France disactivates Blogs

In France, your blog can be disactivated...
...if you do not abyde by the rules of the pouvois publics

The social breakdown is such that even communication on the internet becomes impossible.

Supranationalist 5

In response to Srdjan:

I don't think that the french social model is the only reason why these accidents are taking place. France is a model state in Europe: both positively and negatively. Nowadays, I believe, the crisis of the nation state, so well represented by France, is clearer than ever. France not only displays a social failure, but as I said, also a constitutional and an economic failure. The constitutional failure consists in the total lack of political accountability on the part of the President. The economic failure consists in the great level of unemployment (recall that if national unemployment is around 12%, in the suburbs it nears 40%).

Firstly then, I do not think that the problem is only the french social model. This is only the visible part of the iceberg. The rest, however, is as problematic, if not more.

Secondly, I do not think that France is alone in this crisis. Germany, Italy, Holland, Belgium and many others are showing structural problems at the political, social and economic level. Only they haven't reached yet the boiling point. But France can indeed works as a catalyst; what is happening in France can easily spread all over Europe.

The answer lies at our doorstep. Instead of chanting jollingly how beautiful Europe is, let's think about the structural failures of our Nation States, and proceed to a serious reform towards 1) more employment 2) more political accountability 3) a stronger, deeper, understanding of solidarity between classes, races, religions, and generations.

The last element is particularly important as I firmly believe that there is a class of people in Europe who is guily (maybe by default). Those Europeans born a little after the WW2, our parents, has lived in a booming era that accompanied the reconstruction of Europe. Now they find themselves in a comfortable position; they have everything and they do not want to compromise on anything. But Europe is not anymore in a booming position, if anything it is going down the slope, and global competition is not helping this process. Thus, the societal mould designed for our parents post-war booming societies is not fit for its job anymore.

We need a postnational, flexible, structure, able to integrate all the people that live nowadays in Europe as well as able to send outside of Europe a message of solidarity and commitment to collaboration for the sake of reaching a certain kind of stability.

Great appointments at the Italian Constitutional Court

The Italian Constitutional Court, Corte Constituzionale, has just appointed two eminent jurists, Prof Sabino Cassese, and Avv. Giuseppe Tesauro.
Cassese is probably the most influential public law professor in Italy, and he's also world wide known for his interest in comparative public law. Tesauro is a former Advocate General at the ECJ, and a former president of the Anti-Trust Agency.

Good news for the court, these two are high quality appointments. Good news for Italy, the constitution will be protected egregiously.

Is the French assimilatory model to blame?

Probably provoked by the rioting in France, similar incidents (on a much smaller scale) occured in Belgium and Germany. Most of the observers, including Lorenzo (if I fully understand him) tend to blame the French assimilatory model, however, if one looks at the multiculutral Belgium one can also see deep soical tensions among first and second generation immigrant population...is the problem, one could ask, really in the French model (formally speaking) or the problem lies somwhere else, are our societies sociologically, profoundly hostile towards "the other" and they react in such a way as to marginalize the imigrants which brings about necessary social tension, which in turn provokes the violent reactions of the marginalized. The real dillemma is about the ability of the state to answer to such situation.

French and European Tragedies

French is melting down. And the government does not know what to do. The minister of domestic affairs, Nicolas Sarkozy, suggests that the presence of the police should be raised. There are only few rotten apples, he suggests.

How wrong can a man be? No more than Sarkozy, I say. These events are only a sample, a very small one, of all the social tensions crippling France and its system.

France needs a complete reformation. Starting from its ruling elite. President Chirac is not in control. But the French Constitution does not put in place any device to press on his political accountability. He has been there for more than 10 years. He made a number of considerable mistakes. Starting from the dissolution of the parliament in 1995 and finishing with the disastrous defeat at the European Referendum last May 29.

He then shaffled the members of his government, and created a conflict between the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, and the minister of domestic affairs, Nicolas Sarkozy, both president-pretenders. Not a disingenious move: Chirac still would like to be re-elected.

The French constitutional system, along with its social system, is crumbling. The idea of having a President and a Prime Minister does not work. This merely shifts away political accountability on the part of the president, who virtually becomes a king with powers. Chirac must be 'guillotined', and the French constitutional system reformed. Chirac should have stepped down after the Referendum.

But France blamed someone else, something else. Today, France is blaming those young criminals (voyous) who are fighting a civil struggle. But these young people are there because of French elite policy choices. They have been ghettisized, they have been stripped of any possible expectation. They are judged and insulted, they are considered outlaws. But what else can they do? France did not manage to integrate them.

