Fiscal Cliff Talks Complicated By Conservative Rebellion Over Tax Increases

Some conservative House Republicans are making life difficult for Speaker John Boehner as he reaches for a "fiscal cliff" pact with President Barack Obama, insisting they will oppose a deal that increases taxes. Others, however, are giving him room to negotiate, hoping he produces something they can support.

With the clock ticking down on the bargaining, the "fiscal cliff" – sweeping tax increases and budget cuts that begin in January unless an accord is reached to avert them – is testing conservatives' unity and their leverage.

A year after wielding considerable clout in repeated budget clashes against the White House, two factors have weakened conservatives trying to prevent a GOP agreement with Obama that they don't like:

_ Republican Election Day losses of the White House as well as seats in the House and Senate following a campaign in which Obama pressed hard for tax boosts on the wealthiest Americans.

_ Polls showing that voters would largely blame Republicans should a stalemate with the president trigger the cliff's tax boosts and spending cuts.

In a significant movement toward Obama's insistence on higher tax rates, Boehner is now willing to let them rise on the 368,000 households with annual incomes above $1 million as part of package that would swell the government's revenues by $1 trillion over the next decade.

Yet even with GOP pragmatists saying it's time to agree to Obama's demands for higher tax rates for the rich, some conservatives want Boehner to reject any tax increases at all.

"If there's any blame to be placed, it's squarely on his shoulders," Rep. Jeff Landry, R-La., said recently about Boehner, referring to House-approved spending levels and deficits of the past two years.

Landry, who lost his re-election bid, is a member of the tea party-backed House GOP freshman class of 2010. Saying he would oppose any deal raising income tax rates, Landry said of the government: "I'm not giving this beast any more money to grow."

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a veteran House conservative leader, took a more measured tone but said he would vote against a compromise raising tax rates. "Tax increases are not conducive to growing economies and creating jobs," he said.

Yet still other conservatives, while opposing tax increases, are doing little to hold Boehner's feet to the fire on the issue. They acknowledge they've been weakened by the "fiscal cliff" itself since taxes for nearly all taxpayers automatically rise Jan. 1 if the two sides fail to reach an agreement.

"We don't see how we have a whole lot of leverage," said freshman Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas.

"Speaker Boehner needs room to negotiate," said Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., another freshman. "I think he knows that I and the others are not in favor of tax-rate increases. But the speaker is going to do what he believes is in the best interest of the conference," he said, meaning House Republicans, "and knowing he has to get the votes."

Earlier this month, Boehner and other House GOP leaders removed four conservatives – including three freshmen – from desirable committee assignments after they'd cast votes defying party leadership. The move was seen by conservatives as punishment for refusing to abandon their principles, yet those targeted have offered few signs that their behavior will change.

"I have more support than I've ever had back in my district," said one of them, Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich. He said if Boehner visited his southern Michigan district, "he's not going to be met with very much welcome."

Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said she would be open to compromise if the ultimate package included significant spending cuts. She also suggested the possibility of a path some consider unthinkable but that some liberals have also supported – letting the tax increases and spending cuts take effect without a satisfactory deal, since Congress could roll them back if a pact was reached later.

Too much is being made of going over the cliff, she said, "as if it's the equivalent of the Mayan calendar on the 21st of December. It's not."

The Mayan calendar's 5,125-year cycle ends on Dec. 21, prompting some people to worry the world will end that day.

Meanwhile, conservative interest groups are trying to pressure Republicans to oppose any tax boosts.

"If they vote for tax rate increases, they're likely going to have a primary opponent and have a tough 2014," Chris Chocola, president of the conservative Club for Growth, said in an interview.

The group spent $10 million in the 2012 campaigns opposing GOP candidates it considered not conservative enough, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks election spending.

"I would presume a Republican primary would be a red flashing light in many places," said Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., another freshman disciplined by Boehner who says he will oppose tax increases.

Americans for Tax Reform, headed by anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, has sent a petition to the 150,000 people on its email list.

Most GOP lawmakers have signed Norquist's pledge promising to oppose tax increases, though some now say addressing the government's fiscal problems outweighs the pledge.

The petition urges lawmakers "to keep the promise they made to their constituents to not raise taxes." More than 38,000 people had signed it by late last week, said group spokesman John Kartch.

