"L'Europe est forte lorsqu'elle s'appuie sur des Etats forts et responsables (...) L'erreur est de croire qu'il faut des Etats faibles pour faire une Europe forte"

" The Europe is strong when it relies on strong and responsible States (...) The mistake would be to believe that we need weak States to create a strong Europe"

Nicolas Sarkozy, the 16th December, Strasbourg, European Parliament, end of the French EU Presidency

Quote : 10th December Rama Yade on the EP 2009

« Je suis très honorée de cette proposition, mais je suis davantage motivée par un mandat national (…). Je veux aller où je suis utile. Je ne veux pas être là juste pour occuper une fonction…».
" I am honored by this proposition, but I am more motivated by a national mandate (...) I want to go where I am useful. I do not want to be there just to hold a sit ..."
Rama Yade on Sarkozy's offer to head the European Election Campaign for the leading French right wing.

Answer from the Elysee after her decision :
«... s’étonne qu’au XXIe siècle, on ne soit pas intéressé par les affaires européennes ».
" ... (The Elysee Palace) is atonished that in the 21st century, one is not insterested by European Affairs."

Quote : 31th October Mc Cain endorsed by his Jailers

This one is quite ironically funny :

His Vietnam jailers for McCain
A bit of a double-edged sword, this one. McCain's bravery as a POW is one of his major selling points. But did he really want his former jailers to come out in support of him? Probably not. It didn't stop them though:
"If I had a vote in the U.S., I would choose McCain," beams retired Col. Tran Trong Duyet, the camp's former commander. "I want him in the White House."
From : They're behind you! Endorsements politicians really didn't want. Daniel Finkelstein, The Times (en)
Photo from The New York Times, 2008

Quote : Mr. Rothschild and Mr. Osborne 23rd October

"... Mr. Rothschild has not explained why he publicly denounced his old drinking companion. But it appears that he was offended by Mr. Osborne’s violation of something known informally as the “house-party rule,” which holds that you do not betray confidences told to you by fellow guests at a friend’s house.
“Perhaps in future it would be better if all involved accepted the age-old adage that private parties are just that,” Mr. Rothschild wrote "

Loose Lips Lead to Trouble for British Tories. Sarah Lyall, The NYT (en)

Quote : 22nd October Sarkozy at the EU Parliament

Picture from Yahoo News, Reuters, 2008

"... I do not want European citizens to wake up a few months from now and discover that European companies belong to non-European capital which has bought at the lowest point of the stock exchange ... I would ask that all of us consider how interesting it would be to set up sovereign funds in each of our countries - and maybe these national sovereign funds could now and again coordinate to give an industrial response to the crisis ..."

Nicolas Sarkozy, 21st October 2008, European Parliament

Quote : 8th October Dmitry Medvedev on the Kremlin Website

" Hello, dear friends,
This is the first time I have used this method of addressing you through my site, and I want to talk about some of the urgent issues facing the world today ... I have said on many occasions now that the old security system has proven itself to be extremely ineffective. Existing agreements no longer reflect the real situation in the world today ... The international politics problems and the crisis of the world financial system require urgent joint action ..."
Dmitry Medvedev spoke about his upcoming address to the World Policy Conference in Evian in his first video address to the site's visitors. 7th October 2008, Moscow

Quote : 6th October, Janey Daley, The Telegraph

"The EU Four warmed themselves cosily with the prospect of preventing countries from "acting unilaterally" to guarantee bank deposits in a way that would hit their neighbours' economies - only for Germany to do exactly the same thing last night."

Where were you when Europe's leaders had their cosy little chat? Janey Daley, The Telegraph (en)

Quote : 30 September John Gray about USA

"... Having created the conditions that produced history's biggest bubble, America's political leaders appear unable to grasp the magnitude of the dangers the country now faces. Mired in their rancorous culture wars and squabbling among themselves, they seem oblivious to the fact that American global leadership is fast ebbing away. A new world is coming into being almost unnoticed, where America is only one of several great powers, facing an uncertain future it can no longer shape."

