Alina Mungiu Pippidi, sume URIAŞE încasate din finanţări. Câţi bani toacă şmecherii de ONG

http://www.evz.ro/si-academicii-iau-milioane-de-dolari-nu-i-asa.html

Ce sume ar fi primit Pippidi, potrivit roncea.ro:

• “Fondurile norvegiene primite de SAR pentru proiectul finanţat în cadrul Fondului ONG prin Mecanismul Financiar al Spațiului Economic European 2009-2014 în valoare totală de 236.875 euro din care 84,8% reprezintă finanțare nerambursabilă, pe perioada 1 aprilie 2014 – 31 martie 2016, respectiv “Romania curata“, site unde, subliniez, ni se scrie că toată lumea lucrează pe bază de “voluntariat”. Şi-atunci pe ce se duc cei 236.875 euro (118.437,5 euro pe an)?”

• Finanțări încasate de la CEE Trust, ONG controlat de Soros: Martie 2007 ‐ Februarie 2008 (1 an) 40,300 USD (pentru “Coaliţia pentru un Parlament curat“); Aprilie 2008 ‐ Mai 2009 (1 an) 95,500 USD (pentru “Coaliţia pentru Universităţi curate“); Iunie 2009 ‐ Iulie 2010 (1 an) 93,500 USD (tot pentru “Universităţi curate“); Septembrie 2010 ‐ Aprilie 2012 (1 an si 7 luni) 120,000 USD (pentru “România curată“). Un Total oarecare de 349,300 USD”.

• Suma totală primită din finanțări în ultimii ani se ridică la 3,136,026 USD.

De ce iubim americanii

http://www.romaniacurata.ro/de-ce-iubim-americanii/

De ce iubim americanii

de Alina Mungiu-Pippidi

Care e deosebirea dintre trenul de mare viteză Thalys Amsterdam-Paris, la bordul căruia vinerea trecută s-a urcat un atentator cu un Kalaşnikov (cum a trecut prin detectorul de metale, vom afla) şi zborul 93 al United Airlines, deturnat pe 11 septembrie 2001? De destin: primul a scăpat din incident fără nici un mort, cu doar doi răniţi. Cel de ai doilea s-a prăbuşit cu 44 de pasageri, echipajul şi cei patru terorişti la bord lângă Lacul Indian, în  Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Dar asemănarea e ce ar trebui să ne intereseze. Sunt singurele două cazuri de tentativă de deturnare în care pasagerii au acţionat, au luat situaţia în propriile lor mâini.

Zborul 93 a fost mai special. Teroriştii au acţionat cu circa un sfert de oră mai târziu decât în celelalte zboruri atacate ceea ce a făcut ca pilotul să primească un avertisment de la controlul aerian asupra riscului ca în cabină să pătrundă nişte intruşi. Vreo doi pasageri erau pe telefon – în zborurile americane, spre deosebire de cele europene, e demult permis – şi au aflat ce vedeau rudele lor la televizor, că două avioane deja se loviseră de turnuri. Primul om care a acţionat eroic a fost un pasager de la clasa business, care a fost înjunghiat – teroriştii nu aveau mitraliere, doar cuţite de hârtie. Pe urmă pilotul, care nu avea cum baricada uşa, dar a transferat către turn toate comunicaţiile din cabină şi a pus pilotul automat în altă direcţie. A fost doborât şi el. Dar cum atentatorii erau puţini, ei au ameninţat cu bomba şi s-au retras în cabină. În spate, pasagerii au discutat, şi-au luat rămas bun de la familii, şi au şi votat, după o scurtă deliberare, un curs de acţiune. Au luat, ca atare, cabina cu asalt. O stewardesă pregătise apă clocotită să arunce pe atentatori. Avionul s-a prăbuşit cu ei toţi, fără să mai ajungă la ţinta sa, Capitoliul, sediul Congresului (Parlamentul) american.

Trenul Thalys de Paris a avut şi el câţiva oameni care au acţionat. În mod miraculos, în tren se aflau trei americani, unul din Air Force (în timpul lui liber), al doilea din Garda Naţională (abia venise din Afganistan în liniştita Europa pentru vacanţă) şi al treilea un californian, amicul lor. Ei sunt cei care au sărit primii pe teroristul cu Kalaşnikov, urmaţi de un specialist în IT, englez de vîrstă mijlocie, un fel de inspector Barnaby ca înfăţişare, care, când a văzut magaziile cu cartuşe şi-a spus că mai bine mori făcând ceva- teroristul avea gloanţe destule ca să omoare tot trenul  şi a sărit după el. A ajuns al patrulea. Arma automată se pare că se blocase, aşa că s-au ales doar cu tăieturi. De asta e şi un pic de destin la mijloc.

