Euro Founder: The Currency Is "Leading To Disaster".

Mr Lafontaine said on the parliamentary website of Germany's Left Party that Chancellor Angela Merkel will "awake from her self-righteous slumber" once the countries in trouble unite to force a change in crisis policy at Germany's expense. Photo: Reuters

German Euro Founder Calls For 'Catastrophic' Currency To Be Broken Up -- The Telegraph

Oskar Lafontaine, the German finance minister who launched the euro, has called for a break-up of the single currency to let southern Europe recover, warning that the current course is "leading to disaster".

"The economic situation is worsening from month to month, and unemployment has reached a level that puts democratic structures ever more in doubt," he said.

"The Germans have not yet realised that southern Europe, including France, will be forced by their current misery to fight back against German hegemony sooner or later," he said, blaming much of the crisis on Germany's wage squeeze to gain export share.

Mr Lafontaine said on the parliamentary website of Germany's Left Party that Chancellor Angela Merkel will "awake from her self-righteous slumber" once the countries in trouble unite to force a change in crisis policy at Germany's expense.

His prediction appeared confirmed as French finance minister Pierre Moscovici yesterday proclaimed the end of austerity and a triumph of French policy, risking further damage to the tattered relations between Paris and Berlin.

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My Comment: He certainly sounds like someone who has deep regrets.

The Disarmament Of Europe

The Continent Without A Military -- Doug Bandow, National Interest

Europe once was a military power—many military powers, in fact. But no longer. Today Europe is turning into a continent without a military.

In January Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO secretary general, lauded France for taking “decisive action” in Mali. Of course, Paris is likely to find that it is easier to disperse jihadist rebels than reestablish a stable state.

At the same time Rasmussen noted Europe’s gradual disarmament. The other European states have offered little help, prompting Arnaud Danjean, a French member of the European Parliament, to complain that “Europe cannot always give responsibility to one member state.”

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My Comment: This trend away from the military is unprecedented in European history .... correction .... unprecedented in recorded history. Will this trend continue .... history says no .... but for the moment Europe is experiencing a period of time where armies and the military is not the priority for its governments nor for it's citizens.

Update: NATO Reforms Moving at 'Snail's Pace' -- Spiegel Online

Should We Remind Germans Of Their Great War Atrocities

Our soldiers: Now that the last of the veterans has passed away and a substantial anniversary looms, might it not also be time to look at the Great War in historical terms?

Why We SHOULD Upset The Germans - By Reminding Them Of Their Great War Atrocities -- Daily Mail

Oh dear. I think we can already see how this one is going to play out: mud, futility of war, lions led by donkeys, a bit of poetry, a nod to the nurses and the munitions girls and a solemn conclusion that it must ‘never be allowed to happen again’.

As we approach the centenary of the Great War, we must strenuously avoid acknowledging that it actually achieved anything, let alone that we were vaguely on the side of right. For that would commit two sins.

First, it might upset the Germans. Second, it might suggest that there was actually a point to all that slaughter.

And that would never do.

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My Comment: My nationality is Russian .. so you can imagine all the education that was thrown at me on German atrocities and war crimes. With time I have come to accept what the Germans did during the war (i.e. the Second World War).... the Nazis were "bastards" and the good thing about the Second World War was that many of these "bastards" and their enablers were killed off. Saying that .... it is now time to move on.

Unfortunately .... my position is a minority one .... at least in Russia. But in the rest of Europe I am seeing change, and with each succeeding generation a lesser concern of who to blame and more on examining the history of the conflict from an analytical/historical point of view .... starting with the First World War. The emotion is no longer there ... and I suspect that 50 years from now many of the emotions that are present on the Second World War will also dissipate .... and future generations will look at the Second World War in the same way that we look at past wars like the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Napoleon wars, etc.. 

A Look At The Human Cost Behind The Euro Debt Crisis

SPIEGEL REPORTER Juan Moreno was born in Spain, but then his family of modest means moved from Andalusia to Germany in the 1970s, where his father worked in a tire factory near Frankfurt.

What Happened To The Spain Where I Was Born? -- Juan Moreno, Spiegel Online

SPIEGEL reporter Juan Moreno grew up in Germany as the son of Spanish immigrants. He cherished summers spent as a child in his parents' former village. He recently traveled back to his country of birth to trace the causes of the crisis and to meet those whose lives it has changed in heartbreaking ways.

A few months ago, I was interviewed by a short, roundish man, a Spanish TV host I had never seen but who every child in Spain knows: Jordi Évole. He used to be the sidekick of a late-night talk show host. We met on a cold, wet Saturday morning at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

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My Comment: There is a lot to read and digest here .... and a warning to those who continue to elect politicians who are pursuing the same path.

Why The EU Has Turned Into A Nightmare

Member states of the EU

The EU Dream Has Turned Into A Nightmare -- Christopher Booker, The Telegraph

The euro project was always based on a colossal act of make-believe - and now it is unravelling.

