News for today's 2018: 04/13/13

Babe fo the Week: Sarah Silverman

9:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">IWS is proud to announce that our Babe of the Week is Sarah Silverman! Sarah is a comedian, cultural critic, actress, Jewish Princess and all-around sexy, sarcastic babe! She is definitely one of the IWS Nation's favorite people ever.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgx3SSUWP80gauLqvig56SLJg6uo6xZQRrxvQmE1f2eUue7ICUPioo7V9i5mxcC51OTvPPBoLSYAkuvUAwe6tLXJ9L3N_NA_jx9atpD_m6EKvUYIJLVrIAGWTyKlXSSHsk6REmMW2qw0M/s1600/Sarah-Silverman-Pretty-Legs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgx3SSUWP80gauLqvig56SLJg6uo6xZQRrxvQmE1f2eUue7ICUPioo7V9i5mxcC51OTvPPBoLSYAkuvUAwe6tLXJ9L3N_NA_jx9atpD_m6EKvUYIJLVrIAGWTyKlXSSHsk6REmMW2qw0M/s320/Sarah-Silverman-Pretty-Legs.jpg" width="191" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVbTbgPXMrbyfRxa3YNTrHut1AG0JaWhpVeHzzLnwO18pw-CnF_mEy4enNVYm8ASghsX8T-Oza4PLYVXbux86AgQ85YNE5P22YN3NFqnb1Ns3tkhrxWkJbakZAHFHd5h45xdns7w9D0Vs/s1600/Sarah-Silverman-Boobs-Cleavage-Hot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVbTbgPXMrbyfRxa3YNTrHut1AG0JaWhpVeHzzLnwO18pw-CnF_mEy4enNVYm8ASghsX8T-Oza4PLYVXbux86AgQ85YNE5P22YN3NFqnb1Ns3tkhrxWkJbakZAHFHd5h45xdns7w9D0Vs/s320/Sarah-Silverman-Boobs-Cleavage-Hot.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwX-_T_gkCANBLk5q-wUERwwmBxPm9YjseK2Gx1zymnWlpHzu5dpIn7zvgTqizbw3SUX0OSsb5qh1YktDJe8qkSnGN1YT1gDEyjcECUda9NG99DpDVNNcqXcyOZoEbUbpxyXPIxgiCtrg/s1600/Sarah-Silverman-Hot-Sarcastic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwX-_T_gkCANBLk5q-wUERwwmBxPm9YjseK2Gx1zymnWlpHzu5dpIn7zvgTqizbw3SUX0OSsb5qh1YktDJe8qkSnGN1YT1gDEyjcECUda9NG99DpDVNNcqXcyOZoEbUbpxyXPIxgiCtrg/s320/Sarah-Silverman-Hot-Sarcastic.jpg" width="217" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBAlHsjpVuQI4nxe6wXBxzKHTJiAh4CnKBUXv2v4RhznW6UCtNU7Zsfx9jsVqQwvQjsjdAlkxqyUrWPC8W1TGsTJYzRekCSRwGd4aRZvPom7ge80UQ7fHvOHtsalYbN_R5gTV9sPJgnXU/s1600/Sarah-Silverman-Toilet-Nude.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBAlHsjpVuQI4nxe6wXBxzKHTJiAh4CnKBUXv2v4RhznW6UCtNU7Zsfx9jsVqQwvQjsjdAlkxqyUrWPC8W1TGsTJYzRekCSRwGd4aRZvPom7ge80UQ7fHvOHtsalYbN_R5gTV9sPJgnXU/s320/Sarah-Silverman-Toilet-Nude.jpg" width="259" /></a></div><br /><br /><br />Speaking of being sarcastic. Be sure to check out "<a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2013/04/14/sarcasm-awareness-week" target="_blank">Sarcasm Awareness Week</a>" on IWS Radio Sunday at 12 Noon ET!! <br /><br /><br />Be sure to check out the I’m With Stupid podcast! 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Babe fo the Week: Sarah Silverman

IWS is proud to announce that our Babe of the Week is Sarah Silverman! Sarah is a comedian, cultural critic, actress, Jewish Princess and al...

