This is a thread to talk about anything political, the title is a joke

I'll start with the Nato Summit in my country
What do you think of this improvement of cooperation between russia and NATO

Also

ttp://www.nemesisnwo.blogspot.com/

I like this guy even trough he's a bit i think dramatic, he addresses serious points quite effectively

There's also this forum to talk about EU politics i would be thankful if anybody would go in there
http://forum.yoursay.eu/

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Good idea, it will cut down on the amount of threads we need to start, and also free up the Hulk smash thread from the political and religious talk that alot of posters are either sick of or uncomfortable with. I think we should sticky this on a temporary basis and see how it works.

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I used to say "sex, drugs, and rock and roll." As long as there's sex and drugs, I can do without rock and roll.

Ireland is bankrupt and asking for a bailout.

They say Portugal is next.

Who is doing the bailing out? Are any of the EU nations really solvent enough to absorb this?

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You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake.

... your knowledge of the European countries is very very low, Ireland is not bankrupt in fact it has much money, the problem is that they have to sell t banks that failed and that incurs debt, and when paying their old debts the markets are asking for irrational interest rates, if it weren't for those stupidly high interest rates based on irrational fears Ireland would not need any type of bailout.

Portugal is next because the markets are irrationally afraid and the rating agencies want to get richer

In fact we have a 750 billion euros (1 trillion dollars) ready to pay any eurozone country that needs a bailout, with a extra 110 billion euros for greece

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...055571/1/.html

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That's sort of why I was asking... I'm well aware that I don't have intimate knowledge of EU politics, and I figured this community would have educated viewpoints on the matter.

How is it interest rates are so bad there? Interest rates here in the US are absurdly low - in fact, I think the Fed is actually trying to get them to move up a bit.

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You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake.

I think that's because we actually have the federal reserve to tell us that they're low. I'm not sure what the equivalent body would be in the EU markets or if their function would even cover the same responsibility.

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Some of our interest rates have risen to 10%, it's ridiculous high

We have the ECB (European Central Bank) which is responsible for the Euro and stopping inflation

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To answer your original question, Bolvar, it seems like Germany and France are basically propping up the Euro and being used by other (mostly eastern and southern European) states to absorb the fallout of the global recession and prop up the Euro.

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It's not just germany and france everyone is paying for the Euro, even Portugal is going to give 2 billion to ireland and is supposedly next in line for a bailout

Probably the double posting.

Important

It is amazing Hitchens is even doing this considering he is in the final stages of a almost certainly terminal cancer. I would love to watch clips of this after it goes down.

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I used to say "sex, drugs, and rock and roll." As long as there's sex and drugs, I can do without rock and roll.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11843586

He's even denying religion on it's deathbed

EDIT: wikileaks is going to release a huge amount of leaks on US diplomacy x7 times more data than the war diaries, the US is already apologising in advance

Delicious!

I'm enjoying all this news down in the general forum.

Anyone here read the Economist?

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There is no creature on earth half so terrifying as a truly just man.

No what does it say?

The Economist is just a news magazine about the economy and politics. It is very well written.


-

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1p81s1...NewsLinks.html

Why Europeans Think We're Insane
"It wasn't until I left America that I started to realize how badly the American plutocrat owned media lies to the American people through its disinformation campaign."

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There is no creature on earth half so terrifying as a truly just man.

I suspected as much.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4dd95e42-f...#axzz16uN3Nm3h

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You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake.

Who cares about private banks?
You should have mentioned Ireland getting a bail-out or something.

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There is no creature on earth half so terrifying as a truly just man.

Honestly, are private banks so disconnected from world governments?

I'm really not making a commentary with that link, just sharing something interesting I found.

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You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake.

Actually, they are, but only in the sense that most international corporations (banks and etc.) are probably more powerful than any single government with the sole exception of China where they take over any corporations that have the potential to destroy them.

Also, in regards to Hitchens, I actually had the chance to see him speak at my University several months ago. Fucking fantastic, and he tore any and all individuals up who were stupid enough to try and pull old propagandist arguments up. Giant asshole, but damn does that man know how to speak/reason.

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Rationalizing the irrational since 2005.

I think the benefits that the banking industry has enjoyed from all these billions of dollars in taxpayer "bailouts" (that have provided no relief to the actual taxpayers) are a clear indication that the banking industry is quite inseparable from the government at this point.

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You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake.

We in the EU payed a total of 4.5 trillion to save the banks

Well, I suppose there's some comfort in the knowledge that this isn't an exclusively American problem.

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You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake.

Well america infected us with it's problems, no wonder it's not a exclusively american problem

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