Monday, January 30, 2012
Sarkozy: 'The United Kingdom has no industry any more'
A sneering Nicolas Sarkozy has attacked Britain for being a country with 'no industry'.
The embattled French President, who is hoping to be re-elected this spring, made the extraordinary outburst as he defended a VAT rise during a prime time national TV broadcast.
He had just announced a 1.6 per cent hike in VAT in a move designed to boost France’s failing economy.
But when a journalist pointed out that Britain had experienced a rise in prices after increasing its VAT contributions, Mr Sarkozy - who in 2009 claimed the UK rise had ‘absolutely failed’ to stimulate the economy - spat out the words: 'The United Kingdom has no industry any more.'
He said he was borrowing the measure from Germany, arguing that it had 'helped to boost German competitiveness' and had not led to a rise in prices.
The 11th-hour measures are a risky political gamble as the hugely unpopular Mr Sarkozy lags behind Socialist rival Francois Hollande in the polls.
Opinion polls also suggest the majority of the population is against an increase in sales tax, which will eat into their spending power.
It is not the first time Mr Sarkozy, who will come face-to-face with Prime Minister David Cameron at an EU debt summit today, has expressed his dislike of his cross-Channel neighbours.
In October at an EU-27 summit, after criticism from UK ministers over the euro, Mr Sarkozy bluntly told Mr Cameron: 'You have lost a good opportunity to shut up.'
He added: 'We are sick of you criticising us and telling us what to do. You say you hate the euro and now you want to interfere in our meetings.'
A month later, in response to a question at a press conference about whether France and Germany were trying to change the governments of Greece and Italy, Mr Sarkozy hit out, saying: 'Perhaps the fact that you come from an island, you can't understand the subtleties of the European construction.'
And today's meeting - where EU leaders will sign off on a permanent rescue fund for the eurozone - could potentially herald a repeat of 'Le Snub', when the French leader refused to shake Mr Cameron's hand after the Prime Minister vetoed proposed changes to the EU treaty in December.
Mr Sarkozy was not questioned on the latest comments by any of the carefully selected journalists assisting with the broadcast from the Elysee Palace.
It was perhaps a wise move; figures from the OECD show that in 2009, Industry accounted for 19 per cent of French Gross Value Added - a measure of the value of goods and services linked to GDP.
In 2010, in the UK the figure was 21.8 per cent.
In manufacturing alone, the UK figure stood at 11.5 per cent compared with 10.7 per cent in France.
Despite Mr Sarkozy's previous view on such measures in the UK last night he saw the VAT rise as an essential measure to reverse his country’s fortunes, as he praised Angela Merkel for applying it.
It came as the German Chancellor offered ‘active support’ at campaign rallies for Mr Sarkozy, who is widely expected to fail in his re-election bid.
A ‘Robin Hood’ tax on financial transactions was also imposed by Mr Sarkozy last night – despite fierce opposition from EU leaders including Prime Minister David Cameron who described it as ‘utter madness’.
The 0.1 per cent financial transaction levy will be introduced in August in France regardless of whether other European countries follow suit.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2093546/The-United-Kingdom-industry-Sneering-Sarkozy-attacks-Britain-French-TV.html#ixzz1kwr9ZQvm
US had a total of three aircraft carrier groups close to Hormuz
For months now we have been following US naval developments and deployments in the Arabian Sea, which serve one purpose and one purpose only - to demonstrate US military strength in the Straits of Hormuz region and to keep Iranian 'offensive passions' subdued. Yet never has the US had a total of three aircraft carrier groups in the vicinity, always topping out at 2 in the Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet, most recently these being the CVN-70 Vinson and CVN 72 Lincoln, with a third boat present merely until a rotation in or out of the theater of operations was complete. That is about to change, and with it the prevailing price of Brent, which we are confident is about to take a new step wise price higher as the US makes it all too clear what the endgame is, because as Naval Today reports, the "US navy to deploy third carrier group to Persian Gulf", probably the CVN-77 George H.W. Bush which departed Norfolk two weeks ago according to the most recent naval update.
