Germans should not be ashamed for not waging war on Libya

Some days ago we had dinner with German friends. Despite the delicious alsatian wine (Gewürztraminer for those who are interested in oenology), they expressed some sorrow and even felt ashamed: they regarded their country as a nation absolutely unable to defend human rights and slaughtered populations, even in Europe's backyard.

Johnny Cash: a short glance on American society (1)

Some days ago, I expressed my wish to write on Johnny Cash. Firstly because I am a fan, secondly his songs, or the ones he decided to sing usually display in a very short time a very accurate picture of American society.

Today, I will comment 'The one on the right', published on Youtube by somebody named 'Bacobitsperson'.

For those who are not so to say 'fluent', here are the lyrics: 

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/johnnycash/theoneontherightisontheleft.html

Euro Crisis: short comparison between North and South

Such a turmoil surrounds the Euro crisis that day after day we less and less understand whether the latest summit will put an end to the debate, and our concerns!

However, we rarely hear news from the reasons for which our heads of state are so worried. In fact he main problem is that they find themselves in such a pressure that they propose us short term and immediate solutions for a structural downfall of southern Europe, namely Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and, in some extend, France.

The Euro original sin comes in fact from diverging economies confronted with a single currency. On the one side, countries with structural deficits, that they can finance only with a recurse to the public debt. Thanks the Euro, borrowing money is easy and helps the governments avoid to implement painful and politically dangerous reforms, e.g reducing public subsidies to large parts of the population or cease to support outdated industries. In parallel, they simply forgot to implement the necessary measures to develop innovative industry, which is the main money maker of Northern Europe countries.

During the same years, countries like Germany, Finland, Sweden, Austria succeeded in reforming their economic and social systems, while maintaining a high-tech industry, at the price of some unpopular decisions, like German Chancellor, G. Schroeder, did in the mid-2000 when he subsequently lost the parliamentary elections.

Currently the level of debt in South Europe has become so high, that nobody believes that they will be able to pay back: they simply do not own the industrial basis able to generate enough added value, and therefore income, to make the states prepare budgets, which could include both the internal political constraints and the external debt. By internal political constraint I mean: pursue with a large and generous social policy and reimburse the debts.

The current crisis is firstly a crisis of confidence against the policies of some European countries, not a against the Euro by itself.

My only concern, at least for the time being, is that short term solution never solve a long term issue. That means that southern countries will have to address now the changes they have refused for many years... This, will be really painful for the populations!

Johnny Cash and Geopolitics

As a starter, I would like the readers to have a look at Johnny Cash biography, available on Wikipedia, or on his official Website.
From time to time, I will write posts on Geopolitics according to Johnny Cash. You don't believe it?
You will be surprised!

Euro crisis vs European Defence

Euro crisis has been at the top of the agenda for several months. Simultaneously, European Defence vanished and completely failed some years ago. Therefore ESDP was totally absent from the scene when France and the UK decided to wage war against Libya. Is it definitely passed away? I persist saying no, definitely no. Until today no crisis has been severe enough to force our countries to hand over symbols of their sovereignty, as they were still thinking they could play war by themselves. Although the countries taking part to the air campaign against Gaddafi claimed supporting democracy and freedom, I would be that optimistic on the effectiveness of this military operation: 

Back on the Web

Hi, everybody, after a long long era of silence, F. is back on this blog. Reason for my absence were: -a move, with all the consequences on my private life (no detail available), -some reading an writing on Sun Tzu, -many posts on another platform, -some reading and writing on the financial crises, -a new and demanding assignment. Now, I am back, hopefully definitely, I think the content will change: -geopolitics and strategy, -comments on some books related to my favorite topics, -videos of educational songs, and... anything which may educate us, ... and make me have an interested look on the planet I am living on.