Germany's Social Democrats have received yet another blow in their bid to challenge Chancellor Angela Merkel in the upcoming elections. Polls show support for the SPD at a record low. It is only six weeks until Germans head to the polls in a general election and prospects are as grim as they could be for Frank-Walter Steinmeier. He's the country's foreign minister and vice chancellor but most all he is the Social Democratic Party's (SPD) candidate to become the country's next chancellor. If Germans voters were to cast their ballots today, the SPD would get a mere 22 percent - one percentage point less than in the previous week.
It is only six weeks until Germans head to the polls in a general election and prospects are as grim as they could be for Frank-Walter Steinmeier. He's the country's foreign minister and vice chancellor but most all he is the Social Democratic Party's (SPD) candidate to become the country's next chancellor.
If Germans voters were to cast their ballots today, the SPD would get a mere 22 percent - one percentage point less than in the previous week.
Germany's conservative Christian Democratic Union and the center-left Social Democratic Party have unveiled their first ads for September's election. But are they any good? In an interview, media expert Michael Spreng analyzes the campaigns for SPIEGEL ONLINE. SPIEGEL ONLINE: Current German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently met with former Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Was it a clever campaign move? Michael Spreng: It appears she thinks it's necessary. With the meeting, she was trying to send a message to the party base: I support the traditional Christian Democratic Union as well as the party's great politicians. Merkel's biggest problem in recent months was -- and she has actually had some success in this regard -- to lure voters away from the Social Democratic Party. But in doing so, she has overlooked part of her party base. By having her photo taken with Kohl, she is trying to make up for some of this neglect.
Germany's conservative Christian Democratic Union and the center-left Social Democratic Party have unveiled their first ads for September's election. But are they any good? In an interview, media expert Michael Spreng analyzes the campaigns for SPIEGEL ONLINE.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Current German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently met with former Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Was it a clever campaign move?
Michael Spreng: It appears she thinks it's necessary. With the meeting, she was trying to send a message to the party base: I support the traditional Christian Democratic Union as well as the party's great politicians. Merkel's biggest problem in recent months was -- and she has actually had some success in this regard -- to lure voters away from the Social Democratic Party. But in doing so, she has overlooked part of her party base. By having her photo taken with Kohl, she is trying to make up for some of this neglect.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said his country must deal with the problem of Kurdish rebels in Turkey's south-east.He gave no details of how this could be done, but his government is seeking opposition support for a negotiated settlement to the insurgency. His comments came ahead of an expected announcement of a roadmap to peace by the Kurdish separatist group, the PKK. The banned group is marking the 25th anniversary of its fight for autonomy.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said his country must deal with the problem of Kurdish rebels in Turkey's south-east.
He gave no details of how this could be done, but his government is seeking opposition support for a negotiated settlement to the insurgency.
His comments came ahead of an expected announcement of a roadmap to peace by the Kurdish separatist group, the PKK.
The banned group is marking the 25th anniversary of its fight for autonomy.
A cargo ship that vanished two weeks ago while passing through the English Channel was "attacked twice", a European Union spokesman said Friday. Russian warships are scouring the Atlantic Ocean for the missing vessel. AFP - A cargo ship that vanished two weeks ago in the English channel appears to have been attacked twice, but not in "traditional" acts of piracy, a European Union spokesman said Friday. "Radio calls were apparently received from the ship which had supposedly been under attack twice, the first time off the Swedish coast and then off the Portuguese coast," EU Commission spokesman Martin Selmayr told reporters in Brussels. "From information currently available it would seem that these acts, such as they have been reported, have nothing in common with 'traditional' acts of piracy or armed robbery at sea," he added, without going into details.
AFP - A cargo ship that vanished two weeks ago in the English channel appears to have been attacked twice, but not in "traditional" acts of piracy, a European Union spokesman said Friday. "Radio calls were apparently received from the ship which had supposedly been under attack twice, the first time off the Swedish coast and then off the Portuguese coast," EU Commission spokesman Martin Selmayr told reporters in Brussels. "From information currently available it would seem that these acts, such as they have been reported, have nothing in common with 'traditional' acts of piracy or armed robbery at sea," he added, without going into details.