Source http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/17/fiscal-cliff-talks-compli_n_2318001.html

Grid position rules change in World Endurance Championship

Grid positions in next year's FIA World Endurance Championship will be determined by an aggregate time of two drivers in each car. The qualifying order will be based on the two fastest laps of the two drivers, it was decided that this weekend's FIA World Council.

That means the grid time will be decided on the basis of four timed laps. The move, according to the FIA, is designed to make qualifying "more attractive for spectators and media". The race-day warm-up has been cancelled in the interests of cost reduction unless specifically required. This means the Le Mans 24 Hours will retain its warm-up. The FIA, which writes the prototype rules together with the Automobile Club de l'Ouest at Le Mans, has also reaffirmed its intention to further increase the length of time between engine rebuilds.

Last year's rules stated that it intended to increase the life of the engines for 2013 from 30 to 50 hours. Limitations on tires used will placed on the LMP2 and GTE Am classes from next year. The FIA also stated its commitment to enforcing a strict equivalence between diesel and petrol-powered cars in LMP1 when the new 2014 rulebook comes into force.

Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20121205/motorsports/121209941#ixzz2EGgODSbj

Regime blasts EU for backing rebellion coalition

The Rwandan military is commanding and supporting the rebel force that overtook a major city in eastern Congo this week, a United Nations report released Wednesday said.

The highly anticipated report said, "The government of Rwanda continues to violate the arms embargo by providing direct military support to the M23 rebels, facilitating recruitment, encouraging and facilitating desertions from the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and providing arms, ammunition, intelligence and political advice."

The report also says, "The de facto chain of command of M23 includes Gen. Bosco Ntaganda and culminates with the Minister of Defence of Rwanda, Gen. James Kabarebe."

The report also accuses Uganda of involvement. Uganda has said it would pull its troops out of U.N. peacekeeping operations if it was named in the report.

Both Rwanda and Uganda have denied supporting the M23 rebel movement, which took the city of Goma, which has a population of more than 1 million, on Tuesday.

Thousands of Congolese soldiers and policemen defected to the M23 rebels Wednesday as rebel leaders vowed to take control of all Congo, including the capital, Kinshasa.

The U.N. accuses the M23 of grave crimes including recruiting child soldiers, summary executions and rape.

The U.N. report says, "Senior officials of the Government of Uganda have also provided support to M23 in the form of direct troop reinforcements in Congolese territory, weapons deliveries, technical assistance, joint planning, political advice and facilitation of external relations."

The report adds, "Both Governments have also cooperated to support the creation and expansion of the political branch of M23 and have consistently advocated on behalf of the rebels. M23 and its allies include six sanctioned individuals, some of whom reside in or regularly travel to Rwanda and Uganda."

The M23 is made up of hundreds of officers who deserted the Congo army in April this year.

Earlier Wednesday, the U.N.'s special representative for Congo said the 19,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force there is being stretched thin by multiple rebel militias in the eastern part of the country, including Goma.

Roger Meece made the assessment in a live videoconference linkup to the Security Council from Kinshasa.

The council is assessing the performance of the MONUSCO peacekeeping force after 1,500 of its troops stood by Tuesday and let M23 rebels take Goma without resistance.

U.N. helicopters over the weekend fired hundreds of rockets at the rebels in a bid to slow their advance on the city of 1 million.

But U.N. officials say the U.N. force commander in Goma ordered the peacekeepers not to shoot Tuesday in order to avoid provoking a major firefight in the city after Congolese troops retreated.

Meece said the M23 rebels were "well provisioned," uniformed and supplied with weapons, including night-vision goggles, which clearly came from some outside party.

He did not name Rwanda or Uganda.

Rwanda has been elected by the U.N. General Assembly to serve a two-year position on the 15-member Security Council beginning in January, which will complicate efforts by the council to come to grips with the country's intervention in neighboring Congo.

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/11/20/4430240/un-congo-peacekeepers-wont-start.html#storylink=cpy

Source  http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/11/20/4430240/un-congo-peacekeepers-wont-start.html

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/11/20/4430240/un-congo-peacekeepers-wont-start.html#storylink=cpy

 

The Rwandan military is commanding and supporting the rebel force that overtook a major city in eastern Congo this week, a United Nations report released Wednesday said. The report also said Uganda is providing more subtle but nonetheless decisive backing support to the M23 rebels.
The report's release, just one day after the violent takeover of Goma, is sure to increase pressure on the international community to confront the two eastern African countries over their role in neighbouring Congo's conflict. Both Rwanda and Uganda have repeatedly denied supporting the M23 movement and have faced little international criticism over the allegations.
The highly anticipated report from the U.N. Group of Experts said both Rwanda and Uganda have "co-operated to support the creation and expansion of the political branch of M23 and have consistently advocated on behalf of the rebels. M23 and its allies include six sanctioned individuals, some of whom reside in or regularly travel to Rwanda and Uganda."


Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/congo-rebellion-is-stretching-peacekeeping-force-thin-un-official-1.1047585#ixzz2D1qW3N2s

Syrian warplanes bombed Damascus suburbs and rebel-held areas in the country’s north Wednesday, as the government blasted the European Union for endorsing a newly formed opposition coalition.
The raids struck several eastern suburbs of the Syrian capital and the strategic northern city of Maaret al-Numan, a key supply route linking Damascus and the commercial hub of Aleppo, said two activist groups. Both the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees also reported violence elsewhere in Syria.
The state-run news agency SANA said the army continued its pursuit of “terrorists” — a government term for rebel fighters — in the Damascus suburb of Arbeen, inflicting casualties on the enemy.
The report also said that attackers targeted a mosque in Daraya suburb.
Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011 with an uprising against President Bashar Assad’s regime, inspired by other Arab Spring revolts.
The crisis has since morphed into a civil war, with scores of rebel groups across the country fighting government troops. Nearly 40,000 people have been killed in the 20 months of unrest, according to activists.
In violence late Tuesday, a mortar round landed near a park in the upscale Abu Rummaneh neighborhood in Damascus, wounding at least three people, the pro-government Al-Ikhbariya TV said.
Mr. Assad’s regime blames the revolt on a foreign conspiracy and accuses Saudi Arabia and Qatar, along with the United States, other Western countries and Turkey, of funding, training and arming the rebels.
Damascus on Wednesday blasted the European Union for recognizing the newly formed Syrian opposition coalition as a legitimate voice of the Syrian people.
State-run daily Al-Thawra newspaper, a government mouthpiece, derided the coalition formed earlier this month as a “deformed” newborn baby in a front-page editorial, saying all possible “cosmetic surgeries do not bode well for the evolution of this monster.”
Foreign ministers of the 27 EU nations recognized the Syrian coalition during their monthly meeting this week.
The National Coalition of the Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces was formed Nov. 11 in Qatar, under pressure from the United States for a stronger, more united opposition body to serve as a counterweight to the more extremist forces fighting Mr. Assad’s regime.
The endorsement was a major step forward in the West’s acceptance of the group, even as fast-moving events and fluid alliances have cast doubts on the direction of the rebellion.
The international support comes at a difficult time for the new coalition, as Syria’s disparate opposition groups have been long plagued by divisions and in-fighting.
A group of extremist Islamist factions in Syria on Sunday rejected the new coalition, saying in a video statement they have formed an “Islamic state” in the embattled city of Aleppo to underline that they want nothing to do with the Western-backed bloc.


Read more: Regime blasts EU for backing rebellion coalition - Washington Times http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/nov/21/regime-blasts-eu-for-backing-rebellion-coalition/#ixzz2D1qPn0Kh
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