The only outlaws are French ruling classes. Their system of elite education, tight mafia-like social networking, and its politics of exclusion of immigrants.

The rest of Europe is not much better. It is only a matter of degrees. Go and see the suburbs of Milan, Barcelona, Athens, Berlin, etc. You'll see extreme poverty, and social wreck. The evemts taking place in France are not likely to stop with more police. Unfortunately, they are only likely to spread everywhere in Europe, and take colossal dimensions. It is the revolt of the poorest, and it could be a new, deeper, more violent, May 68.

European countries must react now. They must start a dialogue with those people that are completely left out. We must be able to create expectations, and a future, for the suburbs of Europe. This is one of the issues with which Europe at large should be engaged. No more european bananas and bahamas for everyone. The reality is different. We have to take responsibility, and build Europe on a basis of solidarity, starting from the very bottom. Europe will emerge only if we're capable of dealing with these social tragedies.

On Vojvodina

Today I published an article on Vojvodina in one of the oldest Serbian daily newspapers (see here). My basic argument was that recent resolution of the European Parliament on Vojvodina was not merely the result of the pressure of Hungarian MEPs, behind such initiative lays the desire of the European Parliament to asserts its role in the foreign policy making (vis-à-vis the European Commission and the Council). For this reason it is useless for the Serbian government to reject these resolutions as mere exaggerations. Rather, it is necessary to create a lobby in the European Parliament and try to present Vojvodina in its more realistic light, thus as a multicultural Province, that has its problems (even inter-ethnic tensions) due to bad economic situation and the frustration among the young of the Province, but that the situation is improving and that there is no way back to 1990s. In order to have a strong argument to back up such lobby campaign, Serbian Government needs finally to constituionalize Vojvodina's autonomy and it needs to do this according to the best EU standards, not drawing back on constitutional models of the communist past.

More on the Torchlight March in Rome

Here

An excerpt:

The capital took to the streets for Israel amid a sea of Israeli, American and peace flags, and one Iranian flag in the place of honour on the platform. All flew together. One of the first to arrive in Via Nomentana was the secretary of the Italian section of the World Muslim League, Mario Scajola, who was there, he explained, on a strictly personal basis. One placard bore the legend “Muslims of Italy” with a Star of David, the symbol of the Jewish state, on one side and a crescent moon on the other.

Supranationalist 4

Few days after May 29, when France rejected the European Constitution, I posted a comment stating the deeper tensions underlying french politics. Back then, I said that May 29 was a 'tragedie francaise.'

My conviction was, and still is, that the French model of integration was flawed. Moreover, structural economical problems aggravated social tensions to the point that it all exploded, as a bomb shell, in one day.

Those tensions are not deflating. To the contrary, they are mounting and they will devour the social matrix in France, as these days of violence show. And the French government simply disagrees on the correct policy to adopt.
French Journals argues that the crisis is due to the inability of the police. BULLOCKS! It is a deeper crisis and it is mounting, and as I said it will devour France.

Unless, France realise that a complete rethinking of its social model, and the model that it wants for Europe, must be undertaken. Integration a la francaise from the top down does not work in France and does not work in Europe either. The ruling elites in Paris and Brussels should go through a process of total purification, if not eviction. A stronger and deeper democratisation of the institution of power should be carried out. Policies to increase employment should be given priority; and the job market should become more flexible in order to allow the circulation of european workers and to facilitate the integration of immigrants in the economic spheres of the society.

Europe is the only way forward. But not an Europe a la francaise or a la Britannique, or a la Jamaiqua for what it matters. But a genuinely supranational polity that attempts to overcome the more and more widespread failures of the Nation States, beginning with France, the most succesfull of all Nation States.


For previous Supranationalist Papers, click here, here and here.

Italy v Iran

Italy responds to Iran: a demonstration was held yesterday in Rome. Unusually, this demonstration gathered people from the whole political spectrum. The message was clear: Against Ahmadinejad, and for Israel. This, however, was also a way to counter threats against Italy itself, as presented in a previous post.

Italy is showing responsibility and consistency. Much more than his prime minister, who is only concerned about his personal security. Indeed Berlusconi held that 'kamikaze are preparing an attack against him.' He does not understand why, since he holds that he used his enormous (??) influence to convince Bush not to go to war. Berlusconi is coming out with this laughable public pronouncements as he's 100% concerned with the forthcoming elections. As said before, he knows he's a dying animal and that is why he is using all possible means to gain support.

