THE HANDSTAND

OCTOBER 2005

EUropean news

Mr Barroso, Tony Blairs good friend, has had the audacity to take his power beyond the principle:Large deregulation campaign , Barroso says

14.09.2005 - 09:44 CET| By Marit Ruuda

In a significant move towards deregulation, commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has said he intends to scrap more than 60 of the Commission's draft laws.

Some of the legislation produced by the Commission's officials is "absurd", Mr Barroso told the Financial Times. He added that the EU's tendency to over-regulate had damaged the reputation of the EU among citizens. The commission president along with enterprise commissioner Gunter Verheugen have identified 69 draft laws that should be withdrawn. For example, the draft law that was designed to protect workers against sunlight is one such piece of regulation. Other proposals on food labelling, rules on sales promotions and weekend lorry-bans will also be scrapped, writes the FT.

Next month Mr Barroso is planning to push his idea further, by asking commission officials to start simplifying and scrapping already existing regulations. "The important thing is to change the culture of the organisation", he told the newspaper. But FT Deutschland notes that the Barroso plan is likely to encounter strong resistance from individual commissioners keen to preserve legislation in their policy areas. Mr Barroso said the commission has not stopped legislating where necessary. New regulations on environment, for example, will be one of the priorities for the commission this season.

(And thus were the excellent Irish Country Markets closed down years ago, because, as we see above, deregulation must only be for large corporate business.As....The landmark EU chemicals safety regulation, REACH, will be based on tonnage produced rather than potential exposure, if the UK presidency gets its way. But the bill is set for a turbulent debate before potentially becoming law next year. Article >> http://euobserver.com/?aid=19862&rk=1 JB.editor)


Professor Anthony Coughlan's open letter to the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr.Diarmuid Martin

Ref.Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin's lecture Monday,26th Sept. on "The Future of Europe" at All Hallows College,Grace Park Road, Drumcondra, Dublin.


Below for your information is the text of an "open letter" that has been sent to Archbishop Martin in connection with his lecture by Anthony Coughlan of the National Platform EU Research and Information Centre. The Archbishop's lecture was a prelude to a major all-day conference on the EU in Dublin's Croke Park Stadium addressed by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Peter Sutherland, Alan Dukes, David Begg, Dr Brigid Laffan and others.

This ludicrously one-sided event is being financed by the EU Commission, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and the Jesuit Order. Its purpose is to generate support in Ireland for the moribund EU Constitution that was rejected by the voters of France and the Netherlands this summer.


The EU Commission has been allocated some 200 million euros to encourage ratification of the "Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe", in which it is a hugely self-interested party; for this Treaty-cum-Constitution would greatly increase the Commission's own power and perquisites if it were ratified. The political intent of Tuesday's conference is indicated in its invitation brochure, which states that it is to consider, inter alia, "Why were the governments forced to DELAY the ratification of the proposed EU Constitution?" (Emphasis added)  Not "suspend", not "terminate", but "delay!   This illustrates the mind-set of the Brussels Commission and the Irish Foreign Affairs Department that are jointly financing Tuesday's conference.


The "open letter" to Archbishop Martin criticises the manner in which the Roman Catholic Hierarchy in Ireland  has allowed itself to be manipulated by a coterie of Europhiles who succeeded in inducing the Irish Bishops to endorse the Treaty of Nice in Ireland's two referendums on that, and who were preparing a similar endorsement of the EU Constitution in the Irish referendum that was planned for this October, on the assumption that the French and Dutch would vote Yes to the Constitution this summer. These EU-related events were almost certainly planned before the French and Dutch referendums, on the assumption that Ireland would now be moving into the final vital period of an early October referendum campaign here. It seems probable that they were originally geared to influencing Catholic voters in that putative referendum.


Relevant questions that occur are the following:

(1) Is it right that Irish taxpayers' money should be used either by the Department of Foreign Affairs or the EU Commission to fund such a one-sided conference panel as Tuesday's, from which all opponents of the EU Constitution have been excluded?;
(2) How has the money to finance Tuesday's conference been divided between the Commission, Iveagh House and the Jesuit Order?;
(3) Are the speakers at Tuesday's  confeence being paid a fee for their efforts, and if so how much?

