Last Friday U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the ongoing FBI probe of the case of the Russian interference in the US Presidential elections favoring Donald Trump. He said “I have recused myself in the matters that deal with the Trump campaign.” Last September, the US intelligence agencies collective, in a joint paper, […]Trump’s Russophiles under investigation, Europe remains ‘en garde’
March 6, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Last Friday U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the ongoing FBI probe of the case of the Russian interference in the US Presidential elections favoring Donald Trump. He said “I have recused myself in the matters that deal with the Trump campaign.” Last September, the US intelligence agencies collective, in a joint paper, […]Europe eyes to replace US as China’s prime foreign partner
March 2, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Last Tuesday, Rex Tillerson, the US Secretary of State, received in Washington the top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi , in an effort to establish a “regular high-level engagement” with China, after President Donald Trump has practically destroyed the until recently multiple channels of problem solving and interaction between the two super powers. Obviously, Tillerson felt […]Elections in Europe: No risks for the EU, leaders readying to face Trump-Brexit
February 23, 2017 by 1 Comment
Some political analysts in mainland Europe but many more in Britain and on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean in the US, have rushed to call 2017 the year that can make or break the European Union. They basically argue that the three crucial legislative elections due in Holland next month, in France in […]The four top Americans who flew to Europe perplexed things about Trump’s intentions
February 20, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Four top ranking Washington bigwigs – who flew to Munich, Brussels and Bonn to mend fences with Europe, after Donald Trump termed NATO ‘obsolete’ and rejoiced the unraveling of the EU, left the Europeans bewildered with the dangerously diverging stories they had to narrate. Only the extreme right wing, Polish Defense Minister Anton Macierewicz seemed […]Trump stumbles badly on his Russian openings; Europeans wary of Putin
February 16, 2017 by Leave a Comment
In the fourth week of the Trump Presidency things have become more hectic. Those around the boss are now people of authority, and their actions directly affect America and the world. It’s not only that the chief himself changes his mind from one day to the next about crucial global issues, like the ‘one China’ […]Why is Grexit again in the news? Who is to pay for Eurozone’s banking problems?
February 13, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Grexit, Greece’s exit from the euro area, is back in the news – for the wrong reasons. During this past week, the country’s creditors, the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the European Stability Mechanism and the International Monetary Fund, finally agreed amongst themselves to set even tougher conditions in order to continue refinancing the […]US, Russia oblige each other in Syria and Ukraine selling off allies
February 9, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The US – Russia rapprochement, as having been set in motion by the new tenant of the White House, is to be tested first and foremost in Syria and Ukraine. Washington and Moscow support opposing sides in two catastrophic and bloody civil wars, which have claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and thrown millions of […]EU: Divided they stand on immigration and Trump hurricanes
February 6, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The last Friday’s Malta Summit of the 28 minus 1 EU leaders, on emigration and the future of Europe, was convened amidst a steaming wider political environment within and without Europe. The Council could only agree upon on transferring another €200 million to the one of the at least two Libyan governments, that a small […]Europe led by Germany seems vulnerable to Trump’s threats
February 2, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Trump’s America and Europe are obviously at odds. The question is how far this division will go? Unquestionably, it’s the new tenant of the White House who fuels this unseen before confrontation between the Atlantic allies, attached by a time cherished bonding that has politically and economically shaped the world as we know it so […]Brexiteer May gets lip-service from Trump and Turkish promises from Erdogan
January 30, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The rush announcement of a fabulous trade deal with the US, which ,Teresa May, the British Prime Minister sought last week in Washington D.C., didn’t materialize. As for the much advertised ‘special relationship’ between the US and Britain, it will bear no economic meaning whatsoever, at least in the foreseeable future. The governing Brexiteers in […]Syria: A bloody tracer of Trump – Putin rapprochement
January 26, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Despite the dreadful fact that the fighting and the bloodshed continues on many spots on the ground, the Astana agreement for a truce in Syria backed by Russia, Turkey and Iran seems to present a good chance for peace. Last Tuesday, the above three foreign powers and their proxies implicated in the Syrian civil war, […]Draghi repels Trump’s threats, rejects Schauble’s dictums
January 23, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Mario Draghi, the President of the European Central Bank, is under mounting pressures both at home and abroad. From the other side of the Atlantic US President Donald Trump is overtly targeting a much cheaper dollar compared to euro, while at his inaugural speech he clearly praised trade protectionism by saying, “Protection will lead to […]Davos: Why the global elites couldn’t find answers this year?
