it must be admitted that Germany's action today mocks the pretensions of the Eurocrats who have been engaged in a slow-motion coup for quite a few years now.(Will the credit crunch also crunch the EU? Fery Interestink.)
And....if the world could vote, it'd be Obama in a landslide.
In the Netherlands, Obamamania surpasses 90 percent. In Germany, it's at 85 percent-numbers not usually seen in political polling. Indeed, Obama plays well in every country we surveyedAbe Greenwald notices something, though:
"Obama represents something different," says Klas Bergman, director of communications for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. "He seems ready to listen rather than dictate. That he's African American only adds to the mystique."
They like him because they think they can push him around!
Other items, not germane to the post title, but bailout/economy related.
- Germany not so independent on other fronts, however. Behold: energy dependence.
- Iceland's wiped out by the credit crunch.
The Icelandic Government seized control of the country’s biggest banks last night in an attempt to fend off wholesale economic collapse.
Turmoil at the banks, whose shares were suspended by the Government yesterday afternoon, had sparked panic in the tiny state, which has a population of 300,000, about the size of Coventry.
Queues formed at petrol stations as Icelanders rushed to fill up before reported fuel shortages, while savers who tried to withdraw money from banks or sell bank shares on the internet found websites were not working.
As European stock markets tank, the Irish government guarantees bank deposits, the Benelux countries nationalize Fortis bank, Germany bails out Hypo Real Estate Holdings, and Denmark also guarantees bank deposits and dismally so forth, the question arises: Who knew that Europe, of all places, was so under-regulated?
Podhoretz is calling for a bailout recall. A little early, no? It's not Wall Street being bailed out, it's the credit market....
