dinsdag, februari 09, 2010
Ex-Lehman trader says EU should crack down on big banks
nstead of addressing fundamental issues like the role of finance, politicians seem stuck in assuaging public anger, argues Sony Kapoor, a financial adviser to the EU and ex-Lehman Brothers derivates trader, in an interview with EurActiv.Kapoor, whose think-tank Re-Define has been consulted by the European Parliament and the European Commission on financial regulation, says world leaders have so far shown a lack of vision in reshaping the post-crisis financial system, arguing that it will be up to the EU's competition authorities to clean up.
Outside Brussels, national leaders are missing the bigger picture, says Kapoor, though some have come up with "politically palatable" proposals.
Read more >> | EurActive
Labels: European Union, Financial Policy
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Europe loses seat at top table
n Washington they're not sure who's in charge. In Brussels they're squabbling. Ian Traynor reports on the EU's crisis of confidenceRead more >> | The Guardian
See also >> | Tough snub - ECFR
Labels: European Union, Foreign Policy, United States
- posted by DD @ 10:28 AM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Iran starts processing nuclear fuel towards weapons-grade strength
ran today started to enrich its existing nuclear fuel stockpile towards weapons grade strength.The move caused international alarm and gave new impetus to Western calls for new sanctions on Tehran despite opposition from China, which insists that negotiations could still succeed.
"Today we started to make 20 per cent enriched nuclear fuel... in the presence of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) inspectors at Natanz," an unnamed official told Iran's Arabic-language state television, al Alam.
Read more >> | Iran starts processing nuclear fuel towards weapons-grade strength - Times Online
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341,956 of blank EU travel documents in criminal hands
classified Dutch government report has revealed that criminals stole 341,956 passports, identity cards, visa stickers and drivers' licences from European government facilities since 2000.Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - 341,956 of blank EU travel documents in criminal hands
Labels: Criminality, EU Policy, Immigration
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The Euro’s Final Countdown?
he introduction of the euro in 1999, it was claimed, would narrow the economic differences between the member countries of the monetary union. Unemployment rates would converge, as would other important macroeconomic variables, such as unit labor costs, productivity, and fiscal deficits and government debt. Ultimately, the differences in wealth, measured in terms of income per capita, would diminish as well.After the common currency’s first decade, however, increased divergence, rather than rapid convergence, has become the norm within the euro area, and tensions can be expected to increase further.
Read more >> | The Euro’s Final Countdown? - Project Syndicate
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Labels: EU Policy, Euro zone, Financial Policy
- posted by DD @ 9:58 AM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
maandag, februari 08, 2010
Nato suggests Afghan training role
hristian Democrat and Labour MPs both support a suggestion by a Nato chief that Dutch soldiers remain in Afghanistan to train local troops, most newspapers report on Monday.Labour has always been adamant that the Netherlands must start pulling out its forces in August, despite mounting pressure from the US and other allies for the Dutch to stay.
Read more >> | DutchNews.nl - Nato suggests Afghan training role
Labels: Afghanistan, Dutch politics, Foreign Policy, NATO
- posted by DD @ 10:22 AM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Hirsi Ali dates professor Ferguson
ormer Dutch MP, presently exiled in the US, Hirsi Ali is said to have an affair with the internationally celebrated historian and TV presenter Niall Ferguson. He has broken up with his wife after 16 years.The 45-year-old Harvard professor has left former newspaper editor Susan Douglas, with whom he has three children, for the Somalian-born feminist Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Ms Hirsi Ali, 40, is a lawyer and former Dutch MP who wrote the script for a controversial film that criticised Islam and resulted in the assassination of its director. She is currently living under police protection in America.
Read more >> | Mail Online
Labels: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
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zondag, februari 07, 2010
Martens: 'Sarkozy blocked Juncker as EU president'
ilfried Martens, the chair of the largest European party, sheds light on the secretive appointment of ‘European president’ Herman Van Rompuy.Wilfried Martens (73) is a powerful man in Brussels. As the chair of the European People’s Party, Europe’s largest political party and the former prime minister of Belgium, he played an important behind-the-scenes role in the appointment of his compatriot Herman Van Rompuy to the newly created office of permanent president of the European Council.
