There's a mountain and it's mighty high You cannot see the top unless you fly And there's a molehill of proven ground There ain't nowhere to go if you hang around
Everybody wants to sell what's already been sold Everybody wants to tell what's already been told What's the use of money if you ain't gonna break the mold? Even at the center of fire there is cold
All that glitters ain't gold All that glitters ain't gold, mm
There's an ocean of despair, there are people livin' there They're unhappy and each and every day But hell is not fashion, so what you tryin' to say?
Everybody wants to sell what's already been sold Everybody wants to tell what's already been told What's the use of money if you ain't gonna break the mold? Even at the center of fire there is cold
All that glitters ain't gold, no, no All that glitters ain't gold, no, no
There's a lady, 99 years old If she led a good life, heaven takes her soul Now, that's a theory and if you don't wanna know Step aside and make a way for those who want to go
Everybody wants to sell what's already been sold Everybody wants to tell what's already been told What's the use of bein' young if you ain't gonna get old? Even at the center of fire there is cold
All that glitters ain't gold, no, no, no, no, no All that glitters ain't gold, alright, all that glitters All that glitters, all that glitters ain't gold
Na na na, na na, na, na na, na na (Gold, gold, gold, gold) Na na na, na na, na, na na, na na (Gold, gold, gold, gold) Gold, gold, gold
All that glitters ain't gold, gold, gold All that glitters ain't gold, gold, gold (Na na na, na na, na, na na, na na)
All that glitters ain't gold, gold, gold (Na na na, na na, na, na na, na na) All that glitters ain't gold, oh, oh yeah
One, two, one, two, three, let's go
Na na na, na na, na, na na, na na Na na na, na na, na, na na, na na Na na na, na na, na, na na, na na
(Na na na, na na, na, na na, na na) You are now an official member Of the New Power Generation Welcome to The Dawn
(Na na na, na na, na, na na, na na) All that glitters ain't
(Na na na, na na, na, na na, na na) All that glitters ain't
Apr 26 2016 at 9:57 AM Updated Apr 26 2016 at 9:57 AM
It has long been US policy to support British membership of the EU. Bloomberg
by Gideon Rachman
When supporters of the Vote Leave campaign sketch out a future for Britain outside the EU, they often point to the "Anglosphere" of English-speaking nations - bequeathed by Britain's imperial past. So Barack Obama's intervention in Britain's EU referendum last week was a potentially devastating moment for the Brexit campaign. Here was the president of the US - the most powerful member of the Anglosphere - arguing forcefully for Britain to stay inside the EU.
In desperation, some members of the Leave campaign have suggested that Mr Obama might harbour a special animus against Britain. Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, flirted with the theory that the "part-Kenyan president's ancestry" might explain his views.
In reality, no special explanation is needed for Mr Obama's remarks. It has long been US policy to support British membership of the EU.
Yet the Brexiters are on to something in a broader sense. For all the ritualistic tributes to the enduring nature of the special relationship, something has changed during the Obama years. That shift is a growing awareness in both Washington and London of the rise of Asia, which has made both the US and the UK reconsider their approaches to the world - and each other.
President Obama's personal background does indeed matter here. But the significant point is not that he is the first African-American president, but that he is the first Pacific president. Mr Obama was brought up in Hawaii, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and spent several years of his childhood in Indonesia. Like no other president before him, he really grasps the vital and growing importance of the Asia-Pacific region.
The signature foreign policy initiative of the Obama years has been America's "pivot to Asia". Amid all the turmoil in the Middle East and Ukraine, the US president has remained grimly, stubbornly, determined to devote more of his country's diplomatic, military and economic resources to Asia.
There was much talk, during Mr Obama's London visit, about whether the US might strike a separate trade deal with a post-Brexit Britain, or whether it would focus more on the US-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Mr Obama controversially suggested that the UK would be at the "back of the queue" in any quest for a separate trade deal.
But the reality is that America's biggest trade priority is neither the UK nor the EU - it is Asia. While negotiations on TTIP are still years from conclusion, the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal has already been agreed between the US and 11 other nations in the Asia-Pacific region, and now awaits ratification.
Some Brits and Europeans hope that the departure of President Obama might mean that the US places less emphasis on Asia and pivots back to the Atlantic. That is unlikely. Any US president who looks at America's strategic priorities is likely to come to conclusions similar to Mr Obama's. Hillary Clinton, his likeliest successor, is a firm believer in the "pivot" to Asia, as she made clear in a 2011 article entitled "America's Pacific Century".
