Friday, October 18, 2019

Η απόσυρση των ΗΠΑ από την Συρία.


Ας δούμε την Συρία σαν το σύμβολο της παρουσίας των ΗΠΑ στην Μέση Ανατολή. Η στενή στρατιωτική σχέση τους με τους Κούρδους, οι κοινοί τους αγώνες, η εύκολη νίκης τους επί του χαλιφάτου, χάρις στους περισσότερους των 11.000 νεκρών Κούρδων, με μόλις επτά αμερικάνους νεκρούς, τι λένε στους υπόλοιπους συμμάχους των ΗΠΑ; Σε όσους δεν έχουν τέτοιες θυσίες πρόσφατα; Μήπως ότι πολέμησαν στην Νορμανδία; Και γιατί η θυσία στην Νορμανδία είναι πιο σημαντική από έναν πόλεμο σε κάποια πόλη της Β Συρίας;

Friday, October 11, 2019

ΛΑΡΚΟ: Μπορεί το κοβάλτιο να σώσει το νικέλιο;

Παρατήρηση: Μια εταιρεία που χρωστάει κοντά στο μισό δις, δεν μπορεί να πληρώσει το ηλεκτρικό, είναι δυνατόν να δίνει 45 εκ για 1100 εργαζόμενους; ~41 χιλιάδες τον χρόνο ή 3.400 Ευρώ τον μήνα, για κάθε εργαζόμενο κατά μέσο όρο; Με το περιβαλλοντικό κόστος που έχει, την ανύπαρκτη φροντίδα για την προστασία του περιβάλλοντος και τα πρόστιμα που επιβάλλονται εξ αυτού; Ενδεικτική για την κατάσταση που μας οδήγησε στην χρεοκοπία. 

...Η ΛΑΡΚΟ επιβιώνει λόγω ΔΕΗ, αφού το απλήρωτο ρεύμα έχει φτάσει στα 310 εκατ. ευρώ και συνεχίζει να αυξάνεται με ρυθμό 20-30 εκατ. ανά έτος. Δεν γνωρίζουμε πόσες προβλέψεις έχει εγγράψει η ΔΕΗ, αλλά η βιωσιμότητα της ΔΕΗ περνά και από τη ΛΑΡΚΟ. Η εταιρεία επίσης χρωστά 20 εκατ. περίπου στον Οργανισμό Ανασυγκρότησης Επιχειρήσεων (ουσιαστικά δηλαδή στο Δημόσιο), 30 εκατ. στην Τράπεζα Πειραιώς και 70 εκατ. στην παλαιά ΛΑΡΚΟ, για τα οποία έχει γίνει και η κατάσχεση...

...Τα βασικά κόστη της ΛΑΡΚΟ είναι το ηλεκτρικό ρεύμα και το εργασιακό, που είναι επίσης μη ανταγωνιστικό (ετήσια δαπάνη 45 εκατ. ευρώ για 1.100 εργαζομένους)...
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Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Map of the present situation in Syria. In light of the eminent Turkish invasion.

Map






Trump’s Confounding Syria Moves Are Spurring Policy Confusion — Again

www.bloomberg.com /news/articles/2019-10-08/trump-s-confounding-syria-moves-spur-policy-confusion-again
By Nick Wadhams and Glen Carey
7-9 minutes


Donald Trump’s surprise announcement that U.S. forces would stand aside if Turkey invades Syria sowed chaos in his administration, drew criticism from his allies in Congress and left Kurdish fighters feeling betrayed. Yet after a day of confusion, it wasn’t clear how much American policy had really changed.

It was, in short, another example of how foreign policy gets made in the Trump era -- with the president delivering one message, his advisers providing another and then Trump sometimes adding a third for good measure. Abrupt foreign policy shifts are taken after limited consultation with staff and emerge in confusion and contradictions.

