Dutch journalist ransacks Qaddafi houses

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Harald Doornbos stole at least 18 kilos of belongings of the Qaddafi family. Photo: a stolen poster from Muammar Qaddafi’s Tripoli house (nu.nl).

A man’s shirt, private notes, flags, family photographs and the passport of Dodi the cat. Just some of the 18 kilos (some media say 20 kilos) of stuff Dutch journalist Harald Doornbos has stolen from the ransacked houses of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi in Tripoli and Sirte by the end of August. He calls the goods ‘rubbish with a story’.

The family photos (see images below) were stolen by the GPD Middle East correspondent from one of Qaddafi’s houses in Sirte. Unable to deny the fact that Muammar Qaddafi has always been a kind, wonderful, generous, loving and caring person and familiy man, Doornbos says: “The photos give a special impression of the façade of normal domesticity of a crazy dictator.”

He is most excited about the theft of the cat passport, as in his perception “cat Dodi is now the only Qaddafi who is still in Libya.”

Doornbos doesn’t consider his criminal acts as stealing at all. Talking to the Dutch press, he explains: “This criticism comes from people who never have been in such a situation themselves. The moment I was in the houses in Tripoli and Sirte, the rebels were destroying everything. I was thinking: ‘If I leave this stuff there, it will simply disappear’.”

The stolen goods are currently exhibited in Breda, the Netherlands, till December 16.

The Libyan Ambassador to the Netherlands, a NATO-puppet who has expressed his appreciation of the exhibition of the illegally obtained stuff, has asked to hand the belongings of the Qaddafi family over to the Libyan rebels, which Doornbos agreed on.

Below is a photo impression of the stuff Harald Doornbos has stolen from the houses of the Qaddafi family in Tripoli and Sirte:

Family photos stolen from one of the houses of the Qaddafi family in Sirte (1) (nu.nl).

Family photos stolen from one of the houses of the Qaddafi family in Sirte (2) (nu.nl).

A man’s shirt stolen from a house of the Qaddafi family in Tripoli (nu.nl).

A book with title “The comparison between Plato and Qaddafi”, stolen from the ransacked Green Book Center in Tripoli (nu.nl).

A photo of the Leader of the Revolution, stolen from his house in Sirte (nu.nl).

The stolen passport of Dodi, the cat of the Qaddafi family (nu.nl).

A poster with Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, stolen from his house in Tripoli (nu.nl).

Part of a filter of a destroyed car of the Qaddafi family, stolen from the Bab al-Aziziyah compound in Tripoli (rtl.nl).

The car of the Qaddafi family, destroyed by the NATO-rebels (rtl.nl).

Copies of identity cards of black Libyans and black foreign workers, falsely accused of being “mercenaries” by NATO and the mainstream media, stolen from the Bab al-Aziziyah compound in Tripoli (rtl.nl).

The copies of the identity cards on the floor of the ransacked the Bab al-Aziziyah compound in Tripoli (rtl.nl).

The Truth: NATO is killing Libyan civilians every day. A poster stolen from the Bab al-Aziziyah compound in Tripoli (rtl.nl).

The Truth on the floor of the ransacked Bab al-Aziziyah compound in Tripoli (rtl.nl).

A collection of stolen photos from the ransacked houses of the Qaddafi family in Tripoli and Sirte (omroepbrabant.nl).

The thief with a part of his loot which he calls “an ode to the Arab Spring” (nu.nl).

noetischonderzoek

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Producer Credits Determined for 2011 Best Picture Nominee

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Beverly Hills, CA – Producer credits for 84th Academy Awards® Best Picture nominee “The Tree of Life” have been determined by the Producers Branch Executive Committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The official nominees for the film are Sarah Green, Bill Pohlad, Dede Gardner and Grant Hill.

Academy rules allow for no more than three producers to be nominated and to potentially receive Oscar® statuettes. The executive committee called a meeting to determine if “The Tree of Life” represented a “rare and extraordinary circumstance,” as described by the rules, and if any additional producer would be eligible. The committee determined that Green, Pohlad, Gardner and Hill functioned as genuine producers of the film and would be cited in the nomination.

Producers for the eight other motion pictures nominated in the Best Picture category – “The Artist,” “The Descendants,” “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” “The Help,” “Hugo,” “Midnight in Paris,” “Moneyball” and “War Horse” – were announced on January 24 and remain unchanged.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

# # #

ABOUT THE ACADEMY
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is the world’s preeminent movie-related organization, with a membership of more than 6,000 of the most accomplished men and women working in cinema. In addition to the annual Academy Awards – in which the members vote to select the nominees and winners – the Academy presents a diverse year-round slate of public programs, exhibitions and events; provides financial support to a wide range of other movie-related organizations and endeavors; acts as a neutral advocate in the advancement of motion picture technology; and, through its Margaret Herrick Library and Academy Film Archive, collects, preserves, restores and provides access to movies and items related to their history. Through these and other activities the Academy serves students, historians, the entertainment industry and people everywhere who love movies.

