Nulla dies sine linea

Armes dignes de James Bond, techniques de contrebande, routes du trafic. Tout l'univers des narcos est présent dans le «Museo de Enervantes» créé en 1985 pour former les élèves des écoles militaires au combat que mène le Mexique, point de passage obligé de la drogue à destination des États-Unis. «Ce musée sert aussi à montrer aux citoyens mexicains et du monde que nous faisons notre travail et que nous ne cédons pas un pouce aux narcos», explique le capitaine Montane, guide du musée qui justifie son accès restreint : «Le musée est petit. Nous avons seulement 133 m² et il est situé à l'intérieur de l'état-major de l'armée…»

La première des dix salles du musée retrace l'histoire des drogues dans le monde. Du premier usage de l'opium dans la Chine en 1200 av. J.-C., au peyolt hallucinogène des précolombiens jusqu'à la marijuana, introduite en Amérique par les marins de Christophe Colomb pour ses capacités analgésiques. Depuis, la culture des stupéfiants a changé. «Dès les années 1980, les producteurs ont utilisé des engrais et des modifications génétiques», assure Claudio Montane en montrant les plants de pavots exposés dans la salle des techniques de culture. Le pavot traditionnel ne dépasse pas 30 cm de hauteur et possède une quinzaine de bulbes. Le plant modifié mesure un mètre trente de haut et contient plus de quarante bulbes. La production passe de 10 kg de gomme d'opium par hectare à plus de 16 kg.

L'ingéniosité des narcotrafiquants se révèle dans la salle suivante, consacrée aux interceptions : tacos fourrés à la cocaïne, planche de surf à double fond et même implants chirurgicaux. Une photo d'autopsie montre ainsi le corps d'une femme qui avait implanté dans son postérieur des poches de silicones contenant 1,3 kg d'héroïne pure. L'une des poches s'est crevée. Elle est décédée par overdose à l'aéroport de Mexico.

Le logo est familier, l'objet inhabituel. «C'est bien le symbole de Versace qui est incrusté dans la crosse», assure le capitaine Montane, en désignant un pistolet calibre 38 recouvert d'or, incrusté de diamants et siglé de la marque italienne. Il constitue une pièce de choix parmi la cinquantaine de pistolets de collection exposés dans la salle «narcoculture». Les armes des narcos rivalisent de détails fantasques et baroques, comme cet AK 47, trempé dans de l'argent massif. «Toutes les armes fonctionnent», précise le capitaine Montane, «mais des décorations de ce type les rendent dangereuses. Au bout de trois tirs, l'arme devient bouillante.»

Portables dorés à l'or fin

Le kitsch est aussi dans le détail. Les propriétaires marquent les canons de leurs armes de leurs noms de guerre tels que «l'ambassadeur», «le général» ou «el dorado». Des motifs plus imagés ont aussi les faveurs des narcos : tigres féroces, saint Jude de Thaddée ou Santa Muerte, sans oublier les héros de la révolution mexicaine, Emiliano Zapata et Pancho Villa. «Généralement les narcos adoptent un profil bas et ne montrent pas ces objets, précise Claudio Montane mais quand ils font des fêtes ou se rencontrent pour négocier, ils les sortent.» Besoin de reconnaissance, ostentation et intimidation se manifestent également dans des portables. Celui de Daniel Perez Rojas, dit «la Claque», membre fondateur des redoutés Zetas est doré à l'or fin 24 carats. Couvert de pierres précieuses, ce téléphone mobile est serti d'un véritable diamant comme bouton de contrôle. Sa valeur est estimée à 20 000 dollars.

Ce trésor de guerre a coûté cher aux forces armées qui ont perdu 626 militaires au combat depuis 1976, dont 126 sous l'administration du président Calderon, en guerre ouverte contre les narcos.

Samuel Kenny, Le Figaro, 25.11.09

http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2009/11/25/01003-20091125ARTFIG00057-l-hallucinant-musee-des-antinarcos-mexicains-.php

¿Cuál es el origen y la historia del nuevo disco Dust Lane?
Empecé hace dos años y hubo varios periodos en este disco, al principio… como no hago nunca maquetas… empecé a grabar las bases que son más bien acústicas. Al principio quería que fuera un álbum únicamente de canciones. Y poco a poco hubo otro periodo de trabajo que era más eléctrico todo. Y con esas bases empecé a desestructurar lo que tenía. Hay voces en todo el disco, pero no son canciones.

¿Destruyendo lo que había hecho antes?
Si, algo así. Cuando grabo, voy improvisando. En este trabajo fui muy lejos en la improvisación... Y luego vino otro periodo en el que incluí más sintetizador, teclados… Hasta la fase de mezcla iba cambiando cosas, por eso fue un trabajo muy largo.

¿Todo el trabajo de escritura se hace en estudio?
Sí, siempre.

Y solo…
Sí. Bueno, en este álbum iba encargándome de todos los instrumentos menos de la batería, Dave lo hacía. Y de las voces, porque hay coros: Están Matt (Eliott), los Sydmatters, Gaëlle Kerrien y yo.

