Quote; "On 25 November, a new law on
the territorial organization of the French regions was passed by the National
Assembly, by a very small majority. Of the 530 expressed votes, 277 were for
and 253 were against.
Two main regions are
“victims” of the new organization, Alsace and Brittany.
Alsace, because it simply
disappears into a huge, new region regrouping Champagne-Ardenne, Lorraine and
Alsace, in effect meaning that Alsace itself won't exist anymore as a political
or administrative entity.
Meanwhile for Brittany, the
law confirms the amputation of its territory, rebuffing the return of the fifth
historical department of Loire-Atlantique and the historical Breton capital of
Nantes to the region of Brittany.
For Brittany, which began
life as kingdom in the ninth century, evolved into a duchy, and since the French Revolution has been a
region, this was chance to regain its historical integrity. During the Second
World War, the fascist Vichy government took the richest of Brittany’s five
departments, Loire-Atlantique, and used it to create a new, artificial region
called Pays de la Loire, which still exists today.
After several demonstrations
and public debates, 85% of the Bretons in the administrative region of Brittany
and 70% of the Bretons in the Loire-Atlantique department claimed to be clearly
in favor of the reunification. Still the government and the National Assembly
said no.
The official reason given by
the government is that it wants to optimize the existing regions, making them
more powerful and able to compete at a “European level”. But a reunified
Brittany would have respected all the objectives wanted by the government, as
Breton MPs have argued.
The “No” to a Breton
reunification, and the choice to dilute Alsace, are explainable by a
non-official reason. After having watched with fear and apprehension what
happened in Scotland and Catalonia, the French centralized state used every
legal trick to prevent any risk of such situations in France in the future. The
aim was, is, and will be, to weaken any regional or cultural identities that
are not explicitly “French”.
With such lofty goals in mind,
it is not surprising that regardless of the legitimate justifications for reunifying
Brittany, the government would never allow it. It is not surprising either that
Alsace was condemned to be consigned to the dustbins of history.
It is important to understand
that in France - by law – there can be no other people than the “French”
people. Bretons, Alsatians, Corsicans…they may exist as administrative
curiosities for local populations, but legally – they do not exist. Since the
Revolution, France is “One and Indivisible”, and the different identities and
territories can only be considered as folkloric particularities, certainly not
specific political entities of any sort. It is the reason that France is the
only country in the Council of Europe - apart from Turkey - to have not signed
the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.
In fact the original goal of
the French government was to make Brittany disappear altogether by fusing it
with the neighboring region of Pays-de-la-Loire to create a huge and illogical
“Grand-Ouest”. That particular catastrophe was avoided at the last minute
thanks to an active Breton lobby close to the President." Go to: https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/hugo-tran/fighting-for-brittany-autonomy-in-centralised-state
for full article.
Many Bretons would like to be reunified and have more autonomy but still remain part of the larger French state, however, the fact that they have never been presented with the option of becoming part of a "Wider British Republic" with the powers of a fully devolved and independent parliament of their own (or even thought that such a thing would ever be possible), may well be one reason for this. As an indicator of the strength of feeling check-out the number of "Breton Independence" accounts on Twitter (#Breizhistance).
Also see; ""Brythonic Independence!" go to: http://www.arafel.co.uk/2014/07/brythonic-independence.html
Quote; "Fighting for the Independence of Brittany is not only about politics, it is also and above all a clash of morals and values.
The essence of our action comes from this situation. By realizing it, you can understand us. A rejection. France would like to represent the Republic, and some sort of morals. But France is symbols, values, and above all, a reality.
The reality of France. France is Paris, exile of the youth-from-across-the-beltway, Parisians who visit every year their Hick reservation between June and September, fifty trains a day to Paris from Rennes, and two trains per month to Pontivy. France is “Get a job in Paris, it’s easier”, the word “province”, the harmless and simple-minded TV weatherman with a country accent and a poppy on his garment, and Paris region license plates in commercials. France is also the hangover from 1981, the Mitterrand years, champagne socialists, the baton right wing, the doobie left wing, corruption, their money years, our jail years, some “Frankiz evit Kabon” on the walls when we were kids, some “Freedom for Breton political prisoners” that we tag ourselves every fifteen years when shindigs resume. Hey, well, so a “44=BZH” graffiti meets a cop car, and it’s a night waiting outside the police station for those who are lucky, and inside for those who are not. But France is also our cousins who are small farmers eaten away by alcohol, the Agricultural Bank, and quotas convicted for “maladjustment” who will have never watched the Millennium fireworks. France is tractors in always bigger fields and always larger overdrafts at the bank. France is the reparcelling and neighbors who spit in each other’s face for a piece of land. France is also the word “dialect”, the word “prefect”, the word “petroleum”".."and tollgates with 72 cameras.
Hey! France is also the “Amoco cormorant”, this famous bird trying to fly and eventually sinking into its sea of fuel oil. France is also hypermarkets and their huge parking lots, ugly housing estates and the ultimate joy of building the exact same house than your neighbor in the Ker Stuff subdivision. And then the shady Youth Clubs, the suburbs like in the “New Year’s Eve at Bob’s” 1984 movie. And then France is the upstart or the resident Parisian who owns a filthy “Costa Bella Residence” vacation condo in Port-Navalo that you hear about at every family reunion. France is the “Pays-de-la-Loire”, the same old “But what would you do without France? Huh, huh”; the same old “Now, I’m moving to Paris, it’s so lame here”; the same old “Breton? Gallo? It’s useless, learn English”. France is the abduction of the word “Republic”, the made-up history of Jules Michelet, the lies of the wars in Algeria, Indochina, Madagascar, and Chad, the spookeries, the weapons sold to one half of Africa to exterminate the other half, Charles Pasqua, Bettencourt, Franck Ribéry, Sarkozy, Tapie, Ayrault, but also Alain Minc, Sollers, Giesbert, BHL, Glucksmann, Alexandre Jardin, the old lady Françoise Morvan, Le Bris, Télérama, the old lady Le Pen, and the snobbish accent of Jack Lang and Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet. Moreover, France is like Paris, it’s somewhat of a mix between NTM and NKM. Scum on one side, upper class on the other. France is Jean-Pierre Gaillard, Hubert Coudurier, François Régis Hutin and his editorials about boy scouts. France? Well, well, well…" Go to: http://7seizh.info/2013/10/17/independence-of-brittany-and-why-bretons-will-never-be-french-their-values-and-ours/
for full article.