Below also for your information  is one of the documents that has been sent to Archbishop Martin along with the "open letter"  referred to.   This a list of quotations by senior EU politicians giving their views on European integration over the years. It is hoped that you may find some of these statements illuminating, in particular perhaps the first and last ones. Please pass this material to others you know whom you think may be interested in it.

AN OPEN LETTER TO ARCHBISHOP DIARMUID MARTIN RE HIS LECTURE ON THE EU AT ALL HALLOWS COLLEGE (.emphasis mine, JB,editor)

From:
Anthony Couglan,
THE NATIONAL PLATFORM EU RESEARCH AND INFORMATION CENTRE
24 Crawford Avenue, Dublin 9
Tel.: (01) 8305792

To:
His Grace Most Rev.Dr Diarmuid Martin,
Archbishop of Dublin, Archbishop's House,
Drumcondra Dublin 9

19 September 2005

Dear Archbishop Martin,

I read recently in  the "Irish Catholic" that you will be giving a lecture at All Hallows College on "The Future of Europe: Challenges for Faith and Values" on Monday evening next, 26 September, as the first of two events on "The Future of Europe" being  sponsored by the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice and jointly funded by the European Commission, the Department of Foreign Affairs and  the Irish Jesuit Province.  The second of these events, on Tuesday of next week, is a conference in Croke Park Stadium  to be addressed by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Messrs Peter Sutherland, Alan Dukes, David Begg, Dan O'Brien, David McWilliams, and Dr Brigid Laffan and Mrs Doris Peschke, all of whom are, so far as I know, strong supporters of the proposed EU Constitution

I  was also recently informed - with what truth I do not know - that your colleagues in the Hierarchy  decided some months ago that in the event of this State having a referendum on the "Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe", you alone would  speak publicly  on their behalf on the matter.

Now that the people of France and the Netherlands have rejected this mistitled Treaty-cum-Constitution - which was of course a Constitution for the EU rather than for Europe - we shall not be having a referendum on it here, but there is still likely to be much interest in your lecture next Monday among those who follow these matters.

As you are doubtless aware, the European Commission, which is helping to finance next week's Croke Park conference, is a highly self-interested party in the debate on the future of the EU and its Constitution. As the non-elected executive of the EU and sole possessor of the right to propose EU legislation, the Commission stood to gain huge additional power and perquisities if the EU Constitution had been agreed.  The recent allocation by the Commission of many millions of euros to advance the cause of ratification of the Constitution, or some further treaty based upon it, is disturbing to democrats across Europe who regard this body as being, in the words of the late French President Charles de Gaulle, "an areopagus of technocrats without a country, responsible to nobody." Next Tuesday's well-financed propaganda initiative by the Brussels Commission should
therefore alarm everyone who believes that the democratic verdicts of the French and Dutch peoples on the EU Constitution should be respected - which means they should be abided by.

Over the years the European Commission has succeded in co-opting European Transnational Big Business, many senior Trade Unionists, significant sections  of the feminist movement, the anti-poverty lobby and many social science academics into supporting the EU integration project through the establishment of various slush funds, the network of EU-financed Jean Monnet professorships and the like.  As you will also be aware, the Commission and the European Movement have in recent years turned their attention to the Christian Churches, in particular the Roman Catholic Church and the Scandinavian Lutheran Churches, and have systematically set out to woo them into supporting the EU integration project, with its erosion of national democracy and national independence and its concentration of power in the hands of powerful supranational political, economic and bureaucratic elites, at the heart of which  is the EU Commission itself.


Many people in Ireland, among them many Catholics, were very disturbed that the European Committee of the Irish Hierarchy should have been responsible for a statement supporting the Yes side in the Nice Treaty referendums of 2001 and 2002. They found it highly  regrettable  that  the Hierarchy should have endorsed a statement on such a secular matter which implicitly urged people to vote Yes, especially as the Irish Bishops had never intervened  before in any of our constitutional referendums on European Treaties, not even in our original 1972 EEC Accession referendum.  This
development points to the success of the co-option exercise referred  to  - as indeed does the Commission-funded conference to be held on Tuesday next, with its ludicrously unbalanced panel of pro-EU Constitution speakers.

