The question for the eurozone in 2012 is the pace of panic: a slow panic still grabs you in the end. Knowing Europe and the various governments there’s something out there with the capacity to bring on that feeling.
Germany
Greek gift of democracy puts Europe back on the brink
Europe is back on the brink of crisis after the Greek government opted to put last week’s bailout deal to the people. Glenn Dyer and Bernard Keane report on the latest developments.
Gottliebsen: how the market buy was triggered
In previous market turmoil, it was London and New York that set the pattern around the globe, but in the last few months it has been the German DAX index that has led the world down, writes Robert Gottliebsen.
Why you shouldn’t underestimate Merkel
She’s been dubbed the world’s most powerful woman. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has held on to power despite global economy crashes and a euro crisis. Joshua Hammer explains how she does it.
That damn polar bear drove me Knuts
Popular polar bear Knut died in Berlin Zoo this week. But for Roger Boyes, a foreign correspondent in Germany, Knut’s death comes as a relief. No more ditching serious stories about the euro collapse in favour of cute updates of Knut, says Boyes.
France and Germany urge nationals to leave Tokyo ASAP
While it may seem unduly dramatic, France and Germany have urged their nationals to leave Tokyo as soon as possible and Air France has been directed to provide an emergency airlift, reports Ben Sandilands.
Media briefs: New SMH publisher … Today Tonight interview fail …
In today’s Media Briefs: Salon.com sale talks collapse … Spiegel magazine accuses rival Bild of pushing Germany further right … ‘Stories start here’ is new positioning for Herald Sun and more ….
Merkel and multiculturalism … whatever you want it to mean
German chancellor Angela Merkel is pro-immigration and pro-integration, but she heads a centre-right party with its fair share of scaremongers on the issue. So did she actually mean to say that multicultural policies have “utterly failed”? asks Charles Richardson.
Germany’s economic outlook on the decline
After a strong performance in recent months Europe’s largest economy appears to have taken a sharp turn for the worse, with a recent poll revealing investor sentiment in Germany has fallen rapidly and unexpectedly.
Political snippets: Tony Abbottt and the Pinocchio supremacy
I refuse to join in the verbal punishment of Tony Abbott for admitting that he sometimes tells untruths. Plus, Chinese reference to an economic Titantic and other political news of the day.
Where there are two Greeks, there are three opinions
Greeks — particularly the young — are angry, disappointed and tired of the corruption by their government. Gillian Bouras reports from Athens about a nation who still thinks Germany owes it from the war.
Obama and Merkel: the failed love affair
German chancellor Angela Merkel is off to the US, but despite her personal love for the American dream, she has tensions with Barack Obama. His rock star persona doesn’t agree with her calculated political blandness.
The cogs of Germany turn Europe’s engine
Germany’s strong economy — its exports are booming and savings are high — is partly due to profiting of its European neighbours. But Germany’s needs some structural reforms to help itself and the rest of Europe.
The sickly state of Europe
It’s a pretty sad state of affairs for the Euro and Western Europe at the moment, with the German, Spanish and Greek economies all struggling. The lack of demand for the Euro has left only France looking vaguely trouble free.
Greek bailout offers ouzo many problems
It now seems very likely that France and Germany will lead the EU to bail out the struggling Greek economy. Does this attempt to save the euro simply highlight the fragility of a single European currency?
German government: Ditch Internet Explorer
Berlin has issued a statement recommending all German internet users — that’s 76% of the country’s 82m people — stop using Microsoft’s default Internet Explorer browser, following a report that it was a vulnerability in IE that allowed Chinese hackers to attack Google.
Now hear this: Greece’s debt is bigger than its economy
Greece revealed a public debt of 300 billion euros — or more than $A480 billion — overnight, leaving European leaders to contemplate a financial black hole in Athens.
Giant penis sparks German media war
Left-wing German tabloid paper Taz has erected (heh) a giant statue of the editor of rival newspaper Bild — whose offices are next door — showing him naked with a huge penis. Gross, weird, but just the latest move in a local 40-year culture war.
Europe’s secret nukes
Europe’s “dirty secret” is that four non-nuclear states — Italy, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands — have nuclear bombs and air forces capable of dropping them, reports TIME. Is it time for this Cold War anachronism to end?
How the Nazis stole Christmas
A new exhibition of Nazi paraphernalia in Cologne shows how the Nazi Party tried to take Christ out of Christmas with swastika cookies and hand grenade tree decorations. Many of their “paganised” Christmas carols are still unwittingly sung today.
Crikey wrap: remembering the fall of the Wall
The fall of the Berlin Wall, 20 years ago today, reunited Germany and marked the official end of the 40-year Cold War. Crikey intern Michelle Loh does a wrap of what the pundits are saying.
Letter from...: Fall of the Berlin Wall: the 20th anniversary
The overzealous, over-event-managed celebration of 2009 — with circuitous, one-way routes, logjam entries and cops with machine guns — was a strange ossification of the spontaneity of 1989, writes Ben Gook from Berlin.
Why the fall of the Berlin Wall didn’t really matter
Forget the fall of the Wall in 1989, says Niall Ferguson, the truly revolutionary, world-changing events took place a decade earlier: the USSR invaded Afghanistan, the UK elected Thatcher, China began opening up to the West, and Iran became an Islamic Republic.
How we’re still stuck in a Berlin Wall mindset
East and West Germany were the ultimate economic science experiments, a government controlled economy next to a free market, the free market emerging victorious. But is this black and white look at economics what got us into this GFC mess?
Was the fall of the Berlin Wall a planned government plot?
Was the iconic fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago not due to the accepted story of a stuff up at a press conference and then a spontaneous protest, but rather a well orchestrated political plan between both governments?