Caveat Emptor.
These people share the same language group as that of our forebears (before we were Romanised and Anglicised), and let us not forget that our monarchy is German not British for as is (or should be), well-known the Saxe Coburgs changed their name to "Windsor" in order to avoid embarrassment, censure and/or even dethronement during the appalling incestuous internecine slaughter that was the First World War.
These two dvds are highly recommended.
There is another issue closely related to this with regard to the emancipation of the "Brythonic" peoples and that of course is the creation of a Unified Ireland (something which deeply concerns the current -so-called-, "British" establishment). Some have suggested that the Brexit conundrum might well be the impetus that the creation of a single Irish state requires but I believe that this will prove impossible without the removal of the Crown from the equation. Democracy requires a "dynamic equilibrium" and whilst mainland Britain remains under the control of the Westminster parliament none of the otherwise secessionist states will be independent (obviously), and this situation is underpinned by both the first-past-the-post electoral system and the monarchy (another incestuous relationship if ever there was one). Without secession for Wales, Scotland, Cornwall and Brittany all Irish Protestants (on both sides of the border), will feel (probably rightly), both slighted and threatened but let's not forget the lesson of history for it was Puritanism not Catholicism that first actually removed the head from our state, a rediscovery of their reformist roots might be precisely what Irish Protestantism needs to feel validated within a free Britannia! The hope must be that such would truly be a "Peace Process" for all and that it might extinguish the fires of sectarianism that still burn on both sides of the Irish Sea.
"Where
there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law,
happy is he." Proverbs 29:18 King James Version (KJV)
Ballymurphy
Quote; "Forensic exposé of one of the most shocking events of The Troubles in Northern Ireland: a series of killings the British Army stand accused of which took place over three days" (recommended)
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/massacre-at-ballymurphy/on-demand/64711-001
"So what then?" You may ask. "What will keep this disparate group of rebels together and what of our relationship with the rest of Europe?" The answer seems obvious a, "Council of Britons" will be required both to mediate in disputes between the member states and to represent their interests in Europe. The Wider European adventurers may well quail when such proposals are aired (and so they should), for as we have examined elsewhere on this blog the formation of an Eastern European Union would break the back of the Now Actively Treacherous Oligarchy ("NATO"), that has come to ascendancy and dominates the body politic and help establish the principles of independence and emancipation benefiting all the significantly (currently marginalised and ignored), ethnically and culturally divergent regions in the union.
Re: Scotland
Quote; "The Tories are plotting to undermine Scotland’s interests during negotiations with the EU, in what Brexit secretary Michael Russell described last night as a “massive insult”.
The SNP minister hit out after leaked papers from negotiators in Brussels, obtained by The Times, revealed that the EU is “secretly preparing” to accept a frictionless Irish border after Brexit, with “technological solutions” minimising customs checks between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.
Under the EU plan, goods will be tracked using barcodes on shipping containers under “trusted-trader” schemes administered by registered companies.
In what the Scottish Government described as a “deceit”, the EU is reportedly, at the behest of the UK Government, carefully writing its proposal to prevent the SNP from demanding a similar deal for Scotland.
“The solution is specifically phrased for Northern Ireland so that it is not applicable for Scotland. A UK concern,” the note reportedly says.
Nicola Sturgeon has said any deal which allows Northern Ireland to, effectively, remain in the single market must be offered to Scotland.
“If one part of UK can retain regulatory alignment with EU and effectively stay in the single market, which is the right solution for Northern Ireland, there is surely no good practical reason why others can’t.” the SNP leader tweeted last December" Go to: http://www.thenational.scot/news/16884761.appalling-secret-tory-plot-to-shut-out-scotland-in-brexit-deal-exposed-by-leak/
for full article.
#LIBOR
Recent stories in the financial press are promoting the notion that it is separatism in Europe that posses the biggest threat to the European economy but also that the E.U's single-market and currency are in such a poor state that it is best to allow the City of London to exercise complete independence from the single-market, quote;
"“April is the cruellest month,” wrote TS Eliot in the opening line of The Waste Land – possibly his greatest poem.
“August is a wicked month,” quipped the Irish writer Edna O’Brien in the title of her fifth novel.
“October will be a s---storm” is a less aesthetic phrase, but one I’ve heard a lot from market analysts lately. It may not be poetry – but the message may be worth taking to heart.
Last week saw yet more populist flare-ups across the European Union. In Germany, thousands joined rallies in the eastern city of Chemnitz after an arrest warrant for an Iraqi suspect was leaked following a fatal stabbing.
Italian deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, meanwhile, met with Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán to discuss a common anti-migration strategy. “We’re walking the same path,” they said in a joint statement, posing for the cameras in Milan. The two nations have been on “the front line” as millions of refugees have entered the EU from Syria, Iraq and North Africa. “We want to change Europe’s rules,” they declared, “to protect our borders.”
