Powered By Blogger

Monday, November 2, 2015

The new Left and Right division of Europe.

http://sputniknews.com/politics/20150914/1026970165/Europe-neoliberal-politics-Euroscepticism.html
Ever since the economic crisis broke out, new divisions have formed in Europe.

This time they are not restricted necessarily to the previous geographical borders.

In the past we had a Western Europe, that has adopted capitalism.

While the Eastern part of our continent saw communist regimes being established, all united under a Russian led Soviet block.

After the collapse of communism in Europe, we witnessed an acceleration of the democratization of the majority of its Eastern states.

Consequently leading to more markets opening up in the East,plus the expansion of opportunities for wealthy Western companies.

While the Eastern states benefited hugely from the large investment influx that they needed, to rebuild their infrastructure.

This reality sadly did not last long enough. The economic crisis, exposed major faults in Europe's single currency, the euro.

The continent soon was divided once more between the "sluggish" conservative economies of the South and the more liberalized, adaptable and competitive ones of the North.

The financial turmoil combined with the refugee crisis, gave rise to many "radical" political parties across Europe,both from the Right and the Left.

Our continent became a battleground between old competing ideologies again;capitalism and socialism. This time though, it is more of a cross-nation class struggle, than competing ideologies of Europe's superpowers.

Almost in every EU member state, we are observing a turn towards the Left, the Right or both, with Liberal or Centrist parties trying to keep the balance.

And while the European elites are heavily preoccupied with making sure that Leftist parties do not gain more influence, they do little to stop the rise of the far-Right.

When Syriza rose to power in Greece, it faced a harsh and unanimous opposition from all other euro-zone governments, led by Germany. Other Leftist movements in Spain, Portugal and Ireland are similarly treated.

Recently the Portuguese President Cavaco Silva, who belongs to the Right-wing party PSD, made some unfortunate remarks that revealed how intense this struggle really is.

What he said is basically that he would not allow in government leftist parties, like Bloco (Portuguese Syriza or Podemos) and the Communists, that oppose Europe’s regime of austerity and NATO.

The President effectively conveyed that he cared more about what financial institutions and the European establishment think of the Portuguese elections than what Portuguese people want.
(Broadsheet)

Such painfully honest but also arrogant statements, haven't been made by a European leader for a long time. They echo the cold war era and show the commitment and determination of our continent's leaders, to proceed with their plans regardless the backlash of the public opinion.

It is worth noticing that Europe's elites are tolerating nationalist governments like that of Hungary, plus recently Poland and many other European nations. In addition they are not as worried about the rise of the far-Right and in fact in some states like Finland, they form coalitions with them.

They must not forget, that the far-Right was also responsible for the worst crimes and disasters that our continent has ever had to endure. Their tolerance towards them is not just disrespectful, but dangerous for Europe's future unification aspirations.

Another question is what the establishment's plans are, if austerity and the diminution of our social security rights are here to stay for the long term.

Both groups-the establishment, conservative and Right-wing or the Left-wing, people oriented and socialist- have been locked in this tug-of-war for dominance of their interests or ideology.

It seems that they are doing so just to settle old accounts, but they are missing the point. Europe and the world are not the same anymore. New powers are emerging fast and we are heading towards a multi-polar world, where our continent is in danger of becoming irrelevant.

Our societies and economies must adapt and change, if we want to still remain a wealthy region of the world. But the solution lies somewhere in the middle, rather in the absolute dominance of either ideology or approach.

The establishment, threatened by the competition they face by emerging, yet poorer regions of the world, in which workers enjoy little benefits, want to limit those of Europeans.

On the other hand the socialist groups, want rightfully to protect these social rights. But in their effort they often make bad choices, driven by populism, lack of experience and their need to gain support from the ordinary citizens.

Syriza for example, after their victory and in a show of dominance, reversed many of the austerity policies that have been adopted by the previous government. Some were just, while others were nothing more but populist decisions to satisfy the demands of their voters.

What the voters of one party may expect though, is not always the best for a country's interests. And here is where the Left often fails.

