The Closer
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ROUND-UP Markets rallied and reversed some of the losses from earlier this week after Mario Draghi said that he within the ECB’s mandate, the central bank “is willing...
The Gemini Agenda: Available on Amazon now!
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Right so. Nine years after I started writing it, and a year and a month after I published my first “romp” (Thank you Elina Talvitie), “The Ministry of Love”, my latest eNovel, “The Gemini Agenda”, is now available...
Denver and Martin Rhodes
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This evening, back in Denver, we had dinner with Martin Rhodes who, to give him his full title, is Professor of Comparative Political Economy at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. Martin and I were contempor...
Draghi hints at renewed SMP intervention
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So I’ve noticed a renewed interest in the blog post “ECB Market Intervention: The Securities Market Programme (SMP)“. This was brought about by the following remarks by president of the ECB, Mario Draghi, in a speech he gave in Lon...
De-friending a rating…
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Facebook’s second-quarter $1.18bn revenues arrived more or less in line with the consensus of $1.16bn. (It earned 12 cents per share, though made a loss of 8 cents in GAAP...
Ukraine and Russia: political flavour of the gas war-2012
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With winter season of 2012-2013 coming closer, “Gazprom” has started to show a more rigid position in relation to certain European consumers of Russian gas. Bringing into service of the Nord Stream gas pipeline provided Russia with additi...
Dann eben ohne Euch!
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Natürlich muss es ein Referendum geben. Und wenn nicht über einen EU-Austritt Großbritanniens, dann doch bitte zumindest mit der Fragestellung ob die Insel umfassend Souveränitätsrechte von Europa zurückfordern sollte. “Redefining the relatio...
British EU referendum: Dann eben ohne Euch!
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TweetNatürlich muss es ein Referendum geben. Und wenn nicht über einen EU-Austritt Großbritanniens, dann doch bitte zumindest mit der Fragestellung ob die Insel umfassend Souveränitätsrechte von Europa zurückfordern sollte. “Redefining the re...
Die Europäischen Weltspiele
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Juan Antonio Samaranch machte es sich 1992 einfach. “Das waren die besten Spiele aller Zeiten”, sagte der IOC-Präsident in seiner Heimatstadt Barcelona. Sein Nachfolger Jacques Rogge will ihn endlich auch sagen, den Satz von den “b...
Juppé's Observations
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What do you know? I agree with everything Alain Juppé says:Mais pendant ce temps là… l’évolution de l’Europe et du monde nous mène à la catastrophe, dans une relative indifférence dont je ne suis pas sûr qu’elle soit seulement estivale...
The Upside of Default
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"… in any given year, maybe one per cent of the financial economy has anything to do with the production of real, nonfinancial goods and services. The rest? It consists of ways to make money from money. That seems innocuous enough, until yo...
by the way, “Beautiful minds” meet up at BİLGİ…plus Isaac Asimov, Grateful Dead archive and more..an academic roundup…
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Beautiful minds meet up at BİLGİ Hurriyet Daily News Nobel prize winners Eric Maskin (2nd L), John Nash (C), Reinhard Selten (2nd R) and Roger Myerson (R) delivered a joint session to Istanbul Bilgi University (BİLGİ) students within the scope of...
Circumcision (2)
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Things got a little awkward in the comments section of my earlier circumcision post today, because commenter Jade pointed out a rather glaring, embarrassing and altogether unforgivable shortcoming in my argument. The problem doesn't concern the ru...
Circumcision (2)
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Things got a little awkward in the comments section of my earlier circumcision post today, because commenter Jade pointed out a rather glaring, embarrassing and altogether unforgivable shortcoming in my argument. The problem doesn’t concern the...
What is left anti-semitism?
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In view of some recent comments on this blog (see, especially, those below the piece Why won’t the IOC mark the Munich massacre?), and the Graun‘s despicable obituary of the “left” antisemite Alexander Cockburn, I though the foll...
