Europe seems to have a real problem with referenda. First, the EU categorically rejected the referendum in Crimea, now they have tried to prevent the people of Greece of having a say in their future. And the EU has failed again – the Greeks will hold their referendum: (please press ‘cc’ to see the English subtitles)
Source: http://portal-kultura.ru/articles/obozrevatel/91400-skolko-armiy-nado-evrope/ by Rostislav Ishchenko, president of the Center of System Analysis and Forecasting Translated by Aleksey Against the backdrop of a decision by the IMF to loan Ukraine 17.5 billion over a span of four years’ time (it is still a trick to receive these funds – the previous bailout, agreed in 2014, has not been fully received) the talk of a creation of a European armed forces has
by Mario Recap: In 1971 Bretton Woods failed. The United States implemented a new strategy: Disregard its twin deficits and act as a gargantuan vacuum cleaner that sucked in the trade surpluses of Germany, Japan and later China, attracting into Wall Street between $3 to $5 billion net on each working day. Forcing productivity and zero real wage rises created a further daily 5$ billion domestically for corporations. All
by Aleksei Kettunen GAZPROM–EU: 6–0 Yesterday on Wednesday the EU negotiated with Gazprom in Moscow. The EU negotiators had three aims: Pressure Russia into extending the special winter pricing on gas supplies to Ukrainian due to end in March, Force Russia to further unilateral concessions by forcing all European energy purchases to happen through a new “European Energy Union”, Pressure Russia to resurrect the canceled South Stream gas pipeline
by Peter Koenig The ECB has just launched – effective 4 November 2014 – a new watchdog to control and regulate the European banking system. It is called the Single Supervisory Mechanism – SSM. It is supposed to monitor and reign in European banks that do not ‘behave’ in terms of overstretching their investment and risk lending as compared to their capital base. In fact, the SSM is one pillar
Dear friends,It is my *huge* pleasure to share with you an analysis written by American Kulak. I got it a few days ago exactly as he describes: no questions, no warnings, no heads-up, nothing but the article itself. I *love* this “just do it” approach as it makes it easy for all sides to make good things happen. And good his piece really is. When I read it the first
I just wanted to update everybody on a few interesting aspects on the current crisis in the Ukraine.The opposition: Vladimir Klichko, Arsenii Iatseniuk, Oleg Tsiagnibok Yulia Timoshenko The opposition is currently headed by four people: Vladimir Klichko, Arsenii Iatseniuk, Oleg Tsiagnibok and, of course, Yulia Timoshenko (in jail, of all things, for signing a gas deal with Putin). There are a number of smaller parties also participating on the
written specially for the Asia Times Following the ratification by all parties of the recent Joint Plan of Action between Iran and the P5+1 countries, it is worth looking again at the official narrative explaining this “sudden breakthrough”. It goes something like that:“Iran was ruled by President Ahmadinejad, a notorious anti-Semite and Holocaust denier, who did everything in his power to deny the international community the monitoring rights it demanded
In 2007 I wrote several pieces warning of the arrival of overt Fascism in the USA (see: “Rudy Giuliani – the face of American Fascism“, “The only thing which can prevent a Fascist President in 2008” and “When is the use of the “F” word appropriate?”). Now, five years later, I would say that what I observe in the USA is some form of “creeping Fascism” which has succeeded in
To be very honest, I have not kept a close eye on what has been going on in the EU or, even less so, Greece. I also get a strong feeling that there is a lot of smoke and propaganda around all this. I would like to share with you two very different outlooks on this topic: the analyses of investment banker Marshall Auerback and French economist Franck Biancheri. They
Down on the Euro Animal Farm, some animals are more equal than others, finds Eric Walberg Two million people took to the streets of Athens last week in the country’s second general strike this month, protesting the austerity measures proposed by their socialist government. All of Greece came to a 24-hour standstill and the airport was closed as a result of the action. The only public transport was the commuter
This will appear in the next issue of Al-Ahram Weekly http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/ Sense is returning to East-West relations, despite the US and NATO, affirms Eric Walberg 2008 will be remembered as a turning point in Russia’s relations with the West. It was a tumultuous year, with Kosovo, missiles in Europe and NATO’s seemingly relentless march eastward like thunderclouds gathering on Russia’s horizon, which finally burst 8 August over South Ossetia, bringing
by Venik (check out Venik’s blog) The visit of Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (from here forward known as Hoop for the sake of brevity) and twenty six NATO representatives to Georgia was largely uneventful. As before, NATO gave Saakashvili no plans, schedules, or guarantees. Georgian president’s appeals to accelerate NATO membership program for his country fell largely on deaf ears. However, some of NATO chief’s remarks are worth consideration. NATO
So finally the EU got together. After making various threats about “consequences” or even sanctions all the EU could produce was an amazingly asinine resolution which achieved only one thing: showing that the Old Continent has become the Senile Continent. Like an old man with geriatric dementia the EU just barely manages to rehash some vague threats mixed with some empty words (we are at a crossroads). If that is
Ha’aretz reports: Iran, acting on orders from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has withdrawn around $75 billion from Europe to prevent the assets from being blocked under threatened new sanctions over Tehran’s disputed nuclear ambitions, an Iranian weekly said. “Part of Iran’s assets in European banks have been converted to gold and shares and another part has been transferred to Asian banks,” Mohsen Talaie, deputy foreign minister in charge of economic affairs,
I just finished reading the joint US-EU summit declaration adopted today in Slovenia. After reading it words like lame, myopic, spineless, clueless, obtuse or plain stupid immediately came to my mind. I will spare you the details of the text, you can check them for yourself, but the bottom line is simple: the EU is totally and shamelessly adopting the US stance on every single issue. This total surrender to
by Srdja Trifkovic for Chronicles Magazine Far from indicating Serbia’s readiness to cower into the vivisection kennel, Tadic’s victory on February 3 was the last chance for the U.S. and the EU to stop the Kosovo trainwreck. Both Washington and Brussels decided to play va banque instead. Serbia’s resulting anger against the West will translate into the well-deserved demise for the DS and other “pro-Western democrats” at the parliamentary election
EU Business reports: The EU police and justice mission aimed at helping Kosovo’s transition to independence is a form of “occupation,” Kosovo Serb leader Milan Ivanovic said Saturday. “In essence, the mission has the characteristics of an occupation and it will be accepted neither by Serbia nor by the Serbs in Kosovo,” Ivanovic told AFP hours after Brussels approved the mission’s deployment. European Union nations have agreed to send a
by Michel Chossudovsky for Global Reseach (Canada) What the Western allies face is a long, sustained and proactive defence of their societies and way of life. To that end, they must keep risks at a distance, while at the same time protecting their homelands. International terrorism today aims to disrupt and destroy our societies, our economies and our way of life. … These different sources of [Islamist] propaganda and/or violence
By Franak Amidi, Press TV, Tehran Q: It seems that the United States has found a new European ally and that the Anglo-American and Franco-German alliances don’t exist any longer. France has adopted a hostile stance against Iran, especially toward its role in the Middle East. What is Iran’s reaction to the shift in French foreign policy? A: Perhaps it is the Western media, which issues statements, suggesting that France