Elections in Sweden this week will likely mark another populist uprising. The centre-left Social Democrats are heading for well below 30pc of the vote, this ruling party’s worst result in over a century – in an election once again dominated by anti-immigration, anti-EU sentiment. Jimmie Åkesson, leader of the upstart Sweden Democrats, could become the post-election coalition kingmaker – and he, like Salvini, is threatening a referendum on EU membership.
As traders return to their desks this week in London, New York and other financial capitals, they face concerns aplenty. Yes, the US is showing 4.1pc growth and financial markets are soaring. But stock valuations, pumped by years of central-bank quantitative easing (QE), look precarious compared to earnings. And the Federal Reserve is consistently raising interest rates – signalling a broader policy tightening."...
"For my money, though, the biggest danger facing global markets is Europe – and that relates to this upsurge in nasty politics. And while street protests and election shocks catch the headlines, the really telling impact of growing EU disunity, and the rising outrage among millions of ordinary voters at Brussels-imposed diktats, on borders and more besides, is revealed by looking at the market for bonds"..
"Since a populist Five Star/Italian League government took office in June, Italian bond yields have doubled to a four-year high. Market unease reflects the fact that Italy’s finances are even worse than the headline numbers suggest. Local banks themselves hold more than €400bn euros of local sovereign debt – so government and the financial sector are locked in a ruinous doom-loop, ending all hope of a domestic bank bailout."..
"There is righteous populist anger in Germany, not just about immigration, but also the extent to which Berlin has been bankrolling the likes of Italy. And now the Italian government, when it presents its budget for European Commission approval in October, looks set to ask for much more."..
"As populist pressures collide, with EU nations looking inward, eurozone bond markets could go haywire this autumn. And if that happens, the storm will inevitably spread." Go to: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/09/01/october-storms-gathering-europes-economy/ for full article.
Contrast this with the following article from, "Capital X" that maintains that Britain's separation could be its saving grace, quote;
"If we rewind to the cusp of the millennium, the EU had a sorry apology for a market structure. Stock markets were mostly national behemoths. Trading across borders was cumbersome and expensive. Step forward the original Markets In Financial Instruments Directive (MIFID), which has proven a great success. With one legislative sweep, the EU managed to open up a decent amount of competition across borders for the trading of stocks delivering, if not a seamless open market, at least a richly competitive environment enhancing choice for investors and issuers alike. Moreover MIFID enabled a generation of entrepreneurial activity in the market infrastructure field, delivering a raft of new competitor platforms to the existing monopoly stock exchanges. That was also hugely beneficial to the City as the majority of successful non-legacy exchange ventures clustered in London, further enhancing the UK’s significant leadership in financial services across the region. True, cynics may suggest much of MIFID’s benefit was already likely to occur thanks to technology but that misses the point of it crucially opening up closed silos across the continent to better integrate the competitive dynamic of free markets."..
Then the 2007 financial crisis intervened. The G20 produced a series of pragmatic and broadly sensible G20 commitments at the Pittsburgh summit (2009) to make the interbank marketplace safer and more transparent, reducing the risk of bank collapses. The EU, seized by its usual sense of urgent “something must be dunnery”, allied with its general suspicion of free markets and a desire to trim capitalism at all costs, turned inwards, preferring to indulge in a very expansive hyper-regulated environment. A core concept of transitioning MIFID principles to other markets (bonds, derivatives, commodities etc) turned into a staggering hotchpotch of dreams, delusions and generally intrusive impositions on the functioning of markets."..
"Perhaps the greatest flaw to implementing MIFID II now is the Brexit process. The UK remains (as the ironic Twitter hashtag puts it, #DespiteBrexit), the world’s leading international financial centre, dwarfing the rest of the EU 27 put together. Stubbornly applying a vast raft of highly prescriptive restrictions on markets and their operation at this juncture appears the height of folly. However once the EU has plotted a legislative course, supertankers look as nimble as Mini Coopers when it comes to changing direction. Thus the EU plods on into a gaping own goal of its own making."..
"Britain needs a coherent and comprehensive way out of the MIFID II muddle. The City of London must achieve a pragmatic regulatory freedom before this initial exodus of commodity derivatives business turns into a rout, and leads to rival financial centres in the US and likely Hong Kong and Singapore being seen as havens from the EU’s overreach."..
"For London the path is now clear – remaining constrained inside the EU’s protectionist single market is bad for Britain and already pushing business out of the City. There is no coherent evidence London as a global financial centre will be adversely affected by being empowered once again freely to choose pragmatic regulations which are equivalent with the rest of the world, the EU included." Go to: https://capx.co/the-city-cannot-afford-to-be-constrained-by-disastrous-eu-rules/
for full article.
Not a sniff in either article that it was the Wider Europe and its NATO-isation that has both overstretched EU finances and put so much pressure on Western European societies that additional immigration from the Middle East has become unacceptable to much of the populace.
This kind of economic double-think has its genesis in denial of the exposure of our financial institutions to the global credit crisis. For many years the British have been attempting to ameliorate historical problems (which date back to our near bankruptcy following the two world wars), of under-resourcing and in recent decades the lack of a truly British owned manufacturing base (sure we manufacture a-lot, much of which to a very high standard, but we don't own the majority of these companies either privately or publicly which allows most of the actual profits to be salted-away offshore and in other countries where the owners are free from the burden of U.K taxation), by providing financial services (and this to the very people vampirising on our economy), to the world. The degree to which Britain was over-exposed was surely intimated by the Queen herself when she quizzed the then chancellor concerning the state of our nation's gold reserves (but let's not forget it was the previous Labour incumbent that actually flogged-them-off), quote;
"It was meant to be a visit
without any high politics but the Queen still managed to quiz the
Chancellor about British gold as she visited Downing Street.