The confrontation between Iran's president and Italy is likely to go on for a little while. Already some legends have been circulated about famous italian people being muslim martyrs. For example, Edoardo Agnelli, the former heir of Agnelli's (Fiat) empire, is said to have converted to Islam. Accordin to Iranian sources, more precisely, Edoardo Agnelli was a Shiite Martyr..

My main concern is that Italy is going through a difficult phase, and will definetely be a target of terrorism when the elections will near. Berlusconi should be warned: if anything happens to Italy, He'll be the first responsible.

A real role for the EU?

The recent Washington Post story about secret CIA detention facilities in Eastern Europe creates new, important questions in the GWOT. What will the EU do about these prisons (presumably) within its borders? What does it say about EU foreign policy that such prisons could exist within its borders without its knowledge?

Well, the EU has begun to address the first issue. According to the BBC and other news sources, the EU intends to investigate the location and status of the "black sites". As noted by these news sources, it is highly likely that these sites violates EU human rights law.

Of course, the EU might find that it wished it never knew about these sites. If the Eastern European countries participating are unwilling acknowledge or disturb these CIA detention facilities (or for that matter, even FIND these sites), the divide between Donald Rumsfeld's "new" and "old" Europe becomes more real.

UPDATE: Of course, maybe the EU doesn't want to look so hard after all.

Yoo are the Master 2

David Cole exposes in a marvellous short piece why Yoo was so influential with Bush's administration and, yet, why his position is absolutely flawed.

Yoo was extremely influential because he said exactly what Bush wanted to hear: that the President has virtually absolute freedom as far as foreign affairs are concerned. Yoo then gave legitimacy to that claim by wrapping it in a very influential philosophy of constitutional interpretation, that is originalism.

But the problem is, as Cole suggests, that an originalist interpretation of the American Constitution only show that the Framers wanted the executive to be closely checked by Congress. This applies to both treaty making and war declarations. This point sounds very convincing considering also that the Founding Fathers were deeply influenced by Republican writings, which strongly insisted on the political accountability of the executive.

Thus, if Yoo achieves anything, this is the complete bending of the intentions of the framers. Cole goes on wondering whether that bending is normatively justified after 9/11. In other words, he charitably asks whether Yoo's flawed originalist position is still justified on political grounds arising from the present international context.

Cole' s answer to that question is possibly more stifling than his opinion on Yoo's originalism, and righly so. Cole argues that the flexibility granted by Yoo's interpretation has had atrocious consequences. America, who once played by International rules, and was perceived as the 'good cop' in the global arena, is now regarded as the 'bad cop' because of its willingness to crash its enemy with whatever means.

Moreover, it is very difficult to redress the present situation. Trying prisoners held in guantanamo now, would mean to espose the US to the review of the interrogation technique uses with them. Thus, it is probably preferable to reach a private compromise with those prisoners in order to avoid public blame. But the problem is that the international community is already blaming the US for what it did. We are therefore left with a deadlock, which will not be easily unlocked.

Yoo Are the Master

David Cole has a brilliant piece on John Yoo and his impact on Bush's administration after 9/11. You can find it on the New York Review of Books. Highly recommended! More on this later...

Comments Active Again

About two months ago, I decided to deactivate the ability for readers to comment based on complaints about spammed comments. I have reactivated the comments section and encourage our faithful readers to join the fray. Hopefully we've shaken the spam comments for good!

Iran threatens Italy

There are more signs of tension between Italy and the Islamic world. Tomorrow, in Rome, a demonstration in support of Israel and against Iranian policies, is scheduled. The Iranian president, Ahmadinejad, warned that that is a 'sionist' move on the part of Italy.

Unfortunately, Berlusconi has in mind Italian elections more than the actual security of the country. His meeting with Bush was used as one of the many steps towards the elections.

Berlusconi should, however, concern himself with a sound external and internal politics. His political case has been long compromised; he cannot save the boat (its party) and sink the country. His behaviour is showing once more that his personal interest always trumps the public interest. This is bad news for Italy, as it is still one of the central objectives of terrorism.

Yet another perspective on Internet control

Following Scott's and Srdjan's posts on Internet control, I hasten you to read a british perspective here.

Against the US monopoly over the internet

As a follow up on Scott's post on the control over the internet, check out the recent number of Le Monde Diplomatique; where Ignacio Ramonet, the chief editorialist, called for placing the "control" over the internet in the hands of the UN (the article is in French). The argument quoted in Scott's post says that in order to safeguard efficiency of the internet it would be a grave mistake to place it under the control of the UN, on the other hand the Economist, does not seem very worried over the possible political control over the internet by the US, since until now political abuse of the internet by the US, did not take place. But there was not really a need for that yet, a devil's advocate might say.

