Update : 17th February

During my absence on the European Web front, I focused my time on my research proposal for my application for a PhD that should be starting in September 2009 if it is successful.
I am particularly interested in the European integration process, the future of Nationalism and the emergence of a European political identity among the EU citizens. Thus, my thesis proposal roots from the idea that the current financial crisis seems to have some impacts on the support of the European integration in countries such as Iceland, Ireland and Denmark. Its main model will have to do with the impact of external armed conflicts and economics crises on levels of national and European identities of citizens, both at the individual level and at the aggregate level. It will, therefore, advance the current understanding by examining the link between external shocks, its consequences on political identities formation and the support of public opinion for the European Union political integration. My major preoccupation, in undertaking this piece of research, is to establish whether crises have "integrative or disintegrative consequences" (Inglehart 1970) for Europe and its current process of integration.

Now with this projet well advanced, I will have more time to restart my Blog on European news. I would like to thank all the regular reader of this blog and to apologize for the 2 months break from the Web.

23rd October : German reaction to Sarkozy's Bomb Speech

After Sarkozy speech in the European Parliament, I found an article from the Spiegel summarazing the German reactions via :

Nein, Danke from Open Europe Blog (en)

" ...Sarko has been busy cooking up a new plan to keep himself in the EU hotseat past December ... According to Le Monde (here on European Avenue) he neglected to consult Angela Merkel about the idea before announcing it in the European Parliament ... "

Sarkozy Speech Bombs in Germany. Spiegel (en)

" ... On the morning after, however, as the first reviews come in, it's clear that the response to Sarkozy's attention-grabbing performance has not exactly been what he'd hoped for.
Nowhere more so than in Germany, where politicians, experts, and editorial boards have joined to issue a blistering critique of not only the French president's proposals, but also of his motives and theatrics. ...

... (From the Süddeutsche Zeitung ) "What Sarkozy is now proposing for Europe is the same thing he did a couple years ago to the French company Alstom when he was still Interior Minister. He saved the firm and Siemens from bankruptcy through a partial nationalization. Today Alstom is a model enterprise -- thanks to Sarkozy. This, at any rate, is the way that the president relentlessly presents it ... With the Alstom episode, Sarkozy already demonstrated an important characteristic: he is a crisis politician.... Europeans will have to endure this until the end of December. After that, the EU president emeritus will fall into a terrible funk if he doesn't manage to find another playground." ....

EU Presidency and Thomas Moore Institue : Weekend 17th Oct Scoring 11.5/20

Thomas More Institute for European studies. (en , fr)
The independent Brussels-based think-tank has argued the French presidency of the EU deserves a mark of 11.5 out of 20 for its mid-term performance

information found via EUObserver, Elitsa Vucheva, Barroso and Sarkozy plead for permanent EU presidency.

Cartoon : 15th October USA Following European Lead

What is happening to the World Superpower ???
The USA lost the hand. In this crisis, every decisions made by its economic agents feel like an undercooked cake. Once outside the oven, it just falls ...
Ironically, the 27 Countries of Europe, after two weeks of unsettling anarchy and waiting for some US leadership, made a rescue plan in a weekend and let the money flows in 3 days.
For a so called 'bureaucratic and unefficient' political system, it is an achievement that if it will certainly not 'save the world' shows there is still hope in this world moving east.
GM.

The Times (UK) 2008

Comment on Financial Turmoil : 8th October Dr David Hill

The government's rescue of the banks may stabilise the global financial crisis temporarily, but where the far bigger problem of economic stagnation and decline lies firmly upon the horizon now. The reason, with the US's total debt when all is taken into account at the end of 2007 was $51.1 trillion (projected to increase to around $53 trillion by the end of this year), sheer interest payments estimated at over $2 trillion a year, estimated toxic debts of financial institutions of over $4.1 trillion and total global debt exceeding $100 trillion (approx. 2-years of total global GDP output), no amount of capital injection will save the global economic system from eventual collapse as it is being pursued today. I give it no more than 18 months to fail.