John Gray, The Observer, Sunday September 28 2008

A shattering moment in America's fall from power

Quote : 29th September (en0

...“The US will lose its status as the superpower of the world financial system. This world will become multi­polar” with the emergence of stronger, better capitalised centres in Asia and Europe,“The world will never be the same again.”
Mr Peer Steinbrück, Federal Finance Minister, German Parliament 2008

Quote : 25th September

"... We've nationalized the financial system ... We're about to quasi-nationalize the Detroit auto companies ... Our Social Security system is going broke ... How long before we have national health care? Put it all together, and the America that emerges is a cartoonish version of the country most despised by red-meat red-state patriots: France. Only with worse food."

How We Became the United States of France. Bill Saporito, The Time (en)

The Time, 2008

Quote : 23th September Global Overshoot Day

"September 23 is Earth Overshoot Day 2008" Global Footprint Network, Sept 2008

Read also :
September 23 is Earth Overshoot Day:The day our demand surpasses nature’s budget
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/

Le jour où l'humanité a épuisé le produit global de la Terre. Gaëlle Dupont, Le Monde (fr)

" ... Il s'agit de quantifier les surfaces biologiquement productives nécessaires pour construire villes et infrastructures, pour fournir les ressources agricoles, aquatiques et forestières que nous consommons et pour absorber les déchets que nous produisons, y compris le CO2 issu de la combustion des énergies fossiles. L'unité de mesure utilisée pour calculer l'empreinte écologique d'un individu, d'une ville, ou d'un pays est l'"hectare global", dont les capacités de production et d'absorption de déchets correspondent à la moyenne mondiale ..."

Quote : 23rd September Angela Merkel

“Time and again it was said: ‘Let the markets be free, we do not need more transparency' But today we are further on: because America and Britain say yes, we need more transparency, we need better standards for the rating agencies.’”

Angela Merkel, Austria, Sept 2008

Merkel vents annoyance over US and UK. Ralph Atkins, FT (en)

" ... Her comments reflected the lingering bitterness felt in Berlin since UK and US opposition stymied German plans for the stronger policing of the hedge fund industry proposed at the Berlin-hosted summit of G7 industrial nations in June, 2007 – just months before the global credit crisis erupted .."

also Read :

The finger-pointing begins. Certain Ideas Of Europe (en)

Britain closing the holes in the rules when the money has already bolted. Jon Worth, Euroblog (en)

Quote : 18th September (en)

"If you don't overborrow or overspend, you're far less vulnerable to whatever problems the financial system may have. And remember one other thing: the four most dangerous words in the world for your financial health are "This time, it's different." It's never different. It's always the same, but with bigger numbers."
Andy Serwer and Allan Sloan.
How Financial Madness Overtook Wall Street. Time.com 2008

Quote : 15th September, Radosław Sikorski

"What is a secure border with the Soviet Union? A secure border with the Soviet Union is one that has Russian soldiers on both sides of the border."

Radosław Sikorski, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCGA), during a speech titled 'NATO’s Past, Present, and Future: A View from Europe'. Sept 2008

Via the 8th Circle, 'How I met Radosław Sikorski' by Vitaliy

Read more on :

Radosław Sikorski on Wikipedia

Quote : 12th September Putin in Sochi

On the Russia-Georgia War :

"What did you expect us to do? To defend ourselves with catapults? If an aggressor comes into your territory you would punch him in the face and be right to do so. Should we have wiped the bloody snot away and bowed our heads?"

Vladimir Putin, 11th September 2008, Sochi

Quote : 9th September Nicolas Sarkozy in Moscow

Reuters 2008

"le 15 octobre, il ne doit pas y avoir un seul soldat russe qui soit sur des positions qui n'étaient pas celles où (les troupes) se trouvaient avant le 7 août. Soit, c'est fait et dans ce cas là, chacun a respecté sa parole. Soit, ce n'est pas fait, et alors cinq jours plus tard, l'Europe en tirera les conséquences."

