Nigel Farage: Van Rompuy, Barroso worst people in EU since 1945

“They cannot fix the Greek economy. The Greek economy is finished.”

They cannot fix the Greek economy. The Greek economy is finished. The Greek economy is in a great, great depression. The growing social economy is in its long, long winter of discontent. There is no power, no force within the Greek economy, with Greek society that can avert – it’s like – imagine if we were in Ohio in 1931 and we were to ask: what can Ohio politicians do to get Ohio out of the Great Depression? The answer is nothing. [bron]

YANIS VAROUFAKIS, Grieks econoom.

The future of Europe in 7 minutes…

NOS heeft niet genoeg personeel voor de waarheid

[bron]

7 Minutes of Terror

[meer]

EU should ‘undermine national homogeneity’ says UN migration chief

The EU should “do its best to undermine” the “homogeneity” of its member states, the UN’s special representative for migration has said.

Peter Sutherland told peers the future prosperity of many EU states depended on them becoming multicultural. [bron]

Nigel Farage: Watch those Dutch elections

Bekende gezichten…

Class dismissed

Class: How to get German money 101

1) Call them a Nazi…does it work? (yes/no), if no, go to 2)
2) Remind them about WWII (70 years ago) and make them feel bad….does this work? (yes/no), if no, go to 3)
3) Tell them they would benefit the most from giving their money…does this work? (yes/no), if no, go to 4)
4) Tell them they are not social/european enough and they are selfish…does this work? (yes/no), if no, go to 5)
5) Threaten them …..

But never, NEVER, take any own responsibility, never tax the rich or pay taxes, never blame own corrupt politicians, ….

Class dismissed [bron]
And just how, pray tell, does German acquiesence to the demands of the desperate European periphery convince the Greeks to pay their taxes? The Italians to end their widespread corruption and the practice of crony capitalism? The Spanish to rein in the out of control fiscal antics of her regional governments? IMHO Ms. Merkel, and her German constituency, are quite correct in their contention that alleviating Greek/Spanish/Italian/etc. pain in the short run through a massive infusion of (mostly) German money, which is what the Economist proposes in it’s desperate plea for Euro salvation, will produce only one important lesson: crime DOES pay. It’s a hard and brutal calculation that the Germans are engaged in, but perhaps they have calculated that Germany is better equipped to survive the cataclysm of a euro breakup than the slow suicide of bailing out the unworthy on a continuing basis. [bron]

De Economist legt de schuld voor de Euro crisis bij Duitsland. De lezers laten echter in de comments blijken niet dom te zijn en maken gehakt van de anti-Duitse artikelen waarin feitelijk schuldensocialismepropaganda wordt bedreven.

Individualisten-Kongress

Anders als im deutschen Team, wo die Spieler ihrem Coach beinahe hörig zu sein scheinen, erinnert das Trainingslager der Holländer an einen Individualisten-Kongress, bei dem fast jeder Teilnehmer glaubt, den perfekten Fußball nicht nur zu kennen, sondern selbst zu prakti zieren. Es ist diese Mentalität, wegen der die Niederlande über Jahrzehnte nicht nur den spektakulärsten Fußball spielten, sondern
auch die spektakulärsten Skandale produzierten – und immer wieder scheiterten. […] In Lausanne stehen zwei Journalisten vom holländischen Rundfunk am Spielfeldrand, seit Jahren begleiten sie ihre Mannschaft. Aufgeknöpftes Hemd, Sonnenbrille, lässige Jungs, die sich selbst ziemlich klasse finden. „Die ganzen Kapriolen, die verschenkten Titel, das liegt alles am holländischen Charakter“, sagt der Fernsehmann. „Wir sind nun mal sehr selbstbewusst, wir stellen alles in Frage, wir sind im Zweifel provokativ.“ Der Radiomann nickt. Sie beklagen das nicht, es klingt vielmehr, als seien sie recht zufrieden mit diesen Eigenschaften. „Deshalb sind wir auch so interessante Menschen.“ Sie nicken sich zu und lächeln. „Und deshalb haben wir so interessante Spieler.“ Joachim Löws Jungs seien dagegen folgsame Befehlsempfänger, „aber gewiss keine echten Typen, keine echten Charaktere“. Was sie sagen, hört sich herablassend an, aber es ist auch geschickt. Es ist der Trick, sich selbst dann noch überlegen fühlen zu können, wenn auch der nächste Pokal an den Niederlanden vorbeiwandert. Dann hätte man zwar wieder irgendein wichtiges Spiel verloren, aber das Wichtigste nicht: die eigene Identität.

Der Spiegel, juni 2012.

We are Greece

Hoe ClubMed een financiele oorlog tegen het Noorden voert

According to El Mundo, Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy sent a stunning text message to FinMin Guindos prior to the bailout negotiations.

He said, according to El Muno editor Pablo Rodriguez: “Resist, we are the 4th power of the EZ. Spain is not Uganda.”

Translation: We’re a major power, not some random IMF-case banana Republic.

The followup message (according to Google translate) “if you want to force the redemption of Spain will prepare 500,000 billion euros and another 700,000 for Italy, which will have to be rescued after us.”

Bottom line: hold out for something good. We are powerful, and if they don’t give in, the whole thing will go down. It will cost Europe 500 billion if Spain goes bust, and then another 700 billion if Italy goes bust. [bron]

Dit vindt Kees de Kort ervan: Liegen wordt beloond met 100 miljard euro

BA……. uuuuuh…

“The whole Eurozone concept was deeply flawed from the get go”

Yeah, I actually don’t particularly personalise it as being Merkel’s….She is not a model of clarity and forcefulness. But even if she were – then what? She’d have to bring the German electorate with her. The whole Eurozone concept was deeply flawed from the get go. The crucial error were made in the late 1980s when this project gelled. It’s the ineluctable logic of tragedy. [bron]

Jazz [59]: John McLaughlin & Jeff Beck: Django