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 […]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 […]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 […]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 […]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 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. […]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. […]Trump ostracized by his party and world elites but still remains in course; how can he do it?
October 13, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Four weeks ahead of the American Presidential elections day of 8 November, and the campaign of the Republican Party and its candidate Donald Trump is in unseen before havoc. Most prominent Republicans in one way or another have undermined the prospects of their own contester to win. It’s pretty clear by now that the establishment […]IMF – World Bank meetings: US – Germany clash instituted, anti-globalization prospects visualized
October 10, 2016 by Leave a Comment
This year’s annual meetings of the IMF – World Bank Group in Washington D.C., which kicked off on Thursday 6 October, turned out to be an all out financial war of words between the United States and Germany. In the middle of it stands the battered Deutsche Bank. For a start, there was a confrontation […]What if Trump wins the November election and Renzi loses the December referendum?
September 29, 2016 by Leave a Comment
After the Brexit, it became apparent that a large or probably the largest part of citizens/voters in the western world are questioning, if not strongly protesting against globalization, having felt its onerous consequences. The free movement of people, goods and capital is not any more a perceptibly good thing for the average man in the […]Are the G20 leaders ready to curb corporate tax-avoidance?
September 8, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Monday, the G20 meeting in Hangzhou – the capital of China’s eastern Zhejiang province – the first gathering of the 20 world leaders to be held in the vast country, was not marked by the determination to face up to economic misery and the pitiless wars in Syria, Libya, South Soudan, Yemen, Mali and […]The EU responds to US challenges by fining Apple with €13 billion
September 1, 2016 by 1 Comment
Last Tuesday, the White House and the US Treasury in concerted actions issued farfetched statements against the EU Commission. The EU executive’s decision ordered the US giant technology company Apple Inc. to pay additional taxes of up to €13 billion in Ireland. These instant and strong reactions clearly denote that the US sees this Brussels […]No end to Deutsche Bank’s problems: new litigations in the US and frailty in EU stress test
August 1, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Wednesday, Deutsche Bank’s shares fell by 4.5% in the first hour of trading in Frankfurt, after the bank released its second quarter results, showing a measly profit of €20 million, in comparison to €818 million last year. The percentage fall of this stock is the biggest ever in such a brief time in the […]The West castigates Turkey’s Erdogan for the ruthless political cleansing
July 25, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last week, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defied his western allies, who have called for restrain and the rule of law in the wide ranging purge of the country after the failed coup. With the basic human rights hindered, his ruthless cleansing of the military, the judiciary, the public administration, the education system and […]The US and EU decisively oppose Erdogan’s plans for Turkey and beyond
July 21, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Monday, John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, participated in the EU Foreign ministers’ council in Brussels, where the main topic on the agenda was the attempted coup in Turkey and its aftermath. The obvious reason for this joint Euro-American session of foreign ministers was to clearly show and for everybody to understand that […]EU free-trade agreements with Canada and US: imagine the fallout if put to national referendums
July 7, 2016 by Leave a Comment
When it comes to ‘selling’ its proposals to EU member states’ government and peoples, the European Commission turns the calendar some centuries back and starts painting saintly icons. The more inportant the proposal it is, the more boldly the Commission hides the real ‘catch 22s’ from citizens, under the bright colors of imaginary gains for […]Deutsche Bank slammed by the US-based trio of IMF, Fed and Moody’s
July 4, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Thursday morning the International Monetary Fund and the American central bank, the Fed, simultaneously but in the face of it independently, issued warnings about the health of the largest German lender, the long ailing Deutsche Bank. A few days before that the US rating agency Moody’s had degraded the creditworthiness of the bank close […]The Brits are not an exception and that’s why they voted to leave
June 27, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The choice made by a bit more than half of the adult Britons to exit the European Union has already triggered financial and political turmoil. In a short while the direct impact on people’s lives will start to materialize. Let’s count the most important adverse effects: the financial markets turmoil, the international trade fallout, the […]The UK referendum has already damaged Europe: even a ‘remain’ result is not without cost to Britain and the EU
June 23, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The adult Brits are deciding today about their country’s position in or out the European Union, in a referendum that Prime Minister David Cameron was forced by his party’s ultra-Eurosceptics in January 2013 to promise to conduct it, should the Conservative Party win a majority in the 2015 legislative election. This promise was then thought […]Does the world have strong enough institutions to handle risks like Trump and Brexit?