GERMAN ELITES VIEW SOUTHERN EUROPEANS AS INFERIOR

8:30 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsQhxiQMX5A2o0s58HV5s3QyBlcQiujonDCIJ0SaiIkCk18gP6VnSaVKZYhSyENX4Q1jQnX_Vb2qjLTVUl3_DaPbeoY5ae8dhlyojexvV1v1YL6yvGWBI-LGgwMwuSwy2Beioc96E7FTHu/s1600/wimages.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsQhxiQMX5A2o0s58HV5s3QyBlcQiujonDCIJ0SaiIkCk18gP6VnSaVKZYhSyENX4Q1jQnX_Vb2qjLTVUl3_DaPbeoY5ae8dhlyojexvV1v1YL6yvGWBI-LGgwMwuSwy2Beioc96E7FTHu/s400/wimages.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">AS LONG AS GERMANS VIEW THE CURRENT CRISIS AS A “SOUTHERN” PROBLEM, RECOVERY CAN'T HAPPEN </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">GREEK elections are over and many are looking at GERMANY for a solution to the Euro’s woes. Unfortunately, the chances that GREECE’S northern neighbor will assume responsibility for the financial messes of its southern partners are slim. The reason GERMANY continues to tout austerity rather than growth to save the Euro lies largely in GERMANY’S skewed view of history and of itself, which is based on two false assumptions.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">First, most GERMANS view southern EUROPEANS as “different” from themselves. They assume that GERMANY enjoys great economic power primarily because its citizens have saved and been industrious, in contrast to, say, the GREEKS, SPANISH, or ITALIANS. Bailing out GREECE, according to this view, would encourage it and other countries like it to continue their lazy and licentious ways. Second, GERMANS (and many others) view EUROPE’S predicament as a currency or debt crisis rather than what it truly is: a current-account and balance-of-trade problem. GERMANS export more to their EUROPEAN partners than they consume, benefiting from this asymmetrical situation even as they expect everyone else to be exporters and savers like them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">See: </span><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">WHICH CRUEL RULER IS CONTINUALLY FORCING NEW ROUNDS OF AUSTERITY MEASURES ON SOUTHERN EU STATES? – NOT GERMANY - BUT THE  EUROZONE’S SHADOW STATES? </span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/04/european-shadow-state-faces-growing.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/04/european-shadow-state-faces-growing.html</a></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While much reporting and commentary has focused on GERMANY’S moral disdain for its flailing E.U. partners, most GERMAN leaders view the GREEK case differently. They rightly point out that key institutions of democracy and civil society are not sufficiently embedded in GREECE, making it difficult to collect taxes and resolve distribution conflicts.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But GERMANY and GREECE have had very different experiences in making their institutions work. In the post-World War II era, GERMANY was initially an occupied nation, whereas GREECE had to contend with a communist threat and successive rightwing military dictatorships. The “embeddedness” of GERMAN institutions derives from the West’s imposition of democracy and the lack of viable alternatives to it. The same cannot be said for GREECE.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">THE EURO HAS BENEFITED GERMANY GREATLY</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Furthermore, GERMANY occupied and plundered countries like GREECE before 1945, stealing and destroying both public and private wealth. Yet it was not asked to pay reparations. The Allies even forgave GERMANY’S World War I reparations. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">So GERMANY’S insistence that GREECE pay all of its debts is not just hypocritical, it’s a complete misunderstanding of one of the key sources of post-1945 GERMAN economic success: massive debt forgiveness and free money—the exact opposite of austerity.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlKSUZcH8_VIxK65mgqLtWhJ0HVL_GKSq8IgYYr5Ot4DTX8KJKu1bGdYwnwsHcX1IwK0JzslHN7kNq1b7OXMyp81pTKuQWdI8gUvvlYu_4qa2ORESAzRw6qYQ_lAj4qosV0Fr6DH6Ool1r/s1600/image-441285-panoV9-pfpi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlKSUZcH8_VIxK65mgqLtWhJ0HVL_GKSq8IgYYr5Ot4DTX8KJKu1bGdYwnwsHcX1IwK0JzslHN7kNq1b7OXMyp81pTKuQWdI8gUvvlYu_4qa2ORESAzRw6qYQ_lAj4qosV0Fr6DH6Ool1r/s400/image-441285-panoV9-pfpi.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong><span style="line-height: 115%;">Main Architect of German austerity measures, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble</span></strong></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Although most GERMANS find it difficult to remember, the Euro has benefited them greatly. The EUROPEAN currency has not only reduced GERMANY’S transaction costs with its biggest trading partners, but also made its exports more competitive because they are priced in a currency that is less valuable than the DEUTSCHE Mark was. Thanks to the euro zone’s inclusion of countries (such as GREECE) where wages and prices are much lower than in GERMANY, GERMAN exports are sold relatively cheaply. The so-called sovereign-debt crisis, therefore, is really a question of trade and capital-payment asymmetries for which the GERMANS bear some responsibility, since they built an export-driven economy. GERMANY’S surpluses are the flip side of GREECE’S deficits.