Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Biden On Russia After Putin

Joseph Biden has published After Putin in the Wall Street Journal.

Russia is the world's largest energy exporter, and the only state with enough nuclear weapons and delivery capability to wipe us out. It is also facing endemic corruption, a demographic collapse, and a brewing insurgency in the north Caucasus. The Kremlin's use of "managed democracy" has failed to address these and other major challenges. Whether in the form of loose nukes or environmental catastrophe, Russia's domestic failings have consequences beyond its borders. It is legitimate for the West to be concerned about Russia's internal affairs. We should encourage responsible Russians to move toward a political system that is better equipped to address Russia's many problems.


Click here to read the entire article.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Why Vladimir Putin rigged an election he was always going to win

As our next topic is Russia, here is an article on the recent presidential election:

Why Vladimir Putin rigged an election he was always going to winThe secret policeman's election; Russia.(Why Vladimir Putin rigged an election he was always going to win)
The Economist (US) 385.8558 (Dec 8, 2007): p60US.

Vladimir Putin did not rig the ballot to win control of parliament, but to assert his power over the Kremlin's warring factions

To read the full article click here: Why Vladimir Putin rigged an election he was always going to win

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Turkey and the myth of European Union - accession to disillusion

Click below to read the whole article:

From the myth of European Union accession to disillusion: implications for religious and ethnic politicization in Turkey

At the present time, there are no clear outcomes in Turkey's European Union
(EU) accession process. By the end of the two years following the rise of the
pro-Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) to the government in 2002,
Turkey's accession process entered into a stalemate. Potent political opposition
to the Turkish candidacy in Europe has escalated, despite a staunch Turkish
political commitment since 1999 to meet the Copenhagen Criteria for admission.
In this article, we argue that Turkey's EU accession process has contributed to
opening political spaces for Islamism and ethno-nationalism in the country,
ironically producing societal and political forces undermining Turkish
membership. We inquire first into the practical reasons obstructing Turkey's
membership to the Union and second into the societal and political implications
of the continuation of the bleak possibility of EU membership for Turkey. As far
as the latter is considered, our focus is limited to an analysis of the
politicization and institutionalization of the ethnic and Islamist conservative
politics in Turkey within the process of "liberal democracy."

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Kosovo



The Kosovo Song (To the tune of "Kokomo" by the Beach Boys, parody).

This is not necessarily relevant, mostly just entertainment. I just like parodies. Kosovo will be an ongoing issue for the US and the EU. In light of that the following article may be interesting.

Kosovo: The US and the EU support a Political Process linked to Organized Crime
Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci is part of a criminal syndicate
by Michel Chossudovsky

Mr. Thaci, nicknamed "the Snake" during his KLA days, is a sharp-suited 32-year-old former rebel commander with poor oratory skills, links to organized crime and a determination to preserve relations between his party and the United States (The Scotsman, 20 October 2000)

I know a terrorist when I see one and these men are terrorists," (US Special Envoy and Ambassador Robert Gelbard)

"The KLA [formerly headed by Hashim Thaci] is tied in with every known Middle and Far Eastern drug cartel. Interpol, Europol, and nearly every European intelligence and counter-narcotics agency has files open on drug syndicates that lead right to the KLA,..." (Michael Levine former official of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA))

Hashim Thaci founded the "Drenica-Group" an underground organization that is estimated to have controlled between 10% and 15% of all criminal activities in Kosovo (smuggling arms, stolen cars, oil, cigarettes and prostitution). Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia

Saturday, March 15, 2008

The state of the EURO

From this article in Asia Times:
Euro-trash by Chan Akya

When the US Fed last week made an announcement that it would expand its Term Auction Facility (TAF), the idea was greeted with sardonic smiles across the boardrooms of European banks. After all, the Fed had only made operational in March what the ECB had been doing since last summer.

How it operates is quite simple. Banks gather all the collateral on their books that cannot be sold into the wider market and provide it to the ECB against which, following some minor valuation adjustments, the central bank provides immediate liquidity. This has proven quite useful in the current climate of poor liquidity in various market instruments.