-- Insert: America’s Pacific Century The future of politics will be decided in Asia, not Afghanistan or Iraq, and the United States will be right at the center of the action. By Hillary Clinton October 11, 2011 http://foreignpolicy.com/2011/10/11/americas-pacific-century/ --
The British, in particular, have few grounds to complain about America's current preoccupation with Asia and the Pacific, since the Cameron government has been conducting its own pivot to Asia - even at the expense of ties to the US. David Cameron has led a succession of high-profile trade delegations to Asia and signed Britain up as a founder member of the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, against the express wishes of the US government. One member of the Obama administration complained (to the Financial Times) about Britain's "constant accommodation" of China.
Of course, there are still deep historic and cultural ties linking Britain and America. Anybody who doubts that should consider the number of leading members of the US foreign-policy establishment who once studied at Oxford. Susan Rice, Mr Obama's national security adviser, Bill Burns, who was Mrs Clinton's deputy at the State Department, and Jake Sullivan, one of her closest advisers, are all Oxford alumni.
These kinds of links help give Britain easy access in Washington. But, in future, even elite educational ties may be thinner. Stephen Schwarzman, an American financier, has just set up a major scholarship scheme, inspired by the Rhodes scholarships to Oxford, to take high-achieving Americans and others to study at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Mr Schwarzman's not-unreasonable assumption is that, in future it might be more important for aspiring American leaders to understand China.
The rise of Asia is also changing the nature of Canada and Australia, two other key members of the historic Anglosphere. Australia does 10 times as much trade, by value, with China and Japan as it does with Britain. The population of Toronto, Canada's largest city, is now around 35 per cent ethnic Asian, and the figure is well over 40 per cent for Vancouver on the Pacific coast.
Still, any Brits who feel nostalgic for the Anglosphere, and a little resentful about Mr Obama's "back of the queue" comments, might reflect how much they still benefit from the cultural power of the US. The traditional Anglosphere may be in disrepair. But a different sort of Anglosphere has emerged in Brussels, with English now the common language of the EU institutions.
Monday 25 April 2016 22.41 AEST Last modified on Tuesday 26 April 2016 07.00 AEST
The world needs a strong, democratic and united Europe, Barack Obama said on Monday, to guard against rising intolerance and authoritarianism within the European Union .. http://www.theguardian.com/world/eu .. and across the globe.
In an ambitious and sweeping speech urging modern Europe .. http://www.theguardian.com/world/europe-news .. to remember its emergence from division, war and hatred, the US president said: “We cannot allow fears about security and inequality to undermine our commitment to universal values. That is a false comfort.”
Speaking in Germany .. http://www.theguardian.com/world/germany .. on the final day of his tour of Europe and the Middle East, Obama had a blunt message for the continent. “Perhaps you need an outsider to remind you of the magnitude of what you have achieved from the ruins of the second world war.”
His speech in Hanover will be seen as another call for Britain not to leave the European Union after warning at his press conference in London on Friday that Brexit would place the UK at “the back of the queue” in any trade deals with the US .. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/22/barack-obama-brexit-uk-back-of-queue-for-trade-talks . The speech also demonstrated a strong personal defence of Angela Merkel’s liberal approach to refugees. He said this was a defining moment for Europe in which it could choose pluralism or, in rejecting its own progress, give support to those who argue democracy cannot work.
Obama – who is to hold talks on Monday afternoon with the leaders of Germany, France, Italy and the UK – also announced the US would be sending an extra 300 troops to Syria .. http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/25/barack-obama-us-soldiers-islamic-state-syria , mainly special forces, to help train local fighters, predominantly Kurds fighting Isis in the country’s north. He said Europe had been complacent on defence and warned that at the next Nato summit in Warsaw this summer he will seek more contributions to the US-led air campaign against Isis in Syria and Iraq.
But his chief message in the setpiece speech of his tour was a call for Europe to show confidence in its achievements, and not to be attracted to the populist right or left. “These are unsettling times and when the future is uncertain there seems to be an instinct in human nature to withdraw to the perceived comfort of our own tribe, our own sect, our own nationality: people who look like us, sound like us,” he said.
“But in today’s world more than in any time in our human history that is a false comfort. It pits people against one another because of what they look like, or how they pray or who they love.” Obama said that “twisted thinking can lead to oppression, segregation, internment camps and to Srebrenica”.
Apparently referring to some of the rhetoric of the right in both Europe and the US, he admitted the politics of immigration is hard in every country. There is a danger, he said, that the loudest voices win out, creating a them-and-us culture.