January 19, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Last January, Donald Trump and Boris Johnson were not invited to Davos to present their populist, anti-systemic, anti-establishment, anti-globalization political platforms. Actually, their ‘ideology’ was exorcised from the Swiss Alps and instead, David Cameron was made the star of the three day 2016 meeting. The world’s super rich and powerful applauded his passionate speech about […]Germany and Europe prepare for Trump’s America
January 16, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Germany, and more generally the EU, is now preparing in earnest to confront the groundbreaking changes in their relations with Trump’s America. Last week, both the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Federal minister for Finance Wolfgang Schauble, made direct and indirect statements about the policies now needed for Germany and the European Union. On […]US prosecutors now target Volkswagen’s top management, upsetting Germany
January 12, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Last Monday, the US prosecutors held Volkswagen executive Oliver Schmidt, charging him with plotting to deceive the United States, over VW diesel emission scandal. He is to appear today in the U.S. District Court in Miami in a hearing before a U.S. Magistrate Judge. The VW employee was shown shackled and wearing a jail outfit. […]Turkey caught in a vicious Syrian circle bringing terror and war at home
January 9, 2017 by 1 Comment
The Turkish government, under the iron hand of the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, felt obliged to further challenge the Americans in the troubled region of the Middle East this past week. Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak and Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin questioned the presence of the US led coalition forces at the key air […]Italian banks: It’s Rome’s turn to confront Berlin’s aggressiveness
January 5, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Italy, after Greece, is now the next target of the archetypical Teutonic aggressiveness, aimed this time at making the life difficult for Paolo Gentiloni the new Prime Minister. The problems Rome has with the country’s banking system are being exaggerated and used by Berlin to either pave the road leading outside the euro area or […]Deutsche Bank chased away from US, threatened with more fines
December 29, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The US Department of Justice settled its claims against Deutsche Bank, the biggest German lender, for packaging and selling toxic mortgage securities to uninformed customers prior to the 2008-2010 financial crisis. Initially, the Justice Department had asked for $14 billion, but it seems it settled for a fine of $7.2bn. However, this is not the […]Fear casts again a cold, ugly shadow over Europe; Turkey sides with Russia
December 22, 2016 by 1 Comment
The deadly attack in a Berlin Christmas market and the assassination of the Russian ambassador in Ankara, may not be closely connected or plotted by related terrorist circles, but they aim at the same target; to terrify entire populations and block what could lead to a solution in the Syrian mess. Add to that the […]A shortened EU Summit admits failures, makes risky promises
December 19, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Thursday, 15 December, the cut down to one day European Summit, confirmed that Europe continues on the wrong path. The 27 + 1 leaders acknowledged the complete failure of key policies regarding Syria and Turkey and kept making promises to Ukraine and Georgia they cannot honor. Unfortunately, Brussels refuses to learn the lessons still […]Trump to run America to the tune of his business affairs
December 15, 2016 by Leave a Comment
In the short period after the 8 November election that brought him to the Oval Office of the White House for the next four years, President – elect Donald Trump has more or less outlined the policy mix he is going to implement as from 20 January. His choices for key government positions and his […]ECB: The bastion of effective and equitable Europeanism keeps up quantitative easing
December 12, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Thursday, 12 December, Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, was forced to compromise with the Germans during the Governing Council’s regular meeting. He accepted to reduce the monthly injections of cash into the economy (through asset purchases of mainly government bonds) from €80 billion to €60bn, along the lines of the nonstandard […]After the Italian ‘no’ and the Brexit, Germans must decide which Europe they want
December 8, 2016 by Leave a Comment