Walking along the line of ministers in the Terracotta Room inside Number 10 before sitting in on part of a Cabinet meeting, the monarch came to George Osborne.Until that point, every minister had been introduced by Prime Minister David Cameron but he failed to announce his friend Mr Osborne.
The Queen queried "someone?", to gales of laughter from the assembled politicians, before going on to ask about "gold bars".
Some of her words are indistinct on video footage of the exchange but she can be heard saying "regrettably" in a reference to their sale.
Mr Osborne told the Queen: "Some of them were sold but we still have some left."
What she actually said was (paraphr); "..and how much of the nations gold have we left?" To which Osborne responded; "17% Maam" prompting Elizabeth the Second to damn with faint praise by saying; "17%? Well done!"
Quote; "In 2010, Osborne declared: "Gordon Brown's decision to sell off our gold reserves at the bottom of the market cost the British taxpayer billions of pounds*. It was one of the worst economic judgements ever made by a chancellor." At a time when his own strategy has failed dramatically, Osborne will no doubt be pleased to discover that the Queen appears to agree" Go to: https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2012/12/queen-takes-swipe-gordon-brown-over-gold-sale
for full article.
*Italics mine.
This is why it was done, quote;
"Libor, the London interbank offered rate, is a global benchmark for interest rates on everything from credit cards to trillions of dollars in financial derivatives and is at the heart of a scandal over rate rigging.
Libor rates are based on daily estimates from a group of banks as to how much they would expect to pay to borrow funds from each other for a range of currencies and periods. The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) published the first official Libor rates in dollars, sterling and yen, meeting demand for global benchmarks from financial markets in 1986." Go to: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-libor-rbs-scandal/timeline-how-the-libor-scandal-unfolded-idUSBRE9150TB20130206
for full article.
Also see; "Understanding the Libor Scandal" go to: https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/understanding-libor-scandal
Britain was forced to buy its way out of the financial hole it was in but the gold sales could only gild the LIBOR lilly*, our politicians were also forced to collude in the manipulation of the LIBOR rate in order to hide our degree of over-exposure but because both parties were involved (an indication of just how serious the situation was -and still is-), mouths have been kept firmly shut on both sides of the house with regard to the true size of our international debt. The undead corpses of both the British and European economies now stagger on propped up by only the geo-political interests of the dollar and the machinations of the State Dept.
So does separatism within the European Union represent the biggest threat to the markets? Only if you're a zombie desperately trying to find fresh living flesh to feed on! Should Britain (for instance), achieve the kind of devolution for (what should be), its independent member states and then reorganise itself on a more egalitarian basis both a United Ireland and the mighty economy that is Brittany would be able to contribute to our common-wealth (having never actually joined the poor-old Euro perhaps even a "United Brit-Pound" could be something "we" could sensibly contemplate), and form a counterweight to a more democratic Western European Union (containing a number of then devolved member states and regions), and newly formed Eastern Union of a similar hue itself.
*It is claimed that Gordon Brown sold of much of Britain's gold reserves whilst gold prices were at their lowest for twenty years because; "Central banks thought they could manage the world by tweaking interest rates, switching a few dials. Gold's role as a financial backstop had diminished." However it was not the Bank of England but the treasury which was responsible for selling our gold and Brown had already freed-up the BoE to set its own interests rates so why the sale? As Rhona O'Connell, head of market analysis for Europe and Asia at global financial services firm Intl FCStone, said; "Regardless of its price on any date, gold is negatively correlated with virtually all other asset classes and from a central banker's point of view it is important in terms of adding international credibility within the financial sector." (quotes from; "Gold: Gordon Brown's sale remains controversial 20 years on" go to: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48177767 ). Given the (apparent), degree of collusion between Britain's Govt. and the financial markets concerning the LIBOR rate is it not more likely that Brown was trying to ameliorate what was already becoming an untenable position for Britain on the international financial markets? Brown's sale of gold assets concluded in 2002 only six years before the Credit Crunch (go to: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2008/oct/08/creditcrunch.marketturmoil)
, however, Britain remained over-exposed and was therefore obliged to attempt to obfuscate her indebtedness as she could no longer support her currency.
What other explanation could their be for Britain's chancellor selling off the majority of the country's gold reserves at the arse end of a bear-market other than that the sales were a desperate dyke building exercise prior to a coming flood of debt that the chancellor hoped would not rise any higher although the deluge was threatening to completely inundate The City of London (as it did), and wash away the hubris of the Labour administration's neo-liberal belief in the so-called, "free-market"?
That our Chancellor was attempting to bribe a smoother path for the country on the international financial (upwardly-mobile) free-way seems clear the question is how aware was he that Britain's position was to rapidly become untenable? Whatever the answer the loss of our gold assets was clearly a contributory factor in the LIBOR scandal.
Tax Avoidance
"In recent years, the likes of Google, Amazon, Apple and Starbucks have come under the spotlight for large-scale tax avoidance. This means they’ve arranged their finances rather cleverly – albeit within the law – to dodge tax obligations they would otherwise have to fulfil. Less tax paid by these huge companies means less money to invest in our public services – we all lose out!"..
"As from the start of 2019, yes coincidentally just as the Brexit deadline looms, all EU member states will have to apply the Anti Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD). It’s an EU law designed to tackle businesses shirking their tax-paying responsibilities.
The likes of Nigel Farage, Jacob Rees-Mogg and a host of wealthy Brexit donors are unlikely to warm to ATAD. It fact, it might be one of reasons why some Brexiteers are hell-bent on pushing for the hardest Brexit possible*.
How will ATAD work?
The directive seeks to tackle the thriving culture of corporate tax avoidance. For example, consider the scenario in which an EU company shifts profits to a related company in a low-tax country reducing the tax paid on these profits: under ATAD, a company could still do this, but the profits will be taxable at EU rates.