Thus, we have found out that European banks have continued to issue billions of euros-worth of residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS) that are never sold to any investor. After securing the rating, the securities, which are simply paper representing actual mortgages in the books of various banks, are pledged as collateral to the ECB and liquidity lines are drawn.

In turn, this borrowing from the ECB is used to support the uneconomic overseas operations of European banks, ie their investments in US subprime collateral, poorly constructed collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and the like. By not being forced to sell such assets, European banks continue to pretend that they have taken fewer losses than their US counterparts when the truth is the exact opposite.


You can read the entire article here.

Monday, March 10, 2008

The European Union - Fit at 50?

Economist Intelligence Unit: Country Profile: European Union, published December 2007, is available in the Montgomery County Public Library articles databases, in the database Academic OneFile from Gale. I am linking the European Union Country Profile. Since it is lengthy, I'm dividing it into 3 parts, and will publish the next two over the next two days. You can read part one here:

Economist Intelligence Unit: Country Profile: European Union - Part 1


The Economist published a special report on the European Union almost exactly a year ago, March 15, 2007. It is one of their articles they make available online to the public. You can read it on the Economist website:

The European Union - Fit at 50?

It is several pages long, so at the bottom of each page, click on the Next article » to continue reading the report.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Slower China Economy as Inflation Spikes?

I spotted this article in Bloomberg. China's leadership is changing at just about the same time the economy is slowing. We discussed valuation of the Chinese currency at the last meeting, so I copied some excerpts from the article below as a followup:

Wang, Li, May Inherit Slower China Economy as Inflation Spikes

March 4 (Bloomberg) -- China is naming a new generation of economic leaders just as its breakneck growth is slowing.
. . .
. . . China's concerns are going to shift from the economy being too hot to potentially becoming too cold
. . .
The failure to tame a surge in food prices since last year has led to stampedes, injuries and deaths at shops selling discounted cooking oil, rice and eggs, illustrating the toll on the 300 million Chinese estimated by the World Bank to be living in poverty.

``Inflation is clearly a big problem, the most destabilizing factor right now,'' said Xie. ``It's going to be a big challenge how to bring down inflation without a hard landing; achieving a soft landing is the most important task.''


You can read the full story here.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

European Union @ 50 - from the Foreign Policy Association


European Union @ 50 meets March 18
Recommended Readings from the Foreign Policy Association

The Government and Politics of the European Union
The leading text in its field, The Government and Politics of the European Union offers a clear and comprehensive explanation of the historical development and ongoing evolution of the European Union (EU). As in previous editions, this sixth edition presents an account and analysis of the origins of the Union, the key treaties, the main institutions and political actors, and the EU's policies and policy processes. The book, in short, explains where the EU has come from, what it now does, and how it does it.

A Time to Lead: For Duty, Honor and Country
Four-star General Wesley K. Clark became a major figure on the political scene when he was drafted by popular demand to run for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in 2003. But this was just one of many exceptional accomplishments of a long and extraordinary career. Here, for the first time, General Clark uses his unique life experience-from his difficult youth in segregated Arkansas where he was raised by his poor, widowed mother; through the horror of Vietnam where he was wounded; the post-war rebuilding of national securityand the struggles surrounding the new world order after the Cold War-as a springboard to reveal his vision for America, at home and in the world.

The United States of Europe: The New Superpower and the End of American Supremacy
Now comprising 25 nations and 450 million citizens, the EU has more people, more wealth, and more votes on every international body than the United States. It eschews military force but offers guaranteed health care and free university educations. And the new “United States of Europe” is determined to be a superpower. Tracing the EU's emergence from the ruins of World War II and its influence everywhere from international courts to supermarket shelves, T. R. Reid explores the challenge it poses to American political and economic supremacy. The United States of Europe is essential reading.

The Last Days of Europe: Epitaph for an Old Continent
What happens when a falling birthrate collides with uncontrolled immigration? The Last Days of Europe explores how a massive influx from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East has loaded Europe with a burgeoning population of immigrants, many of whom have no wish to be integrated into European societies but make full use of the host nations' generous free social services.

