"Obama is the worst nightmare of bin Laden"

The virulent exit number two of Al-Qaeda, Ayman Zawahiri, against Barack Obama shows fear, which the president-elect of the United States within the terrorist network, according to an expert in radical Islam. In an audio message broadcast yesterday on the Internet, the deputy of Osama bin Laden has addressed the first Black access to the White House of "slave" for the whites and denounced his promise to send American reinforcements in Afghanistan. "The election of Barack Obama Al-Qaeda terror," said Fawaz Gerges, chairman of the department of Middle East studies at Sarah Lawrence College in New York and author of two books on jihadism, including Journey of the Jihadist: Inside Muslim Militancy. "Barack Obama represents the worst nightmare of bin Laden," said University of Lebanese origin in a telephone interview. "His rhetoric and symbolism change the rules of the game delegitimizes bin Laden and Al-Qaeda in the eyes of Arabs and Muslims." It was the first public intervention Ayman Zawahiri since the election of Barack Obama to the presidency. The number two of Al-Qaeda has borrowed from Malcolm X, the black American Muslim activist murdered in 1965, the term "domestic slaves" to refer not only the president-elect but also the last two U.S. secretaries of state, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. "What Malcolm X said about black slaves domestic applies to you and people like you," said Zawahiri in a recording entitled "Bush's departure and the arrival of Obama." "You represent the opposite of black Americans as Malcolm X," he added. Registration is accompanied by photos of Zawahiri, Malcolm X and Barack Obama praying at the Wailing Wall during a visit to Israel this year. And the number two Al-Qaeda to comment: "You have chosen to join the ranks of the enemies of Muslims and say the prayers of Jews, although you said that your mother was Christian." According to Fawaz Gerges, the message from Zawahiri could turn against its author, although several Arabs and Muslims began to déchanter about Obama. "There is great enthusiasm among Arabs and Muslims about Barack Obama," said the researcher, who made frequent trips to the Middle East over the past 18 months. "But this enthusiasm has declined over the last six or seven months because Barack Obama is seen increasingly as a centrist politician, an ordinary American politician. "That said, many of the people I interviewed in the Middle East are critical Zawahiri. It accuses him of not achieving concrete with the exception of its videos. It is possible that people are saying: look before judging Barack Obama, it is not even in power. " The transition team of President-designate said yesterday that it does not respond publicly to the insulting of Zawahiri. On the eve of the release of its message, Obama had telephoned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, he promised to continue working to advance the peace process.

Sergei Kostitsyn does not fear a referral

Only player - except for Carey Price - who could be assigned to Hamilton, Sergei Kostitsyn did not seem to do too much with barely veiled threats of Guy Carbonneau. "I do not think we (the players) feel too comfortable in Montreal. I think I can give more to the team, but I do not fear a referral, "said the young Belarusian. And if he was demoted, the youngest of the brothers Kostitsyn agree to the decision of the team where he actually comply luggage to go home? "I stay here," he assured. In addition, Carey Price will be before the Canadian net tomorrow. Alex Auld begin a fifth game in a row to the Senators. The Deputy Martin Gerber has started 12 of last 13 games of his team. It has a goals against average of 2.26 and a very good percentage of efficiency (92.3?%).

Barack Obama promises that "the United States vigorously engage in negotiations" on climate

Barack Obama will not be attending the international conference on climate to be held in Poznan, Poland, on 1 December, but the elected president of the United States fully intends to radically change the U.S. data on global warming . Mr. Obama took the opportunity of an international summit devoted to this theme held on Tuesday 18 November in Beverley Hills, California, to assert, for the first time since his election, the reversal of the United States which, he said, will "vigorously engage" in international negotiations on climate. "When I take my duties, you can be sure that the United States to engage vigorously in these negotiations," he said. Sponsored by the California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Republican committed to environmental causes, the summit welcomed triumphantly statements by Barack Obama. The State of California has committed since 2006 in the fight against global warming through the adoption of a law on reducing emissions, in the spirit of the Kyoto Protocol, that George Bush has refused to ratify . Without a substitute for the Bush administration, which is still in business at the conference in Poznan, the Democrats will work very closely. "I have asked members of Congress who will attend the conference as observers me relate what they have learned," said Obama. Barack Obama has implicitly demarcated the words of the colistière of John McCain, Sarah Palin, who, during the presidential campaign, had questioned the human causes of global warming. "Wait no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response. The stakes are too high, the consequences too severe," he said. A new round of negotiations on climate started in 2007 in Bali to be completed in Copenhagen in 2009. The meetings in Poznan, bringing together nearly 10 000 participants from 170 countries, will test the willingness of countries to give or not a new impetus to an international policy to fight against global warming.

