Five things we learned from the Premier League this weekend

Liverpool fun to watch again; Manchester rules; Blackburn don't have to panic; give Ireland a chance and sympathy for Rodallega

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Summer signing Charlie Adam is one of the reasons Liverpool are fun to watch again. Photograph: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

Liverpool are fun to watch again

Liverpool started 2011 with an entirely different sort of victory over Bolton Wanderers from the one they enjoyed on Saturday. It came just after a 1-0 defeat at home to Wolves which represented the nadir in Roy Hodgson's reign, was secured by a 90th-minute winner from Joe Cole and served only to paper over the very obvious cracks. The style of football was appalling, the fans were in a volcanic funk and Hodgson, about as popular on Merseyside as An Evening with Gary Neville at the Everyman, was gone by the following Saturday, replaced by Kenny Dalglish. If Hodgson had not been sacked, there was a possibility that Liverpool could have been relegated – unlikely but not unimaginable.
How different the outlook is now. Above all else Dalglish's biggest achievement has been making Liverpool watchable again, perhaps for the first time since the days of Roy Evans. An afternoon watching a Gérard Houllier side was enough to make one search the TV guide to see if the test card was on even if his sides were generally successful. Rafael Benítez was not necessarily negative but his teams were controlled and could be defensive; they had spurts of attacking brilliance, particularly in March 2009 when they put 13 goals past Real Madrid, Manchester United and Aston Villa, but it was never sustained.
Dalglish is changing that, allowing Liverpool to play with a freedom and inventiveness which has not been their trademark of late. Last season Liverpool hinted at a side about to burst into life when they beat Fulham 5-2 and Bolton were similarly helpless on Saturday. It could have been more than 3-1. It would have been if Luis Suárez's aim had not been off in front of goal. Not that his lack of accuracy mattered when he could produce such a marvellous assist with the outside of his right foot that led to Jordan Henderson scoring his first goal for the club with a curling shot.
Henderson has struggled to convince Liverpool's fans of his worth but against Bolton he was an important part of a midfield that passed elegantly, moved well off the ball and had width in the shape of Stewart Downing. It has been unkindly suggested that Charlie Adam provides a different sort of width as well but he looked in fine fettle. And anyway, who needs to run when you have his vision? Although Liverpool are not about to mount a title challenge, they must be increasingly confident of a return to the Champions League. JS

La Liga does not look so uncompetitive now

Manchester 13-3 north London sounds like a Housemartins album and it looks like the dawn of a new era. Manchester is now the epicentre of English football for the first time since 1968, when Manchester City won the league and Manchester United gazumped them by winning the European Cup. Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur finished fourth and fifth last season; the former were in for four trophies at one stage, the latter got to the last eight of the Champions League. And both were humiliated in a manner few would have predicted.
Plenty in England have spent the last few years calling Barcelona and Real Madrid a rich man's version of Celtic and Rangers, which does not look so clever now. United's 8-2 win over Arsenal was something of a freak given the depleted nature of Arsène Wenger's side and the state they have got themselves into, but City winning 5-1 at White Hart Lane is more portentous. Harry Redknapp is not making excuses when he says Spurs cannot compete with City. He is just telling the truth, although United are not so intimidated. Chelsea may find themselves in the unusual position of neutrals hoping they get their act together under André Villas-Boas, if only for a bit of variety at the top. JS

Blackburn don't have to panic yet

Not too much sympathy should be afforded Blackburn for their two missed penalties in the 1-0 home defeat by Everton, Junior Hoilett and Mauro Formica the guilty parties. Failing to score from 12 yards is hardly ever unfortunate. John Terry hitting the post in Moscow in 2008 was not unlucky. No one else slipped. It was just poor technique. The same applies to Brazil in their Copa América quarter-final against Paraguay last month.
However, Blackburn do not have to panic yet, especially as the promoted sides have managed only one win between them. Although Rovers have picked up zero points from their first three games, winning the penalties in the first place at least means they must have been doing something right and they certainly had enough chances to beat Everton. That they failed was down to wastefulness and an exceptional display from Tim Howard, while they lost only because of a ludicrous decision by Lee Mason to award a penalty for a supposed foul by Christopher Samba in the last minute.
Steve Kean – who does, admittedly, seem out of his depth – should be more worried about losing a game to Everton in August. Not even all the fried chicken in the world could make up for that embarrassment. JS