Another situation is where EU businesses developing a new product move it to a low tax country to avoid paying larger taxes on the profits once it is developed. Thanks to ATAD this tactic won’t work as member states can levy tax on the product before it is moved.
Even with ATAD, you might argue companies – through their nifty lawyers – will find new loopholes to avoid tax, right? The EU thought of that: ATAD provides a general anti-abuse rule to counteract these regimes where national laws have failed to address them."..
"As from the start of 2019, yes coincidentally just as the Brexit deadline looms, all EU member states will have to apply the Anti Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD). It’s an EU law designed to tackle businesses shirking their tax-paying responsibilities.
The likes of Nigel Farage, Jacob Rees-Mogg and a host of wealthy Brexit donors are unlikely to warm to ATAD. It fact, it might be one of reasons why some Brexiteers are hell-bent on pushing for the hardest Brexit possible."..
"The directive seeks to tackle the thriving culture of corporate tax avoidance. For example, consider the scenario in which an EU company shifts profits to a related company in a low-tax country reducing the tax paid on these profits: under ATAD, a company could still do this, but the profits will be taxable at EU rates." Go to: https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/is-the-anti-tax-avoidance-directive-the-reason-the-rich-want-out-of-eu-1-5669763
for full article.
*Italics mine.
Greece
Quote; "Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis explains how the debt crisis was a Greek tragedy
"He spoke with Marketplace Morning Report host David Brancaccio about how the story it tells is like a Greek or Shakespearean tragedy, and how Europe lacks a "moral union." Below is an edited transcript of their conversation.
David Brancaccio: What
do you think of what I would say is the conventional wisdom right now
regarding the eurozone? Things are generally going quite well over
there. We don't have to worry about those guys much anymore.
Yanis Varoufakis: A
regime's incapacity to reproduce itself is evidenced at moments when
the reality and the narrative about the reality becomes so huge. It's
very much like the early 1980s in the Soviet Union. The official version
of the actual truth was so desperate, you knew the system could not
reproduce itself. Europe now is in a situation where the numbers are
prospering and people are suffering, with more than three and a half
trillion of non-performing loans private and public. We've got a banking
system that needs about one and a half trillion dollars to be properly
capitalized and you have a political system which is absolutely buckled
under its own hubris.
Brancaccio: Now
the villains in your story are the forces that prioritized bondholders
and big banks over the Greek population. But you also blame Greeks for
getting into the mess in the first place. Are you seeing finally — it
doesn't sound like you are — structural changes in Greece that are
possibly going to strengthen the country for the future?
Varoufakis: Well,
we're responsible for the fact that we were the first domino to fall.
We were not responsible for the domino dynamic, which began in Greece
and then ended up rendering, for instance, in Italy. Insolvent, in a
sense. Structural reforms. What is a structural reform? Do you think
that taking a pensioner who is living on $300 a month to $200 counts as a
reform? This is confusing butchery with surgery." Go to: https://www.marketplace.org/2017/11/03/economy/greek-finance-minister-yanis-varoufakis for full article.
Deutsche Bank Suicides
Quote; "Calogero Gambino, 41, was found hanging by the neck from a stairway banister, reports the Wall Street Journal.
He was found by his wife, and pronounced dead at the scene, New York City officials told the paper.
Gambino, an associate general counsel and managing director, had worked for Deutsche Bank for 11 years.
He had worked closely for the bank on legal issues relating to the Libor scandal, after regulators started investigating the company in 2012.
He was also an associate at a private law firm and a regulatory enforcement lawyer between 1997 and 1999, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing Gambino's LinkedIn profile and conference biographies.
"Charlie was a beloved and respected colleague who we will miss. Our thoughts and sympathy are with his friends and family," Deutsche Bank said in a statement.
The bank has been battling allegations that employees manipulated the Libor benchmark interest rate as well as currency markets."Go to: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/second-deutsche-bank-executive-found-dead-suspected-suicide-1471744 For full article.
The Old Divides?
Quote; "The imbalances in the economic strength of euro area countries
make the continued function of the single currency area a primary
concern, said former US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan in an
interview with the World Gold Council.
He suggests the inequality is largely down to a
north/south geographical divide which means the division between the
northern and southern EU countries is too big. The bloc's more
prosperous nations such as Germany consistently fund the deficits of
those in the south, and that simply can't go on, said Greenspan.
"The European Central Bank (ECB) has greater problems than the Federal Reserve. The asset side of the ECB’s balance sheet is larger than ever before, having grown steadily since Mario Draghi said he would do whatever it took to preserve the euro,” he said.
“And I have grave concerns about the future of the euro itself… The eurozone is not working", added Greenspan." Go to: https://www.rt.com/business/377677-greenspan-eurozone-not-working/ For full article.
Arafel comment: North and South? You might just as well say,;"beat the w*ps!" Surely returning the Grecians their marbles would be an anti-imperialist act (for it is the imperialists who have championed "The Greater Europe's" unconsidered eastern expansion -is it any wonder that; "The centre cannot hold"?-)? Please see; "Sophie's Choice (again)", go to: https://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/sophies-choice-again-brexit.html
and the archive on; "A Place to Talk" especially all titles concerning "The Omerta", go to: https://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/a-place-to-talk.html
"The European Central Bank (ECB) has greater problems than the Federal Reserve. The asset side of the ECB’s balance sheet is larger than ever before, having grown steadily since Mario Draghi said he would do whatever it took to preserve the euro,” he said.
“And I have grave concerns about the future of the euro itself… The eurozone is not working", added Greenspan." Go to: https://www.rt.com/business/377677-greenspan-eurozone-not-working/ For full article.