Dar altfel nu poţi să nu te întrebi ce fel de cultură e asta, anglo-saxonă, care creează asemenea oameni, atunci când în ţările noastre, dacă un hoţ agresează o bătrână în autobuz, lumea nu ştie cum să se uite în altă parte? Şi nu e o întâmplare. Acum cîţiva ani mă duceam să văd casa lui Thomas Jefferson, unul din părinţii Constituţiei Americane, foarte admirat de mine, la Monticello, în Virginia. Am împrumutat o Toyota veche de la un prieten şi un cauciuc mi-a explodat pe autostradă. Printr-o minune am ţinut maşina dreaptă şi am tras pe banda de urgenţă – cred însă că zgomotul se auzise până la Capitoliu, iar balansul de toţi cei din spate. Maşina din spatele meu a tras după mine şi şoferul ei, un băiat de vreo 30 de ani, a venit să vadă dacă sunt bine. A sfârşit prin a-mi schimba roata (nici nu ştiam unde e rezerva, şi ce noroc că maşinile vechi încă aveau aşa ceva), a refuzat douăzeci de dolari, ca şi strângerea de mână, că se murdărise, mi-a spus doar că el era un US Marine în ziua lui liberă şi că se bucură că mi-a putut fi de folos. Nu fusese niciodată la Monticello, şi nici nu avea de gând. Îl ştia din pozele din abecedar.

Fericite culturile care au internalizat asemenea valori, curajul, solidaritatea, integritatea, demnitatea, iniţiativa, transmise de antrenorul de sport, de părinţi şi de comunitate fără să fie nevoie de ore de educaţie morală, de educaţie religioasă, de educaţie civică, şi de vizite la muzee (deşi merită). Care se impregnează de la cei din jur şi radiază pentru oricine trece pe acolo, un vecin de autostradă, de exemplu. Că în tren mai erau şi alţi oameni : francezi reclamagii, de exemplu, care au protestat că personalul nu a fost la înălţime, că te poţi tăia când spargi geamul de la alarmă, şi, în general, că de aia plăteşti impozite, să fii apărat de organele statului.

Aşa e. Decât că, până ajungeau organele statului, puteau fi toţi morţi. De asta culturile individualiste sunt măcar de respectat, dacă nu le putem emula.

Romanian city offers free rides to people reading on the bus

Uite ca se poate, mama voastra de pesimisti …

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/romanian-city-offers-free-rides-to-people-reading-on-the-bus-10463497.html

The project was part of a series of events to celebrate Cluj-Napoca winning the title of European Youth Capital 2015.

Other initiatives to celebrate the event and promote reading in the city included using the city’s buses and trams to display inspiring quotes from classic and contemporary authors, giving out bookmarks to the general public and a weekly book club which ran throughout June in the Cluj-Napoca’s botanical garden.

Ca adevar graieste Radu Alexandru ….

Tare

http://www.catavencii.ro/casa-regala-fictiva-a-roma%CC%82niei-s%CC%A6i-a-pierdut-mos%CC%A6tenitorul-imaginar/

am sa copy/paste articolul din Catavencii pentru posteritate

Vreau întâi să lămuresc o treabă. Spre deosebire de regele Mihai, eu chiar sînt un rege pe bune. La mine în garsonieră m-am autodeclarat monarh suprem cu putere absolută, decizie aplaudată și aprobată în unanimitate de către toți locuitorii garsonierei mele, adică tot eu. Regatul meu e concret și titlul meu chiar îmi dă atribuții regale pe tot întreg teritoriul garsonierei. Am și un tron pe care îl folosesc constant, cu precădere dimineața. Titlul regelui Mihai nu înseamnă nimic. Pentru că, spre deosebire de garsoniera mea, România nu e monarhie. Sigur, însemna ceva pe vremuri. Dar și Iliescu putea să mențină o erecție pe vremuri. Acele vremuri au trecut, nu se vor mai întoarce niciodată și e penibil să ne prefacem că Mihai e rege a ceva. Sau că Iliescu poate avea o erecție. Însă incontestabil eu sînt rege la mine în garsonieră, pînă cînd o să locuiască altcineva acolo. Și atunci, pe cuvîntul meu că n-o să mă mai prefac că-s în continuare rege și că aștept ca garsoniera să mă ceară înapoi.

