"Not only will the global financial crisis triggered by the US mortgage market cause further turbulence on the markets, it will unsettle the currency markets and slow down the global economy," Josef Urschitz concludes. "All [the experts] agree that there's more behind the turbulence than the payment problems of a couple of 'sub-prime' US mortgage financers who have made investors nervous. It's looking increasingly like what we're witnessing is a serious crisis in the financial system that will keep the world on tenterhooks for some time to come - and despite the comforting words and fervent denials of politicians and the financial sector, will also have a negative impact on the real economy. At the very least, the result could be a slowdown, if not full-blown recession, on important markets. Those who think this is just about a summer sale on the stock markets and that everything will go back to how it was before by September are probably mistaken." (17/08/2007)

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Could there be a repeat of the great crash of 1929 and the worldwide economic crisis it triggered? asks Miklós Blahó. "The uneasiness that has been evident for weeks bubbled over into a full-blown nervous breakdown yesterday, with the world's stock markets suffering average losses of between three and four percent. The Budapest stock market was also affected. This had the effect of considerably weakening the country's currency. We can only hope that yesterday's Black Thursday lives up to the events of 1929 only in name... The global economy is growing rapidly, although this growth is mainly due to the Chinese and Indian markets rather than the US market. Nonetheless, it seems likely that the markets will recover - albeit slowly - from the crash. We'll just have to wait until all the risky loans have been paid off and the insolvency proceedings of all the investors hit hard by the crash have come to an end." (17/08/2007)

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"When stock markets plunge into disarray, one question arises immediately: is this a crisis as big as the 1929 crash? Leafing through the past ten years' press, it is easy to note how frequently an analogy is made between the Great Depression and the occasional fall in the stock market." Giuseppe Berta, professor of industrial history, recognises that there are "of course affinities. The stock exchange also feeds on irrational impulses that incite instinctive acquisitions. ... The difference, from an historical point of view, is the capacity institutions have to deal with this panic. In 1929, this was lacking ... : the Great Depression was a fall no one knew how to respond to. ... If swinging from euphoria to panic is part and party of stock exchange mechanics, government efficiency and institutions' foresight are indispensable counterweights.” (17/08/2007)

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The daily considers that "it is vital that central bankers resist the pressure to push through interest rate cuts beyond very short-term injections of liquidity. Recession is not a serious prospect with the global economy growing at a healthy rate. Moreover, any free market needs the prospect of failure if it is to function properly. Those financial institutions that have left themselves overexposed on account of their imprudent borrowing or lending must be left to deal with the consequences. Cutting interest rates to inject confidence artificially into the system would make financial speculation a one-way bet. Unwise investors and borrowers in the City and Wall Street have been bailed out too often in this way in the past by central banks. And unjustifiably low interest rates for an extended period of time have contributed to the present mess. Put simply, if you make money too cheap, people will get greedy and begin to make misjudgements. This is what has happened over the past five years." (17/08/2007)

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Fritz J. Raddatz, author, editor and translator, reflects self-critically on the time he spent living in the GDR between 1950 and 1959 on a voluntary basis. He asks himself why he chose to ignore the dictatorial injustice of those times despite being very much aware of it. "I won't say 'I didn't know about it', as millions of Germans did after 1945 in an effort to exculpate themselves. I knew - about the plays withdrawn from theatre programmes, about the censored films, about forbidden books (often enough my own, published by the Volk und Welt publishing house). I took delight in breaking the rules, in a subversive poem in an anthology, in a Böll book in the publisher's programme, in my own little acts of subversion. When the SED party secretary approached me trying to get me to join the party - he was the sales manager at the time and came around just as often to covertly ask for 'West licenses' because these books sold well - I would turn him down saying 'You always talk of 'the party' you want me to join - which one do you mean?' Such were my pathetic attempts at rebellion." (16/08/2007)

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Philosopher Andrei Plesu explores why communism still holds such a strong fascination, particularly for young people in the West. "For some it's trendy - they've realised that the history of the left, of Marxism and communism is cool. It has that whiff of rebellion and non-conformism. On the other hand, we're in a phase in which we've been integrated into Europe. We look to the West and whenever we look in this direction we see a remarkably vigorous form of Marxist thinking. Marx is read in the West, not in the East... The adherents of communism never tire of repeating: it's a good idea but it was poorly implemented. I'll take the liberty of briefly assuming the role of a Marxist. Marxists claim that an idea is a good one if it proves itself when put into practice... But if a good idea is not practicable you can't call it a 'good idea' - it's just a utopian dream." (17/08/2007)

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The think tank 'Notre Europe' has posted an interview with Romanian philosopher Andrei Plesu on its website. He shares his thoughts on the tempo of the European construction. The columnist Thomas Ferenczi analyses his obervations. "If we are to believe [Plesu], Europe is too talkative, too over exited, too impatient these days. 'Europe isn't suited to speed', he says. The least we can say is that such a judgement goes completely against the grain. It is generally considered that the Union suffers more from its stasis than its precipitation. ... Other thinkers from central Europe [like Vaclav Havel and Milan Kundera] have warned Europeans against a tendency to rush forward without properly considering the direction undertaken. ... The countries of the former communist block that have recently entered the European Union do not wish to automatically fit into the mould of Old Europe. ... Yes, Europe needs to move, but if it wants to bring populations with it, it needs to adopt their pace rather than launch it self into an athletic sprint." (17/08/2007)

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All available articles from » Thomas Ferenczi