Syrian warplanes bombed Damascus suburbs and rebel-held areas in the country’s north Wednesday, as the government blasted the European Union for endorsing a newly formed opposition coalition.
The raids struck several eastern suburbs of the Syrian capital and the strategic northern city of Maaret al-Numan, a key supply route linking Damascus and the commercial hub of Aleppo, said two activist groups. Both the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees also reported violence elsewhere in Syria.
The state-run news agency SANA said the army continued its pursuit of “terrorists” — a government term for rebel fighters — in the Damascus suburb of Arbeen, inflicting casualties on the enemy.
The report also said that attackers targeted a mosque in Daraya suburb.
Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011 with an uprising against President Bashar Assad’s regime, inspired by other Arab Spring revolts.
The crisis has since morphed into a civil war, with scores of rebel groups across the country fighting government troops. Nearly 40,000 people have been killed in the 20 months of unrest, according to activists.
In violence late Tuesday, a mortar round landed near a park in the upscale Abu Rummaneh neighborhood in Damascus, wounding at least three people, the pro-government Al-Ikhbariya TV said.
Mr. Assad’s regime blames the revolt on a foreign conspiracy and accuses Saudi Arabia and Qatar, along with the United States, other Western countries and Turkey, of funding, training and arming the rebels.
Damascus on Wednesday blasted the European Union for recognizing the newly formed Syrian opposition coalition as a legitimate voice of the Syrian people.
State-run daily Al-Thawra newspaper, a government mouthpiece, derided the coalition formed earlier this month as a “deformed” newborn baby in a front-page editorial, saying all possible “cosmetic surgeries do not bode well for the evolution of this monster.”
Foreign ministers of the 27 EU nations recognized the Syrian coalition during their monthly meeting this week.
The National Coalition of the Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces was formed Nov. 11 in Qatar, under pressure from the United States for a stronger, more united opposition body to serve as a counterweight to the more extremist forces fighting Mr. Assad’s regime.
The endorsement was a major step forward in the West’s acceptance of the group, even as fast-moving events and fluid alliances have cast doubts on the direction of the rebellion.
The international support comes at a difficult time for the new coalition, as Syria’s disparate opposition groups have been long plagued by divisions and in-fighting.
A group of extremist Islamist factions in Syria on Sunday rejected the new coalition, saying in a video statement they have formed an “Islamic state” in the embattled city of Aleppo to underline that they want nothing to do with the Western-backed bloc.


Read more: Regime blasts EU for backing rebellion coalition - Washington Times http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/nov/21/regime-blasts-eu-for-backing-rebellion-coalition/#ixzz2D1qPn0Kh
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

The middle class rebellion

On Thursday night, the BBC called me from Broadcasting House in London astonished by scenes of mass demonstrations in Buenos Aires and other cities throughout Argentina.

The presenter was surprised by the magnitude and extent of the crowds. She was also intrigued by what seemed to be “a festive atmosphere” and asked me to explain what was going on.

I had just arrived home after walking down Avenida Callao, returning from a speaking engagement in the Casa de Mendoza. I had not taken part in the protest, but during my 12-block walk I blended in. The atmosphere certainly seemed festive. People were sitting out at sidewalk cafés on Callao and adjacent streets eating, sipping drinks and enjoying the antics of the crowds gathered at street crossings.

I told the BBC that what we were watching streaming live on the Internet was a rebellion of Argentina’s middle class. The protesters gently rattled pots and pans, held up homemade signs and waved Argentine flags. There was no aggression. It was a genteel affair.

I later learned that there were two incidents of violence when reporters for the pro-government C5N, a television channel, and the TV programme Duro de Domar were roughed up. But the aggressors were roundly condemned.

But the mood was not really “festive.” The Argentine middle class is not happy with the government of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Indeed, there is underlying anger that so much has gone wrong with a government that did so much that was right after the epic economic collapse and the breakdown of democracy in 2001.

My interpretation of both the great marches of the middle class, the first on September 13, which was largely spontaneous, and the second on what is being called 8N, which was at least twice the size, numbering around 250,000, according to some estimates, is that both were about One Big Thing and scores of Littler Things. The Big Thing is Democracy. The littler things are lack of security, inflation, state intervention, corruption, limits on individual rights, threats to press freedom and judicial independence, to name only a few of the grievances that have aroused more people to take to the streets than I can remember in half a century covering Argentina.

The point about both these marches, which have really been gatherings of mostly like-minded people, is that they could prove to be a historic turning point in the civic development of Argentina. As readers of this column must have realized, I have been concerned from the moment that I was able to resume my life in Argentina that our hard-won democracy was in danger of being whittled away by an increasingly authoritarian administration.

I was haunted by a metaphor that I have not mentioned in print before.

This is not meant to be taken too seriously, but I am not the only person who has wondered whether those of us who believe in democracy are like frogs basking in a tank of warm water, unaware that the temperature is imperceptibly rising.

As my wife and I are unable to spend more than five months in Argentina each year we are in an advantageous position. We can hop out of the tank when we leave in November. When we return in June we can test the temperature before we hop back in. We will keep you informed on our reading of the temperature.

For those who do not like this metaphor, let me say that it is far less disturbing than my first thought, which was that we might be lobsters. In that case, once in the pot, you’ve had it.