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The Impossible Hamster: Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever is either a madman or an economist

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I must have been six or seven years old when I started to realize that our food and cloths each year became more expensive, and I noticed that the gasoline prices at the petrol station that we passed when we walked to church most of the time were increasing. Although I tried to soothe myself with the thought that people’s salaries were increasing simultaneously so that there was no acute problem, I failed to get rid of the frightening thought that the world couldn’t go on like this forever… but no one around me seemed to share my worries…

“There is a reason why in nature things only grew in size to a certain point… so why do most economists and politicians think that the economy can grow forever and ever and ever…???”

“Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist” – Kenneth Boulding.

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Plebiscite: candy of false democracy

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YES and NO were one of the first words we said when we were babies, but now we have grown…

By Green Charter South Europa

When we were children, our parents often repeated: “Do not accept candy from strangers, it may be drugs!” Parents want the best for their children, we must listen to their teachings, but as time passes and we grow up, we often forget their helpful advice.

Today, unfortunately, we accept candies from strangers and, just like our parents told us, they are drugs, they are hallucinogenic substances that make us see what there is not, show us democracy where, in reality, there is no democracy at all.

Imagine in your everyday life, at work, with your friends or with your family, imagine you can only say YES or NO and can not express your real thoughts (as there are many shades between YES and NO), what kind of life would that be; how would you be able to express your ideas? If the only accepted answers are YES or NO, then the one who asks the question is able to manipulate the result of the responses. Those who work in sales are well aware of the fact that this is a sales technique, it is the questions that direct the answers!

Democracy however is something different from a simple choice between YES or NO; democracy is the direct participation of the masses in the government of the nations.

The question is very simple, just listen to our parents, just listen to the teachings of our Great Brother Leader Muammar Qadhafi who wrote in the Great Green Book:

Plebiscites are a fraud against democracy. Those who vote “yes” or “no” do not, in fact, express their free will but, rather, are silenced by the modern conception of democracy as they are not allowed to say more than “yes” or “no”. Such a system is oppressive and tyrannical. Those who vote “no” should express their reasons and why they did not say “yes”, and those who say “yes” should verify such agreement and why they did not vote “no”. Both should state their wishes and be able to justify their “yes” or “no” vote.

and:

The intricate problem in the case of democracy is reflected in the nature of the instrument of government, which is demonstrated by conflicts of classes, parties and individuals. The elections and plebiscites were invented to cover the failure of these unsuccessful experiments to solve this problem. The solution lies in finding an instrument of government other than those which are subject to conflict and which represent only one faction of society; that is to say, an instrument of government which is not a party class, sect or a tribe, but an instrument of government which is the people as a whole. In other words, we seek an instrument of government which neither represents the people nor speaks in their name.

Furthermore, in his speech of Februay 22, Qadhafi like a good parent warned the Libyan people about the drugs the rebels were on… not on real pills like the blinded mainstream media ridiculously reported, but on the drug of so-called Western ‘democracy’, provided and imposed by the NATO countries!

Plebiscites and referendums are functioning as drugs that attack the bodies and the minds of the masses and are also very expensive for a nation (and costs of a plebiscite are paid by the masses too!). For example, in Italy, the average cost of the last referendum was 365 million Euro; this money was a total waste because a quorum to make the referendum valid is 50% of voters, which rarely has been achieved in recent years.

Maybe that amount of money would better be spent to secure the territory (see floods and landslides which are increasingly affecting us in Europe), to build new hospitals and schools, or simply to lower taxes (in Italy we are still watching the level of fees, with the new economic measures of the new prime minister Monti it reached 45% of people’s income, thus about half of what Italian workers earns they spend on taxes!!! It’s a shame!).

It’s time to evolve a political system of the nations towards a form of direct democracy, it’s time to stop the mistakes of the ruling caste.

It’s time to grow, it’s time to speak to the masses and to awaken from the slumber of false democracy’s drugs!

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The Occupy Movement and the Third Universal Theory

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The mass movement of “Occupy” won’t bring about people’s power unless it is guided by the Third Universal Theory and it studies The Green Book.

“Occupy” seems to be one of the most popular words nowadays, a word that represents a movement which, in the hopes of many, will usher in a global change, a new form of governance in which power will belong to the people and an era of justice in which many criminals among corporations, governments, news media, military, international organizations and others will be held accountable and brought to justice for their crimes.