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

Where did the reformist just re-elected as Indonesia’s president go?

print-edition iconPrint edition | AsiaSep 26th 2019
5-6 minutes
NOT SINCE 1998, when huge crowds demanding reformasi brought down Suharto, Indonesia’s late dictator, have university students taken to the streets in such numbers. In cities across the archipelago and, above all, outside the parliament in Jakarta, tens of thousands have gathered in the past few days. Despite tear-gas, water cannon and beatings, their numbers are growing. Joko Widodo, or Jokowi, the recently re-elected president, faces an unexpected test.

The protesters carry a rattlebag of demands tied together by attempts by the political elite and the security forces to roll back two decades of democratic change. They call their movement reformasi dikorupsi, or reform corrupted. That Jokowi has come into the movement’s sights is significant. He swept to power in 2014 because Indonesians loved his reputation for clean government and because he was outside the intermarried elites that have long dominated politics, the security services and business.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

China’s repression of Islam is spreading beyond Xinjiang

www.economist.com
ChinaSep 25th 2019 | DUANJIAPING
10-13 minutes
AS DARKNESS BEGINS to settle on Duanjiaping village, a few men in white skullcaps head towards a large mosque. It is time for the Maghrib, the fourth of the five daily prayers of devout Muslims. It is clear even before they reach the building’s high yellow walls that all is not right. The prayer-hall’s four minarets, topped by golden crescent moons, are still a towering landmark. But they are covered in scaffolding and green netting (see picture), and they are not due for repair.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Nancy Pelosi launches an impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump

www.economist.com
United StatesSep 25th 2019 | WASHINGTON
8-10 minutes
NANCY PELOSI has long been a Republican bogeyman. In 2018, Republican congressional candidates across America built her into a caricature of a wild-eyed, out-of-touch coastal liberal. In fact, Mrs Pelosi is among America’s most calculating politicians. That has frustrated some of those on the left of her caucus, but the leader of the House of Representatives knows that she owes her majority to moderates from conservative districts. For months, progressives pushed to open impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump, while Mrs Pelosi urged caution. On September 24th, she joined their calls, announcing that the House was “moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry.”

Friday, September 20, 2019

Η αυτοκράτωρ Τουρκία, του Χρήστου Γιανναρά

www.kathimerini.gr

"Ενας λαός που θέλει να είναι κάτι άλλο από αυτό που είναι, δεν μπορεί να επιβιώσει ιστορικά, έχει τελειώσει. "

5-7 minutes

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

The attack on Saudi oil facilities raises the risks of war

www.economist.com
Middle East and AfricaSep 16th 2019
5-7 minutes
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP says America’s forces are “locked and loaded” to strike at those responsible for the devastating drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia’s industry on September 14th. Is he about to pull the trigger for another American war in the Middle East?

Responsibility for the strikes on the Khurais oilfield and the Abqaiq oil-processing facility—the biggest such plant in the world—was claimed by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels fighting a Saudi-led coalition in the war in Yemen. But American officials dismissed this notion. Not only was the weaponry involved made in Iran, they say. They also believe the attacks had come not from the south-east of the Arabian peninsula, ie, Yemen, but the north, from Iraq, where Iran runs proxy Shia militias; or indeed from the territory of Iran itself. “Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply,” tweeted Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state. “There is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.”

Monday, September 9, 2019

Αντιπαλεύεται η παρακμή;

www.kathimerini.gr

του Χρήστου Γιανναρά | Kathimerini


Στην ελληνική γλώσσα έχουμε δύο λέξεις για να σημάνουμε τα αντικείμενα της εμπειρικής πιστοποίησης: τη λέξη «πράγματα» και τη λέξη «χρήματα».