He said: “I want you to remember that our countries are stronger, they’re more secure and more successful when we integrate people of all backgrounds and faiths, and make them feel as one. And that includes our fellow citizens who are Muslim.”
Persistent challenges, including the 2008 financial crisis and wage inequality, had led some to question whether European integration could no longer endure, he said, and whether Europe would be better off redrawing some of the barriers and walls between nations.
“If we do not solve these problems, you see those who would like to exploit these fears and channel them in a destructive way. A creeping emergence of the kind of politics that Europe was founded to reject – an us-versus-them mentality. You see increasing intolerance in our politics and loud voices get the most attention.
“So this is a defining moment and what happens on this continent has consequences around the globe. If a peaceful, unified, pluralistic, liberal, free-market Europe begins to question the progress that has been made then we cannot expect the progress that is just now taking place around the world will continue. Instead we will be empowering those who argue that democracy cannot work.”
Obama conceded there were legitimate concerns about how global forces had deepened inequality. He also acknowledged that democracy could be slow, messy and frustrating. The EU could sometimes feel like an extra layer of bureaucracy, he said, but the answer lay in reform, rather than resorting to oppression or fear. “The answer is not to start cutting off from one another, rather it is to work together.”
Obama – who has often been accused of being indifferent to the plight of Europe, and turning America to the Pacific – started his speech by saying he had “come to the heart of Europe to say the US and the entire world needs a strong, prosperous, democratic and united Europe.”
He called for greater optimism in Europe, saying: “If someone had to choose a moment in time to be born, you would choose today.
“We are living in the most peaceful, prosperous and progressive era in human history. It has been decades since there has been a major war between major powers, more people live in democracies, a billion people have been lifted from global poverty, middle classes have been created from Africa to Asia …
“This is not to say there is not enormous suffering, but the trajectory of the past 50 to 100 years is remarkable and should not be taken for granted.”
NATO vs. Putin sabre-rattling raises Cold War concerns: Brian Stewart
Russian president likely to respond to NATO's massive exercise planned for Poland
By Brian Stewart, CBC News Posted: May 15, 2016 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: May 15, 2016 4:33 PM ET
A massive NATO exercise planned for June in Poland will almost certainly provoke an angry reaction from Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/Associated Press)
An already tense security situation in eastern Europe is about to become even more strained as Poland and its NATO partners prepare to test their ability to mobilize both arms and political will to stand against any Russian provocation in the Baltic region.
Poland will look like a war zone June 7-17 as 31,000 ground troops and sailors from 24 NATO and partner countries stage enormous land, sea and air exercises to block a hypothetical Russian incursion from the east.
The land exercise alone, dubbed Anaconda 2016, will be 2 ½ times larger than any previous training in Poland in recent decades and will almost certainly provoke an angry reaction from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Then just weeks later, on July 8, the leaders of NATO will meet in Warsaw for a two-day summit where they'll hear the escalating demands of Poland and other members near the Russian border who want their Western allies to do far more to back them up.
They mean to insist on a steady rotation of up to 5,000 rapid-reaction troops from the West, including the U.S., U.K., France, and Germany, into Poland and NATO's small Baltic trio of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Canada too was pressed last week by visiting Polish President Andrzej Duda to join this tripwire force to help deter Russian "adventurism."
The momentum of military buildup has Western diplomats bracing for a stormy June as Russia reacts by launching new exercises of its own along its western border. Some expect a military provocation from Russia before the summit.
There's concern among some NATO members that Poland’s hard line towards Russia contributes to the perception we could be approaching another Cold War.
Earlier this year Putin declared the growing military presence of NATO troops in eastern Europe a "threat to Russia's national security" and announced the creation of four new Russian divisions (roughly 50,000 new troops) to join already substantial forces in Russia's western regions.
When NATO expressed alarm over this further escalation of forces, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed it as sheer hypocrisy: "NATO military infrastructure is inching closer and closer to Russia's borders, but when Russia takes action to ensure its security, we are told that we are engaging in dangerous manoeuvres."
Moscow's view of the rising tension, however, is starkly different from NATO's. The alliance sees Russia acting increasingly aggressively since 2014, following its armed takeover of Crimea and its military backing of separatist rebels fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Not only does Russia have an enormous land force of highly mobile troops ready to confront NATO, their exercises have dwarfed those of the Western alliance in recent years.