Știu, mulți hipsteri pseudointelectuali din categoria „Liviu Mihaiu” tot trîmbițează că monarhia e o idee cool, nu doar o bășină învechită al cărei miros deja s-a dispersat în aproape tot restul lumii. Genul de oameni care ascultă muzică la patefon în loc să pună un mp3. Nu că s-ar auzi mai bine, dar arată mai interesant să o arzi retro cînd n-ai idei sau personalitate cu care poți impresiona lumea. Hai să rîdem de ei și să-i arătăm cu degetul, că nu sîntem puțe de liceu, să umectăm la idei care sună diferit doar ca să sune diferit.

Săptămîna trecută, regele imaginar și-a scos nepotul, pe principele Nicolae, din linia pentru succesiunea tronului imaginar. Și ziarele au scris despre asta, ca și cum ar fi o chestie pe bune, care înseamnă ceva. Dar oare linia de succesiune a tronului Narniei cum mai este? Dar în Middle Earth? Acolo sînt foarte multe regate, din cîte am înțeles eu din filme. La fel de reale ca și ăsta de la noi. Despre ăia de ce nu se scriu știri?

Cel mai amuzant e că PNȚCD, un partid la fel de nesemnificativ ca și monarhia românească, a depus o petiție pentru reinstaurarea principelui imaginar, ca să nu rămînă dezamăgiți românii cu imaginație bogată. De parcă n-au cum să și-o ocupe cu unicorni și cu secretele dacilor.

The forgotten army of the first world war. How Chinese labourers helped shape Europe

Today a bit of history, well buried by our historians.

From National Interest Magazine

http://multimedia.scmp.com/ww1-china/

During World War I, Britain and France suffered such appalling casualties that the ability to prosecute the fight against the Axis powers seemed at risk. Desperate for the manpower to stay in the war, the Allies asked China, among other countries, for help. Although consumed by its own debilitating woes, a China frustrated by years of foreign occupation saw an opportunity to liberate the Shandong Peninsula in eastern China from German colonizers. In 1917, China declared war on Germany and offered its one formidable asset—human labor—to serve the Allied cause. More than 175,000 Chinese laborers (among them a young Deng Xiaoping) served in the Chinese Labor Corps throughout the Western front and other theaters. The laborers loaded ships, dug trenches, repaired bridges, manufactured munitions and did many other back-breaking jobs. More than 10,000 men died in service, and once the war ended, the laborers were unceremoniously packed up and sent home.

Hope that grateful Allied powers would reward China’s contributions by granting recovery of Shandong Province—a German possession subsequently seized by Allied co-belligerent Japan in 1914—turned to bitter disappointment at Versailles. The Allied powers dismissed China’s petition and instead awarded the former German possession to Japan, a powerful ally of the leading world power of its day, Great Britain. The crushing failure at Versailles in 1919 ignited a nationalist outcry that convulsed the nation and gave birth to the transformative May Fourth political movement. The traumatic upheaval also accelerated the country’s breakdown, leading to decades of civil war, chaos and, eventually, the founding of the People’s Republic of China under the dictatorship of the Chinese Communist Party.

Poster of a now lost film on the British Chinese Labour Corps. Photo: Paramount Pictures

Nightcrawler film

Chiar am vazut filmul.  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2872718/

Cred ca are un simbure de adevar in prezentarea a cel putin doua realitati:

1. Media. descrie realitatea buletinelor de stiri basate pe senzationalul definit subiecte tari zugravite de singe, moarte, victime… Imi aminteste de ala care relata din furtuna in spatele camerei avind unul cu ventilatorul si alalalt cu furtunu de apa. Filmarile din orientul mijlociu in care le punea pe ala sa se tinguie zu zbierate la comanda in schimb ce barbatusii se impingeau si miscau cadavrele prin aer. Faza cu muscatul cadavrului in lumina farurilor (ca sa iese imaginea) si paroxismul din horror house cu creatul de subiecte au fost tari. Muritul exective VP a fost special.