As it does not have the resources to establish itself in a country's politics, it relies solely on the support of the average voter. And to maintain their support, the Left often sticks to anachronistic policies that are not necessarily viable, or they obstruct progress for the country as a whole.

Similarly, the establishment is highly influenced by the interests of those who finance the political parties, which represent it. As result, their policies are benefiting mainly the rich few of the society, those with power and money; and that is unacceptable in any society that wants to be called a true democracy.

Sadly Europe's politics are still locked in outdated ideologies and vested interests, obstructing the development or promotion of ideas that will offer long term solutions and a vision for the continent's future.

We need a balance and an absolute coordination of both political outlooks, not the pointless struggle between them.

Europe must secure its citizens' social rights and invest in their future development. It is outrageous that European elites chose to save the continent's banks pouring billions into them, while our youths are left with little opportunities.

The best investment that a capable leader could make is in its nation's future, which is the young people. Ensuring their adequate education and career prospects, will mean that the country will have a rich and capable pool of human resources in the long term.

Which in return, will increase competitiveness and innovation, encouraging economic recovery. Protecting the rights of all workers must not be seen as negative or costly. In a market based economy, having a prosperous and able to consume working force, is vital for the survival of a nation's internal market.

It is illogical what happened in Greece, which was the complete destruction of the country's market, by imposing policies that impoverished the middle class.

We need reforms and a clamp down of old and outdated practices, policies and benefits of certain groups in a society. To achieve those, it is obvious that some policies that many liberals and center-right wing leaders are promoting must be adopted.

The problem is that their proposals are targeting mainly the lower or middle classes, while the upper class of Europe will not have to compromise or be affected by them. In fact these proposals are there to protect and serve them.

What we need is not to decide whether Europe turns Left or Right for solutions; rather find ways to utilize the best of what both have to offer. We must find a compromise between the interests of the ordinary people and reform Europe's economies, in order to compete with the rest of the world.

It is not the right time to stick to ideologies, rather encourage dialogue that will promote ideas. But ultimately, it is the establishment that needs to listen to the citizens and take into consideration their concerns. If their vision for the future of Europe is to be successful, it will need the support of every social group not just the top 1%.

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Reforming European education systems.

http://ec.europa.eu/ireland/education/index_en.htm
The mantra that we were hearing during the start of the economic crisis from our continent's leaders, was the "need to reform".

From their perspective, these reforms should mainly focus on Europe's social justice and security system.

It is true that some sacrifices and changes have to be made, in order to make Europe more competitive, ready to deal with the challenges ahead.


These challenges are created by an increasingly multi-polar and competitive world, in which Europe must secure a prominent place.

But if we are discussing about the future of Europe, then our efforts should be focused on the most obvious asset that we ought to invest in: our future generations, our youths.

Sadly right now our leaders are mainly rushing to stabilize Europe's banks and the single currency, the euro. Crushing of course the future of our continent's most valuable asset for recovery in the process; the creative potential of our young population.

Unemployment has hit hard people under the age of 30 across the continent, mainly due the austerity policies that were implemented. In addition, years of neglecting our educational and social security systems, contributed to the problem.

Since Europe must maintain or increase its competitiveness, it will need highly skilled and educated young workers, that will become innovators and entrepreneurs. Or simply that will attract companies to invest, taking advantage Europe's qualified workforce, either native born or migrant.

Therefore, our continent must establish new industries in which he would be a pioneer or hold an edge of competitiveness. That can never be achieved without skilled workforce, appropriately and adequately educated or trained.

Consequently Europe must reform its very educative system, in order to offer its youths the skills and knowledge to face the future. In addition of course with creating new jobs and industries.

Young Europeans must receive the right education to be able to fill jobs and professions that Europe will need, in order to achieve an economic breakthrough and innovation.

Despite the struggling EU economy, fewer and fewer Europeans are studying so-called ‘hard’ subjects like science, engineering and maths. Since 2006, the number of ICT and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) graduates in Europe has plunged by almost 10%!

In the workforce today, only half of Europeans are deemed to be ‘digitally skilled’. And yet, over 90% of jobs today require these digital skills. In other words, there is a ‘skills gap’ in Europe, and it’s growing worse.

