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Fewer than a dozen European leaders have so far accepted an invitation to attend next month's Oslo ceremony to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union, this year's controversial winner, the Nobel Institute said on Wednesday. "Between eight and 10 have said they would come and and somewhat fewer have responded in the negative," the director of the institute, Geir Lundestad, told AFP. After the unexpected awarding of the peace prize to a crisis-stricken EU on October 12th the bloc's President Herman Van Rompuy invited all the leaders of the 27 member states to attend the ceremony, which...

Forget about that dead parrot of a question – should we join the eurozone? The eurozone has officially joined us in a newly emerging international organisation: we are all now members of the Permanent No-growth Club. And the United States has just re-elected a president who seems determined to sign up too. No government in what used to be called “the free world” seems prepared to take the steps that can stop this inexorable decline. They are all busily telling their electorates that austerity is for other people (France), or that the piddling attempts they have made at it will...

French officials angrily rejected a charge by The Economist on Friday that France was the "time-bomb at the heart of Europe", accusing the magazine of sensationalist journalism. The Economist's front cover showed seven loaves of "baguette" bread held together by a French tricolour with a lit fuse protruding from the centre. Its main article raised concerns that President Francois Hollande's economic reforms are not ambitious enough and so could jeopardise the future of the euro currency. "Unless Mr Hollande shows that he is genuinely committed to changing the path his country has been on for the past 30 years, France...

Yesterday we posted the official statement of Bundesbank executive board member Carl-Ludwig Thiele, which in turn was a response to a recent surge in concerns about the safety and sanctity of German sovereign gold, held mostly abroad (if a major part of it held in London had been secretly repatriated), and demands by the general public - i.e., those who actually own the gold - for either an audit, or full repatriation, or both. There are, however, some problems with the official Bundesbank statement: the statistics cited in it, as well as the various explanations, are wrong, incorrect or...

(Reuters) - The euro zone debt crisis dragged the bloc into its second recession since 2009 in the third quarter despite modest growth in Germany and France, data showed on Thursday. The French and German economies both managed 0.2 percent growth in the July-to-September period but their resilience could not save the 17-nation bloc from contraction as the likes of The Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Austria shrank. Economic output in the euro zone fell 0.1 percent in the quarter, following a 0.2 percent drop in the second quarter. Those two quarters of contraction put the euro zone's 9.4 trillion euro...

The United States and Germany won a closely contested race Monday among western nations for UN Human Rights Council seats, while the likes of Venezuela and Pakistan secured places without a competitive vote. Rights groups condemned the “pre-cooked” arrangements by most continental groups at the 193-member UN General Assembly which gave council seats to countries whose records have been widely questioned. The United States, Germany and Ireland won the only open election among western nations. …

In early January 1943, the United States Third Army was assembled on the large terrace in front of Peover Hall near Knutsford, England. Before them stood a man in a tailored, brass-buttoned battle jacket with four rows of battle ribbons and decorations. On his legs were riding breeches and polished, high-topped boots with spurs. Around his waist was an old-fashioned leather belt with a large, shiny brass buckle, and he carried a long riding crop with a hidden sword in it. Fifteen stars in total were placed on his shirt collar, helmet and shoulders. "I've been given command of the...

Palestine can count on about 12 Yes votes by EU countries when it tries to upgrade its UN status, in a move expected later this month. … A senior EU diplomat told this website the Union remains divided on the question, however. He noted that member states’ votes “will probably follow the same pattern as with UNESCO,” referring to a decision by the UN’s Paris-based cultural wing to admit Palestine as a member last year. At the time, 11 countries—Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia and Spain—backed Palestine’s UNESCO bid. Another 11—Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Italy,...

The European Commission and top German politicians are becoming increasingly exasperated with both France and Britain as the summit in Brussels to determine the EU budget for the seven-year period from 2014 to 2020 approaches. Both countries have been insistent on getting their way as member states position themselves for what promise to be difficult talks—and both London and Paris have threatened to veto the budget if it doesn't meet their expectations. In response, European Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger, Germany's representative on the EU's executive body, has harshly criticized the two countries. …

There is hardly an issue about which Germans as so united as they are by their desire to see America on its knees. It unites both the left and the right. Wherever they look, they see decay, a lack of culture and ignorance. … The criticism of America has always been a bit infantile. One is familiar with the theory from psychoanalysis, when people talk about transference, or when suppressed feelings or emotions are overcome by projecting them onto others. … The childish excitement over Obama, that once again took hold over Germans during this election—fully 93 percent of the...

Calls for Germany to repatriate its 1,536 tons of gold reserves held at the NY Fed are intensifying as Der Spiegel reports the Federal Reserve has refused to allow German inspectors to even view the country’s massive gold reserves “in the interest of security and of the control process“. We have stated repeatedly that with repatriation and/or audit requests completed or in progress by Venezuela, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, The BOE and the Fed suddenly find themselves in a heap of trouble as the situation (and confidence that the Central banks actually still hold the tungsten gold reserves on...