With all due respect to your episcopal colleagues and yourself, one must wonder how it is possible for the Irish Catholic Bishops to obtain responsible and impartial advice on EU-related matters, when its relevant European Advisory Committee consists overwhelmingly of ardent proponents of EU integration, with all critics of that highly contested process being excluded from it?

As you prepare your own public lecture for Monday next, may I enclose for your information some critical documents on the EU that my colleagues and I in the National Platform EU Research and Information Centre have produced. The most important political aspect of the proposed EU Constitution is that it would for the first time have made us real citizens of a new European Union organised in the constitutional form of a supranational Federation - and not just notional or honorary EU "citizens" as at present. If the EU Constitution were to be ratified, we would consequently owe this new Union - which would be constitutionally, legally and politically quite different from the present EU - the prime duties of citizenship, namely loyalty and obedience to its laws. These duties would override our obligations to the Republic of Ireland, in as much as the EU Constitution and law would be superior to our national Constitution and law.  The first document discusses this.

The second document is a critical  analysis of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which constituted Part 2 of the proposed Constitution. This would give the new Union and its supreme court, the European Court of Justice(ECJ), the final say in deciding our human and civil rights in all areas covered by EU law, which is now vast and whose limits and boundaries would be decided by the ECJ itself in the event of any dispute as to where those limits might lie. This proposal raises some of the most important issues of law, morality and politics.  You will surely agree that it  is hard to imagine anyone who is genuinely concerned with people's rights and who knows  how the EU and its Court of Justice work, welcoming  the EU being given the power to decide the human and citizens' rights of some 450 million people, over and above their national Constitutions and Supreme
Courts and the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg?


You will be aware that on Tuesday  of last week the ECJ, that "court with a mission", to use the words of one of its judges,  made a hugely important judgement which opens the legal door to conferring a criminal juridiction on the EU, including harmonised penalties for breaches of EU law and harmonised supranational court procedures that could in time threaten such fundamental rights of our system as trial by jury and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.  The Irish and other EU Governments were thrown out in their attempt to stop the Court of Justice greatly increasing the power of the Commission by this judgement.

The third document is a list of quotations from various EU leaders over the years, indicating  how they saw the EU integration  project as a way to build an EU World Power with most of the features of a supranational Federal State. My colleagues and I hope that you may find these documents of use or interest as you prepare your lecture.   If you would like to discuss these issues with us at any time, we are at your disposal.


Because of the public interest nature of this matter, I am sending a copy of this letter to your colleagues in the Hierarchy, to His Excellency the Papal Nuncio, and to the media and various opinion formers who may be interested in it.

Yours  sincerely
Anthony  Coughlan

Secretary


Sarkozy urges EU six to lead integration

26.09.2005 - 09:57 CET | By Lucia Kubosova

Nicolas Sarkozy, a hot candidate to become the next French president, has suggested a way out of the current EU's institutional crisis would be through closer integration of the bloc's six biggest states, with others to decide whether to follow suit or not.

Speaking at a UMP party conference on Europe on Saturday (24 September), its leader said the Franco-German alliance should be opened to the other four big EU states, as it could no longer direct the union on its own. Britain, Italy, Spain and Poland should join Berlin and Paris, as a unit representing 75 percent of the EU's population and together "become the motor of the new Europe", said Mr Sarkozy, according to the Financial Times.

The group could then decide to proceed with integration in some areas that the other states could accept or not, without their refusal changing or delaying the decision. "If we are able to develop this method we would answer - without institutional reform - two major defects of Europe as it exists today: Europe would act, and she would act under the impulse of responsible politicians, not anonymous bureaucrats", he said.

The EU is in stalemate over future integration after a rejection of the EU Constitution by France and the Netherlands earlier this year. The document was supposed to help the bloc work more efficiently following last year's enlargement from 15 to 25 countries.

Stronger Europe to face globalisation
Mr Sarkozy, the interior minister in the current French government, indicated that a stronger Europe - led by the big six - would also be more effective in dealing with problems brought up by globalisation. He pointed out Europe should "at the same time support globalisation, master it and protect itself from it", adding there is a need for creating "European champions" to compete with US, Chinese and Indian firms among others.