While NATO exercises have been generally in the 6,000 to 14,000-troop range, six Russian exercises since 2013 have each involved 65,000 to 160,000 troops. Even more troubling for NATO than the size of Russia's forces is the speed with which it can launch so-called "Snap" exercises, with little or no warning to the alliance.
A Russian serviceman aboard an armoured personnel carrier salutes next to the blue-white-red tricolour flag of Crimea, during the Victory Day parade in Moscow's Red Square on May 9. (Grigory Dukor/Reuters)
This lack of clear communication between the East and West has worsened to the point where influential magazine The Economist warns the careful mechanisms American officers and their Soviet counterparts maintained during the Cold War to avoid military accidents have now "largely vanished."
The 10-day exercise in Poland represents not only a large increase in the size of NATO manoeuvres as a signal to Moscow that the Baltic flank will be defended, it will also test complex new command and control abilities against a broader range of possible Russian actions.
Polish officers on the ground will largely command 25,000 troops from 24 countries, including 14,000 U.S. soldiers and 1,000 British, while 105 aircraft and 49 NATO warships training in the Baltic will combine for an exercise to respond to theoretical crises.
'Hybrid war'
The complex exercise is chiefly designed to counter an all-out Russian invasion of NATO's Baltic flank, as well as what many military experts call the new "hybrid war" favoured by Russia.
It describes the kind of conflict seen in Crimea and Ukraine in which Russian special forces link up with a paramilitary uprising of ethnic Russian minorities within a target nation to create armed brinkmanship just short of all-out war. NATO planners want to test so-called "pre-conflict procedures" to stabilize its border zones and pour in reinforcements to prevent such incursions or intimidation moves.
Poland's growing influence in NATO is evident in the size of the exercise and the importance of the summit. It boasts one of the largest militaries in NATO and plans to double its military spending in the coming years. It's also located in an important geo-strategic position between the East and West, which has made it a flashpoint for conflicts throughout European history.
NATO also has internal diplomatic problems to resolve. While Poland is the most stridently anti-Putin member of the alliance, its right-wing government is seen as increasingly oppressive at home and rough-toned abroad. Some in NATO worry Poland's hard line towards Russia contributes to the perception we could be approaching another Cold War.
Of even greater concern is the widespread conviction that neither the U.S., as NATO's leader, nor Russia have anything close to coherent strategies to handle the growing tensions.
Putin often appears to just push for gains against NATO where he sees opportunities, while President Barack Obama is widely viewed as only reacting to shifting crises, without much strategic planning.
Do Russia and the U.S. have coherent strategies to handle the growing tensions? Chuck Hagel, Obama's former defence secretary, isn't sure. (Reuters)
Chuck Hagel, Obama's former defence secretary, warned last week both NATO and Russia are pursuing armed buildups "that make no sense for either side."
"I'm not sure there's some real strategic thinking here," Hagel said when asked about possible NATO reinforcements for Poland. "Then we continue to build up the eastern flank of NATO, with more battalions, more exercises, and more ships, and the Russians will respond. I'm not sure where this takes you … there's always going to be an increase."
The counter-argument within NATO is that a failure to show enough strength to deter Russian "adventurism" will make a bad situation even more dangerous.
Old veterans of the Cold War remember such arguments all too well. How much is enough deterrence? When does too much of it towards Russia become a provocation in itself?
The arguments were never quite settled during the Cold War. But the events planned in Poland this summer will likely raise them anew — and very starkly.
World leaders, aid groups gather for humanitarian summit in Turkey
Anne Barker and wires
President Obama: "We discussed our efforts to resolve political conflicts in the Middle East, from Yemen to Syria to Libya, in order to increase the prospects for stability. In Libya, going forward, we have an opportunity to support a new government and help Libyans root out extremist elements. In Syria, as challenging as it is, we still need to see more progress towards an enduring ceasefire, and we continue to push for greater humanitarian access to the people who need it most."
Updated yesterday at 7:08pm
Photo: Representatives of 175 countries are attending the UN-backed summit. (Reuters: Murad Sezer)
-- [ .. those boosts should be read in conjunction with these cuts ..
The blind truth of Australia's foreign aid cuts Daniel Flitton Senior Correspondent December 11, 2015
"But foreign aid cuts by the Coalition government in Australia have robbed funding from eye clinics in Pakistan. According to the charity which runs them, these clinics would otherwise have screened 1200 premature babies for early treatment of preventable blindness.
The clinics are just one of dozens of programs – intended to lend a helping hand in some of the world's poorest regions – that have become casualties of the swingeing cuts that will soon drive Australia's foreign aid to its lowest ever level."