Testimony: France in the Twenty-first Century
“This book presents my analysis of the difficulties France faces. It outlines my proposals for putting France back on the path toward economic growth, social justice, and modernity. And it addresses many of the common domestic, international, economic, and social challenges that advanced democracies like France and the United States must confront.” So writes French President Nicolas Sarkozy in the new preface to the American edition of his best-selling memoir.

America and Europe after 9/11 and Iraq: The Great Divide
American foreign policy toward Europe is merrily rolling along the path of least resistance, in the belief that there is nothing really amiss with the European-American relationship that multilateralism will not fix. Not true, argues Kashmeri. The alliance is dead, cannot be fixed, and must be renegotiated. It has not grown to accommodate Europe's emergence as a major power. A kind of United States of Europe, with foreign priorities different from those of the United States, has arrived at America's doorstep. But America is still forging foreign policy for Europe using Cold War realities; both Democrats and Republicans expect the European Union to fall into step, and report for service as needed--under American leadership. Europe, however, has other plans, and as it becomes more powerful on the world stage, competing visions of European leadership have emerged. The Iraq War has brought them into stark relief. For example, as Kashmeri points out, the Atlantic divide over Iraq was more about French-British competition for leadership of Europe than it was about a division between American goals and European goals. He portrays British foreign policy as out of touch with reality, as a policy that has done a disservice to the United States as a result of the Blair government's exaggerated and self-serving view of the British-American "special relationship." Kashmeri concludes with prescriptions for forging a new alliance based on a "special relationship" with the European Union. This agenda is inspired by the thoughts of the leaders who spoke to the author specifically for this book, among them former president George H. W. Bush, former British prime minister John Major, James A. Baker III, Wesley K. Clark, Brent Scowcroft, Paul Volcker, U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel, and Caspar W. Weinberger.

The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God
Paris's modernist La Grande Arche de la Défense and the Gothic Cathedral of Notre-Dame serve as metaphors for papal biographer Weigel's (Witness to Hope) examination of what has happened to Europe in the last several decades and its significance to Americans. Weigel, an American Catholic theologian who has lived and worked on the continent, defines the "Europe problem" as the sharp divergence of European views on democracy, the world and politics from those held by Americans like himself.

Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century
Those who believe Europe is weak and ineffectual are wrong. Turning conventional wisdom on its head, Mark Leonard, one of the UK's most visionary thinkers, argues that Europe is remaking the world in its own image.

Of Paradise and Power: America Vs. Europe in the New World Order
This past summer, in Policy Review, Robert Kagan reached incisively into this impasse to force both sides to see themselves through the eyes of the other. Tracing the widely differing histories of Europe and America since the end of World War II, he makes clear how for one the need to escape a bloody past has led to a new set of transnational beliefs about power and threat, while the other has perforce evolved into the guarantor of that �postmodern paradise� by dint of its might and global reach. This remarkable analysis is being discussed from Washington to Paris to Tokyo. It is esssential reading.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Welcome to the Little Falls Library Great Decisions Blog

Welcome to the Little Falls Library Great Decisions Blog!

This blog is to provide discussion materials, and allow ongoing discussion of the topics in the Great Decsions Series.

The series and dates for spring 2008 are:

All are Tuesday nights at 7:00pm



Feb 26: U.S.-China trade policy - Recent product safety scares have thrown the spotlight on the enormous role China plays in supplying products to the U.S. Could the large and growing trade imbalance with China have an adverse effect on the U.S. economy? What role does the undervalued Chinese currency play?

Mar 18: European Union at 50 - Having reached the 50th anniversary of the great experiment in European integration, it is time to take stock of the united Europe. Has the integration of new members been successful? What does the debate on Turkey's membership say about the future of EU integration and its changing demographics?

Apr 22: Russia - During his two terms as president, Vladimir Putin has attempted to remake Russia into a major, independent world power. Some of his recent policies have provoked concern in the U.S. and Europe. With a 2008 Russian presidential election expected, what course will Russia take?

May 20: Latin America: shift to the left? - What factors have prevented the U.S. and Latin American countries from forging a strong relationship? What challenges confront U.S. policy in Latin America? Can the U.S. offer an alternative to the influence of left-leaning leaders like Venezuela's Hugo Chavez?

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