He criticised Brussels' performance in trade, suggesting the EU is not defending its interests sufficiently and far less strongly than Washington.Mr Sarkozy also repeated his position concerning Turkey, suggesting it should become an EU partner, and not a member.

Nicolas Sarkozy is considered as the main contender along with current French prime minister Dominique de Villepin in the 2007 presidential elections.


Could This Happen with Irish Ferries?

French troops storm seized vessel

French special forces have recaptured a cargo/passenger vessel that was hijacked to the Corsican port of Bastia by striking union workers.

Commandos abseiled to the deck of the Pascal Paoli from five helicopters as it came into port after being taken over in Marseille late on Tuesday.

The unions are protesting against the privatisation of the debt-ridden state-owned ferry company, the SNCM.

The latest violence follows two days of clashes in Marseille.


SPAIN:At their summit in Seville, Mr Zapatero and the Moroccan Prime Minister Driss Jettou announced they were both sending extra troops in an effort to secure the borders at Ceuta and another enclave, Melilla, where hundreds crossed the border earlier this week.

The BBC's Katya Adler says the summit was always going to focus on the issue of immigration.

Spain has praised Morocco for cracking down on flimsy boats and rafts manned by people traffickers, but it complains that illegal immigration in the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla has dramatically increased.

It suspects that Morocco has not done its best to secure those borders since it disputes Spain's sovereignty over the enclaves, our correspondent adds.

More than 40 people, including policemen, have been injured in recent mass attempts to break through.


ITALY:

Anyone visiting Italy and wanting to use an internet point, or cafe, will need to take along their passport – and be prepared for a major invasion of their privacy, writes John Hooper.(THE GUARDIAN)

Anti-terrorist legislation prompted by the London bombings in July imposes a string of new obligations on the managers of businesses offering the public access to communications. As of this week, they must obtain – and, according to some interpretations, photocopy – the identity documents of anyone wishing to access the internet, send a fax or make a telephone call.Not only that. They must also supply the police with records of the times at which customers enter and leave the premises and which computers or telephones they use.Owners now need a licence to run an internet point or call shop, and to get one they have to provide detailed information about their business, including a floor plan of the premises.

Commercial communications centres have repeatedly cropped up in investigations into international terrorism. The first arrests in connection with the 2004 Madrid train bombings were made at a call shop in the Lavapies district of the Spanish capital, which has a large immigrant community. France is reportedly planning to introduce similar legislation.

Andrew Pitt from Liverpool, who runs a combined call shop and internet cafe in Venice said his business had already been hit by the Italian law.“The problem is that tourists come along without their passports. Today, we have lost at least 15 customers because they didn’t have any identification”, Mr Pitt said.“About 70% of our customers are American or British and they’re just not used to this sort of thing. Italians don’t usually complain because its normal to be asked to provide identification here.”


AID FOR NEW ORLEANS FROM BRITAIN DUMPEDHUNDREDS of tons of British food aid shipped to America for starving Hurricane Katrina survivors is to be burned, Britain's Daily Mirror reported Monday. The food, which cost British taxpayers millions, is sitting idle in a huge warehouse after the Food and Drug Agency recalled it when it had already left to be distributed. Scores of trucks headed back to a warehouse in Little Rock, Arkansas, to dump it at an FDA incineration plant.The Ministry of Defence in London said last night that 400,000 operational ration packs had been shipped to the US.


Sweden To Try To End Fossil Fuels Dependency By 2020 - PM

STOCKHOLM (AP)--Prime Minister Goran Persson said Tuesday that Sweden will try to end its dependency on fossil fuels in 15 years by boosting research devoted to alternative energy sources.

Persson, addressing lawmakers returning to Parliament after the summer recess, said global warming was a growing concern.

"We are frightened by climate change today," Persson said as he laid out government policy for the next 12 months. "The mean temperature of the earth is rising, and it is rising most nearest to the poles.... A new goal will be set: creation of the conditions necessary to end Sweden's dependence on fossil fuels by 2020."

Persson said the government will increase spending on energy research and will start subsidizing exports of environmental technology. Wind power will be extended and a tax regime promoting renewable energy sources would continue, he said. For example, taxes would be reduced for cars running on natural gas instead of gasoline.