«Πράγματα» είναι τα παράγωγα του πράττειν, τα αποτελέσματα μιας ποιητικής (δημιουργικής) ενέργειας, τα πεπραγμένα ενός μοναδικού και ανεπανάληπτου προσώπου. «Χρήματα» είναι εκείνα από τα πράγματα που καθορίζονται κυρίως από τη χρήση τους, εξυπηρετούν χρηστικές ανάγκες, είναι χρήσιμα στην πρακτική του βίου. Τα πράγματα ενδέχεται να διασώζουν την ετερότητα (μοναδικότητα και ανομοιότητα) ενός προσωπικού δημιουργικού λόγου, να παραπέμπουν στο πρόσωπο του δημιουργού τους – όπως η ζωγραφιά στον ζωγράφο και το ποίημα στον ποιητή. Τα χρήματα ταυτίζονται απλώς με τη χρηστική τους σκοπιμότητα, παραπέμπουν στην ίδια για όλους ωφέλιμη διευκόλυνση.

Friday, September 6, 2019

Boris Johnson’s Unconservative Party

From Economist.com

print-edition iconPrint edition | LeadersSep 7th 2019

4-5 minutes
BORIS JOHNSON has been Conservative leader for little more than a month, and until this week had appeared in Parliament as prime minister only once. But that did not stop him carrying out the biggest purge in the party’s history on September 3rd. After a backbench rebellion led to a resounding defeat of his uncompromising Brexit policy, 21 moderate Conservative MPs, including seven former cabinet members and a grandson of Winston Churchill, had the whip withdrawn and were told they would not be allowed to stand as Tories at the next election.

It was the most dramatic step in a long process: the transformation of Britain’s ruling party from conservatives into radical populists. The capture of the Tories by fanatics determined to pursue a no-deal Brexit has caused the party to abandon the principles by which it has governed Britain for most of the past century. With an election looming, and the Labour opposition captured by an equally radical hard-left, the Tories’ sinister metamorphosis is terrible news.


Wednesday, August 28, 2019

The wildcat goldminers doomed by their toxic trade

www.reuters.com
By TIM COCKS and DAVID LEWIS
16-20 minutes

BAWDIE, Ghana – A few years after coming as a teenager to this Ghanaian town to prospect for gold, Yaw Ngoha had made enough cash to marry his sweetheart and build a house with a porch, to which he would later add a flat-screen TV and satellite dish.

So when a town elder invited a doctor to talk to miners about the hazards of wildcat mining, “nobody listened,” said the 36-year-old, sitting on a wooden bench on his porch in a lush banana grove.

“We needed money.”

Since Ngoha started prospecting in the early 2000s, more and more people like him have helped Ghana grow into Africa’s biggest gold producer. Across the continent and beyond, millions have turned to the trade. Few are deterred by the risks.

Ngoha’s friends and family members started to sicken and die, but he told himself this had nothing to do with the amount of dust they’d been breathing in or the toxins – including mercury and nitric acid – they used to extract the gold.

One morning in 2016, Ngoha started coughing up blood. It felt like his airways were collapsing. His doctor treated him for tuberculosis.

Exclusive: Fake-branded bars slip dirty gold into world markets

www.reuters.com
Peter Hobson
13-16 minutes
LONDON (Reuters) - A forgery crisis is quietly roiling the world’s gold industry.
July 5, 2019. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

Gold bars fraudulently stamped with the logos of major refineries are being inserted into the global market to launder smuggled or illegal gold, refining and banking executives tell Reuters. The fakes are hard to detect, making them an ideal fund-runner for narcotics dealers or warlords.

In the last three years, bars worth at least $50 million stamped with Swiss refinery logos, but not actually produced by those facilities, have been identified by all four of Switzerland’s leading gold refiners and found in the vaults of JPMorgan Chase & Co., one of the major banks at the heart of the market in bullion, said senior executives at gold refineries, banks and other industry sources.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Progress and its discontents

"ο παγκόσμιος καπιταλισμός σημαίνει λιγότερη φτώχεια από ποτέ"
Ακολουθούν σκέψεις. Στο τέλος του άρθρου είναι το κείμενο με την αντίθετη άποψη.

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

“Academic mobbing” undermines open inquiry and destroys the soul of universities Open Future


Jul 23rd 2019
9-12 minutes
This is a by-invitation commentary as part of The Economist’s Open Future initiative, which is designed to spur a global conversation across the ideological spectrum on individual rights, open markets, free speech, technology and more. You can comment here. More articles can be found here.