Deepseafishing pirates

The modus operandi was usual, much less the target. Somali pirates attacked the ship as usual: grapnels launched from speedboats, a collision rule by men equipped with GPS, satellite phones, grenade launchers and rifles-AK-47 machine-guns. But their prey, Saturday, was exceptional, unprecedented in the history of piracy: a supertanker Saudi 300 m long, filled with 2 million barrels of oil, a cargo estimated at almost $ 100 million (79 million). For the latest news yesterday evening, the Star Sirius and its 25 crew members - Saudi, Croatian, Polish, British and mostly Filipino - were anchored under the custody of pirates, "off of a Somali port near Haradheere" , North of the capital Mogadishu, according to a spokesman for the Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain. The U.S. Navy did not go into details on a possible military rescue operation. "Disturbing". Somali pirates have laughed at all alerts, all military mobilizations of NATO and the European Union, which in recent months trying to protect the many ships in sea areas most popular commercial on the planet . That pirates prey on cargo ships is not new, but this is the first time they seek a target as important especially as far from their bases assumed. The Star Sirius has been addressed in very high seas, 450 nautical miles (over 800 km) off the coast of Kenya and Tanzania, so close to the Seychelles Islands Party ... Saudi Arabia, inflated oil, with with one quarter of the daily production of the country, he should join the United States, via the Cape of Good Hope. Somali pirates are accustomed to act on other roads, much further north, notably at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden, between Somalia and Yemen. "Even if it is only the latest attack in a general upsurge on the east coast of Africa, it is very worrying because it is the largest ship ever been hacked And because the distance from the coast suggests a very well organized, "said Pottengal Mukundan, director of the International Bureau of Maritime Affairs (IMB), a private organization based in London, but which works with Interpol and the United Nations in the fight against piracy. As in other previous cases, the pirate speedboats have been carried out in the area of the attack by a much larger vessel came the Somali coast. On 25 September, a Ukrainian cargo ship carrying heavy weapons, including tanks, had been taken by pirates off the same coast. "We are not discussing guards camels", explained yesterday at the Reuters specialist piracy. The Sirius Star is a ship of Vela International, the transport subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, the largest oil company in the world and state-owned Saudi now supposed to receive a ransom. "We believe that the 25 crew members were unharmed, said yesterday, a spokesman for Vela International. "They are our main concern. We expect a contact from the pirates. This act will only strengthen the resolve of countries bordering the Red Sea and beyond at the international level to combat piracy, "said the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal. While in recent years appeared to improve the situation in Southeast Asia - particularly in the Indonesian archipelago, the most risky for merchant ships in the early 2000s - it is getting worse in waters African Indian Ocean. According to the IMB, 92 vessels were attacked in the Gulf of Aden and the west coast of Somalia during the year, 36 of them with "success". The Somali pirate groups currently hold 14 vessels of various sizes (including cargo Ukrainian) and holding hostage 268 crew members. "Escalade". Beginning in April, pirates hijacked and had approached the Ponant, a French yacht cruise of 88 m long, taking hostage 30 crew members, before they are released by the intervention of the French army. In recent months, France, Russia, the USA and the UK have reinforced their military presence in the areas most affected. But the operation Saturday, though far from the coast, especially proves that it is impossible to monitor everything. "This is an escalation, said Roger Middleton, a specialist in the Horn of Africa to the research institute Chatham House in London. The military solution can not be an answer, because there is simply not enough shipbuilding capacity to cover the whole area at risk. "According to the U.S. Navy, shipowners have, moreover, not enough investment in the safety of their ships on the coast of East Africa, despite repeated warnings from the IMB. "Companies do not look twice when it comes to protecting their property on land recently considered a senior. Protect their crews and their boats should not be different. " Yesterday, according to the IMB, two new ships lacked the call off the African coast a cargo of wheat for Hong Kong, with 25 crew and a fishing vessel 12hommes.