The situation is especially perverse when you consider that so many young people across the continent are unable to find jobs, while at the same time there are employers out there struggling to fill vacancies. If things continue as they are, then there will be a predicted 825,000 unfilled vacancies just for ICT professionals alone by 2020. (Debating Europe)

https://kivinen.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/european-schools-congratulates-eu-for-nobel-peace-prize-2012/
The obvious thing to do of course, is to reform Europe's education system, to close this gap. We should introduce new subjects in our classrooms, that will prepare young Europeans for the upcoming shift.

I remember when I was a young man in high-school, having to memorize useless subjects like religion, or be taught music and arts in totally inadequate way. Teaching these subjects and course learning them was something mechanical, a thing that was always have been and no one dared to challenge it.

But wouldn't be much better if we scrapped some certain subjects out of our classrooms, or change the way they are taught, while introducing new ones. Subjects that will benefit our youths, helping them find a job in an increasing competitive Europe.

Naturally computer skills and languages are necessary, in a progressively diverse and technology or information-driven continent. But these are not the only changes that European classrooms should see.

We still need old subjects like history, arts and science. Art because we need creativity in people. History so we won't repeat the same mistakes. And of course science to generate those scientists and innovators that Europe needs.

We just teach them the wrong way, from the wrong angle. In history we should teach the horrors of war and conflict, not glorify the heroic achievements of our ancestors. In arts we should encourage open-mindedness and creativity, not just teach its boring history and significance in the past. 

We should introduce new subjects like European studies at the latter levels of education, in high-schools, so we will have informed European citizens.

Finally we should introduce sex education in schools, to have happy and comfortable with their sexuality individuals, which will reduce stereotypes, discrimination, sexism and STI's or unwanted teen pregnancies. 

Human sexuality goes hand in hand with human creativity, so sexually aware humans make happy and creative individuals.

Europe must ponder on what kind of future generations does it want, apart from its politics and economic model. Where our leaders go wrong, is that they try to formulate first the economic model and then the society of people which it is supposed to exist for.

In reality they should work the other way around. First plan what kind of future European society they want, then reform their country's education and economy around it. Thus their main concern should be education, not the banking system.

Unless of course their vision for Europe is one of increasing inequality, with a stagnant economy and relying on immigration to cover our workforce needs, resulting in increasing social backlash. 

Friday, October 2, 2015

Syrian Civil War, closer in becoming a global one.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/30/did-russia-send-an-anti-u-s-force-to-syria.html
The US Senator John McCain has accused Russia of targeting Free Syrian Army rebel recruits backed by Washington.

McCain, who is head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the Russian air strikes have hit forces that have been “armed and trained by the CIA because we have communications with people there.”
 (Euronews).
The above statement is clearly a proof that the CIA and the US are behind the creation of the Syrian conflict. The Syrian civil war is nothing more than a coup to overthrow Assad and his regime, to serve the geopolitical interests of the USA in the region.

One of course will now question; since they created this messy situation, will they accept all refugees from Syria? After-all, they have the responsibility for this development, not Europe. They should be ready to accept the consequences as well.

Most importantly, this constitutes a very dangerous and worrying development. Have any CIA officers been killed by the Russians in this attack and if yes, how will the Americans respond? This could lead to a renewed cold war in our planet, or even worse; a very hot one. 

Right before the bombs rained down, a Russian general arrived in Baghdad warned the U.S. military planners to keep America's own warplanes out of the way. U.S. officials said they would not alter their flight plans.

This is the beginning of a dangerous new phase of the international intervention in the Syrian civil war. Not only has Russia tried to order U.S. forces to step aside, it actually has the firepower to back up its demands. Some of the 35 warplanes Russia has deployed to Syria are specifically designed for fighting foes like the United States, not ISIS.

Seemingly out of nowhere on September 21, they appeared at an air base in Latakia, a regime

http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-syrian-jets-bombard-plain-after-rebel-attack-monitor-2109264
stronghold in western Syria—28 of the Russian air force’s best warplanes, including four Su-30 fighters and a number of Su-25 attack planes and Su-24 bombers.

