Usually I don’t ward into super contentious issues, but if you have been my blog follower, you have read about this too. Now the new twist in this is that the Palestinians want a member status in the United Nations and the only nations knowingly opposed to it are the U.S. and Israel. Now I am not in the shoes of the Palestinians and the Israelis about how they feel in their respective places but for the U.S. to keep on interfering in their matters when it is can be clearly seen that the U.S. is losing clout on both of them is a waste of time and effort on our part. It is a known fact by now that the U.S. will not let any resolution against Israel without vetoing it and the Palestinians will not get their way.
Since I was born I have been hearing about this conflict and frankly despite the best (or not) intensions of the U.S. nobody in this three way relationships will budge from its stance on issues that are near and dear to them. This issue has been going on so long and I don’t believe that it will be resolved soon or to any body’s complete satisfaction. Now with this membership bid at the United Nations, it also would not change a thing and life will go. I am not pessimistic but realistic about this issue. It is just a waste of time for the U.S. government to keep on pushing for something that is not achievable to everybody’s liking. We have many other solvable issues to deal with than to keep on solving this unsolvable issue.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Lender of the last resort-China?
Since the beginning of the European debt crisis, the Europeans solely are trying to stave off the contagion that will happen if Greece fails. Among other suggestions, one that is gaining somewhat support is to contact China and have it buy some heavily indebted European countries bonds. The Italians have already talked to them and the Chinese have obliged somewhat but nothing more. Now it is such an irony that China was sometimes called the Sick man of Asia and now it has the world’s biggest foreign currency reserves and clout to go with it and now the Sick man of Asia is being courted by the Sick people of Europe to save them from bankruptcy.
But as with other solutions, this will not materialize as the Chinese are too smart to start buying the European Debt without any substantial in return. Although Europe is one of their biggest markets and they don’t want to go down, but to invest in individual countries will not cut out for the Chinese. For one they are still classified as a developing country with millions of people under poverty (unlike Europe) and they don’t want to squander away their foreign reserves on bonds where they will get nothing in return. They may be the biggest foreign currency holders but they want to make sure that they invest it wisely in these uncertain times and right now Europe is not a good place to invest as it has now become the Sick man of Europe.
But as with other solutions, this will not materialize as the Chinese are too smart to start buying the European Debt without any substantial in return. Although Europe is one of their biggest markets and they don’t want to go down, but to invest in individual countries will not cut out for the Chinese. For one they are still classified as a developing country with millions of people under poverty (unlike Europe) and they don’t want to squander away their foreign reserves on bonds where they will get nothing in return. They may be the biggest foreign currency holders but they want to make sure that they invest it wisely in these uncertain times and right now Europe is not a good place to invest as it has now become the Sick man of Europe.
Europe in Debt Valley-2
Every day has become a nail bitter for Greece, Europe and the rest of the world as everybody is watching whether Greece will make it or default on its debt and leave the Euro to come back to its old currency. It just shows that nationalities trump the sense of belonging to one continent. Everybody jealously guards their own sovereignty and when it comes to making financial contributions, national pride trumps everything and old stereotypical attitudes comes to surface. If Greece was the only one, somehow or some way it could have been contained but with Ireland, Portugal, Spain and now Italy in the picture, it is harder to know how the Euro will be saved as you can only just have enough funds to save small countries but not Spain or Italy.
The infighting that is going on within Europe to find a cure for the Greek ills is still not finished as nobody wants to commit unlimited amount of funds (read: Debt) to fund a country which will not have the means to pay it back any time soon unless massive cuts in spending and increased tax collection takes place. European debt crisis is not going to go away soon as the markets and even politicians are now beginning to realize that in order to save the Euro, there will have to some sort of exit of some fiscally weak countries. Just like in order to save a life you have cut off the affected part, the same should be true of Europe.
The infighting that is going on within Europe to find a cure for the Greek ills is still not finished as nobody wants to commit unlimited amount of funds (read: Debt) to fund a country which will not have the means to pay it back any time soon unless massive cuts in spending and increased tax collection takes place. European debt crisis is not going to go away soon as the markets and even politicians are now beginning to realize that in order to save the Euro, there will have to some sort of exit of some fiscally weak countries. Just like in order to save a life you have cut off the affected part, the same should be true of Europe.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Europe in Debt Valley
Ah the Great continent called Europe now in Debt valley and surviving day by day on crisis mode. What happened to this great continent where some of the world richest nations are? It is not hard to see that some nations were more equal than others and the massive welfare state that was being sustained was just a smoke screen for accumulating debt after debt and masking the true nature of debt which still is not known. Then the great idea came to integrate the currencies of European nations into one eliminating the old currencies and in effect the fiscal sovereignty of several nations without having a plan to deal with bankruptcy or worse exit of any nation in the European Union.
It is a real tragedy and I can say arrogance on the part of the European Union to assume that every nation will be equal in the union without taking into account the different histories, languages, cultures, animosities and financial realities that goes with it. Even if all Europeans think that they are alike based on their shared religion, this economic crisis has exposed the truth that ethnicity plays in people lives every day (for a comparison see the Arab nation divided into 22 countries based on one religion). The Greek government’s financials are in shambles and every few months they have to cut some of their budget in order to qualify for a few billion dollars while the Germans and other rich nations accuse them of deceit and laziness.
It is a real tragedy and I can say arrogance on the part of the European Union to assume that every nation will be equal in the union without taking into account the different histories, languages, cultures, animosities and financial realities that goes with it. Even if all Europeans think that they are alike based on their shared religion, this economic crisis has exposed the truth that ethnicity plays in people lives every day (for a comparison see the Arab nation divided into 22 countries based on one religion). The Greek government’s financials are in shambles and every few months they have to cut some of their budget in order to qualify for a few billion dollars while the Germans and other rich nations accuse them of deceit and laziness.
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