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INFO
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PARLIAMENT TO DISCUSS DRAFT
CHANGES
ON VAT LAW
Macedonian Parliament Thursday at its 69th session is to discuss the draft
law on passing the changes and supplements to the VAT Law.
The law foresees favourable tax rate of 5% for medicaments and medical
appliances, computers and transportation of persons.
Members of the Parliament today are expected to start the debate on changes
of the Electoral Code proposed by the Government which foresees increase of
the number of seats of the members of the parliament from the current 120 to
133 by providing guaranteed mandates of smaller ethnic communities and three
for the diaspora.
The authority justifies the changes with the need of more active inclusion
of smaller ethnic communities and emigrants in democratic and political
process in the Republic of Macedonia.
The opposition comments that the Electoral Code is changed without broad
political consensus and that the opposition was not consulted for the
changes and the government is trying to make early election forgery. DUI has
submitted 4.1000 amendments and SDSM announced to boycott the session of
Electoral Code.
In the frameworks of the 69th session also proposals for changes and
supplements to the Law on Tobacco and Tobacco Products, Law on Sport,
proposal on passing the Law on Forest and Hunting Inspection, proposal on
passing the Law on Changes of Law on Education Inspection and proposal on
passing the law on changes of the Law on Rights of the President of the
Republic of Macedonia and his family after termination of the position.
GJORGJI JOLEVSKI
WINS AWARD "RISTO SISKOV"
Gjorgji Jolevski has been proclaimed best actor at this year's 15th
international festival of chamber theatre "Risto Siskov" for his role in
performance "Delirium for Two" by Eugene Ionesco, directed by Dejan
Projkovski, produced by Skopje's Macedonian National Theatre.
The jury, comprised of last year's laureate Dejan Lilic, Vanco Melev and
Petros Panamas from Greece passed the unanimous decision on Wednesday, later
confirmed by the festival Steering Board.
The festival, held in Strumica in the past five days, included 12 chamber
plays, while 40 domestic and foreign actors competed for the main festival
award.
In honor of the laureate, Bitola ensemble "Foltin" held a concert of theatre
and film music in center of culture "Anton Panov", along with an evening
dedicated to renowned Belgrade actress Rada Gjuricin, who interpreted texts
and verses by Desanka Maksimovic, Momo Kapor, Dusko Radovic etc.
NEW REPORT'S
PROGNOSIS FOR THE WORLD
Despite the rosy picture of "progress" that U.S. Army General David Petraeus
and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker offered Congress this week as part
of the Bush gang's war-promoting propaganda campaign, it's the United States
and the West, collectively, that appears to be getting kicked - hard - in
many different places. So notes the rather disheartening and alarming
"Strategic Survey 2007," a just-released report about the state of world
affairs compiled by the International Institute for Strategic Studies
(IISS), a London-based think tank.
At a press conference at which IISS representatives presented their report,
which covers the period from late 2006 until the present, Nigel Inkster, the
research outfit's director of transnational threats and political risk, was
asked "whether Al-Qaeda had the capacity now to carry out a 9/11-style
attack and whether it was stronger than in [2001]." Inkster, a former
director of MI6, the British-government, intelligence-gathering agency,
replied tersely: "Both."
The new IISS report notes that, this year, the U.S. has "suffered a loss of
international authority as a result of the failure to impose order in Iraq."
As a result, countries like Iran have "flexed their muscles regionally[,]
more confident in their relative power, while radical groups [have] sought
to discredit the leaders of those countries who maintained solid relations
with the U.S." "Strategic Survey 2207" argues that the "core" of the
Al-Qaeda organization "is proving adaptable and resilient, and has retained
the ability to plan and coordinate large-scale attacks in the Western
world....Plots that have come to light in Europe and elsewhere point to a
growing trend of Islamic radicalization. The long-term challenge is to
confront the extremist ideology which gives rise to terrorism and which
Al-Qaeda has shown great skill...in propagating....Overall, what is referred
to as the 'single narrative' that sees Muslims as victims of non-Muslim
aggression, needs to be addressed, both in the Islamic world and
elsewhere...."
