A ABC Foreign Correspondent documentary that aired in April covering the Thai monarchy and issues surrounding the future succession has been taken down from the ABC website after embassy officials complained on behalf of some upset royal. Seems they don’t particularly want the people of Thailand to view it.
Never been a huge fan of monarchies, so feel like I should mention the 26 minute documentary is now publicly available, care of wikileaks.
Click here to watch.
Massive protests have taken place across Europe against the French government’s deportation of Roma.
Thousands of people have attended demonstrations in Paris and other French cities to protest against tough new security measures introduced by the government which they say are being used to target the country’s Roma community.
France began clearing large numbers of illegal Roma camps in July, after Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, announced a series of measures to fight crime.
Police said about 12,000 people had demonstrated in the French capital but organisers put the total nearer to 50,000.
Human rights, labour unions and leftist political parties accuse Sarkozy of stigmatising minorities and seeking political gain with the security crackdown.
They also say he is violating French traditions of welcoming the oppressed, in a country that is one of the world’s leading providers of political asylum.
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BBC:
Thousands of people have attended rallies in Paris and 130 other French towns to protest at the government’s policy of deporting Roma people.
Police say turnout across France was slightly more than 77,000 while organisers put the figure nearer 100,000.
With polls suggesting at least 65% of French people back the policy, the government played down the protests.
The EU parliament is to debate the Roma situation in Europe next week.
About 1,000 Roma (Gypsies) returned to Romania and Bulgaria from France last month, while official figures record that 11,000 Roma were expelled from France last year.
The League of Human Rights, which called for the demonstrations, said it wanted to counteract government “xenophobia” and what it described as the systematic abuse of Roma in France.
The rallies were backed by the opposition Socialist Party and the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), France’s second largest trade union confederation.
‘Pushed away’
Trade unionists, students, anarchists, illegal immigrants and others turned out in Paris to the sound of whistles and drums.
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The actions of the French government are nothing short of racism, targeting a under-represented impoverished minority because it is easy. And what happens when the Roma are gone? Who will the French government turn their attention on next as part of their nationalist agenda?
Even though I cannot physically attend the rallies, this is a declaration of solidarity with the Roma people.
(CNN) — U.S. military officials and geologists have determined that the mineral deposits in Afghanistan are worth nearly $1 trillion, the Pentagon said Monday.
Vast supplies of minerals such as iron, copper and gold, all with worldwide technological applications, are scattered over the country, according to the Defense Department.
But officials caution that they won’t be easy to extricate and that it will take years to turn this newfound mineral wealth into actual revenue.
“It’s not a quick win,” the U.S. Geological Survey’s Jack Medlin said at a Pentagon briefing Monday.
Pentagon and State Department officials acknowledged that extraction efforts are challenged by remote locations, a weak infrastructure, a dearth of heavy vehicles and equipment, and a strong insurgent presence.
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First they came for the terrorists, then they came to rip up the earth and claim someone else’s wealth. The spectre of neo-colonialism raises its ugly head. Empires trade Iraqi’s for oil and Afghani’s for minerals. Anyone who suspected that the American government was going to cease and desist from its swaray across the world,has been misguided. It may come in the form of ‘help’ or ‘assistance’ but Americans are going to be in Afghanistan for decades.
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