However, as very aptly pointed out earlier by a Mathaba author, the banking system and form of governance as we know it does not need to be “occupied” in order to get it changed — it needs to be gone. It is a criminal activity based on fraud, extortion and, through its effect, on worldwide mass murder. Its replacement needs to be decided by the population — not by the very people who created it in the first place and are covertly manipulating a new global structure of financial control based on a world central bank.

Any protest, any change or revolution not founded on the list below — at the very least, the list below — has no chance of changing anything. The very pillars of the system must fall or they will block any transformation of the human condition. The system does not need to be tinkered with or even fundamentally changed (on the surface). All of it doesn’t have to be “occupied” but simply has to go, starting with the following:

An end to creating money out of thin air on computer screens and charging interest on it (fractional reserve lending).An end to governments borrowing fresh-air money called ‘credit’ from private banks and the people having to pay interest on this ‘money’ that has never, does not and will never exist. Governments (and that concept must change radically) can create their own currency — interest free.An end to private banks issuing non-existent money called ‘credit’ and, thus, creating ‘money’ as a debt from the very start.An end to casinos like Wall Street and the City of London betting mercilessly on the financial and commodity markets with the lives of billions around the world.An end to all professional lobby groups that earn their living and their clients’ living from corrupting the professionally corruptible — vast numbers of world politicians and the overwhelming majority on Capitol Hill.An end to no-contract government in which mendacious politicians can promise the people they will do this and that to win their support and then do the very opposite after they have lied themselves into office (see President Obama).An end to the centralisation of power in all areas of our lives and a start to divesting power to communities to decide their own lives and, thus, ensure there are too many points of decision- making for any cabal to centrally control.

This, however, does not mean that we have to sit in silence and wait for all the above to go, nor does it mean that we have no choice but to participate in it. Instead, we can increasingly free ourselves from the old system, while building the new alongside. We can do so through sharing visions of what could and should be, through creating that new form of participatory democracy ourselves, and through collectively finding ways to avoid reliance on money. By working together, also on the self-provision of housing, food, health, water and other necessities of life, we will become more and more independent from the old system.

What, instead, need to be occupied are our hearts and our minds. Our hearts and minds need to be occupied with the truth. We can gather with as many people as possible, we can protest as much and as loud and as long as we want and we can choose to camp in tents forever as a sign of reclamation – as long as there is no revolution on a personal level, all gathering, all protesting and all camping in tents will be in vain and will vanish with time.

What is required is a new sense of awareness, resulting in a New Thinking. That thinking has to accept that what we have been brought up under capitalism to accept as “de facto”, requires casting aside false concepts, for example, that houses have to be rented or bought, and accept and understand that housing is a basic human right for all. That New Thinking has to accept direct democracy is a basic human right for all, and that we have to learn from human history and from those ideas that were brutally attacked in an attempt to destroy them by all-out war in order to try to conceal their practical benefits forever.

Armed with the experience of such ideas, we will become able to reach what, after all, is exactly what we are looking for: a new, free, happy society where, we the people ourselves, are in control of our rights and needs, and where we can shape our destiny. The study of that very theory that shows us how to do that, enables us to make a much greater worldwide impact by thinking globally and acting locally.

Antiwar demonstrators have chanted the phrase “The whole world is watching” for decades now, and since the New York Police Department has barricaded and arrested citizens in one of the largest mass arrests of non-violent demonstrators in the history of the United States on October 1, 2011, the same slogan is used by the Occupy Movement protestors. True revolutions themselves, however, are not televised. They start in people’s hearts as soon as people start to be moved with compassion for each other and for the world they live in. They start in the people’s mind as soon as they become aware of the existence of fraud, mendacity, corruption and other criminal behaviour by so-called world leaders, bankers, warmongers, Zionists and other members of the “1%” — as well as of their own unjust, unhealthy or destructive behaviours.

Televised revolutions are, in best cases, the results of this personal revolution. A great example of the result of a personal revolution is the Libyan Al Fateh Revolution of 1969 during which Muammar Qaddafi, after having studied and being enlightened by both history and nature, together with the Free Unitary Officer movement, swept aside the monarchy of King Idris in a bloodless coup and freed Libya from foreign occupation. Televised revolutions are, in worst cases, no more than the results of people’s overall dissatisfaction with life or their will to rebel against authority in general.

Therefore, instead of blindly following or participating in the Occupy Movement (which movement also is misinformed on more than one subject, for example, about what forces are behind the so-called Arab Spring), we have to carry out small individual revolutions daily as described above, as a precondition to joining any public movement. The mass movement of Occupy, as much as it calls for Power to the People, won’t bring about people’s power unless it is guided by the Third Universal Theory and studies The Green Book.

