Monday, May 6, 2024

Vogon Today

Selected News from the Galaxy

StartMag

All Panzeri’s ideas on Qatar, Ukraine, Trump and NATO

1 year ago babelfish

All Panzeri's ideas on Qatar, Ukraine, Trump and NATO

The former MEP, first Pd and then Article One, Antonio Panzeri, arrested in the context of Qatargate, in the past has launched attacks on NATO, Israel, Trump and Saudi Arabia. Here's how and where

The winning team of the World Cup in Qatar has not yet been decreed that already an investigation by the Brussels Public Prosecutor's Office is making the European political leaders tremble. "For several months, the investigators of the judicial police have suspected that a Gulf state (Qatar) has tried to influence the economic and political decisions of the European Parliament", confirmed the federal prosecutor in Brussels.

THE INVESTIGATION BY THE BRUSSELS PUBLIC PROSECUTOR

The investigation focuses on the alleged crimes of public corruption, criminal organization and money laundering. Among those arrested in Brussels there is also Pier Antonio Panzeri , MEP from 2004 to 2019, first with the Ulivo, then with the PD and since 2017 he has been a member of Article 1, a political entity for which he was responsible for European and international policies. Antonio Panzeri's wife and daughter, Maria Colleoni, 67, and daughter Silvia, 38, were also arrested.

PANZERI'S NGO WHICH WANTED TO FIGHT IMPUNITY

Panzeri develops skills and interests in the field of foreign policy, human rights and in the field of economic problems, employment and work and social needs. Since 2019 Panzeri has been president of the Fight Impunity association, an NGO whose mission, according to what is written on its website, is "to promote the fight against impunity for serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity by having the principle of responsibility as a central pillar of the architecture of international justice”. The NGO wants to act as a third party between the State and the individuals whose rights it claims to want to protect. “ Although a series of mechanisms already exist at international and regional level to supervise the responsibility of the states and individuals concerned and ensure accountability for the violations committed, it is essential to strengthen existing actions and measures in order to increase their effectiveness”. The Fight Impunity board includes leading figures in Italian and European politics, such as Emma Bonino (former European Commissioner and leader of Più Europa with Benedetto Della Vedova) and Federica Mogherini (former High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and security policy). Also present were the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner Denis Mukwege, former European Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos and former French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

THE WAR IN UKRAINE AND THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF NATO ACCORDING TO PANZERI

In the preface of the XX Report on global rights , a document edited by the Associazione Società INformazione Onlus with the collaboration of the NGO Fight Impunit, Panzeri gives his version on the war in Ukraine. “A conflict – the primary responsibility of which rests with the Russian Federation and the territorial aggression carried out – which has not been known and unwilling to prevent, curb, mediate and stop by the West, the United States and the European Union in particular, by accepting the dangerous strategy of NATO's enlargement up to the Russian borders and sometimes favoring its dramatization and the concrete risks of further degeneration – writes Panzeri with Luca Visentini -. Like any war, including the many others underway but hidden and forgotten, the one in Ukraine has seen crimes and human rights violations in the territories directly affected, but, at the same time, has helped to hide and "normalize" them in many other parts of the world , as well as to induce processes of further vulneration of the state of democracy and law everywhere”.

PANZERI'S EXTERNAL AGAINST HUNGARIAN PREMIER ORBAN

From the columns of the Huffington Post in 2020 Panzeri called on the European Union not to lower its attention to the issue of human rights. Panzeri pointed the finger at the “ literal cancellation of democracy implemented by Orban can only see a vehement European reaction. A dictatorship cannot be part of Europe”. To this he added the shrinking of the spaces and quality of democracy by taking advantage of the restrictions imposed by the Covid19 pandemic. “Just to name a few examples: in Iran, the authorities are brutally cracking down on anti-government protests; in Egypt, the prison of Ibrahim Ezz El-Din, defender of human rights, is arbitrarily extended ; in Saudi Arabia Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz al Saud was unjustifiably removed from his house arrest, his fate is no longer known; in Algeria Karim Tabbou is sentenced on appeal without the presence of his lawyers; in Turkey, convictions are confirmed for Gezi Park protesters, including Osman Kavala ; and in Thailand, anyone who criticizes the government's actions on Covid-19 or reveals scandals and corruption in the health sector faces heavy retaliation".

PANZERI'S SENTENCE: TRUMP CAUSES ISRAEL'S REACTION

In 2018 there was a resurgence of clashes between Israel and the Palestinians. In the Great March of Return, protesters demanded that Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to the lands from which they were displaced in what is now Israel. The protests also concern Israel's land, air and sea blockade of the Gaza Strip and the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. “I believe that the behavior of the Israeli armed forces must be condemned and all solidarity goes to those who have been affected – said Panzeri -. Obviously, Trump's choice to move the embassy is a provocation that will herald further problems not only between Israel and Palestine , but throughout the Middle East. A very dangerous mixture is being built between Israel, the USA and Saudi Arabia which can cause very dangerous drifts”. And he called on the EU to do its part. “ Europe will never be able to play a leading role if it does not raise the dignity of a foreign policy. This is not given because there are individual states which, on the basis of their particular interests, act in geopolitics in a non-unitary way”, he added.

WHEN PANZERI SIDED AGAINST THE SUPERCUP IN SAUDI ARABIA

Also from the columns of the Huffington post, an old article of his from 2019 Panzeri criticized the choice of the Serie A League to play the Italian super cup, between Lazio and Juventus, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “ There are so many reasons why the Super Cup shouldn't be played in Saudi Arabia . The fact that women can only watch the match next to men – a fact that aroused the indignation of Italian public opinion a few weeks ago and then ended up, as often happens, forgotten – is only the latest in a long list”, wrote Panzeri. And to explain the unreliability of the regime he recalled the case of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist of the Washington Post who entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul never to leave again. “ His fault was to publish articles critical of the Saudi government , this guaranteed him an atrocious death. Crown Prince Bin Salman was unable to stammer any excuses. First he denied, then, faced with the evidence, he simply waited for public opinion to look the other way – he wrote -. We are all aware that the organization of the Super Cup is a private matter in which money, as always, acts as a compass, but until when can we continue to sacrifice human rights and universal principles in exchange for business?”. Issues that do not seem to apply to Qatar.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/tutte-le-idee-di-panzeri-su-qatar-ucraina-trump-e-nato/ on Mon, 12 Dec 2022 14:14:47 +0000.