January 20, 2010
Issues Stand Before Israel in Joining Elite Group
By ETHAN BRONNER
JERUSALEM — Israel, which has catapulted in the past two decades from a minor state-dominated economy to a market-driven technology hothouse, is in the final stages of accession to the exclusive club of advanced countries, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. But its secretive weapons trade, patent-bending drug industry and occupation of Arab lands are raising last-minute questions.
The secretary general of the O.E.C.D., Ángel Gurría, currently in Israel to discuss the issues with senior officials, said that he was confident they could be resolved and that Israel might miss the original target of May but would become a member this year. But he acknowledged that Israel, unlike other small countries in the process of accession — Chile, Slovenia and Estonia — might face objections unrelated to the technical questions still to be answered.
“We have to keep the substantive issues on the straight and narrow,” Mr. Gurría, a former Mexican finance minister, said in an interview held after meetings at the Bank of Israel. “We should not allow technical issues to be used as masks for something that is in reality a political issue.”
That political issue is Israel’s declining international reputation because of its Gaza war a year ago and its continuing construction of Jewish housing in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Professional staff employees of the O.E.C.D., which is based in Paris, say all 30 member states must approve the accession of a country, and it remained unclear if any would object. But the three technical issues all still needed to be solved.
Let those nations free of issues lead the charge of the pure.
The first involved the organization’s convention to combat bribery of foreign officials, which it considers one of its more significant accomplishments. Some years ago, bribes were tax-deductible in several European countries. Now, all of the organization’s members are required to fight bribery through domestic legislation and regulation.
The arms trade is notoriously filled with palm-greasing across the world, and Israel is a large arms trader. It has signed the antibribery convention as part of its accession process, but the way it handles the issue is causing difficulty, O.E.C.D. officials say.
The main concern is that Israel’s Defense Ministry has the power to censor the results of any investigation of bribes paid by Israeli companies to foreign officials on the grounds that the publicity could harm Israel’s national interests. The censor can ban publication and is under no obligation to tell the authorities about the investigations. The O.E.C.D. wants both practices changed.
The second concern, regarding intellectual property rights, involves the Israeli company Teva Pharmaceuticals, one of the world’s largest producers of generic drugs. Major American and Swiss companies have long accused Israel of insufficient regulation of the way Teva markets its products in the face of patent regulations in other countries.
Finally, the O.E.C.D. is unhappy with Israel’s definition of its territory in collating economic data. Israel includes activities in East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, both of them won in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war; most of the world views those areas as occupied, but Israel considers them its own through annexation.
All three issues, Israeli Foreign Ministry officials say, are being addressed at the technical level and will be solved.
Israel’s candidacy got off to an unusual start. Mr. Gurría, the secretary general, said that four years ago Israel’s widely admired central bank governor, Stanley Fischer, began attending O.E.C.D. functions with large studies of Israel’s economy aimed at demonstrating its readiness for membership.
“It’s the only country that’s ever done that,” Mr. Gurría said. “They were actually using O.E.C.D. regulations to modify their practices so as to qualify. In May 2007 Israel was invited to join because of its good economic management focused on knowledge, technology and education. The O.E.C.D. can gain from its membership, and so can Israel.”
The O.E.C.D.’s purposes are to bring together market-oriented democracies, promote good business and economic practices, and increase employment and international trade. For Israel, membership would not only help it continue to modernize its economy but also fight efforts to delegitimize and ostracize it over its dispute with the Palestinians.
Showing posts with label Europe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Europe. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Monday, December 21, 2009
Obama’s Foreign Engagement Scorecard
STATESMAN President Obama brokered a climate agreement in Copenhagen Friday.
He must have the skill and personality needed for brokering compromises. Much of the world does look to the US for leadership, but it is a challenge to translate that to practical results.
If there is a one-word handle that fits the conduct of foreign relations in Barack Obama’s first year as president, it is “engagement.” The Obama administration has engaged with Iran, Russia, Burma, Sudan, North Korea. “Engagement” sounds harmless — something any sensible administration would do (though the Bush administration apparently did far less of it).
But what, in fact, does President Obama have to show for “engagement” itself? And how do you keep score? He has just emerged from Copenhagen having brokered an agreement, however modest, on climate change. Does that count?
There is difficulty in measuring progress, yet less than a year has passed since he took office. It seems very early to make judgments. Of course, that does not stop pundits from doing so.
To some conservatives, engagement thus sounds like a euphemism for “appeasement.” Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, argues, “There is a perception around the world that Obama is proceeding on bended knee to our enemies, and they’re rebuffing us contemptuously.”
How does this pundit know what perceptions there are "around the world"?
Iran is both the most important, and the most passionately disputed, case. Engagement here would seem to have been a failure — but only if you take the policy wholly at face value. One senior administration official who was not authorized to speak on the record says that while the offer of engagement was “never just an instrument or a ploy,” and remains on the table, the very public effort to exhaust all available means of persuasion has helped move Europe, Russia and China toward a tougher stance.
Perhaps, then, the ultimate measure of the success of the engagement policy will be the extent to which the good will President Obama has generated will tip the balance in the hard bargaining before his administration — over assistance from allies in Afghanistan, over new approaches to the Middle East and the international economic structure, and, most immediately, in the struggle to reach a meaningful agreement on how to slow global warming — an issue where the global good collides with the most basic questions of national interest. The credit Mr. Obama has earned will have to stretch a very long way.
He must have the skill and personality needed for brokering compromises. Much of the world does look to the US for leadership, but it is a challenge to translate that to practical results.
If there is a one-word handle that fits the conduct of foreign relations in Barack Obama’s first year as president, it is “engagement.” The Obama administration has engaged with Iran, Russia, Burma, Sudan, North Korea. “Engagement” sounds harmless — something any sensible administration would do (though the Bush administration apparently did far less of it).
