The Malaysian Insider :: World

---

Obama sets deficit target, rips Republican plan Posted: 13 Apr 2011 06:27 PM PDT WASHINGTON, April 14 — President Barack Obama yesterday set a goal of cutting the US budget deficit by US$4 trillion (RM12.1 trillion) over 12 years through spending cuts and tax increases on the rich, rejecting a Republican plan as too radical. Accused by critics of failing to lead on the issue of a ballooning deficit, Obama tried to take the initiative in a sharply political speech that was his first since he announced last week that he was running for re-election in 2012. The deficit, projected to hit US$1.4 trillion this fiscal year, is deeply troubling many Americans. Obama's vow to reduce the deficit boosted the dollar and US Treasuries as investors said the US$4 trillion target was higher than many had expected from the president. But defence company stocks fell after Obama promised to wring savings out of the Pentagon budget. The iShares Dow Jones US Aerospace & Defence Index Fund fell 1.6 per cent. While calling for talks with Republicans on spending cuts, Obama devoted much of his speech to attacking their plan to overhaul the government health programmes Medicare and Medicaid while reducing taxes on wealthy individuals and businesses. Obama said the Republican plan by Paul Ryan, the House of Representatives Budget Committee chairman, offered a "deeply pessimistic" view of the country's future and would change the "basic social compact". "There's nothing serious about a plan that claims to reduce the deficit by spending a trillion dollars on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires," Obama said as Ryan listened in the audience at George Washington University. Short on specifics Obama offered few specifics on how to curb spending. But he said he wanted to end tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans enacted under President George W. Bush. He also pledged to save US$480 billion in Medicare and Medicaid, programmes for the elderly and poor, by 2023 and, significantly, proposed a "debt fail-safe" trigger to force spending cuts if debt levels did not decline as planned. Republicans said Obama's speech showed he was not serious about deficit reduction. They said the steps he outlined would not fix the problem and his proposed tax hikes would hurt the economy. Obama's aides have tried to present him as a leader above partisan politics in the budget debate, but the speech was aimed at voters — both independents clamouring for spending cuts and liberal supporters who want to get rid of the Bush-era tax cuts. He needs both to be re-elected to a second term. "He actually did what he wanted to do, which is to reframe this debate and give himself both a credible plan that won't have the left going ballistic but also gave him the running room to criticise the Ryan plan," said Norman Ornstein, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. "The Republicans have captured the narrative for the last month or two months. Now he's got a plan that's credible enough to really begin to talk about two different visions." The deficit issue has become entangled with the coming debate in Congress on raising the federal government's borrowing limit. Republicans say they will not vote to lift the limit without commitments to rein in long-term deficits. The debt is expected to hit its US$14.3 trillion ceiling as early as mid-May and failing to lift it could raise the spectre of default. The top Republican in the House, John Boehner, said any plan that included tax increases was a "non-starter". "He is asking Congress to raise the debt limit to continue paying Washington's bills," Boehner said. "The American people will not stand for that unless it is accompanied by serious action to reduce our deficit. More promises, hollow targets, and Washington commissions simply won't get the job done." In a sign that Obama has some work to shore up his political base, his approval rating dipped for the second consecutive month, now to 46 per cent, in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released yesterday. The drop was largely driven by a downturn in approval from Democrats. Liberal Democrats were furious last week after Obama agreed to US$38 billion in spending cuts for the rest of this fiscal year that ends September 30 as part of a deal to avert a government shutdown. Many felt Obama had ceded far too much ground to Republicans. Several liberal Democrats said they were reserving judgement on Obama's speech. "This administration has a tendency of getting people's hopes that they'll go in one direction, then reversing field. So we'll have to see," said Representative Dennis Kucinich. — Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

