Yesterday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a vague threat against U.N. members that try to enforce the June 9 U.N. Security Council resolution that authorized inspections on Iranian ships and aircraft suspected of carrying prohibited materials for Iran’s nuclear or ballistic missile programs: “You should know whoever takes a decision against the Iranian nation, such as the so-called inspection of the Iranian ships or so-and-so toward its aircraft, will immediately receive Iran’s reaction,” he warned in a speech broadcast live on radio. Ahmadinejad’s warning is part of a heavy-handed Iranian …
The Washington Post reported today that the International Monetary Fund and various world governments warned U.S. officials years ago that “escalating financial problems” in the United States “had to be addressed quickly to forestall a larger threat to the world economy, but those urgings were discounted.” The Post went on to observe that by the time U.S. officials finally responded, “the price tag for stemming the financial contagion had soared.’ Truth to tell, the Post story was not about the U.S., but about Europe’s debt crisis beginning with Greece. But …
Following the passage of the latest round of mild sanctions on Iran, the Obama administration is now seeking to weaken the sanctions passing through Congress. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Rep Howard Berman (D-CA) last Friday seeking to increase the administration’s “flexibility” by granting waivers to EU nations. While the US must work with the EU to ensure that it passes its own set of sanctions on Iran, Washington can no longer afford to make exemptions or “cut outs” on an issue of …
In the latest issue of The Economist, a correspondent – Dewi Williams, a senior lecturer in European law at Staffordshire University – writes in to complain about the unfairness of the British dislike of the European Union. Williams argues that the reason why the EU is unpopular in Britain is because the EU hasn’t done enough to promote itself, and the benefits of EU membership. It’s important to point out, first, that Williams is calling for the use of British money to fund EU propaganda aimed at the British themselves. …
The US Government looked on in shock this week when Turkey defied its traditional allies including the United States and Israel, and voted against UN sanctions for Iran. Ankara had already tried to stall a fourth round of sanctions by negotiating a flawed nuclear deal with the atomic ayatollahs. U.S. defense secretary Robert Gates has said that Turkey’s strategic drift away from the West is due, in part, to the European Union’s reluctance to accept them into the alliance. Turkey has been a key NATO ally since the ‘50s, and …
There’s nothing funny about the state of America’s finances, or those in even more dire straights in Europe. Greece has lined up a bailout from other European countries and the International Monetary Fund. The European Union has announced a trillion dollar defense fund to ward off attacks on the Euro that are sure to come as other countries like Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Ireland come under the debt markets merciless microscope. And all that is holding the ball of wax together is faith that the Germans will be willing and …
Earlier this month while in Brussels, Vice President Joe Biden told the European Parliament that while “some American politicians and American journalists refer to Washington, DC as the ‘capital of the free world’ … it seems to me that this great city, which boasts 1,000 years of history and which serves as the capital of Belgium, the home of the European Union, and the headquarters for NATO, this city has its own legitimate claim to that title.” How revealing. The European Union is a profoundly anti-democratic institution, created and forced …
An interesting, if alarming Op-Ed in the Washington Times by Ernest Christian and Gary Robbins this week, outlines what is likely to happen due to Washington’s Devil-may-care spending habits. The authors point out that according to the Obama administration’s planned budget, the gross national debt will reach 123% of GDP by 2020. Greece’s Debt to GDP ratio stands at 133% this year however there is no conglomerate of comparable size to the U.S. as The European Union is to Greece so no rescue of America will be imminent. Christian and …
The tragic events unfolding in Greece, where at least three people have died in political rioting protesting austerity measures being imposed as part of an EU and IMF financial bailout, is a vivid reminder of the danger when the line between government and commerce is blurred or destroyed. In a free market economy, individual firms rise and fall, individual banks succeed or fail, and individual employees prosper or struggle, depending on their own effort and ingenuity. Individual failure, while painful, is not a threat to society, and a well functioning …
The proposed €110 billion ($140 billion) Greek rescue package announced on Sunday may well not survive the week. Watching public sector workers storming the Acropolis in protest at proposed government spending cuts and tax increases, raises the question of whether the Greek Government itself can survive. Eurozone countries have agreed to provide €80 billion in emergency loans over the next three years for Greece, with the rest coming from the IMF. In exchange for avoiding bankruptcy (at least for the next couple of months), Greece has agreed to pass a …