Hundreds of world leaders and aid agencies have begun meeting in Turkey for an unprecedented United Nations backed summit seeking to transform the world's response to humanitarian crises.
The UN says increasing attacks on civilian targets such as schools and hospitals, as well as "medieval" sieges on civilians in Syria and Yemen, reflect a decay in respect for humanitarian law and the Geneva Convention on human rights.
"We have to stand up for international humanitarian law," said UN second in command Jan Eliasson ahead of the opening of the first World Humanitarian Summit, which has begun in Istanbul.
"We have seen a decay, a lack of respect for international law which is causing enormous damage in the world," he said.
The UN children's agency UNICEF said an average of four schools or hospitals a day are attacked or occupied by armed forces and groups, and civilians were being wounded and killed by indiscriminate warfare in countries including Syria, Yemen, South Sudan, Afghanistan.
Mr Eliasson said he admired MSF and was surprised at its decision to boycott the summit, and said he hoped the agency would see that the conference serves a purpose.
This month the UN accused the Syrian government of withholding aid to hundreds of thousands of people and risking a new siege.
While in Yemen, the UN has accused Iranian-allied Houthi militia of obstructing the delivery of humanitarian supplies to civilians in the country's southwest.
'Worst global humanitarian situation since World War Two'
Photo: The summit is seeking to transform the world's response to humanitarian crises. (AFP: Amer Almohibany)
The two-day summit will bring together government and business leaders, aid organisations and donors from 175 countries, seeking to develop a more coherent response to what UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has called the worst global humanitarian situation since World War Two.
The Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) — the peak body for Australia's aid agencies and charitable NGOs — said it would be the single biggest gathering of world leaders, NGOs and humanitarian agencies, seeking to address the scale of humanitarian crisis facing the world today.
"There are nearly 60 million people displaced around the world. Nearly a quarter of those are Syrians. More broadly about 1.4 billion people are living in conflict situations or situations where their lives are at threat," said ACFID CEO Marc Purcell.
"The economic cost of this [crisis] as well as the human cost is huge. Economic losses from conflict and disasters are estimated to cost $100 billion between 2010 and 2014.
"So this conference is about how governments and the UN and humanitarian organisations, the NGO's, respond to the scale of this broad humanitarian crisis around the world.
"It is at its peak at the moment in terms of stress on the system, on people, and on the system that is trying to help people."
Delegates at the summit include German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the presidents or prime ministers of Ireland, the Netherlands, Lebanon and Kuwait.
Celebrities attending include actor Sean Penn, whose new film The Last Face had its world premiere at Cannes on the eve of the summit.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon — attending the premiere — praised the actor's commitment to relieving world suffering.
He recalled a visit to Haiti after the devastating earthquake of 2010, when he noticed a very busy man trying to help those around him recover. He only later realised it was Sean Penn.
"I didn't expect such a celebrity, a movie star of the world, would be around so many refugees and displaced people. I was so moved," the UN chief shared with the audience.
"When I went [to Haiti] a second time, he was still there."
Push for increase in Australia's humanitarian funding
Australia is represented at the summit by Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, the Minister for International Development and the Pacific.
In a statement ahead of the summit, the minister said Australia was a world leader in providing humanitarian assistance, and has a strong record of contributing to global humanitarian efforts, including a recent commitment of an additional $220 million over three years to address humanitarian needs in Syria and neighbouring countries.
However, ACFID CEO Marc Purcell said Australia's contributions should be seen against a succession of cuts to the foreign aid budget.
Mr Purcell said he would use his attendance at the summit to push for a significant increase in Australia's humanitarian funding and its emergency response fund, and a bigger role for Australia in tackling climate change and helping to resolve the causes of conflict, for example taking a more active role in international negotiations on Syria.
"There's no doubt that the fourth successive cut to Australia's aid efforts have really damaged our humanitarian ability ... and more generally have had a bad effect on relationships with countries, particularly in Africa, where we see a lot of humanitarian disasters," he said.
"So there's a big job to both restore funding and rebuild Australia's aid program.
"Specifically on Syria the Australian Government has made an announcement for a three-year commitment to address needs in Syria. But we believe our humanitarian fund - our emergency response fund - is underdone for the scale of both big disasters overseas, but also emergencies close to home, like Cyclone Winston (in Fiji) and Cyclone Pam (in Vanuatu)."
Delegates at the summit will be asked to support five key goals to improve access to the resources needed to preserve the lives, dignity and safety of people affected by conflict, natural disasters and other emergencies.
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