All major stock exchanges suffered severe losses on the first day of this week not because Tesla and facebook stocks are falling, or even because the Chinese announced on Sunday night their retaliative import tariffs of 15% to 25% on 128 US products; all that was known and probably discounted for during the past few […]Is the advent of nationalism to destroy economic neo-liberalism?
April 5, 2018 by Leave a Comment
All major stock exchanges suffered severe losses on the first day of this week not because Tesla and facebook stocks are falling, or even because the Chinese announced on Sunday night their retaliative import tariffs of 15% to 25% on 128 US products; all that was known and probably discounted for during the past few […]Mainland Europe adopts Germanic cartel business patterns
April 2, 2018 by Leave a Comment
As in VW’s diesel engines emissions scandal, in the case of Estonia’s half banking system working as mafia’s financiers, it was the Americans to unveil the wrongdoings. Is it by chance or the Europeans are looking the other way, when it comes to their own dirty laundry? Those calculated frame ups are not only meant […]EU to Turkey: No other ties than €3+3bn to upkeep refugees
March 29, 2018 by Leave a Comment
The EU-Turkey Summit in the Black Sea city of Varna last Monday was a chance for the Brussels dignitaries to throw a long list of severe European grievances in the face of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the Commission and Donald Tusk, President of the European Council , went to the […]Trump’s trade wars: Aiming at long term gains for America
March 26, 2018 by 1 Comment
Last Friday, President Donald Trump again surprised the world by imposing new import tariffs on Chinese products of a value of $60 billion and deferring the imposition of import super levies on European Union steel and aluminum for 1st May. In the latter case he also postponed the new tariffs for another six exporting countries […]Putin becomes the ‘perfect enemy” for the West
March 22, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Putin, after having won last Sunday’s presidential election in Russia with a landslide of 76.7% is now turning to the West for détente. According to Reuters, he said “had no desire for an arms race and would do everything he could to resolve differences with other countries”. Only a few days ahead of election Sunday […]Trump’s trade war splits the EU; Germany upset with Juncker’s “we can be stupid too”
March 19, 2018 by 1 Comment
The US-EU trade war starts on 23 March, with the first shot fired by Washington at 12:01 a.m. (04.01 GMT). From what we know so far, from that minute onward the American customs authorities will impose extra tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, set by President Trump at 25% and 10% respectively. However, it seems […]Russia – US in Syria: Selling Afrin to Turkey but facing off ruthlessly for Ghouta
March 15, 2018 by Leave a Comment
How many more dead and wounded human beings are needed to convince Russia and the US that they must come to terms about the future of Syria? At a time when the mainstream western media are extensively and exclusively reporting the woes of the desperate inhabitants of Ghouta, at another Syrian front in Afrin, the […]Draghi strives to control the unruly exploitation of financial markets by banking leviathans
March 12, 2018 by Leave a Comment
During the past few weeks, financial markets sharks have been sending stock and bond prices and money parities wildly up and down, while busy securing for themselves hefty short term gains. Obviously, this is to the detriment of the real economy, where values are produced by technology and sweat. In Europe and, partly, in the […]Trump systematically upsets global order and trade: Where does this end?
March 8, 2018 by Leave a Comment
The extra import tariffs Donald Trump, the ‘America first’ President, the US is to impose on steel (25%) and aluminum (10%) imports have provoked a tsunami of reactions and widespread consequences without and even within the country. The European Commission President reacted swiftly and stated the EU is to retaliate with tariffs of an equal […]Is Britain to sail alone in the high seas of trade wars?
