New Russian initiative: G20 network to block corrupt officials' rights to international travel

Lots of empty seats on international flights out of Moscow in the future?
Image by  wikipedia

Russian diplomacy is advancing on a broad front. If this new Russian initiative succeeds, there will be plenty of empty seats on international flights out of Moscow:

Russia has asked G20 members to create a special body authorized to block officials' rights to international travel if they are suspected of corruption. The proposal is part of Russia’s anti-corruption strategy.

Mr. Dmitry Feoktistov, deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's New Challenges and Threats Department, gave the following details to the Moscow Times:

"So far, the network exists only on paper. Essential aspects are still to be defined, for instance, how the network will work and who should be considered a corrupt official [either a convicted felon or a person suspected of corruption]," 

The deputy director is presumably right now busy defining whether Vladimir Putin should be allowed to make one last trip before his rights to international travel are blocked.

Another empty letter by Barroso and Van Rompuy

During the warm summer weeks the EU bureaucracy has been busy putting together a joint letter to the 28 EU Heads of State and Government by the EU presidents Barroso and Van Rompuy about the "key issues coming up for discussion at the G20 summit in Saint Petersburg on 5-6 September", hosted by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. 

The Barroso-Van Rompuy letter is full of the usual phrases lauding the various (empty) "plans", "roadmaps" and "compacts", which the EU is so good at producing: 

"Saint Petersburg Action Plan", Compact for Growth and Jobs, Youth Employment Initiative

Single Resolution Mechanism, EMU roadmap, "Youth Guarantee". "Investment Plan" 

No doubt all those beautiful plans and roadmaps will once again be discussed in St. Petersburg, but one thing is clear; they will not in any way alter this reality:

Unemployment across the 17 European Union countries that use the euro hit another all-time high in May, official data showed Monday.

Across the eurozone, there were 19.22 million people unemployed, 67,000 higher than the previous month — a closer look at the figures show that Italy was largely behind the increase.

Even though the monthly rises outside of Italy were relatively modest, analysts still expect unemployment in the eurozone to continue to rise as the region remains stuck in recession that started in late 2011.

Unelected eurocrat Barroso lectures world leaders

Jose Manuel Barroso, the unelected Brussels bureaucrat and former maoist, is more and more convincing in his role as the new emperor without clothes. Today he was lecturing real world leaders: 

Earlier today, Jose Manuel Barroso said he was tired of being lectured by G20 leaders and urged the international community to be patient as the region tackles its debt crisis.

"We are not coming here to receive lessons in terms of democracy or in terms of how to handle the economy," he told reporters.

"By the way, this crisis was not originated in Europe.e

"This crisis originated in North America and much of our financial sector was contaminated by, how can I put it, unorthodox practices, from some sectors of the financial market."

And to make his point even clearer, the "emperor" added: 

 “The European Union has a model and we are very proud of it.…We are certainly not coming here to receive lessons from nobody.”

One wonders how long the democratically elected world leaders are willing to allow the two European Union clowns, Barroso and van Rompuy, to attend G20 and other similar meetings. Or are the two already considered to be the so established as official court jesters that their presence cannot obe avoided?


PS
Barroso´s PR department has now put the "emperor´s lecture on YouTube. But it is worth noting that the possibility to comment on or rate the video has been disabled. So much for the openness Barroso is bragging about! 

(image wikipedia)