Berlusconi: anti-war all along...

Just when we thought Berlusconi had lost the capacity to surprise, he... well, surprises. After all, we have now become used to his crass comparison of the German Social Democrat Martin Schulz with a "concentration camp Kapo"; not to mention his outrageous assertion that Mussolini never killed anybody, but merely sent them "on vacation" in "international exile". His latest remarks, however, made in the run-up to the Italian general elections, are of a different type altogether.

In a recent television interview, the Italian premier has now claimed that he was against the war in Iraq all along, attempting right up until it began to dissuade Bush and Blair from their chosen course of action, and even enlisting the help of Libya's leader Colonel Gadaffi in this endeavour. Everything about this, of course, smacks more of electioneering than anything else: the timing, with the election some five months away; the content, with polls indicating that Berlusconi's support for Bush is a major handicap in a country where the public was so strongly against the war (as anyone present at the time to see the astonishing profusion of pace flags on almost every building can testify); even the chosen media outlet seems to have been selected to increase credibility, , the interview being not with Berlusconi-owned Mediaset channels or Berlusconi-controlled RAI state television, but with the independent station La 7.

Bush does not have his troubles to seek at the moment domestically, and this apparent U-turn from one of his hitherto staunchest allies in "new Europe" will almost certainly not go down well. He will have had a chance to make this clear yesterday, the day on which the interview was broadcast, as Berlusconi flew out to the States to meet him. However, they cannot, in fairness, complain too much; the Bush administration have not been shy about hanging their own allies out to dry over Iraq when domestic political expediency demanded it. Nonetheless, it seems, not without a certain degree of irony, that these anti-war comments may get Berlusconi into more trouble with his allies than any of his decidedly more outrageous interjections have to date...

Italy's elections and Bush

Berlusconi plays the US card. After his visit in Washington, Berlusconi suggested that Bush feared Berlusconi's defeat.

Pressed by the Press, Berlusconi modified his claim: Bush did not say anything, but it is clear what he thinks... And of course, Bush thinks that Berlusconi is his best man. A clown of a man.

If Berlusconi insists on playing the US card, Italy risks facing another 9-11, prior to the general elections (April 2006). The position of his government on the Iraq's issue is ambiguous. Several times ministers of his government claimed that Italy will soon withdraw. Berlusconi denied all this yesterday.

You'd better not trust his word, though!

How big is 4?

Following my earlier post discussing Judge Alito's slim international law jurisprudence, I thought I should send along a link to an analysis of one of the 4 cases with international law dimensions he decided. Of course, this may be of particular interest as it relates to forced abortions. Tip to Opinio Juris.

Should America Rule the Internet?

The issue of internet governance strikes me as an issue that will be hotly debated over the next few decades. The US monopoly on internet governance cannot be seen as anything but an unqualified success, but the burgeoning amount of new foreign language based content and discomfort over American influence over the newest form of media is making a lot of people uncomfortable. With that in mind, these words from The Economist, strike me as particularly interesting.

Nevertheless, ICANN's stewardship has succeeded because its focus has been not on politics, but on making the network as efficient as possible. The sometimes fierce debates that break out among techies have been conducted transparently. The result has been an internet open to innovation and free expression, led mostly by the private sector and relatively free from government interference.Yet because the system runs under American auspices, other countries are unhappy with this arrangement.

Many of those who want to relieve America of its control think ICANN's job should be taken over by a United Nations agency. To anybody who has spent much time observing the UN at work, this sounds like a poor idea. It is no accident that the world's telephone systems remained so expensive and static for so long. They have been heavily regulated nationally and their international links have been controlled by the International Telecommunication Union, a UN body which once rejected the idea of the internet in favour of a more controllable and less efficient system. That standard never amounted to much. The ITU's approach reflected the interests of state-run telecom monopolies, which themselves are now being shaken to their foundations by the internet.

It is also no accident that many of the countries loudest in their demands for the internet to be taken out of American hands are those, such as China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, that are keenest on restricting its use by their own citizens. These and many other countries are hoping to use the lead-up to the UN's World Summit on the Information Society to begin to wrest control away from America. By changing its position last week the EU had hoped to act as a "bridge" between America and other countries. Instead, it has simply isolated America, with potentially damaging results.