But what, in fact, does President Obama have to show for “engagement” itself? And how do you keep score? He has just emerged from Copenhagen having brokered an agreement, however modest, on climate change. Does that count?
There is difficulty in measuring progress, yet less than a year has passed since he took office. It seems very early to make judgments. Of course, that does not stop pundits from doing so.
To some conservatives, engagement thus sounds like a euphemism for “appeasement.” Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, argues, “There is a perception around the world that Obama is proceeding on bended knee to our enemies, and they’re rebuffing us contemptuously.”
How does this pundit know what perceptions there are "around the world"?
Iran is both the most important, and the most passionately disputed, case. Engagement here would seem to have been a failure — but only if you take the policy wholly at face value. One senior administration official who was not authorized to speak on the record says that while the offer of engagement was “never just an instrument or a ploy,” and remains on the table, the very public effort to exhaust all available means of persuasion has helped move Europe, Russia and China toward a tougher stance.
Perhaps, then, the ultimate measure of the success of the engagement policy will be the extent to which the good will President Obama has generated will tip the balance in the hard bargaining before his administration — over assistance from allies in Afghanistan, over new approaches to the Middle East and the international economic structure, and, most immediately, in the struggle to reach a meaningful agreement on how to slow global warming — an issue where the global good collides with the most basic questions of national interest. The credit Mr. Obama has earned will have to stretch a very long way.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Belgian Haiku Master
Georges Gobet/AFP/Getty Images - Belgian Prime Minsiter Herman Van Rompuy.
BRUSSELS -- When it chooses its first permanent president this week, the European Union is expected to pass over former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other heavy hitters in favor of a balding, bespectacled Belgian named Herman Van Rompuy.
The charismatic Mr. Blair walked the international stage long enough to wear grooves in it. Mr. Van Rompuy, Belgium's prime minister for the past 11 months, is a modest functionary known inside his country for writing haikus in his native Flemish. His lack of ostentation is reflected in his poem "Hair":
I know whereof he speaks.
Mr. Van Rompuy is the clear favorite of oddsmakers like Ladbrokes to be chosen president by the leaders of the EU's 27 member nations Thursday. Though the vote could still hold surprises, Mr. Van Rompuy's likely ascendance speaks to the baroque nature of EU politics -- where permanent presidents need not be permanent or presidential, and where the race tends to go not to the strong, but to the Belgians, Danes and Luxembourgers.
From left, Luxemburg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and former Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga[mdash ]hopefuls for the coming job of EU President.
Mr. Van Rompuy is known as a master of procedural minutiae who can run committee meetings in several languages. But as Belgium's budget director in the 1990s, he also helped the massively indebted country meet the criteria for joining the euro.
After becoming Belgium's prime minister in December, Mr. Van Rompuy has repaired fissures with the country's French-speaking minority and managed a bureaucracy of six parliaments and more than 50 cabinet-level ministers. "If you know how to run Belgium, you can deal with the EU," says Piotr Maciej Kaczynski, an analyst with the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies.
Mr. Van Rompuy's particular knack was evident in the haiku he read at a recent news conference with the prime ministers of Spain and Hungary:
“Three waves together,
Rolling into the harbor --
The trio is here.”
BRUSSELS -- When it chooses its first permanent president this week, the European Union is expected to pass over former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other heavy hitters in favor of a balding, bespectacled Belgian named Herman Van Rompuy.
The charismatic Mr. Blair walked the international stage long enough to wear grooves in it. Mr. Van Rompuy, Belgium's prime minister for the past 11 months, is a modest functionary known inside his country for writing haikus in his native Flemish. His lack of ostentation is reflected in his poem "Hair":
“Hair blows in the wind
After years there is still wind
Sadly no more hair.”
After years there is still wind
Sadly no more hair.”
I know whereof he speaks.
Mr. Van Rompuy is the clear favorite of oddsmakers like Ladbrokes to be chosen president by the leaders of the EU's 27 member nations Thursday. Though the vote could still hold surprises, Mr. Van Rompuy's likely ascendance speaks to the baroque nature of EU politics -- where permanent presidents need not be permanent or presidential, and where the race tends to go not to the strong, but to the Belgians, Danes and Luxembourgers.
From left, Luxemburg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and former Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga[mdash ]hopefuls for the coming job of EU President.
Mr. Van Rompuy is known as a master of procedural minutiae who can run committee meetings in several languages. But as Belgium's budget director in the 1990s, he also helped the massively indebted country meet the criteria for joining the euro.
After becoming Belgium's prime minister in December, Mr. Van Rompuy has repaired fissures with the country's French-speaking minority and managed a bureaucracy of six parliaments and more than 50 cabinet-level ministers. "If you know how to run Belgium, you can deal with the EU," says Piotr Maciej Kaczynski, an analyst with the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies.
Mr. Van Rompuy's particular knack was evident in the haiku he read at a recent news conference with the prime ministers of Spain and Hungary:
“Three waves together,
Rolling into the harbor --
The trio is here.”
Monday, November 2, 2009
Europe Still Likes Obama, but Doubts Creep In
President Nicolas Sarkozy, center, before chiding President Obama on Iran in a speech at the United Nations in September. France wants no deal that would let Iran keep enriching uranium.
Is it principled, or is its opposition because France wants part of the business?
The election of Barack Obama as president seemed to most Europeans to be unadulterated good news, marking an end to the perceived unilateralism and indifference to allied views of former President George W. Bush.
But nine months into Mr. Obama’s presidency, trans-Atlantic relations are again clouded by doubts. Europe and the United States remain at least partly out of sync on Afghanistan, the Middle East, Iran and climate change.