Soon six more Su-34 bombers and at least one Il-20 spy plane followed, part of a contingent of Russia forces reportedly including some 500 troops plus armored vehicles and SA-15 and SA-22 surface-to-air missiles.  
(The Daily Beast).

But Russia is not the only power to get involved after America. France is the only European country so far, to carry out its first airstrikes against ISIS in Syria last Sunday. (The Guardian)

Furthermore China is also getting involved. On September the 23rd, Al-Masdar Al-‘Arabi, (The Arab Source), claimed a Chinese naval vessel passed through the Suez Canal and is headed to Syria. To assist the Russians fighting the Islamic State and the US, plus the Gulf Emirate proxies trying to overthrow the Al-Assad government.

The website cites an senior officer in the Syrian Army stationed at Latakia who claims Chinese troops and military aircraft will arrive at the port city of Tartus within six weeks.
(InfoWars)

This is not a regional conflict anymore, but potentially we could see a new global war within the next few months, if not weeks. It is obvious that Syria, just as Ukraine were just the chessboard for a greater stir-up in the geopolitical status all this time.

The people of Syria are not just victims of the Assad regime, nor the rebels. They have been caught between bigger regional and international power games, that could potentially settle old open accounts for good. Unfortunately this will not happen in an easy or pleasant way for any of us. 

The rich Arab states hate the Assad regime and they are calling upon the Americans to overthrow him. Annoying in return Russia, as Assad is their only long-term ally in the region. The Russians are calling the Chinese in assistance to deal with the Americans and literally give them the message to back off-or else.

Finally Europe looks on confused and divided on what to do. No one wants a conflict or war, especially since our continent has not recovered yet from the economic crisis. We should be spending money on creating a fairer and brighter future for our youths, not destroy the little opportunities they have left.

Sadly, Europe might not have a choice, but to get engaged. Ukraine and Syria lie in its doorstep. Hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing the Middle East, pouring into European countries. Soon enough and if the conflict in Ukraine continues, Europe will see a new stream of refugees arriving from the East.

We won't have the luxury of remaining passive or simply viewers. If the war mongering leaders of this planet continue with their immoral power games, none of us will be given a choice.

Potentially the only thing Europe could do, is to act as a mediator and try to bring some sense into the minds of those irresponsible leaders. If the conflict in the Middle East escalates, no region will be unaffected, especially Europe due to its proximity.

East against West, Christian against Muslim, Sunni against Shia, liberal against conservative. This will be an annihilation of our world as we know it.

Every war brings economic possibilities and growth, after the initial disaster. And as the resources in our world are seemingly gathered in a handful of individuals, perhaps some wish to initiate this redistribution of wealth and power. 

We have been watching these struggles for the past 6 years now, ever since the euro-one crisis has begun and how Greece was treated by the IMF and the EU. The war in Ukraine and Syria, the Arab Spring and the increasingly aggressive Russia. The animosity in the South China Sea. Things do not look good.

Perhaps us Europeans, will have to take to the streets soon enough. This time not to protect our hard won civil and social security rights, but the stability of our region and world peace. Please, leave Syrian people alone and stop meddling!

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Outcome of the second Greek Elections.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/editorials/1265515-editorial-euro-crisis-back-again-after-greek-election-results
On Sunday the 20th of September, the Greeks were called for a second time in a year to vote for their Parliament.

The previous Syriza/Anel government collapsed, due to a split in Syriza last month.

As result, the party's leader and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was forced to call snap elections.

About 25 rebel Syriza MPs, who objected to Mr Tsipras's acceptance of more austerity demanded by Greece's creditors, formed the Popular Unity party, challenging Tsipras and Syriza. (BBC)

Popular Unity was led by former energy minister Panagiotis Lafazanis, who argues that Greece would be better off leaving the euro and going back to the drachma. (BBC)

Many other high profile Syriza members, like the former Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament-Zoe Konstantopoulou, also joined the rebel party.

Consequently, Syriza went to elections without its most outspoken, anti-austerity and hard-line members; the Popular Unity, plus Yanis Varoufakis who quit previously.

Yet this development did not prevent Syria from winning the elections and Tsipras being reelected as Greece's Prime Minister.