"The 15th of October, There must not be any Russian soldier anywhere else than on position held before the The 7th of August. Either, it is done and in this case, everyone would have honour his word. Either, it is not done, and then fives days later, the EU will draw self-needed consequences from it." (translation by Gwenael Mourey)

US Special : 3rd september

Obama Will Lose. The Brussels Journal (en)
Article written from Spengler in The Asia Times, 3 September 2008

"... On television, Obama's spectacle might have looked like The Ten Commandments, but inside the stadium it felt like Night of the Living Dead. [...] McCain doesn't have a tenth of Obama's synaptic fire-power, but he is a nasty old sailor who knows when to come about for a broadside. Given Obama's defensive, even wimpy selection of a running-mate, McCain's choice was obvious. He picked the available candidate most like himself: a maverick with impeccable reform credentials, a risk-seeking commercial fisherwoman and huntress married to a marathon snowmobile racer who carries a steelworkers union card. The Democratic order of battle was to tie McCain to the Bush administration and attack McCain by attacking Bush. With Palin on the ticket, McCain has re-emerged as the maverick he really is. ..."

Quote B : 2nd September Sarkozy at the Council of the EU

"...qu’est ce que ça serait si on était un tigre tout court ? Parce qu’un tigre de papier qui obtient, je parle de l’Europe, le cessez-le-feu, le retrait fut-il partiel, le tout en moins d’un mois et qui est aujourd’hui la seule entité capable de discuter pour résoudre le problème de la Géorgie. Est-ce que le problème de la Géorgie se résoudra mieux avec des bateaux envoyés en mer Noire ou par une discussion diplomatique, politique, économique ?"

... How would it be if we were a proper Tiger ? Because a Paper tiger who obtained, I am talking about the Europe, a ceasefire, a withdrawal, even partial, all in less than a month and who is the only one able to discuss to resolve the Georgia issue. Will the Georgia crisis be better handle by sending Boats to the Black Sea or by a diplomatic, political and economical discussion ?"

(Translation by Gwenael Mourey)

"...nous, nous voulons la paix (…) Ne lançons pas la guerre froide comme cela, ne tendons pas les relations, ne montrons pas les biceps. Les démonstrations de force, les rodomontades, les sanctions, les contre-sanctions, pour quel bénéfice ? Et qui en sortira gagnant ? Personne. Si un jour il faut en arriver là, le moment venu, chacun prendra ses responsabilités (…)"

... Us, We want peace (...) We must not start The Cold War so easily, We must not tense our positions, We must not show our biceps. The power displays, the Saber rattlings, the sanctions, the counter sanctions, for what benefits ? And who would be the Winners ? No one. If one day we have to come to the worse, the Day coming, Each of us will face his Duty..."

(Translation by Gwenael Mourey)

Extracts found on: Sarkozy préfère l'Europe par la paix à l'Europe par l'épée. Jean Quatremer, 1st September

Quote A : 2nd September The Council of the European Union

"...Recent events illustrate the need for Europe to intensify its efforts with regard to the security of energy supplies. The European Council invites the Council, in cooperation with the Commission, to examine initiatives to be taken to this end, in particular as regards diversification of energy sources and supply routes."

The Council of the European Union Communique. 1st September 2008

Quote of the Day : Julien Frisch

Wednesday, 27 August 2008 The European Dream

"For me, the European Dream is the dream of unity in diversity, of unlikely cooperation between unlikely partners. It is the dream of meeting people who seem different in first place but are so similar at a second glance. It is the dream of realising that shared problems can only be solved together. It is the dream that the implicit virtual construction of "nations" as divisive features of our times is replaced by a more explicit construction of larger union that is inclusive instead of exclusive"
Julienn Frisch 2008