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But if GERMAN policymakers persist in demanding austerity, the crisis will finally hit GERMANS in their pocketbooks. Refusing to extend to GREECE the debt relief that GERMANY once enjoyed only increases the probability that GREECE will be forced to abandon the Euro, and the shock waves extending from a GREEK exit would hit GERMAN capital markets hard. So far the crisis has affected only the stock market, which most GERMAN private investors avoid, viewing it (with good reason) as a speculators’ market. But once it hits bonds and other forms of commercial paper, which are broadly held by individual investors, GERMANS will start to realize that fiscal austerity is not equivalent to growing one’s way out of a downturn.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">GERMANYS’ STRUCTURAL REFORMS DURING THE 1990S, TO REGAIN A COMPETITIVE EDGE ON WORLD MARKETS, WERE IMPLEMENTED DURING A PERIOD OF ECONOMIC GROWTH</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It might also remind GERMANS that the structural reforms they undertook during the 1990s to regain their competitive edge on world markets were implemented during a period of economic growth<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">. In contrast, they are asking their southern neighbors to make much more painful cuts during a severe global downturn.</b> That is a recipe for further contraction not just in GREECE, but GERMANY as well. After all, once its EUROPEAN trading partners fall into a deeper recession, GERMANY won’t be able to rely on exports to sustain economic growth and GERMANS will have less money to be austere about.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While commentators are hailing the GREEK elections as a first step forward, the results of that vote have done nothing to change the forces that brought about this EUROPEAN crisis. GREEK voters expressed a desire to retain the Euro, but the country’s basic problem – how to build responsible fiscal institutions while undermining its ability to pay for them – remains as intractable as ever.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">THE EXPORTING NORTHERN EUROPE IS REWARDED FOR THE SURPLUSES IT REFUSES TO REDISTRIBUTE TO HELP SOUTHERN EUROPE</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheDrVp4omt8FnMgPvrmT_2k3KqXtxc6_BfDaF9TV1Vdi3SyXEX0ykVZiYjAieR9LcjrffpU7ymuNu3sdnZdpU3vAE5TVR7KcH-DteB4E4Cp5nOCOZ2P3x58vEqFaWYKt2s_6h9HorOhCTt/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheDrVp4omt8FnMgPvrmT_2k3KqXtxc6_BfDaF9TV1Vdi3SyXEX0ykVZiYjAieR9LcjrffpU7ymuNu3sdnZdpU3vAE5TVR7KcH-DteB4E4Cp5nOCOZ2P3x58vEqFaWYKt2s_6h9HorOhCTt/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">For austerity: IMF and Germany <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Meanwhile, the problem has spread to SPAIN, PORTUGAL, and ITALY because investors fear that the same contradictory mix of budget-cutting and institution-building threatens their solvency. This “contagion” has raised the cost of reform for these countries, further imperiling the EUROPEAN project. Worse, the GERMAN emphasis on austerity has reordered the single EUROPEAN capital market along national lines, as the exporting north is rewarded for the surpluses it refuses to redistribute to help the south. Precisely because there is no redistribution mechanism to help bail out the south– something that GERMAN policymakers vehemently oppose — the emergence of large interest rate differentials among national bond markets seriously endangers the Euro’s integrity.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Related articles on EUROPE: </span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/the-us-turns-its-back-on-europe.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/the-us-turns-its-back-on-europe.html</a></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/04/feindbild-deutschland.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/04/feindbild-deutschland.html</a></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/03/austerity-threatens-eu-competitive.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/03/austerity-threatens-eu-competitive.html</a></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/03/cyprus-and-germany.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/03/cyprus-and-germany.html</a></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/01/european-democracy-at-crossroad.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/01/european-democracy-at-crossroad.html</a></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/12/europe-spain.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/12/europe-spain.html</a></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/01/france-chooses-path-of-austerity.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/01/france-chooses-path-of-austerity.html</a></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As long as GERMANS view the current crisis as a “southern” problem rather than a shared EUROPEAN one – as a one-sided coin – and persist in the belief that pursuing austerity and reform during an economic slowdown is the answer to the problem, GERMANS will continue to look for solutions in all the wrong places.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">By Jonathan Zatlin and Louis Ferleger via Salon News</span></i></span></div><br />