The Bashar al-Assad rule in Syria has come under heavy fire from people who believe that the regime must quit over its atrocities. But any attempt by the US-led West to impose a replacement will backfire soon India’s oil-rich western neighbourhood, extending from the Arabian Sea to the Bosporus, is engulfed in conflicts arising from sectarian and civilisational rivalries, aggravated by the meddling of external powers. With an arsenal of over 100 nuclear weapons, Pakistan is today witnessing a period of internal strife, largely arising from the pernicious role of its military establishment and tensions across its disputed borders with...

The re-election of US President Barack Obama was widely reported Thursday in Germany under the headline "A Second Chance." That second chance, according to German commentators, would include the opportunity for Obama, without the fear of another re-election campaign, to take a stronger leadership role at home and abroad. … Several of the commentaries in major German newspapers took a pessimistic view of the prospect of breaking the gridlock in Washington between the administration and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. But they also wrote that Obama should now use his post to more actively engage in the world, strengthening ties...

U.S. Election--my report from Germany If you're getting this mail from me, you may not be totally happy with the result of yesterday's election. Let me share what I experienced last night in Stuttgart, and this may be enlightening. Right now, we have more than four years of Obama's crew staring us in the face. Last night, I spoke (in German) on behalf of Republicans Abroad at the (State Parliament) Landtag in Stuttgart's US Election Night Party. It was a 90 minute podium discussion. In the crowd there were 800 ppl (German 2/3 and American 1/3) there with 798 of...

The sister of a Belgian Nazi leader hid three Jews in her home near Brussels during the Holocaust, according to one of the survivors. Hanna Nadel, now 86, said she, her mother and her niece were rescued by M. Cornet, the sister of Leon Degrelle, who, as leader of the Belgian Nazi Rexen movement, was responsible for deporting Jews to their deaths during the German occupation of Belgium. Nadel’s account, related to historian Jan Maes, appeared earlier this week in the Belgian-Jewish monthly Joods Actueel, The three, having escaped deportation orders, wandered with their suitcases around the town of Sint-Genesius...

PDF It almost goes unnoticed that the United States is closing a long chapter in its Atlantic history. For 70 years, since the landing in Normandy, America was literally a power-in-Europe, with a vast military presence stretching from Naples to Narvik and from Portugal to Germany. At its peak, the entire force, Navy and Air Force included, numbered 300,000. The Army topped out at 217,000. At the end of this year, the ground troops will have dwindled to 30,000. A massive support structure of American grand strategy is being dismantled. Why is no one weeping or gnashing teeth?That would...

Homeschoolers Flee Persecution in Germany and Sweden The New American 03 November 2012 This weekend the first ever Global Home Education conference is being held in Berlin as homeschool families tell of being forced to flee Germany and Sweden. Related Articles: German Statesman Backs Homeschooling, Slams State for “Usurping” Kids In Sweden, Persecuted Jewish Homeschoolers Win Court Battle Persecuted & Exiled Swedish Homeschoolers “Walk to Freedom,” Vow to Fight On Homeschool Leader Flees Swedish Persecution Sweden Bans Home-schooling, Religious Instruction State "Kidnapping" of Swedish Home-schooler Prompts International Outcry U.S. Judge Grants Asylum for Homeschooling Family Government Schools Are Bad for...

Troubled Deutsche Bank has rented out the whole of one of Germany’s poshest hotels—for its top managers to spend three days taking about cutting costs and saving money, a magazine reported at the weekend. Suites at Berlin’s Adlon Hotel can cost up to €15,000 ($19,239) a night, while the cheapest room will set penny-pinchers back €320 ($410) a night—and Deutsche Bank has rented out the entire building, Der Spiegel said, in a report to be published on Monday. …

Does Britain belong in the European Union? There are plenty both in the United Kingdom and on the Continent who have their doubts. Now, with the debate over the EU’s next budget raging, a European Commissioner has challenged London to decide. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel is also losing her patience over the squabble. … On Friday, European Commissioner for Financial Programming and Budget Janusz Lewandowski, Poland’s representative in the EU’s executive, said it was time for Britain to make a fundamental decision regarding its future in the European Union. “Of course there are limits,” he said in an interview...

  "German Islamists Target Youth on the Internet" By Christoph Sydow 11/01/2012 "Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan." PHOTO CAPTION: "A growing community of German-speaking Islamists has developed on the Internet. Aiming to find new recruits, they glorify jihad and call for attacks on Germany. A new study warns that such online propaganda might foster a new generation of terrorists." SNIPPET: "International terrorist groups like al-Qaida recognized the importance of the Internet for recruiting new supporters early on." SNIPPET: "Intelligence services can also take advantage of the anonymity of Internet forums to deliberately plant false information or obtain insider...