¿Por qué eligió poner coros y no voces?
Pues, vino así naturalmente. Nos corresponde más. Se impuso así.

La voz de Matt Elliott corresponde al tipo de voz de artistas con los cuales ya colaboró, Stuart A.Stapple o Neil Hannon de Divine Comedy…
Sí, pero aquí son coros, entonces se hizo así. No fue una demanda particular por ejemplo con Matt (Matt Elliott). Habíamos trabajado en un disco de canciones de Coil, y por eso le pedí que participara al álbum…

¿Se siente más cercano a la escena musical anglosajona?
Crecí en Rennes (Bretaña) donde se organiza cada año los Transmusicales y… no sé, no me siento atraído por la escena musical francesa, porque no la escucho. En Bretaña, estamos más lejos del resto de Francia, con la mirada más hacia el oeste que hacia el este. De allí viene, me siento más cercano a la cultura anglosajona y europea…porque Francia…y más aún ahora, está más cerrada.

Recuerdo un concierto suyo en La Route du Rock en el año 1998. Presentaba el álbum Le Phare e iba solo en el escenario, cambiando rápido de instrumento. No lo hace más, ¿por qué?
Resulta que mis primeros conciertos los hacía solo y entonces para no aburrirme necesitaba cambiar de instrumentos, evitar de quedarme sentado al piano durante mucho rato. Poco a poco me harté de eso, no soportaba más ir de un instrumento a otro. Tenía la sensación de encerrarme en algo y empecé a tocar solo la guitarra. Ahora toco más instrumentos pero quedándome en el mismo lugar. No soporto llegar a una rutina.

Dust Lane es un álbum acústico y eléctrico, ¿cómo se le ocurrió incorporar sonidos electro?
Pues este es el álbum que siempre quise hacer, porque escucho músicas muy variadas, y me costó tiempo para que esta mezcla se haga bien y que suene como natural, hecho sin esfuerzos. En mis álbumes anteriores había contrastes entre cada canción y en este ocurre, pero en la misma canción. Tampoco hay silencios entre canción y canción.

El año pasado hizo la banda sonora del documental sobre Tabarly, ¿cómo lo trabajó?
Fue muy natural porque el director era un marinero, comentó el proyecto a unos amigos míos en Ouessant y acepté. Me pareció interesante el hecho de que no había locución, sino puras imágenes. Me puse a componer al piano, lo cual me permitió volver a hacer un álbum con piano.

Hace años que no toca el piano en un escenario…
No, es cierto. Me encanta el piano, pero en el escenario lo encuentro ya muy aburrido. Por eso.

Volviendo al documental sobre Tabarly, ¿usted compuso con imágenes de él en mente?
No, para nada. Yo pienso que la música es todo menos un lenguaje, es muy diferente. Entonces pienso que una música nunca estará vinculada a imágenes. Es imposible escribir una música sobre unas imágenes. Son dos procesos totalmente diferentes. La música es algo emocional, no es un lenguaje, es abstracto.

¿No vio las imágenes al componer las bandas sonoras de películas?
Sí, para que las canciones duren lo que haga falta para la película, es la única obligación que me pongo porque a veces –no fue el caso con Pierre Marcel- los directores tienen una imagen muy precisa de la música y lo veo muy tonto porque creo que se puede poner cualquier música en cualquier imagen, no se debe obedecer a una dirección, un encuadre.

Si Jean Pierre Jeunet -director de Amélie-, le propusiera volver a trabajar con él, ¿Qué diría?
No sé, no me gusta componer para el cine, siempre es algo doloroso. Con Wolfgang Becker (Good bye, Lenin!) lo pasamos muy bien, él era fan de música, yo de su cine, entonces nos llevábamos bien. Pero en el trabajo yo no aguanto que alguien me de consejos o me dirija. Llego a apagar mi teléfono, y presionarme a mi mismo, es algo muy pesado.

¿Un artista a recomendar?
Conocí a Josh Typerson en París y me gusta lo que hace, así que tal vez trabajemos juntos en un futuro.

Céline Gesret, La Vanguardia, 25.11.09

http://www.lavanguardia.es/cultura/noticias/20091125/53830713263/yann-tiersen-componer-para-el-cine-siempre-es-algo-doloroso-bretana-neil-hannon-islas-feroe-riviera-.html

It was 2am on a bleak Belgian Sunday in November when Fina Nicolaes received the news that every mother dreads. Her son Rom, 20, was in hospital in Liège with life-threatening injuries after a Saturday night car crash.

The phone call that woke her up in the Flemish village of Kanne near the Dutch border was 26 years ago. Her son and the four friends in the car with him survived. But six months later, unable to move, speak or signal any kind of understanding, the second-year engineering student was written off as a vegetable, paralysed, brain-dead, awake but not aware.

On Monday night, Nicolaes got a phone call from a friend in the south of France after seeing a report of her son's "miracle" on the television news. "You always said Rom was conscious," said the friend.

Today, Nicolaes, a 73-year-old retired nurse, said: "My daughter and I were always convinced that he understands. It was something inside us. We always believed it."