2. Succesul formei fara fond. Personajul central e un produs internet, fara studii si incadrare educationala. Constructia frazelor si vocabularul utilzat sint o facatura construita pe articole si carti de success perpetual, leadership, minat pe obiective, strategii, executive vice presedinti la 30 de dolari cash pe noapte… Bulverseaza femeia director cu zeci de ani vechime, prosteste militia…

 

Nota. Militia e cu noi.

Why Russia Celebrates V-E Day on a Different Day Than Everyone Else

Seventy years ago today, Germany’s surrender to the Allies took effect, marking the formal end of World War II in Europe.

Or did it?

Americans, Brits, and the French mark the date of the Allied Victory in Europe (V-E Day) on May 8; Russians celebrate the occasion on May 9. It’s not just a time-zone difference, but a tale of two cities, two documents, a few missing sentences, and about 75 minutes.
On May 7, General Alfred Jodl, the chief of staff to the German army, arrived in Reims, France with Doenitz’s authorization to surrender. Kiley’s father, Staff Sergeant Charles Kiley, was in the room as a reporter for Stars and Stripes when the German general signed the document. “The surrender was signed in five minutes in the war room at Supreme Headquarters here, 55 miles east of Compiegne Forest where Germany surrendered to the Allies in the last war, November 11, 1918, and the scene of the capitulation of France to the Third Reich in this war June 21, 1940,” Charles Kiley wrote. The surrender was intended to take effect the following day, May 8, 1945, at 11:01 p.m. Central European Time.

But the signature of Jodl, a relatively low-ranking general, was not enough—especially not for the Soviet Union, which had suffered by far the most casualties among the Allies fighting the Germans. The reason had to do with the last time Germany surrendered, 55 miles to the west, in 1918. The surrender had been signed by a civilian politician who opposed the war and not by Germany’s top military commander. Hitler and his allies later claimed this meant that German forces hadn’t really lost, but had been “stabbed in the back” by their political opponents. Determined to avoid this outcome after World War II, the Soviets insisted that the head of Germany’s Armed Forces High Command, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, surrender personally to Joseph Stalin’s representative in Berlin.  

Washington, meanwhile, is celebrating V-E Day in its own way on May 8—with its airspace full of World War II-era jets conducting an anniversary flyover. But the bureaucratic confusion over Germany’s surrender 70 years ago makes that date rather misleading. As Deutsche Welle pointed out, “Nothing really happened on May 8, 1945.”

from : http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/05/ve-day-anniversary-world-war-II/392768/

Thank you Mr Kompass. And, shame on you, UN bureaucrats, shame on you.

A senior United Nations aid worker has been suspended for disclosing to prosecutors an internal report on the sexual abuse of children by French peacekeeping troops in the Central African Republic. Sources close to the case said Anders Kompass passed the document to the French authorities because of the UN’s failure to take action to stop the abuse. The report documented the sexual exploitation of children as young as nine by French troops stationed in the country as part of international peacekeeping efforts.Kompass, who is based in Geneva, was suspended from his post as director of field operations last week and accused of leaking a confidential UN report and breaching protocols. He is under investigation by the UN office for internal oversight service (OIOS) amid warnings from a senior official that access to his case must be “severely restricted”. He faces dismissal. Entitled Sexual Abuse on Children by International Armed Forces and stamped “confidential” on every page, the report details the rape and sodomy of starving and homeless young boys by French peacekeeping troops who were supposed to be protecting them at a center for internally displaced people in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/29/un-aid-worker-suspended-leaking-report-child-abuse-french-troops-car

The boys, some of whom were orphans, disclosed sexual exploitation, including rape and sodomy, between December 2013 and June 2014 by French troops at a centre for internally displaced people at M’Poko airport in Bangui.

The children described how they were sexually exploited in return for food and money. One 11-year-old boy said he was abused when he went out looking for food. A nine-year-old described being sexually abused with his friend by two French soldiers at the IDP camp when they went to a checkpoint to look for something to eat.

The child described how the soldiers forced him and his friend to carry out a sex act. The report describes how distressed the child was when disclosing the abuse and how he fled the camp in terror after the assault. Some of the children were able to give good descriptions of the soldiers involved.

Cand legile nu sunt facute de bogati pentru bogati se poate intampla asta!

“Reima Kuisla, a Finnish businessman, was recently caught going 65 miles per hour in a 50 zone in his home country—an offense that would typically come with a fine of a couple hundred dollars, at most, in the U.S. But after Finnish police pulled Kuisla over, they pinged a federal taxpayer database to determine his income, consulted their handbook, and arrived at the amount that he was required to pay: €54,000.