June 16, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last December, after the attack in San Bernardino California that left 14 dead, Donald Trump proposed a “temporary ban on Muslims entering the US”. This statement gave him a clear lead in the race for the Republican Party nomination, amongst the twelve candidates for the 8 November Presidential election. Republican voters seemingly appreciated his strong […]Who cares more about taxpayers? The US by being harsh on major banks or the EU still caressing them?
April 18, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The world economy remains more or less motionless or even recedes six years after the financial meltdown, because the banking industry has not yet decided what’s best for its interests. Continue leveraging itself (borrowing) on central bank liquidity in a stagnating environment, or start deleveraging and send the world to another deep recession, if not […]US – Russia bargain on Syria, Ukraine but EU kept out
March 31, 2016 by Leave a Comment
President Bashar al-Assad’s regular Syrian army aided by Lebanon Hezbollah fighters plus some Iranians, and of course under the air cover of Russia’s fighter jets last week pushed the ISIS murderers out of the ancient city of Palmyra. Reportedly, a Russian ground special force played also a role in this decisive battle, that probably constitutes […]Syria: Why did the US now take the Russian offer for a truce? What next?
February 29, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The US-Russia plan for a “cessation of hostilities” in Syria, endorsed by the UN Security Council on Friday 26 February kicked off in the early hours of Saturday and two days after is still more or less observed. Understandably the cease-fire may collapse at any moment but the US and Russia seem determined to keep […]The Syrian knot cannot be cut without devastating consequences
February 18, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Brussels seems quite lost with what is happening now in Syria. The statement issued last Monday 15 February by the European High Representative Mogherini and Commissioner Stylianides on the atrocious and murderous attacks on hospitals and schools in Syria stands as an infallible witness to that. At this point in time, the foreign powers, regional or […]Is there a way out of the next financial crisis? Can more printed money or austerity save us all?
February 1, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Every time Mario Draghi, the President of the European Central Bank, tries to fight very low inflation and indirectly support growth and job creation in Eurozone with monetary measures, the Germans stand in his way. Last Thursday 28 January, Jens Weidmann, the governor of the German central bank the Bundesbank, did it again. In an […]EU to pay a dear price if the next crisis catches Eurozone stagnant and deflationary; dire statistics from Eurostat
January 11, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Amidst the historically worst first week of a year since stock exchange records exist, the Eurozone economy remains stagnant and appears clearly unable to offer itself and the rest of the global economy a sigh of relief. All along the first week of the New Year Eurostat kept airing quite disappointing statistics for the Eurozone […]Erdogan’s electoral win on a ‘me or chaos’ dilemma means trouble for everybody
November 5, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The dilemma ‘me or chaos’ that the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hurled at his compatriots in last Sunday’s election paid dividends. And this despite the fact that he did what he could to produce frightening samples of the kind of chaos he had in mind. Understandably, then the Turkish voters didn’t give a super-majority […]Germany loves a strong euro; the new Fiscal Councils can deliver despite the Greek chaos and a wider questioning of austerity
September 14, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last Saturday, 12 September, Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis made some remarks after the informal meeting of ECOFIN (the EU ministers of Finance Council) in Luxembourg. The main item on the agenda was about completing the European Monetary Union. EMU is the most important EU project after the introduction of the single euro currency. He […]Why France, Italy and the US press Germany to accept a cheaper euro and pay for Greece
August 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Since last March the European Central Bank has being pumping at least €60 billion a month into Eurozone’s financial system, under its ‘expanded asset purchase program’, aimed at reviving the stagnating price level and energizing the sleepy real economy. The objective is to bring inflation close to 2%; the target rate set by ECB’s monetary […]Is Europe ready to cooperate with the rest of the world? Can Germany change its selfish policies?
July 26, 2015 by Leave a Comment
For a long time now the European Union is accused by the rest of the world for the severe austerity and recessionary economic policies it follows, also imposing them on crisis stricken euro area member states like Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal. This is so despite the fact that the Eurozone economy as a whole […]
