Europe/The EU Thread (Open to all To post)

[Toby]

Thirteen Years Later

There have been many grand experiments in social engineering during the past several centuries. We have witnessed the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the American Civil War, Communism and finally 1999 and the founding of the European Union. It is an interesting exercise to consider the long view as I have wondered what the world looked like in 1789 which was thirteen years after the commencement of the American experiment. It is also interesting to note, when comparing the two restructurings of society, that the new construct in the United States was founded upon assuming our own destiny and throwing off the yoke of the British Empire which was a common bond for the individual states which was not present and is not present, except in a curious twist, for the Europeans to cling to in times of significant decision. The “curious twist” is Germany which is seeking to dominate Europe through its economic prowess which would have been like Virginia or New York trying to dominate the United States in its infancy which was not possible due to the construct of a Senate and a Congress and a George Washington who rejected being the King. Unfortunately, the Europeans did not have an Adams, Hamilton or Jefferson to help guide the process, this is my opinion, and so the paradigm for Europe is so flawed in structure that in times of stress, such as the current recession in most of Europe; the structure itself may defeat the cause. What we are witnessing now in Europe is then a serious pushback against Germany and its policies, the rise of Nationalism coupled with real anger against the German interventions and a German economy which will certainly go into decline as affected by its neighbors and trading partners which will exacerbate Germany’s internal issues I submit before the end of this year.

Read More @ Thirteen Years Later | ZeroHedge

[Toby]

Debt crisis lays waste to European governments

A likely change of power in France. No confidence votes in Romania and the Czech Republic. The Dutch government's resignation. Since the start of the debt crisis, 16 nations in the EU have seen a change of government.


Since the spring of 2010, the governments of more than half of the European Union's 27 member states have fallen or been voted out of office. In most cases, a direct line could be drawn between the government's exit and the austerity measures put in place because of the economic situation.

After Great Britain, Spain and Italy, France could be the next large EU member to see a change of the guard. Socialist presidential candidate Francois Hollande has a good chance of replacing current conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy when the French take to the polls in a second round of voting on May 6.

Debt crisis lays waste to European governments | Europe | DW.DE | 27.04.2012

The experiment has failed, you have the southern half of the continent and Union dragging down the upper half and it is also once of the perfect examples that eventually you run out of other peoples money and start dragging all those that are producers down with you.

The real question will be, how will the fall out of this experiment play out in the future as old differences and resentments rise to the fold once again as we have already seen in Greece toward Germany.

[Toby]

As I mentioned in the previous post the old hatreds and resentments are starting to reemerge once again.

Holocaust Memorial, Synagogue Defaced in Geneva

Members of the Jewish community in Geneva find anti-Semitic symbols on a Holocaust monument and local synagogue.
Members of the Jewish community in Geneva, Switzerland, woke up on Friday morning and discovered that anti-Semitic symbols had been sprayed overnight on a monument to Holocaust victims who had lived in the city, according to a Channel 2 News report.


The report said that symbols had also been sprayed on the outer wall of a local synagogue.

Holocaust Memorial, Synagogue Defaced in Geneva - Jewish World - News - Israel National News

[Toby]

Opposition leader named as new PM in Romania

BUCHAREST, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Romanian President Traian Basescu on Friday evening named Victor Ponta, leader of the opposition Social Democratic Party, as the country's new prime minister.

Basescu made the designation several hours after a no-confidence motion toppled the center-right government led by former intelligence chief Mihai Razvan Ungureanu.

Opposition leader named as new PM in Romania - Xinhua | English.news.cn

Returning to old times

[Toby]

Suicides have Greeks on edge before election

Reuters) - On Monday, a 38-year-old geology lecturer hanged himself from a lamp post in Athens and on the same day a 35-year-old priest jumped to his death off his balcony in northern Greece. On Wednesday, a 23-year-old student shot himself in the head.

In a country that has had one of the lowest suicide rates in the world, a surge in the number of suicides in the wake of an economic crisis has shocked and gripped the Mediterranean nation - and its media - before a May 6 election.

The especially grisly death of pharmacist Dimitris Christoulas, who shot himself in the head on a central Athens square because of poverty brought on by the crisis that has put millions out of work, was by far the most dramatic.

Suicides have Greeks on edge before election | Reuters

[Toby]

France's Hollande warns of wave of layoffs after presidential vote

Hollande said unions were already warning that companies were preparing a round of redundancies after the end of the presidential campaign, during which Sarkozy has done everything possible to avoid high-profile industrial closures.

"The unions are aware of this. Decisions are being prepared which have been postponed," Hollande told Le Parisien newspaper in an interview. "It is not our victory which will trigger redundancy plans after May 6."

The prospect of a Socialist winning control of France for the first time since Francois Mitterrand left office in 1995 has irked some investors. Hollande's promise to renegotiate a German-inspired budget discipline pact to redress European governments' finances had stirred fears of a return to the depths of the euro zone crisis.

France's Hollande warns of wave of layoffs after presidential vote | Reuters

[Toby]

Nationalism growth in Russia causes alarm

Moscow has the largest Muslim population in Europe, with four mosques in the city serving more than two million people. The country has become a multi-confessional state in which Muslims and Christians have had to learn to live together. But according to experts, every day the problems connected with international and religious issues come up.

On April 10, murder of the representative of the Azerbaijani diaspora Metin Mekhtiyev was committed in Moscow. According to the Investigatory Committee the murder was made for the purpose of a robbery.

Meanwhile, the colleagues of Mekhtiev are sure – the crime was made by nationalists, considering the fact that Mekhtiyev was the head of the department of the Islamic cultural center in Russia

Nationalism growth in Russia causes alarm | EUTimes.net

[Toby]

Europe's Other "Union" Is Ending

Almost a year ago, we observed the first crack in that other fundamental core of the European "union" experiment - the Schengen visa-free and customs-union zone. We wrote: "While Europe may have sold its soul to the [monetary union] devil over the past decade it still retained its beating heart - the concept that served at the core of the European Union: the so-called customs union, or a mobile, borderless workforce. Alas, the heart has just entered ventricular fibrillation, as for the first time, a country, Denmark, has taken what appears to be the first step toward defecting from Europe's 60 year old experiment of intimate, and sometimes, forceful unification. As EUBusiness reports: "Denmark will reintroduce controls at its intra-EU borders with Germany and Sweden, Finance Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen said Wednesday following an agreement between the government and the far-right. "We have reached agreement on reintroducing customs inspections at Denmark's borders as soon as possible," Hjort Frederiksen told reporters."

It was also then that we predicted the inevitable rise of the right (as demonstrated most vividly a week ago in the French presidential election) in Europe and its implications on the cohesiveness of the transnational European state:

Europe's Other "Union" Is Ending | ZeroHedge

[Bubba74]

The Eurozone will collapse it has too.

Sad part is these people are so dumb, the politicians and policies that brought them to this demise are getting back into power (socialists in France). Why could they possibly think the result will be any different

[Toby]

The Eurozone will collapse it has too.

Sad part is these people are so dumb, the politicians and policies that brought them to this demise are getting back into power (socialists in France). Why could they possibly think the result will be any different

It is a weird mindset to figure out Bubba, citizens have been so convinced that if you do the same things as have been done in the past in this regard that the outcome will be different. The real thing to watch though is the old hatreds and divisions that are reemerging in the region. As you well know History repeats itself and we are seeing the framework of that coming full circle again.