Trying To Form The World's Newest Country, Bougainville Has A Road Ahead

- "The people have spoken," says Albert Punghau, an official in Bougainville, speaking about the region's referendum on independence from Papua New Guinea.

After nearly three weeks of voting and counting, the results announced on Dec. 11 showed residents of the South Pacific island group overwhelmingly voted to break away from Papua New Guinea and form their own nation.

The referendum asked Bougainvilleans if they wanted greater autonomy or full independence. Nearly 98% of voters chose independence, with 87.4% voter turnout, according to the referendum commission.

After the results, "We all shouted and cheered and erupted as if there was thunder," Punghau, Bougainville's minister of peace agreement implementation, tells NPR.

He adds that he and his colleagues sang the regional anthem through tears. The school assembly hall where they gathered, in Bougainville's interim capital of Buka Town, was filled with "joy and happiness," he says.

Now, hard work begins. The referendum is nonbinding. Bougainville, with nearly 250,000 residents, does not automatically become an independent country. Its government has to negotiate the terms of separation from Papua New Guinea, whose Parliament would then have to approve the agreement. The process could take months or even years.

Meanwhile, Australia, New Zealand, China and the United States are closely watching as this Pacific island region has become the latest battleground for diplomatic influence between the West and China.

This is China!: Xi Jinping says Taiwan 'must and will be' reunited with China

BBC.com - Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged the people of Taiwan to accept it "must and will be" reunited with China.

In a speech marking 40 years since the start of improving ties, he reiterated Beijing's call for peaceful unification on a one-country-two-systems basis.

However, he also warned that China reserved the right to use force.

While Taiwan is self-governed and de facto independent, it has never formally declared independence from the mainland.

Beijing considers the island to be a breakaway province and Mr Xi's comments are in line with China's long-standing policy towards reunification.

But on Wednesday, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen said the island would never accept reunification with China under the terms offered by Beijing.

"I want to reiterate that Taiwan will never accept 'one country, two systems'. The vast majority of Taiwanese public opinion also resolutely opposes 'one country, two systems', and this is also the 'Taiwan consensus'."

Under the "one country, two systems" formula, Taiwan would have the right to run its own affairs; a similar arrangement is used in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong has its own legal system, and rights including freedom of assembly and free speech are protected - however, there are widespread concerns in the territory that those freedoms are gradually being eroded.

In his speech on Wednesday, Mr Xi said both sides were part of the same Chinese family and that Taiwanese independence was "an adverse current from history and a dead end".

Taiwanese people "must understand that independence will only bring hardship," Mr Xi said, adding Beijing would never tolerate any form of activity promoting Taiwanese independence.

Instead, unification was "an inevitable requirement for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese people", he argued.

He also stressed that relations with Taiwan were "part of China's domestic politics" and that "foreign interference is intolerable".

Beijing "reserves the option of taking all necessary measures" against outside forces that interfere with peaceful reunification and Taiwanese separatist activities.

Related: China's population set to peak at 1.44 billion in 2029: government report

New Caledonia: French Pacific territory rejects independence

BBC - Voters in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia have rejected a bid for independence.

Final results showed that 56.4% chose to remain part of France while 43.6% voted to leave - a tighter result than some polls had predicted.

Turnout was about 81%. The vote was promised in a 1988 deal that put an end to a violent campaign for independence.

President Emmanuel Macron said it showed "confidence in the French republic".

"I have to tell you how proud I am that we have finally passed this historic step together," he added.

The referendum passed peacefully but some unrest was reported after polls closed.

Cars and a shop were set ablaze in the capital, Nouméa, local media reported, and the high commissioner's office said some roads were closed by protesters.

It is one of the UN's 17 "non-self governing territories" - where the process of decolonisation has not been completed.

About 175,000 people were eligible to vote in Sunday's referendum New Caledonia, east of Australia, where indigenous Kanaks make up 39.1% of the population.

French nationalism is strong among the territory's ethnic Europeans - constituting 27.1% of the population - and observers say even some Kanaks back staying part of France.

The remaining third of the population of New Caledonia's 268,000 inhabitants are also largely said to oppose independence.