Obama Hillary covets but is wary of her husband

"This is not taking the same old people in Washington that it will change anything," says Barack Obama during his entire campaign centered on "change". The future Obama administration, which will take office on January 20, seems inclined to favor experience on novelty. Whether Madeleine Albright, 71, former secretary of state chosen by Clinton to be the emissary of Obama at the recent summit of G20, Rahm Emanuel, a former adviser to Bill Clinton that He appointed Chief of Staff, and Hillary Clinton herself. The former primary rival is considered very seriously for the post of Secretary of State (equivalent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) or, more unlikely, as Secretary of Defense. Obama brought Hillary Clinton in Chicago Thursday to discuss those possibilities. According to sources close to the president-elect, cited by several American media, there remains a significant obstacle to this appointment: the transition team wants to ensure that the activities of profit Bill Clinton does not have a "conflict of interest."

Autocrat. The foundation of the former president, the Clinton Foundation (designed especially to combat poverty in Africa, malaria and AIDS), has raised more than $ 500 million since 1998. Donors are mainly foreigners and Bill Clinton has always refused to divulge the list. Many oil monarchies of the Middle East have made significant contributions. The Foundation has been criticized for its lack of transparency and Bill Clinton has already been suspected of having acted without too many scruples.

In September 2005, he visited Kazakhstan in the company of billionaire Frank Giustra to meet President Nazarbayev accused of numerous violations of human rights, particularly by the U.S. State Department. Clinton complimented the autocrat, who two days later granted the mining company Giustra a mirifique contract for the exploitation of uranium deposits in the country. The billionaire then paid 31 million dollars to the Clinton Foundation. The largest donation ever received, says the New York Times reported this story.

Since he is no longer president, Clinton has garnered more than $ 40 million by charging his speech to multinationals, and was enriched by offering its services to other friends billionaires, including Vinod Gupta and magnate Ronald Burkle supermarkets. The latter, which has invested in Dubai and China, have contributed more than $ 12 million in fees to Clinton to "advise" since 2002, according to the New York Times. If the transition team wants to list all conflicts of interest that Bill Clinton could raise in the case of an appointment of his wife, the task may be long.

"They are really concerned that the work of Bill Clinton could really complicate things for Hillary Clinton if she became secretary of state," an official judge Democrat quoted by the online newspaper Politico. The team was concerned less past activities of Bill Clinton as those that could create future conflicts. "The problem is that Bill will have to make sacrifices," said one close Clinton cited by Time. "Hillary would really an excellent secretary of state," said pours Bill Clinton last week in Kuwait, where he was on a business trip. "She worked very hard for this election after the primary battle against Obama, and so," he said. Adding: "But it has not done this in the hope of securing a position ..."

"Lobbyists." Barack Obama is currently reads a book about Abraham Lincoln, president who had appointed his cabinet in several of his political enemies during the 1860s. "Lincoln was a very wise man," Obama said Sunday during his first interview since his election in by 60 minutes.

The very pragmatic Obama, who had protested against the lobbyists during his campaign, did not hesitate to appoint "dozens" of former lobbyists in his transition team - which has 150 people - has revealed the press . Among the newcomers, Pete Rouse, his former chief of staff in the Senate, was given an advisory post, along with Greg Craig, a lawyer who defended Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky affair. Mona Sutphen, a former of the Clinton administration, and Jim Messina, one of the leaders of his campaign, has been promoted deputy chiefs of staff.

"It looks less a new beginning that a day without end", ironically a Republican in reference to the famous film where each day takes place in the same manner as the previous one. "Where is the real change?" Anita Dunn, an adviser to Barack Obama, replied: "Well just look the new president of the United States!"

Montreal is saying no to F1

This is not Montreal, which lost the Grand Prix. Instead abandoned hotel in the Grand Prix of Formula 1. Let us be clear: Bernie Ecclestone demanded 173.6 million over 5 years. Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa offered $ 148 million. And because it was not a good economic decision, politicians have chosen to abandon the race scheduled for 2009.

Still, nearly 175 million dollars is a lot of money to a man and a fast financial crisis. That is a lot of money for Montreal and the governments of Quebec and Canada, when we wonder if we will not, we also caught by the recession.

In fact, I wonder if this is not Bernie Ecclestone who is going to be its business model crumble. The man pilot entertainment interesting for lovers of speed, but in times of recession, may suffer from a slowdown in consumer spending.

Apart from the oil countries, one wonders who can really afford a grand prize in the coming years. Already, France withdrew from Formula 1 for 2009. Belgium is at risk. Australia, including the Grand Prix is negative, reflecting. There will be no Grand Prix in the United States next year. And China apparently would review the agreement signed with the boss of F1 races scheduled for after 2010.