Now 46, Rom Houben, Nicolaes's only son, was written off as comatose, awake but insentient, for 23 years until a leading Belgian neurologist deployed state-of-the-art tomography and brain-scanning equipment to discover that Houben had a brain that understood virtually everything. He just could not communicate any response or manifest any reaction. The mother's intuition had told her as much for decades, but the doctors and specialists, the physiotherapists and speech experts all concluded that her son was in a "permanent neuro-vegetative" condition.

"After the coma, when there's no change and no response, they call it neuro-vegetative. They said there was no hope," said Nicolaes at her flat in Liège. "At the start we didn't believe it."

So started a desperate odyssey around Belgium, France, and America on a quest for a new chance, an inkling of better news, a hint of medical breakthrough or discovery of some unknown expertise that might defeat the resignation and the fatalism.

Nicolaes, her late husband, and her daughter looked after Houben at home in the village where dozens of locals helped out. They moved to Liège in the hope of getting better treatment. They sought out American experts in Antwerp, others in Ghent. And five times, at their own expense since the medical insurance would not cover such risky expeditions, they took Houben to the Glenn Doman Institute in Philadelphia, a global pioneer in the treatment and diagnosis of brain-damaged children.

They drew a blank everywhere they turned. In 1997, when the father fell ill and the two women had difficulty coping with the physical tasks of caring for a paralysed man, they put him into an institute specialising in the brain-damaged in Zolder, a small town 50 miles from Liège. A few months later, Nicolaes's husband died of cancer. Houben knew because she told him. But no one knew that he knew.

"When father died, Rom couldn't communicate," said Nicolaes. "Now he says 'I couldn't help mum when dad died and I couldn't say goodbye to him'. This year we planted a little tree on father's grave. Rom was there."

Nine years after the father's death, a series of events conspired to break the depressing cycle of constant pessimism from a well-meaning medical profession. Houben's older sister, Tereïn ("they've both got gypsy names because when we were young we liked people who travelled," said Nicolaes) saw a programme on French TV about a breakthrough on what looked like a similar case. She contacted the television and the French doctors who put her in touch with a professional in Ghent specialising in computer aids for the paralysed.

He brought his equipment to the Zolder care centre, where a rudimentary breakthrough took place.

Nurses, speech therapists, the specialist and other medical staff were on hand to use the machinery and to try to get Rom to make a gesture.

Nicolaes recalled: "We needed to make him press the mouse. But how? He was lying down. He's very spastic. He can't control his movements. The doctor saw that he was moving his right foot. We put the mouse under the foot and were shouting, 'Push, Rom, push, Rom, push.' And he pushed. The computer said 'I am Rom'."

Rom then had to remove the foot. "He was moving his whole body to try to lift the foot. The speech therapist said she got the heebie-jeebies."

A few months later the mother and daughter attended a conference on "locked-in syndrome" – the condition of active minds utterly enveloped in paralysed bodies unable to show any human response. The syndrome is often misdiagnosed as coma and severe brain damage. The women met specialists from Ghent and Louvain who recommended Dr Steven Laureys of Liège University, a renowned neurologist.

His examinations brought the big breakthrough three years ago, reported this week by Germany's Der Spiegel magazine. Using the latest tomographic and scanning kit, Laureys found a mind in full working order 23 years after Houben was misdiagnosed.

Using a special keyboard on a computer beside his wheelchair, and with the constant help of speech and physical therapists, Houben can communicate sophisticatedly. "I was only my consciousness and nothing else," he told his doctors. "I'll never forget the day they discovered me. It was my second birth."

Laureys, said Nicolaes, "has a desire to work with people who have no future. He concluded that Rom was suffering from locked-in syndrome, that he was not, after all, neuro-vegetative." In a paper this year, the doctor postulated that as many as 40% of coma cases are wrongly diagnosed, that the 40% are active minds locked in paralysed bodies.

"The big difference is in the way others see Rom," said Nicolaes. "Now he's accepted as a whole person. For me, it means that I no longer have to take all the decisions for him. I can even talk to him on the phone. Linda (the speech therapist) calls me and says Rom wants to speak to me. He writes it on the computer and Linda reads it."

Because of the past medical opinions, Nicolaes's insurer has refused to reimburse her for much of the cost. She is currently engaged in a battle in order to raise the money for semi-permanent speech and physical therapy and specialist help with communication.

"He still needs help to write. He does not have his motor functions," said Nicolaes. "But only the fighters survive. The fight is in the head. You need the will."

Ian Traynor, The Guardian, 24.11.09

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/nov/24/locked-in-syndrome-belgium-research

Récompensée en 2008 de deux César pour son film Persepolis , adaptation grand écran de la série-conte narrant les péripéties d'une fillette plongée dans l'Histoire (la chute du chah d'Iran en 1979), la Franco-Iranienne a depuis acquis une notoriété mondiale. Elle estime que «l'accès à la culture doit être populaire, mais l'idée que l'art est démocratique, que tout individu est là pour faire de l'art est fausse parce que l'art est par définition quelque chose de très élitiste».