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - Europe - Martens: 'Sarkozy blocked Juncker as EU president'
Labels: European President, European Union
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zaterdag, februari 06, 2010
New mistake found in UN climate report
he UN climate change panel IPCC not only wrongly predicted Himalayan glaciers would disappear by 2035, it also put more than half of the Netherlands below sea level.The Dutch environment minister, Jaqueline Cramer, on Wednesday demanded a thorough investigation into the 2007 report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change after a Dutch magazine uncovered it incorrectly states 55 percent of the country lies below sea level. The the Dutch national bureau for environmental analysis has taken responsibility for the incorrect figure cited by the IPCC. Only 26 percent of the Netherlands is really below sea level.
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - New mistake found in UN climate report
Labels: Climate Change, Climategate, IPCC
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vrijdag, februari 05, 2010
Marry Him!
y advice is this: Settle! That’s right. Don’t worry about passion or intense connection. Don’t nix a guy based on his annoying habit of yelling “Bravo!” in movie theaters. Overlook his halitosis or abysmal sense of aesthetics. Because if you want to have the infrastructure in place to have a family, settling is the way to go. Based on my observations, in fact, settling will probably make you happier in the long run, since many of those who marry with great expectations become more disillusioned with each passing year.Labels: Relations
- posted by DD @ 6:05 PM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Muddling Out of Freefall
bama wanted to bridge the divides among Americans that George W. Bush had opened. But now those divides are wider. His attempts to please everyone, so evident in the last few weeks, are likely to mollify no one.By Joseph E. Stiglitz
Read more >> | Muddling Out of Freefall - Project Syndicate
Labels: Barack Obama, Economy, United States
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Cabinet reaches compromise on Afghanistan
inisters have reached a compromise on extending the Dutch mission in Afghanistan past the August deadline, magazine Elsevier reports on its website, quoting cabinet sources.The magazine says the proposal, which involves staying in Afghanistan with a much smaller force, will be discussed by the full cabinet on Friday.
DutchNews.nl - Cabinet reaches compromise on Afghanistan
Labels: Afghanistan, Dutch politics, Foreign Policy, NATO
- posted by DD @ 4:21 PM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Investors Fear Europe’s Woes May Extend Global Slump
ust as America’s recession begins to ebb, trouble is brewing in Europe that may prolong a downturn on the Continent and ricochet through the global economy as it struggles toward a recovery.Read more >> | The New York Times
Labels: Euro zone, European Union, Financial Policy
- posted by DD @ 11:35 AM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Crumbling Europe?
he worry du jour is the Iberian peninsula — Spain and Portugal. Greece is at least temporarily set aside. Watch for Ireland and Italy to join the list at some point.The euro block may be solid at the core — France, Germany, the Netherlands — but it is vulnerable at the fringes. These countries are facing huge budget deficits and the difficulty of competing economically without devaluing their currency. If they had not joined the euro, the devaluations would have taken place some time ago. Now they cannot.
Read more >> | The New York Times
Labels: Euro zone, European Union
- posted by DD @ 11:31 AM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
woensdag, februari 03, 2010
Stop perverting Anne Frank’s diary
anning the diary from schools because she wrote about sex is bizarre. But so are the attempts to turn it into a guide to life.By Nathalie Rothschild
Read more >> | Spiked - Nathalie Rothschild
Labels: Anne Frank, Sexuality
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US blames Lisbon Treaty for EU summit fiasco
he US State Department has said that President Barack Obama's decision not to come to an EU summit in Madrid in May is partly due to confusion arising from the Lisbon Treaty.State department spokesman Philip J. Crowley told press in Washington on Tuesday (2 February) that the treaty has made it unclear who the US leader should meet and when.
"Up until recently, they [summits] would occur on six-month intervals, as I recall, with one meeting in Europe and one meeting here. And that was part of – the foundation of that was the rotating presidency within the EU. Now you have a new structure regarding not only the rotating EU presidency, you've got an EU Council president, you've got a European Commission president," he said.