Several emerging countries should join the F1 tour in the coming years, including South Korea and India. But it is questionable whether these developments will indeed take place.

Turkey, emerging to replace Canada in June next to the calendar, could also be called upon to rethink membership from Istanbul to the race, when the economy slows down. Turkey is currently negotiating a new loan with the IMF after having attended a massive withdrawal of foreign capital in recent months. Capital had largely fueled the Turkish economy for five years.

According to the economist Eckhard Siggel, RDI interviewed live on the economy, "if an emerging country received a lot of foreign capital in the short term, it is very vulnerable, because the money will disappear quickly. [...] The countries of the East are very vulnerable now. Several accounts have very negative and no major reservations. "

In calendar 2009, over 17 races, six are held in emerging countries or in cities that could affect their participation. What has been told to economist Philip Merrigan, RDI still live on the economy, it is "not convinced that will not the Grand Prix in Montreal. "

According to him, "Mr. Ecclestone could have very unpleasant surprises, if the global recession is also high that currently sees progress. Sell tickets at prices several hundred dollars, it is not clear that wherever he goes go, it will find takers. "

Philip Merrigan is of the opinion, in fact, that Bernie Ecclestone gets a big finger in the eye: "Still, he is not alone there. He has two other partners, including one that comes to bankruptcy: Lehman Brothers. His situation is not as good as that. "

It is clear that Montreal loses an international event exceptional. The name "Montreal" resounded at least once a year in dozens of countries. An advertisement for an extraordinary city that is not part of the great metropolises of the world.

Still, Montreal is a dynamic city, a city of culture and celebration. The disappearance of the Grand Prix does not compare to the departure of the Expos in 2004. A team that played in an economic unsuitable for small markets. We must build on later on the future, the definition of Montreal.

Architecture, culture, celebration, ecology, sustainable development, opportunities to better define this city, better value and make it loved by its people and tourists are immense. The departure of the Grand Prix we must whip ...

The head of the ADQ refuses to apologize

Mario Dumont accuses Guy A. Lepage of having "sensitive skin" and does not intend to apologize for having alleged that Jean Charest had received preferential treatment on the set of Everybody talks about it.

The head of the ADQ said yesterday that it was "recorded in words covered in his biography written by journalist Denis Lessard. But he could not prove the veracity of his claims because the book does not describe the facts in the same way. Nowhere is it mentioned that advertising would have to "fix" the interview with the team Everyone's talking about. "Mr. Bissonnette, Zone 3, well known in the media in Montreal, was not far behind. The former companion in arms of Mario Dumont had long advised Charest before recording, simply says Denis Lessard. The Sun tried to join Michel Bissonnette, yesterday, but he refused interviews. He is chairman of the Liberal campaign.

Mario Dumont has interpreted that phrase differently and had remained under the impression that the transition from Jean Charest to the issue was a play. "If I have misinterpreted the texts of books, if these people have never spoken to the individual advertising in question, they say and I will respect the interpretation. (...) But on the merits, it does not change anything, "he argued.

The head of the ADQ contends that he had decided upon leaving the issue Everyone talks about it would never feet on this plateau. "And when I saw the treatment as others have, I was convinced."

Even if he can not prove his allegations, Mr. Dumont has refused to retract. "Poor guy," he said when a reporter reminded him that in English Guy A. Lepage awaited apology.

The head fitness for further defended his participation in the show Thank God!, Which will be broadcast on November 30. "There is not the beginning of the beginning of a link between the two. (God thank you!) Is a game that my kids love and when I was invited, they made me promise to go, "he said, adding that he did not know then that the issue would be circulated during the campaign.

The head fitness for also refused to make a link between his appearance on Thank God! with a blonde wig and the presence of André Boisclair in a parody of the film Brokeback Mountain. "I would not describe the scenes of whipped cream and other," he said with a laugh.

Mr. Dumont was also ironic when a journalist has pointed out that Lepage had not asked Jean Charest to present its financial framework during his last visit. "Yes huh! I'm there. "

Jean Charest has for its part said "surprised" by the release of Mr. Dumont. "I do not know where it fate or why he invents things like that," he responded yesterday.

In no way, swears he did his entourage participated in the preparation of the issue with the people of Everyone's talking about. "We do not know the questions, we do not know the format, and it does absolutely nothing either in mounting the show. And it does nothing and we are not mounting. We see at the same time as everyone else on Sunday evening. "Mr. Charest stressed that this is not his favorite type of interviews since the kind of issue mixing public affairs and varieties.