Despite the hullaballoo in main stream media about Queen Elizabeth’s investments in tax-havens and the implication of the US Trade Secretary Wilbur Ross in a Russia related offshore firm, the shocking revelation in the Paradise Papers is that London appears as the largest money washing machine of the world. The biggest single disclosure is that […]A neo-liberal toll free Paradise for the super rich and tax hell for wage earners
November 9, 2017 by 2 Comments
Despite the hullaballoo in main stream media about Queen Elizabeth’s investments in tax-havens and the implication of the US Trade Secretary Wilbur Ross in a Russia related offshore firm, the shocking revelation in the Paradise Papers is that London appears as the largest money washing machine of the world. The biggest single disclosure is that […]Fed, ECB take positions to face the next global financial crisis; the Brits uncovered
November 6, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The appointment of Jerome Powell as the next head of the US central bank, the famous Fed, is a reassurance to the financial world that the giant lenders will continue being favored by ample and very cheap money. Last Thursday, Donald Trump, the American President didn’t dare to change the cautious approach to monetary policy. […]Climate change: Will COP23 be able to accelerate the implementation of the Paris agreement?
November 1, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The next UN climate summit (COP23) will take place in Bonn, Germany from 6 till 17 November with everyone to await its outcome and whether it will be beneficial for the global warming adding to the Paris agreement. It is a crucial year for the climate as the US has declared to leave the Paris […]Czech Babis, Austrian Kurz and others threaten Europe with nationalist populism
October 26, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Andrej Babis, a media magnate and second wealthier Czech leading his anti-immigration, nationalist and populist ANO party, won last Sunday’s election, with around 30% of the vote. He is to become the next Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. Babis did that on an anti-systemic Trump-like ticket. He was recently implicated in a tax fraud […]Trump’s pounding of Iran less harsh than expected, leaves arrangement open
October 16, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Trump did again what he has been good at. This time he pounded the non-nuclear proliferation agreement with Iran. To be reminded, this was the P5+1 nations (US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany) agreement of 2015 with Iran , by which the latter country accepted to stop its nuclear program and be duly inspected […]Elections results: Austerity’s black to prevail in the new multicolored German government
September 25, 2017 by Leave a Comment
During the past ten years, Germany has become a politically boring country and yesterday’s election is not going to change that, despite the loss of around one million votes for the Chancellor’s party. Angela Merkel’s win came to none’s surprise and the results permit her to embark on a fourth term in the top job. […]The silent euro-dollar parity war rages but realities at home prevail
September 18, 2017 by Leave a Comment
At last, the European economy is growing faster than the US. According to Eurostat, the EU’s, statistical service, during the second quarter of this year, GDP grew by 2.4% in the club of 28 member states compared to the same period of 2016 and 2,2% in the US. It’s worthwhile nothing that in both the […]Brexit: Britain and the Continent fighting the battle of Waterloo again
September 7, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The British Prime Minister Theresa May is amidst an agonizing effort to put together a decent package of trade deals or at least initial and relevant MOUs for the after Brexit era. The obvious reason for that is to convince the Brits and the Parliament that her country will survive after March 2019, in case […]PM May fosters chauvinism, declares trade war on Europe
July 6, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Theresa May, the British PM seems to be so badly cornered by the dreadful reality she and her Brexiteer colleagues have driven their country into, that they have now started acting as if in a collective delusion. Reportedly, they have officially informed the business leaders of the entire UK, that the government may abandon […]Europe to turn the Hamburg G20 Summit into a battlefield
July 3, 2017 by Leave a Comment
This week’s G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany is expected to become a battlefield from the very first gathering. Chancellor Angela Merkel is to attack the US President Donald Trump, about his rejection of the Paris Climate Agreement. The American will reply with a demand for ‘free and fair trade’ as he ventures it, especially for […]The EU slams Theresa May’s Brexit option; sets base for own European defense, security platform
June 26, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Last week’s EU Summit in Brussels set a solid base for the frictionless functioning of the European Union of 27, minus Britain. For one thing, the UK Prime Minister Theresa May fell on a solid wall of distrust. The mainland leaders ostentatiously repelled her vague offer, about the position after the Brexit of the around […]19th EU-China Summit: A historical advance in the Chino-European rapprochement
June 8, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Mainstream media and the two EU Presidents (Donald Tusk of the Council and Jean-Claude Juncker of the Commission), during and after last week’s groundbreaking 19th EU-China Summit (1-2 June), focused on the joint and unreserved pledge of Europe and China to wholeheartedly uphold the Paris Climate Agreement. This was a direct reply to Donald Trump’s […]Trump’s denial of Paris climate agreement; the US Republicans lash out against the world
June 5, 2017 by 1 Comment
Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the UN Paris Climate Agreement is a major foreign policy step, rather difficult to understand. For one thing, the American environmental industry technologically spearheads the world in this domain. The US is a global leader in electric vehicles production, where mainstream vehicles are one of the major contributors to air pollution. […]Germany caught with selfish double standards in euro area policy
June 1, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Over the past three years the European Central Bank, guided by its President Mario Draghi, has been folowing a super relaxed monetary policy. It has been aiming at reviving uncertain economic growth and dying inflation, by handing out to banks, and through them to the economy, hundreds of billions of euro and at the same […]Trump enrages the Europeans and isolates the US in G7
May 29, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Last Thursday, Donald Trump, at a superb hall in the new glass and steel NATO building in Brussels, delivered an unruly speech, after having pushed aside Prime Minister Dusko Markovic of Montenegro (the related video has become viral) while walking towards the rostrum. He came out with a blatant and derogatory account aimed at 23 […]Dangerous Trumpism in the Middle East with an anti-European edge
May 25, 2017 by Leave a Comment
All main stream media analysts agree that the US President Donald Trump last Sunday 21 May in Riyadh, completely reversed his predecessor Barack Obama’s Middle East policy. He made it evidently biased, aggressive and dangerously personal, despite the extensive use of the word ‘peace’. In a matter of hours Trump endorsed one hundred per cent […]Elections in Britain may reserve a surprise for May’s Tories
May 22, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The easy ride for the 8 June election in Britain that Prime Minister Theresa May planned for the Tories seems to be turning sour. When same weeks ago she negatively surprised everybody in Europe by announcing early elections, public opinion polls allocated to her conservative party double ratings than Labour, 48% to 24% – not […]China dazzles the world with her Silk Road plan to connect, Asia, Europe and Africa
May 14, 2017 by Leave a Comment
More than 30 political leaders and government representatives from 110 countries participate in the Belt and Road Forum China organizes in Beijing on Sunday and Monday 14 and 15 May. The Forum extended an invitation to all the countries of the world, the international organizations and businesses and aspires to be an all inclusive global […]
Macron plans for Europe, Brexit and banks but vague on France
May 8, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Emmanuel Macron, after yesterday’s quasi formality of the second round of the election, is the new President of France, having defeated Marine Le Pen by 65% to 35%. He commands the military forces of his country, including the not at all small nuclear arsenal of France, he appoints and dismiss the prime minister and can […]China invites the EU to a joint endeavor for free trade and order in the world
April 27, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The European Union and China are to hold a summit this June, which is expected to shape their joint answer to the American protectionist and other threats. Last weekend, those threats prevented the Spring Meeting of the IMF to renew its commitment to free trade. The US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin alone blocked it. Before […]Trump’s Syrian hit the softest option vis-a-vis Russia
April 10, 2017 by Leave a Comment
All the major English language media interpreted last week’s US strike of the Syrian air base with Tomahawk missiles, as a serious geostrategic action by Donald Trump carrying messages not only to Russia, but also to North Korea and even China. Nothing is less true than that. This was the least the new US President […]The US + Britain trivialize mainland Europe, NATO and the EU
March 23, 2017 by Leave a Comment
After the insults the German Chancellor Angela Merkel experienced in Washington last week, the Anglo-American duo last Tuesday orchestrated new assaults on mainland Europe. It’s not only the outrageous option of the no-deal Brexit, which gains momentum in London, possibly being encouraged by Washington. It’s also a fact that Britain and the US escalate their […]May threatens the EU with a wild Brexit indifferent to Scotland, Northern Ireland and the City
March 16, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Late last Tuesday, Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, got the green light from the lower house of the Parliament, the Commons, to trigger and negotiate the Brexit any way she likes. The elected members of Parliament reversed a decision of the upper chamber, the unelected Lords, who had attached two conditions in the law […]VW emissions scandal: While U.S. car owners are vindicated, Europe still unable to change its laws and protect its consumers
March 15, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Volkswagen, the giant German automaker, has pleaded guilty to criminal charges in a Detroit federal court last Friday to conspiracy to defraud the U.S., commit wire fraud, and violate the Clean Air Act, obstruction of justice and import violations. However, VW still denies compensating European car owners arguing that a ‘technical fix’ can make cars […]The widely advertised hazards of the EU not that ominous; the sting is financial woes
March 9, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Last Monday, Deutsche Bank’s management surprised everybody quite negatively by asking its shareholders for an €8 billion capital injection. Only hours before that, the London Stock Exchange had almost terminated the long negotiated merger procedure with the Deutsche Börse, the German bourse in Frankfurt. The LSE directors rejected the terms set by the European Commission […]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 […]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 […]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 […]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, […]