Among our friends, only a few worried about being democratic frogs in a country where the authoritarian temperature was rising. So I worried that people would not react in time to save Argentine democracy. The two urbane and genteel demonstrations that have now taken place have strengthened my conviction that democracy is here to stay.

That is because the people who gathered throughout Argentina — the Federal Capital, La Plata, Córdoba, Corrientes, General Roca, Mendoza, Río Negro, Rosario, Salta, Tucumán, even Bariloche and other small towns — made an important statement: the people are concerned about individual liberties, human rights in fact.

The protests went global. The Herald reported that there were demonstrations by Argentines living abroad outside embassies and consulates in Australia, Germany (Berlin, Frankfurt, Bonn, Hamburg); Austria; Bolivia, Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte); Canada (Toronto, Montreal); Chile (Santiago, Valparaíso); China; Colombia; Costa Rica; England; France; Israel (Tel Aviv, Hertzlia Pituah, Migdal Haemek); Italy (Rome, Milan, Padova); Japan, Mexico; Norway; Panama; Paraguay; Peru; Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Valencia); South Africa; Sweden; Switzerland; Netherlands (Hague, Amsterdam); Uruguay (Montevideo, Punta del Este, Maldonado, Colonia); United States (Washington DC, Miami, New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Houston); Venezuela. Página/12 added Azerbaijan and the Canary Islands to this list.

The government has been given a multitudinous wake up call. Reality is knocking on the door of the Casa Rosada.

Even Página/12, which has become the Official Gazette, has realized that something is up. Instead of jeering at the marchers, as they did after S13, their writers did some serious analysis.

Horacio González, the most discerning member of the Carta Abierta group of intellectuals, noted: “They weren’t few. They were many. And many of the words that they said were right words.” Horacio Verbitsky, under the heading “Voices from the Street,” wrote that the demonstration was “evidence that democracy is solid.” He concluded by suggesting that Argentina may now be closer to the political system that “(Néstor) Kirchner imagined ‘a centre-left force opposed by the centre-right.’”

Now is the time for the President to polish her democratic credentials by stating that she will not seek re-election and will not support legislation proposing an amendment or reform of the Constitution.

That would allow people from the centre-left and the centre-right to bond in support of democracy, against the extremists that have done so much harm to Argentina over the past eight or nine decades.

The worldwide coverage of the protests on Thursday by the BBC and other media put Argentina on a global alert list. A gesture from Cristina would tell the world that democracy is alive and well.

And it would be an enormous relief to my metaphorical frogs who would no longer have to keep checking the temperature of the water in the tank.

Source  http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/116566/the-middle-class-rebellion

Rajoy faces internal rebellion over austerity

SPAIN’S GOVERNMENT is facing a rebellion from within its own ranks over austerity measures in the 2013 budget.

The Bill, which the conservative administration presented last week, cuts back sharply on spending in an attempt to meet deficit targets agreed with Brussels.

However, the reduction in funds for Spain’s 17 regions has sparked a backlash. Senior figures in the central government’s own Partido Popular (PP) party are among the most vocal critics, such as José Ramón Bauzá, the premier of the Balearic Islands.

“This is a budget that the people of the Balearic Islands in no way deserve and it is absolutely unfair when it comes to the interests of the islands, which are meeting their budgetary and deficit objectives,” he said on Sunday.

The Balearic Islands were among the biggest losers in the 2013 budget. Overall, state spending on the regions is down 16 per cent compared with 2012.

The PP regional premiers of Valencia and Aragón have also spoken out. Valencia’s Alberto Fabra said he would try to improve his region’s share of the budget by pressing for an amendment.

With the PP holding a substantial majority in the national Congress, the budget is expected to be approved, although it can be amended beforehand.

These outbursts, along with similar complaints from opposition politicians, came just ahead of the annual meeting today in Madrid between Spain’s 17 regional leaders and the prime minister, Mariano Rajoy. and the issue is certain to dominate the agenda.

In Madrid, Mr Rajoy’s party has tried to dampen down the unrest.

“Of course we all want more money but we need to have a sense of responsibility and statesmanship,” María Dolores de Cospedal, the PP’s deputy leader, said.

Spain’s regional finances have become increasingly problematic in recent months, helping to keep the country mired in the euro-zone debt crisis. Four regions – Catalonia, Valencia, Murcia and Andalusia – have requested rescue loans from the state to help them meet looming obligations, with others mulling the same course of action.