GERMAN ELITES VIEW SOUTHERN EUROPEANS AS INFERIOR

AS LONG AS GERMANS VIEW THE CURRENT CRISIS AS A “SOUTHERN” PROBLEM, RECOVERY CAN'T HAPPEN GREEK elections are over and many are looki...

Acure Organics Review

4:20 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I absolutely love body care products and also trying new skin care products for my face.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I came across these products on the website and saw that they had a Pumpkin Coconut body wash I just knew that I had to try them out! (I love Coconut products) :) </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was sent the most wonderful assortment of  body and facial products from <a href="http://www.acureorganics.com/">Acure Organics</a> for review.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXDHnPHeKl65EsJ5xJshGNHSHx-lXbCcR_mCStnXzYR2ju9HALMhP6t2aiMhgwJ5aU8s2opNMUgpUu16Sjlrp0VUrNbYZ3b7UuxZoanEV-ty6jXt_Rrk2tIKfyiBU51nmEO6NIBM1v3m8/s1600/Acure+Organics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXDHnPHeKl65EsJ5xJshGNHSHx-lXbCcR_mCStnXzYR2ju9HALMhP6t2aiMhgwJ5aU8s2opNMUgpUu16Sjlrp0VUrNbYZ3b7UuxZoanEV-ty6jXt_Rrk2tIKfyiBU51nmEO6NIBM1v3m8/s320/Acure+Organics.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pumpkin Coconut Body Wash</span></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love coconut scented products especially bath and body stuff such as lotions, body wash you name it I love it!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This body wash is amazing it smells outrageously delicious!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reminds me of a pumpkin pie with coconut cream on top it's just that luxurious and makes your skin feel so soft!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dab a small amount onto skin or a wash cloth or even a loofah and enjoy!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You will love this scent and how it makes your skin feel.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mandarin Orange and  Morracan Argan stem cell advanced triple moisture body lotion</span></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am in love with this lotion.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It offers a great orange scent on your skin making your skin feel softer like never before and also doesn't have leave that oily residue behind.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's not a lotion that's real thick either which I love.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">pure mint and echinacea stem cell shampoo and conditioner</span></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have to admit I've never tried a shampoo and conditioner that had a mint scent but I am impressed!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love it!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Made my hair silky and smooth and didn't leave it feeling dried out the next day.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Smells wonderful, so give your silky hair a flip if you dare!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lip Balm Dark Chocolate and Mint</span></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">my lips just got sweeter with this wonderful chocolaty minty lip balm!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Smells tasty I do have to admit, don't be alarmed I didn't eat it! Laugh out loud.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Will make your lips kiss-ably smooth.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also received face care products but haven't tested them yet.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I do I will update and let you know what I think!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Charities:</u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bright Pink- national non profit organization that provides support and education for young women who are at a high risk for ovarian and breast cancers.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Trees for the future- helps plant trees around the world</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">water.org- a charity to be able to one day drink safe water</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />*Key points to why these products are amazing*</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the planet:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Green products</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Green packaging</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For your skin:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">high quality skin care products made from fair trade, pure and natural certified organic ingredients</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Website:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.acureorganics.com/">http://www.acureorganics.com/</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Face Book:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Acure-Organics/125985280751999">https://www.facebook.com/pages/Acure-Organics/125985280751999</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Twitter:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/acureorganics"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">https://twitter.com/acureorganics</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>

Acure Organics Review

I absolutely love body care products and also trying new skin care products for my face. When I came across these products on the website an...