Every love affair is bound to cool.
Many Europeans argue that Mr. Obama has not broken clearly enough with Bush administration policies that they dislike, while some Americans argue that the Europeans are too passive, watching Mr. Obama struggle with difficult issues, like Afghanistan and the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, without providing much substantive help.
Europeans are good at lecturing, at passing judgment, and at self-glorification.
Mr. Obama remains popular with the European public, but a senior European official said that he was worried about an underlying disaffection. “It’s dangerous, because we must not get into a spiral of dissatisfaction on both sides,” he said. These generalizations lack real substance, he said, but the criticism runs that “the U.S. thinks that Europeans don’t want to do anything to help and the Europeans feel that the U.S. is naïve and not delivering enough.”
Naive? Seems a ridiculous criticism, really.
“Europeans are sitting around waiting for Washington to decide what the Afghanistan policy is going to be,” he said.
They are waiting for the US to decide.
A lot of the problem is the fault of the Europeans themselves, said Hubert Védrine, a former French foreign minister. “Europe for Obama is not a priority, not a problem and not a solution for his problems,” he said in an interview here. “Obama keeps a distance and has a kind of hauteur” with European leaders, Mr. Védrine said. “But that’s not a sufficient reason for Europeans to act like spectators” as Mr. Obama tries to cope with his challenges. “I think it’s necessary to help him,” he said.
[Ed: hauteur: arrogance: overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner toward inferiors]
In a report to be published on Monday, the European Council on Foreign Relations, an independent research group, urged European Union governments to shake off illusions about the trans-Atlantic relationship if they wanted to avoid global irrelevance.
The United States “needs strong partners in a world it no longer dominates,” the authors say, and while it would prefer a more united European Union, which can articulate and put into practice its own strategic interests, Washington no longer expects to see it. When the European Union is united and strong, as on trade matters, Washington listens, the report says; when it is split, as over Russia and many other foreign and defense issues, where national governments act individually, “Europeans are asking to be divided and ruled.”
While Mr. Obama is personally sympathetic and even “European” in his policy choices, the report argues, “Europeans miss the implications of the self-avowed pragmatism” of his administration, which wants “to work with whoever will most effectively help it achieve the outcomes it desires.”
Is it principled, or is its opposition because France wants part of the business?
The election of Barack Obama as president seemed to most Europeans to be unadulterated good news, marking an end to the perceived unilateralism and indifference to allied views of former President George W. Bush.
But nine months into Mr. Obama’s presidency, trans-Atlantic relations are again clouded by doubts. Europe and the United States remain at least partly out of sync on Afghanistan, the Middle East, Iran and climate change.
Every love affair is bound to cool.
Many Europeans argue that Mr. Obama has not broken clearly enough with Bush administration policies that they dislike, while some Americans argue that the Europeans are too passive, watching Mr. Obama struggle with difficult issues, like Afghanistan and the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, without providing much substantive help.
Europeans are good at lecturing, at passing judgment, and at self-glorification.
Mr. Obama remains popular with the European public, but a senior European official said that he was worried about an underlying disaffection. “It’s dangerous, because we must not get into a spiral of dissatisfaction on both sides,” he said. These generalizations lack real substance, he said, but the criticism runs that “the U.S. thinks that Europeans don’t want to do anything to help and the Europeans feel that the U.S. is naïve and not delivering enough.”
Naive? Seems a ridiculous criticism, really.
“Europeans are sitting around waiting for Washington to decide what the Afghanistan policy is going to be,” he said.
They are waiting for the US to decide.
A lot of the problem is the fault of the Europeans themselves, said Hubert Védrine, a former French foreign minister. “Europe for Obama is not a priority, not a problem and not a solution for his problems,” he said in an interview here. “Obama keeps a distance and has a kind of hauteur” with European leaders, Mr. Védrine said. “But that’s not a sufficient reason for Europeans to act like spectators” as Mr. Obama tries to cope with his challenges. “I think it’s necessary to help him,” he said.
[Ed: hauteur: arrogance: overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner toward inferiors]
In a report to be published on Monday, the European Council on Foreign Relations, an independent research group, urged European Union governments to shake off illusions about the trans-Atlantic relationship if they wanted to avoid global irrelevance.
The United States “needs strong partners in a world it no longer dominates,” the authors say, and while it would prefer a more united European Union, which can articulate and put into practice its own strategic interests, Washington no longer expects to see it. When the European Union is united and strong, as on trade matters, Washington listens, the report says; when it is split, as over Russia and many other foreign and defense issues, where national governments act individually, “Europeans are asking to be divided and ruled.”
While Mr. Obama is personally sympathetic and even “European” in his policy choices, the report argues, “Europeans miss the implications of the self-avowed pragmatism” of his administration, which wants “to work with whoever will most effectively help it achieve the outcomes it desires.”
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Europe awaits Irish vote
Electoral officer Hugh O'Donnell, left, and Brendan McCann, a police officer, deliver the referendum ballot box to Inishfree island on Wednesday.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Anger and Fear Fuel May Day Europe Protests
In Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, a demonstrator stood between a pair of anarchist flags.
Some Iraqis celebrated May Day with a march organized by the Iraqi Communist Party.
Some Iraqis celebrated May Day with a march organized by the Iraqi Communist Party.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Spain's Bullet Train
Spain's system of 218-mile-an-hour bullet trains, the AVE -- meaning 'bird' in Spanish -- has increased mobility for many residents, though critics say it has come at the expense of less-glamorous forms of transportation.
To sell his vision of a high-speed train network to the American public, President Barack Obama this week cited Spain, a country most people don't associate with futuristic bullet trains.
