Six In The Morning

EU, Russia remain at odds over energy policy

The latest talks between Russia and the European Union have failed to produce progress towards resolving a number of bones of contention. However, there was little disappointment, as no progress had been expected.

The European Union and Russia, represented by President Vladimir Putin, failed to bridge their differences on Syria or visa requirements, but a press conference at the close of Friday's talks showed that energy policy remained by far the most divisive issue.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso used the opportunity to outline why in the EU's view, its policy respected "all international agreements and also the principles and rules of law."

Uncertainty adds to pain of graft-riddled Indonesia

December 22, 2012

Michael Bachelard

Indonesia Correspondent for Fairfax Media

ONE of the most compelling characters in the new documentary The Act of Killing is an obese, cross-dressing gangster-cum-actor named Herman Koto.

When he's not performing in women's clothes, Koto is a frightening, if eccentric, standover man. At one stage he runs for political office and, as his campaign progresses, it dawns on him that being a local politician will radically expand his opportunity to extort money.

(Koto's campaign is unsuccessful, ironically, because he cannot afford the other prerequisite of Indonesian politics: bribing people to vote for him. The scene on the campaign trail where he hands his name card to a housewife who responds indignantly, ''Is that all you've got?'' is one of this film's many high points.)

Koto's big talk lays bare in detail how Indonesian politics works, and the corrupted millions available to its practitioners.

Egypt holds final vote on divisive charter

Sapa-AFP | 22 December, 2012 08:56

Egyptians vote on Saturday in the final round of a referendum on an Islamist-backed constitution that has fuelled weeks of sometimes bloody protests in the divided country but is likely to be approved.

Polling stations open in the remaining 17 provinces that did not vote in last Saturday's first round of the referendum.

Hundreds of Egyptians clashed on Friday in the country's second largest city Alexandria in the latest violence between Islamists who back the charter and opponents who accuse them of overreaching.

The interior ministry said 62 people, among them 12 police conscripts, were injured and 12 protesters were arrested.

Some 250 000 police and soldiers will be deployed on Saturday to provide security at polling stations.

Korea

Dec 22, 2012

North Korea a culture of warriors
By Tatiana Gabroussenko 

" ... Young guerrilla girl Kumsuni delivers letters to comrades, and one day is caught by the police. When the policemen demand the girl disclose information about the guerillas, she spits into the faces of her interrogators. As the policemen drag Kumsuni to her execution, the heroic girl cries out 'Long Live General Kim Il Sung!'"

...Pre-teen boy Ri Kwang-ch'un is a member of a secret anti-Japanese children's organization. Along with others, he helps the "Red Guard uncles". However, one day policemen apprehend the boy. When the "bastards" torture the young patriot, Ri cuts off his own tongue in defiance. His last words are "Long Live the Korean Revolution!"

Even if one supports patriotic education of the younger generation, one is still likely to find such notions of slicing off one's own

  
tongue, torture or execution to be much too disturbing and complicated to present to children. Yet the plots cited above are from comics published in Kkotpongori (Flower bud), a North Korean monthly magazine for kindergarden-aged children. The designated audience of the publication may be deduced by the types of logic puzzles included in each issue, such as: "Look at the pictures of a pig, a tractor and a bike. Which one moves faster?" 

Peña Nieto team decries past drug cartel strategy — and keeps it

Going after the cartel kingpins made the problem worse, say aides to Mexico's new president. But killing it would jeopardize significant U.S. funding.

By Richard Fausset, Los Angeles Times

MEXICO CITY — You find the capos of the drug trade, and you arrest them or kill them.

That, in its simplest form, was the idea behind the so-called kingpin strategy that former Mexican President Felipe Calderon pursued with zeal for most of his six-year term. As his administration drew to an end this year, he would often mention, as a point of pride, that his government had taken out two-thirds of Mexico's 37 most wanted criminals.

But as new President Enrique Peña Nieto rolled out his crime-fighting strategy this week, his team was explicit about the trouble that "kingpin" had wrought: