Russia dismisses sanctions, gambles energy needs will weaken EU resolve - by Eric Reguly

Russia’s quick recognition of Crimea as an independent state is risking a second round of more damaging sanctions that could unleash a new Cold War.

On Monday night, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree to declare Crimea fully independent of Ukraine. The act of defiance came a few hours after the United States and the European Union launched sanctions against about 30 individual Russians and pro-Russian Ukrainians for what was described as their role in threatening the security and the borders of Ukraine.

The sanctions, which consisted of travel bans and asset freezes, are the first retaliatory measures against Russia since Ukraine’s pro-Moscow president, Viktor Yanukovych, was ousted on Feb. 22, triggering the Russian military intervention in Crimea and Sunday’s referendum, in which Crimeans overwhelmingly approved joining Russia.

Canada joined the U.S. and the EU in imposing sanctions on 10 Russian and Ukrainian individuals.
The confrontation – increasingly reminiscent of the mutual hostility between the West and the Soviet Union – seems set to deepen.

Read more: Russia dismisses sanctions, gambles energy needs will weaken EU resolve - The Globe and Mail

France - Government limits vehicle use in Paris amid soaring pollution - Europe needs more alternative energy not less

The Eifel Tower in the smog

France is limiting vehicle use in the capital Paris on Monday amid a spike in pollution to health-threatening levels, only the second time the drastic measure has been introduced in nearly two decades.

A system of "alternating traffic", whereby vehicle use is restricted to alternate days depending on licence plate numbers, came into effect in Paris and its 22 surrounding suburbs at 5.30 am (04.30 GMT) on Monday, as the city tries to curb dangerous pollution levels.

The radical move has seen around 700 police officers deployed to 60 checkpoints around the French capital to ensure that only cars with number plates ending in odd numbers are out on the streets.

Parking is free on Monday for vehicles with even number plates, the Paris city hall said, calling on residents to consult carpooling or car-sharing sites to work out their travel plans.

Note EU-Digest:If there were more electric cars in Europe and France this would not happen.

Read more: France - France limits vehicle use in Paris amid soaring pollution - France 24

European Wealth: The Richest People In Europe

Row row row

With 468 billionaires, Europe claims 28% of the world’s ten-figure fortunes adding up to an aggregate net worth of $1.95 trillion. Russia leads the count with 111 billionaires – the same number as the state of California – while Germany has the second-highest, boasting 85 ten-digit fortune.

The United Kingdom is home to 47 billionaires, slightly more than its neighbor across the Channel, France, which claims 43 billionaires. Georgia, Guernsey, Lithuania and Romania each have just one billionaire.

An indication of a strong economy, Germany saw 26 new super-fortunes in 2014, earning it the third-highest number of billionaire freshman. Only the U.S.A and China had more first-time billionaires.

This week, Europe’s richest man, Amancio Ortega, saw his net worth fall 3.1%, to $62 billion. He is now the world’s fourth-richest person following downgrades of Ortega Inditex, the parent company of his retailer, Zara.

No European has ever landed the top spot on Forbes’ global wealth list, but the continent is home to the world’s richest woman, Liliane Bettencourt. Aged 91, the French cosmetics queen is worth $34.5 billion, thanks to her L’Oréal empire.

A third of Europe’s 52 richest, listed below, earned their fortunes in fashion and retail, including brand names Miuccia Prada and Giorgio Armani, as well as H&M giant Stefan Persson, who is third-wealthiest in the continent. (Not all industries are as glamorous; German Georg Schaeffler made his $14.3 billion from ball bearings.)

Prada is just one of six women in this shortlist of Europe’s richest. She is joined in this elite group by Bettencourt, BMW’s Susanne Klatten and Johanna Quandt, beverage inheritor Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and oil heir Carrie Perrodo.

Several of Europe’s richest live outside their country of citizenship. Though an Irish passport holder, Pallonji Mistry lives in Mumbai, India. Hansjoerg Wyss lives in Wilson, Wyoming, while both Wertheimer brothers live in New York.

Read more: he Richest People In Europe

Global Economy: New doomsday poll: 99.9% risk of 2014 crash - by Paul B. Farrell

Are we reaching the end of the road?

Global risks are accelerating. This is our fourth major poll update of industry leaders: A critical review of their warnings from early last year when we first predicted a 87% risk of a crash: Bernanke’s Fed saw an “unsustainable bubble” ... Gross: “credit supernova” ... Gundlach: “kaboom ahead” ... Ellis: “Don’t own bonds” ... Shilling: “shocker” ... Roubini: “Prepare for perfect storm” ... Shiller: “Irrational exuberance is back” ... Schiff: “Doubling down” on “doomsday” prediction ... InvestmentNews’ warning 90,000 advisers: “tick, tick ... boom!”