To sell his vision of a high-speed train network to the American public, President Barack Obama this week cited Spain, a country most people don't associate with futuristic bullet trains.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
East and West Pull on Moldova
A woman burned a portrait of Lenin after protesters took it from the Parliament building in Chisinau, Moldova, on April 7.
With a population of 4,320,748 (July 2009 est.), Moldova's ethnic makeup is:
Moldovan/Romanian 78.2%, Ukrainian 8.4%, Russian 5.8%, Gagauz 4.4%, Bulgarian 1.9%, other 1.3% (2004 census).
Both Romanian and Russian influences are felt in Moldova.
With a population of 4,320,748 (July 2009 est.), Moldova's ethnic makeup is:
Moldovan/Romanian 78.2%, Ukrainian 8.4%, Russian 5.8%, Gagauz 4.4%, Bulgarian 1.9%, other 1.3% (2004 census).
Both Romanian and Russian influences are felt in Moldova.
E-stonia
Estonia becomes E-stonia with digital revolution - A digital revolution is turning the tiny European nation of Estonia into a nation of Internet innovators. Estonians have put their digital identities onto their national identification cards, and much more.
I saw this report on PBS a couple of weeks back, and was utterly amazed. Estonia (slightly smaller than New Hampshire and Vermont combined) has a population of about 1.3 million people. About 30% are Russian. Its GDP is $27.72 billion (2008 est.). There are about 500,000 land line telephones in the country, and in 2007 there were 1.982 million cellphones.
.ee is the Internet extension for Estonia. http://www.eesti.ee/eng/ is "The State Portal eesti.ee provides safe Internet environment for communication with the state – offering reliable information and e-solutions for citizens, entrepreneurs and officials."
I saw this report on PBS a couple of weeks back, and was utterly amazed. Estonia (slightly smaller than New Hampshire and Vermont combined) has a population of about 1.3 million people. About 30% are Russian. Its GDP is $27.72 billion (2008 est.). There are about 500,000 land line telephones in the country, and in 2007 there were 1.982 million cellphones.
.ee is the Internet extension for Estonia. http://www.eesti.ee/eng/ is "The State Portal eesti.ee provides safe Internet environment for communication with the state – offering reliable information and e-solutions for citizens, entrepreneurs and officials."
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Twitter activism
Protesters opposed to Moldova’s Communist leaders threw a sofa out a window in Parliament in the capital on Tuesday.
Protests in Moldova Explode, With Help of Twitter
By ELLEN BARRY
A sea of young people used text messages and the Internet to appear out of nowhere to protest Communist leaders.
A crowd of more than 10,000 young Moldovans materialized seemingly out of nowhere on Tuesday to protest against Moldova’s Communist leadership, ransacking government buildings and clashing with the police.
The sea of young people reflected the deep generation gap that has developed in Moldova, and the protesters used their generation’s tools, gathering the crowd by enlisting text-messaging, Facebook and Twitter, the social messaging network.
The protesters created their own searchable tag on Twitter, rallying Moldovans to join and propelling events in this small former Soviet state onto a Twitter list of newly popular topics, so people around the world could keep track.
Technology changing the world.
After hundreds of firsthand accounts flooded onto the Internet via Twitter, Internet service in Chisinau, the capital, was abruptly cut off.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Obrezje Journal
Planters mark the border between Obrezje, Slovenia, foreground, and Bregana, Croatia — and between a NATO and European Union member and a nonmember.
In the poolroom of Sasha Kalin’s tavern, a line marks the border. In the Balkans, he says, “every little piece of land counts.”
The neighbors both lay claim to an area in the Bay of Piran.
In the poolroom of Sasha Kalin’s tavern, a line marks the border. In the Balkans, he says, “every little piece of land counts.”
The neighbors both lay claim to an area in the Bay of Piran.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Europe and Asia linked
A tunnel to link Asia and Europe. Found this article in Universal.com.mx, the Mexican newspaper's website.
Unirá túnel Europa con Asia
La obra monumental estará ubicada a 5.4 kilómetros bajo el Estrecho de Estambul y de más de tres kilómetros de longitud, con lo que quedarán unidas ambos lados del país
El ministerio turco de Transportes ha dado la concesión de la ejecución del proyecto que unirá Asia y Europa a través de un túnel a la empresa surcoreana SK E&C Co.
La obra monumental estará ubicada a 5.4 kilómetros bajo el Estrecho de Estambul y de más de tres kilómetros de longitud, con lo que quedarán unidas ambos lados del país.
SK E&C Co. presentó el proyecto junto a otras empresas interesadas en desarrollar el túnel, el cual no es el primero en unir dos territorios, cabe recordar el Euro Túnel que une el Canal de la Mancha, a Inglaterra y Francia.
Así luce el proyecto. (Foto: EFE )
Thursday, November 13, 2008
World Leaders Quick to Press Obama on Foreign Policy
President-elect Obama's telephone has been ringing. A lot.
The Russians want him to hold off installation of a missile defense shield in Poland. The Europeans want him to renounce the idea of “regime change” when it comes to Iran, while the Israelis want to be sure he doesn’t give Iran a pass when it comes to nuclear weapons.
Oh, and let’s not forget the Taliban, which issued a statement this week urging him to “put an end to all the policies being followed by his Opposition Party, the Republicans, and pull out U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Iraq.”
There’s a world of advice out there for President-elect Barack Obama. Within minutes of his election on Nov. 4, the calls from foreign governments began, Obama aides say, and they haven’t stopped.
Hey, guys, Bush is still President.
While the first telephone exchanges between Mr. Obama and foreign leaders were limited to pledges of future cooperation and invitations to visit, those leaders and their underlings have also been contacting Mr. Obama’s advisers and their surrogates with suggestions for how an Obama administration should conduct, and change, American foreign policy.
