Blogs 2 : 13th October

Surviving, and thriving, as Super Silvio. Certain Ideas of Europe (en)
" ... The Italians do not love Berlusconi. They are not even especially proud of him, and yet they voted for him -- not out of stupidity, but out of painful experience. When the umbrella of the European Union no longer offers anything to dream about and when the only remedies offered by political parties involve belt-tightening, many voters opt for the candidate who can govern ..."

Lithuanian elections: Chaos and Conservatism. Julien Frisch, Watching Europe (en)

Holodomor - truth and falsehoods. Vitaliy, The 8th Circle (en)

The German shift. Vitaliy, The 8th Circle (en)

" ... George Friedman : 'Of The Germans see their economic commitment as being to the European Union. That binds them to the French, and this is not a bond they can or want to break. But the European Union carries no political or military force in relation to the Russians. Beyond economics, it is a debating society. NATO, as an institution built to resist the Russians, is in an advanced state of decay. To resurrect it, the Germans would have to pay a steep economic price. And if they paid that price, they would be carrying much of the strategic risk' ... "