Posted by seumasach on January 14, 2012
Leaving aside the question of why Britain’s bankruptcy would be the fault of the eurozone, this is a significant and ominous development for the British economy, barely afloat only due to low interest rates on mortgages
Scotsman
14th January, 2012
Homeowners face a fresh rise in mortgage costs as lenders respond to the eurozone crisis by raising loan rates, brokers have warned.
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Posted by seumasach on January 14, 2012
L’Ue: “Decisione incoerente mentre affrontiamo la crisi”
La Repubblica
13th January, 2012
ROMA – “È un attacco all’Europa”. Così, ufficiosamente, fonti governative italiane commentano la notizia deldeclassamento da parte di S&P 1 di Paesi come Spagna, Portogallo, Austria, Francia e Italia. “Per quanto riguarda il nostro Paese non è stata tenuta in considerazione – spiegano le stesse fonti – l’operato italiano sulla manovra e il lavoro sulle liberalizzazioni”. “C’è una voglia di reagire tutti assieme”, spiegano le stesse fonti. Per questo motivo ci sarà una presa di posizione dell’Eurogruppo. Mario Monti, sottolineano anche fonti ministeriali, intende affrontare la questione lunedì con il presidente del Consiglio, Van Rompuy, per invitare le istituzioni europee ad agire al più presto sul fronte della crescita. La questione del declassamento è stato affrontata dal premier anche nell’incontro con il segretario del Pd, Pierluigi Bersani che ha spiegato come la notizia sconfessi la linea tedesca. Intanto filtrano le prime reazioni del premier italiano: il governo è ancora più determinato ad andare avanti con il programma di riforme stabilito, come riconosce la stessa agenzia Standard e Poor’s nel suo rapporto sull’Italia. E ancora: bisogna promuovere soluzioni a livello europeo per sostenere gli sforzi nazionali in favore della crescita e dell’occupazione. A Palazzo Chigi si leggono positivamente alcune indicazioni contenute nel rapporto di Standard&Poor’s. In particolare l’avviso, a pagina 4, che ci sarebbe un’ulteriore previsione negativa per l’Italia qualora il Governo tecnico non riuscisse ad applicare le riforme necessarie a causa dell’opposizione di gruppi di interesse oppure se la vita del Governo Monti fosse più breve rispetto alla durata del suo mandato. Palazzo Chigi legge anche positivamente il giudizio di S&P sul fatto che “l’indebolimento del quadro politico europeo viene in qualche modo compensato dalla più forte capacità dell’Italia di formulare e applicare politiche anticrisi”.
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Posted by seumasach on January 14, 2012
Germany’s Schaeuble: We Shouldn’t Overrate Assessment Of Ratings Agencies -TV
WSJ
13th January, 2012
BERLIN (Dow Jones)–German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble Friday downplayed the significance of a possible downgrade by Standard & Poor’s of France and Austria.
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Posted by seumasach on January 14, 2012
Todo apunta a un oportunismo por el que parece que la agencia quiera corregir el embrionario optimismo de los mercados, más que servirles de referencia objetiva.
“Everything points to an opportunism through which the agency wishes to correct the embryonic optimism of the markets rather provide an objective assessment”
The Anglosphere is playing with fire by deployment its rating agencies in this overtly political manner. At least, let’s hope so, let’s hope that the Eurozone can respond adequately to this undeclared economic war. The empire is on the offensive everywhere in what looks like a desperate last stand. Can blowback be far behind.
El Pais
14th January, 2012
Google-translate Spanish-English
La rebaja de la calificación a la deuda soberana de nueve países europeos -España, Francia e Italia entre ellos- que la agencia Standard & Poor’s anunció anoche constituye una enmienda a la totalidad de la eurozona. O bien pasará factura a la agencia o bien deberá provocar cambios en la política económica dominante en la Unión Europea. Su preanuncio tuvo efectos ambivalentes: una rebaja en la cotización del euro y el mantenimiento de las Bolsas continentales.
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Posted by seumasach on January 12, 2012
In the race to the primary elections, the seven candidates vying for the Republican nomination have engaged in a neoconservative bidding war on foreign policy issues.
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Posted by seumasach on January 11, 2012
To view Britain’s crisis from the point of view of controlling expenditure alone is very one-sided: Britain’s problems lie, above all, in the lack of a productive base. Still, Halligan provides some useful insights into the real state of Britain’s finances.
Liam Halligan
Telegraph
11th January, 2012
Ten-year sovereign yields dipped below 2pc during the last week of 2011. As Chancellor George Osborne often points out, UK state borrowing costs are now similar to those of Germany. In fact, they are at their lowest since the late 19th century.
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Posted in UK economy | Tagged: QE2 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 10, 2012
F.William Engdahl
Voltairenet
9th January, 2012
Vladimir Putin is one of the few remaining world leaders with the gumption to obstruct Washington’s agenda of full spectrum dominance. The recent Russian elections provided the context for a full-scale attempt to destabilize the country. Spearheaded by the infamous National Endowment for Democracy, the script included the usual cast of western-coached characters, including a blogger, without which a “color revolution” would not be complete. Engdahl analyzes the geo-political ramifications of Washington’s rash movements.
Posted in Multipolar world, New Cold War | Tagged: End of empire, National Endowment for Democracy (NED) | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 9, 2012
EuroNews
9th January, 2012
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy appeared relaxed when they faced the press following their first crisis meeting of 2012.
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Posted in Battle for Europe | Tagged: robin hood tax, tobin tax | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 9, 2012
Voltairenet
9th January, 2012
The lengthy implementation and the heavy capital investment required to kick start the gas pipeline projects designed to meet Europe’s spiking demand and to diversify its supply sources are very revealing about Atlanticist ambitions in the region.
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Posted in Iran, Syria | Tagged: Nabucco pipeline | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 9, 2012
Fars News
7th January, 2011
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran and Russia have replaced US Dollar with their own currencies in their trade ties, a senior Iranian diplomat announced on Saturday.
Speaking to FNA, Tehran’s Ambassador to Moscow Seyed Reza Sajjadi said that the proposal for replacing US Dollar with Ruble and Rial was raised by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Astana on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting.
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Posted in Currency Wars, Iran | Tagged: dollar collapse | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 9, 2012
M.K.Bhadrakumar
8th January, 2012
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s visit to Iran doesn’t appear to have gone well. The rhetoric is all Turkey’s — and in a subtle way, Iranian official media have been gently mocking at it. The fact is, Turkey cannot afford such poor relations with almost all its neighbours — Iran, Syria, Iraq, Armenia, Cyprus, Israel. With France and EU, too, things are rocky.
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In These New Times 