In fact it made his position even stronger. Firstly because the Greek people reinstated Tsipras as their Prime Minister, sending a strong message to Europe that they are giving him another chance.

Secondly, with the more radical Syriza members gone, Tsipras will now face little opposition from within his party. 

This is definitely good news, but not only for Tsipras or Syriza. The development offers an opportunity to Greece and Europe, to find a quick solution and bring the indebted country back on track fast. 

That of course only if the newly elected government and its European counterparts, actually avoid the previous antics and actually cooperate. 

With less opposition from the hard-line anti-austerity members and with a more cooperative Tsipras, Europe must grasp this opportunity to assist Greece and support the new Greek government.

Ending the political instability in Greece, is of the utmost importance to end the economic one too. If Europe continues to torpedo Tsipras' Left-Wing government, then things can only get worse.

https://www.stratfor.com/analysis/after-elections-greece-turns-economy
The Greek people have once again spoken. Europe must now respect their decision and support their new government, in finding a way out of the economic crisis. 

It is in the best interests of both Greece and of course, Europe itself.

Similarly, Syriza should start acting with a more professional and diplomatic manner when dealing with its European partners. 

Some of the statements made from previous Greek government officials, were utterly unacceptable and naturally they did not help the negotiation process.

Not that Syriza must totally compromise and abandon its efforts to end, or at least limit  the austerity policies. But in the past, we were witnessing a cacophony of opinions from its members, plus a total disrespect of Greece's partners by the Syriza/Anel officials.

But these elections did not bring only positive developments. One of the definitely negative outcomes is that the Far-Right Golden Dawn party, remained the third political force in Greece. 

It seems that sadly, they are here to stay for many years to come in the Greek political reality, posing constantly a threat to the country's future.

If for any reason this government collapses again, Golden Dawn could be further empowered and gain more support among the Greek voters; and that will make Greece's economic recovery almost impossible.

The second negative development is that Tsipras is looking to form a new coalition with his old partners, ANEL (Independent Greeks). If the Syriza rebels were not helping the negotiations with their intransigence, ANEL leader Panos Kamenos, has also often made inflammatory comments that had the same effect.

Ideally Tsipras should have been more open to a coalition government with a less hard-line party. Besides he should have learned a lesson; that by aggressive approach to negotiations you can never win support and the argument.

Especially when your party and government officials have a mind of their own, making statements that add oil to the fire. Greece has a justified goal to pursue, but it won't achieve its goals without skillful negotiators and politicians. 

The final major negative development that we observed in these Greek elections, was the very low turn-out. About 44 % of Greeks who were eligible to vote did not go to the polls on Sunday. 

In real numbers this means that out of 9,836,997 Greeks who could cast their ballot approximately only 5,562,820 people voted. This is the highest abstention rate in the history of Greek parliamentary elections following the fall of the dictatorship in 1974. (Greek Reporter)

That is a worrying occurrence. The Greek voters, totally disillusioned and fed up with their country's political reality are becoming apathetic towards the democratic process.

But what would one expect from them? After having voted against austerity and for a party that allegedly promised to end it, yet somehow the same party signed for a third bail-out.

The Greek and European leadership have to realize, that they have a responsibility towards them and all the other nations of the continent. If of course themselves value and truly support democracy. 

Europe is losing a generation with high youth unemployment rates and experiences increasing inequality, both among its nations and its people. How do our leaders want to be remembered in the future? We should hope not as those who surrendered our continent to vested interests. 

Monday, September 21, 2015

Europe's outer borders should be collectively patrolled.

https://euobserver.com/investigations/130281
When we observe how Europe is dealing with the migrant crisis, it is evident that EU member states are coming to a breaking point and often at odds wit each other.

During the weekend, we have witnessed a spat between countries in the new refugee frontier; Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary.

But sadly, this is not the first time that's happening. Last week, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban blamed Greece for the refugee crisis in his country, adding that the EU needs to deploy forces to Greece’s borders.

“If Greece is not capable of protecting its borders, we need to mobilize European forces to the Greek borders so that they can achieve the goals of European law instead of the Greek authorities," Orban said. 