Après Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi travaille actuellement sur l'adaptation zau cinéma de son livre Poulet aux prunes , prix du meilleur album au festival de la BD d'Angoulême en 2005. Venue en «curieuse» au Forum d'Avignon, elle assure sans ambages : «Je connais peu et n'apprécie pas le monde financier. Je pense qu'il ne nous apprécie pas non plus». Bien qu'ayant «travaillé avec des producteurs convaincus, qui aiment les projets et se battent pour eux», Marjane Satrapi reste persuadée que la plupart des acteurs financiers de la culture sont «motivés par les bénéfices et se basent sur ce qui a déjà marché. Le problème, c'est que si l'on refait ce qui a déjà marché, l'art n'avancera jamais. Or il faut aussi donner la possibilité de faire des choses atypiques. Je n'aime pas travailler sur quelque chose que je maîtrise déjà ; j'ai l'impression d'agir en traître, connaissant trop bien les ficelles. La peur et le défi sont d'excellents moteurs».

Interrogée sur l'impact des nouveaux moyens de communication que sont Twitter ou Facebook, relais substantiels de la révolte de Téhéran en juin dernier, l'auteur de BD s'avoue partagée. «Twitter et surtout Facebook ont largement permis à l'information de sortir de l'Iran, mais c'est aussi à cause de Facebook que beaucoup de gens ont été arrêtés», souligne-t-elle. Peu adepte des nouvelles technologies, l'auteur de BD se dépeint volontiers à ce sujet comme «réactionnaire, donc très moderne».

Hélène Petit, Le Figaro, 24.11.09

http://www.lefigaro.fr/medias/2009/11/23/04002-20091123ARTFIG00495-marjane-satrapi-l-art-n-est-pas-democratique-.php

Obama ha definido las relaciones indio-norteamericanas como "una de las alianzas decisivas del siglo XXI". El presidente estadounidense ha dicho que India, el segundo país más poblado de la Tierra y uno de los poderes nucleares, resulta esencial para acelerar la recuperación económica, frenar la proliferación de armas atómicas, combatir el terrorismo y frenar el cambio climático.

Al igual que China, India juega, efectivamente, un papel fundamental para los intereses norteamericanos en Asia. Pero, a diferencia del gigante gobernado por el partido comunista, India, la mayor democracia del mundo, comparte también con Estados Unidos los valores de la libertad, la justicia y el respeto a los derechos humanos. Esas cualidades, unidas a su dinamismo económico y su empuje tecnológico, lo convierten potencialmente en un aliado de la talla de Japón, Alemania o Israel. Particularmente en Asia, India constituye, junto a Japón y Corea del Sur, el trío de países destinado a evitar la hegemonía absoluta de China.

Obama parece consciente de esa relevancia y ha agasajado al primer ministro de India con la primera visita de Estado de esta Administración, lo que incluyó una recepción oficial, una larga entrevista y una cena de gala con destacados invitados del ámbito económico y cultural. Además, se ha comprometido a devolver la visita el año próximo.

Terrorismo, cambio climático y proliferación nuclear

Después de décadas en las que la política exterior de India estaba limitada a su histórico enfrentamiento con Pakistán, el Gobierno de Singh afronta una serie de retos internacionales en los que coincide más que colisiona con Estados Unidos.

Uno de ellos es el terrorismo y, por tanto, Afganistán. Si en algún momento cualquier infortunio para Pakistán era recibido con alborozo en Nueva Delhi, en estos momentos una victoria de los talibanes que pudiera desestabilizar también Pakistán no es necesariamente una buena noticia para India.

Como demostraron los ataques de Bombay el año pasado, India está incluida hoy entre los objetivos de los terroristas, que ven en la vieja rivalidad entre hindúes y musulmanes en ese país una oportunidad para hacer avanzar su causa.

Obama y Singh han insistido en su voluntad de colaborar mediante el intercambio de información y otros mecanismos para impedir el progreso de la violencia extremista. "Las fuerzas del terrorismo en nuestra región amenazan a todo el mundo civilizado y deben de ser exterminadas", ha afirmado el primer ministro indio.

Como país en desarrollo y poseedor de armamento atómico, India es también una voz muy influyente de cara a la misión del presidente norteamericano contra la proliferación nuclear. Singh ha asegurado que comparte el objetivo de un mundo sin armas nucleares y ha dicho que participará en la conferencia que Obama diseña para el próximo año sobre ese asunto.

Un papel similar puede asumir India en lo que afecta al cambio climático. Aunque, como reveló la conferencia de prensa que los dos líderes han ofrecido hoy en la Casa Blanca, ya no hay tiempo de que India y Estados Unidos alcancen un acuerdo bilateral antes de la cumbre de Copenhague, el compromiso de ambos de investigar conjuntamente sobre energías limpias y estudiar medidas de limitación de gases, puede en el futuro ser un estímulo para otros grandes contaminantes, especialmente China.