Villa need to give Ireland a chance

After the outpouring of anger from Aston Villa fans following the appointment of Alex McLeish, the former Birmingham manager said he would do his best to bring the fans on side. "Let me prove myself and I will win you over … I am the man for this job," he said. After seeing the type of football their city rivals played, fans were sceptical and Saturday's turgid display in the Midlands derby against Wolves showed they have a point. It was the lowest Premier League attendance (30,776) for Wolves' trip to Villa Park since December 2006 – read into that what you will but it does not bode well for McLeish.
Attractive football attracts the fans but Villa did not provide anything resembling that on Saturday. The majority of the passes from Villa's central duo, Fabian Delph and Stiliyan Petrov, were centred around the middle of the pitch with neither player offering any sense of penetration. Most of Delph's and Petrov's passes that went awry were those aimed towards the goal. McLeish, of course, has a ready-made solution for this lack of creativity in Stephen Ireland.
In the 2008-09 season Ireland was named Manchester City's player of the year and awarded a five-year contract on the back of his midfield exploits where he was the creative fulcrum for Mark Hughes's side. But things have not gone so well for the Irishman since. When the millions rolled in at City, he rolled out to Villa. There he was criticised by Houllier last season – "Ireland needs to work harder … We know he is a good player but I don't want to have a situation where you say 'he is a good player, but … '" – before spending the second half of the season enduring a difficult loan period at Newcastle.
But Ireland, when on form, has exactly the sort of qualities that the Villa midfield lack. He can carry the ball forward, split defences and create chances, qualities that neither Delph nor Petrov has or certainly shows on a regular basis.
After two goalless draws this season it is time for McLeish to put his confidence in Ireland and give him an extended run in the side. Otherwise he may just find that more boring draws follow and that fans keep voting with their feet. IMC

Oh you … beauty!

We've all been there. You're waiting patiently for a pass. You haven't seen much of the ball all afternoon. You're in space. Your fellow striker has the ball. And he's going for another shot. His 13th of the match. Like every shot he's had, it will be heading into orbit. So you get ready to aim a load of vitriol the way of the greedy bugger, only to see the ball fly off his boot and into the top corner, the script going a little like this: "WHY WON'T YOU PA … OH WHAT A GOAL! YOU GENIUS!"
Which was the fate of Wigan Athletic's Hugo Rodallega against QPR. Piqued by Franco Di Santo taking a cross off his toes, the Colombian flung his arms in the air as if he really did care and got ready to blast his team-mate, only to see Argentina's answer to Emile Heskey turn and score. Hugo, you have our sympathies. And as we are in a generous mood, we will ignore the fact Di Santo's effort took a massive deflection off Bruno Perone. JS

Arsène Wenger is safe, say Arsenal amid fears over manager's health

'We are right behind the manager,' says Arsenal source
• Crisis leads to soaring stress levels for Wenger

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• David Hytner
• guardian.co.uk, Monday 29 August 2011 23.07 BST
• Article history