Persson also said 35% of the cars driven by government employees would either run completely on electricity or renewable fuels, or be hybrid cars.

Re. Foreign Affairs:
Persson, who will co-chair the U.N's high-level summit that starts Wednesday in New York, also called for changes in the composition of the Security Council. He didn't give details in his speech, but has earlier suggested giving seats to countries including India, Japan and Brazil.

The prime minister called for a peace-building commission and council for human rights to be established within the organization.

Calling for increased peace efforts in the Middle East, Persson said the recent Israeli withdrawal from Gaza "must be a first step toward two states within secure and recognized borders as envisaged in the road map" for peace.

Persson also called for a continued expansion of the European Union, singling out the Balkan countries and Turkey as candidates for membership.

"All European countries that meet the requirements must in time be able to become members, not least the countries in the Balkans," Persson said. "Turkey should be allowed to initiate membership talks as planned."

(END) Dow Jones Newswires© September 13, 2005 11:40 ET (15:40 GMT)


Labour: Fixing to say "Iran? No Debate."

By Hannah K. Strange
UPI U.K. Correspondent
Published September 29, 2005
BRIGHTON, England -- The Labour Party's annual conference in Brighton will reside in the public and political memory less for what was discussed than was not. Iraq, and subsequent decline in the party's support, was, as one party activist told United Press International, the elephant in the conference hall; the marked avoidance of such critical issues a sign of a party in deep denial.         The leadership's Fawlty-esque bid to avoid mentioning the war received a boost Sunday when a motion to table a debate on Iraq was defeated, effectively stifling the concerns of activists over the apparent lack of strategy for dealing with the crisis.     It was a puzzling result, given the strength of feeling on the issue among delegates. One member of Parliament told UPI it had lost purely because all the motions originating from the anti-war camp were ruled out of order because they did not relate to sufficiently current events, a decision she called "bizarre."
    
    Despondence at the leadership's evasiveness over-spilled following Prime Minister Tony Blair's address, a speech many had hoped would proffer a convincing argument why Britain's continued presence in Iraq was necessary.     Given that calls for an exit strategy have dominated the headlines for the past two weeks, following the apparent breakdown in relations between British troops and Iraqi authorities in Basra, devoting less than one page out of some 20 to the subject seemed, to many, a trifle sparing.     The closest Blair came to addressing Britain's future strategy in the beleaguered nation was his claim that the way to stop innocent deaths was "not to retreat."
    
    While high-profile Blairites lauded his efforts, among backbench MPs and the party's grassroots the feeling was that simply "sticking with it" was no longer a sufficient plan.     "Let's hope the model is not the one suffered by India for three centuries," said Barry Camfield, assistant general secretary of the Transport and General Worker's Union -- one of the most powerful unions in the Labour movement. He was referring to Britain's colonial rule of India that began in the 18th century and ended in 1947. (Let us remember Edmund Burke who took 5 years to indict Warren
Hastings who had virtually destroyed India he was so corrupt,JB editor)

Are the citizens of Europe content with the perpetual sadism of the Arms Trade?
Countries identified as having poor human rights records were invited by the English Government to the arms exhibition/sale which opened in London on Sept.13th. A list of 60 countries recieved invitations after a so called "careful process involving MoD and other Gov.dept.s..... taking account of current marketting campaigns and long term prospects for business".

Leg irons, stun guns, and stun batons - banned for export under British law - are being advertised in catalogues at the international arms fair in London's Docklands. The instruments feature in the catalogues of an Israeli company, TAR Ideal, which describes itself as world leader in supplying riot control gear.

The company advertises batons which it describes as a "powerful defensive weapon for stunning and hitting". When used as a baton it delivers a debilitating 300,000 volt shock. A stun gun on offer is said to deliver a high voltage shock, immobilising a potential attacker for several minutes. The company describes its "leg cuffs" as of "all-steel construction", with a "rust-resistant nickel finish" and "sturdy, loadable, foot chain".