Suggestions? Can't a president-elect make up his own mind?
British and French officials are urging the Obama team to work on the atmospherics before sitting down to talk with Iran, out of concern that Mr. Obama’s pledge to open talks with Iran without preconditions won’t work unless it is delicately plotted.
Just how naive do they think he is?
The Russians want him to hold off installation of a missile defense shield in Poland. The Europeans want him to renounce the idea of “regime change” when it comes to Iran, while the Israelis want to be sure he doesn’t give Iran a pass when it comes to nuclear weapons.
Oh, and let’s not forget the Taliban, which issued a statement this week urging him to “put an end to all the policies being followed by his Opposition Party, the Republicans, and pull out U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Iraq.”
There’s a world of advice out there for President-elect Barack Obama. Within minutes of his election on Nov. 4, the calls from foreign governments began, Obama aides say, and they haven’t stopped.
Hey, guys, Bush is still President.
While the first telephone exchanges between Mr. Obama and foreign leaders were limited to pledges of future cooperation and invitations to visit, those leaders and their underlings have also been contacting Mr. Obama’s advisers and their surrogates with suggestions for how an Obama administration should conduct, and change, American foreign policy.
Suggestions? Can't a president-elect make up his own mind?
British and French officials are urging the Obama team to work on the atmospherics before sitting down to talk with Iran, out of concern that Mr. Obama’s pledge to open talks with Iran without preconditions won’t work unless it is delicately plotted.
Just how naive do they think he is?
Ugly Fruits and Vegetables reprieve
The EU has spared ugly fruit and veg. Yes, it is true. Whew! We all feared the uglies would die.
A ban on the sale of some misshapen produce will be dropped.
Praise be the magnanimity of the European Union bureaucracy.
A ban on the sale of some misshapen produce will be dropped.Praise be the magnanimity of the European Union bureaucracy.
Ending regulations on the size and shape of 26 types of fruit and vegetables, the European authorities killed off restrictions that had become synonymous with bureaucratic meddling.
The rising cost of commodities also persuaded the European Commission that there was no point in throwing away food just because it looked strange.
As of July, when the changes go into force, these standards for the 26 products, as varied as peas and plums, will disappear. European shoppers will then be able to choose their produce whatever its appearance.
Hail freedom!
Friday, November 7, 2008
I wanna go to Washington, too
Story headline in London Times online: Europe’s leaders are divided in scramble for seat with Obama.
Bickering over which countries will attend this month’s Washington financial summit – and a chance to meet Barack Obama – sidetracked Europe’s leaders at their emergency meeting on the economic crisis.
The main concern of José Luis RodrÍguez Zapatero, the Spanish Prime Minister, was whether he could get a seat at the gathering of G20 countries on November 15 despite one of his ministers being told by Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, that they would not be invited.
Mr Zapatero is desperate to rehabilitate Spain’s relations with the US after falling out with the Bush Administration over the Iraq war.
There was more evidence of Obama one-upmanship when it emerged that Gordon Brown had a ten-minute telephone call with the President-elect while President Sarkozy was then reported by the French media to have had a more impressive 30 minutes.
Not all European leaders were falling over themselves to cosy up to Mr Obama. Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, was unrepentant in the face of criticism for calling the President-elect “young, handsome and even tanned”. Mr Berlusconi described as “imbeciles” those who questioned his remark and said that it would not damage relations. “Did you see how I was welcomed by President Bush? The same thing will happen with the new Administration,” he said.
Yesterday’s meeting of the 27 EU leaders in Brussels ended with a diluted agreement to reform the International Monetary Fund and similarly weakened proposals for improved oversight of financial markets.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
What's up, Sarko?
Economic weakness is leading to a recession, even in Europe.
The signs of economic caution are everywhere here, including even a sudden drop in the sale of bottled water.
Now, that's serious.
Trying to counteract fears of higher unemployment as the economy slows, Mr. Sarkozy announced a new program of subsidized work contracts, warned companies not to make unjustified layoffs and promised to loosen restrictions on short-term job contracts and Sunday work.
Warned companies to not lay people off unjustifiably? What a novel idea. As Sarko presses to make inroads, to prevent the recession from deepening, others remain skeptical.
The Socialist he beat for the presidency, Ségolène Royal, said Tuesday that “with a new plan practically every two days,” Mr. Sarkozy had “a credibility problem.” At the very least, she said, “we must pay attention that each plan announced should start before announcing the next.”
And other major states, especially Germany, are skeptical about his intentions. They believe that Mr. Sarkozy, who has often excoriated the Central Bank for its focus on limiting inflation, wants to sharply increase the size of France’s budget deficit — despite European Union restrictions — to stimulate an economy considered to be in recession and to create jobs.
Imagine him wanting to stimulate an economy; what a radical idea. Still, Sarko is something of a loose cannon.
Recent pronouncements by Mr. Sarkozy have rubbed the Germans and the British the wrong way, in part because he has reverted to an old habit of acting without consulting his allies. Quite unusually for Europe, Mr. Sarkozy has also called other leaders to summit meetings on extremely short notice, sometimes just a day, a senior European diplomat said, causing consternation and confusion. Mr. Sarkozy’s relations with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, have deteriorated again, diplomats and French officials say, over both his lack of consultation and his efforts to pressure the European Central Bank.
Then again, he is bold. That can cut two ways, but action is certainly needed, and it would be better to act sooner rather than later.
In particular, Mr. Sarkozy has called for two European initiatives that have been widely criticized. The first is a European Union sovereign fund to protect the ownership of important business with suddenly low stock prices. The other is a “unified economic government” of the European Union that would bring the heads of state together on economic issues, and not just the finance ministers.Mr. Sarkozy argues that leaders must lead, and that with the Czech Republic and then Sweden, neither of which uses the euro, taking over the European Union presidency in 2009, Europe’s ability to deal with the global financial crisis will be reduced.