Arafel comment: North and South? You might just as well say,;"beat the w*ps!" Surely returning the Grecians their marbles would be an anti-imperialist act (for it is the imperialists who have championed "The Greater Europe's" unconsidered eastern expansion -is it any wonder that; "The centre cannot hold"?-)? Please see; "Sophie's Choice (again)", go to: https://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/sophies-choice-again-brexit.html
and the archive on; "A Place to Talk" especially all titles concerning "The Omerta", go to: https://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/a-place-to-talk.html
From; "Squaring the Circle: #Intersectionalities #SERCO #Mercer #CambridgeAnalytica" go to: http://www.arafel.co.uk/2017/03/squaring-circles-intersectionalities.html
Varoufakis on the Italian Crisis
Quote; "Almost one third of the respondents in Bavaria say they want
independence from Germany, according to a new poll, which also showed
that the southern region has the strongest secessionist sentiment among
all German states.
Thirty-two percent of Bavarians agreed with the statement that their “state should be independent from Germany,” a Bild commissioned survey conducted by the YouGov market research company revealed.
According to Bavarian Radio, 18 percent of respondents strongly agreed with the statement while 14 percent “would rather agree” with it."..
"However, any German state’s desire for independence is likely futile as the German constitution does not make provision for the right to secession.
In December 2016, the German Constitutional Court said in its clarification concerning an issue of holding an independence referendum in any German state: “There is no place for the secessionist aspirations of certain states under the constitution.”
Any such move would “violate the constitutional order,” the court added." Go to: https://www.rt.com/news/396600-bavaria-independence-germany-poll/ for full article.
Euromerta? Victoria Marinova RIP
Quote; "A TV reporter who covered EU funds fraud cases was brutally murdered and allegedly raped in northern Bulgaria. The horrific indent is the third murder of a journalist in the EU amid concerns over press freedom.
The body of Victoria Marinova, 30, who hosted a show on local TVN, was found dead on a popular jogging route near the Danube River in the city of Ruse on Saturday. The city has never seen such a brutal crime, according to experienced criminologists cited by local media.
The woman was raped and beaten, and succumbed to head injuries and suffocation, according to local media citing investigators. The victim’s cell phone, car keys, and some clothes were not found with her, but the car reportedly was not stolen."..
"Some already speculate that the woman might have been the victim of her latest report. She hosted the recently-launched ‘Detector’ program, and its last episode covered the investigation by Bivol website, claiming to expose a corruption scheme inside EU-funded projects. Marinova earlier was an anchor of another program called ‘Podium’, which aired reports on various topics." Go to: https://www.rt.com/news/440683-investigative-journalist-murder-bulgaria/ for full article.
Update
Reports from Germany concerning the apprehending of a suspect state (paraphr); "there was no connection with her work" with regard to the crime, I doubt they have enough information to be certain about that as yet, quote:
"A Romanian man arrested over Ms Marinova’s murder on Tuesday has been released without charge, police said.
Mr Krasimirov was later detained in Germany at the request of Bulgarian authorities.
DNA evidence found on her body implicated him in her killing, said Bulgaria’s interior minister, Mladen Marinov.
He said the suspect, a 21-year-old resident of Ruse, had a previous criminal conviction for scrap metal theft.
Investigators have found “no apparent link” to Ms Marinova’s work, the minister added. He said evidence pointed to “a spontaneous attack, not premeditated”." Go to: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/viktoria-marinova-murder-rape-suspect-arrest-latest-bulgaria-journalist-germany-a8576731.html for full article.
A female journalist about whose censure (due to the unpopularity of her work), there is no doubt is..
Dilyana Gaytandzhieva
Quote: "I've just got fired for telling the truth about weapons supplies for#terrorists in #Syria on diplomatic flights" Go to: https://trud.bg/350-diplomatic-flights-carry-weapons-for-terrorists/ (article will not paste even in part) https://twitter.com/dgaytandzhieva
Gaytandzhieva on Bio-Weapons Development in Recently Assimilated NATO-ised States
US diplomats involved in trafficking of human blood and pathogens for secret military program
Varoufakis on the Italian Crisis
Quote; "The
Italian government decided to take on Bruxelles deciding for a budget
act that enlarges consistently the deficit/gdp ratio (2,4%). What is
your opinion about it? Could it be enough to revitalize the Italian
economy?
It
won’t be enough to revitalize the Italian economy. For that to happen
there has to be a major change at the level of the Eurozone, including a
large scale investment program and a complete revision of the Fiscal
Compact. What the government’s fiscal policy will do, besides igniting a
confrontation with Brussels, is slightly to boost aggregate demand and
(depending on how much of that deficit spending will be directed to poor
families) arrest the decline in real average incomes.
The
government is going to approve a budget act in which some of the
previous austerity measures are going to be deleted (e.g. the pension
reform), while a peculiar form of ‘basic income’ and a sort of flat-tax
will be introduced. Some weeks ago you said the Italian economy isn’t
supportable anymore. Are these the reforms the Italian economy needs in
order to change the situation?
The
Italian economy is sophisticated, export-oriented and potentially
strong. What I did say, and I am repeating here, is that the Italian
economy is not sustainable within the existing Eurozone architecture and
economic policies (i.e. the fiscal compact, the policy on bank
resolution and reductions in non-performing loans etc.). Turning now to
the policies of the government, let us first be frank about the facts:
There is no proposal for either a universal basic income or a flat tax.