The north-eastern region of Catalonia, which has requested €5 billion from the state, is also likely to be the focus of today’s meeting. The Catalan nationalist government claims an unfair tax system means it loses out on €16 billion each year, despite being Spain’s biggest economic hub.

A wave of civic nationalist feeling recently has prompted the region’s government to announce its intention to hold a referendum on independence from Spain.

Source  http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2012/1002/1224324725245.html

Rebellion in Ramallah?

Thousands of Palestinians take to the streets. In Hebron, demonstrators burn an effigy. In Tul Karm, Ramallah, and other cities, they block streets and set tires ablaze. Teens hurl stones. All of the West Bank's bus, truck, and taxi drivers go on strike for a day. In Bethlehem, truckers park sideways, blocking streets. In Nablus, kindergarten teachers join the strike; elsewhere storekeepers shut their shops. Universities announce they, too, will strike.

These are updates from the West Bank over the past week. They sound as if taken from the start of the first Palestinian uprising against Israel 25 years ago. But the leader burned in effigy in Hebron was Salam Fayyad, prime minister of the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian government in Ramallah, rather than Israel, is the direct target of protest. Economic frustration sparked the fury. This sounds like a variation on revolts in other Arab states—except the Palestinian Authority isn't an independent state. Set up as to provide short-term, limited autonomy until a peace agreement, it has become the lasting means by which Israel outsources its rule over Palestinians in occupied territory. Donor countries foot the budget; the PA provides local services. Israel's current government acts as if the arrangement can last forever. The protests show how unstable it really is.

The immediate reason for anger was the PA government's decision to increase fuel prices and the value-added tax on goods and services. The cost of filling a gas tank is, of course, a function of world markets. But in the Palestinian Authority, it's also a result of the price that the Israeli government sets, including Israeli taxes. The 1994 Paris Protocol, which governs economic relations between Israel and the supposedly temporary Palestinian Authority, specifies that gasoline can't be more than 15 percent cheaper in PA territory than in Israel. It also links the level of value-added tax in the PA to the Israeli rate—so when Israel hiked its rate this month, so did Fayyad's government.

The protocol did leave a little wiggle room for smaller increases. But the PA is short on cash. Much of its budget comes from state donors—including the United States and European and Arab countries. The Education Ministry building in Ramallah has a sign saying it was donated by the Kingdom of Norway. If the PA's operating budget were a building, it would also have a donation plaque at the door.

But donors sometimes don't pay pledges, or pay late. As of June, the PA suffered a shortfall of $300 million in donor funds, according to one economic source. More recently, Palestinian Finance Ministry officials reportedly placed the shortfall at $1.2 billion, a quarter of the Authority's annual budget. PA employees—nearly a sixth of the West Bank workforce—can't be sure when they'll get their monthly salary, or how much of it they'll receive. Rumors that Gulf states are holding back funds at Washington's request—in order to pressure Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to drop his request for U.N. recognition of Palestinian statehood—are rampant. Actually, says political analyst Mouin Rabbani, the Gulf states have always paid late or not at all, as a result of inter-Arab disputes with the PA. The rumors do, however, testify to the level of America's political credit among Palestinians.

The foreign donations are supposed to lay the foundation for Palestinian independence. Fayyad, an American-trained economist and ex-IMF official, promised in 2009 that he would build a state from the bottom up by 2011. He has made PA finances more transparent, earned Western respect—and angered veteran members of Abbas's Fatah movement. What he can't do is build a self-sustaining economy. The Paris Protocol locks the PA into a customs union with Israel. The West Bank's currency is Israel's shekel. Israel controls the borders, imports and exports. Almost 60 percent of West Bank land is still defined as Area C, under Israeli rather than PA administration. Area C is where there's open space that could be used for industry, but it now serves as a reserve for settlement growth. Instead of building a state, the donors are reducing the cost to Israel of governing the West Bank. Yet when the donors hold up funds, they impoverish people in Bethlehem and Tul Karm.

On Tuesday, Fayyad announced a partial rollback of the tax and price increases and promised to pay some overdue salaries. So far, demonstrations and strikes are continuing. Increasingly, demonstrators demand that the PLO renegotiate the Paris Protocol. But without a political change—meaning independence—there's little chance of altering the economic relationship. No one knows whether the protests will grow or sputter out now only to flare up again later. They could force a change of power in the PA or its collapse or turn more directly against Israel. The outsourced occupation depends on the whims of donors; it produces high prices, hunger, unemployment, and unpaid salaries. Economically, it cannot be sustained.