NORTHERN EUROPE VERSUS SOUTHERN EUROPE

2:46 PM Tukiyooo 0

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9sx-X2wXgDyRwa89WXCxusqh1nFfKYwr7De-weVK32ZIxEOoc1A7ZfVjeGi8s6CpsiNooKR2DpYtpd7iaKOhgbC4ShsTNDAwFLBXA5nd6qOv1k5KmgNo_IOUQbZffY1LA_z6IUGAmdL_y/s1600/571px-SouthernEurope-DarkBlue.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9sx-X2wXgDyRwa89WXCxusqh1nFfKYwr7De-weVK32ZIxEOoc1A7ZfVjeGi8s6CpsiNooKR2DpYtpd7iaKOhgbC4ShsTNDAwFLBXA5nd6qOv1k5KmgNo_IOUQbZffY1LA_z6IUGAmdL_y/s400/571px-SouthernEurope-DarkBlue.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Division" of Northern and Southern Europe"</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">EU</span></b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-size: large;">’S</span></span><b><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-size: large;">RACE FOR NATURAL RESOURCES IN SOUTHERN EUROPE</span></span></b></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">First Published in March 2012</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Since the beginning of the financial crisis in GREECE the country has faced some rather unorthodox political developments. One of them, shaking the “cradle of democracy” rather fiercely when a technocrat and footman of International Financial Institutions in particular Goldman Sachs, LUCAS PAPADEMOS seized control over the country with the pretence of new democratic election calls in 2013. Then, midst fierce financial rescue negotiations with the EU, GREECE apparently hit the “jackpot” when recent EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN oil and gas findings stretched further into the AEGEAN SEAS, revealing that the entire eastern MEDITERRANEAN is swimming in huge untapped oil and gas reserves. According to recent researches, the new-found reserves could potentially blot out GREECE’S entire debt, and possibly have even averted it.</span><br /><br /><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Read related article: </span></b> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">NORTH AGAINST SOUTH: IS THE EUROZONE IRREVOCABLY DIVIDED?</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/04/european-shadow-state-faces-growing.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/04/european-shadow-state-faces-growing.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/the-us-turns-its-back-on-europe.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/the-us-turns-its-back-on-europe.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/03/austerity-threatens-eu-competitive.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/03/austerity-threatens-eu-competitive.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/03/cyprus-and-germany.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/03/cyprus-and-germany.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/01/european-democracy-at-crossroad.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/01/european-democracy-at-crossroad.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/12/europe-spain.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/12/europe-spain.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/01/france-chooses-path-of-austerity.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/01/france-chooses-path-of-austerity.html</a></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">EU</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’S<b>RACE FOR NATURAL RESOURCES</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The minute the potential gas and oil findings in the AEGEAN SEA were confirmed, GERMANY, EUROPE’S key player, in particular changed its political rhetoric’s towards GREECE, demanding that a <b>EUROPEAN ‘commission of experts’ should permanently settled in ATHENS in order to overseeing GREEK finances and budgetary discipline and that the EU should be</b> <b>given veto power over tax and spend plans'</b>, a move that basically would undermine GREECE’S sovereignty.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In view of these facts it seems that EU’S key players are ready to push GREECE into the abbeys in exchange for total control of its natural resources. When looking at the numbers of recent oil gas findings one will understand why suddenly large “storm clouds” are looming over GREECE and the EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN SEA:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">OIL: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Preliminary estimates now are that total offshore oil in GREEK waters exceeds 22 billion barrels in the IONIAN SEA off WESTERN GREECE and some 4 billion barrels in the NORTHERN AEGEAN SEA. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">GAS: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Recent natural gas surveys conducted in the area will generate an estimate of some <b>nine trillion dollars</b> in revenues, which would transform the finances of GREECE and the entire region.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Oil traders and experts estimate that GREECE could potentially solve its entire public debt crisis through development of its new-found gas and oil. Conservative estimates indicate that exploitation of the reserves already discovered could bring the country more than €302 billion over 25 years.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">THE AUSTERITY PLOT </span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The GREEK government instead has just been forced to agree to huge government layoffs, wage cuts and pension cuts to get access to EU and IMF loans that will only drive the country deeper into an economic decline.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">IMF AND GERMANY DEMAND SELL-OFF OF GREECE’S STATE OIL COMPANIES!!! </span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBbI8h-l2vOj6zBtWA25N6lyS0XUfMl31GFLfQtsLOJAwCHPSkc2HKnRIJlzSNTAqkoAhekBz9eyQVGdoUbzZ9zmEN9N_DrJ7kGdVAZMXrKRboTyvQ9EppLoQad0q8QkTe9pDUu-xkTtgl/s1600/germany-financial-crisis.jpeg5-460x307.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBbI8h-l2vOj6zBtWA25N6lyS0XUfMl31GFLfQtsLOJAwCHPSkc2HKnRIJlzSNTAqkoAhekBz9eyQVGdoUbzZ9zmEN9N_DrJ7kGdVAZMXrKRboTyvQ9EppLoQad0q8QkTe9pDUu-xkTtgl/s320/germany-financial-crisis.jpeg5-460x307.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The IMF and EU governments, in particularly GERMANY, demand that GREECE sell off its valuable ports and public companies, among them of course, GREEK STATE OIL companies, to reduce state debt. Under the best of conditions the asset selloffs would bring the country perhaps €50 billion. Furthermore plans call for the GREEK state-owned natural gas company, DEPA, to privatize 65% of its shares to reduce debt.  