There is no doubt that Europe is in disarray. The long standing malaise of high unemployment and economic stagnation has already mutated into critical political problems. The mutations of the European political ecosystem take various, unseen before forms. In the northern EU countries they invariably appear as extreme right or even semi-fascist political parties, inflated […]The Italian ‘no’ and France’s Fillon to reshape Europe; Paris moves closer to Berlin
December 5, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday, the Italians chose to rebuff Prime Minister Matteo Renzi by voting ‘no’ in the referendum he proclaimed, supposed to introduce certain amendments to the country’s constitution. Officially, the question is whether to institute a more responsive and effective legislative system in the customarily politically unstable Italy. The three opposition parties strongly supported the ‘no’ […]Turkey’s Erdogan provokes the US and the EU by serving jihadists and trading on refugees
December 1, 2016 by 3 Comments
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, after having declared war against the political, judiciary and civic structures of his own country, employs the same belligerent tactics in the domain of foreign policy. He now threatens to send to Europe 3 million refugees and immigrants who are stationed in Turkey. True, more than three million people, […]What will the US look like under Trump? Was his election campaign a big scam?
November 28, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Everybody agrees now that the President – elect Donald Trump won the 8 November election, by promising he will take good care of the Americans who are left behind in the era of globalization and of the global financial rackets. The first signs though indicate the opposite. His choices for the top Washington jobs are […]Europe moulds global defense and security chart given US new inward vision
November 24, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Europe takes very seriously Trump’s rhetoric about limiting US commitment to NATO and Old Continent’s defenses. In view of that, Federica Mogherini, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, speaking at a conference entitled “The Future of EU-NATO Cooperation“, found a great opportunity to address the dawning US […]Trump questions US – Europe kinship, approaches Russia
November 21, 2016 by Leave a Comment
In a peculiar way, the five EU leaders who gathered last week in Berlin for a farewell meeting with Barack Obama, closely followed the outgoing American President in his hard line stance against Russia and Vladimir Putin. The Obama administration has been persistently pressing the Europeans to impose more sanctions on Russia on various reasons […]Trump and Brexit: After the social whys the political whereto
November 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The economic, social and political gaps between the power hubs of New York and Washington on the one hand and the American Mid-West and Southern states on the other is equal to the space dividing London from the rest of Britain. These distances probably compare to the vacuity separating earth from the moon. This is […]Trump beats Clinton but Americans will learn the hard way that the US can’t change with an election
November 9, 2016 by 1 Comment
With a large part of voters disgusted from this US Presidential race, which reached unseen before heights of bitterness, hatred, toxic recrimination and another part of Americans ready to contest the result, had Donald Trump lost the race. In the end, he achieved a landslide win and will become the next President of the USA. […]Drawing scenarios for drifting Britain; elections or May’s deadlock?
November 7, 2016 by 1 Comment
The cruel attacks by the ‘leave’ champions and Press against the three judges of Britain’s High Court, who unanimously ruled that the Brexit has to be passed in Parliament, turned out to be utterly un-British and leaned towards fascism. Tabloid newspapers and members of the May government alike called the judges’ ruling ‘unacceptable’, ‘frustrating the […]What the US and the world can expect from the 8 November election?
November 3, 2016 by Leave a Comment
From Beijing and Tehran to Brussels and London, and further away to Mexico City and Caracas the night of 8 November will create a landmark in contemporary world history. The results of the US election and the new occupant of the White House in Washington D.C will certainly affect the way the world turns around. […]Can the EU afford to block China’s business openings to Europe by denying her the ‘market economy status’?
October 31, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The way Wallonia, Belgium’s French speaking region approved CETA – the comprehensive economic and trade agreement between the EU and Canada – is a rather dark landmark. In the future, Europe’s trade and otherwise relations with foreign countries will be rather shaky. This was also true in the past, but now became evident for everybody […]