It was hard to know – as the danse macabre of the euro spirals towards its devastating denouement – which of last week’s utterances and events was the maddest. First, there was the speech by European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, in which, after admitting that this was the worst crisis the EU had ever faced, he renewed his wish for it to impose a tax on “financial transactions”, to provide Brussels with what has been estimated by Open Europe, the independent think tank, at up to £70 billion a year.

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My Comment: I could not have said it any better. A prediction .... Britain will vote to leave the EU.

The Worse-Case Scenario For Europe And The Euro

The Worst-Case Euro Scenario -- Wall Street Journal

Each day the currency remains on life-support in its current form, the consequences of its eventual death become graver.

On the Continent, August is usually reserved for long vacations in the sun. Instead, European leaders spent the month working on increasingly desperate attempts to save the euro in its current form. There's only one prospect more frightening than what would happen if they fail: what would happen if they succeed.

This is not hyperbole. The euro is an idea built on economic and political dishonesty, at the heart of which lies a flaw that the currency's architects never dared to address: Given that the euro zone's economies are so different, how could a single interest rate possibly apply to all of them? And how could these countries, having surrendered monetary policy, continue to control national public spending and therefore the size of their deficits and debts?

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My Comment: In Europe's past .... every time there was a fiscal/debt crisis .... political instability/unrest/wars were the result. Is Europe repeating history .... let us hope not.

Update #1: In Euro Zone, Banking Fear Feeds on Itself -- New York Times
Update #2: Bring Out Your Dead - UBS Quantifies Costs Of Euro Break Up, Warns Of Collapse Of Banking System And Civil War -- Zero Hedge

The End Of The EU -- A Commentary

Euro-Geddon: The EU, Born Out Of Idealism 60 Years Ago, Is Now A Byword For Waste, Financial Chaos And Unaccountability -- The Daily Mail

So here go again.

With British attention distracted by the phone-hacking scandal, this week the European political elite hurled another £96 billion at the ailing Greek economy, desperate to stave off a financial meltdown that could plunge the entire European project into disaster.

For the time being, the markets have been mollified. But, of course, we have been here before. Once again the deckchairs are being rearranged on the Titanic.

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My Comment: I could not have said it any better.

Europe's Lost Generation -- A Commentary

How European Elites Lost a Generation -- Spiegel Online

The European Union is in bad shape. Not only is the common currency in a shambles and the economies of many member states moribund, but young Europeans no longer see how the EU helps them. Millions of them are taking to the streets to demand a future. By SPIEGEL Staff

When Kostas Decoumes, a 24-year-old Greek, is asked about Europe, he launches into a rant about German Chancellor Angela Merkel. When Oleguer Sagarra, a 25-year-old Spaniard, is asked the same question, he says that Europe represents the only chance to find work. Karl Gill, a 21-year-old Irishman, responds to the question by railing against the banks.

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My Comment: Spain is the worse .... and no surprise it is now experiencing a massive drain of young people looking for work in other countries.

Europe Is Fearful Of Another 'Great War'

LIBYA BRIEFING - French Chief of the Defense Staff Adm. Edouard Guillaud, 2nd from right, begins a meeting with U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III, 4th from left, at the Ecole Militaire in Paris, June 17, 2011. Lynn, Guilland and their staffs are meeting to discuss NATO operations in Libya. DOD photo by Terry Mitchell

Europe’s Great Fear Of Another Great War -- Will Inboden, Shadow Government/Foreign Policy

In Paul Miller's excellent post below, he makes a persuasive case that much of the European reluctance to make the necessary resource commitments to NATO stems from a decades-long "rational choice" to free ride under the American security umbrella. I think Paul is largely correct, but would add that there is an additional dimension of culture and historical memory that also shapes the European mindset on defense.

Last week when Secretary Gates gave his Brussels speech, I happened to be on vacation with my wife in southern France. We spent a few days touring the French countryside and its many villages. As enchanting as each village was, with their timeless stone houses, quiet streams, and idyllic vineyards, every last town center also featured a monument to death, in the form of an obelisk listing the names of the men of the village who had died in World War I.

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My Comment: Europe has a long history of peace and war cycles. With each generation the perception of war and their experiences are different .... with those who had experience war directly being the most reluctant to pursue such an undertaking. But .... if my father is any indication (someone who experienced the Russian front from 1942-1945) .... he hated war, but while he perceived war to be evil he also knew that there were unique situations that were even more evil than the war itself.

As for the disconnect between Europe and America on conducting war .... the results do not surprise me. The U.S. experienced 9/11 and the destruction of lower Manhattan, it will take another 10- 20 years before that impact recedes from the American consciousness. If the Europeans had also experienced the same type of attack (airplanes into the Eiffel Tower, Buckingham Palace, The Kremlin, or the Bundestag in Germany) .... trust me .... Europe's pacifist feelings will go out the window within 24 hours, and heaven help those who gave support and the go-ahead for such an attack.

The Slow Disintegration of A Unified Europe

Why Europe Is On The Brink -- The Telegraph

The deepening crisis in Greece and the collapse of the Schengen borders agreement are serious threats to the European utopia of political and economic union. Martin Vander Weyer asks how much longer the dream can last

The visionaries who dreamed of a peaceful and united Europe after the end of the Second World War — Robert Schuman, Jean Monnet, Paul-Henri Spaak and their ilk — must be looking down in puzzlement and dismay.