Más comercio bilateral

Pero una nación de más de mil millones de habitantes cuya economía es la de mayor crecimiento mundial es para Estados Unidos, sobre todo, una fuente de intercambio comercial y, como consecuencia, de creación de empleo. Obama ha recordado a ese respecto la necesidad de que los dos gobiernos impulsen un crecimiento "equilibrado y sostenido", que es el modo retórico de mencionar el deseo norteamericano de que la sociedad india compre más productos norteamericanos.

Una de las compras en la que actualmente las empresas de Estados Unidos compiten con las de Rusia y Europa es la del programa de nuevos aviones de combate, al que India ha destinado 10.000 millones de dólares y sobre el que debe de decidir a comienzos del verano. Tradicionalmente, India se ha abastecido de armas, incluidos aviones de combate, en Rusia. Pero en esta oportunidad, el Ejército indio está considerando la posibilidad de diversificar su arsenal, también con el propósito de seguir la estela de Paquistán, que recientemente compró aviones a China y que es uno de los principales receptores mundiales de ayuda militar norteamericana.

Obama no quiso poner en duda el futuro de esa ayuda pero ha asegurado que su deseo es el de una relación equilibrada con India y Pakistán y el de trabajar por una convivencia fructífera entre ambos.

A photograph handed to The Independent claims to show Iraqi civilians captured in southern Iraq being mistreated by British soldiers in breach of international law and the Geneva Conventions.

The incident is to be investigated at a public inquiry to be announced tomorrow by Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth, which will also examine evidence of one of the worst atrocities ever carried out by the British Army.

It is claimed that hours after the picture, left, was taken, the four men were transferred to a UK-run detention camp where they were badly beaten and where 20 other civilians were murdered by British soldiers.

The covering of a prisoner's face and rear handcuffing on the ground is a breach of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions which prohibits the humiliating and degrading treatment of detainees.

When this is done to support interrogations, as in this case, it also contravenes Article 31: prohibition of physical and moral coercion. It is also a breach of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as the Army's own rules on the hooding of prisoners.

The International Committee of the Red Cross raised concerns about similar breaches in February 2004 when it warned the UK and US governments of these practices. The new evidence will add to calls for a full and proper public inquiry into 33 further abuse cases involving allegations against the British Army in Iraq between 2003 and 2008.

Last night, Lord David Ramsbotham, a former commander of the British Field Army and a former chief inspector of prisons, said he believed the picture showed inhuman and degrading treatment. He told The Independent: "There can be few people who have not been sickened, and saddened, by the images of Iraqi citizens being subjected to what is well described as inhuman and degrading treatment, at the hands of certain British soldiers.

"Sickened because this is not the kind of treatment associated with a nation that calls itself civilised; saddened because it besmirches the reputation of the British Army, so carefully preserved by so many people in many different circumstances," he said.

Kevin Laue, the legal adviser to Redress, which works with victims of torture, said: "In my view, what the photograph shows could well constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment ... they appear to have been blindfolded to such an extent that almost their whole face has been covered, including the nose and even the mouth, which if so would obviously make normal breathing difficult...

"The photograph raises numerous questions which would need to be asked and answered to decide if the treatment could be justified. On the face of it, it is wrong," he said.

Phil Shiner, the lawyer who pushed for a public inquiry into the alleged massacre and mutilation of 20 Iraqi civilians in the aftermath of the Battle of "Danny Boy", which involved British forces, near Basra in May 2004, said: "The MoD conceded an inquiry not simply because of late disclosure, but because much of that disclosure supported our clients' allegations.

"This evidence had gone uninvestigated by the Royal Military Police, undermined the MoD's case and showed how it had been misrepresented to the court. An inquiry is essential so that lessons can be urgently learned and, where necessary, perpetrators brought to justice in relation to this incident and the hundreds of other cases involving civilians that we now know went uninvestigated in Iraq."

Government lawyers admitted in the summer that in 2004 the Armed Forces minister had written a draft confidential letter, addressed to No 10, which referred to complaints made by the International Committee of the Red Cross in connection with the alleged ill-treatment of detainees held by the Army after the battle. It was the discovery of this correspondence which led the Government to withdraw its defence to a judicial inquiry into the alleged massacre and abuse of the Iraqis.

Lawyers for the Iraqis and the families of those who died said the case raised allegations that were among the most serious in modern British military history. Tomorrow, Mr Ainsworth will tell Parliament the name of the judge chosen to head the inquiry, referred to as Al Sweady after the lead claimant in the case.

The Government has always maintained that the victims were all killed in battle while their families' lawyers say they were innocent farmers who tried to flee the fighting.

An MoD spokesman said: "We have found no credible evidence that those detained, as a result of the attack on British troops and prolonged fire-fight at the Danny Boy checkpoint, were mistreated.

"The treatment of the detainees shown in the photograph does not amount to a breach of the Geneva Conventions, it is important to remember that our first priority at the end of such attacks is to protect our personnel from further threats.

"The events that followed will, in due course, be considered by the Al Sweady inquiry."

Geneva Conventions

*Hooding, cuffing and forced to lie in stress positions in the sun:

Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions prohibits the humiliating and degrading treatment of detainees.