The fine was so extreme because in Finland, some traffic fines, as well as fines for shoplifting and violating securities-exchange laws, are assessed based on earnings—and Kuisla’s declared income was €6.5 million per year. Exorbitant fines like this are infrequent, but not unheard of: In 2002, a Nokia executive was fined the equivalent of $103,000 for going 45 in a 30 zone on his motorcycle, and the NHL player Teemu Selanne incurred a $39,000 fine two years earlier.

“This is no constitutionally governed state,” one Finn who was fined nearly $50,000 moaned to The Wall Street Journal, “This is a land of rhinos!” Outrage among the rich—especially nonsensical, safari-invoking outrage—might be a sign that something fair is at work.”

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/03/finland-home-of-the-103000-speeding-ticket/387484/

Supermeseriasul a cazut in dizgratie?

Greece reshuffles talks team to appease creditors
The Greek government has changed up its team of officials responsible for handling crucial debt talks with international creditors. The move came on the back of unsuccessful negotiations in Riga last week.
Greece’s leftist government on Monday reshuffled its team of officials in charge of handling sensitive debt negotiations with the country’s EU and IMF creditors, lamenting a lack of progress in the past two months.

Athens announced that a political negotiations team would be formed under Deputy Foreign Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, a 55-year-old Oxford-educated economics professor known to be held in high esteem by Greece’s lenders.

Tsakalotos is to assist the troubled talks with the EU and IMF and make sure the 7.2 billion euros ($7.8 billion) in remaining bailout money will eventually be unlocked to protect the eurozone member from bankruptcy.

Sidelined finance minister?

In another move that seemed indicative of Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis’ waning clout, George Chouliarakis will take over responsibility for talks with the Brussels Group of negotiators.

Chouliarakis is to replace a close ally of Varoufakis, Nikos Theocharakis, who has lead technical level talks with the lenders so far.

A third measure designed to alleviate tensions with auditors on the ground will see a new team be set up to support EU and IMF officials regularly in Greece to collect information about Athens’ reform progress.
http://www.dw.de/greece-reshuffles-talks-team-to-appease-creditors/a-18411963

Norway Angers Investors in Pipeline Network

Iata ceva care ne poate afecta direct, la pensie http://www.wsj.com/articles/norway-angers-investors-in-pipeline-network-1429560142 Norway Angers Investors in Pipeline Network Government is changing rates Gassled can charge to ship North Sea natural gas In 2011, Canada’s largest pension fund plowed about $760 million into a state-controlled Norwegian pipeline network, citing the country’s transparent regulatory environment and expecting the project to deliver stable returns for a long time. One risk the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board didn’t see coming was that the government of Norway, which prides itself on being one of the world’s safest corners for investors, would slash the rates the pipeline can charge for carrying natural gas. The fund, along with another Canadian pension plan and some of the world’s largest institutional investors, is now suing the Norwegian government, whose action will cut the amount of revenue they are paid. The investors say they may only get half of the return they had expected, leading to multibillion-dollar losses. The plaintiffs haven’t said what damages they are seeking. “Sophisticated, long-term infrastructure investors have seriously recalibrated their assessment of Norway,” said Mark Wiseman, chief executive of CPPIB, in a letter last year to the Norwegian finance ministry.