Arsène Wenger and his assistant Pat Rice are under increasing pressure to rectify Arsenal's ills. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images
Arsène Wenger has been reassured that he retains the full support of the Arsenal owner, Stan Kroenke, and the board of directors as he fights to complete new signings before Wednesday's transfer deadline and lift the club from its crisis. The mood remained flat and sober after Sunday's 8-2 Premier League humbling at Manchester United, which has intensified the pressure on Wenger. There continues to be concern at the club for the Frenchman's health, given the levels of stress that he is under, while he also faces the question about whether he has anything more to give. Kroenke has said nothing in public since he became Arsenal's majority shareholder and he did not want to go on the record with a vote of confidence for Wenger in case it might be misconstrued. The same was true of Ivan Gazidis, the club's chief executive, who is in daily contact with Wenger as they work towards making the signings that would serve as a tonic. But an Arsenal source said: "The club is very much behind Arsène Wenger from Stan Kroenke to the board, downwards and sideways. There is absolutely no suggestion of any conversations about his future. We are right behind the manager who has led us to such great success for 15 years." Arsenal have been keen to stress that they do not take hasty decisions on the back of a couple of results. In the previous league game Wenger's team had slumped to a 2-0 home defeat by Liverpool. Wenger has faced crises before and has come through them, although there is little argument that he is in the throes of his most trying period. The target in the coming days is to strengthen a squad who have come to look thin after a spate of departures, chief among them Cesc Fábregas and Samir Nasri, and a run of injuries and suspensions. Wenger has sanctioned the transfer of Armand Traoré to Queens Park Rangers, despite his only other recognised left-back, Kieran Gibbs, being out with a hamstring injury and having a questionable fitness record. However, reports from Turkey claimed Arsenal were close to agreeing a £5.5m deal for the Fenerbahce left-back Andre Santos. The 28-year-old Brazilian has been capped 22 times for his country and has valuable Champions League experience. Wenger has also said he wants a central defender with Premier League experience and he has moved for Everton's Phil Jagielka and Bolton Wanderers' Gary Cahill among others. Everton's £20m valuation on Jagielka appears to be prohibitive for Wenger. There is a stronger possibility that he will close a deal for Cahill, despite sparking an argument with Bolton last week over his opening offer of £6m rising to £10m on performance-related goals. Wanderers described that as "derisory". Gazidis has made it clear that Wenger had a "substantial" transfer budget and that was before they raised £59m through the sales of Fábregas and Nasri. But the knowledge that Wenger has so many millions at his disposal has brought its own problems, with rival clubs demanding inflated fees. Wenger has offered £22m to Rennes for the France holding midfielder Yann M'Vila but the French club have told him he must pay £30m, which looks to have scuppered any deal. Arsenal have also declared an interest in the Chelsea midfielder Yossi Benayoun. In attack, where Wenger has said that he needs another body, Arsenal are poised to announce the £1.8m capture from Monaco of Park Chu-young, the 26-year-old South Korea captain. The fee will rise with add-ons, one of which is dependent on Park being excused his national service. Every Korean must serve for two years before they are 28. Park has completed his medical at Arsenal but he has travelled back to Korea for the international break. Arsenal will make the gesture to their supporters who travelled to Old Trafford of covering the cost of a ticket to a Premier League away game, by way of an apology for the performance. "Sunday's result was obviously disappointing for everyone connected with the club," they said in a statement. "Our travelling fans were magnificent throughout and we want to recognise their fantastic support. We will be writing to them shortly with the details."

Win-Win for President Aquino’s China Visit?

Repairing fragile relations with China strained by the execution in March of three Filipino drug mules is certain to top President Benigno Aquino’s agenda when he arrives in Beijing late this month.

Both Mr. Aquino and Chinese President Hu Jintao have a vested interest in stabilizing relations between two countries whose peoples share common roots. Former president Corazon Aquino, Mr. Aquino’s mother and one of his predecessors, visited her ancestral home in 1988 in Fujian province’s Honjian village as a reminder of the Chinese origins of many of her people.

Mr. Aquino’s five-day visit offers both men an opportunity to calm rising tensions over competing claims to parts of the South China Sea isles. China disputes the claims of the Philippines as well as those of Malaysia, Vietnam, and Brunei.

Tensions have mounted following Vietnamese naval exercises in the disputed waters and a Philippine request from the United States for a guarantee that it would protect its former colony in case of a Chinese attack. The tensions have rendered the 2003 Declaration on Conduct in the South China Sea signed alongside a friendship treaty between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China meaningless.

As in all things Asian, Mr. Aquino’s visit could well calm rattled nerves even if the execution of the Filipino drug mules sent a tough message. The three were executed despite Philippine Vice-President Jejomar Binay having secured a temporary stay during his visit to China in February.

Mr. Aquino’s visit is like a family member visiting third degree relatives. They are distant enough to be forgotten until problems arise, but close enough to demand respect and courtesy for the sake of family harmony. Filipinos see Mr. Hu’s invitation to Mr. Aquino as a recognition of their country as an emerging regional power. That will go a long way in easing tensions in the South China Sea.

The visit will most likely include sumptuous meals in Beijing’s grandiose banquet halls, the signing of numbers of agreements pledging stronger trade and commercial ties between the two countries; visits to China’s favorite tourist spots and perhaps an early morning trek up the Great Wall.

All of this to boost investment as well as trade that last year soared to $10.35 billion, a 54 percent rise compared to 2009, making China the Philippines’ third largest trading partner. Some 400 Filipino businessmen have asked to be allowed to accompany Mr. Aquino on his visit to China, eager to explore opportunities for China’s booming consumer market.

Investment too has been a two-way road with Filipino investors venturing onto the mainland. The Jollibee Group is opening food outlets in China’s major cities; mall magnate Henry Sy has built SM Malls in southwestern China and the Ayala Group of Companies is producing semi-conductors in China.