In a 1951 essay for the New York Times Magazine entitled “The Best Answer to Fanatacism—Liberalism”, the philosopher Bertrand Russell laid out ten principles which he believed summed up the liberal outlook. The fifth item on Russell’s list was, “Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.” This statement echoes the motto of Britain’s Royal Society (a learned society founded in 1660 for the promotion of scientific knowledge), which is Nullius in verba, meaning “Take nobody’s word for it.”

Monday, February 11, 2019

After years of stalling, Greece oks Macedonia in NATO

WORLD  NEWS FEBRUARY 8, 2019 / 10:24 PM / 2 DAYS AGO
Lefteris Papadimas, George Georgiopoulos
3 MIN READ

ATHENS (Reuters) - After holding up its admission for years, Greece became the first nation on Friday to ratify Macedonia’s membership of NATO after the two states resolved a decades-old name dispute last month.

NATO members signed the accord with Macedonia this week, days after the Greek parliament endorsed an agreement between Athens and Skopje that changes Macedonia’s name to North Macedonia.

Staring down strong domestic opposition from Greeks worried the Balkan neighbor was appropriating Greek heritage, the government of leftist Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras pushed the name change through parliament on Jan. 25

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Τζήμερος: Ο Φύσσας ήταν ίδιος και απαράλλαχτος με τους δολοφόνους του (Photo)

Τζήμερος: Ο Φύσσας ήταν ίδιος και απαράλλαχτος με τους δολοφόνους του (Photo): Ο Θάνος Τζήμερος στην –ούτε πρώτη, πιθανότατα ούτε και τελευταία- προκλητική παρέμβασή του μέσω του λογαριασμού του στο facebook, εξανίσταται για την μετονομασία της οδού Παναγή Τσαλδάρη στο Κερατσίνι σε...

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Greece has officially come out of the crisis but it still faces three big challenges

Business insider
Pavel Ramírez, Business Insider España Aug. 23, 2018, 6:14 AM

Eight years and three bailouts later, Greece is seeing light at the end of what has been a very long tunnel: the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) announced last week that Greece had "successfully" emerged from the three-year financial assistance programme agreed between Athens and its international creditors in 2015.

Over three years, the country had to fork out €61.9 billion to finance economic recovery and bank recapitalisation. The ESM reported that the remaining €24.1 billion available under the programme's maximum threshold of €86 billion wasn't needed.

While things are looking up for Greece, its economic data still looks far from ideal and there are major challenges still facing Athens.

Bailout Over, Greece Returning to Stormy Markets

Wall Street Journal
Tsipras is promising some relief from austerity measures while sticking to budget disciplineBy Nektaria Stamouli
Updated Sept. 9, 2018 5:11 p.m. ET
THESSALONIKI, Greece—Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras unveiled his post-bailout economic policy over the weekend, promising some relief from austerity measures while sticking to budget discipline.

His difficulty is that Greece has weaned itself from bailout loans just as bond markets are becoming more volatile again after years of calm.

Greece doesn’t need to borrow from bond markets immediately, thanks to a large cash buffer built up at the end of its eurozone-led bailout. But the country needs to rebuild investor confidence in its bonds if it is to stand on its own feet financially in coming years and avoid turning to emergency loans from Germany and other eurozone governments.

Friday, July 13, 2018

Turkey's turmoil and how it measures up against other emerging markets

JULY 12, 2018 / 7:57 PM / UPDATED 18 HOURS AGO
Marc Jones
5 MIN READ

LONDON (Reuters) - Turkey’s financial markets are being battered. The lira is at a record low after slumping more than 20 percent this year, Istanbul’s stock market has just had its worst day in over two years and investors are dumping the country’s bonds.

Below are a series of graphics that illustrate the scale of the turmoil and show how Turkish assets now compare to those in other heavyweight emerging markets.