Martin Chulov, Polly Curtis and Amy Fallon, The Guardian:
According to Guardian sources, a suspected British intelligence and special forces unit, which arrived by helicopter about four days ago, was caught near the town of Khandra, about 20 miles west of Benghazi.
A senior member of Benghazi’s revolutionary council said: “They were carrying espionage equipment, reconnaissance equipment, multiple passports and weapons. This is no way to conduct yourself during an uprising.
The British government says they’re “diplomats.”
Kim Willsher, The Guardian:
The leader of France’s far-right National Front party is more popular with voters than president Nicolas Sarkozy, an opinion poll has revealed.
Marine Le Pen would gain an unprecedented first-round election victory if the French were asked to vote for a new president today. France will go to the polls to elect a new president in May next year, but the results of the survey, published in Sunday’s Le Parisien newspaper and based on an opinion poll by the Harris Institute, come at a time when Sarkozy’s popularity continues to plummet.
…
The survey does not give the level of support for Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund, who is expected to declare his intention to represent the socialists in the May 2012 vote and is widely believed to stand more of a chance than Aubry.
David Sharrock, The Guardian:
Brian Cowen, the Irish prime minister, will leave office this week after the greatest electoral defeat ever suffered by his Fianna Fáil party. But, in a final humiliation for the leader who presided over the bankrupting of Ireland, an English court has begun legal proceedings that could lead to the seizure of his UK property.
Rajeev Syal and Jeevan Vasagar:
A trip to Libya in 2006 by Anthony Giddens, the former London School of Economics director and eminent sociologist, when he met Muammar Gaddafi in his tent, was first vetted by the Libyan leader’s head of intelligence, leaked documents show.
Lord Giddens, guru of Labour’s third way, twice met Gaddafi on trips in 2006 and 2007 organised by Monitor Group, a US lobbying firm. Leaked documents show at least one trip was disclosed in advance to Abd Allah al-Sanusi, blamed for atrocities in the present uprising.
The common thread in these stories is that all over the world people believe, with some reason, that their leadership has no interest in the common good, instead wanting to lord it over everyone else. When the moral center that is at the heart of real leadership collapses, chaos is not far off.
