Michael GoldfarbFebruary 15, 2012 07:03

Euro zone debt crisis: War?

Hyperbole sweeps the pundits, obscuring the situation

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Sometimes commentators can get swept up in events but the euro zone debt crisis really is bringing out the worst in pundits. Is what's happening in the euro zone really a kind of warfare?

Here is Edwin Truman, of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, in yesterday's New York Times:

"FOR the third time in a century, a bitter conflict fuelled by historic grievances has erupted in Europe, with the United States looking from afar and hoping not to get involved. Of course, this is not being fought on the battlefields but in the arcane arenas of international finance. But as in World War I … "

The debt brake: Germany’s most dangerous export?

Siobhan DowlingFebruary 13, 2012 07:51

BERLIN — Merkel’s fiscal union “contractually pledges countries to recession and stagnation and maybe even deflation,” argues one economist.

German exports slump as euro crisis bites

Siobhan DowlingFebruary 8, 2012 16:52

Germany’s economy is not immune from the euro crisis, with exports slowing considerably late last year.

Michael GoldfarbFebruary 7, 2012 12:23

Syria: France, Britain and Italy recall ambassadors

European countries play what cards they have against Assad regime.

There is not a lot European countries can do to stop the Bashar al-Assad regime's onslaught against its own people - especially in light of this weekend's vetoing of a Security Council resolution by Russia and China.

Recalling ambassadors from Damascus for consultation is about the only card they can play. That is exactly what Britain, France and Italy have done. No word about the German government's intentions. But police in Berlin have arrested two men suspected of spying for Syria.

Michael GoldfarbFebruary 6, 2012 12:56

Sarkozy and Merkel hold special meeting

French President makes his close relationship with Merkel a campaign issue.

Say this about French President Nicolas Sarkozy, he takes risks. 80 days before he stands for re-election he held a cabinet meeting and invited a guest to attend: German Chancellor Angela Merkel. It is their 14th joint meeting - giving new meaning to the term "special relationship." Merkel said it was "quite noram" for her to be involved in the French presidential election campaign.

The BBC has a full report here.

Sarkozy's close alliance with Merkel has become a serious issue in the election campaign. Marine Le Pen, leader of the ultra-right National Front is running on a platform of taking France out of the euro. She is running a credible third in recent opinion polls. Socialist Francois Hollande is leading Sarkozy and he too is taking a very anti-Europe line as arch euro-skeptic, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, gleefully wrote in today's Daily Telegraph:

Germany rejects European Central Bank write-down of Greek debt

Siobhan DowlingFebruary 3, 2012 14:36

Berlin — Berlin is refusing to allow the ECB get involved in Greece’s debt restructuring.

Amy SilversteinFebruary 2, 2012 15:23

Canned lard safe to eat after 64 years

A can of lard left over from Germany's post-World War II days is still edible.

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Canned food are piled up in a market in Cabinda on January 19, 2010. (ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP/Getty Images)

A lab found that an aging can of food is "gritty," but still technically edible.

Arrest in Germany’s 'National Socialist Union' neo-Nazi terror case

Siobhan DowlingFebruary 1, 2012 15:49

Berlin — Another arrest has been made in the case of a far-right cell suspected of killing 10 people.

Michael GoldfarbJanuary 31, 2012 07:48

It's Europe, they do summits differently here

Leaders agree fiscal compact - details left for later

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The EU's Big Three: French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti at eysterday's summit in Brussels. (PHILIPPE WOJAZER/AFP/Getty Images)

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EU leaders met in Brussels yesterday. By their standards things went well. Contentious pre-summit issues were kicked aside - in this case, Germany did not push for the right to install a budget czar in Greece. Agreement was reached on a new fiscal compact for the euro zone, although the details of what was agreed were left for later. A lot of money was pledged, enough to make a person wonder where it will come from given how indebted many European governments are.

Michael GoldfarbJanuary 26, 2012 14:19

Davos takes on euro zone crisis

Old arguments about how to solve the euro zone crisis are re-hashed at World Economic Forum annual meeting

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Davos: the euro zone crisis followed the leaders to the Alps (FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images)

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Davos. The name, the place, what it stands for is a challenge to an ideal of journalism. It seems to be one of those events that become a story not because of any intrinsic news value but because a bunch of famous people get together and allow journalists to mingle among them.

There are many national leaders at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos but no treaties are signed, nor are there joint declarations of policy made. That would be news and worth reporting. There are titans of industry in Davos, but no products are launched or companies acquired. That, too, would be news etc.

It can't be news because the comments about the year to come actually shape events. I came across this article from The Washington Post a couple of years ago on Google about some famously wrong predictions made by the rulers of the planet at the World Economic Forum. It's pretty amusing. (For that matter, did anyone at Davos in 1996 or 97 predict there would be something like Google (founded in 1998) and that a search engine would upend all previously known models of information aggregation and dissemination?

Anyway, the leaders are at Davos, journalists are tweeting like fan-boys and girls about rubbing shoulders with them.