Puppet Masters
Washington - Richard Nixon's grand jury testimony about the Watergate scandal that destroyed his presidency is finally coming to light.
Four months after a judge ordered the June 1975 records unsealed, the government's Nixon Presidential Library was making them available online Thursday. Historians hoped that the testimony would form Nixon's most truthful and thorough account of the circumstances that led to his extraordinary resignation 10 months earlier under threat of impeachment.
"This is Nixon unplugged," said historian Stanley Kutler, a principal figure in the lawsuit that pried open the records. Still, he said, "I have no illusions. Richard Nixon knew how to dodge questions with the best of them. I am sure that he danced, skipped, around a number of things."
Nixon was interviewed near his California home for 11 hours over two days, when a pardon granted by his successor, Gerald Ford, protected him from prosecution for any past crimes. Despite that shield, he risked consequences for perjury if he lied under oath.
It was the first time an ex-president had testified before a grand jury and it is rare for any grand jury testimony to be made public. Historians won public access to the transcript over the objections of the Obama administration, which argued in part that too many officials from that era are still alive for secret testimony involving them to be made public.
© The Washington Post
Four months after a judge ordered the June 1975 records unsealed, the government's Nixon Presidential Library was making them available online Thursday. Historians hoped that the testimony would form Nixon's most truthful and thorough account of the circumstances that led to his extraordinary resignation 10 months earlier under threat of impeachment.
"This is Nixon unplugged," said historian Stanley Kutler, a principal figure in the lawsuit that pried open the records. Still, he said, "I have no illusions. Richard Nixon knew how to dodge questions with the best of them. I am sure that he danced, skipped, around a number of things."
Nixon was interviewed near his California home for 11 hours over two days, when a pardon granted by his successor, Gerald Ford, protected him from prosecution for any past crimes. Despite that shield, he risked consequences for perjury if he lied under oath.
It was the first time an ex-president had testified before a grand jury and it is rare for any grand jury testimony to be made public. Historians won public access to the transcript over the objections of the Obama administration, which argued in part that too many officials from that era are still alive for secret testimony involving them to be made public.
© Associated Press
In this May 4 2005 file photo, Lucas Papademos, former European Central Bank (ECB) Vice President attends a news conference about the results of the ECB-meeting in Berlin.
In this May 4 2005 file photo, Lucas Papademos, former European Central Bank (ECB) Vice President attends a news conference about the results of the ECB-meeting in Berlin.
Athens, Greece - Senior banker Lucas Papademos has been officially named as Greece's new prime minister, after four days of intense talks to form a coalition government.
The interim government aims to approve a new €130 billion ($177 billion) financial aid deal and cement the debt-strapped country's position in the 17-nation eurozone.
The 64-year-old former vice president of the European Central Bank was named Thursday to head a coalition backed by the governing Socialists and the opposition conservatives that is expected to operate until early elections in February.
Papademos will replace outgoing Prime Minister George Papandreou, midway through the Socialists' four-year term.
Comment: We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. - Albert Einstein
© Reuters/Mark Blinch
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, participates in the CNBC Republican presidential debate in Rochester, Michigan, November 9, 2011.
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, participates in the CNBC Republican presidential debate in Rochester, Michigan, November 9, 2011.
An International Atomic Energy Agency report on Tuesday indicated Iran had worked to design nuclear bombs, testing Western powers anew in their standoff with Tehran, which insists it is developing a civilian nuclear program.
Romney, leading some polls of Republican voters in the race to be the party's 2012 presidential nominee, said he would be prepared to work with U.S. allies on a diplomatic solution but would be prepared to act unilaterally if necessary to stop Iran.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum. That is a Latin phrase, but the ayatollahs will have no trouble understanding its meaning from a Romney administration: If you want peace, prepare for war," he wrote in an opinion article for The Wall Street Journal.
He said he would start his presidency by imposing a new round of "far tougher" economic sanctions on Iran "together with the world if we can, unilaterally if we must."
© The Associated Press / Andrew Medichini
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi holds a note he wrote during Democratic party leader Pierluigi Bersani's speech, the note reads: "308, -8 traitors; Government upturn; Vote; Take note; Resignation; Italian President; One solution; Let's move", prior to the start of a voting session at the Lower Chamber, in Rome, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011.
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi holds a note he wrote during Democratic party leader Pierluigi Bersani's speech, the note reads: "308, -8 traitors; Government upturn; Vote; Take note; Resignation; Italian President; One solution; Let's move", prior to the start of a voting session at the Lower Chamber, in Rome, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011.