Schuman, the Luxembourg-born Frenchman who was the so-called Father of Europe, spoke in 1949 of “a great experiment’’. Six decades on, the complex political and monetary contraption of the European Union is still a work in progress.

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My Comment: Fiscal incompetence and corruption from certain member states is making those other states that are not fiscally incompetent and (relatively speaking) not that corrupt fed up with maintaining the status quo. This clash of political cultures is what is driving the wedge between certain European member states .... and as the fiscal crisis continues in such countries like Greece .... I expect this fissure in the European alliance to expand.

Is The West About To Embark Into A Period Of Military Intervention

US Air Force F16 jet fighters sit on the tarmac at the Aviano air base in Italy on March 25, 2011. Press TV

Ivory Coast: UN Air Strikes Show West's New Appetite For Military Action -- The Telegraph

The UN air strikes in Ivory Coast suggest Libya was no fluke: the West's appetite for military action has recovered robustly from the diplomatic trauma of the Iraq war.

After a brief honeymoon following the successful mission to protect Kosovo in 1999, it seemed the Blairite era of "liberal interventionism" had been buried along with tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians.

The chaos after the steamrollering of the UN Security Council by Tony Blair and George W. Bush in 2002-03 seemed likely to usher in a new period of isolationism.

Barack Obama swept to power in 2008 on a wave of anti-war sentiment, while David Cameron entered Downing Street last year insisting that the West "can't drop democracy from 40,000ft".

Yet the past three weeks have found the council – this time with a less noisy Anglo-American wing – willing to pass stunningly powerful resolutions allowing missile strikes against murderous leaders.

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My Comment: From a historical perspective, the Europeans have a long and bloody legacy of always embarking on military action that in most cases reached a global scale .... a legacy that (in fact) goes back for centuries. What stopped this military adventurism in the latter half of the twentieth century was probably due to the impact that the Second World War had on Europe, and a determination among the survivors to not repeat this mistake.

But the survivors of the Second World War are now dying off, and the younger generation do not have the same memories and experiences that their parents and grandparents had. As a consequence it appears that military adventurism is coming back into vogue, and what is startling to me is that the anti-war movements are completely silent and AWOL on this development.

A Nightmare Vision For Europe

Crisis point: Demonstrators protest cuts announced by the Government in Malaga last week in an echo of the Greek crisis

Nightmare Vision For Europe As EU Chief Warns 'Democracy Could Disappear' In Greece, Spain And Portugal -- The Daily Mail

* EU begin emergency billion-pound bailout of Spain
* Countries in debt may fall to dictators, EC chief warns
* 'Apocalyptic' vision as some states run out of money

Democracy could ‘collapse’ in Greece, Spain and Portugal unless urgent action is taken to tackle the debt crisis, the head of the European Commission has warned.

In an extraordinary briefing to trade union chiefs last week, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso set out an ‘apocalyptic’ vision in which crisis-hit countries in southern Europe could fall victim to military coups or popular uprisings as interest rates soar and public services collapse because their governments run out of money.

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My Comment: Europe's financial crisis reminds me of what happened to Argentina in the 20th century. In the early 1900s, Argentina was one of the world's wealthiest nations .... but with Peron's election and rise to power .... coupled with massive government economic intervention and public spending .... the country became subsequently broke, economically in turmoil, and politically impotent. The result was social unrest, followed by military coups and military juntas. Chile's experience with Allende is another example of how government mismanagement of money and the economy can lead to social and political unrest, followed by brutal military juntas.

Can such a sequence of events lead to military and dictatorial governments in Europe? If history is any indication, not being under a military or dictatorial government has been the exception .... and not the rule in much of Europe. If the situation gets worse, I predict that the people will be demanding that the military become involved to bring some form of stability and order to a chaotic and unstable situation .... but if history is any indication, military governments are not very good at governing, and I predict that this will be the case if some parts of Europe should find themselves in this situation.

The End Of Europe's Independence -- A Commentary

From The American Thinker:

Unless European states and America suddenly adopt a hawkish foreign policy and strengthen their militaries, Europe will become a mere province of the Russian empire.

And, surprisingly, the fate of Europe will be decided not in Paris, Berlin, London, or Brussels, but in Georgia, a tiny, seemingly irrelevant country. The Caucasian republic hosts several strategic oil and gas pipelines. These pipes are the only fossil fuel corridors leading from Asia to Europe that are not controlled by the Russian Federation. Whoever controls Europe's fossil fuel supply rules the European continent.

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European Pipe Dreams Shattered -- A Commentary

From China Post:

The worsening gas showdown between Russia and Ukraine has triggered a serious economic knock-on effect throughout the European Union. Thus while mega-Russian natural gas supplier Gazprom argues with neighboring Ukraine over energy prices, far down the pipeline in Europe, politicians and business leaders remain nervously apprehensive about the outcome of their deepening dependence on Russian energy supplies.

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