to approach the Israeli soldiers, who had already cordoned off the area.
Not long after, Israeli state media announced that their military had killed Abdullah Hussein Nasasra (age 15) from Beit Furik (near Nablus). The Israeli military said that Nasasra had “charged the forces while armed with a knife.”
Naseer said that he saw no knife. Nor did he see Nasasra charge the military men. They had guns trained on him. Why would he try to attack them with a knife?
Over the course of the past few weeks, Israeli military and security forces have used deadly force against a number of children whom they accuse of knife attacks. Israeli political leaders have given carte blanche to their military to kill anyone they see as a threat. Interior Security Minister Gilad Arden said, “Every terrorist should know that he will not survive the attack he is about to commit.” Yair Lapid, former Minister of Finance in the Israeli government, concurred, “You have to shoot to kill anyone who pulls out a knife or a screwdriver.” Since the Israeli military is the Judge, Executioner and Investigator of these incidents, there is no accountability for them.
When Kamal Badran Qabalan drove his ambulance to the scene, the Israelis blocked him from access to the body. There will be no independent investigation of this death. The miasma of Israeli propaganda – terrorist, knife – has already covered over the facts. Naseer says he is ready to testify against the Israeli military. But how does he do it? There will be no trial. The case will close quietly. Naseer is a distinguished man. His eyes are kind and honest. His voice is defiant as he tells me the story – “I saw them kill a boy,” he says. But what can Naseer do? His body language bespeaks the Occupation. There is futility here beside the defiance.
Greek Tragedy – by Christos Tsiolkas (in conversation with Yanis Varoufakis), MONTHLY magazine | Yanis Varoufakis
▻http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2015/08/03/9698
Ne parvenant pas à court-circuiter les agents de la Troika au sein de sa propre administration, Y.Varoufakis raconte comment il a essayé de baisser leurs salaires. Hélas...
Varoufakis senses my fury. He says quietly, “The class consciousness of the Troika was mind-boggling.”
“Our state apparatus had been contaminated by the Troika, very, very badly. Let me give you an example. There is something called the Hellenic Financial Stability Facility, which is an offshoot of the European Financial Stability Facility [EFSF]. This is a fund that contained initially €50 billion – by the time I took over it was €11 billion – for the purpose of recapitalising the Greek banks. This is money that the taxpayers of Greece have borrowed for the purpose of bolstering the banks. I didn’t get to choose its CEO and I didn’t get to have any impact on the way it ran its affairs vis-à-vis the Greek banks. The Greek people who had elected me had no control on how the money they had borrowed was going to be used.
“I discovered at some point that the law that constituted the EFSF allowed me one power, and that was to determine the salary of these people. I realised that the salaries of these functionaries were monstrous by Greek standards. In a country with so much hunger and where the minimum wage has fallen to €520 a month, these people were making something like €18,000 a month.
“So I decided, since I had the power, I would exercise that power. I used a really simple rule. Pensions and salaries have fallen by an average of 40% since the beginning of the crisis. I issued a ministerial decree by which I reduced the salaries of these functionaries by 40%. Still a huge salary, still a huge salary. You know what happened? I got a letter from the Troika, saying that my decision has been overruled as it was insufficiently explained. So in a country in which the Troika is insisting that people on a €300-a-month pension now live on €100, they were refusing my cost-cutting exercise, my ability as a minister of finance to curtail the salaries of these people.”
#lutte_des_classes #oligarchie #troika #Eurozone #dette #austérité
Normalisation of Deviance | Future State
▻http://www.thefuturestate.org.uk/normalisation-of-deviance
http://www.thefuturestate.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/10_TNOD_II1-1024x754.jpg 
http://www.thefuturestate.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/9_TNOD_I-1024x524.jpg Normalisation of Deviance is the title of an visual and aural art installation by artist Mark Curran. Part of the basis for the installation is an algorithm, designed by Ken Curran, to identify how often the Irish Minister of Finance, Michael Noonan, used the words ’market‘ or ’markets‘ in public speeches since taking office in March 2011. The algorithm’s output is manipulated into multiple forms: visual and aural; manifesting as soundscapes accompanying spectrographs. The artist describes the installation as “attempting to represent the defining and ceaseless sound of the global markets through a pivotal conduit of capital, the nation-state“.
