German-Spanish whispering wars hit euro zone(game of chicken escalating?)

Reuters ^ | 06/18/10 | Paul Taylor

[TigerLikesRooster]

German-Spanish whispering wars hit euro zone

Fri, Jun 18 2010

* German, Spanish officials leaking against each other * German sources said Spain on brink of EU bailout

* Spanish countered with bank stress tests

By Paul Taylor

PARIS, June 18 (Reuters) - A whispering war between German and Spanish officials has exacerbated the euro zone's debt crisis this month, keeping financial markets on edge and exposing deep frustrations in Berlin and Madrid.

European diplomats say the background to the leaks and counter-leaks lies in pressure from Germany -- Europe's economic powerhouse and main paymaster -- for Spain to take tougher austerity measures to cut its huge budget deficit.

The Germans seem to have fired the first shot, telling journalists in Berlin on condition of anonymity on June 7 -- the day the German coalition agreed on its own austerity package -- that Spain was on the brink of seeking a European Union bailout.

Two German officials told Reuters that the Spanish government would make an announcement concerning the European Financial Stability Facility that day, when European finance ministers were meeting in Luxembourg to finalise details of the 440 billion euro backstop arrangement for euro zone states.

[TigerLikesRooster]

P!

[MrEdd]

Spain is the chicken, Germany is an 18 wheeler at full speed.

I think I see how this is going to end.

I wish the mortgage was locked into Euros.

[RedStateRocker]

I wonder something, in regards to the present Euro crisis.

How much of the apparent turmoil is simply good old fashioned “Beggar Thy Neighbor” European ‘war by another means’? I mean an armed conflict between European countries, with the exception of little pissant Balkan states that nobody really cares about, is not very likely, and hasn’t been since NATO, but should it really surprise anyone that if Germany gets a chance to bugger England - or France, Spain- that they take it?

[Vince Ferrer]

How much of the apparent turmoil is simply good old fashioned “Beggar Thy Neighbor” European ‘war by another means’? I mean an armed conflict between European countries, with the exception of little pissant Balkan states that nobody really cares about, is not very likely, and hasn’t been since NATO, but should it really surprise anyone that if Germany gets a chance to bugger England - or France, Spain- that they take it?

I don't believe that Europeans are fighting among themselves. The neighbors they are beggaring are the US and China. Earlier yes, but the plan has been made. The only way the productive nations in the eurozone can bail out the unproductive is if Europe exports their way out of the crisis. For this to happen, they need a weaker Euro. Any appearance of fighting or conflict from now on in euroland is simply an attempt to debase their own currency against the dollar and yuan. They are all actors on the same stage now, trying to make themselves took as bad as they can.

[cranked]

...as the dominoes begin to topple...so to does the EU...

[Red Dog #1]

You spoke a truth that isn't suppose to be spoken. In large part, NATO continues to exists in order to prevent another Western European war not to protect Western Europe. As tensions rise, we'll see over the next few decades how well it works (or doesn't).

[RedStateRocker]

That is also quite plausible and a very interesting viewpoint, Freegards!

[RedStateRocker]

Hopefully we’ll have more sense than to get involved in the next one (yeah, right.......).

The nastiest argument I ever got into with my dad was not about Vietnam, but about WW1. Vietnam, in the context of the cold war made more sense than our involvement in WW1. At least the Asians know when they are beat and adapt (steal) from the victors- witness Japan schooling itself in British and American naval technology or China harnessing the ‘free market’ the way one would nuclear power: subject to careful control. We will always be flummoxed by the Chinese until we learn it doesn’t matter squat to them if Communism triumphs over Capitalism, or vice versa, as long as China triumphs over the barbarians (everyone else).

I think a comparison between 0bama and Wilson is interesting- academics who think/thought themselves worthy of playing God for the good of the little people, probably in their heart of hearts think they are doing the right thing (although considering that profiting handsomely is only receiving their just due) and creating the sorts of chaos it usually took Peter Sellers in a movie to achieve. The only, meager consolation is knowing all the snide europeans who loved to demean President Bush realize that they are about as hosed as if you got into a car with a friend and you realize he’s drunk and homicidal as you speed off ...

[PAR35]

‘The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet’.

— Winston Churchill, May 19, 1943