These terms are used for propaganda purposes and have no basis in the
reality of what is being proposed. 5S is proposing a minimum guaranteed
income (that already exists in most northern European countries) while
the Lega is proposing not a flat tax but a major tax rate reduction for
those paying the higher rate and the abolition of a medium rate. Are
these ‘reforms’ what the Italian economy needs? While the minimum
guaranteed income is necessary for many poor families, and will help to
some extent boost the economy, the tax cuts for the rich will enhance
inequality without doing much to boost spending significantly. In short,
the new government’s policies will do some good, a little harm but not
have a substantial impact on Italy’s problems within a Eurozone whose
rules and policies are not allowing your country to breathe.
Among
Italian ministers many say their goal isn’t to undo the EU but to
change it from the inside: from Euro to bureaucracy, but also migrants
and sovereignty. Does your idea of change for the EU match with that of
our government?
No,
it does not. If the government wanted to help the EU change in a manner
that is beneficial to Italians as well as to other Europeans, it would
not be repeating Renzi’s ridiculous mistake. You will recall that Renzi
too demanded that Italy be allowed to bend the rules of the Fiscal
Compact without having the courage to call upon the EU Council, as the
Italian Prime Minister had a right and an obligation, to convene in
order to discuss a radical change of the Compact. This government is
adopting Renzi’s spoilt-child strategy: Without proposing different
rules, a new Compact, it is demanding that Italy is allowed to break the
current rules.
As
for migration and sovereignty, I am very much afraid that what Mr
Salvini is doing – by treating flesh and blood fellow humans floating on
the Mediterranean as bargaining chips against Brussels – is to promote
strategic misanthropy as a legitimate negotiating tactic within Europe.
This Italian government is, to put it bluntly, a clear and present
danger for European civilisation.
In
your latest book you write about what happened in Greece during the
debt crisis describing Greece as an ‘evil experiment’ set up by
Bruxelles. Do you see the same risk for Italy in the next years?
No,
thankfully. While there are similarities, the differences are larger.
Italy is too large to put into a troika-like program or to threaten with
expulsion from the eurozone (since such a threat would end the eurozone
itself).
Do you think that the Greek debt crisis is ended? Which lesson can we learn from it?
Of
course it has not. The Greek state, the Greek banks, most Greek
families and companies are bankrupt. Everyone owes money that they can
never repay. All the EU authorities have done is to suspend repayments,
until 2032, while imposing austerity that will ensure negligible growth
in the incomes that must rise substantially for the debts to be repaid.
The reason this is tragic is that, meanwhile, the best and brightest
leave the country – a loss of irreplaceable human capital. As for the
lesson, it is simple and sad: The EU is nowhere near even having the
discussion we must have on how to render our common currency area
sustainable." Go to: https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2018/10/03/the-5s-lega-italian-government-is-continuing-the-failed-renzi-strategy-of-demanding-the-right-to-bend-the-fiscal-rules-without-demanding-a-re-assessment-of-the-fiscal-rules-interviewed-for-agi-by-ar/ for full article.
Bavaria
Quote; "Almost one third of the respondents in Bavaria say they want
independence from Germany, according to a new poll, which also showed
that the southern region has the strongest secessionist sentiment among
all German states.
According to Bavarian Radio, 18 percent of respondents strongly agreed with the statement while 14 percent “would rather agree” with it."..
"However, any German state’s desire for independence is likely futile as the German constitution does not make provision for the right to secession.
In December 2016, the German Constitutional Court said in its clarification concerning an issue of holding an independence referendum in any German state: “There is no place for the secessionist aspirations of certain states under the constitution.”
Any such move would “violate the constitutional order,” the court added." Go to: https://www.rt.com/news/396600-bavaria-independence-germany-poll/ for full article.
Euromerta? Victoria Marinova RIP
Quote; "A TV reporter who covered EU funds fraud cases was brutally murdered and allegedly raped in northern Bulgaria. The horrific indent is the third murder of a journalist in the EU amid concerns over press freedom.
The body of Victoria Marinova, 30, who hosted a show on local TVN, was found dead on a popular jogging route near the Danube River in the city of Ruse on Saturday. The city has never seen such a brutal crime, according to experienced criminologists cited by local media.
The woman was raped and beaten, and succumbed to head injuries and suffocation, according to local media citing investigators. The victim’s cell phone, car keys, and some clothes were not found with her, but the car reportedly was not stolen."..
"Some already speculate that the woman might have been the victim of her latest report. She hosted the recently-launched ‘Detector’ program, and its last episode covered the investigation by Bivol website, claiming to expose a corruption scheme inside EU-funded projects. Marinova earlier was an anchor of another program called ‘Podium’, which aired reports on various topics." Go to: https://www.rt.com/news/440683-investigative-journalist-murder-bulgaria/ for full article.
Update
Reports from Germany concerning the apprehending of a suspect state (paraphr); "there was no connection with her work" with regard to the crime, I doubt they have enough information to be certain about that as yet, quote:
"A Romanian man arrested over Ms Marinova’s murder on Tuesday has been released without charge, police said.
DNA evidence found on her body implicated him in her killing, said Bulgaria’s interior minister, Mladen Marinov.
He said the suspect, a 21-year-old resident of Ruse, had a previous criminal conviction for scrap metal theft.
Investigators have found “no apparent link” to Ms Marinova’s work, the minister added. He said evidence pointed to “a spontaneous attack, not premeditated”." Go to: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/viktoria-marinova-murder-rape-suspect-arrest-latest-bulgaria-journalist-germany-a8576731.html for full article.
A female journalist about whose censure (due to the unpopularity of her work), there is no doubt is..