One of the first acts of the Labour government in 1997 was to ban the export of equipment which could be used for torture, including "portable devices designed or modified for riot control purposes, or self-protection to administer an electric shock, including electric-shock batons ... stun guns [and] leg irons". The government last year extended controls over the export of banned products by saying they applied to any Briton anywhere in the world. The catalogues on display at the London docklands defence exhibition were discovered by the activist and comedian Mark Thomas.

There are supposed to be "consolidated European and British arms export criteria" Why is it that Europe is designated thus: "Europe and...."? Britain is supposedly a member of European Union and yet it gets away with constant money speculation on the £ and was permitted without any demur to assist occupying Iraq, where their troops have recently been demonstrated as being just as vile and undisciplined as their American counterparts.England should be hoofed out.


theguardian newspaper changes format: only one letter of complaint the next day? Who is now reading the Guardian and who noted this: Comment and Debate...Gloria Steinem writing as an American on America "I hope that racism is finally seen as a fiction to justify the taking over of land and power; this remains true whether its objects are Africans or Arabs, Jews or the Kwe/San people."
There follows this priceless remark from the same source, a feminist organiser, "After all, unless we make a place in our imaginations for what could be, there's not much point in believing in anything"Gloria Steinem.
Below this they have a scientist hoping that God "tweaked" the knobs on biological definitions that enabled a fish evolve into you and I dear reader. Does this appalling page represent the motivation of the Guardian from now on?




Major General Doron Almog wanted by the Law for War Crimes.

Scotland Yard was thwarted yesterday by the Israeli Ambassador to England who was alerted through Tony Blair's officials of the attempt to seize a former senior Israeli army officer at Heathrow airport for alleged war crimes in occupied Palestinian lands after a British judge had issued a warrant for his arrest.

British detectives were waiting for retired Major General Doron Almog who was aboard an El Al flight which arrived from Israel onthe 11th Sept..But so was the Israeli military attache, who walked on to the airplane after the crew had advised the "victim" to wait in the plane, he was then warned of the warrant and Almog flew back to Israel thanking his luck in travelling on an Israeli Air Line whose crew had ofcourse been loyal to the Israel State. Almog in a statement declared that no war crime was attributable to himself - "it is the British legal system versus the Israel State." On that day the Israeli foreign ministry, said: "In the past extremist Palestinian organisations have tried to manipulate legal processes in Europe for their own cynical ends. We have no faith in these groups but we have a lot of faith in the British legal system."The British lawyer, Daniel Machover,called for a police investigation, and said of the Israeli embassy staff " They are not located here to assist Israelis to evade British justice,

On the 12th The Guardian had given the following rundown :The arrest warrant was issued on Saturday at Bow Street magistrates court, central London. It is believed to be the first warrant for war crimes of its kind issued in Britain against an Israeli national over conduct in the conflict with Palestinians. Despite the alleged offences occurring in the Gaza Strip, war crimes law means Britain has a duty to arrest and prosecute alleged suspects if they arrive in Britain. The warrant alleges Mr Almog committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip in 2002 when he ordered the destruction of 59 homes near Rafah, which Palestinians say was in revenge for the death of Israeli soldiers. The warrant was issued by senior district judge Timothy Workman after an application by lawyers acting for Mr Almog's alleged Palestinian victims. According to legal sources, before granting the warrant Mr Workman decided his court had jurisdiction for the offences; that diplomatic immunity did not apply; and there was evidence to support a prima facie case for war crimes. r Almog was commanding officer of the Israeli defence forces' southern command from December 2000 to July 2003. British lawyers representing Palestinians who say they suffered as a result of Mr Almog's orders had presented their evidence to Scotland Yard detectives last month and they began investigating him.

Attorney. Machover is a spokesman and founder-member of Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights, a group of British lawyers that has written reports against the Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. The organization also that provides assistance to PA lawyers and organizations in legal matters against
Israel.

Atty. Machover says he plans to sue Ambassador Hefetz for warning Gen. Almog in advance, and for boarding the plane to discuss the matter with Almog. The lawyer also intends to file additional charges against other senior IDF generals, including Chief of Staff Halutz and former Chief of Staff Yaalon, and have them categorized as war criminals.