The only situation that could bring global stability to the economic system is the influence of China and its direct intervention. Unfortunately pride by Western politicians will not allow this to happen, but where eventually they may have no other option but to take this decision to save the world economy from decades of economic stagnation. That is what we risk now with uncoordinated political indecisiveness in the West. These are plain truths and no more.

Dr David Hill

World Innovation Foundation Charity (WIFC)

Bern, Switzerland

Video : 8th October Repliee R-1

A life-like robot created to look like a five-year-old girl has been unveiled by scientists in Japan. Matrix, AI, I Robot, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica etc etc ... do not look so far away from the real world.

The future Generations will certainly have a robot like this one in their house. Should we be scare about it or should we welcome this Technological evolution ?

Also read : Robot that looks like young girl unveiled. Matthew Moore, The Telegraph (en)

Video : 2nd October Lieutenant Vitaly Efremov Sent to SIBERIA because of this Video

I found the Video through the Times (UK). It seems that criticising the life conditions in the barracks is still a crime of Lese-Majeste in New Russia, even if it is done with humour.
Ironically for the Lieutenant Vitaly Efremov, he will have the opportunity to compare the Military Life condition between Saint Petersburg and the Deep Siberia.
I can't stop thinking that the Kremlin's authorities still have some humour too. A different kind of humour than the young Lieutenant, but still one.

Soldier posted to Siberia for online whinge . Roger Boyes, The Times (en)

" ... The lieutenant modelled his video on Stan by Eminem, in which the rapper sends a letter to a frustrated fan. The Russian letter is to Anatoly Serdyakov, the Defence Minister, and is set against a backdrop of military decay: a crowded barrack room with peeling wallpaper, a scabrous bathroom, erratic shower water and broken equipment ..."

Cartoon, Comic : 23rd September Subprime Crisis for Dummy

Here is a very interesting Comic explaining our world financial crisis. It is not politically correct, but it shows that some people should give back their last YEARS Bonuses, pay fines and eventually go to Jail ... for irresponsible and concious acts.
Here in english :
Comic : Subprime for Dummies
Here in French :
Crise : la petite BD qui court de banque en banque sur Rue 89.

Here is an extract from a post on a blog, dated from the 23rd February 2008, already 9 months ago and very wise :
" ... Live and learn! For those who touted this as a loss, I say: “How can you lose something that was never there?”. $80 million subprime mortgages has never been worth $500 mils (Oops sorry, not mils, but Bills - billions). So in a way, we’re waking up to the reality, where as before we were dreaming ..."
Subprime woes explained, in comic form. Hilarious! Sharing is Living (en)

Cartoon and Comment : 17th September

Gianelli, Il Sole-24 Ore, 2008
Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi, a magician, promised to the public opinion during his Campaign, that him, prime minister, Alitalia will never being bail out by some crazy Foreign Aircarrier. He would eventually found "a National solution" for the Flag company, of course.

However, yesterday afternoon, this Dear prime minister made a visit to his very good Friend Sarkozy and declared that he would see No problem that either AirFrance-KLM or either Lufthansa get involved in Alitalia Business.

Ironic, pathetic and sad for Italy ... the magician does not have much magic and it does not sound good for Italian Economy in this crazy time ....

Comment : 15th September

Le néo-impérialisme russe plane sur l’Europe. Andrius Kubilius, Chairman of the EU Affairs Committee at the Seimas (Lithuanian Parliament) , Marko Mihkelson Chairman of the EU Affairs Committee at the Riigikogu (Estonian Parliament) and Vaira Paegle Chairman of the EU Affairs Committee at the Saeima (Latvian Parliament), Liberation (fr)

"C’est à la suite de l’invasion combinée soviéto-nazie de la Pologne, en octobre 1939, que Winston Churchill fit cette saillie décrivant la Russie, depuis restée dans les annales : «Une devinette enveloppée dans un mystère à l’intérieur d’une énigme.» ...