For their part, Chinese companies are omnipresent in the Philippines. Great Wall Motors last year opened an automotive manufacturing plant and the Philippine and Chinese transport ministers are expected to revive stalled negotiations on the Northern Railway project that will connect Manila to the northern provinces.

Increased cultural exchange bolsters trade and investment ties. Filipino students troop to Beijing to learn Mandarin. Filipino tourists flock to the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, and the Xian archaeological sites. The more adventurous ones look at riding the high-speed train from Chengdu to Tibet, or retracing Marco Polo’s journey along the Silk Road once China has finished rehabilitating it.

Chinese tourists are enamored by the Taal Lake, an underwater volcano located south of Manila. Daily direct flights from Xiamen to Cebu City in southern Philippines ferry hoards of Chinese tourists; tourists and businessmen fill seats on daily flights from Manila to Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen operated by Philippine Air Lines and China Southern Airlines.

Mr. Aquino’s visit highlights China’s successful use of soft power to build relationships based on inducements and gestures of goodwill rather than aggression and interference in domestic affairs. China’s success is evident in turning Southeast Asia into a peaceful and prosperous backyard that allows it to concentrate on modernizing its economy.

The upbeat mood of the Philippine media towards President Aquino’s visit can’t be missed. The opportunity to solve conflicts and deepen business ties in typical Asian fashion through friendly conversation over a steaming cup of noodles and clicking chopsticks bodes well, both for Chinese soft power and Filipino entrepreneurship.

Teresita Cruz-del Rosario is Visiting Associate Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. She was formerly Assistant Minister during the transition government of President Corazon Aquino. She has a background in sociology and social anthropology and specializes in development, Chinese investments in Southeast Asia, migration, and social movements. She can be reached at tdelrosario@nus.edu.sg

Group vows to oppose oil exploration with China

Monday, August 29, 2011

MANILA -- Bayan Muna party-list group on Monday vowed to block the joint exploration planned between the Philippine Government and China-owned Sino Petroleum Corporation in the disputed Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea.

“We will again try to block this new sell out of our sovereignty and stop this treasonous plan of the current government,” Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares said in a press statement.

Bayan Muna party-list also urged the Supreme Court to immediately resolve its petition challenging the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) agreement with China and Vietnam. During the term of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the JMSU allowed Vietnam and China to explore areas within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

“We provided China as well as Vietnam with valuable intelligence and data on the location of our oil and natural gas reserves in the Spratlys. This information led China to be more aggressive in putting up structures in the area…While the AFP is asking for billions of pesos to modernize their equipment ostensibly using the Spratlys dispute as basis, the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) is working to give intelligence information to China. This is treason!” Colmenares said.

DTI Undersecretary Cristino Panlilio earlier said the project is part of the $2-billion investment package the Philippine delegation is expected to take home from President Benigno Aquino III’s visit to China this week.

Sino Petroleum Corporation, which has reportedly agreed to conduct the oil exploration “under Philippine laws”, is prepared to invest over $1 billion for oil exploration alone. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)

China, Vietnam to resolve disputes by consultation

BEIJING - China and Vietnam pledged to resolve disputes in the South China Sea through consultations and negotiations on Monday.

The pledge came out of a meeting between Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie and Vietnamese Vice Defense Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh.

"China is willing to work with Vietnam to firmly safeguard the two countries' common strategic interests and overall relations as well as peace and stability in the South China Sea by strengthening communication and consultation as well as preventing outside provocation that could spoil the two countries' relations," Liang said.

"China opposes complicating and internationalizing the issue of the South China Sea and insists on resolving disputes through consultations and negotiations," Liang added.

"Currently, both sides should make efforts to actively promote joint development, increase mutual trust through cooperation, and enhance stability by increasing mutual trust," he said.

Nguyen Chi Vinh said Vietnam attaches great importance to developing a comprehensive strategic partnership with China and hopes to work with China to strengthen communication and cooperation in all areas between the two countries and their militaries so as to safeguard regional peace and stability.

He said the two countries should resolve disputes in the South China Sea through mutual trust and friendly consultations, and not allow any outside forces to spoil Vietnam-China relations by intervening in the disputes.