The subtext of the last week's protests is that the donors are essential to the PA on a day-to-day basis. But in the longer run, Europe and the United States are helping Israel maintain the political stalemate. Rather than just write hurried checks, they should set a condition for both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abbas: renew negotiations now on a two-state agreement. Europe is busy with its own problems, though, and Washington certainly can't be bothered until November. What Ramallah will look like in November is anyone's guess.

Source  http://prospect.org/article/rebellion-ramallah

PiL, Buzzcocks, Rancid To Play Rebellion Punk Festival

Public Image Ltd., Rancid and Buzzcocks are amongst the bands set to play the 15th annual Rebellion punk music festival in Blackpool next week. 

Taking place at the city's Winter Gardens venue from August 2-5, the event will also see sets from Bow Wow Wow, Social Distortion, Buzzcocks, Stiff Little Fingers, The Only Ones, Agnostic Front, Goldblade, The Fits and Slaughter And The Dogs, with over 150 bands playing the event. 

The biggest punk music festival in the world, the festival will host live onstage interviews and spoken word, as well as punk art and punk fashion rooms and there will also be acoustic sessions from bands on the bill. For more information on the line-up and for details on how to purchase tickets, visit Rebellionfestivals.com.

In addition, Rebellion will be hosting a Christmas event, headed up by Rancid and Cock Sparrer, The Exploited and Uk Subs on December 8 at The Ballroom in Birmingham. 

Source  http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/pil_buzzcocks_rancid_to_play_rebellion_punk_festival.html

Rebellion MMA Radio: Rick Hawn, Dhiego Lima, and Adam Lynn

Rebellion MMA Radio returns this Sunday with another great line up of guests joining hosts Bryan Levick and Mitch Ciccarelli. Joining the show this Sunday will be Bellator’s Rick Hawn, along with the MFC’s Dhiego Lima and Adam Lynn.

Rick Hawn was a member of the 2004 US Olympic Judo team and is currently the number one contender in Bellator’s lightweight division. Hawn is 14-1 in his career with the lone loss coming to Jay Hieron at welterweight. Hawn will challenge for the lightweight title later this year when he faces champion Michael Chandler.

Dhiego Lima is an exciting prospect out of ATT Atlanta. The brother of Bellator’s Douglas Lima, the 22-year old currently fights for the MFC and has amassed a 6-2 record.

Rounding out the group is fellow MFC fighter Adam Lynn. The former Marine is 17-9 in his MMA career and has fought for Strikeforce and the WEC as well.

Be sure to tune in this Sunday at 6:30 for what should be a great show. Click here for a link to the show.

Source  http://mmafrenzy.com/29247/rebellion-mma-radio-rick-hawn-dhiego-lima-and-adam-lynn/

A Better Explanation, Please

We are now nearly 48 hours into the Teresa-Sullivan-resignation news cycle but only a little closer to understanding why the University of Virginia president and Board of Visitors decided to part company. Rector Helen Dragas made some vague comments Sunday about disagreements over the university’s strategic direction, but otherwise the board has not been forthcoming.

Very possibly, the opacity is motivated by a desire to avoid getting into specifics that would embarrass the widely liked Sullivan or drag the university into an  unseemly mud-slinging contest like the one that followed the eviction of Gene Nichol from the presidency of William & Mary. However, the proffered explanations of Sullivan’s ouster seem to satisfy nobody. The University of Virginia faculty is in shock, while many outsiders who knew Sullivan are surprised and dismayed.

With all due respect to Sullivan’s right to depart with quiet dignity, the board owes the public a better explanation. The University of Virginia is the commonwealth’s flagship educational institution and what happens there sets the tone for the rest of the public university system. The stakes are simply too high. Higher education is facing a crisis in the United States as parents and students rebel against runaway tuition hikes and new technologies threaten to disrupt the traditional model of providing education in isolated campus settings.

By all accounts, Sullivan was a popular and effective president — at least by traditional collegial standards. But if she was not displaying sufficient alacrity in adapting to the fiscal, economic and technological challenges to Mr. Jefferson’s University, the board needs to say so.

Source  http://www.baconsrebellion.com/2012/06/a-better-explanation-please.html