Buyers would likely come from outside the country, as few GREEK companies are in a position in the crisis to take it. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">In principal this reflects common IMF strategy; used in ARGENTINA and resulted in the countries default. ARGENTINES state assets were privatized and bought by US and European corporations with close ties to the IMF. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">(See Argentine Water <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_privatization_in_Argentina">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_privatization_in_Argentina</a>)</span><br /> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Related article, see: <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/04/feindbild-deutschland.html"><span style="color: blue;">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/04/feindbild-deutschland.html</span></a></span></div><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">WHO WILL CONTROL AND ULTIMATELY BENEFIT FROM THE HUGE RESOURCE DISCOVERIES?</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">One significant problem, aside from the fact the IMF demands GREECE selloff its public oil interests, is the fact that GREECE has not declared a deeper exclusive economic zone like most other countries which drill for oil. There was seen little need until now. An EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE (EEZ) gives states special mineral rights in its declared waters under the THIRD UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which came into force in November 1994. (See <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/eastern-mediterranean-sea.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/eastern-mediterranean-sea.html</a>EEZ <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none_14.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none_14.html</a>)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Greece’s EEZ issue thus could trigger a new conflict with TURKEY which already is at odds with almost every country bordering the MEDITERRANEAN SEA for it fears of losing the prospect of becoming a major regional energy hub which would increase its geo – political influence in the region and make it a key player in future energy deals, thus eliminating certain “dependence” on EUROPE and last but not least abolish EU membership talks and at the same time pursue its NEO –OTTOMAN EMPIRE ambitions.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">(See: <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/06/does-turkey-really-need-eu.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/06/does-turkey-really-need-eu.html</a>)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">(See <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/12/energy-games-in-eastern-mediterranean.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/12/energy-games-in-eastern-mediterranean.html</a>)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">TURKEY reiterated that it would consider it an act of war if GREECE drilled further into the AEGEAN. Until now that did not seem to have serious economic consequences, as no oil or gas reserves were known. With these findings however the situation changed significantly. GREECE could cover “50% of its needs with the oil to be found in offshore fields in the AEGEAN SEA. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">POISONOUS COCKTAIL </span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">To add another ingredient to the already poisoned cocktail is that the US also wants a share of the cake and thus is becoming increasingly nervous and manipulative when it comes to natural resources dealings in the region, which the USA considers its turf in the first place.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Thus it</span><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">comes as no surprise that in</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">July 2011 WASHINGTON seriously stepped in to join the GREEK energy game. Secretary of State HILLARY CLINTON flew to ATHENS with energy on her mind. That was clear by the fact she brought with her her Special Envoy for EURASIAN ENERGY, Richard Morningstar. MORNINGSTAR was husband BILL CLINTON’S SPECIAL ADVISOR to the President on CASPIAN BASIN ENERGY DIPLOMACY. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Allegedly MORNINGSTAR has been the key WASHINGTON architects of WASHINGTON’S geopolitically-motivated oil and gas pipeline projects that would isolate RUSSIA and its GAZPROM gas resources from the EU. MORNINGSTAR and his aid are open opponents of RUSSIAN GAZPROM’S SOUTH STREAM gas pipeline that would transit the EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN states. It seems that the current Administration is not at all neutral about the New Greek oil and gas discoveries, for three days after Hillary left ATHENS the GREEK government proposed the creation of a new government agency to run tenders for oil and gas surveys and ultimate drilling bids. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">US OUTWITS THE EU </span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Allegedly Morningstar was instrumental in backing the controversial B-T-C oil pipeline from BAKU through TBILISI in GEORGIA across to the TURKISH MEDITERRANEAN port of CEYHAN, a costly enterprise designed solely to bypass RUSSIAN oil pipeline transit. He has openly proposed that <b>GREECE and TURKEY drop all historic differences over CYPRUS, over numerous other historic issues and agree to jointly pool all their oil and gas reserves in the AEGEAN SEA</b>. He also has told the GREEK government it should forget cooperation with MOSCOW on the SOUTH STREAM and BOURGAS-ALEXANDROUPOLIS gas pipeline projects. (See <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/middle-east-energy-wars.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/09/middle-east-energy-wars.html</a>and <a href="http://www.naturalgaseurope.com/russia-seeks-to-play-a-leading-role-in-eastern-mediterranean-gas-development-5216">http://www.naturalgaseurope.com/russia-seeks-to-play-a-leading-role-in-eastern-mediterranean-gas-development-5216</a>) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgas%E2%80%93Alexandroupoli_pipeline">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgas%E2%80%93Alexandroupoli_pipeline</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">  </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Such proposal clearly shows that he lacks profound knowledge of the regional conflict between CYPRUS and TURKEY as well as GREECE’S stance on TURKEY and last but not least RUSSIA’S and CYPRUS’S relations and mentality of these cultures.