Western, Arab nations say Gaddafi must go Posted: 13 Apr 2011 05:34 PM PDT Protesters rally against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in Benghazi, April 13, 2011. The sign reads: "El Zintan is in our hearts". — Reuters pic DOHA, April 14 — A group of Western powers and Middle Eastern states yesterday called for the first time for Muammar Gaddafi to step aside, but Nato countries squabbled publicly over stepping up air strikes to help topple him. In a victory for Britain and France, which are leading the air campaign in Libya and pushed for an unequivocal call for regime change, the "contact group" of European and Middle Eastern nations, plus the United Nations, the Arab League and the African Union, said Gaddafi must go. "Gaddafi and his regime has lost all legitimacy and he must leave power allowing the Libyan people to determine their future," a final statement obtained by Reuters said. It also said the rebels' national council, "in contrast with the current regime . . . is a legitimate interlocutor, representing the aspirations of the Libyan people". The wording was much tougher than at a conference two weeks ago and gave stronger backing to insurgents fighting to end Gaddafi's 41-year rule. Participants would work on a financial mechanism to help rebels run the eastern region they control. The group also agreed to provide "material support" for the rebels. Although the statement did not give details, diplomats said some nations might interpret this as supplying arms — a key request of the outgunned insurgents. Material support could include "all the other needs, including defence equipment", said Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani of Qatar, a leading Arab supporter of the month-old revolt inspired by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. A French presidential source said Paris had no plans to arm the rebels, although it would not oppose other countries if they decided to do so. President Nicolas Sarkozy discussed Libya with visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron. Britain said yesterday that it would supply 1,000 sets of body armour from surplus British defence supplies to Libyan rebels, on top of the 100 satellite phones already sent. The rebels said they were in talks with "friendly" countries to obtain arms: "I don't think there will be a problem getting weapons," national council spokesman Abdel Hafiz Ghoga told reporters in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. Fighting At Ajdabiyah on the eastern front, rebels said they were exchanging rocket fire with Gaddafi's forces from a point about 40km east of the government-held oil port of Brega. Rebels reported more heavy fighting in Misrata, their main bastion in western Libya, and said they were making progress against forces besieging the city, pushing them back 10km in one area. It was not possible to verify the claim. A rebel sympathiser in Misrata named Ghassan said rebels had pushed back government forces on its central Tripoli Street. "After they withdrew they fired artillery at the Al-Bira neighbourhood, which lies in the centre near Tripoli Street," he said. "We haven't been able to reach the hospital to check whether there were any people killed or injured." A rebel spokesman called Abdelrahman told Reuters fighters had attacked pro-Gaddafi forces on a hill west of Zintan, the rebels' other redoubt in the west. "The main problem in Zintan is fuel shortages. There are also water shortages and electricity is not always available." Libyan television said Nato planes had bombed Misrata and Gaddafi's birthplace of Sirte. A Nato official said there were no strikes in either city, but the alliance had hit anti-aircraft weapons about 24km south of Misrata. The World Food Programme said Libya was facing a humanitarian crisis and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Doha meeting that up to 3.6 million people, or more than half the population, could need assistance. Libya's Planning and Finance Minister Abdulhafid Zlitni told a news conference in Tripoli US$120 billion (RM363 billion) of Libyan assets had been frozen by foreign banks under sanctions, but the country still had reserves in gold and other assets. There were "no legal grounds" for diverting Libyan assets to rebels, he said. Divisions While there was agreement in Doha on the principle of removing Gaddafi, there were divisions over how to proceed. British Foreign Secretary William Hague called for more alliance members to join attacks on ground targets and his French counterpart, Alain Juppe, called for heavier military pressure on Gaddafi's troops to convince him to leave power. But Belgian Foreign Minister Steven Vanackere said the March 17 UN resolution authorising Nato action in Libya — to protect civilians from Gaddafi's government forces — ruled out arming civilians and he saw no need to boost air power there. Britain and France, western Europe's two main military powers, are delivering most of the air strikes on Gaddafi's armour. There is increasing frustration in Paris and London that air strikes have neither tipped the balance of the war in favour of the rebels nor ended devastating shelling of Misrata. Nato's high-flying aircraft are running out of targets they can hit without endangering civilians, experts say. Some argue that the United States could tip the balance with weapons like the A-10 "tankbuster" plane and helicopter gunships, but Washington is reluctant to be drawn more deeply into the war. Juppe called for better coordination with rebel forces on the ground in choosing targets. On Tuesday Juppe said Nato had not done enough to stop Gaddafi bombarding Misrata, where hundreds of civilians are reported to have died in a long siege. His remarks seemed to be at least partly aimed at the United States after President Barack Obama ordered his forces to take a back seat in the Libya campaign. French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet told parliament in Paris on Tuesday that without US ground attack aircraft joining in the strikes, Nato would not be able to loosen Gaddafi's noose around towns like Misrata and Zintan. Rebels attending the Doha meeting said they expected more support, saying Nato was using "minimum" power and needed to step up attacks on Gaddafi's heavy weapons. The rebels said they would ask for US$1.5 billion in aid for civilians. — Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: World To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610