Shell-shocked Arsenal troops led by a general stripped of his virtue

When his side was invincible, Arsène Wenger was quite properly given credit for his genius. Now failure has to be laid at his door

Arsène Wenger has pursued a policy of restocking his squad with promising young players but not enough of them have fulfilled his ambitions, and not enough senior players of stature have been recruited. Photograph: Carl Recine/Action Images
If they were a regiment of soldiers, Arsenal would be swiftly withdrawn from the line. In their fifth game of a new season, they looked weary and shell-shocked. The general who led them to so many victories now stands stripped of his virtue, his plans dismantled by an old foe whose own troops looked fit for this or any other battle. Arsène Wenger is a strong character – no one who survives at the helm of a Premier League side for a decade and a half could be anything else – but in the wake of this defeat, in which Arsenal conceded eight goals for the first time in more than a century, you had to wonder whether he will be able to summon the resilience needed to overcome such a catastrophe. "You know me well," he said on Sunday night, from behind a dignified façade. "I think you should give me some time before you say I have got it completely wrong." But everything he has built with such loving care over 15 years had just come crashing down at the home of the club who have provided the reference point since his arrival in England and whom he once aspired to remove from the pinnacle of English football. In effect, Sir Alex Ferguson had taken him on at his own game – the placing of trust in skill, enterprise and gilded youth – and triumphed in every conceivable dimension. Back in 2002, after his side had just won the Double, Wenger spoke of "a shift in the balance of power". He was talking about disrupting United's hegemony on a permanent basis, and for a while he seemed to be making it come true. But this defeat came as the culmination of a sequence of events which have been building since their defeat in the European Cup final with a lacklustre performance against Barcelona in the spring of 2006. United, of course, have lost two European Cup finals against the Catalans in recent years, giving a similarly unsatisfactory account of themselves on both occasions. But Ferguson reacted to those failures by ensuring that the club suffered no loss of self-esteem. The same cannot be said for Wenger and Arsenal. Until this month, when he was forced to part with Cesc Fábregas and Samir Nasri, the Frenchman had a reputation for letting top players move elsewhere only when it suited Arsenal's purposes, or at least their finances. For a long time he pursued a policy of restocking his squad with promising young players whom he could rely on to accept his philosophy. Not enough of them have fulfilled his ambitions and not enough senior players of stature have been recruited to help bring them to maturity. It would be easy enough to place the blame on the players in his patched-up team. For all the suspensions and injuries – three of one and five of the other – that afflicted the squad, there were still two or three senior figures wearing Arsenal shirts whom he would have been better off without. Andrey Arshavin and Tomas Rosicky, both of them experienced internationals, were among the side's most feckless performers. Robin van Persie was another. When Fábregas left this month, Wenger transferred the captaincy to the Dutch striker – seemingly another in the line of star players to whom he has given the armband as a way of persuading them to stay at the club – rather than identifying a proper leader in the mould of Eddie Hapgood, Joe Mercer, Frank McLintock, Tony Adams or Patrick Vieira. On Sunday Van Persie rewarded him by hitting a penalty so poorly that David de Gea was able to make a good save. It was the 27th minute, and the score was 1-0 to United. An equaliser might have changed the complexion of the contest. The failure knocked them back, and no group of players have more recent experience of such an occurrence than Arsenal, who so clearly benefited when Antonio Di Natale failed to score from the penalty spot in Italy last Wednesday night. Wojciech Szczesny's save invigorated Arsenal while deflating Udinese, and De Gea's success exerted precisely the same effect. A few seconds later Ashley Young scored the first of his two tremendous goals and the contest was over. In his role as a curator of young talent, Wenger will be hoping that the nature of the defeat does not have a lasting effect on Francis Coquelin and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, the two young debutants whom he found himself selecting here. Neither should have been exposed to such an ordeal. When his side were invincible, Wenger was quite properly given the credit for his genius. Now failure must be laid at his door. And on Sunday night he suffered the additional humiliation of being patronised by his greatest rival. "When you lose a few games the judge is out and we've seen managers go early in the season many, many times," Ferguson said. "It's unfair, but it keeps on going." Wenger will buy a player or two before the transfer window closes on Wednesday night, the club's unhelpful wage structure permitting, although it may now be harder to persuade those who were watching on Sunday. He will get his missing players back. But it will be a long time before the scars of this extraordinary defeat are allowed to fade.