*Article 31 of the Conventions prohibits physical and moral coercion techniques used to support interrogations.

*Article 3 of the European Conventions on Human Rights bans inhuman and degrading treatment.

The Army's own rules forbid hooding of prisoners and handcuffing their arms behind their back on the ground.

Covering the faces in this way restricts breathing, and to all intents and purposes, is the same as hooding. Its use in May 2004 contradicts the assurances given by the Armed Forces minister in 2004 and General Brims in 2006 to the Parliamentary Joint Human Rights Committee that hooding/face covering had been effectively outlawed.

*Handcuffing to the rear restricts breathing, has been known to lead to deaths in custody and renders a prisoner unable to break his fall if pushed.

Robert Verkaik, The Independent, 24.11.09

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/does-this-picture-show-british-soldiers-broke-geneva-conventions-1826435.html

Ces jours-ci, la troupe joue, d'une seule traite pendant trois heures, Sa Majesté des mouches, de William Golding. A la deuxième sonnerie, comme il est d'usage en Russie, les portes se ferment définitivement, tant pis pour les retardataires ! Le théâtre est une passion qui requiert un minimum de ponctualité. Cinq minutes de retard et votre billet est bon pour la poubelle. La salle affiche complet, des chaises ont été installées dans les travées. Malheur à celui qui ose déranger la concentration du public. Le moindre toussotement, le plus petit froissement de tissu déclenche aussitôt des regards courroucés.

Le Maly fête aujourd'hui vingt-cinq ans de répertoire. Pour l'occasion, la troupe, une soixantaine d'acteurs, a établi ses quartiers en France, à la MC93 de Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis). Le lieu est un peu la seconde maison de Lev Dodine. C'est de Bobigny que sera lancée l'Année croisée de la culture russe et française, dont les réjouissances se prolongeront en 2010.

Du 7 novembre au 6 décembre, huit spectacles sont présentés à la MC93, de l'incontournable Oncle Vania, d'Anton Tchekhov - la pièce la plus jouée au monde - jusqu'aux Démons, de Fedor Dostoïevski - neuf heures avec entracte - sans oublier Vie et destin, merveilleuse adaptation - en trois heures trente - du roman de Vassili Grossman, l'écrivain des totalitarismes.

Voir une pièce de Lev Dodine, c'est entrer dans un monde dérangeant dont il est difficile de ressortir intact. Ni décors somptueux, ni rires gras, ni artifices, mais une plongée dans les méandres de l'âme humaine, dans la plus pure tradition russe. "Nous sommes tous des enfants de Stanislavski", reconnaît Elena, l'attachée de presse du Maly, en hommage au père du théâtre et du cinéma modernes Konstantin Stanislavski (1863-1938) dont le système d'enseignement a inspiré jusqu'à l'Actors Studio.

Les acteurs du Maly ont entre 23 et 60 ans. Acrobates, chanteurs, mimes, danseurs, ils sont des fanatiques du "jouer vrai". Certains sont aux côtés de Lev Dodine depuis longtemps, d'autres rejoignent la famille après avoir suivi ses cours à l'Académie théâtrale de Saint-Pétersbourg, où il enseigne depuis trente-cinq ans.

Pour Lev Dodine, le théâtre est "une quête infinie de la perfection". Il se joue dans la durée, à l'aune d'une vie d'homme. C'est ce qu'il a fait avec Frères et soeurs, fresque de plus de cinq heures sur la vie d'un kolkhoze (ferme collective) à l'époque de Staline, tirée de l'oeuvre de l'écrivain Fedor Abramov. Montée en 1976, donnée au Maly en 1985, elle est encore jouée aujourd'hui par les mêmes acteurs.

D'ailleurs, rien n'énerve plus le maître que "la culture du jetable" qui a contaminé le monde de l'art. Lui et sa troupe ne vivent pas "pour une seule pièce, montée en six semaines, jouée deux mois". Leurs spectacles "mûrissent longuement dansles entrailles du théâtre". Un aboutissement difficile. Lorsqu'il regarde en arrière, Lev Dodine voit ces vingt-cinq ans de répertoire comme "un gros morceau de vie plein de sueur, de nerfs et de sang jeté sur le plancher de la scène".

Cet orfèvre de la mise en scène a deux précepteurs : la littérature et le terrain. "La dramaturgie dicte le théâtre, la prose vous oblige à le chercher, elle vous donne la liberté", explique-t-il. En 1976, lorsqu'il adapte Frères et soeurs, la troupe est invitée à s'imprégner de l'atmosphère de la gloubinka (la province). Les répétitions ont eu lieu au village de Verkalo, près du cercle polaire.

En 2006, lorsque le Maly travaille sur Vie et destin, les acteurs et leur pédagogue se rendent à Norilsk, haut lieu du goulag (système des camps staliniens) pour un filage dans un baraquement. Ils visitent ensuite Auschwitz. Ils se plongent dans les romans de Varlam Chalamov, d'Alexandre Soljenitsyne, d'Evguenia Guinzbourg et de George Orwell.