A cargo ship that disappeared after sailing through the Channel amid fears of a pirate attack has been spotted in the middle of the Atlantic. The Arctic Sea disappeared shortly after making contact with Dover coastguard as it entered the Channel on June 28. The Russian-crewed vessel is reported to have been spotted 400 nautical miles off one of the Cape Verde islands, an archipelago that lies west of Senegal. "The Arctic Sea is some 400 nautical miles off one of the islands of Cape Verde, therefore outside its territorial waters," a Cape Verde coastguard official told the AFP news agency.
A cargo ship that disappeared after sailing through the Channel amid fears of a pirate attack has been spotted in the middle of the Atlantic.
The Arctic Sea disappeared shortly after making contact with Dover coastguard as it entered the Channel on June 28.
The Russian-crewed vessel is reported to have been spotted 400 nautical miles off one of the Cape Verde islands, an archipelago that lies west of Senegal.
"The Arctic Sea is some 400 nautical miles off one of the islands of Cape Verde, therefore outside its territorial waters," a Cape Verde coastguard official told the AFP news agency.
NAIROBI, Kenya -- Blackwater Worldwide and other private security firms -- some with a reputation for being quick on the trigger in Iraq -- are joining the battle against pirates plaguing one of the world's most important shipping lanes off the coast of Somalia. The growing interest among merchant fleets to hire their own firepower is encouraged by the U.S. Navy and represents a new and potential lucrative market for security firms scaling back operations in Iraq. But some maritime organizations told The Associated Press that armed guards may increase the danger to ships' crews or that overzealous contractors might accidentally fire on fishermen.
The growing interest among merchant fleets to hire their own firepower is encouraged by the U.S. Navy and represents a new and potential lucrative market for security firms scaling back operations in Iraq.
But some maritime organizations told The Associated Press that armed guards may increase the danger to ships' crews or that overzealous contractors might accidentally fire on fishermen.
Um, the wholesale privatization of "security" operations and the creation of mercenary forces (in the pay of merchant fleets?) bodes ill for the survival of the nation state. The peak-to-trough part of the business cycle is an outlier. Carnot would have died laughing.
And that's where the EU is so interesting as a concept, and at the heart of that fight, because the EU is in a much better position to impose rules on corporations. The fact that it is currently busier deregulating is not something that need be permanent; in fact, the more the EU is pushed by the corporations to impose pan-EU deregulation, the more legitimacy it has to impose re-regulation on a continental scope.
What matters in the end is whether the EU has political legitimacy or not, and ironically, big business needs the EU to have the ability to make pan-EU rules, and the more it does to strenghten such pan-EU powers, the bigger we have a chance to fight big business back, eventually. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
* The symbiosis between private insurance and privateering dominates. If the company that owned the rescued ship wasn't a US defense contractor, its kidnapping insurance company (likely Lloyds) and its designated crisis representatives (likely Control Risks Group) would have negotiated to pay the pirate's fee to get the hostage back -- as are thousands of kidnappings from Mexico to Colombia to Nigeria to the Gulf of Aden are settled every year. Somali pirates have made tens of millions this way already. Further, in many parts of the world, kidnappers are almost never caught/killed (<5% in Mexico and the same is likely true for Somalia). So, given this backdrop, the Navy's rescue effort was just a sideshow and the industry that made it possible will continue to grow rapidly.
And anyway, sea-based mercenaries aren't a serious threat to any modern state. I'd be more worried about militias taking over police roles on land.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
Losses caused by weapons of war, for example where armed militia might deploy bombs or rockets, are excluded from P&I insurance cover, even thought the militia were initially engaged in piracy. Ship owners are now being recommended to buy war risk cover for the Somali coast for such excluded risks from a commercial war risk underwriter. Many owners have now been taking out such cover after the events of September 11 2001.
= big fat insurance and private contractor scam. This ties in seamlessly with the US's marine equivalent of Nato, with the Proliferation Security Initiative [PSI], put into effect by GWB in 2005.
The Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) is a U.S.-led multinational initiative involving the interdiction of third-country ships on the high seas on the basis of carrying nuclear materials. The PSI has over 90 member nations, including Russia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Singapore and Norway. Among countries opposed to the PSI are China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Iran, who dispute its legality.
The Somali "piracy crisis" is enabling the US to generate false premises upon which to undermine international maritime law, in order better to control key shipping lanes. It should be no wonder that China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Iran are opposed to the PSI.