There's one of those European anomalies: countries that are in the EU but do not use the euro. And why not sovereign funds?
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France passed a mirror after delivering a speech on employment measures on Tuesday.
The signs of economic caution are everywhere here, including even a sudden drop in the sale of bottled water.
Now, that's serious.
Trying to counteract fears of higher unemployment as the economy slows, Mr. Sarkozy announced a new program of subsidized work contracts, warned companies not to make unjustified layoffs and promised to loosen restrictions on short-term job contracts and Sunday work.
Warned companies to not lay people off unjustifiably? What a novel idea. As Sarko presses to make inroads, to prevent the recession from deepening, others remain skeptical.
The Socialist he beat for the presidency, Ségolène Royal, said Tuesday that “with a new plan practically every two days,” Mr. Sarkozy had “a credibility problem.” At the very least, she said, “we must pay attention that each plan announced should start before announcing the next.”
And other major states, especially Germany, are skeptical about his intentions. They believe that Mr. Sarkozy, who has often excoriated the Central Bank for its focus on limiting inflation, wants to sharply increase the size of France’s budget deficit — despite European Union restrictions — to stimulate an economy considered to be in recession and to create jobs.
Imagine him wanting to stimulate an economy; what a radical idea. Still, Sarko is something of a loose cannon.
Recent pronouncements by Mr. Sarkozy have rubbed the Germans and the British the wrong way, in part because he has reverted to an old habit of acting without consulting his allies. Quite unusually for Europe, Mr. Sarkozy has also called other leaders to summit meetings on extremely short notice, sometimes just a day, a senior European diplomat said, causing consternation and confusion. Mr. Sarkozy’s relations with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, have deteriorated again, diplomats and French officials say, over both his lack of consultation and his efforts to pressure the European Central Bank.
Then again, he is bold. That can cut two ways, but action is certainly needed, and it would be better to act sooner rather than later.
In particular, Mr. Sarkozy has called for two European initiatives that have been widely criticized. The first is a European Union sovereign fund to protect the ownership of important business with suddenly low stock prices. The other is a “unified economic government” of the European Union that would bring the heads of state together on economic issues, and not just the finance ministers.Mr. Sarkozy argues that leaders must lead, and that with the Czech Republic and then Sweden, neither of which uses the euro, taking over the European Union presidency in 2009, Europe’s ability to deal with the global financial crisis will be reduced.
There's one of those European anomalies: countries that are in the EU but do not use the euro. And why not sovereign funds?
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France passed a mirror after delivering a speech on employment measures on Tuesday.
Monday, October 13, 2008
The crisis is redefining our leaders
This from the Financial Times of London: a month and a half ago Gordon Brown looked as if would go up in flames, now he is the rock that not only steadid Britain's economy, but prodded, and gave a role model to, Europe; while McCain flails and Bush drowns, Obama remians calm and presidential.
If Monday’s market rally really does signal a turning point in the global financial crisis, the world will hail an improbable saviour. Step forward Gordon Brown, Britain’s gloomy prime minister. Until the crisis struck, the conventional wisdom was that Mr Brown was a tragic-comic figure: a man who had desperately wanted to be prime minister, but had proved hopelessly unfitted to the task.
Europeans bourses (stock markets for the bitter, uninformed ones) rallied strongly; the Dow Jones average is up 707 points as of 3.30pm. So, yes, thus far the markets are voting with a sigh of relief and a dash of optimism that the authorities have finally braked the nosedive and righted the ship's course (to mix metaphors).
The emergency European summit in Paris over the weekend saw the 15 members of the European single currency area adopt bank rescue plans that look strikingly like the British initiative. British officials, who have often been told that in a big economic crisis they would be tugged along hopelessly in the wake of the eurozone, are enjoying their moment of vindication.
And the US is about to act as well. It seems that the Brown model might well be the American plan as well.
Crises define politicians. The contrasting fortunes of Mr Brown and President George W. Bush illustrate the point. In normal times, Mr Brown often seems indecisive, gloomy and robotic. In normal times, Mr Bush seems chipper, decisive and a regular guy. But, in a crisis, both men’s manners are transformed – one for the better and one for the worse. Mr Brown suddenly looks calm, determined and in control. Mr Bush has an unfortunate tendency to look panicky and out of his depth.
W looks as if he'd rather be at the ranch. His pronouncements are laughable and irrelevant. When it came to posturing, W was ready; but in crises, he stumbles: witness Katrina, and now the financial panic.
The current financial crisis seems to have actually cheered Mr Brown up. When a mobile phone rang during a speech he was giving late last week, the prime minister made a rare spontaneous joke, speculating about whether this was news of yet another collapsing bank. This kind of joke sounds like the height of bad taste. But somehow it worked. Gallows humour becomes Mr Brown. And besides, his audience had some confidence that he had a handle on the situation.
That's a good one. Brown was Chancellor of the Exchequer. In contrast, W was a governor and part owner of a baseball team, neither of which roles did anything to prepare him for the presidency, clearly.
Mr Bush’s presidency may also be defined by his reaction to crises – but in a bad way. In the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, he disappeared, albeit on secret service advice. He later recovered and gave some fine speeches. But Mr Bush’s hopelessly out-of-touch performance during hurricane Katrina cemented his reputation for incompetence. “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job” – the remark he directed to the hapless head of the federal government’s disaster relief effort – looked like it might be the defining remark of his time in office.
What a putz.