La lecture de Vie et destin a agi comme un révélateur sur Lev Dodine, issu d'une famille de l'intelligentsia juive de Saint-Pétersbourg. Achevé en 1959, le livre retrace le destin d'une famille prise entre le stalinisme et le nazisme, entre la soumission et la révolte. "Il est temps pour chacun de nous de se débarrasser de l'esclave qui est en nous", disait Vassili Grossman, son auteur, dont la famille a été broyée par les purges staliniennes puis exterminée par les nazis.

Confisqué par le KGB (la police politique), Vie et destin attendra près de trente ans pour être enfin publié en Russie. Lev Dodine le dévore en 1986. Dès lors, l'adapter au théâtre devient "une nécessité absolue". La fondation du milliardaire Mikhaïl Prokhorov, mécène des arts et des lettres, va l'y aider en lui apportant un soutien moral et financier.

Achevée en 2007, présentée en première mondiale à Bobigny, puis à Norilsk, la pièce est un succès. En France, cela va de soi, car l'oeuvre de Vassili Grossman est appréciée. C'est moins vrai en Russie. De plus, en cette époque de réhabilitation du Petit Père des peuples, évoquer, comme le fait Grossman, "le grincement combiné des fils de fer barbelés de la taïga sibérienne et du camp d'Auschwitz" est redevenu tabou. Lev Dodine le reconnaît : "Le gène planté par Staline est encore vivace."

Le livre a réveillé en lui des souvenirs d'enfance. C'était en 1949, il avait 5 ans. "Nous vivions à la datcha (maison de campagne) avec ma mère et chaque soir nous allions à la gare pour accueillir mon père qui rentrait du travail. Les soirs où il n'était pas dans le dernier train, ma mère devenait toute pâle. Dès l'aube nous repartions guetter le premier train. A l'époque, les gens étaient parfois arrêtés après des réunions de travail", raconte-t-il avec émotion.

Il se remémore les chuchotements, la peur : "Ma mère ne me disait rien, bien sûr, mais elle en parlait avec les aînés." Des collègues de son père sont morts au goulag, d'autres en sont sortis, brisés. Lev Dodine se souvient d'un académicien venu leur rendre visite après sa libération : "Ma mère avait préparé une oie mais il n'a pas pu manger. Il n'avait plus de dents, on les lui avait toutes cassées pendant les interrogatoires."

Iniesta se convierte así en uno de los primeros deportistas profesionales españoles en realizar una incursión en la mayor red social de internet. De esta manera, el de Fuentealbilla, además de realizar las ruedas de prensa ante los medios de comunicación, también hará declaraciones a través de su perfil en Facebook.

En su perfil personal de la red social, ya disponible y abierto a todo el mundo, el jugador azulgrana da la bienvenida a sus seguidores y en un vídeo, grabado por él mismo, explica que ha habido dos partidos que le han "marcado de una manera muy especial" en su vida -la final de la Nike Cup, que ganó con 14 años y la eliminatoria del año pasado contra el Chelsea en Champions-, y además espera que el tercero sea el de hoy contra el Inter de Milán para poder "pasar a octavos".

Esta iniciativa parte del propio Iniesta y Nikefootball, quiénes han trabajado conjuntamente para lograr el éxito de esta acción. Así pues, el centrocampista azulgrana adquiere un compromiso personal con los usuarios de todo el mundo que decidan seguirle a través de su propia página personal de Facebook.

La Vanguardia, 24.11.09

http://www.lavanguardia.es/deportes/noticias/20091124/53830689966/iniesta-crea-su-perfil-en-facebook-fuentealbilla-barcelona-champions-chelsea-inter-barsa-milan.html

Benito Mussolini and Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's two most charismatic leaders of the past century, have more in common than we thought.

Both emerged as dynamic leaders when Italian democracy was tying itself in knots. Both enjoyed vast popularity almost amounting to fan-worship, which endured for years and appeared immune to scandal. Both were short and sturdy, of classic peasant physique.

And both, it emerges, had gargantuan sexual appetites.

Both Mussolini and Berlusconi, it emerges, demanded sex in industrial quantities. Even for Patrizia D'Addario, with years of experience as an escort behind her, the number of women Il Cavaliere (Berlusconi's Italian nickname) liked to have on tap was a shock. "The prime minister needs cuddles," she writes in Gradisca, Presidente (Take your pleasure, prime minister). "Having been an escort, I thought I'd seen a fair few things, but I'd never seen 20 women for one man ... Normally in an orgy you have roughly the same number of men and women, otherwise people get upset. But here the other men had no say. There was just one man with the right to copulate, and that was the prime minister."

Mussolini was in the same league. He told his jealous lover Clara – complaining bitterly about him returning to an old flame – that the idea of sleeping with only one woman was "inconceivable". "There was a period in which I had 14 women and I'd take three or four every evening, one after the other ... that gives you an idea of my sexuality." Nicholas Farrell, author of a biography of Il Duce, has calculated that Mussolini enjoyed at least 5,000 women during his life. "Mussolini's butler revealed that he was screwing women all the time," Farrell said yesterday, "even behind Clara Petacci's back."