Macedonians vote in referendum on whether to change country's name

SKOPJE (Reuters) - The people of Macedonia voted in a referendum on Sunday on whether to change its name to ‘Republic of North Macedonia’, a move that would resolve a decades-old dispute with Greece which had blocked its membership bids for the European Union and NATO.

Greece, which has a province called Macedonia, maintains that its northern neighbor’s name represents a claim on its territory and has vetoed its entrance into NATO and the EU.

The two governments struck a deal in June based on the proposed new name, but nationalist opponents argue the change would undermine the ethnic identity of Macedonia’s Slavic majority population.

President Gjorge Ivanov has said he will not be voting in the referendum and a boycott campaign has cast doubts on whether turnout will meet the minimum 50 percent required for the referendum to be valid.

The question on the referendum ballot read: “Are you for NATO and EU membership with acceptance of the agreement with Greece”.

Supporters of the name change, including Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, argue that it is a price worth paying to pursue admission into bodies such as the EU and NATO for Macedonia, one of the countries to emerge from the collapse of Yugoslavia.

“I came today to vote for the future of the country, for young people in Macedonia so they can be live freely under the umbrella of the European Union because it means safer lives for all of us,” said Olivera Georgijevska, 79, in Skopje.

Although not legally binding, enough members of parliament have said they will abide by the vote’s outcome to make it decisive. The name change would requires a two-thirds majority in parliament.

Macron: political divisions in Europe are like a civil war

Emmanuel Macron has likened the political divisions in Europe to a civil war and warned against growing illiberalism on the continent.

In his first speech to the European parliament, the French president called for the defence of a European liberal democracy that offered protection of the rights of its minorities, and attacked those who took their countries out of the EU to pursue fairytale “adventures”.

“I am for the most integrated and closest possible relationship after Brexit, and there’s a well-known solution – it’s called EU membership,” he said.

The vast majority of the speech was, however, about the future without the UK, and the need for the 27 other EU member states to be united in opposition to the emergence of the nationalist authoritarian traits of the past.

Without naming the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who recently won a landslide victory after a campaign that played on voters’ fears of immigration, Macron was scathing of politicians who scapegoated migrants.

“There seems to be a certain European civil war: national selfishness and negativity seems to take precedence over what brings us together. There is a fascination with the illiberal, and that is growing all the time,” he told MEPs.

“In the future, we must struggle to defend our ideals ... This is a democracy that respects individual minority fundamental rights, which used to be called liberal democracy, and I use that term by choice. The deadly tendency which might lead our continent to the abyss, nationalism, giving up of freedom: I reject the idea that European democracy is condemned to impotence.

“I don’t want to belong to a generation of sleepwalkers, I don’t want to belong to a generation that’s forgotten its own past,” he said.

Kurds in Iraq vote in historic referendum for independence

washingtonpost.com - IRBIL, Iraq — Kurds packed polling stations across northern Iraq on Monday in a historic referendum on independence despite vigorous opposition from the country’s central government as well as regional and world powers.

Church bells tolled and imams implored Kurds to go out and vote over mosque loudspeakers when polls opened across the Kurdish region, a wide swath of mountains, oil fields and desert that has been run as a semiautonomous enclave for decades.

Local news showed prominent Kurdish figures casting their ballots, proudly displaying the purple voter mark on their fingers in what they described as a national duty to begin the slow process of secession from the Iraqi state.

The poll is expected to produce an overwhelming “yes” vote that many Kurds see as the culmination of a century-long and bloody struggle for self-determination. Kurdish authorities said 3.9 million people are eligible to vote. Irbil-based Rudaw TV said turnout reached at least 76 percent with long lines at some polling stations, citing election officials.

Results could be expected within 72 hours of polls closing at 6 p.m. Monday (11 a.m. Eastern time).

But there are fears that the vote could set off another unpredictable and destabilizing cascade across the region.

Neighboring Turkey and Iran worry that Iraq Kurdish secession could further embolden their own Kurdish minorities, including a separatist faction that has fought Turkish forces since the 1980s.

The United States, traditionally a strong ally of Iraq’s Kurds, has said the timing of the referendum threatens the fight against the Islamic State amid claims that the militant group is on its last legs. U.S. officials also worry that the Kurdish move will weaken Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ahead of national elections next year while empowering sectarian political forces.

