Ireland and the EU

"Why did the eurozone governments pressure Ireland to ask for the bailout?"

Economic analysis from the Austrian School of Economics regarding the current economic climate in the EU and in particular the treatment of Ireland's economic problems.

http://mises.org/daily/4876

EU Unemployment Rates

Infograph charting the unemployment rates across Europe, which have risen from a low of 6.8% in 2008 to 9.7% now. This site also contains a breakdown of unemployment rates by gender and nationality so we can see that Spain is suffering the worst rates in Europe and, in general, women are more likely to be unemployed than men.

http://www.iiea.com/blogosphere/the-eu-unemployment-infographic

Antibiotic Resistance

Worrying trend with regards to the growing resistance to existing antibiotics on the market in Europe.

http://www.nature.com/news/antibiotic-resistance-marching-across-europe-1.9413

The Fall and Rise of Iceland

The reaction of Iceland to their economic crisis should be an example to the rest of Europe, especially smaller economies like Ireland.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2011/0924/1224304661287.html

Europe's Woe is China's Chance

European economic problems offer China, with it's cash reserves, a chance to step further up the ladder of world trade dominance. A massive investment into Europe by China seems to have short term benefits for both regions but is it an attractive proposal?

http://shadow.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/09/16/chinas_investing_woes

Race Relations Still Sore Subject in Europe

Protests against Roma in the Czech Republic from Spiegel Online

Recent developments in Europe with regard to two specific minority groups, Muslims, in this case in the Netherlands, and Roma, in this case in the Czech Republic. The Burka ban in the Netherlands mirrors a similar ban in force in France.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,786495,00.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/netherlands/8765673/Netherlands-to-ban-the-burka.html

An Ever Closer Transfer Union

"The heads of government decided that Greece, Portugal and Ireland would only have to pay approximately 3.5 percent rather than 4.5 percent interest on their emergency loans. At the same time, countries like Italy, Cyprus and Belgium will have to pay much higher interest rates on the money they have borrowed to help bail out these countries. "Taking out expensive loans and extending cheap ones -- that's a clear sign of a transfer union," Fuest says".

The current trend in the economic transfer of resources in Europe is evidence of the evolution of the EU away from a Union of 'Equals' and towards a Transfer Union.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,777671,00.html

What Next for Europe

The recent and most brutal evidence of a European clash of civilisations which we have recently witnessed in Norway is a new chapter in a worrying trend towards the introduction of the gun into affairs of immigration, integration and social inclusion. Europe has a long history of integrating different cultures into its lands, creating states containing many different ethnic groups and nationalities all living under the banner of Liberal Democracy but this latest attack has highlighted a key issue which Europe as a whole has failed to deal with. The post religious, post nationalist European ideals of what makes a nation-state are extremely vague with borders eroding and religion no longer a unifying factor, what is a Europe? Is there a European identity? Many who hold the view that Europe is white and Christian view the newly arrived non-white, non-Christian immigrants to their country as a major dilution of their sense of cultural identity. What’s worse is the perceived lack of action by certain Liberal governments, who seem content to appease the left wing and Brussels by allowing communities of foreign nationals to grow in their countries.  These actions, and the continued ‘War on Terror’ have stoked the fire of the rhetoric of the European right, whose members need not look too far back in history for their own inspiration, nor need we to see what they are capable of. What next for Europe, can we continue to ignore this problem or is it time to allow ourselves to take pride in having strong, yet inclusive, national identities once more. Or do we, like the USA, attempt to assimilate all by painting a stars and stripes on all new arrivals and making them American. Or do we, as some senior politicians have suggested, close the borders, instigate border controls, re-erect our fortresses and worry about our national identity only when this option has run it’s course? 

Europe's Home Grown Horror

Utoeya Island

The inexcusable acts of an educated killer whose views, if not methods, are shared in pockets across a continent unsure of it's place or future.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2011/0724/Norway-mourns-ponders-impact-of-terror-attacks

The Pacific Century

Obama and Gillard

A realistic look at the shifting axis of world power from the Atlantic to the Pacific
http://www.theeuropean-magazine.com/40-goerlach-alexander/308-the-pacific-century

Integration in the Netherlands

"The integration will not be tailored to different groups"

The Netherlands to introduce a new bill on multi-culturism in which the Dutch society "takes

a central role" and the previous policy of a parallel societies within the country is abandoned.  

http://www.hudson-ny.org/2219/netherlands-abandons-multiculturalism