The whole, heavily mediatized Somali 'piracy' saga reeks of broader geopolitical strong-arming. .
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the new NATO chief and former prime minister of Denmark, made a visit to Kosovo on Thursday. He hopes to gradually wind down the presence of NATO's 13,800-strong Kosovo Force. AFP - New NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen made his maiden visit to Kosovo on Thursday to evaluate his plans to trim the alliance's security mission in the breakaway Serbian province a decade after war. Rasmussen, a former prime minister of Denmark, hopes to gradually wind down the presence of NATO's 13,800-strong Kosovo Force (KFOR) to a small reaction unit or withdraw it completely. "I would like to stress that this decision only reflects the improvement of the security situation in Kosovo and... is conditionally based," he said in the capital Pristina.
AFP - New NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen made his maiden visit to Kosovo on Thursday to evaluate his plans to trim the alliance's security mission in the breakaway Serbian province a decade after war. Rasmussen, a former prime minister of Denmark, hopes to gradually wind down the presence of NATO's 13,800-strong Kosovo Force (KFOR) to a small reaction unit or withdraw it completely. "I would like to stress that this decision only reflects the improvement of the security situation in Kosovo and... is conditionally based," he said in the capital Pristina.
It's komkommertijd here in the Netherlands, or cucumber time for those of you who don't speak Dutch. It's journo speak for the fact that stories are thin on the ground at this time of year, when politicians and business types are taking their summer breaks. Traditionally this `silly season' means a drought for journalists looking to fill their column inches, air time or web pages. More often than not it means stories that would normally be thrown to the bin in editorial meetings are given a little bit more space to breathe. For some reason, animals and their antics seem to fill the gap and find themselves making headlines that would normally elude them. So, to keep you up to date with the stories that are, but maybe shouldn't be, making the headlines, here's a digest of some this week's komkommertijd front runners:
It's komkommertijd here in the Netherlands, or cucumber time for those of you who don't speak Dutch. It's journo speak for the fact that stories are thin on the ground at this time of year, when politicians and business types are taking their summer breaks.
Traditionally this `silly season' means a drought for journalists looking to fill their column inches, air time or web pages. More often than not it means stories that would normally be thrown to the bin in editorial meetings are given a little bit more space to breathe.
For some reason, animals and their antics seem to fill the gap and find themselves making headlines that would normally elude them. So, to keep you up to date with the stories that are, but maybe shouldn't be, making the headlines, here's a digest of some this week's komkommertijd front runners:
In many languages, the name for the silly season references cucumbers (or more precisely gherkins): Komkommertijd in Dutch, Norwegian Agurktid, Czech Okurková sezóna, Polish Sezon ogórkowy, Hungarian Uborkaszezon and Hebrew עונת המלפפונים (Onat Ha'melafefonim) all mean "cucumber time" or "cucumber season". The corresponding German term is Sauregurkenzeit ("pickled cucumber season").
WASHINGTON -- The United States is resuming a combat training mission in the former Soviet republic of Georgia to prepare its army for counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan, despite the risks of angering Russia, senior Defense Department officials said Thursday. The training effort is intended to prepare Georgian troops to fight at NATO standards alongside American and allied forces in Afghanistan, the Pentagon officials said. Russian officials have been informed, American officials said. The training should not worry the Kremlin, they said, because it would not involve skills that would be useful against a large conventional force like Russia's."This training mission is not about internal defenses or any capabilities that the Georgians would use at home," said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary. "This is about the United States supporting Georgia's contribution to the war in Afghanistan, which everybody can recognize is needed and valued and appreciated."
WASHINGTON -- The United States is resuming a combat training mission in the former Soviet republic of Georgia to prepare its army for counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan, despite the risks of angering Russia, senior Defense Department officials said Thursday.
The training effort is intended to prepare Georgian troops to fight at NATO standards alongside American and allied forces in Afghanistan, the Pentagon officials said.
Russian officials have been informed, American officials said. The training should not worry the Kremlin, they said, because it would not involve skills that would be useful against a large conventional force like Russia's.
"This training mission is not about internal defenses or any capabilities that the Georgians would use at home," said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary. "This is about the United States supporting Georgia's contribution to the war in Afghanistan, which everybody can recognize is needed and valued and appreciated."