For his part, Abadi tried up to the last minute to block the vote, and Iraqi leaders insist they will not recognize the outcome — setting up a potential political standoff.

But Iraq Kurds appeared intent on sending a powerful message as a distinct political force with a culture, language and history of their own. Many voters perceived the referendum as a symbol of their unity and separate political path, rather than an immediate separation from Iraq. (ontinueReading

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Related: Assyrian Expert: Support for Kurdish Self-Governance in Syria Will ‘Kill Christianity’

Assyrian statehood: preventing a rupture in Kurdish-American relations

Germany election: Merkel wins fourth term, says exit polls

BBC - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been re-elected for a fourth term in federal elections, exit polls suggest.

Her conservative CDU/CSU alliance won 32.5% of the vote, remaining the largest party in Germany's parliament, according to the ARD poll.

Its outgoing coalition partner, the social democratic SPD, said it would go into opposition after winning 20%.

In a result which shocked many, the nationalist AfD was on track to win 13.5%, making it the third party.

Addressing supporters, Mrs Merkel said she had hoped for a "better result" and talked about "extraordinary challenges".

She would listen, she said, to the "concerns and anxieties" of AfD voters in order to win them back.

The numbers mean the SPD, led by Martin Schulz, has fallen to a new post-World War Two low.

Mr Schulz said the result was the end of the "grand coalition" with Mrs Merkel's alliance.

"It's a difficult and bitter day for social democrats in Germany," he told supporters. "We haven't reached our objective."

AfD's performance, better than forecast in opinion polls, means the right-wing party will have seats in the Bundestag for the first time.

Prominent AfD figure Frauke Petry said on Twitter (in German) that Germany had experienced an incomparable "political earthquake".

The exit poll puts the Liberal FDP on 10.5%; the Greens on 9.5% and Die Linke (The Left) on 9%.

Mrs Merkel will now have to search for new coalition partners, a process that could take months. (ontinueReading

Musical interlude:

Serbia's president urges nation to resolve Kosovo relations

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia must resolve its relations with its breakaway former province of Kosovo in order to move forward, Serbia's president wrote in an opinion piece Monday.

In the op-ed article in the high-circulation Blic daily, President Aleksandar Vucic urged a lasting solution for the problem that has been a source of tensions in the Balkans since the 1998-99 war.

"It is important now, more than ever, that we all find an answer together," said Vucic, who has called for an all-nation discussion on the sensitive issue of the future of ties with Kosovo. "That (answer) should be permanent, rule out conflict as an option and benefit everyone in this region."

The mostly ethnic Albanian Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 with western backing. Supported by Russia, Serbia has vowed never to recognize the split.

Under European Union pressure, FYR Serbia and Kosovo have agreed to participate in EU-mediated talks on normalizing ties in order to advance their efforts to join the bloc. But Serbian nationalists want to ditch the EU bid and turn to Russia to avoid ever recognizing Kosovo, which many in the country consider the cradle of the Serbian nation.

Vucic — himself a former extreme nationalist in the 1990s' war era who now says Serbia should join the EU — said "we must at least try to resolve the Kosovo knot and not hide and leave the toughest burden to our children."

"All the paths of political cooperation and economic cooperation would be open for Serbia," he added. "And the door of the European Union as well." (ontinueReading

Israeli cabinet approves defining Israel as Jewish nation-state

May 7 (UPI) -- Israel's cabinet on Sunday approved legislation that officially defines the country as a Jewish nation-state.

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation voted unanimously to endorse Likud Minister Avi Dichter's Jewish state bill, which also downgrades Arabic from designation as an "official language" and says "the national language is Hebrew."

The legislation, which faces a lengthy process in the Knesset, says that "the State of Israel is the national home of the Jewish people, in which it realizes its aspirations for self-determination according to its cultural and historic traditions. The realization of national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people."

It would join the so-called 11 Basic Laws, which is similar to a constitution, and guides Israel's legal system.

Religious authorities control many aspects of life, including marriage but Basic Laws pertain to state institutions like the Knesset, the courts or the presidency.

"This is a small step for the Jewish state bill, which establishes that Israel is and will be a Jewish and democratic state, and it's a big step toward defining our identity, not only in the eyes of the world but primarily for ourselves, Israelis. To be a free people in our land," Dichter said after the cabinet's decision.