March 5, 2018 by Leave a Comment
If Britain is counting on the US for a favorable bilateral trade agreement after Brexit, Donald Trump the President of ‘America first,’ rushed last Thursday to destroy that Brit dream; he announced 25% extra tariffs on steel and 10% on aluminum imports, prompting anger and retaliatory measures from America’s closest political allies, Canada and the […]Draghi tells the EU Parliament his relaxed policies are here to stay
March 1, 2018 by Leave a Comment
The too slow or non existing pace of wage increases is the main reason for the non revival of inflation in Eurozone. This is what Mario Draghi told the Economic Committee of the European Parliament last Monday. He added that this is why the economic slack in the euro area may be larger than we […]Germany readies to pay for the Brexit gap in EU finance
February 26, 2018 by Leave a Comment
As expected, last Friday’s informal European Council of the 27 EU leaders didn’t produce any tangible result regarding its main agenda item; the future of Europe. The EU leaders just quarreled on who is to cover the hole in the budget, after Britain’s contribution ends with Brexit. In relation to this perennial question of money […]Germany to re-invent its security position in Europe and a chaotic world
February 22, 2018 by 1 Comment
At the Munich Security Conference of last week, the hottest criticism for the Grand Coalition agreement of Angela Merkel and Martin Schulz, coming from within and without the country was about not spending enough on armaments and security. The American Defense Secretary Jim Mattis focused on that Germany must spend 2% of GDP on defense, […]ECB to people: Not responsible if you lose money on Bitcoin, your governments are
February 15, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Last Tuesday, 13 February Mario Draghi, the President of the European Central Bank in the most solemn terms said regulating or even banning Bitcoin “it’s not the ECB’s responsibility to do that”. However, he didn’t refrain from eagerly pointing out the very risky and misty nature of the digital ‘monies’. So, when asked again if […]Brexit negotiations: back to square one, tougher words, no good faith
February 12, 2018 by Leave a Comment
This past week, the EU and UK Brexit negotiators’ solemn exchanges became for the first time, really aggressive and plain. Since the beginning of September 2017, during the Michel Barnier – David Davis meetings there had being difficult moments. Nevertheless, the two chief negotiators never questioned the good faith of the other side; not any […]Germany may have a stable and more cooperative government
February 8, 2018 by Leave a Comment
The center right and center left German mainstream political parties agreed yesterday evening to form a new grand coalition government. It will be the third time since 2005 the two Christian parties and the socialists jointly govern their country. The socialists will control the Finance, Foreign and Labor ministries, with Martin Schulz, the Social Democratic […]Disintegrating Tories will void May’s pledge for Brexit deal in seven weeks
February 5, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Last Friday, Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, said from China, where she was on official visit, that in seven weeks she will have a Brexit transition deal with the EU. Surely, nobody believes her. The reason is that her Tory governing party is so deeply split over the Brexit terms, up to the point […]‘Safe Eurobonds’: a new trick to betray the south euro area countries
February 1, 2018 by Leave a Comment
All along the years after the 2008-2010 financial crisis, which in the European Union took the form banking/government debt breakdowns starting with Greece, there were cries for the creation of a solid Eurozone. In every respect, these calls amounted to demands that super prosperous Germany accepts some degree of risk-sharing with the rest of the […]A Trumpist squad shook Davos and the world
January 29, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Towards the end of last week, in Davos, a money devaluation war broke out. In the ‘magic’ Alpine mountains American Trumpist dignitaries did what was expected of them: they told the world they don’t give a damn about it…Trump himself, however, appeared a bit less Trumpist than his folk. Overall though, a US administration squad […]Trump reshapes the Middle East at the expenses of Europe
January 25, 2018 by 3 Comments
Trump’s completely unwarranted aggressiveness towards the rest of the world took a violent thrust this week. His vice President Mike Pence speaking at the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, announced a speed-up of the relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. The move is now to be completed before the end of next […]What Merkel and Macron are to tell Trump in Davos?
January 22, 2018 by 1 Comment
Donald Trump, the American President, is to deliver the closing speech at this year’s World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of 23-26 January in Davos, which as usually is set in the unsullied Alpine landscape. Perhaps, he has something new to say about how America sees Europe. Most probably though, he is simply to repeat his […]What will Germany look like after the next election?