The carrier group based in Norfolk, VA will also include a guided missile cruiser and three guided missile destroyers, reports Interfax.
USS Abraham Lincoln had already entered the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz on Jan 22. She is escorted by a guided missile cruiser and two destroyers (USN), one British and one French warships.
Meanwhile, another US Navy’s carrier strike carrier group headed by USS Carl Vinson is stationed eastward the Strait of Hormuz, in northern part of the Arabian Sea washing southwest coast of Iran.
At present, the US has 15,000-men force deployed in Kuwait, expeditionary marine battalion, and amphibious landing group.
Zero Hedge
Strong earthquake hits Peru's central coastline
Peru's central coastline has been hit by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake, the US Geological Survey (USGS) says.
The tremor, with its epicentre some 15km (nine miles) south-east of the city of Ica, hit just after midnight (05:00 GMT) at a depth of 39km (24 miles), the USGS said.
The quake was felt in central and southern parts of the country.
The scale of the damage is not yet clear but Peruvian officials said some 60 people had been injured.
"The majority are suffering trauma and cuts," Fernando Leon Castaneda, manager of a local hospital, told Radio Programas del Peru (RPP).
None of the injuries were considered life-threatening, officials said.
Electricity supplies were knocked out in Ica but so far there are no reports of major damage.
The province of Ica was struck by a 7.9-magnitude undersea earthquake in 2007 that left thousands homeless.
BBC
Navy wants commando ‘mothership’ in Middle East
The Pentagon is rushing to send a large floating base for commando teams to the Middle East as tensions rise with Iran, al-Qaeda in Yemen and Somali pirates, among other threats.
In response to requests from U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, the Navy is converting an aging warship it had planned to decommission into a makeshift staging base for the commandos. Unofficially dubbed a “mothership,” the floating base could accommodate smaller high-speed boats and helicopters commonly used by Navy SEALs, procurement documents show.
Special Operations forces are a key part of the Obama administration’s strategy to make the military leaner and more agile as the Pentagon confronts at least $487 billion in spending cuts over the next decade.
Lt. Cmdr. Mike Kafka, a spokesman for the Navy’s Fleet Forces Command, declined to elaborate on the floating base’s purpose or to say where, exactly, it will be deployed in the Middle East. Other Navy officials acknowledged that they were moving with unusual haste to complete the conversion and send the mothership to the region by early summer.
Navy documents indicate that it could be headed to the Persian Gulf, where Iran has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route for much of the world’s oil supply. A market survey proposal from the Military Sealift Command, dated Dec. 22 and posted online, states that the floating base needed to be delivered to the Persian Gulf.
Other contract documents do not specify a location but say the mothership would be used to “support mine countermeasure” missions. Defense officials have said that if Iran did attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz, it would rely on mines to obstruct the waterway.
With a large naval base in Bahrain, and one or two aircraft carrier groups usually assigned to the region, the Navy has a substantial presence in the Persian Gulf and surrounding waters. Adding the mothership would do relatively little to bolster U.S. maritime power overall, but it could play an instrumental role in secretive commando missions offshore.
The deployment of the floating base could also mark a return to maritime missions for SEAL teams, which for the past decade have spent most of their time on land in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Other details of the project became public Tuesday when the Military Sealift Command posted a bid request to retrofit the USS Ponce, an amphibious transport docking ship, on a rush-order basis.
Until December, the Navy had planned to retire the Ponce and decommission it in March after 41 years of service. Among other missions, it was deployed to the Mediterranean Sea last year in support of NATO’s air war over Libya.
Instead, the ship will be modified into what the military terms an Afloat Forward Staging Base. Kafka said it would be used to support mine-clearance ships, smaller patrol ships and aircraft.
The documents posted by the Military Sealift Command in December, however, specify that the mothership will be rebuilt so that it can also serve as a docking station for several small high-speed boats and helicopters commonly used by Navy SEAL teams.
Washington Post
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