On Iraq, a summary of the report says: "The government headed by Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki was supposed to be one of national unity. However,
two key Shia parties and more importantly the main Sunni political block
left the government after disagreements with the prime minister....Maliki's
constitutional and political weakness lies at the heart of this problem.
[He] does not have a great deal of power to impose his will on a fractious
cabinet. [He] is only the deputy leader of a comparatively small Shia party
with no militia....Until Maliki manages to accrue more power in the office
of the prime minister he will be unable to control let alone remove
sectarian actors scattered throughout his government." Meanwhile, the Bush
gang appears to have given up on al-Maliki.
On Afghanistan, which has seen a "massive increase in opium poppy
cultivation," the think tank finds that, today, almost 30 percent "of the
country's [gross domestic producty] comes from the illicit drugs trade[,]
which provides 92% of the world heroin supply." Afghan President Hamid
Karzai "recognizes the need to bring illegal cultivation of poppy to an end
but...sees the problem as being long-term and is against short-term measures
such as crop spraying, which have unknown consequences and may play into the
hands of the Taliban."
On Iran, which, in the near future, "may be able to produce enough highly
enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon," the IISS report notes: "By our
calculation, 2009 or 2010 remains the worst-case prediction....[I]t is
evident that the U.S. is trying to hedge against diplomatic failure by
trying to build the conditions for containment of Iran. Major arms transfers
to the region have been proposed, but the question remains what strategic
posture the [Gulf Cooperation Council] states feel able publicly to adopt
towards Iran. Most...would be alarmed by a nuclear Iran...but equally
concerned by the consequences to them[selves] of any military strike to
preempt that capacity. The twin worries...about a nuclear Iran and a
preemptive U.S strike capture accurately the...dilemma to which many
[Persian] Gulf leaders are hostage: Iran is their permanent, but potentially
hegemonic neighbor[,] and the U.S. an unpopular but necessary ally."
The big picture, looking ahead: "China is too strong to be seen as just a
developing nation, though still too weak...to shape its regional environment
alone. The U.S. is too strong to stay on the sidelines of global events, but
too weak to implement an agenda that it has set without wide agreement.
Russia has accumulated great economic power at the state level but wields it
in a way that weakens its reputation and causes distrust. Europe has
reputation and economic strength but limited strategic vision and
ever-declining military power to support it....In 2008, managing nuclear
proliferation and terrorism will remain the priorities. But the unsettled
relations, rivalries and shifting strengths of the powers that see
themselves as custodians of the state system will make the necessary
coordination of approaches to these threats immensely hard." |
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NEWS
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FM MILOSOSKI AT SEECP FOREIGN
MINISTERS' MEETING IN BULGARIA
Macedonian FM Antonio Milososki Thursday and Friday will participate at the
informal meeting of foreign ministers of the South East Europe Cooperation
Process (SEECP) member countries in Sofia and Plovdiv.
Foreign Ministers of Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Albania,
Moldova and Turkey will participate as well as officials of Serbia,
Montenegro and Greece.
The meeting will focus on possibilities for improvement of future regional
cooperation as a step towards the Euro-Atlantic integration of the countries
from the region especially after the process of transformation of the
Stability Pact into the Regional Cooperation Council i.e. functional
structure and budget of the newly established Secretariat of the Council.
Opinions will also be exchanged on current situations in the region as well
as the possibilities on economic and other types of co-operation between the
SEECP member countries.
An agreement between the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina as
host country, and governments of SEECP member countries for establishment of
the Secretariat of the Regional Cooperation Council in Sarajevo will be
signed.
The South-East European Cooperation Process is a non-institutionalized
regional co-operation structure. It was created in 1996, when Bulgaria
organized a meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs, to lay the
foundation of a new co-operation forum, following the birth of new countries
in the Balkans.
The main commitment of the Process is to promote and strengthen good
neighborly relations among the SEE countries in order to transform the
region into an area of peace, security, stability and cooperation. In
addition, the Process aims to create a Southeastern Europe whose future is
based on peace, democracy and economic prosperity as well as the full
integration of the region into the European and Euro-Atlantic structures. |
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