Font vraiment ce que Hollande voulait faire ; pdt normal, tout ça...
YANIS VAROUFAKIS GREEK MINISTER OF FINANCE - YouTube
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESWj8tlCAOs&feature=youtu.be
GREEK MINISTER OF FINANCE YANIS VAROUFAKIS, going to Greek Parliament talking on his phone, just walking among citizens, almost unnoticed, without guards, without armored limousine, without fear
Le #normalisme ? Après, c’est pas non plus la méga propagande...
A Dispatch from the Left (Tunisia)
The Moor Next Door
24 NOVEMBER, 2013
▻http://themoornextdoor.wordpress.com
Below is a translation of a statement from July 2013, from the leadership of the Tunisian Workers’ Party (POT, formerly the Tunisian Communist Workers’ Party, or PCOT), a leading party in the leftist opposition coalition the Popular Front (Jabhat ash-Sha’abiyyah). It was part of a public exchange between POT leader Hamma Hammami and Minister of Finance Elyes Fakhfakh, prior to the current leadership crisis which began with the assassination of Popular Front leader Mohamed Brahmi at the end of July. Tunisian politics has been extremely polarised since 2011, though with the assassinations and terrorist attacks of 2013, the last year has been notably intense. The tone of leftist opposition groups in Tunisia shows greater urgency and radicalism than much the rest of the opposition in Tunisia, and on the Arab left in general. One of the dominant meta-narratives about Tunisia since 2011 — especially among westerners — has been its ‘moderation’: its political class reacted to a youth-driven revolution with a soft-coup by a mostly politically marginal military, which led to a negotiated transition and elections in which moderate Islamists were joined by moderate leftist-social democratic secularists. Tunisian Islamists were cast as being so moderate that even its Salafists were friendly. Indeed, many have looked at the mostly secular opposition as being more extreme than Ennahda in their description of their worldviews (which is frequently shockingly maximalist). Opposition to Ennahda has evolved into two broad camps, a ‘centrist’ bloc, with Bourguibian accents and roots in the old order, and a rather hardline left-wing bloc, made up of anti-revisionist communists, Nasserists and others; something often missed is how radical the Tunisian left is compared to leftist tendencies in other Arab countries. Even if they can only take third place by eyeballing and performed badly in elections, Tunisian leftists have more ground game than their Egyptian or Levantine counterparts and tend to use rhetoric and take stands on religious questions that would be impossible elsewhere; they are also more strident in general (which says something about the Arab left more broadly). These parties often have the same problems that face others of their persuasion in the region: a lack of constructive criticism of either government policy or their own failings in recruitment, propaganda or getting out the vote; a maximalist line that can alienate popular opinion; a tendency toward hyperbole (in which they are not alone); discourses about poverty and rural suffering that sometimes tend not to match with the actual substance of their campaigns, though when compared to others in the region on this front they look quite good, though they do not match up to their Islamist rivals.
The passage below — a polemical piece by Hammami in his typically acerbic style — highlights some of this in action, a sort of snapshot of the feverish spectacle of Tunisian politics which seems to get only more and more intense, till one compares it with the horrors of Syria, Libya, Egypt and other places where people struggle in similar and also very different ways against different odds. This piece was posted on a variety of Popular Front outlets last July.
Russian government implements austerity as economy falters - World Socialist Web Site
▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/07/10/rbud-j10.html
Russian government implements austerity as economy falters
By Andrea Peters
10 July 2013
Russia’s minister of finance, Anton Sulianov, announced Thursday that the state budget is in a crisis. According to official estimates, there is a one trillion ruble ($33 billion) shortfall for 2013 alone, requiring a “budgetary maneuver” (i.e., cuts) in state expenditures over the next three years.
The government proposes to plug the “holes” by deep attacks on the working class, including cutting payments to the state pension fund, decreasing state procurements by five percent, and cutting spending on health care, education, and utilities.