He said that the bill counters Palestinian efforts to deny Jewish rights to Israel. "Events of recent months prove that this is a battle for the Israel's image and national identity. The Palestinians no longer hide their goal of erasing the Jewish people's nation-state," he wrote in defense of the legislation.

Dichter first introduced the bill in 2014 but it faced criticism from opposition members and even liberal-minded members of his own Likud party. A number of versions of the legislation have been drafted by right-wing lawmakers.

In 2015, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed his own version of the legislation. He said the state lacked "adequate expression" of Israel's "existence as the nation-state of the Jewish people" in the Basic Laws.

"For too long, we've been trying to discuss and reach a decision regarding the law – a basic law that's not clear how it hasn't been enshrined in legislation until now – and whose simple goal is to protect Israel's status as the state of the Jewish people," said the acting head of the ministerial committee, Tourism Minister Yariv Levin,

The latest version reached out to liberals by including the phrase "Jewish and democratic" and omitting a previously included affirmation of the importance of settlement throughout Israel's borders.

Critics said that the bill is discriminatory to Israel's Arab and other minority populations. (ontinueReading

German Interior Minister: Our Culture Trumps Multiculturalism

- Immigrants to Germany need to conform to German culture, Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière wrote on Sunday in German newspaper Bild. Deutsche Welle summarized Maizière’s article as advocating “a dominant culture in Germany.”

In the most popular newspaper in Germany, Maizière sparked the debate over what defines Germany’s dominant culture. His proposition: a German guiding culture instead of multiculturalism. Once Germans knows who they are and who they want to be, he indicated, integration and unity will follow. His 10 theses have sparked much controversy in Germany, not least because of Germany’s past as a nation that saw its culture as superior to the point of violently and systematically destroying other cultures.

In his article titled “We Are Not Burka,” de Maizière presented his principles for helping Germans define what the “guiding culture” consists of. Some of the points he discussed included: Germans show their face, Germans lay a high value on performance and quality, Germans have a high cultural value that influences the whole world, Germans have an enlightened patriotism, and Germans live in a Christian-dominated country that uses religion to build unity.

He wrote that German patriotism has been misguided in the past. Nazi Germany used patriotism to motivate the fight against other nationalities and races. In the decades after World War ii, most did not dare speak about their own country with any form of pride. Both concepts are wrong, he wrote; Germans need to love their country and yet not hate others. What defines Germany today is still a highly controversial topic, Deutsche Welle reported in another article:

Germany was successful in rebuilding its bombed and charred cities after World War ii, but it was less successful in healing the deep wounds German culture and the national psyche suffered after 12 years of Nazi rule.

For decades, the phrase “German pride” was considered an oxymoron, something that had been rubbed out of existence after Auschwitz. But that began to change after reunification, and in 2000, conservative politician Friedrich Merz asked the question publicly: Could Germans be proud of their achievements and should there be common cultural guidelines that people ought to live by? It evoked some angry responses.

Today, however, top-ranking German ministers say that Germans need a guiding culture to know who they are and how to cope with the crises they are facing. If done right, it will show immigrants what they have to accept to successfully become part of Germany. Maizière wrote, “If we clearly understand what defines us, what our guiding culture is, who we are and who we want to be, then cohesion will remain stable, and integration will also succeed—today and in the future” (Trumpet translation throughout). The guiding culture will then not only guide native-born Germans but also those coming into Germany.

Maizière suggested that this would even increase German tolerance toward other nationalities. Here his opponents see a direct contradiction. Politicians from the opposition parties said that such a defined guiding culture would do just the opposite, namely arouse hatred toward others. That is exactly what happened in the past when Germans saw their culture as superior to others. The idea of a German guiding culture, however, is most strongly promoted and advocated by the largely Catholic Christian Social Union that rules in Bavaria. (ontinueReading

Former envoy warns nationalists in Macedonia-Skopje 'playing with fire'

rte.ie - Nationalists in Macedonia are "playing with fire" in refusing to relinquish power, said the former envoy who helped avert civil war in the Balkan country.

Pieter Feith also said the European Union should consider halting Macedonia's accession process in order to break a dangerous deadlock, said the former envoy who helped avert civil war in the Balkan country.

