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Statesmanship is back! China and Saudi Arabia
Comments can be made here.
José d’Acosta, a Jesuit, was a missionary in Peru and Mexico in the second half of the 16th century. His contact with the Aztec culture was the cause of his profound disarray. “What is the meaning of the abominable cruelty taking place every day in front of…
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The Best Laid Schemes (Part 2), by Duncan Sutherland
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The Best Laid Schemes (Part 1), by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post.
Improbable though it may now seem, the supreme leader of the British was only recently reckoned by many of her (mostly southern) subjects to be a political magician who might well contrive to deliver what was conceived of in the heart of darkest England as a successful hard Brexit and thereby miraculously bring…
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Where There’s a Will (Part 2), by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has already declared that she is determined that there will be a further Scottish independence referendum and at a time chosen by the Scottish Parliament.
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Where There’s a Will (Part 1), by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post.
Improbable though it may seem, it happens that Guy Verhofstadt, who is lead Brexit negotiator for the European Parliament, envisaged immediately after the UK EU referendum result that Scotland would be able to hold an independence referendum before Brexit took effect (such as the Scottish First Minister is proposing) so that that country…
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Back to the Drawing Board, by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post.
On Sunday evening, when it had been fairly confidently expected that UK Prime Minister Theresa May would be invoking Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon on Tuesday, thus initiating negotiations for the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union yesterday, news suddenly began to trickle in to the effect that there…
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Honest Abe foresaw dishonest Donald! by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post. Abraham Lincoln warned us : the day will come when Trump arises. Let’s be ready to denounce him.
Dear Paul,
It is noteworthy that the Trump executive order signed on January 27th, apparently discriminating against foreign nationals on religious grounds, seems to violate the US constitution (and thus undermine the…
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Chilcot Report – Rats in a sack, by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post.
Dear Paul,
On the subject of the video of Robin Cook’s resignation speech in 2003 which you show beside your regular Friday video, I just wanted to say how much I appreciated seeing that again. A model resignation speech, listened to intently by Jeremy Corbyn, as the video shows. At the…
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Another Blot on the Escutcheon, by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post.
Dear Paul,
I thought you might find it interesting to take a look at Nicola Sturgeon’s Twitter page following the publication of the Chilcot report into the Iraq war, “the UK’s most shameful foreign-policy action in years”, as the leader of the Scottish National Party’s group of MPs, Angus Robertson, has just said…
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How to Shoot Yourself in the Foot, by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post.
In the weeks and days leading up to the referendum on UK membership of the European Union a message was being transmitted loudly and clearly from Germany and indeed elsewhere: if the UK decides to leave the EU, it will be shooting itself in the foot. This was not some modern-day equivalent of…
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“Confusion Now Hath Made His Masterpiece”, by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post.
Dear Paul,
I’m rather fond of Shakespeare myself, not least Macbeth. With reference to your post on Boris Johnson and the tragi-comic events which are unfolding in England on a daily basis, I think it is as well to bear in mind that intense existential national debates are now under way…
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Ah, the endless complexities of English identity!, by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post. As a comment upon Le temps qu’il fait le 30 juin 2016.
Ah, the endless complexities of English identity as defined by place and social rank but especially social rank in its relationship to forms of language, which function not only as communication, of course, but as mechanisms for defining and…
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Scotland – “A Terrible Beauty Is Born”, by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post.
Since Sunday morning, when the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, answered a question on a BBC Scotland television programme known as Politics Scotland concerning a House of Lords advice note which had been circulated on the subject of legislative consent in relation to legislation giving effect to Brexit which would have to…
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Scotland and Brexit, by Duncan Sutherland
Guest post.
Dear Mr. Jorion,
Having read what has appeared in your blog so far about the complexities of the decision taken by the people of England on Thursday (but not by the people of Scotland), I wonder if you are yet aware of a complexity which has just been raised in Scotland today.
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The Troika: Why not take its destiny in our own hands?
This is an English translation of my column Troïka : Il va peut-être falloir s’en occuper nous-mêmes ! of February 27 2015. Thanks to Ioana-Noemy Toma for her kind help !
Jean-Daniel Magnin sends me a newspaper clipping that tells about the actress Emma Thompson stating she will not pay income tax – which she’s in…
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On Europe, an answer to Mr François Hollande, president of the French Republic, by Pierre-Yves Dambrine
An English translation of Sur l’Europe, en réponse à Monsieur François Hollande, président de la République, par Pierre-Yves Dambrine by Johan Leestemaker
Invited commentary, in response of a tribune de François Hollande published today May 8 in the…
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THE LOBBYISTS AND US
In the Wall Street Journal today:
A new American law requires US-listed companies to mention on products containing certain minerals that their extraction fuels conflict in Central Africa.
Too expensive for businesses, said the lobbyists! Get rid of it!
The Securities and…
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ON THE EVE OF THE GREEK ELECTIONS, by Panagiotis Grigoriou
Guest post. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell
On Thursday 14th June a woman from Crete, aged 32 years old, stole three packs of milk and an ice-cream from a supermarket in Héraklion, causing a loss to the shop of 20.77 Euros. For several days, her…
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APPEAL TO ALL THE PARLIAMENTARIANS WHO ENVISAGE VOTING THE “BALANCED BUDGET RULE”
Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell.
The inept formulation of the financial stability pact, as well as the “balanced budget rule” which is derived from it, require (as I recalled in a recent column for Le Monde-Économie) a nation’s growth rate to be equal or superior to the level of the “average” coupon…
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MR. STIGLITZ HASN’T BEEN TIPPED OFF
An English translation by Bernard Bouvet of my post: M. Stiglitz n’est pas au courant.
What caused it? Is it the one year 7% decline in Greece’s GDP in 2011, 16% altogether since the crisis began in 2007? Or perhaps the defections among members of the Greek parliament during Sunday’s vote, followed by exclusions…