Spain: austerity, default or revolt

In the past year, I have been asked what options do Greece, Portugal and Spain have other than following austerity measures under the International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Central Bank (ECB), and EU. The answer depends on what kind of society do citizens want for themselves, and to what degree are they able to prevail [...]

Gaddafi’s arms suppliers & UN-ICC justice

On 23 March 2011, NATO imposed an arms embargo on Libya, as a precursor to the air strikes that unfolded in the weeks to follow. The action was based on UN Resolution 1973, and according to NATO’s web sites it was intended to ‘This is part of NATO’s contribution to the broad international effort to [...]

EU, Germany & Greek debt restructuring

Spiegel Online published an article claiming that according to the German government Greece is considering leaving the Eurozone. The news temporarily shook up world markets, but all parties denied the story was true. Meanwhile, Friday was profitable for bond traders, as many speculators made money ‘shorting’ the euro and currency-and bond-linked investment products. This was [...]

2012: Global Economic Prospects

Presidential election years are usually good for the US economy, and that helps the world economy as well. Obama alone plans to spend one billion dollars, and who knows what the combined sum will be for all politicians throughout the land from local races to contests for senate seats? Invariably, the incumbent follows a liberal [...]

Spain and the EU’s ‘creditor-debtor conflict’

Now that Portugal has joined Greece and Ireland in the group of EU members to undergo IMF-EU austerity measures in order to qualify for bailout money, Spain is the next target. Should Spain not take the lead to form a mini-bloc of EU debtor nations that threaten default unless their demands for substantial debt write [...]