Sol Gradman was invited to lecture in Ireland about Israel's high-tech success. (Eyal Toueg)
"An Irish software company invited me six months ago to give a lecture at an annual conference about the reasons for Israeli high-tech success," relates Sol Gradman, chairman of the High-Tech CEO Forum, who has a different, less enthusiastic take on Ireland's success.
"I was surprised," he continues. "Bibi [Netanyahu] always brings up Ireland as a model, and here they want me to tell them about Israel's success."
Attracted by Ireland's membership in the European Union, low wages, an English-speaking workforce, government grants, and low corporate taxes, international companies such as Dell, Intel and Microsoft have established offices and plants there.

Gradman describes the surprising discoveries he made while researching the Irish market in preparation for his visit. "Ireland annually exports $14 billion in software," Gradman says. "Israel's annual software exports amount to less than $4 billion. But what did I find? The overwhelming majority [of the Irish exports] come from American companies that develop software in the United States. The products are distributed from Ireland, which serves as a bridge to the rest of Europe, and that's why they're considered Irish exports. All the Dell computers sold in Europe are marketed via Ireland, which in effect is a logistics center with no added value or technological innovation," he says.
Gradman brings up another surprising fact. "In all of Ireland, only five local software companies sell more than $20 million. The numbers are surprising. The Irish want to know how we in Israel managed to create a local industry based on development and innovation. Their success is based on a low corporate tax rate, of 12.5 percent, and cheap labor, but that could change, since Eastern Europe now is becoming attractive," Gradman warns.
"For that reason, it's not necessarily correct to look at Ireland and say `let's do the same thing.' At the end of the day, Ireland isn't necessarily the right model. They have attracted investment and the country is thriving, and I'll tip my hat to them for that. But it's not based on local entrepreneurship,( on which small business companies could give him some interesting information, JB,editor)and the advantages can melt away fairly easily," Gradman says, adding that Israeli high-tech is based on elements that are hard to take away from us. "There's a greater readiness to take risks, an entrepreneurial character, the army is a fertile ground for invention, and the proportion of engineers in the population is among the highest in the world," he says.

Gradman has more than 20 years' experience in high-tech, including at Optrotech (which later merged with Orbot into Orbotech), Netexpress and Monterey Design Systems Israel.
The forum's board includes the CEOs of international firms such as HP, Intel and Microsoft, as well as of local high-tech companies, venture capital managers and other industry insiders. Gradman notes that every event held by the group draws between 70 and 150 participants, with more than 100 companies registered with the forum. Monthly meetings deal with issues such as whether companies are better off being bought out or going public, or how to complete a merger successfully. At one meeting, participants discussed how to compete against cheap labor in the East. "The CEO of Matrix, Mordechai Gutman, spoke about hiring ultra-Orthodox women as a cheap, local labor force. A representative of a Matrix competitor, Ness, described the advantages and disadvantages of his company's activities in India," Gradman says. Gradman believes that Israeli companies still have a lot to learn about marketing and management, pointing to Comverse, Amdocs and Teva as success stories, but noting that local firms have been much more successful at selling themselves to foreign companies than at raising money on the stock market.
Ha'aretz Sept.6th


LETTER IN REFERENCE TO USE OF ASPARTAME

Date:      Thu, 15 Sep 2005 05:30:58 EDT

Hi,A short while ago I bought some Selenium tabs where it just said 'sweetener' added.  I got home but before I took any,   I emailed the firm that made the product,   CEFAK KG in Kempten [Ed. Germany] and enquired 'What 'sweetener' do they put in the Selenium....the answer came back,  ASPARTAME.

Really pissed off I wrote back and asked if they KNEW about how dangerous that RAT-POISON is,  and WHY do they put it in a health product ? The answer I got back was scary   'YES we know how dangerous Aspartame is, BUT its the DOSAGE that counts!
I wrote back saying that at the end of a day eating foods with SMALL amounts of aspartame sweetener in it...a person could reach dangerous levels of the stuff.......no answer.

ANYWAY, having avoided all the products with Aspartame in them, the word must be getting out into the world because  we NOW notice that most firms we have been observing,  have now dropped the word ASPARTAME and are now just using the innocuous 'sweetener' instead....If you dont enquire, you are not going to know. BE CAREFUL ! Paul