In order to make earlier loan payments to the IMF, the Greek government had to borrow from pension funds and defer payments to schools and hospitals: The result is that the government has managed to scrape together just enough funds to meet IMF and ECB repayments in the last few months, while hospitals have no medicines and equipment, schools have no books and materials, and doctors and teachers leave the country. The situation for businesses is dire.
According to the Greek retailers' association each day about 59 business close down and 613 jobs are lost. Talks a week ago between head of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker did not produce a breakthrough. Greece strenuously rejected creditors' proposed deal. Greece submitted a new list of reform proposals on Tuesday an extension of the program beyond its end of June deadline has also been discussed. The new Greek proposals were already dismissed as inadequate by the EU by early Wednesday. The chief European Commission spokesperson, Margaritas Schinas, said of the situation: “For this final push, the Commission is of the view that the ball is clearly on the court of the Greek government. It needs to follow up on the agreement on the meeting with President Juncker last Wednesday night.” Those talks failed! Pierre Moscovici, the EU Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs told a Greek delegation yesterday that "their latest suggestions do not reflect that state of the discussions between" between Brussels and Athens. Moscovici did say that work was continuing to break the deadlock on economic reforms that creditor's insist that Greece must agree to before unlocking the remainder of the funds in the bailout loan. The Greek government finds it in an impossible situation as it attempts to be allowed at least a few of its anti-austerity policies as part of the deal in order to placate critics within its own party and retain some credibility with the Greek populace. So far creditors have given the government virtually nothing. The only option now for the Greek government seems to be to cave and spin the result positively or finally decide to default and perhaps leave the Eurozone. Additional sources: http://www.cnbc.com/id/102743366 http://news.yahoo.com/greek-debt-crisis-solution-possible-says-merkel-140954683.html https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/06/greece-syriza-imf-tsipras-debt-eu
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The Canadian federal government says it considers the Badawi case a violation of human dignity and has asked for clemency. The Quebec provincial government has been even more vehement in its criticism of the Saudi punishment.
The Quebec premier, Philippe Couillard, did not back down on its opposition and torture of Badawi even though Naif Al-Sudairy sent a letter to the Quebec National Assembly telling it not to meddle in Saudi internal affairs or criticize the country's human rights record. Part of the letter sent on March 10 read: "The Kingdom does not accept at all any attack on it in the name of human rights, especially when its constitution is based on Islamic law, which guarantees human rights (sic)." In February the Quebec National Assembly passed a motion that condemned the whipping of Badawi and expressed support for his wife and three children who are living in Quebec. Additional Sources: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/raif-badawi-prison-sentence-lashes-upheld-by-saudi-court-1.3103717 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/saudi-arabia-to-quebec-stay-out-of-raif-badawi-case-1.3017014
"UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien described the situation confronting the population of the Arab world’s poorest country as “catastrophic,” placing much of the blame on the Saudi-led air strikes that have devastated Yemeni cities, and Saudi Arabia’s blockade of Yemen’s ports, which have prevented not only the arrival of emergency relief supplies but also the basic flow of goods that existed before the war.
“The blockade means it’s impossible to bring anything into the country,” Nuha Abdul Jaber, Oxfam’s humanitarian program director in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa told the Guardian newspaper. “There are lots of ships, with basic things like flour, that are not allowed to approach. The situation is deteriorating, hospitals are now shutting down, without diesel. People are dying of simple diseases. It is becoming almost impossible to survive.” Earlier attempts at peace talks failed when the Hadi government in exile demanded concessions from the Houthi rebels as a condition of attending. This time, there are no preconditions. Dahllallah a-Shami, a senior member of the political wing of the Houthi rebels said the group would not accept preconditions set by other parties: We accepted the invitation of the United Nations to go to the negotiating table in Geneva without preconditions," said Daifallah al-Shami, a senior member of the rebels' political wing. Ezzedine al-Isbahi, information minister of the Saudi-backed Hadi government reported from Ryadh, the Saudi capital. that it would also send representatives to the talks in Geneva. Al-Isbahi said that the meeting would involve "consultations on implementing Resolution 2216" of the UN Security Council that was passed in April. This resolution imposed an arms embargo on the Houthis and demanded they relinquish seized territory. According to diplomats who attended a closed-door Security Council meeting the meeting will discuss a ceasefire, increased deliveries of humanitarian aid, and agreement on a Houthi withdrawal plan. There may be difficulties negotiating the withdrawal of the Houthis from territory they have captured unless the Saudis are willing to offer the Houthis a government that they find acceptable. The new vice-president appointed by Hadi may be acceptable to the Houthis as the leader of a unity government but the Houthis took power because earlier negotiations sponsored by the UN had failed to reach agreement on a government acceptable to all sides. Of course, AQAP remains outside any negotiations. The Southern Movement separatists will no doubt demand increased autonomy at the very least as a condition of their agreeing to any proposed government. At present they are fighting against the Houthis. The group wants a separate state of South Yemen as existed in the past. Sources: http://www.npr.org/2015/06/06/412445504/un-led-yemen-peace-talks-are-set-for-june-14 http://news.antiwar.com/2015/06/05/yemen-rebels-govt-both-agree-to-un-peace-talks/ http://wtop.com/politics/2015/06/un-chief-says-yemen-peace-talks-to-resume-june-14-in-geneva/
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Ken Hanly
Ken is a retired philosophy professor living in the boondocks of Manitoba, Canada, with his Filipina wife. He enjoys reading the news and writing articles. Politically Ken is on the far left of the political spectrum on many issues.
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