A long-running political crisis in the former Yugoslav republic turned violent on Thursday when supporters of the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party, some in balaclavas, stormed parliament after a new majority in the assembly elected an ethnic Albanian as speaker, a first step towards replacing the nationalist-led government.

The events, in which one ethnic Albanian MP was badly beaten and several other deputies left bloodied, raised fears that the political crisis was spiralling out of control and may plunge the country back into ethnic conflict 16 years after Western diplomacy averted full-blown civil war.

The nationalists of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski are blocking the formation of a new government led by the opposition Social Democrats, accusing them of doing a deal with the country's ethnic Albanian minority that risked tearing the country apart by allowing wider official use of the Albanian language.

Mr Feith, who as NATO's Balkans troubleshooter at the turn of the century helped negotiate a peace deal to end months of clashes between Macedonian security forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas in 2001, warned of further escalation.

The nationalists, he said, "are playing with fire. The next step I could imagine, but God forbid, if arms are going to be handed out and circulated as they were in 2001, you are quickly on the abyss of civil war,"

Strength in our diversity: Independence movements are a sign of European strength, not discord

WashingtonPost.com: LONDON — It was less than three years ago that Scotland's bid for independence fizzled, with a much-hyped referendum failing by 10 points and Scotland's pro-independence party left embarrassed.

But the drive for self-determination in Scotland is as strong as ever. On Tuesday, the Scottish parliament backed First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's attempt to seek another independence vote. And, much to the dismay of officials in Madrid, Copenhagen, Brussels and other capitals, breakaway attempts in other countries are also alive and well.

To some, this is yet another indication that the European Union is falling apart and unable to keep the divided continent united. But in reality, Europe's powerful independence movements are a sign of European strength, not discord.

The three regions where independence votes are now most likely — Catalonia, Scotland and the Faroe Islands (which is not part of the E.U.) — are doing so in an attempt to assume a more active role on the international stage and in the European Union. All three regions argue that independence would put them in a better position to interact with the union, both economically and politically.

The Faroe Islands, a Danish-controlled autonomous territory in the North Atlantic, announced in February that it will vote on a new constitution next year, most likely paving the way for an independence referendum there.

On the Faroe Islands, pro-E.U. sentiments are mainly driven by economic considerations. Due to its dependency on the E.U. as a trading partner, the Faroe Islands wants to renegotiate relations with the bloc — something its association with the Kingdom of Denmark has so far largely prevented because the Faroe Islands do not handle their foreign affairs themselves.

Farther south, the region of Catalonia, home to Barcelona, has long sought independence from Spain. Its distinct traditions and language, Catalan, have driven such hopes for decades — but there is also a political rationale behind the desire to break away from Spain. Catalonia already has a foreign affairs commissioner, and its citizens are some of the E.U.'s most loyal supporters. As many as 200,000 people recently marched in Barcelona urging the Spanish government to accommodate more refugees and meet the E.U. criteria that are being virtually ignored by almost every member state.

Previous demonstrations in favor of independence deliberately included the word “Europe” in their slogans (“Catalonia, a new state in Europe”) and the current regional leader, Carles Puigdemont, is staunchly pro-European. Puigdemont and his political allies hope that independence from Spain would allow Catalonia, which has more inhabitants than Denmark, to finally influence European affairs without having to take a detour through Madrid.

In the case of Scotland, preserving E.U. membership is also one of the biggest driving forces behind the new independence campaign. Keeping E.U. membership was among the key reasons the Scottish voted against independence in 2014. Ahead of the vote, officials in London had warned that Scotland would also have to leave the E.U. if it decided to leave the United Kingdom.

That argument became void in June last year when Britain decided to leave the E.U., anyway. Scotland, however, voted against leaving the European Union by a margin of 24 percentage points, which political leaders there say proves that a new independence vote is needed.

Of course, things are unlikely to be as easy as pro-independence politicians are saying. The E.U. has said that an independent Scotland would have to apply for admission to the union as a new state, meaning a likely delay of several years. That could complicate the case for a breakaway.

Nor is it certain the E.U. would approve membership. Whereas Britain is leaving the union and would be unlikely to veto an application by Scotland, other countries might be more willing to take such measures. In 2014, Belgium and Spain said they would veto a Scottish membership application in an attempt to prevent other independence movements in Europe from gaining momentum.