Manchester United have far too much pace for inexperienced Arsenal

Sir Alex Ferguson's team, bursting with speed and movement, tore apart a youthful side who were simply too raw to cope

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  Ashley Young showed great movement against the inexperienced Carl Jenkinson down the left wing. Photograph: Matthew Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images
  Manchester United showed their current exhilarating style of fast passing and speed both with and without the ball. Sir Alex Ferguson has collected a group with pace and movement, which opponents are going to find excruciatingly painful. With strong, quick running, they destroyed Arsenal's rejigged team and particularly their inexperienced back four. I suffered a 6-1 defeat at Old Trafford in 1997. It hurts. Arsenal staggered through the first half, with their defenders playing far too high up the field. They left acres of space between themselves and the goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny, which United ruthlessly exploited. It was very strange that Arsenal did not change their tactics at half-time. I thought then that, unless they made positional and strategic changes, they would be continually hounded. Ashley Young showed great movement against the inexperienced Carl Jenkinson down the left wing. With Jenkinson marking tight and too far upfield, Young faded towards Patrice Evra before spinning behind or inside, taking the full-back with him. When Young came inside, Evra had the space to hit for Danny Welbeck's surging runs, a pattern that continued after Welbeck's hamstring injury. Arsenal desperately required a Frank McLintock, David O'Leary, Tony Adams or Sol Campbell – a voice, a leader, a sense of direction. They also needed a battling group to stem the supply. Tom Cleverley and Wayne Rooney were unopposed as they picked passes. You cannot squeeze play from the back if your midfield players are not getting tight. Quite simply, United had too much space and too much pace.

Grim day for Arsenal but Arsène Wenger says he will not be leaving

• Worst defeat since 1896 puts further strain on manager
• Arsenal disarray in contrast to Manchester United's glee

Arsène Wenger said there were 'special circumstances' behind the 8-2 defeat. Photograph: Carl Recine/Action Images
First and second in the Premier League, yet to drop a point, and the architects of a day of ritual humiliation for north London by an aggregate scoreline of 13-3. There is added vigour to the Manchester swagger. City produced the day's first statement of intent with an emphatic 5-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur where Edin Dzeko, so often maligned last season, scored four times for the richest club on the planet. United responded to their local rivals' declaration as they often do, putting them in the shade and Arsène Wenger under further scrutiny with an remarkable 8-2 rout of Arsenal. It was Arsenal's heaviest defeat since 1896, when Loughborough Town inflicted a record 8-0 loss, United's biggest victory since an 8-1 win at Nottingham Forest in 1999 and their greatest at Old Trafford since routing Ipswich Town 9-0 in 1995. It was a result that raised the question to Wenger of whether he would consider his position at the club after 15 years. "No, because I feel it was under very special circumstances," the Arsenal manager replied, pointing out that eight senior players were absent through injury or suspension and that three games into a new season, one that has brought Champions League football to the Emirates Stadium, is an indecent time for such a debate. "It is a terribly painful defeat but I don't compare whether it is the most painful of all.It is painful and that's it. We have played three league games and two Champions League games and it is at the end of a season when you can make a balanced decision. Of course this hurts, it was humiliating, but you could see we had not recovered physically from Wednesday night [when Arsenal beat Udinese], we had eight players out, they had class and they punished us." Arsenal finished without a full complement of players for the third league game in succession, the raw right-back Carl Jenkinson dismissed for a second bookable offence in the 77th minute, and Sir Alex Ferguson was almost patronising in his sympathy. The United manager said: "We scored some fantastic goals. We could have scored more but you don't want to score more against a weakened team like that." Wayne Rooney scored the sixth hat‑trick of his United career to take his total for the club to 152 goals, beyond Paul Scholes and Ruud van Nistelrooy. "A lot of my milestones have come against Arsenal," said the England striker. "My first ever goal for Everton was against them, so was my first Premier League goal for Manchester United and now the 150th has come against them. It is still very early in the season but it was an incredible performance from us." Wenger claimed "it was not an 8-2 game" and insisted he is not entirely culpable for Arsenal's struggles in the transfer market. "We have the money if we can find players who can strengthen our team but I am not the only one working on that at Arsenal. We have 20 people working on that, but today we had too many players missing. We didn't have the squad to cope. We have not found the solutions. It is difficult to find excuses after a game like that but we are behind the other clubs in terms of wages." The Arsenal manager confirmed he is close to signing the Monaco forward Park Chu-Young and denied reports he is interested in the Evertonmidfielder Mikel Arteta. As for increased criticism of his handling of the club, Wenger said: "I am in a public job and I have to accept that. The players we have sold are players I brought to the club. You know me well and should give me more time before saying, 'Have I have got it right?' We were poor defensively and we collapsed more physically than mentally." Samir Nasri made an impressive debut in City's win and believes the two Manchester clubs have set an early standard. "I had a good game but the most important thing is we won 5-1 and sent out a signal to other clubs," he said. "This is just the start of the season, it's important to keep our confidence, but I'm convinced we have a great team here and can win things," he said.

Libya: Nicolas Sarkozy’s War

From the outset, the French President saw the battle for Libya in very personal terms -- as both a chance to make his mark in history, and rebound politically.

(WEF)

By Nathalie Nougayrède
LE MONDE/Worldcrunch

This is his war. Nicolas Sarkozy wants to know every detail of every battle. He learned the names of the districts of Libyan cities that the rebels still had to capture. He studied the maps of the roads that access Tripoli. He was fascinated by this military operation, which he initiated. He followed the topography of the Brega and Misrata front lines, the heart of a revolutionary fight of which he declared himself to be the spokesman.   

He was the one to take the decisions on the deliveries of weapons to the rebels and even appealed to the good offices of his key ally, Qatar. Those weapons included French weaponry destined to the Nafusa Mountains in June; and others, recently delivered, to a rebel group that landed on a beach in Tripoli after having left from Misrata.

Some wars bear a highly personal touch. When talking about the NATO intervention in Kosovo back in 1999, people used to call it “Madeline’s War,” referring to Madeleine Albright, Bill Clinton’s Secretary of State who had spent part of her childhood in Central Europe during World War II and thus related on a personal level to the notion of “never again.”

Nicolas Sarkozy threw himself in this Libyan adventure like few other Western leaders have before him on a post-Cold War international crisis. Surely, he saw in this rebellion a possible political comeback, and beyond that, the desire to see France renew its strategic position in the Arab world. For him, it’s a way to return to the themes of his 2007 election when he had promised that France “would be side by side with the oppressed.”

Last August 12, on the Charles-de-Gaulle aircraft carrier, the president alluded strongly to the “constant commitment of France (…) in every place where the freedom of the people and democracy are threatened.” In private, when talking about Gaddafi, he even used such phrases as: “We are going to make him bite the dust” or “we’re going to bring him to his knees.”

The war in Libya would thus be a path to recover some stature for Sarkozy. Rebellions in Tunisia and Egypt had plunged French diplomacy into disarray, particularly after the absurd offers made to the Tunisian dictator Ben Ali to send police forces to help him.

When referring to the situation in Libya, Sarkozy often alluded to what happened in Srebrenica, where Europe’s worst massacre since World War II took place in 1995. Last June, in Brussels, he barked back at reporters' questions about the risks of the Libyan campaign. “Today, Benghazi, a city of 1 million people, would be wiped off the map (…) In Srebrenica, 8,000 people should have been protected by the democracies!”

Competing with his predecessors

According to sources who have worked with him on major issues, Sarkozy is obsessed with the comparison with former French Presidents François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac. Indeed, he wants to outdo them both on the international stage, first when Mitterrand had to deal with the Bosnian war, and when Chirac had to handle what happened in Afghanistan or the Ivory Coast.

Libya has been the test of fire for baby-boomer Nicolas Sarkozy, who is the first president of the French Fifth Republic not to have personally experienced war. Sarkozy did his national service in 1978, in an office belonging to the Air Force in Paris. According to a former Chirac adviser, Sarkozy “doesn’t have the military culture, unlike Chirac who loves this culture though he doesn’t like generals.”

Chirac loved to say to his former colleagues: “War is the worst solution.” When Sarkozy welcomed military leaders of the Libyan rebellion last April and last July, he threw himself into the battle strategy, a task usually entrusted to advisers.

Nicolas Sarkozy really wanted to beat Gaddafi. This war has turned into a duel between the two men. Gaddafi “was always insulting him”, and accused Sarkozy of having his eyes on oil in Libya, something Gaddafi “could not forgive”, says a French expert of the Arab world who knows the French president very well.

The Sarkozy-Gaddafi story was one of an extraordinary rapprochement, before it sank into violent confrontation. In 2007, Sarkozy was at first thrilled at the idea of “handling” the Libyan leader. He was determined to be successful where others had failed. Early in his term, Sarkozy intervened in the Bulgarian nurses’ case, with all its gray areas, even having his then wife Cécilia make various trips to Tripoli. Things could not have gotten more personal. 