Peer Steinbrück, the German finance minister, wins a special booby prize for premature triumphalism. Suggesting last month that “the crisis originated in the US and is mainly hitting the US” was tempting fate. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has also not covered herself in glory. Appealing for a European response and then announcing unilateral German measures made her look inconsistent – to put it politely. By contrast, Nicolas Sarkozy has done well. “Reassuring” is not a word that generally applies to the hyperactive French president. But Mr Sarkozy has looked energetic and determined.
The Germans, particularly Steinbrück, have come off as selfish. Sarko has acquitted himself very well: he has looked decisive, determined, in control.
If Monday’s market rally really does signal a turning point in the global financial crisis, the world will hail an improbable saviour. Step forward Gordon Brown, Britain’s gloomy prime minister. Until the crisis struck, the conventional wisdom was that Mr Brown was a tragic-comic figure: a man who had desperately wanted to be prime minister, but had proved hopelessly unfitted to the task.
Europeans bourses (stock markets for the bitter, uninformed ones) rallied strongly; the Dow Jones average is up 707 points as of 3.30pm. So, yes, thus far the markets are voting with a sigh of relief and a dash of optimism that the authorities have finally braked the nosedive and righted the ship's course (to mix metaphors).
The emergency European summit in Paris over the weekend saw the 15 members of the European single currency area adopt bank rescue plans that look strikingly like the British initiative. British officials, who have often been told that in a big economic crisis they would be tugged along hopelessly in the wake of the eurozone, are enjoying their moment of vindication.
And the US is about to act as well. It seems that the Brown model might well be the American plan as well.
Crises define politicians. The contrasting fortunes of Mr Brown and President George W. Bush illustrate the point. In normal times, Mr Brown often seems indecisive, gloomy and robotic. In normal times, Mr Bush seems chipper, decisive and a regular guy. But, in a crisis, both men’s manners are transformed – one for the better and one for the worse. Mr Brown suddenly looks calm, determined and in control. Mr Bush has an unfortunate tendency to look panicky and out of his depth.
W looks as if he'd rather be at the ranch. His pronouncements are laughable and irrelevant. When it came to posturing, W was ready; but in crises, he stumbles: witness Katrina, and now the financial panic.
The current financial crisis seems to have actually cheered Mr Brown up. When a mobile phone rang during a speech he was giving late last week, the prime minister made a rare spontaneous joke, speculating about whether this was news of yet another collapsing bank. This kind of joke sounds like the height of bad taste. But somehow it worked. Gallows humour becomes Mr Brown. And besides, his audience had some confidence that he had a handle on the situation.
That's a good one. Brown was Chancellor of the Exchequer. In contrast, W was a governor and part owner of a baseball team, neither of which roles did anything to prepare him for the presidency, clearly.
Mr Bush’s presidency may also be defined by his reaction to crises – but in a bad way. In the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, he disappeared, albeit on secret service advice. He later recovered and gave some fine speeches. But Mr Bush’s hopelessly out-of-touch performance during hurricane Katrina cemented his reputation for incompetence. “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job” – the remark he directed to the hapless head of the federal government’s disaster relief effort – looked like it might be the defining remark of his time in office.
What a putz.
But it now has a close competitor. The president’s reported comment that “this sucker could go down” was the only memorable thing he has said throughout the entire financial crisis. Unfortunately, it made him sound like a Texan on the bridge of the Titanic. Compare and contrast with Roosevelt’s: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
He looks as if he doesn't know what he's doing, and, worse, doesn't much care. Same snide look, same stupid grin. And: what are the preliminary verdicts on the other political actors?Peer Steinbrück, the German finance minister, wins a special booby prize for premature triumphalism. Suggesting last month that “the crisis originated in the US and is mainly hitting the US” was tempting fate. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has also not covered herself in glory. Appealing for a European response and then announcing unilateral German measures made her look inconsistent – to put it politely. By contrast, Nicolas Sarkozy has done well. “Reassuring” is not a word that generally applies to the hyperactive French president. But Mr Sarkozy has looked energetic and determined.
The Germans, particularly Steinbrück, have come off as selfish. Sarko has acquitted himself very well: he has looked decisive, determined, in control.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Is the United States no longer the global beacon of unfettered, free-market capitalism?
The ironies are rich.
In extending a last-minute $85 billion lifeline to American International Group, the troubled insurer, Washington has not only turned away from decades of rhetoric about the virtues of the free market and the dangers of government intervention, but it has also probably undercut future American efforts to promote such policies abroad.
The failures here in the US are huge.
“I fear the government has passed the point of no return,” said Ron Chernow, a leading American financial historian. “We have the irony of a free-market administration doing things that the most liberal Democratic administration would never have been doing in its wildest dreams.”
Bush makes Clinton look conservative, no?
“For opponents of free markets in Europe and elsewhere, this is a wonderful opportunity to invoke the American example,” said Mario Monti, the former antitrust chief at the European Commission. “They will say that even the standard-bearer of the market economy, the United States, negates its fundamental principles in its behavior.”
And they will be right, won't we?
Mr. Monti said that past financial crises in Asia, Russia and Mexico brought government to the fore, “but this is the first time it’s in the heart of capitalism, which is enormously more damaging in terms of the credibility of the market economy.”
Credibility? Any left?
In France, where the government has long supported the creation of “national champions” and worked actively to protect select companies from the threat of foreign takeover, politicians were quick to point out the paradox of what is essentially the nationalization of the largest American insurance company.
Essentially? Why quibble? Call a nationalization by its proper name.
“Today the actions of American policy makers illustrate the need for economic patriotism,” said Bernard Carayon, a lawmaker of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s center-right governing party, UMP. “I congratulate them.”
I can hear the gloating.
For the “evangelists of the market, this is a painful lesson,” he added.