Apart from such legal and political obstacles, there is also the question whether voters would even want their regions or nations to become fully independent. Recent opinion polls in Catalonia and Scotland do not show a clear majority.

Pro-independence activists, however, say that voters should at least have a chance to decide. They hope that support for separation might rise if the referendum plans themselves are being blocked by national authorities.

The Spanish government has already declared a possible referendum illegal and said it will not recognize the results, but popular support for such a referendum is still on the rise. Meanwhile, in Britain, Prime Minister Theresa May has indicated that another independence vote won't happen anytime soon — which may only stoke the desire for Scotland to go its own way. (Source)

UKGBNI: Scottish Government to Seek Independence Referendum Over Brexit

nbcnews.com - Scotland's leader announced Monday she will seek another referendum on independence from the U.K. as early as next year in response to Brexit, deepening the turmoil caused by Britain's decision to quit the European Union.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she had encountered a "brick wall of intransigence" in dealings with the British government over the terms for withdrawal from the trading bloc.

She said the Brexit vote meant there had been a "material change in circumstances" since independence was rejected by Scottish voters by 55 percent to 45 percent in 2014.

"The future of the U.K. looks very different today than it did two years ago," she told reporters.

Sturgeon, who heads the pro-independence Scottish National Party, said she will seek the constitutional authority to hold another referendum in late 2018 or early 2019 — by which time the terms of Britain's withdrawal would be known.

It was not immediately clear if the Britain's ruling Conservative party, which is firmly opposed to independence, would veto her bid for a so-called "indyref2."

Sturgeon said Scots should be allowed to choose "whether to follow the U.K. to a hard Brexit, or to become an independent country able to secure a real partnership of equals with the rest of the UK and our own relationship with Europe."

Scotland voted against Brexit in last June's referendum, preferring to remain in the EU. However, the U.K. overall voted to leave by 52 percent to 48 percent.

turgeon said she had sought negotiations with British Prime Minister Theresa May over the details of Brexit but the U.K. government "has not moved even an inch in pursuit of compromise or agreement."

"Membership of the single market was ruled out with no prior consultation with the rest of the UK," she said. "We face a future outside the world's biggest single market."

Sturgeon said there was "warmth" in Europe at the prospect of Scotland being an independent member of the EU — although the mechanism for that prospect also remains unclear. The EU previously stated that an independent Scotland would have to apply to join the EU, rather than automatically being a member.

Sturgeon's announcement came as May was poised to invoke Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon, giving official notice of Britain's intention to quit the EU and starting the clock on up to two years of unprecedented negotiations. (ontinueReading
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Related: Nicola Sturgeon hits out at PM saying: I was elected, May was not

Theresa May 'to block Nicola Sturgeon's second independence referendum until after Brexit'

GB Forever? Scotland Plans New Independence Referendum from U.K. Over Brexit

LONDON — Scotland is drawing up plans for a vote on independence from the rest of Britain over Brexit, deepening the political fallout from the U.K.'s decision to quit the European Union.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Thursday she would publish draft proposals for a new national ballot.

She told the annual conference of her ruling Scottish National Party that she wanted the bill in place to give her the possibility of calling another referendum before Britain is expected to formally leave the EU in March 2019.

Scots rejected independence by 55 to 45 percent in 2014, and opinion polls suggest there is still no clear majority in favor of a split.

However, Britain's decision in June to quit the EU may shift attitudes in Scotland, which voted to remain in Europe in now faces losing access to the single market because the U.K. as a whole voted to leave.

Sturgeon said she would press ahead with a new referendum unless British Prime Minister Theresa May kept Scotland's membership of the European single market.

"I am determined that Scotland will have the ability to reconsider the question of independence and to do so before the UK leaves the EU if that is necessary to protect our country's interests," she said.

Catalonia to Vote on Independence, With or Without Spain's Consent

(voiceofamerica) - Catalonia will hold a referendum on independence from Spain next year whether or not the central government in Madrid agrees to one, the region's head said Wednesday.

Carles Puigdemont told the Catalan parliament that he was willing to discuss the terms of a referendum with Madrid, which has steadfastly opposed any such vote in the northeastern region, but that otherwise he would hold one next September.