January 11, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Last Thursday this newspaper came out with a lead story about European countries having problems producing viable governments. The article was entitled “Minority governments ‘à la mode’ in Europe but can they last long?” It seems conformist Germany answers this question in the negative. According to an opinion poll published this week and reported by […]Erdogan’s Turkey in dire straits for flip flop policies in the Middle East
January 8, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Last week a US federal court convicted Mehmet Hakan Atilla, an executive of Turkey’s state-owned Halkbank. This is a major financial institution of this country, controlled directly by the government. Attila found guilty on five accounts, for evading the American sanctions imposed on Iran. Most of those punitive measures were lifted in April 2015, in […]Minority governments ‘à la mode’ in Europe but can they last long?
January 4, 2018 by Leave a Comment
With the Italian elections set for 4 March and anticipated to produce a hang parliament, four out of the five bigger European countries will be in political limbo for a good part, if not for the entire new year 2018. France is the only exception in this Euro-plague of political uncertainty. In some cases the […]Bullheaded Madrid authorities confront Catalonia with force
December 28, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Madrid is doing exactly the same mistakes after the Catalan secessionist parties won the 21 December election, as in the weeks leading to the unauthorized independence referendum of 1st October. Both Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and King Felipe VI refused to let the door open for talks with the secessionist leaders and Carles Puigdemont, the […]Europe’s far-right launches attacks on neighboring nations
December 21, 2017 by Leave a Comment
This newspaper had predicted that Europe’s extreme right wing, almost fascist political parties, unable to deliver their phoney promises after reaching government posts, will try to play the aggressive chauvinism card. Old Continet’s’s nations have paid dearly in the past millennia for jingoism and chauvinist violence. However, after many decades of peace in Europe and […]Draghi keeps the euro cheap, helps debt refinancing, recapitalization of banks and growth
December 18, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Last Thursday, the European Central Bank decided to keep flooding the Eurozone with hundreds of billions, despite strong objections coming from the frugal German-Dutch duo. Mario Draghi was adamant about that. It’s interesting to follow his response to a journalist’s remark, who reminded him that the “Dutch Central Bank President Klaas Knot said in a […]Is Germany’s political landscape becoming a breeding ground for extremism?
December 14, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Last Week, the German center left Social Democratic Party (SPD) decided to cooperate once more with the country’s conservatives, the Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister Christian Social Union. They are to negotiate the formation of a grand coalition government, understandably under Chancellor Angela Merkel. This development may now seem the only mathematically possible […]Hazy ‘breakthrough’ saves PM May, leaves Ireland in limbo: Brexit
December 11, 2017 by Leave a Comment
With only a couple of hours sleep in the very early hours of last Friday, the British PM Theresa May boarded a RAF aircraft and landed in Brussels before dawn. Weary as she was, she rushed to Berlaymont building, the EU Commission headquarters. There she met Jean-Claude Juncker the President of the European Commission and […]Trump: Hostile to Europe, voids Tillerson’s “ironclad” ally pledge
December 7, 2017 by Leave a Comment
At the end of last week, Rex Tillerson, the US State Department Secretary was intentionally undermined by President Donald Trump. This surprise move from the White House came only hours after the former gave an “’ironclad’ promise of U.S. support to its oldest allies in Europe”. To undercut this pledge, the White House leaked information […]EU’s unsparing question to UK: now what kind of future relations do you want?
December 4, 2017 by Leave a Comment
This week, the countdown starts for Britain to offer final answers, about the three Brexit prerequisites: the divorce alimony, the future of the 4.5 million European citizens who work on the wrong side of the English Channel and the Irish border. Only then will Brussels pass to the second phase of the talks, to discuss […]A long German political winter is on the way
November 30, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Germany enters into a long period of political uncertainty. The ‘Grand Coalition’ of the conservatives (Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union) and the Social Democrats of SPD, which can offer a stable government, may take months to form. Then, even after fashioned, it will not function without friction, as used to be the standard for Germany. […]Britain offers more money for an orderly Brexit but the Irish question resurges
November 27, 2017 by Leave a Comment
If last Friday’s Reuters report from Brussels is correct and Theresa May and Donald Tusk agreed to solve the Brexit dead-end in ten days, then the wild Brexiteers must have retreated and the orderly exit side has won the first round. Tusk, the President of the European Council said in a tweet that he told […]