A January 2008 diplomatic cable obtained by WikiLeaks revealed that Nicolas Sarkozy “believes it’s worth trying to improve bad guys like Gaddafi.” After Gaddafi’s incredible visit in France, where he set up his famous tent in the middle of Paris, Sarkozy decided to turn his back on him and concluded the Libyan leader suffered serious mental illness. He said it over and over again to his colleagues during the operations in Libya: “I know the guy, he is crazy!” On the third day of Gaddafi’s visit in Paris in December 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy could stand him no longer: “I don’t want to see him anymore!” Gaddafi had indeed just given a long speech about women’s “oppression” in France and had called on disaffected youth in the suburbs to “rise up”.

As time went by, there were military hardware contracts that were discussed between the two countries, but never signed. Still, the French president and the country’s big arms producers were ready to arm Gaddafi’s troops. But in 2011, the war brought to an end this policy of dangerous liaisons in a rather spectacular way.

In France, the decision to use military force beyond the borders can only be made by the President of the Republic, who is the head of the Army. Despite some difficulties, France remains one of the world’s most powerful military forces. According to a French Senior officer, Sarkozy’s discovery of this power to have the final say on military intervention was a kind of “republican consecration.”

Read the original story in French

Photo -  World Economic Forum

How Europe’s Left Lost Its Popular Touch

Op-Ed: Conservatism is on the rise in Europe as once popular social democratic parties fail again and again to energize voters. The left has only itself to blame, having jumped blindly on the free-market bandwagon and abandoned its traditional working-class base.

Socialists have now lost their footing in Spain as well (lucas deve)

By Jean-Claude Guillebaud
LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR/Worldcrunch

PARIS - Populism is not the only thing sweeping over Europe these days. Conservatism is also making a major comeback.

The “sweet monster,” as Italian linguist and philosopher Raffaele Simone called conservatism last year, is making its presence felt everywhere, and gaining real strength in some countries. The rightward shift is bringing with it social hardship and ushering in police states. As a result, social-democratic ideas are further undermined, and the political parties that espouse them aren’t benefitting – at least not yet – from people’s indignation.

European societies are facing job insecurity, exclusion, mass unemployment and inequality. People have become financial “variables.” All of this should theoretically make left-wing parties more popular. But that clearly hasn’t happened. Repeating ad nauseam that the left has “lost the trust of the working class” doesn’t get us anywhere. It might describe the situation, but it certainly doesn’t explain it. What’s needed now is a concerted effort to figure out why and how the left fell out of favor.

The answer cannot not be purely political. German sociologist Ulrich Beck’s concept of “sub-politics” would be better fitting. Sub-politics refer to the cultural climate, fashionable ideas and prevailing media thinking. In short, the current times. Therein lies the gap between social-democrats and their traditional voters.

In France, like in the rest of Europe, socialists haven’t properly taken into account a phenomenon that, in a just a few years, has caused a major shift in its relationship to the poor. This shift began with the collapse of communism, which made the concept of egalitarianism quickly outdated. After 1989, it was no longer “fashionable” to talk about equality. Blue-collar workers, once celebrated as the heart and soul of a society, are now dismissed as hopeless hicks.

Leftist intellectuals were quick to turn their backs on social issues. There have been a few exceptions, such as French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, but they now tend to be intellectually ostracized. Europe's Socialist parties gave in to free market ideology without predicting its ills. They thought they could make morality their new distinctive marker. Social Democrats tout themselves as leftists because they are “tolerant,” even if they support liberal economic ideas.

Break with far left

Left-leaning media made a habit of admiring the new hotshots of the finance world, in some cases treating them like rock stars. It began denouncing both populism and republicanism. The mainstream left, in turn, was pressured to break off with the far left in order to enter the famous “circle of reason,” meaning the circle of group think.

As a result, the rift deepened between the left and its voters. We tend to forget that in France, nearly 6 million people are blue-collar workers, more than the number of civil servants, and they feel abandoned, just like parts of the middle class and a growing number of people holding insecure jobs. That’s a lot of voters.

The final touch of this desertion came with a staggering report from a progressive think tank, which openly recommended that Socialist parties turn away from the working classes in favor of urban youth, women and immigrants. That’s where we stand in Europe. In France, it is certainly important that Social Democrats take a moral stand against maneuvers by the far right. But it won’t be enough. Comrades, you need to try harder.

Read the original article in French

Photo - lucas deve

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