Six In The Morning

Hopes fade for quick progress at Iran nuclear talks

　

May 23, 2012
Hopes for quick progress on Iran’s disputed nuclear program faded rapidly Wednesday, as diplomats from six world powers and Iran collided bitterly in daylong talks intended to resolve their differences over an effort many nations fear is aimed at building a nuclear bomb. In their second high-level meeting in as many months, representatives of the two sides offered packages of proposals designed to open a path to what is expected to be a long and difficult negotiation. But the yawning gap between the parties quickly became apparent. The world powers pushed Iran to give up key pieces of its nuclear program, while Iran complained that they were not offering a “balanced” proposal.

EU urges Greece to stay in euro, but plans for possible exit


Thursday 24 May 2012
European Union leaders, advised by senior officials to prepare contingency plans in case Greece decides to quit the single currency, urged the country to stay the course on austerity and complete the reforms demanded under its bailout programme. After nearly six hours of talks held during an informal dinner, leaders said they were committed to Greece remaining in the eurozone, but it had to stick to its side of the bargain too, a commitment that will mean a heavy cost for Greeks.

'Right Now, We Need Expansion
In a SPIEGEL interview, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman argues that this is not the time to worry about debt and inflation. To save the euro zone, he argues that the European Central Bank should loosen monetary policy and the German government should abandon austerity.

SPIEGEL
SPIEGEL: Mr. Krugman, does Greece have to leave the euro zone? Krugman: Yes. I don't see too much alternative now. It's going to be terrible in the first year if they do leave. So I am really reluctant to say that it's a little bit like shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater, but what is the realistic option here? It's not as if anything anyone's proposing has any hope at all of getting them out of the mess they're in. SPIEGEL: If Greece should leave, will this finally contain the euro crisis or, rather, make things worse? Krugman: What happens if Greece leaves? Then you have again a bank run in other peripheral countries because they've set the precedent. But, again, that could be contained with lending from the ECB (European Central Bank). What has to happen is that the ECB has to be willing to replace all euros withdrawn as is necessary. And I think the case we're making for that lending becomes a lot easier because the Greeks were actually irresponsible. The Greeks actually did behave badly, and so the political case for unlimited exposure to Greece is very hard to make. A much easier case to make is for Spain and then Portugal and Italy, all of which did nothing wrong on the official side. So you could argue that the bad actor has been ejected, but we need to save the good actors.

Amnesty slams UN peace failures, Malaysia solution


Ben Doherty, New Delhi May 24, 2012 - 11:01AM
The United Nations Security Council is “redundant as a guardian of global peace”, and its failure to intervene in global conflicts has allowed human rights violations to flourish, a scathing report from Amnesty International has alleged. Amnesty International's The State of the World's Human Rights report for 2012, released this morning, says the 66-year-old council is unable to meet its mandate of maintaining international peace.

Egypt's revolution won't end with the presidential election
Beyond Tahrir Square, Egypt's uprising is one that intersects with grassroots struggles in Europe and that's what the elites fear most.

24 May 2012 08:38 - Jack Shenker
A stone’s throw from Tahrir Square, they have been enveloped in teargas, pockmarked by Molotov cocktails, pressed into use as urban barricades by both revolutionaries and pro-Mubarak militias and provided the backdrop for some of the post-Mubarak military generals’ most violent assaults on the citizens they swore to protect. They gaze over the gardens of the Egyptian Museum – a regular home for one of the army’s pop-up torture and detention centres where those still daring to rally for meaningful change have been brutally acquainted with the realities of a junta-curated “transition” to democratic rule. This month, my buildings’ latest revolutionary iteration was unveiled – two giant billboards sporting beaming mugshots of Ahmed Shafiq: former Mubarak-era prime minister, current presidential candidate and feloul (“regime remnant”) figurehead par excellence.

Olympian effort behind the saving of the Hitchcock nine
The British Film Institute (BFI) is celebrating the work of film-maker Alfred Hitchcock with a season of screenings, including nine of his little-known silent movies, restored to their original glory after a painstaking and time-consuming restoration project. We went behind the scenes to see the meticulous work of the BFI conservationists.

By Stuart Hughes BBC News
The instantly recognisable figure of Alfred Hitchcock stares out from a giant outdoor poster at this year's Cannes Film Festival. His jowly face is twisted into a grimace. His index finger points accusingly. More than 30 years after his death, Hitchcock remains one of the towering icons of cinema history.