Spain's Constitutional Court in August annulled a resolution by Catalonia's assembly to press ahead with independence, sharpening the standoff between the separatists and the central government of the conservative People's Party (PP).

"There is an enormous consensus that the ideal formula is a referendum agreed with the Spanish state," Puigdemont told parliament.

He said he would discuss the wording of the question in a vote and its date.

"But if by July there has been no positive response [from the central government], we will be prepared to climb the last step and call a referendum for the second fortnight of September next year," he said.

Catalans rally in support of independence from Spain

- Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across Catalonia on Sunday to support a break from Spain which local leaders want to deliver for next year in spite of legal blocks by the central government.

Catalans gathered in five cities across the northeastern region, including Barcelona, and waved yellow banners in time to music, symbolizing the rhythm of a beating heart uniting an independent republic.

Police said that in Barcelona alone about 540,000 people took part. The mass rally on Catalonia's national day, La Diada, comes as the pro-independence local assembly vows to press ahead with plans to form an new state in 2017, raising pressure on leaders in Madrid to respond at a time of disarray in national politics.

Two inconclusive general elections have left Spain without a new national administration for more than eight months, in part due to squabbling among parties over how best to counter or defuse Catalonia's separatist challenge.

Spain's conservative caretaker government has firmly opposed any move towards secession and resorted to challenges via the constitutional court, though this has escalated the stand-off in recent months under acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

"We don't really care anymore about who will govern in Madrid," said Montse Pedra, 39, a speech therapist at the rally in Barcelona, where campaigners waved the starred blue, red and yellow pro-independence flags.

She said she was no longer hopeful Catalonia would be granted a referendum on independence like Scotland's in 2014 - where people voted to remain in Britain - but was looking beyond that.

"Here that's not going to happen one way or another, so we're going to just declare independence, and that's it," Pedra added.

Whether regional leaders will manage to produce the break they have promised is unclear.

Pro-separatist parties won a majority of seats in the regional assembly last year and have starting laying the ground for laws and institutions for an independent state, though such moves have been deemed illegal in court.

"The whole process is going a little slowly," said another participant, 64-year-old maths teacher Rafael Subirats, adding he thought independence was unlikely to happen by 2017.

Secessionists fell short of winning an overall majority of the vote last September, which according to anti-independence campaigners weakens the mandate for a split. (FullText)

Vardar Macedonia’s Dreams Unrealised 25 Years After Independence

"Vardar Macedonia"

(BalkanInsight) - Twenty-five years after becoming independent from Socialist Yugoslavia on September 8, 1991, Macedonia still has external problems with its neighbour Greece and internal problems with democracy which are blocking its ultimate goals of Euro-Altantic integration.

“These goals were set by all political parties after the country gained its independence in 1991, but they didn’t succeed,” Mirjana Malevska, a professor at South East European University, told BIRN.

“The democratisation process in the country is tightly linked with the integration processes and is the main condition to enter the Euro-Atlantic family,” she said.

Macedonia obtained EU candidate status back in 2005. At that point, the country was a regional leader among ex-Yugoslav states in the race to join the European club. In 2009, it was given the recommendation to start the accession negations.

But now the recommendation is at risk. Due to institutional failings in reforms and the ongoing political crisis that has gripped the country, the European Commission said in autumn last year that it would issue another recommendation after Macedonia’s next elections - but only if the polls are judged free and fair and if the country carries out the necessary reforms.

But the unsolved ‘name’ dispute with Greece is another stumbling block in the Euro-Atlantic integration of the country. NATO’s door will also not open to Skopje until two neighbours find a mutual solution for the problem - and Greece is still strongly opposed to Macedonia calling itself Macedonia.

Malveska says that there have been some democratisation efforts but the ongoing political crisis had a negative impact.

“The political crisis emerged after the massive illegal wiretapping by government services. It is massive violation of human rights and freedoms. If the [current] investigations [by the special prosecution into wrongdoing allegedly revealed by the tapes] prove the allegations of corruption true, that would be a jolt for the democratic process in the country”, she said.

The crisis escalated in February 2015, when the opposition Socual Democrats started releasing batches of covertly recorded tapes, which it said showed that the VMRO DPMNE-led government was behind the illegal surveillance of some 20,000 people, including ministers. The oppostion said the tapes proved many that government members were involved in various crimes.

