Europe
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For the Finance Minister of Germany, Crisis Is a “Necessity” By Victor Grossman
Angela Merkel’s face usually displays a rather plain, friendly, almost benign expression, matching her simple, benign words. But in rare unguarded moments, some claim, they glimpse a very hard visage, which is matched, equally rarely, by hardly benign words, like her annoyed statement that Cyprus was “exhausting the patience of its euro partners.” Continue reading
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It Can Happen Here: The Confiscation Scheme Planned for US and UK Depositors By Ellen Brown
Confiscating the customer deposits in Cyprus banks, it seems, was not a one-off, desperate idea of a few Eurozone “troika” officials scrambling to salvage their balance sheets. A joint paper by the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Bank of England dated December 10, 2012, shows that these plans have been long in the… Continue reading
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The Cypriot Pawn By Thierry Meyssan
Washington was quick to use the financial crisis in Cyprus to implement a strategy for capturing capital described three weeks ago in these columns [1]. With the help of the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, US comprador Christine Lagarde, the American leadership challenged the inviolability of private property in the European Union and… Continue reading
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The Crisis of the European Welfare State An interview with Asbjørn Wahl
This is the start of a new era of social struggle. Social models, however, cannot be copied, neither from previous phases in history, nor from country to country. Social models are the concrete results of struggles and power relations in society. Continue reading
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Statewatch News Online, 8 March 2013 (03/13)
013 — Home page: http://www.statewatch.org/ • e-mail: office@statewatch.org 1. EU: Millions of euros for new police databases in West Africa2. EU: Justice and Home Affairs Council: 7-8 March 20133. EU: EUROPEAN INVESTIGATION ORDER (EIO): Nine MSs who proposed the EIO lobby the Council of the European Union for it to be quickly adopted Continue reading
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Democracy, Disillusion and The Political Process By Caoimhghin Ó Croidheáin
A new nationwide opinion poll in Ireland has shown that people are becoming more and more disillusioned with the political process leading one to wonder if democracy (people rule) has simply become demopsefia (people vote). This type of disillusionment is becoming widespread across Europe in general. While no one is naive enough to believe all… Continue reading
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Reshaping Fiscal Policies In Europe: Enforcing Austerity, Attacking Democracy By Hugo Radice
These proposals, when fully implemented, will not only enforce a permanent regime of fiscal austerity, but also further remove macroeconomic policy from democratic control. For these reasons they need to be vigorously fought right across Europe. But if readers in the UK imagine that they are not affected, since we are not in the Eurozone,… Continue reading
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The EU moves to privatise water: the people mobilize
it has recently become known that the European Commission wishes to privatise the distribution of water across Europe i.e. to make water distribution rights something that can be traded on the stock market for profit. Continue reading
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Statewatch News Online, 4 February 2013: EU: Solidarity or militarisation?
4 February 2013 — Home page: http://www.statewatch.org/ e-mail: office@statewatch.org 1. EU: Council of the European Union: Visa lists and Intra-Corporate Transferees2. USA: BODY SCANNERS: Rapiscan Backscatter Contract Terminated – Units to be Removed3. EU: Solidarity or militarisation? Proposed ‘solidarity clause’ legislation criticised for lack of clarity and “encouraging armament” Continue reading
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Europe: Existential Danger: New Political Challenges By Elisabeth Gauthier
In Europe, an ‘oligarchy’ has increasingly gotten hold of various powers; it is becoming radicalized and sees the moment as having come in which brutally to accelerate the dismantling of social and democratic gains, notably by profiting from the ‘crisis of public debt,’ generalizing austerity policies which, in turn feed the crisis. Continue reading
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The Left in Europe: From Social Democracy to the Crisis in the Euro Zone. An Interview with Leo Panitch
Because we need time. If the catastrophists, of which there are a great many, are right that we’ve only got five or ten years, we’re screwed. I mean, really screwed. Whether that’s the ecological crisis, or before fascism takes over, or what have you. Continue reading
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Statewatch News Online, 15 January 2013 (01/13)
013 — Home page: http://www.statewatch.org/ e-mail: office@statewatch.org 1. EU Council of the European Union: Informal Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council in Dublin on 17-18 January 20132. EU: European Investigation Order3. EU: Commission makes €50 million available for the development of “big brother” PNR databases – before legislation has even been agreed Continue reading
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Review of "Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956" By Eric Walberg
The period following WWII in eastern Europe is considered to be a black one, best forgotten. All the pre-war governments had been quasi-fascist dictatorships which either succumbed to the Nazi onslaught (Poland) or actively cooperated with the Germans (Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria). The Soviet liberation was greeted with trepidation by many – with good reason for… Continue reading
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Greater Albania: a United States project against the Orthodox world? by Alexandre Latsa
Wednesday, December 5, 2012, the Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha advocated granting Albanian citizenship to all Albanians, wherever they reside. This statement was made during a visit of the city of Vlora where the independence of the Albanian state was declared, only 100 years ago. At the time Albania had just liberated itself from Ottoman… Continue reading
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Statewatch News Online, 31 December 2012 (22/12)
012 — http://www.statewatch.org/ • e-mail: office@statewatch.org 1. EU: European Parliament study: Evaluating current and forthcoming proposals on JHA databases and a smart borders system at EU external borders2. EU: Council of the European Union: Exchange of EU classified information (EUCI) with third States and international organisations3. Council of Europe: Human Rights Commissioner: Restrictions on defenders of migrants’ rights should Continue reading
The New Dark Age 