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">According to a report from GREEK political analyst Aristotle Vassilakis published in July 2011, WASHINGTON’S motive for pushing GREECE to join forces with TURKEY on oil and gas is to force a formula to divide resulting oil and gas revenues. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">According to his report, WASHINGTON proposes that GREECE get 20% of revenues, TURKEY another 20% and the US-backed <b>NOBLE ENERGY Company of HOUSTON TEXAS, the company successfully drilling in the ISRAELI and GREEK offshore waters, would get the lion’s share of 60%</b>. Among other issues it seems obvious that the EU, with all means, wants to achieve a “hostile takeover” of GREECE in order to stop US advances in the region. Worthwhile to mention is that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s husband, Bill, is a Washington lobbyist for NOBLE ENERGY. Thus the circle starts to close.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">CYPRUS, TURKEY, ISRAEL, LEBANON, SYRIA AND NOW ROMANIA</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">As if these geopolitical complications were not enough, NOBLE ENERGY has also discovered huge volumes of gas off the waters of the REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS. In December 2011 NOBLE announced a successful well offshore CYPRUS in a field estimated to hold at least 7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. According to NOBLE ENERGY the latest discovery in CYPRUS further highlight the quality and significance of this world-class basin.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">CYPRUS is a complicated piece of real estate. In the 1970’s as declassified US Government documents recently revealed, then-US Secretary of State HENRY KISSINGER actively encouraged and facilitated arms to the TURKISH regime of KISSINGER’S former Harvard student and then- Prime Minister BULENT ECEVIT, to stage a military invasion of CYPRUS in 1974, in effect partitioning the island between an ethnically TURKISH north and an ethnically GREEK REPUBLIC of CYPRUS in the south, a division which remains. The KISSINGER strategy, backed by the BRITISH was believed intended to create a pretext for a permanent US and BRITISH military listening post in the EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN during the Cold War. (See <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/eastern-mediterranean-sea.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/eastern-mediterranean-sea.html</a>)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Today the ethnically GREEK south, where NOBLE has discovered large gas deposits, is a member of the EU. Its President, DEMETRIS CHRISTOFIAS, is the only national leader in the EUROPEAN UNION who is a communist. He is also a close friend of ISRAEL, and of RUSSIA. In addition, he is a major critic of AMERICAN foreign policy, as well as of TURKEY. Thus CYPRUS is financially heavily supported by RUSSIA for RUSSIA holds a large amount of off shore accounts on the islands banks and provided CYPRUS a “bailout” credit to avoid default. See: <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/655a3fd2-de31-11e0-9fb7-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1pOl6qaog">http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/655a3fd2-de31-11e0-9fb7-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1pOl6qaog</a>and <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/eastern-mediterranean-sea.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/02/eastern-mediterranean-sea.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">  </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Now ISRAEL is planning to build an underwater gas pipeline from the ISRAELI LEVANTINE fields across CYPRUS waters onto the GREEK mainland where it would be sold on the EU market. The CYPRUS and ISRAEL governments have mutually agreed on delimitation of their respective ECONOMIC ZONES, leaving TURKEY in the cold. TURKEY openly threatened CYPRUS for signing the agreement with NOBLE ENERGY. That led to a RUSSIAN statement that it would not tolerate TURKISH threats against CYPRUS, further complicating TURKISH-RUSSIAN relations. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">TURKISH-ISRAELI relations, once quite friendly, have become increasingly strained in recent years under ERDOGAN foreign policies. ANKARA has expressed concern about ISRAEL’S recent ties with its historic antagonists, GREECE and the GREEK side of CYPRUS. TURKEY’S ally the “TURKISH REPUBLIC OF NORTHERN CYPRUS” (not a internationally recognized entity), fears it could miss out on its fair share of the gas after ISRAEL and NICOSIA signed an agreement to divide the 250 kilometers of sea that separate them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It becomes evident, especially when we glance at a map of the eastern Mediterranean, that the oil and gas prospective bonanza there is a rapidly unfolding conflict zone of tectonic magnitude involving strategic US, RUSSIAN, EU, ISRAELI and TURKISH, SYRIAN and LEBANESE interests. (See TAPA pipeline <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/12/syria-cause-and-effect.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/12/syria-cause-and-effect.html</a>)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Parts of above article incorporate </span></i><i><span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">F. WILLIAM ENGDAHL article : </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Rising energy tensions in the Aegean—Greece, Turkey, Cyprus</span></i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">ROMANIA, THE LATEST TO JOIN THE RECENT ENERGY HYPE   </span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">By <b><i>Dr</i></b><i><b>Robert M Cutler</b></i> (<a href="http://www.robertcutler.org/">http://www.robertcutler.org</a>),</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">With all its complexity mentioned above, ROMANIA joining the energy hype in the region and one can assume that the latest BLACK SEA offshore sector gas findings will have potential ramifications for the entire EURO-CASPIAN energy complex from CENTRAL ASIA to CENTRAL EUROPE. This find will re-jig calculations around the EUROPEAN UNION'S SOUTHERN GAS CORRIDOR while providing potential new sources of energy for EAST CENTRAL and especially SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE. <br /><br />In that context, the