News Stories

[sneaker]

Originally Posted by Malkuth

When Germany needed to rebuild after WWII, all other European countries helped a lot more, learning from their destructive policies in mid-war and driving it to fascism. Now that the roles have finally turned around and Germany has the financial power to contribute, it would be long term to Germany's benefit to help instead of hinder.

You mean when Germany had taken a fourth of their land from them, Austria being cut off yet again, had their industry dismantled, patents and even scientists stolen and was divided by a wall? France trying to not only get Alsace-Lorraine but also the current Saarland, France and England opposing German reunification, EU where Germany transfered money to France?
Sure, that all helped a lot. Thank you very much.

Originally Posted by Malkuth

Well, 25 years in Greece, 6 in Germany, almost 1 in England and many trips to France, Sweden, Netherlands and Italy have set my opinion.

Yes, the Scandinavians and Holland are great in terms of learning other Germanic languages, but the rest? Greece better than Germany? Very doubtful. But OK, there may be a trend towards smaller nations.

[Malkuth]

@Ahn_Mihn: But it did back in the Asian economical crisis in early '90s, but with different policies.

Originally Posted by sneaker

You mean when Germany had taken a fourth of their land from them, Austria being cut off yet again, had their industry dismantled, patents and even scientists stolen and was divided by a wall? France trying to not only get Alsace-Lorraine but also the current Saarland, France and England opposing German reunification, EU where Germany transfered money to France?
Sure, that all helped a lot. Thank you very much.

All true, but I was referring to the '50s after the union when loans and war reparations were written off by european countries, in addition to economic aid from USA. And you forgot what happened in Eastern Germany when the red army entered, as well as how American officials equated the German population with Nazi officials. As for Austria, the few Austrians I know, do not share your point of view about the pre-war "union".

Originally Posted by sneaker

Yes, the Scandinavians and Holland are great in terms of learning other Germanic languages, but the rest? Greece better than Germany? Very doubtful. But OK, there may be a trend towards smaller nations.

A trend? Have you been to Slovakia, Bulgaria, Greece, etc? Even for vacation?

[sneaker]

Originally Posted by Malkuth

It's not fair for the German tax-payers... I agree, but it's also not fair for all F-PIIGS + Cyprus that have to do the same and disproportionally to Germans... and finally politicians begin to realize that the austerity imposed is magnifying the original problem.

How are they paying disproportionally to Germany? Less maybe, but in return more power in the parliament, if you think that's fair.
And counting the PIIGS as payers is ridiculous, as they are or soon will be (Italy) on the receiving end of that money.

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by Malkuth

And that's the reason why in large countries people have so many issues since they never get the chance to use the skills they earn.

The language issue is simple to understand: smaller periphery country people tend to be forced to use foreign languages more than people in the big economic centres of the union. The reason for that is simple: the big economic groups are based on the big countries and not the small ones so people around here will inevitably have to deal with foreigners who, understandably, are in a situation of economic power over us and as such we are the ones who have to use their language and not the other way around. Add up the strong push for tourism in the southern countries and you get an even better reason for us to be at least decent at foreign languages (at least at English).

Nowadays not knowing English is truly akin to being illiterate.

So no, I don't think language is the problem as much as the vested interests of large economic groups like banks and the political class that's holding down the doubling down of the European Union. That and people who buy the crap the media spews out about how Germany and France/the PIIGS are sucking them dry of their hard earned euros.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by sneaker

How are they paying disproportionally to Germany? Less maybe, but in return more power in the parliament, if you think that's fair.
And counting the PIIGS as payers is ridiculous, as they are or soon will be (Italy) on the receiving end of that money.

Their banks will.

As for the people in general, the most one could say is that they got the money in the form of easier loans or economic growth before the crisis even started. (It's just that we're paying for it now.)

[Ithekro]

I recall the Award winning Bosnian film No Man's Land set during the Bosnian War were a UN Peacekeeping Force, lead by a Frenchmen, goes around to each stop and asks if they speak French. The answer is almost always "no", followed by "Do you speak English" which gets a "yes"....even if they person really can't speak English, such as I believe it was a group of Serbs that just kept nodding and saying "yes".

In other news:

Rodney King, motorist whose beating by Los Angeles police officers sparked deadly US race riots, dead at 47

No word on foul play...it seems like he just drowned in his pool.

[Vexx]

I... just think its refreshing to have "News Stories" posts focusing on matters outside the US (you know.. the whole planet out there).

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by Vexx

I... just think its refreshing to have "News Stories" posts focusing on matters outside the US (you know.. the whole planet out there).

Want a glimpse of the mess than is the canadian gouvernment now ?

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

Want a glimpse of the mess than is the canadian gouvernment now ?

I keep waiting for ya'll to vote out the idiot you currently are dealing with..

[Sumeragi]

Originally Posted by Vexx

I keep waiting for ya'll to vote out the idiot you currently are dealing with..

