Faced with the complete collapse of its financial system, the Icelandic government has accepted a US$6 billion bailout package, which would include more than $1 billion input from the International Monetary Fund.
Tim Dobson
On October 15, the United States and Iraqi governments agreed on a draft security pact, which could result in US troops being withdraw from Iraqi cities by the middle of 2009 and from Iraq entirely by 2011.
Britain’s most senior military commander in Afghanistan, Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, told the British media about the US/NATO occupation of Afghanistan that “We are not going to win this war”.
The surge has succeeded in ways that nobody anticipated, US Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama told Fox News on September 4. Obamas claim echoed Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain. Both candidates claim that the surge, which involved sending more than 20,000 extra US troops into Iraq, has reduced violence and stabilised Iraq, rescuing the occupation from the indigenous resistance.
On September 17, the Thai parliament elected a candidate from the Peoples Power Party (PPP), Somchai Wongsawat, to be the next prime minister.
On September 2, Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej declared a state of emergency in response to the political crisis brought about by ongoing demonstrations and government buildings organised by the Peoples Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which has called on Sundaravej to resign.
Under pressure from Iraqis opposed to the ongoing occupation of their country, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamil al Maliki released a statement on August 25 calling for the complete withdrawal of all foreign forces from Iraq by 2011.
New laws were passed through the French Senate on July 23, which will see the virtual dismantling of the law that limits the working week for employees to 35 hours, which was introduced by the Socialist Party (SP) government in 1998.
“Enough of these fools who shut factories and shut schools!” was a chant of thousands of student protesters as they marched on May 18 against the neoliberal education reforms in France. The conservative government of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s restructure of the education system will mean 11,200 teachers will lose their jobs as well as the cutting of “optional” subjects, such as foreign languages and art.
“Australia’s Homeless Youth”, a report by the National Youth Commission, reveals the reality behind reports of Australia’s economic prosperity.
Resistance stands in solidarity with the Pakistani people fighting for democracy and the removal of the Musharraf regime. Thousands of people have defied the ban on demonstrations to protest against emergency rule and the dictatorial regime.
The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting will be held in Sydney in September. Twenty-one nations are represented, from both the First and Third Worlds. It describes itself as the “premier forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region”. In reality, it works to ensure that the Third World nations attending further open their markets. This makes it easier for multinational corporations, along with First World nations, to strip the poorer countries’ natural resources with no regard for the environment and to further exploit their work forces.
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