... Dans le contexte de l’histoire troublée de l’Europe, le système institutionnel européen moderne est une réussite extraordinaire. Après des siècles d’autocratie, de rivalité et de guerres, nous avons uni la majeure partie de notre continent dans la paix, la prospérité et la démocratie ...
.... La Lituanie subit un embargo pétrolier depuis deux ans parce qu’elle refuse de vendre sa raffinerie de pétrole Mazeikiu Nafta à une entreprise russe. L’Estonie a fait l’expérience d’une campagne concertée de cyberterrorisme après avoir décidé de déplacer un mémorial de guerre soviétique. La Pologne est menacée par des armes nucléaires pour avoir coopéré au projet de défense antimissile américain. Même le Royaume-Uni voit ses investissements énergétiques et ses projets culturels passer dans la ligne de mire sous prétexte qu’il est l’hôte d’une nouvelle génération de dissidents russes - l’un d’entre eux ayant été tué sur le sol britannique ....
... Cette logique de comportements a pour objectif ultime de désorganiser et de subordonner le système européen lui-même. Les responsables russes sont assez intelligents pour savoir qu’ils ne peuvent construire leur nouvelle sphère d’influence par consentement. Aussi longtemps que l’Union européenne et l’Otan continueront d’attirer les pays frontaliers de la Russie avec la promesse de prospérité, de sécurité et de démocratie, le Kremlin verra son emprise impériale menacée. Il cherche par conséquent à diviser l’Europe en créant des relations de dépendance et de domination - utilisant les approvisionnements énergétiques comme principales armes - de façon à asseoir lui-même sa prééminence ... "

Here a Summary of the Article in German ;
Moskau greift nach Europa
Here is the Article in Russian :
Российский неоимпериализм реет над Европой ("Liberation", Франция)

Comment : From French to English to Russian, A mess that could have been avoided

Georgia peace deal lost in translation. Peter Allen, The Telegraph
"...Bernard Kouchner told a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the weekend that the ceasefire agreement was written in French before being translated into English and then Russian. Asked what problems surrounded the buffer zones, Mr Kouchner replied: "The translation, as always....

...One reason for the continuation of the conflict now appears to be a passage in the Russian translation of the agreement that speaks of security "for" South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The English version speaks of security "in" the two areas....

...The farce is a huge blow to the French belief that theirs is a lingua franca, spoken and understood the world over. In fact French has long been replaced by English as the language of diplomacy, and is becoming increasingly irrelevant to the international community...."

Finally, the French establishment might be starting to understand what the ALL French people has already integrated in their way of life :

"...Last week French education minister Xavier Darcos admitted that "the secret of success" for French youngsters nowadays was to speak English..."

Also read :

Georgie : la version française du plan "fait foi". NouvelObs.com (fr)

Comment : Marianne Mikko and Blogging and Identity and Liberty and Reason

Reaction from an article from Open Europe Blog : More on Mikko by Open Europe Blog Team.

"... We do not need to know the exact identity of bloggers. We need some credentials, a quality mark, a certain disclosure of who is writing and why. We need this to be able to trust and rely on the source (...) It is clear that a Harvard professor of international relations is likely to treat, for instance, the Middle East peace process or European integration in an educated and balanced manner. The same trust cannot be put in a radical high school student from Gaza or a Eurosceptic who has never been out of his village..."

My reactive comment will be short. I will send back Marianne Mikko to her own name. She should be cautious with such a name.

Here is the link to Wikipedia/Marianne where it is said that :"Marianne, a national emblem of the French Republic, is, by extension, a personification of Liberty and Reason. She represents France, as a State, and its values (...)"