German health insurance companies have hashed out a compromise with the federal government over who should pay for swine flu vaccinations. German commentators say the debate should never have happened in the first place. After a week of debate, the tempest in a teapot over whether German insurance companies would have to bear the cost of immunizations against swine flu was settled on Thursday. Insurers will be responsible for immunizing up to half of Germans, and the costs of the rest of the population will be picked up by the federal government. DDP German insurers will have to bear the costs of immunizing at least half the population against the swine flu. The fight pitted insurers against Health Minister Ulla Schmidt, who wanted insurance companies to shoulder the costs of immunization. Vaccinating half of Germany could cost more than €1 billion ($1.4 billion), according to the Health Ministry; insurance companies said the price would be significantly higher. The first wave of immunizations is set to begin in the fall, with health care workers and other high-risk groups at the head of the line. German commentators greeted the compromise with a remarkable display of unity -- against the demands of the insurance companies:
German health insurance companies have hashed out a compromise with the federal government over who should pay for swine flu vaccinations. German commentators say the debate should never have happened in the first place.
After a week of debate, the tempest in a teapot over whether German insurance companies would have to bear the cost of immunizations against swine flu was settled on Thursday. Insurers will be responsible for immunizing up to half of Germans, and the costs of the rest of the population will be picked up by the federal government.
DDP
German insurers will have to bear the costs of immunizing at least half the population against the swine flu. The fight pitted insurers against Health Minister Ulla Schmidt, who wanted insurance companies to shoulder the costs of immunization. Vaccinating half of Germany could cost more than €1 billion ($1.4 billion), according to the Health Ministry; insurance companies said the price would be significantly higher.
The first wave of immunizations is set to begin in the fall, with health care workers and other high-risk groups at the head of the line.
German commentators greeted the compromise with a remarkable display of unity -- against the demands of the insurance companies:
Meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev held talks on human rights, Iran and North Korea's nuclear programs and boosting trade. Both leaders spoke in favor of deepening their economic cooperation. Medvedev praised Merkel for her crisis management skills and referred to signs that the German economy could be pulling out of the recession. Germany is Russia's biggest trading partner in Europe, with bilateral trade between the two countries rising to a record 47.2 billion euros ($67.2 billion) in 2008. Medvedev said he was eager to find joint solutions with Germany to the economic crisis. The crisis, he added, was a "chance to deepen their economic ties."
Both leaders spoke in favor of deepening their economic cooperation. Medvedev praised Merkel for her crisis management skills and referred to signs that the German economy could be pulling out of the recession.
Germany is Russia's biggest trading partner in Europe, with bilateral trade between the two countries rising to a record 47.2 billion euros ($67.2 billion) in 2008.
Medvedev said he was eager to find joint solutions with Germany to the economic crisis. The crisis, he added, was a "chance to deepen their economic ties."
Bradford & Bingley, the nationalised mortgage lender, has laid bare the dire state of its loan book and said that a rising wave of fraud dragged it to a £160 million loss for the first half of the year. The figures came as the Council of Mortgage Lenders gave warning that the economy remained fragile and predicted that repossessions and arrears would continue to climb this year. The CML has forecast that 65,000 people will lose their homes this year, up from 40,000 last year and just under 26,000 in 2007. B&B, which was the UK's largest lender to landlords before it was broken up and its mortgage book nationalised last September, said yesterday that 40 per cent of its mortgage book was in negative equity, up from 30 per cent at the end of 2008. Impairments on bad loans ballooned from £75 million last summer to £328 million. The first half pre-tax loss of £160 million was up from a loss of £27 million in the first half of 2008.
The figures came as the Council of Mortgage Lenders gave warning that the economy remained fragile and predicted that repossessions and arrears would continue to climb this year. The CML has forecast that 65,000 people will lose their homes this year, up from 40,000 last year and just under 26,000 in 2007.
B&B, which was the UK's largest lender to landlords before it was broken up and its mortgage book nationalised last September, said yesterday that 40 per cent of its mortgage book was in negative equity, up from 30 per cent at the end of 2008. Impairments on bad loans ballooned from £75 million last summer to £328 million. The first half pre-tax loss of £160 million was up from a loss of £27 million in the first half of 2008.