He did not elaborate on how exactly such a plan will turn into real life, but he proved that he has probably never heard of FRONTEX, the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union. (Keep Talking Greece)

Although his antics may seem out of sync with the rest of Europe, he is right in this case. Frontex may well exist for a number of years now, dealing with illegal migrants in Europe's borders; but they never had to face such scale of arrivals before.

One would have thought that ever since the crisis begun, the organization would be boosted with new recruits and funds, to deal with the increase of refugees entering Europe's outer borders. But such action did not take place, at least not yet.

In April, a Frontex report published the results of annual negotiations it has with member states over border staff and equipment.

The report shows shortages of Frontex-requested border staff ranging from 4% to 20% in various roles including first line officers and interview experts.

The cumbersome manner in which Frontex has to negotiate and persuade countries to lend equipment many months in advance has had an impact on operations during the summer’s crises.

The inflexibility causes Frontex difficulties ensuring continuity in its emergency operations: member states have been lending equipment for only single months at a time. It means Frontex is often scrambling around for new resources from around Europe every month.

So much so that Frontex relies in part on Iceland, a non-EU country which the agency says has lent more than a third of its entire coast guard fleet to help in Greece and Italy. Norway, another non-EU country, has been similarly co-operative.

Each member state has the sufficient capacity to handle border control, but when the migratory pressure becomes exceptionally high, they might require additional assistance of either technical equipment or specialized border guards.

The role of Frontex is to coordinate the deployment of such additional assets and human resources from other EU/Schengen Area countries, as described in its founding regulation.

As chaos continues to grip key migration routes, Frontex officials have admitted to the Bureau it “badly need(s) border guards on the Greek islands, border guards and technical equipment on the land border between Greece and Turkey, Bulgaria and Turkey and, crucially along the Hungarian border with Serbia.”

The Bureau has also learned that despite more than two million refugees amassing in Turkey and planning their dangerous trips across the borders, Frontex has not had a single member of staff based there gathering intelligence about smugglers. (EU Observer)

From the above report it is obvious that Europe is failing again in protecting its own borders. Each state government prefers to either push the responsibility to its neighbors, the countries of entry, or the rich destination nations, but they are avoiding doing the obvious; cooperating in a pan-European effort to tackle the crisis.

If European politicians want to control their nation's borders, they got to understand that primarily it is in their interests to shield the outer borders of Europe, at the entry points.

Instead of bickering and trying to shift responsibility, they should first of all utilize what they have already set up; an agency with a particular task in minding Europe's common borders, like Frontex.

That naturally means, increasing the funding and supplying it with all necessary resources, plus recruiting individuals to work for the agency.

We got huge unemployment ravaging Europe's youths, why don't we start employing people to work where they are needed the most nowadays?

Unemployed people could apply to be assigned for paid work for a season, a year or more-event permanently on a Greek island, southern Italy, Malta, Bulgaria, Hungary and so on.

In addition, as the report suggests, people could be employed directly in refugee camps in Turkey or Lebanon, where a large number of refugees arriving in Europe are coming from.

In this way, we could control who enters our continent, plus we could have already their documents and identity, before they hand them out to smugglers, arriving illegally in our continent. If there is a way to avoid alleged ISIS fighters entering Europe, perhaps this is one.

Our leaders were hiding their heads in the sand for too long, being preoccupied by the economic crisis and Greece. They hoped that this humanitarian urgency would never knock our door.

Now that they were proven wrong and people are arriving in their hundreds of thousands, they still rush to protect their borders and blame their EU partners, than take action and responsibility.

This crisis once again affects all EU states, so the solution must be achieved in absolute coordination, cooperation and participation by all the union's members.

We should support Frontex and if needed, send additional forces and officers in the entry points on Europe's borders. Furthermore we could assist countries like Turkey and Lebanon by sending them resources, plus officers to encourage legal migration into Europe, discouraging illegal one.

We must understand that since we have opened our borders, the only way forward and to deal with this challenge is to act united and unanimously.

We can not bow to the pressure from nationalist and conservative parties, which take advantage from this situation to achieve their goal; raising the internal borders in Europe again.