Finland is currently locked in a discussion about genetically-engineered products which has grown all the more intense since the manufacturers LSO Foods" and "Lounaisfarm" introduced genetically-manipulated soya fodder to be used for fattening pigs. The newspaper criticises the violent and ill-considered actions of anti-genetic engineering activists. "The use of genetically-engineered products is becoming increasingly widespread all over the world. Opponents warn of the consequences should the manipulated organisms find their way into the natural food chain and begin to propagate themselves unchecked. In Finland too, such warnings trigger a fierce response: three years ago, for example, miscreants destroyed a field planted with genetically-manipulated birch trees for experimental purposes by the Finnish Academy in Punkaharju. Such actions are entirely reprehensible because it's important for all concerned to gather reliable information about the effects of genetic engineering." (16/08/2007)

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Giuseppe d'Avanzo analyses the response to the murders, on August 15th, of six Italians in Duisbourg, killings that have been connected to mafia clan feuding: "Why should we act surprised? For having imported our 'rot' into Europe and the word? For a long time the money of our mafia has been circulating through European channels. ... It happened in Germany, but it could just as well have been in the Netherlands, Spain, Columbia, Australia, Canada, or Montenegro. That is to say in all the countries where the Calabrian 'ndrangheta' is present. ... The time has come to question our capacity to at least set up a means of control: why hasn't the 'ndrangheta' been given a place on the political agenda as the Hamas has? ... On the whole, Italian Politics has opted for inertia as a strategy to fight the mafia." (17/08/2007)

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Greek Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis announced that early elections will be held on September 16th. Irini Karanasopoulou is harshly critical of this initiative that has been taken as violent fires are raging at the doors of the capital. "The government is calling early elections on ashes. ... While an extraordinary council of ministers gathers to propose the dissolution of the Assembly and the scheduling of early elections on September 16th instead of March 8th, 2008, the inhabitants of northern Athens are taking stock of the damage. This is the second real tragedy we have been through since the devastating blaze on Mount Parnese last month. Why? Because the danger has not been taken seriously, because of the lack of policemen and firemen and, more simply, the total absence of the State at crucial moments. Waiting one more day for the fire to be contained and under control was absolutely out of the question. No, the government had to call us to the ballot box." (17/08/2007)

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Poland open its doors to workers from outside Europe, notes the journalist Ram Etwareera. "Last month, Anna Kalata, Minister of Employment, signed a Memorandum in New Delhi on the recruitment of Indian workers. This is a spectacular reversal of situation. Since its EU accession, Poland has exported between one and two millions of its nationals, mainly to Great Britain, Ireland and Germany. From now on ... the country faces a shortage in its qualified and non-qualified workforce. ... According to Jean Philippe Chauzy, Spokesman for the International Organisation for Migration [IOM] based in Geneva, European countries will be competing a lot to appeal to a workforce from beyond Europe: 'They need to make themselves as attractive as possible to compete with traditional immigration destinations like Australia or Canada, which offer seductive conditions that attract professionals.'" (17/08/2007)

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Wikipedia is the world's most important online encyclopaedia. The authors of individual articles therefore wield considerable influence. Now what had long been suspected has been confirmed: secret services like the CIA, businesses, political parties, religious sects and even the Vatican have edited certain entries. Tomáš Bella sees this as no great cause for concern: "Critics see this as one of Wikipedia's shortcomings, but in reality it's the online lexicon's greatest advantage because for example verbal confrontations between FBI agents and civic action groups frequently produce more balanced texts. A study conducted by the Nature magazine according to which Wikipedia contained no more mistaken information than the Encyclopaedia Brittanica confirms this." (17/08/2007)

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"If alien invaders land in the north of England, they will report to headquarters that the planet observes a religion that worships giant figures", jests Mark Lawson contemplating the growing trend public monumetal art. "Though a Martian reporter would be wrong to interpret these pieces as sacred, they are certainly part of something of a cult. ... While modern art remains subject to tabloid sarcasm and public scepticism, and a run of stunning buildings has failed to save contemporary architecture from mockery, sculpture seems to be connecting with the public to a degree highly unusual for modernism. ... That these pieces appeal partly because of being where they shouldn't sends a gloomy message to those places where art should be found: galleries. ... Strikingly, the region that has become the power base of outdoor art, with 'Angel of the North' and the 'Couple', has struggled to attract the public to its new big-budget gallery: the Baltic Centre in Gateshead." (17/08/2007)

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In an interview conducted by Aude Lancelin, the French intellectual Françoise Collin ponders the position of women in the history of philosophy. "Ever since the Greeks, women have always been excluded from philosophical discourse, more than in other disciplines. ... There is of course Hannah Arendt, who every one swears by these days, but she is the exception which proves the rule and besides, she considers herself a political scientist, rather than a philosopher. Maybe this is because the 'professional philosopher', as Arendt ironically puts it, is the secular equivalent of the theologian: he has something of the priest, a ferocious guardian of the truth.” (17/08/2007)

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Julia Voss reports on a new wave of immigration, namely that of many animals from the countryside to cities. Only recently scientists started referring to cities as biotopes. "Contrary to all predictions birds are breeding in the midst of the deafening noise from airplanes, building nests on bell towers or making themselves at home under train bridges and among cavalcades of lorries. Rare plants are blooming in asphalt cracks, foxes stroll through city centres and kestrels soar above tower blocks as if they were ravines. From nature's point of view the cities' main attractions are a plentiful supply of food, the absence of many natural enemies and above all higher temperatures - which means they can also serve as a model for global warming... Not only is nature moving to the city, it's abandoning the countryside, which has become increasingly uninhabitable owing to the spread of industrialised agriculture. Nature is fleeing from agriculture - from toxins, over-fertilisation, monocultures and contaminated water." (17/08/2007)

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