Autour des mines mongoles, croissance, pollution et ninjas
►http://blog.mondediplo.net/2013-04-19-Autour-des-mines-mongoles-croissance-pollution-et
Comme dans de nombreux pays émergents, l’écosystème de la Mongolie subit de plein fouet les effets de ses progrès économiques, essentiellement dûs à l’exploitation « anarchique » des nombreux gisements de minerais dispersés sur un territoire équivalent à deux fois et demie celui de la France. L’essor de l’activité minière, depuis vingt ans, représente à la fois un remarquable potentiel économique et une grande menace environnementale. Cette métamorphose est porteuse d’autant de promesses que de dangers. La (...)
Il peut être utile de rappeler que S. Bayartsogt, le ministre des finances qui a signé pour la #Mongolie le Oyu Tolgoi Investment Agreement avec Rio Tinto et Ivanhoe Mines le 6 octobre 2009 et le Bayartsogt Sangajav cité dans les #Offshore_leaks sont une seule et même personne…
• le contenu résumé de l’accord, sur le site de la mine ▻http://ot.mn/en/about-us/investment-agreement
• plus long, dans la presse spécialisée
What the #Oyu_Tolgoi agreement contains and what it means for Mongolia
▻http://en.mongolianminingjournal.com/content/19679.shtml
The Oyu Tolgoi Investment Agreement was signed by Peter Meredith, Deputy Chairman of #Ivanhoe_Mines, Bret Clayton, Chief Executive of Rio Tinto"s Copper and Diamonds Group, and Keith Marshall, Managing Director of Ivanhoe Mines Mongolia Inc. Signing for the Mongolian Government were Sangajav #Bayartsogt, Minister of Finance, Dashdorj Zorigt, Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, and Luimed Gansukh, Minister of Environment and Tourism, all members of the government"s Working Group that negotiated the terms of the final agreement.
• offshore leaks
Leaks reveal secrets of the rich who hide cash offshore | UK news | The Guardian
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/03/offshore-secrets-offshore-tax-haven
Mongolia’s former finance minister. Bayartsogt Sangajav set up “Legend Plus Capital Ltd” with a Swiss bank account, while he served as finance minister of the impoverished state from 2008 to 2012. He says it was “a mistake” not to declare it, and says “I probably should consider resigning from my position”.
5 ans plus tard, en Suisse,…
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/678903
Jordanie : la transition énergétique masquée : les schistes bitumineux plutôt que le solaire
Jordan to finalise deal for region’s first oil shale plant by ‘year’s end’ | The Jordan Times
►http://jordantimes.com/jordan-to-finalise-deal-for-regions-first-oil-shale-plant-by-years-end
Jordan is set to finalise a deal by the end of year with an Estonian-Malaysian firm to build the region’s first oil shale plant, officials revealed on Saturday, in what is being billed as a critical step towards the country’s energy independence.
According to Minister of Finance Suleiman Hafez, Amman is set to seal the agreement with Enerfit Energy by December to construct a 450-megawatt (MW) oil shale-fired thermal station in central Jordan — the first power station fuelled by the alternative energy resource in the region.
The power station, which is set to meet 16 per cent of the country’s 3,000MW electricity demand, is expected to come on-line by 2016.
“This agreement will be one of the biggest steps towards the country’s energy independence,” Hafez said during a press round-table hosted by Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour in Amman on Saturday.
Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources officials say the plant is set to shave some of the country’s national energy bill, which due to rising oil prices and ongoing cuts in Egyptian gas supplies is expected to surpass JD4 billion by the end of the year.
Under the landmark deal, which has been over two years in the making, Enerfit is set to construct the plant in the central region of Al Attarat in order to take advantage of a parallel project where the firm hopes to produce up to 38,000 barrels of shale oil per day.
Les Jordaniens continuent toutefois à essayer de se procurer du gaz, sachant que les Egyptiens ne veulent plus en fournir en raison de leurs propres besoins :
►http://jordantimes.com/jordan-to-import-liquid-gas-by-2014
#électricité
#schistes_bitumineux
#transition_énergétique
#gaz_naturel
The Syria Report - Economy, Business and Finance
►http://www.syria-report.com/news/16
The Syrian government is working on a draft scheme to reduce the retirement age of civil servants from 60 to 52, according to Mohammad Jleilati, Minister of Finance.