Words well chosen.
In parts of Asia, the bailouts stirred bitter memories of the different approach the United States and the International Monetary Fund adopted during the economic crises there a decade ago. When the I.M.F. pledged $20 billion to help South Korea survive the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, one of the conditions it imposed was that the Korean government allow ailing banks and other companies to collapse rather than bail them out, recalled Yung Chul Park, a professor of economics at Korea University in Seoul, who was deeply involved in the negotiations with the I.M.F.
So why did the US treat itself different?
While Mr. Park says the current crisis is different — it is global rather than limited to one region — “Washington is following a different script this time.” “I understand why they do it,” he added. “But they’ve lost credibility to some extent in pushing for opening up overseas markets to foreign competition and liberalizing economies.”
More lost credibility. Great work, W.
The ramifications of the rescue of A.I.G. will be felt for years within the United States, too. While the company, based in New York, is better known for selling conventional products like insurance policies and annuities overseen by state regulators in the United States, it is also deeply involved in the risky, opaque market for derivatives and other complicated financial instruments that operate largely outside regulation.
Outside regulation, key words.
“It’s pure crisis management,” Mr. Chernow said. “It’s the Treasury and the Federal Reserve lurching from crisis to crisis without a clear statement on how financial failures will be handled in the future. They’re afraid to articulate such a policy. The safety net they are spreading seems to widen every day with no end in sight.”
Improvising economic policy while the President remains silent.
In extending a last-minute $85 billion lifeline to American International Group, the troubled insurer, Washington has not only turned away from decades of rhetoric about the virtues of the free market and the dangers of government intervention, but it has also probably undercut future American efforts to promote such policies abroad.
The failures here in the US are huge.
“I fear the government has passed the point of no return,” said Ron Chernow, a leading American financial historian. “We have the irony of a free-market administration doing things that the most liberal Democratic administration would never have been doing in its wildest dreams.”
Bush makes Clinton look conservative, no?
“For opponents of free markets in Europe and elsewhere, this is a wonderful opportunity to invoke the American example,” said Mario Monti, the former antitrust chief at the European Commission. “They will say that even the standard-bearer of the market economy, the United States, negates its fundamental principles in its behavior.”
And they will be right, won't we?
Mr. Monti said that past financial crises in Asia, Russia and Mexico brought government to the fore, “but this is the first time it’s in the heart of capitalism, which is enormously more damaging in terms of the credibility of the market economy.”
Credibility? Any left?
In France, where the government has long supported the creation of “national champions” and worked actively to protect select companies from the threat of foreign takeover, politicians were quick to point out the paradox of what is essentially the nationalization of the largest American insurance company.
Essentially? Why quibble? Call a nationalization by its proper name.
“Today the actions of American policy makers illustrate the need for economic patriotism,” said Bernard Carayon, a lawmaker of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s center-right governing party, UMP. “I congratulate them.”
I can hear the gloating.
For the “evangelists of the market, this is a painful lesson,” he added.
Words well chosen.
In parts of Asia, the bailouts stirred bitter memories of the different approach the United States and the International Monetary Fund adopted during the economic crises there a decade ago. When the I.M.F. pledged $20 billion to help South Korea survive the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, one of the conditions it imposed was that the Korean government allow ailing banks and other companies to collapse rather than bail them out, recalled Yung Chul Park, a professor of economics at Korea University in Seoul, who was deeply involved in the negotiations with the I.M.F.
So why did the US treat itself different?
While Mr. Park says the current crisis is different — it is global rather than limited to one region — “Washington is following a different script this time.” “I understand why they do it,” he added. “But they’ve lost credibility to some extent in pushing for opening up overseas markets to foreign competition and liberalizing economies.”
More lost credibility. Great work, W.
The ramifications of the rescue of A.I.G. will be felt for years within the United States, too. While the company, based in New York, is better known for selling conventional products like insurance policies and annuities overseen by state regulators in the United States, it is also deeply involved in the risky, opaque market for derivatives and other complicated financial instruments that operate largely outside regulation.
Outside regulation, key words.
“It’s pure crisis management,” Mr. Chernow said. “It’s the Treasury and the Federal Reserve lurching from crisis to crisis without a clear statement on how financial failures will be handled in the future. They’re afraid to articulate such a policy. The safety net they are spreading seems to widen every day with no end in sight.”
Improvising economic policy while the President remains silent.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Turkey Joins Ranks of Tigers
I'd thought of buying a Turkey fund, but pulled back; I think it was TKF -- which is down 24% in the last 7 months.
Turkey works with IMF.
Here is an interesting contrast of viewpoints: first, a secularist.
The opposition, flummoxed by AK Party's economic and electoral successes, has seized on issues like these to try to win back support. Onur Oymen, vice president of the staunchly secular CHP party, dismisses Mr. Simsek and other Westernized officials as window dressing. AK Party's ultimate goal, he believes, is an Islamic theocracy.
"You cannot have a short version of the Quran," he says. "They present themselves as representing modern life. It is just the opposite."
Then an opposite viewpoint:Nonsense, says Cemil Ipekci, an openly gay Turkish fashion designer who wears gold earrings and assortments of flamboyant necklaces and bracelets. "They are not radical Islamists. They are conservative, yes, but not fanatics. Look at me, they socialize with me." He says he and his boyfriend attend state dinners and parties organized by AK Party ministers. The government-owned airline, Turkish Airlines, hired him to re-design its décor.
Cemil Ipekci is foun don the Web, of course; here is one picture of him.
And a second one I found in google images. Not exactly a Muslim fundamentalist.
Thousands of Turks visit Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's mausoleum to protest the government plan to lift a ban on the Islamic headscarf in universities in February.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
A new airplane
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