Harper is better than the alternatives.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

Harper is better than the alternatives.

So North American politics of the 21st Century will be the "Age of Wishing We Could Get Back to Mediocre" ... bleh.

[Ithekro]

Almost sounds like a song on either the Muppet Show or Sesame Street.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Vexx

So North American politics of the 21st Century will be the "Age of Wishing We Could Get Back to Mediocre" ... bleh.

Why, have they been talking to Hollande's campaign team? It's practically his motto. The "normal president".

[0utf0xZer0]

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

Harper is better than the alternatives.

I'd dispute that and say the big issues is that his opponents can't decide which of the two alternative they like better - though I will admit that the opposition parties haven't exactly been inspiring recently either.

[Kokukirin]

The split in opposition is a major reason in Conservatives' recent success in Canada, but that's only half the story. Equally as important is Harper's cautious approach in pushing his agenda. He makes policies and laws that annoy many, but not serious enough for most voters to turn their back to him. When there is strong opposition, he readily backs off and waits for a better time. He just never makes a big mistake that can cost him an election. At the same time he appears to be a dependable PM, and the relatively strong (compared to US and Europe) economy during the crisis backs up his image. Few people I know actually like Harper, but few think that Harper will mess up the country. No opposition leader even comes close in terms of the appearance of dependability. In troubled times this is really all that Harper needs to win.

[0utf0xZer0]

Nice bit of analysis there.

Originally Posted by Kokukirin

The split in opposition is a major reason in Conservatives' recent success in Canada, but that's only half the story. Equally as important is Harper's cautious approach in pushing his agenda. He makes policies and laws that annoy many, but not serious enough for most voters to turn their back to him. When there is strong opposition, he readily backs off and waits for a better time. He just never makes a big mistake that can cost him an election.

I'll give him credit... he did learn from what was always relegating his Canadian Alliance predecessors. Those running the Wildrose campaign in Alberta... not so much.

At the same time he appears to be a dependable PM, and the relatively strong (compared to US and Europe) economy during the crisis backs up his image. Few people I know actually like Harper, but few think that Harper will mess up the country. No opposition leader even comes close in terms of the appearance of dependability. In troubled times this is really all that Harper needs to win.

I didn't get the impression most Canadians saw much difference between Harper and Ignatieff on economic policy - let's be honest, most of Harper's success on that front comes from not screwing around too much with the policies set by the previous Liberal governments, I might go so far as to say the deviations from it he's made were mistakes - but gave Harper the edge on delivering what he promised because there was no possible way that Ignatieff would be able to form a strong minority government, let along a majority. And Rae... well, LOL. NDP of course has never really been associated with dependable economics because they're the progressive counterculture guys.

I don't know, the whole situation is insanely frustrating for guys like me who consider progressive politics part of my identity as a Canadians (not uncommon in this country). I want my strong LPC back, damn it!

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by 0utf0xZer0

I don't know, the whole situation is insanely frustrating for guys like me who consider progressive politics part of my identity as a Canadians (not uncommon in this country). I want my strong LPC back, damn it!

And so do I, but to have a strong LPC you need a good LPC leader. For now they have some qandidate but nothing much. Maybe they should try to convince Jean Chrétien to come back until they get a good leader .

[MrTerrorist]

US's IBM supercomputer overtakes Japan's Fujitsu as world's fastest

IBM strikes again.

[SeijiSensei]

While Americans were celebrating Father's Day and watching Webb Simpson win the US Open, there were a few potentially tumultuous events transpiring in other parts of the world:

Muslim Brotherhood Wins Egyptian Presidential Election; Military Coup in Offing
Not too surprising to see a counter-revolution in the works. I just hope the Obama Administration has the guts to withdraw our military assistance from the Egyptian army and impose sanctions on the generals through frozen accounts and travel bans. Everyone likes democracy until the people you don't like win the elections.

New Democracy Wins Plurality in Greek Elections
The new "anti-austerity" Syriza came in not far behind but unsurprisingly won't join a coalition with ND. Looks like a coalition of the two mainstream parties, New Democracy and PASOK, will govern for a while. Despite the hoopla in the media about how this election will determine the future of Greece, its membership in the Eurozone, or the future of the Euro itself, it's hard to see how anything has really changed. A left-leaning coalition of PASOK and Syriza isn't in the cards, as those two do not command a legislative majority.

French Elect Socialist Majority to Parliament
They've given Hollande the majority he needed to avoid a period of "cohabitation" with the Gaullist UMP. The National Front won just two seats, though Marine Le Pen herself lost her bid for a seat by just 100 votes or so. Whether the Socialists can actually embark on a substantially different set of economic policies than Sarkozy did remains to be seen.

[Zakoo]

I believe Syriza changed its opinion like ... 30 minutes after saying no and will join the coalition.

As for egypt well ... The doubt I had on the military never ceased and won't cease, once you tasted of power, you cling to it.