More white nationalists on Twitter than IS backers

(timesofindia) - (NEW YORK: The number of white nationalists and Nazi sympathisers on Twitter has multiplied to more than 600% in last four years, outperforming the Islamic State group in everything from follower counts to number of daily tweets, a study has found.

Researchers at George Washington University analysed 18 accounts belonging to major white nationalist groups- such as the American Nazi Party and the National Socialist Movement - mostly located in the US. The number of followers in these accounts increased from 3,500 in 2012 to 22,000 in 2016.The study noted that while IS stood out for its outreach and recruitment using Twitter, white nationalist groups have excelled in the medium.

The report underscores the declining influence of IS on the platform after Twitter said it shut down 3,60,000 accounts for what they saw as promoting terrorism.

According to the study , white nationalist users are "heavily invested" in Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's candidacy. But mentions of the real estate tycoon were second only to talk of "white genocide" - the belief that influx of non-white cultures and increasing diversity in the United States are fuelling extinction of the "white race".

After Brexit, U.S. Congressman Promotes #Amexit from UN

The USA is a failed state

- As the pro-national sovereignty movement continues to surge in Europe following the historic British “Brexit” vote to exit the European Union, a growing push for a United States “Amexit” from the United Nations and other international institutions is gaining steam. After the Brexit, Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie (shown being sworn in), a leading constitutionalist, pointed to his support for the American Sovereignty Restoration Act and asked if it is now “Time for #amexit?” Yes, he says. Conservative commentator Sarah Palin also called for a U.S. withdrawal from the UN following Brexit, saying Americans should take a lesson from the British on restoring independence and stopping "special-interest globalists." Former Congressman Ron Paul, meanwhile, the author of the original legislation to get the United States out of the UN, called for getting out of NATO and the “various phony 'free trade' agreements” that benefit the elite but harm everyone else. And the movement to restore self-government is only growing.

Britain votes to leave EU, Cameron quits, markets rocked

(Reuters) - Britain has voted to leave the European Union, forcing the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron and dealing the biggest blow since World War Two to the European project of forging greater unity.

Global stock markets plunged on Friday, and the British pound saw its biggest one day drop in history, as results from a referendum defied bookmakers' odds to show a 52-48 percent victory for the campaign to leave the bloc Britain joined more than 40 years ago.

The United Kingdom itself could now break apart, with the leader of Scotland, where nearly two-thirds of voters wanted to stay in the EU, saying a new referendum on independence from the rest of Britain was "highly likely".

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet French, German and Italian leaders in Berlin on Monday to discuss future steps, and the foreign ministers of Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, will meet on Saturday morning.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday tried to limit the fallout from Britain's vote to leave the European Union which threatens to harm the U.S. economic recovery and distract U.S. allies from global security issues. Obama, who had argued passionately against the UK leaving the EU in a trip to the Britain this year, vowed that Washington would still maintain both its "special relationship" with London and close ties to Brussels.

In an emotional speech on Friday, UK Prime Minister Cameron, who led the campaign to remain in Europe to defeat, after promising the referendum in 2013, said he would leave office by October.

"The British people have made the very clear decision to take a different path and as such I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction," he said in a televised address outside his residence.

"I do not think it would be right for me to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination," he added, choking back tears before walking back through 10 Downing Street's black door with his arm around his wife Samantha.

The British pound fell as much as 10 percent against the U.S. dollar on Friday to levels last seen in 1985 on fears the decision could hit investment in the world's fifth-largest economy, threaten London's role as a global financial capital, and usher in months of political uncertainty. The euro slid 2.0 percent against the U.S. dollar. [MKTS/GLOB]

World stocks saw more than $2 trillion wiped off their value. European stocks ended down 7.0 percent STOXX, the biggest one day fall since 2008. U.S. stocks fell suffered the largest selloff in ten months sharply, with the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI losing 3.4 percent. [.N]

Investors rushed to put their cash in the safety of gold which clocked up its biggest daily gain the global financial crisis of 2008, ending Friday up 5.0 percent at $1,315 an ounce. (Full Text)

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Related: (Reuters) EU's Tusk says 27 EU leaders determined to keep unity after Brexit