In another chaotic day driven by the European debt crisis, the Dow Jones industrial average in New York dropped nearly 240 points in morning trading after Italy's borrowing costs soared to a new record high. Traders were troubled by signs that Europe's unending debt crisis was enveloping the eurozone's third-largest economy.
And across the Adriatic Sea, outgoing Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou announced that an agreement had been reached with the opposition to create an interim government to pass the country's new debt deal. Papandreou, who was expected to formally resign with hours, wished the next prime minister well but gave no indication of who it would be.
Berlusconi has pledged to resign after parliament passes the financial reforms that European officials have been demanding for months. The process can take up to two weeks, but President Giorgio Napolitano said that would be accelerated to days, allowing him to quickly begin talks on forming a new government or calling new elections.
"Fears are totally unfounded that Italy may experience a long period of inactivity," Napolitano said, adding that "emergency measures" could be adopted at any time.
Italy's key borrowing rate spiked to a high of 7.40 percent on Wednesday, up 0.82 percentage points from the previous day, as markets expressed concern about how swift and complete the political transition would be. That's over the level that eventually forced other eurozone countries like Greece and Portugal to seek bailouts.
© unknown
Hong Lei
Hong Lei
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news briefing that sanctions were not a "fundamental" answer, but Beijing has used similar words before, when it ultimately voted for United Nations Security Council resolutions imposing sanctions on Iran for its disputed nuclear activities.
Hong warned on Wednesday against turmoil in the Middle East from action over Iran's nuclear program, but declined to comment on the possibility of new sanctions following the U.N. report. Veto-wielder Russia indicated it would block new measures at the U.N. Security Council.
As permanent members of the Council, China and Russia have the power to veto proposed resolutions.
© Unknown
In a letter to Prime Minister Francois Fillon dated October 28, co-signed by the presidents of House International Religious Freedom Caucus, the members of U.S. Congress, express their worries: "We are worried because there is no chance of real justice for these movements (religious minority) and this appears as a direct intervention of the executive power to influence and direct the decisions of judges in criminal cases."
Congressmen also tackle the About Picard law. They recall that in 2002 the Council of Europe demanded that this worrying legislation may be reconsidered, which France never did.
Finally, they expressly demand that the financing by the state of associations as the FECRIS attacking and defaming individuals and communities on the basis of their beliefs and practices, often in coordination with Miviludes be stopped.
© Unknown
"China's No. 1 target is the US, next is India," he told a group of select CEOs at a late dinner meet on Tuesday. Bush, the two-term president whose reign saw a dramatic improvement in Indo-US relations, also said his country's patience with Pakistan was wearing thin, according to one of the participants.
"If the US had not befriended Pak, Pak would have become more dangerous. But now US patience is wearing off," he said. In the course of a free-wheeling discussion, Bush also touched upon a number of important topics. He cautioned businessmen never to do business with Russia and said the EU would have a completely different look in five years but the euro would stay.
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Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Ahmadinejad also strongly chided the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, saying it is discrediting itself by siding with "absurd" U.S. accusations.
"This nation won't retreat one iota from the path it is going," Ahmadinejad told thousands of people in Shahr-e-Kord in central Iran. "Why are you ruining the prestige of the (U.N. nuclear) agency for absurd U.S. claims?"
The 13-page annex to the IAEA's report released Tuesday included claims that while some of Iran's activities have civilian as well as military applications, others are "specific to nuclear weapons."
Among these were indications that Iran has conducted high explosives testing and detonator development to set off a nuclear charge, as well as computer modeling of a core of a nuclear warhead. The report also cited preparatory work for a nuclear weapons test, and development of a nuclear payload for Iran's Shahab 3 intermediate-range missile - a weapon that can reach Israel.
© ISNA
The International Atomic Energy Agency document also said Iran had continued to stockpile low-enriched uranium (LEU) and one prominent U.S. think-tank said it had enough of the material for four nuclear weapons if it refines it further.
The information that Iran last month moved a "large cylinder" with LEU to the Fordow subterranean site was included in the U.N. body's most comprehensive report yet pointing to military aspects of Tehran's nuclear program.
The main finding in the IAEA report, which was leaked on Tuesday, was that Iran appeared to have worked on designing a nuclear warhead and that secret weapons-relevant research may continue.
Comment: Be sure to check out Joe Quinn's article Bin Laden Is Dead... Long Live Bin Laden!