The only advice I will give her is first to leave to people the Liberty of speech and blogging. Second, I will strongly advice her to use her Reason when she read any information, to not always believe in 'trusted' sources, to not always despise 'untrusted' sources and eventually to always use her brain and knowledge to make her own mind and judgement.

Gwenael Mourey.

Special : Small "Grandes Vacances"

I would like to tell everyone who has been reading regularly this blog the last past weeks that I am taking a break from the Blogosphere. I apologize in advance for not being able to to update the site for the next 14 Days.

I will not have an easy access to internet for the next 2 weeks and I finally decided that I need some time off to refresh my mind and body.

As I am alone to maintain this website, there will be very few updates. But I promise to come back with a refreshed spirit and to make a best of what I will have been reading during my Vacances.

Comment : Mercer's 2008 Cost of Living survey highlights

Here is the list with the EU Cities in the Top50 Most Expensive Cities in the World. In several review, It looks like being 'expensive' is an achievement. I am really sure if being the most most expencive city is a title we can be proud of, especially in this economical environment. There are 25 EU cities in the Top50 and 7 more European cities from countries outside of the EU.
1 Moscow Russia
3 London UK
7 Copenhagen Denmark
10 Milan Italy
12 Paris France
16 Dublin Ireland
16 Rome Italy
19 Vienna Austria
21 Helsinki Finland
22 New York City US
25 Amsterdam Netherlands
25 Athens Greece
28 Madrid Spain
29 Prague Czech Rep.
31 Barcelona Spain
31 Stockholm Sweden
35 Warsaw Poland
37 Munich Germany
38 Berlin Germany
39 Brussels Belgium
40 Frankfurt Germany
43 Luxembourg Luxembourg
45 Bratislava Slovakia
46 Düsseldorf Germany
46 Riga Latvia
49 Zagreb Croatia
50 Hamburg Germany
For more information about the survey:
Mercer's 2008 Cost of Living survey highlights. Mercer (en)
Enquête internationale Mercer 2008 sur le coût de la vie. Mercer (fr)
Paris, 2e ville la plus chère de la zone euro. Soren Seelow, Le Monde (fr)

Comment : Ariane, The EU and its Future

Frederic d'Allest, former president of the French Aereospace Agency (CNES) and former Chairman of Arianepsace wrote a vibrant article on the Future of the leading commercial space rocket and the current lack of vision of European leaders. He argues that without stronger and quick actions and decisions, Europe will loose a strategic advantage in our world. He finally suggest that France, as the precursor of the European Space program should make an initiative during its EU presidency.
La fusée Ariane menacée de disparition, par Frédéric d'Allest. Le Monde (fr)

28th July : Economics Does Not Lie. Guy Sorman, The City Journal (en)

24th July : Why did France fall in love with McDonald's? Andrew Shanahan, The Guardian (en)

19th July : The Olympic Games, the Chinese Height. Alexandre Adler, Le figaro (fr)

Comment AB : The Economist's Big Mac Index 2008

The Economist, 24th July 2008

It will be a surprise for No one : European Currencies are overvalued compared to the Dollar. However, an American can still put on weight (if he can) in Asia, where the big Mac is much cheaper.
The Big Mac Index on The Economist.com

Comment AA : Map of the Balkans

The Independent 2008

Comment Y : An American Break from Europe

America, Too Big to Fail... Probably. Nicole Gelinas, City Journal (en) ***

Quote of The Day : Bronislaw Geremek

"After creating Europe, we must now create Europeans."

Bronislaw Geremek (2004)

This remarkable Central European intellectual, Member of the European Parliament, died in a car accident the 13th July 2008.

Bronislaw Geremek: Polish historian and politician. The Independent (en)

Bronislaw Geremek on Wikipedia

Obituary: Bronislaw Geremek. Stefan Wagstyl, The FT (en)

Bronislaw Geremek, Who Helped End Communist Control of Poland, Is Dead at 76. Nicolas Kulish, The NYT (en)