Dilyana Gaytandzhieva
Quote: "I've just got fired for telling the truth about weapons supplies for
Gaytandzhieva on Bio-Weapons Development in Recently Assimilated NATO-ised States
US diplomats involved in trafficking of human blood and pathogens for secret military program
Quote; "The US Embassy to Tbilisi transports
frozen human blood and pathogens as diplomatic cargo for a secret US
military program. Internal documents, implicating US diplomats in the
transportation of and experimenting on pathogens under diplomatic cover
were leaked to me by Georgian insiders. According to these documents,
Pentagon scientists have been deployed to the Republic of Georgia and
have been given diplomatic immunity to research deadly diseases and
biting insects at the Lugar Center – the Pentagon biolaboratory in
Georgia’s capital Tbilisi.
This military facility is just one of the many Pentagon biolaboratories in 25 countries across the world. They are funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) under a $ 2.1 billion military program – Cooperative Biological Engagement Program (CBEP), and are located in former Soviet Union countries such as Georgia and Ukraine, the Middle East, South East Asia and Africa."..
""Internal documents and correspondence between the Ministry of Health of
Georgia and the US Embassy to Tbilisi show what experiments have been
conducted at the Lugar Center." Go to: http://dilyana.bg/us-diplomats-involved-in-trafficking-of-human-blood-and-pathogens-for-secret-military-program/
for full article.
Nb. The BBC today (12/11/2018), attacked this story under their so-called #BeyondFakeNews investigation, the source they cited was a Russian administrator (clearly not impartial), I have tweeted them Dilyana's material (which shows leaked documentation from other sources), which cites the facts concerning the policy of the U.S State Dept. that by siting research centres outside of the areas currently covered by international legislation is avoiding having to comply with its strictures . I stick by my sources and will not pull my stories until I am convinced that they are factually incorrect, I doubt however that the BBC will be able to prove this (esp. given their continued use of sources like #Bellingcat and their adherence to the; "The White Helmets are an Impartial Humanitarian Aid Agency" narrative, quote; "James Le Mesurier, a British ex-mercenary, founded the White Helmets in 2013" go to: https://www.mintpressnews.com/james-le-mesurier-british-ex-military-mercenary-founded-white-helmets/230320/ ) Ed.
for full article.
Nb. The BBC today (12/11/2018), attacked this story under their so-called #BeyondFakeNews investigation, the source they cited was a Russian administrator (clearly not impartial), I have tweeted them Dilyana's material (which shows leaked documentation from other sources), which cites the facts concerning the policy of the U.S State Dept. that by siting research centres outside of the areas currently covered by international legislation is avoiding having to comply with its strictures . I stick by my sources and will not pull my stories until I am convinced that they are factually incorrect, I doubt however that the BBC will be able to prove this (esp. given their continued use of sources like #Bellingcat and their adherence to the; "The White Helmets are an Impartial Humanitarian Aid Agency" narrative, quote; "James Le Mesurier, a British ex-mercenary, founded the White Helmets in 2013" go to: https://www.mintpressnews.com/james-le-mesurier-british-ex-military-mercenary-founded-white-helmets/230320/ ) Ed.
US Military Bio-labs in Ukraine, Production of Bio-weapons and “Disease Causing Agents”
Quote; "In 2015, American
alternative media outlet InfoWars accused the Pentagon of developing new
types of biological weapons in secret military laboratories in Ukraine.
The facilities were constructed under the terms of the bilateral
agreement signed between the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the
Department of Defense in 2012.
Today thirteen American military bio-labs operate in Ukraine, The
International Mass Media Agency reports. They employ only American
specialists being entirely funded from the budget of the Department of
Defense. Local authorities have pledged not to interfere in their work.
These military labs are reported to be mainly involved in the study and
production of disease-causing agents of smallpox, anthrax and botulism.
The facilities are located in the following Ukrainian cities: Odessa,
Vinnytsia, Uzhgorod, Lviv (three), Kharkiv, Kyiv (four), Kherson,
Ternopil.The network of military bio-labs in Eastern Europe gives the hawks the opportunity to avoid the Geneva Convention of 1972 on the prohibition of development, production and stockpiling of biological and chemical weapons the US Senate ratified in 1973. So we witness the blatant violation of international laws" Go to: https://www.globalresearch.ca/us-military-bio-labs-in-ukraine-production-of-bio-weapons-and-disease-causing-agents/5605307 for full article.
Quote; "Napoleonic style imperialist republican
zeal is not the only reason why the E.U has become an untenable
structure, however, for it is still partially made up of a number of monarchies and princely states, first and foremost amongst these is of-course the U.K. Elizabeth
the Second might well express her lack of amusement with the outcome of
the Brexit referendum for she wishes to prevent the United Kingdom from
disbanding. It is in the monarchy's interest to maintain (at least the
illusion of -although even in the 21c the U.K monarchy's power is
certainly not all "smoke-and-mirrors"-), power and independence for
Scotland would be the beginning of a very slippery and steep slope for
the House of "Windsor" (it matters not that the SNP are in favour of
Scotland remaining in Europe as the Scots will -effectively-, be a
republic if they leave the union despite what the SNP leadership may
posture for the cameras), leading to many
voices in Wales, Northern Ireland (and even places like Cornwall),
being raised in favour of greater and greater devolution and
("eventual"), independence from the English Crown. In this sense the
European Union is an anachronism for it (still), represents an
attempt to resolve the internecine strife that sparked the great
European conflagration of wars one and two, as such the E.U is a
compromise between both families and political philosophies and now the compromise is "past-its-sell-by-date"! Perhaps we will
discover that E.F. Schumacher was absolutely right when he outlined the
principles by which he saw international consensus (and international
institutions), developing, that such must come from; individual
consciousness, supported by communities, expressed through societies and
"enshrined" in republics, for if humanity is to to come together successfully, despite its ethnic and cultural differences, each individual must be sovereign unto themselves and not enslaved to any other." Go to: https://www.arafel.co.uk/2020/11/yugoslavia-nato-brexit-europeanunion.html
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