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Amavubi: Micho to test trio in friendly

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Amavubi coach Micho (L) expects a more clinical display from the wasps this afternoon.The New Times / T. Kisambira

Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojovic will hope for more when his Amavubi side takes on a select side in another friendly this afternoon at Amahoro stadium.

In the first friendly, the sides settled for a 1-all draw but with a daunting 2013 Africa Nations Cup first leg qualifier against Nigeria waiting in the wings, the Serbian wants to see a more clinical display from his side.

“It may be just a friendly but the idea is to prepare the players for next month’s qualifier so a good display is critical for the team as well as the fans,” he said.

Micho is also expected to hand debuts to Isonga’s Solomon Nirisarike (defender) and the Kiyovu pair of Patrick Umwungeri (defender) and Pascal Dukuzeyezu (goalkeeper).

Initially, Rwanda had planned to play Congo Brazzaville this afternoon but the Red Devils postponed the tie to November after realizing that it would be difficult for them to assemble their European-based players in time.

In the first friendly, Jean Claude Iranzi put Amavubi ahead on the 12th minute only for Papy Faty to equalise three minutes from time.

The select XI of foreign players, which will be managed by Ernie Brandts (APR coach), will feature APR’s new Brazilian recruits ( Rivaldo Oliviera, Diego Oliviera and Douglas Lopez ), Police ‘s Ernane Rezende as well as Papy Faty, Loddie Mavugo, Fuadi Ndayisenga, Cedric Amissi and Uganda’s Deo Othieno. Other players in the side are Godfrey Katerega, Dan Wagaluka, Habib Kavuma, Julius Bakabulindi and Simon Okwi.

Amavubi squad: Evariste Mutuyimana, Meddie Kagere, Jacques Tuyisenge, Jean Claude Ndoli, Albert Ngabo, Mbuyu Twite, Ismail Nshutiyamagara, Hegman Ngoma, Iranzi, Jean Claude, Olivier Karekezi, Sina Jerome, Bokota Labama, Titi Tumaine, Hussein Sibomana, Patrick Umwungeri, Pascal Dukuzeyezu, Solomon Nirisarike and Emery Bayisenge.

Today (Build-up match)

Amavubi vs Select XI

By Bonnie Mugabe, The New Times

Norway apologises for deporting Jews during Holocaust

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The Norwegian prime minister has apologised for the role his country played in deporting its own Jews as Europe marks Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“Norwegians carried out the arrests, Norwegians drove the trucks and it happened in Norway,” Jens Stoltenberg said in a speech.

Europe remembers the Holocaust on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz

It is believed to be the first time a Norwegian leader has been so explicit about collusion under Nazi occupation.

More than a third of Norway’s 2,100 Jews were deported to death camps.

Others fled to neighbouring Sweden, which remained neutral during World War II.

Norway acknowledged its role in the Holocaust in 1998 and paid some $60m (£38m) to Norwegian Jews and Jewish organisations in compensation for property seized.

However, the payout fell short of a full apology.

‘Time to acknowledge’

Mr Stoltenberg delivered his speech at the dock in the capital Oslo where 532 Jews boarded the cargo ship Donau on 26 November 1942, bound for Nazi camps.

“Today I feel it is fitting for me to express our deepest apologies that this could happen on Norwegian soil,” he said in the speech, translated into English on the prime minister’s website.

“It is time for us to acknowledge that Norwegian policemen, civil servants and other Norwegians took part in the arrest and deportation of Jews.”

He added that he was sorry to see that the “ideas that led to the Holocaust [were] still very much alive today”.

“All over the world we see that individuals and groups are spreading intolerance and fear,” he said.

Paul Levine, a history professor at Uppsala University in Sweden, likened Norway’s role during the war to that of the Vichy regime in Nazi-occupied France.

“They implemented their own anti-Jewish laws, used their own manpower, confiscated property and discriminated against Jews before the Germans had demanded it,” he told Reuters news agency.

“Norway didn’t have to do what it did.”

The Holocaust, during which some six million Jews were murdered, is commemorated on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops.