A trial in the lawsuit starts April 27 in Oslo. The investors suing Norway all declined to comment, as did Gassco AS, the company that runs the pipeline network. The government declined to comment on the lawsuit; a spokesman said petroleum-related policy must benefit Norwegian society as a whole. “In Europe, litigation relating to an infrastructure project is extremely unusual. The fact that there is very little political risk for investors in Europe is partly what makes infrastructure projects attractive, so it’s not in Europe’s interest to find itself with such a case,” said Ian Andrews, a partner at Linklaters, a London law firm. Such changes are rare in Europe, but not unprecedented. The Spanish government, amid a painful budget crisis, has repeatedly slashed subsidies to solar-energy projects, effective retroactively, to the chagrin of investors who funded their development. At the crux of the dispute is Gassled, a 5,000-mile network of pipelines that stretches across the North Sea, linking oil and gas fields off Norway’s coast to terminals around Europe. It carries about one-fifth of the European Union’s daily natural gas supplies. One of Gassled’s main hubs for processing gas is the Kollsnes plant, on a small island on the west coast—an hour outside of Bergen, Norway’s mountainous second city. Kollsnes handles up to 143 million cubic meters of gas daily that is extracted from three fields and piped through four subsea lines before coming ashore at ports in seven European countries. The network was built up over many years starting in the 1970s. Ownership was, consolidated in 2003 under a single entity, known as Gassled, which is operated by Gassco, a state-owned company. Over the years, major international investors including the Swiss bank UBS AG and France’s Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, a state-owned financial institution, bought stakes in Gassled. The largest deal came in 2011, when Statoil AS A, Norway’s state-controlled oil and gas giant, sold a roughly 24% stake to a group comprising CPPIB, Germany’s Allianz Capital Partners GmbH and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign-wealth fund, for about $2.5 billion. The state now owns 46% of Gassled, and Statoil owns another 5%. Once built, pipelines are seen as a relatively safe investment. The tariffs energy companies pay to transport natural gas are usually fixed for many years, regardless of whether gas prices rise or fall. The predictable returns make them especially attractive for long-term investors like pension funds and insurers. But in January 2013, the Norwegian government unexpectedly announced a public hearing on plans to cut the rates that Gassled can charge by 90%. The government’s rationale: Cheaper transport costs would encourage more offshore exploration and development. Norway’s economy depends heavily on oil and gas, but many of its existing fields are running out. The investors were blindsided. “It is inconceivable that the Ministry did not communicate that a fundamental change…was under consideration,” some of the investors who are suing said in a letter in March 2013. They complained that the cut would cost them 40 billion kroner in lost revenues, or $5.1 billion, and would halve their expected return. In June that year, the government decided to cut the tariffs. The charge to ship a cubic meter of gas from the fields to the U.K. or the continent will fall from 0.0982 kroner (0.0123 cents) currently, to 0.0098 kroner, starting on Oct. 1, 2016. In court papers filed April 13, investors said the change in tariff is unlawful and infringes their property rights. They said that under “agreed and crucial assumptions” made during negotiations, tariffs should have been fixed until at least 2028. Statoil, which ships gas through the pipeline network, stands to gain substantially from the decision. It has a 5% stake in Gassled, but its interests in gas shipment are much larger. A spokesman said Statoil is “both owner and customer in Gassled, with an emphasis on the customer role.” He declined to comment on the case. In a court filing, the Norwegian government conceded that if the tariffs hadn’t been changed, revenue for the investors would have been higher. For investors, “this makes a difference,” the government said, but argued that it is obligated to manage its petroleum resources so that all of Norwegian society benefits. “Buyers always have this risk that their tariff might be regulated,” said Ernst Nordveit, a professor of energy and resource-management law at the University of Bergen. “I find it hard to see how the investors could win this case.” Other observers anticipate damage to Norway’s reputation as an investment partner. “This is an example of something that shouldn’t happen in the developed world,” said Alex Wong, head of infrastructure industries at the World Economic Forum. “If you are investor, that’s a black mark on the record.” Investors in European infrastructure are paying close attention. “This case will reduce the willingness of investors to work with the Norwegian government in the future,” said Giles Frost, chief executive of Amber Infrastructure Group, a London-based investment company. “It’s like baseball. That’s Norway’s first strike. But the difference is that you can’t really afford more than one.”

McCarthyism Canadian style

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s decision to cancel performances by a Ukrainian-born pianist over what it calls her “deeply offensive language” is part of a troubling phenomenon that could lead artists to self-censor, civil rights advocates said Tuesday.
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra has decided to act as a kind of ideological police, eh? What’s next? From now on will visiting artists be subjected to an interrogation and an ideology test before being allowed to perform? What a shame! What is happening to Canada?!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/tso-drops-ukrainian-pianist-valentina-lisitsa-over-offensive-comments-1.3022999

We can’t have a Ukrainian who is anti-Kiev-Junta, and a celebrity playing “Rachmaninoff (who is Russian) Piano Concerto No. 2” in Toronto

Let’s see CANADA. CONSTITUTION ACT, 1982

2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;

It is still in force ?

IMF admits: we failed to realize the damage austerity would do to Greece

The International Monetary Fund admitted it had failed to realize the damage austerity would do to Greece as the Washington-based organization cataloged mistakes made during the bailout of the stricken euro zone country.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/jun/05/imf-underestimated-damage-austerity-would-do-to-greece?CMP=share_btn_tw

IMF admitted the price for country’s bailout package was too high