Read more >> | EUobserver / US blames Lisbon Treaty for EU summit fiasco
Labels: European Union, Foreign Policy, United States
- posted by DD @ 10:20 AM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Amazon vs. Apple: What Should E-Book Prices Be?
mazon has backed down from its weekend dispute with Macmillan, agreeing to charge the publisher's higher prices for Kindle editions rather than its preferred $9.99. But the long-term questions about e-book pricing remain.Read more >> | The Atlantic
- posted by DD @ 9:53 AM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
No US-EU summit in May
S dashes Spanish plans for Madrid summit this spring.The US government has confirmed that President Barack Obama will not meet EU leaders in Madrid this spring as planned by Spain, the current holder of the EU's rotating presidency.
Philip Gordon, the assistant secretary of state in charge of relations with Europe, told reporters in Washington yesterday (1 February) that Obama “never had on his schedule a trip for a spring US-EU summit” and that a summit in Spain “was not on his agenda in the first place”.
Read more >> | No US-EU summit in May | Policies | Foreign affairs | Americas | European Voice
Labels: European Union, Foreign Policy, United States
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dinsdag, februari 02, 2010
Saab’s new owner has history of unpaid debt
ictor Muller, the man behind Spyker's acquisition of Swedish car maker Saab deal, has never been shy to put other people’s money to use, sometimes losing it in the process.Dutch sports car manufacturer Spyker last week bought Saab from its American owner General Motors, saving the Swedish auto maker from certain demise. The deal is considered so important, even the Dutch prime minister felt inclined to comment on it during his weekly press conference on Friday. „A tour de force by Victor Muller”, is how Jan Peter Balkenende called the takeover. “You need guts to pull a move like this,” said the prime minister, a long-time friend of Muller’s and fellow car aficionado.
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - Saab’s new owner has history of unpaid debt
- posted by DD @ 6:51 PM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Deception helps illegal immigrants sneak into EU
llegal immigrants and Dutch customs officials are caught in a game of cat and mouse. The frontline: Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.Some of them might suddenly change queues, taking their chances with an official that looks more lenient. Others may come down the escalator as a group, only to split up as soon as they enter the customs officials' line of sight. Sometimes a sloppily done necktie or a pair of white sneakers under a black suit will give them away. Sometimes the question “what is your passport number?” will. If they proceed to rattle it off, they have fallen for it, Erwin Rasterhoff, a customs official at Schiphol airport explained. “Nobody knows their passport number by heart.”
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - Deception helps illegal immigrants sneak into EU
Labels: Immigration, Netherlands
- posted by DD @ 9:35 AM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
maandag, februari 01, 2010
Debating Defense
dozen international think tanks are organizing a worldwide on-line debate, to be held from February 4-9, in association with NATO, the European Commission, and several governments. The debate will be open not just to defense experts, but also to non-governmental organizations, development specialists, and anyone with views on where global security thinking should be headed.The five-day Internet debate will include 10 topics, ranging from human rights to piracy, from crisis preparedness to climate change, and from development to conflict prevention. Discussion will be sparked by on-line appearances by top military, political, and civil-society leaders, who will debate with participants. Anyone interested in taking part can log on from anywhere in the world to pose questions or comment on what is being said, but they need first to sign up at www.securityjam.org.
Read more >> | Project Syndicate - Debating Defense
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Labels: EU Policy, European Union, Foreign Policy, NATO
- posted by DD @ 11:35 PM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
EU sticks to 20% climate target
U decides against unilateral increase in its emissions-reduction target.The European Union today made a formal declaration to the United Nations that it will stick to its target to cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 20% by 2020.
All big-polluting countries are required to file an emissions-reduction pledge to the United Nations climate secretariat in Bonn by Sunday (31 January) at the latest, a deadline agreed at last month's summit in Copenhagen.
Read more >> | EU sticks to 20% climate target | Policies | Climate change | Politics | European Voice
Labels: Climate Change, Copenhagen
- posted by DD @ 11:12 PM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
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