In other news related to Holocaust Remembrance Day:

Austria’s Green Party leader, Eva Glavischnig, suggested attendees at a Vienna ball on Friday evening which traditionally attracts the far right would be “dancing on the graves of Auschwitz”A public TV channel in Turkey began broadcasting the epic 1985 documentary Shoah – the first mainly Muslim state ever to do so – in what its director Claude Lanzmann, 87, called a “historic event”Auschwitz survivor Kazimierz Smolen, 91, who went on to become director of the memorial at the site, died in the neighbouring Polish town of OswiecimGerman parliamentary Norbert Lammert told a memorial ceremony in Berlin that he was concerned about lack of awareness of the Nazi genocide among young peopleFlowers were laid at the Sachsenhausen Nazi death camp site in Oranienburg, Germany, where some 10,000 Soviet prisoners-of-war were shot by the Nazis

BBC

Strong quake jolts eastern Japan, no tsunami warning

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TOKYO (Reuters) – A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.5 jolted eastern Japan on Saturday morning, but there were no immediate reports of injury or damage and no tsunami warning was issued.

The focus of the tremor was 20 km (12 miles) below the surface of the earth, in Yamanashi prefecture, west of Tokyo, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The quake, at 7:43 a.m., was also felt in the capital.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world’s most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

On March 11, 2011, the northeast coast was struck by a magnitude 9 earthquake, the strongest quake in Japan on record, and a massive tsunami, which triggered the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years since Chernobyl. The disaster left up to 23,000 dead or missing.

Reporting by Chris Gallagher, Reuters

APR, Kiyovu get cash boost

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APR players

APR and Kiyovu have received Rwf15m each ahead of their continental engagements. APR will represent the country in the Orange Caf Champions league while the green baggies will fly Rwanda’s flag in the Orange Confederation Cup.

The Director of Sports in the Sports Ministry Emmanuel Bugingo says that the funds will improve the teams’ preparations.

“We hope the funds will help them prepare for the tournaments and we wish them well,” he said.

APR will play Kenya’s Tusker FC in the preliminary round while SC Kiyovu is slated to take on Simba of Tanzania in the first round of the confederation Cup.

By Bonnie Mugabe, The New Times

Fitch cuts Italy, Spain, other euro zone ratings

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Fitch downgraded the sovereign credit ratings of Belgium, Cyprus, Italy, Slovenia and Spain on Friday, indicating there was a 1-in-2 chance of further cuts in the next two years.

People wait to enter a government job centre in Malaga, southern Spain, January 27, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Jon Nazca

In a statement, the ratings agency said the affected countries were vulnerable in the near-term to monetary and financial shocks.

“Consequently, these sovereigns do not, in Fitch’s view, accrue the full benefits of the euro’s reserve currency status,” it said.

Fitch cut Italy’s rating to A-minus from A-plus; Spain to A from AA-minus; Belgium to AA from AA-plus; Slovenia to A from AA-minus and Cyprus to BBB-minus from BBB, leaving the small island nation just one notch above junk status.

Ireland’s rating of BBB-plus was affirmed.

All of the ratings were given negative outlooks.

Fitch said it had weighed up a worsening economic outlook in much of theeuro zone against the European Central Bank’s December move to flood the banking sector with cheap three-year money and austerity efforts by governments to curb their debts.

“Overall, today’s rating actions balance the marked deterioration in the economic outlook with both the substantive policy initiatives at the national level to address macro-financial and fiscal imbalances, and the initial success of the ECB’s three-year Long-Term Refinancing Operation in easing near-term sovereign and bank funding pressures,” Fitch said.

Two weeks ago, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the credit ratings of nine euro zone countries, stripping France and Austria of their coveted triple-A status but not EU paymaster Germany, and pushing struggling Portugal into junk territory.

With nearly half a trillion euros of ECB liquidity coursing through the financial system, some of which has apparently gone into euro zone government bonds, and with hopes of a deal to write down a slab of Greece’s mountainous debt, even that sweeping ratings action had little market impact.

The euro briefly pared gains against the dollar after Fitch cut the five euro zone sovereigns but soon jumped to a session high of $1.3208, according to Reuters data, its highest since December 13.

Italy is widely seen as the tipping point for the euro zone. If it slid towards default, the whole currency project would be threatened.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, a technocrat who has won plaudits for his economic reform drive, said he reacted to Fitch’s downgrade of Italy with “detached serenity.”

“They signal things that are not particularly new, for example, that Italy has a very high debt as a percentage of GDP and they signal that the way the euro zone is governed as a whole is not perfect and we knew that too,” he said during a live interview on Italian television.

“They also say things that give a positive view of what is being done in Italy because there is much appreciation for policies of this government and this parliament,” he said.

Fitch said of Italy: “A more severe rating action was forestalled by the strong commitment of the Italian government to reducing the budget deficit and to implementing structural reform as well as the significant easing of near-term financing risks as a result of the ECB’s 3-year Longer-term Refinancing Operation.”

Reporting by Rodrigo Campos, Daniel Bases, Philip Pullela and Pam Niimi, Reuters