Like Mussolini, Berlusconi clearly has incredible stamina. Despite his age (74) and a brush with prostate cancer, he was inexhaustible, D'Addario reports – though he failed to satisfy her.

Describing the night they spent together in his villa in Rome she recalls: "After the first assault, in which he achieved complete satisfaction, we started all over again ... He never even appeared slightly tired ... I'd never seen such passion for sex with a woman ... I was honest when he asked me if I'd enjoyed myself. It didn't seem right to lie. He obviously took this as challenge and began again ... Then more sex ... He goes down on my intimate parts and stays there for a long time, such that I thought that he might be sleeping. But no, of course not. He starts up again with more energy than before." He didn't let up until eight in the morning.

The only striking difference between the two men's sexual behaviour is aftercare. Despite her grudges – Berlusconi's alleged failure to do what he promised and help her sort out a property problem, which is why, D'Addario claims, she made their fling public – she admits that the prime minister was the perfect gent in the morning. "Coffee or tea?" he enquired. He raised the possibility of another meeting – "Next time we'll need other women," he decided. And as a parting gift he gave her "a tortoise, covered in precious stones. I had to admit it was lovely."

Mussolini by contrast was far more brusque. According to Petacci's diaries, his trysts occurred anywhere the fancy took him, on the carpet or against a wall, and ended abruptly, without "coffee, liqueur, or even a piece of cake."

What is it about Italy that causes it to produce potentates like this – when elsewhere sexual athleticism is more likely (think of John Profumo or Alan Clarke) to leave a politician on the sidelines or, as nearly happened to Bill Clinton over Monica Lewinsky, to bring a meteoric career crashing to earth?

"Sex is used as an expression of power," James Walston, professor of Italian politics at the American University in Rome said. "It's been a constant since the beginning of humanity, as well as in the animal kingdom." The only reason it is "more explicit and more acceptable" in Italy, he argues, is that it has taken the Italian media a long time to catch up with their colleagues in northern Europe and the US.

"Lloyd George and Kennedy both had many lovers but people in London and the US didn't know what they were getting up to at the time ... Until April 2009 as far as the public was concerned, Italian politicians didn't have lovers: it wasn't an issue until Veronica Lario made an issue of it when she sued for divorce. Until then there was a general agreement in the media that this was out of bounds. Some politicians had lovers, some were gay but nobody heard about it."

And when Lario hurled her thunderbolts, she aimed them carefully, he said. "If she had complained about Patrizia D'Addario, probably no-one would have paid much attention. The reason it became an issue was because she complained about Berlusconi 'frequenting minors' and putting up bimbos as election candidates." And once the dam was broached, media inhibitions vanished pretty fast. Two-and-a-half years ago there was little fuss when an adviser to the then Prime Minister Romano Prodi was caught cruising prostitutes in Rome, and he hung on to his job. But last month when a leading centre-left politician was found to have had affairs with trans-gender prostitutes, he was forced to resign amid a media firestorm.

But Nicholas Farrell, Mussolini's biographer believes there is nothing universal about the wild promiscuity of Mussolini and Berlusconi. Rather it is a reflection of the sexually rapacious culture from which they both emerged.

"Italian men are like this," he said. " If you look at Italian TV it illustrates clearly what men like, and Italian women are prepared to play ball with it – the half-naked girls dancing on the desk in the equivalent of Have I Got News For You, for example. Imagine what Ian Hislop and Paul Merton would say about that. You can't blame Berlusconi for this – it's what the audience wants."

"Both Mussolini and Berlusconi are charismatic leaders," he went on, "both are very popular. You have to talk about the Italian people – what is it about them that they throw up such individuals – why do they get such popular support? The fact is that they like a strong, charismatic leader."

And there is a parallel, he maintained, between sexual charisma and political performance. "Mussolini and Berlusconi achieved far more than, say, Giulio Andreotti or Romano Prodi. And there is a connection between the lacklustre sex lives of those men and their lack of effectiveness in office."

Mussolini... and the mistress

"I hold him tightly. I kiss him and we make love with such fury that his screams seem like those of a wounded beast ... We made love with such force that he bit my shoulder so hard his teeth left a mark." Clara Petacci on Mussolini

"Your flesh has got me – from now on I'm a slave to your flesh ... I have a feverish desire for your delicious little body which I want to kiss all over. And you must adore my body, your giant..." Mussolini to Petacci

Berlusconi... and the escort

"He invited me to dance, a passionate dance. He pulled me towards himself and kissed me on the lips and caressed me. He held me tighter and said, don't go."

"He started to kiss me passionately, on the lips, my neck, my breasts...he covered me with the duvet... He wanted me to know straightaway that he was the man and I was the woman. He entered me and suffocated me with kisses..."

Patrizia D'Addario on Berlusconi

Michael Day and Peter Popham, The Independent, 24.11.09

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/italian-stallions-the-sex-lives-of-mussolini-and-berlusconi-1826454.html