potential for ROMANIA to become a natural gas exporter to SOUTHEASTERN and even EAST CENTRAL EUROPE comes into focus. The significance of the ROMANIAN strike concerns the eventual choice by the consortium developing AZERBAIJAN'S offshore SHAH DENIZ natural gas deposit, between the "western" (through GREECE to ITALY) route for its 10 billion cubic meters per year (bcm/y) gas and the "northern" (through BULGARIA to SOUTHEASTERN Europe) route. Interesting to note in this context is the fact that ISRAEL and AZERBAIJAN hold strong economic ties with emphasis on energy related projects as well as defense.See <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijan%E2%80%93Israel_relations">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijan%E2%80%93Israel_relations</a>and <a href="http://defenceforumindia.com/forum/west-asia-africa/32445-israel-inks-arms-deal-azerbejain-azerbaijan-iran-relations-detoriate.html">http://defenceforumindia.com/forum/west-asia-africa/32445-israel-inks-arms-deal-azerbejain-azerbaijan-iran-relations-detoriate.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">THE PLAYERS: US EXXON, AUSTRIA’S OMV ( PETROM), BULGARIA’S BULGARTRANSGAZ</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></div><span style="color: #990000;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">ROMANIAN President TRAIAN BASESCU announced last week that a consortium comprising the US major EXXON MOBIL and the ROMANIAN company PETROM (a subsidiary of the AUSTRIAN OMV) has struck over 100 bcm of gas in ROMANIA'S first deep-water offshore exploration. He said this figure was subject to revision upwards, since there were five other geological formations in the area with characteristics similar to the successful find. If they all proved out the same way, the result would give ROMANIA over a half a trillion cubic meters of offshore natural gas - equivalent to 25-30 years of total ROMANIAN gas consumption at the present rate, or 75-90 years worth of its gas imports. <br /><br />Separately in BULGARIA a week ago it was announced that, in conformance with a February 2011 decision by the EU's EUROPEAN COUNCIL that every EU member state should have at least two sources of natural gas and electricity, the BULGARIAN company BULGARTRANSGAZ will cooperate to build the transborder Interconnector BULGARIA-ROMANIA (IBR). BULGARIA imports most of its gas from RUSSIA, which cut off supplies for three weeks in January 2009 and is thought to be maneuvering within the BULGARIAN political environment to maintain its hegemonic position in the BULGARIAN gas market. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">CHEVRON AND NOVINITE</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><br />Thus while according to the BULGARIAN press agency NOVINITE the US company CHEVRON will soon start drilling for shale gas in the northeastern ROMANIA around BARLAD, the BULGARIAN cabinet recently made it impossible for CHEVRON to develop shale gas in BULGARIA by revoking an earlier awarded permit for hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"). BULGARIAN environmental activists are now seeking legislation to make that ban permanent. <br /><br />In response, an organization called Movement for Energy Independence (DEN) has formed in BULGARIA calling for the fracking moratorium to be cancelled and for the until now dilatory work on all interconnectors to be accelerated, including the ITB, the IBR, and also the INTERCONNECTOR GREECE-BULGARIA (IGB). <br /><br />DEN also criticizes the current government for enforcing BULGARIA'S gas dependence upon RUSSIA by favoring the MOSCOW-based SOUTH STREAM GAS PIPELINE PROJECT (MOSCOW to BULGARIA under the BLACK SEA) and seeking to help exempt GAZPROM from oncoming EU antitrust rules by accelerating the pipeline's timetable. <br /><br />The IBR, on the other hand, if constructed to be bi directionally reversible, would make it possible not only for BULGARIA to import ROMANIAN gas directly from ROMANIA, but also to transit to ROMANIA the gas that BULGARIA might receive from AZERBAIJAN'S offshore SHAH DENIZ deposit via GEORGIA, TURKEY, and the Interconnector TURKEY-BULGARIA (ITB) still under construction. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>COMPLEX ENERGY PUZZLE IN AN EVEN MORE COMPLEX REGION</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">An Interconnector TURKEY-GREECE (ITG) is already operating, but the SHAH DENIZ consortium has ruled out its extension into the Interconnector TURKEY-GREECE-ITALY (ITGI) to SOUTHERN EUROPE via the Interconnector GREECE-ITALY (IGI) across GREECE and under the IONIAN SEA to ITALY'S geographical boot. (The undersea segment by itself is called the Poseidon pipeline.) <br /><br />However, this does not mean that the SHAH DENIZ consortium has ruled out either the ITG or the separate Interconnector TURKEY-BULGARIA (ITB), should it choose a northern rather than a western route for its gas. Given the newly announced interconnector between BULGARIA and ROMANIA, either the ITG-IGB duo or the ITB by itself would be able to hook up into ROMANIAN national pipeline system via the IBR. <br />The SHAH DENIZ consortium has yet to choose between the BP-proposed South East European Pipeline (SEEP) or a reconfiguration of the NABUCCO pipeline project for the possible northern route. After choosing one of those, it will then choose between it and the designated western-route pipeline, the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which is set to cross GREECE, ALBANIA, and go underneath the ADRIATIC SEA to ITALY'S boot. <br /><br />Indeed, earlier this week, the BULGARIAN cabinet approved the agreement between the BULGARIAN company NABUCCO Gas Pipeline BULGARIA and the international consortium NABUCCO Gas Pipeline International, signed in June 2011. The next step is for the BULGARIAN Parliament to ratify the contract, following which the stages for implementation of the NABUCCO project in BULGARIA may be further specified. <br />However, none of this means that the ITGI or the IGI is dead. As a consequence of the debt crisis in GREECE, the GREEK principal in the IGI consortium, the public gas company DEPA, is a candidate for privatization; and RUSSIA'S GAZPROM has shown an interest. <br />The possibility of the IGI segment transiting gas later in the decade from MOSCOW'S SOUTH STREAM natural gas pipeline has been discussed in the GREEK press now for some time. Sourcing problems, however, continue to plague the SOUTH STREAM project; RUSSIA has never said where any of its gas will come from. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>

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