"Rejecting “economists are dumb” does not mean there are no dumb economists" by Andrew Watt
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Stephen Hill and I, along with some others, have been debating, in part, whether it is ok to lump all economists together, and put a “dumb” sticker on the whole lot. Have a look at this post - text is below – by Mark Thoma (US econo...
Anthropology roundup: Franz Boas and Neuroanthropology and more…
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In Memoriam: Michel-Rolph Trouillot from American Anthropological Association by Joslyn O. Photo courtesy of University of Chicago Michel-Rolph Trouillot, 62, world-renowned anthropologist and historian, died July 5, 2012 following long struggles to...
Mali: Athletes Go to London Olympics With Heads Held High
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"We will definitely be in London and our goal is to prove to the whole world that in spite of our struggles, our country is still standing." - Malian National Olympic Committee President...
Who’s bluffing about a Grexit?
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The recent utterings from Europe’s political elite regarding a Greek exit from the euro and reports that the IMF is ready to walk away have been hard to read. To what extent...
Ukraine, Georgia Accuse Russia of Hijacking Athletes’ Glory
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Some of Russia’s neighbors feel Moscow never really has gotten over losing control of them when the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991. Now, it seems Russia is claiming them back.
Bite your tongue, think twice and count to ten
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Whilst us boring Brits have to ‘think twice’ or ‘bite our tongues’ before saying something potentially polemic, the French get to do a sporty show of ‘turning their tongues around seven times’ in their mouths, and the Germans weigh them o...
Bite your tongue, think twice and count to ten
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Whilst us boring Brits have to ‘think twice’ or ‘bite our tongues’ before saying something potentially polemic, the French get to do a sporty show of ‘turning their tongues around seven times’ in their mouths, and the Germans weigh them o...
What Mitt will say?
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American politicians are trying to guess or predict, according to American doctrines, who may be Mitt Romney as president of the United States. It is not an easy task because the Republican candidate started his contacts with the world by hosting in...
There is a disturbance in the UK funding curve
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FT Alphaville has already referred to the weird phenomenon of unsecured funds trading through secured funds in the UK this week, as reported by ICAP.By definition, secured borrowing...
Ambush Marketers at the Olympics? Be Warned!
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The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) has taken stringent measures to try to ensure no ‘ambush marketing’ tactics are used during the London 2012 Olympics. A common feature at modern major sporting events, ambush marketers...
Ambush Marketers at the Olympics? Be Warned!
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The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) has taken stringent measures to try to ensure no ‘ambush marketing’ tactics are used during the London 2012 Olympics. A common feature at modern major sporting events, ambush marketers...
BIG NEWS: After twice losing out, Bristol is to submit its third bid for European Green Capital title
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Last month, the South West’s regional capital Bristol missed out for the second time in its bid to be crowned European Green Capital 2014, losing out to Danish Capital Copenhagen. It was their second unsuccessful attempt having also lost out in 201...
ISIS-Europe Publishes Three New European Security Reviews
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by Aoife Spengeman This week ISIS-Europe published three new European Security Reviews (ESRs) in response current security and defence issues. ESR No 58 on War 2.0: A new battlefield written by Francois Ducrotté, explores the evolving nature of w...
Van Rompuy tops Twitter diplomacy rankings
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President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy is the best connected world leader on Twitter, according to a new study by public relations firm Burson-Marsteller...
Implementation, implementation, implementation
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Then and now the key to the door of the eurozone’s success survival, especially given the currency union’s propensity for contagion.There may be a relief rally because...
Good news: A sharp downturn in global wind turbine orders
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There will - fortunately - be fewer of these ugly convoys in the coming yearsGlobal orders for wind turbines are down by 30% during the first half of this year. The largest wind turbines companies are fighting for survival, as governments have begun...
How to refurbish all buildings by 2050
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Buildings account for 40% of the total energy consumption of the EU and they are one of the most significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions (36% of the EU total). In order to achieve the 2050 EU building sector target, the energy performance of...