A few weeks later the crash risk was up to 98%. Then a dramatic preholiday uptick in investor sentiment. America’s collective unconscious tired of negativity after a Halloween headline: “Economic guillotine dead ahead.” A week later, 2014 became the “Year of the Boom.” Bank of America’s chief strategist screamed: “Bet on the bulls now.” The Great Gatsby spirit was celebrating the holidays“ 

Even old grumpy Dr. Doom, celeb economist Nouriel Roubini, began humming a happy tune all over television: “A global recovery is going to occur, get into equities.” 

What really happened? Fed politics. Short-term, Larry Summers withdrew as a candidate for the Fed chairman’s job. Dark cloud lifted as Janet Yellen become the pick. Wall Street cheered, Bernanke’s easy-money printing presses would not screw up their year-end bonuses. Plus Main Street was mentally exhausted, tired of the bad news, relentless political drama. We needed a holiday break. 

By Thanksgiving, “irrational exuberance” was accelerating in full holiday tilt: Headline: “Shiller’s hot P/Es will power a roaring bull till 2017,” and 2014 got branded the “Katy Perry market!” A week later, a Thanksgiving headline added: “10 reasons to be a bull in 2014.” 

But long term? What’s really ahead for America in 2014? Warning, something bigger is hiding in the deep shadows of our collective brain. At a recent lunch with an old friend, one of the world’s more successful commodities traders, he confirmed that “something” was dead ahead. But not just another brief statistical shift in sentiment. Not a medium-term volatility shift. America, the world, are in a historic transition, a paradigm shift, a mysterious upheaval that few will grasp till it moves further along.

Read more: New doomsday poll: 99.9% risk of 2014 crash - Paul B. Farrell - MarketWatch

The Netherlands - Ukraine: Geert Wilders' goes on rampage in Dutch Parliament during Ukraine Debate

Mr. Geert Wilders of the Nationalist - Anti-Muslim Party For Freedom (PVV) went into a verbal rampage during the Ukraine debate in the Dutch parliament and presented the following motion on behalf of his party  on the situation Ukraine

"whereas the European Commission proposes to give billions of euros of European money, including Dutch money, to Ukraine, believes that not one penny of Dutch tax money should be given to Ukraine, and requests that the government makes certain that not one penny of Dutch tax money goes to Ukraine, and proceeds to the order of the day".  (The motion was translated from Dutch into English by Don Hank)

EU-Digest

The 2014 European Elections - May 22-25 :This Time It Is Different

The countdown to EU Elections has begun

The countdown to the European Parliamentary elections have started. There are not too many weeks left to go to May 22 until the first polling stations open for the 2014 European elections.

It will be the second biggest democratic exercise in the world, 400 million people can cast their vote for a new European Parliament.

The 751 MEPs taking up their seats in July will not only set the course of European policies for the next five years but also elect the leader of the EU's executive body, the European Commission President.

This upcoming election is different because the increase in the European Parliament’s powers since 2009 has started to make itself felt as the European Union sought to pull through the economic crisis and MEPs drew up legislation, inter alia on effective budgetary discipline, the winding down of failing banks and caps on bankers' bonuses.

The May European elections therefore will allow voters to contribute to strengthening or changing the direction that Europe takes in tackling the economic crisis and in many other issues affecting people’s daily lives.

For the first time, the composition of the new European Parliament will determine who will lead the next European Commission, the EU's executive body, which initiates legislation and supervises its implementation. Under the new rules, EU government leaders, who will propose a candidate for the post of the future Commission President, must do so on the basis of the election results.

The European Parliament will elect the new Commission President by a majority of the component members, i.e. at least half of the 751 MEPs to be elected (376). European political parties will therefore, or have already, put forward their candidates for this leading position in the EU before the European elections, thus allowing citizens to have a say over next Commission President.

The new political majority emerging from the elections will also shape European legislation over the next five years in areas from the single market to civil liberties. The Parliament - the only directly elected EU institution - is now a linchpin of the European decision-making system and has an equal say with national governments on virtually all EU laws. Voters will be more influential than ever.

To see how the political cards are falling in place click on our  poll -  and to make your voice be heard don't forget to go out and vote 22 - 25  May. 2014.  

EU-Digest

Technology: The mystery of flight MH370: How on earth, with all our technology, do we lose a giant plane? - by Sebastian Anthony

Three days ago, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished from radar off the south coast of Vietnam in the South China Sea. 239 people were on board — and at this point, it is presumed that they have all perished in some kind of disaster. A massive search and rescue effort involving 40 ships and 34 aircraft from nine different nations has yet to discover any sign of the missing aircraft. For me, this is almost incomprehensible:

Despite all of the awesome technology that mankind has developed, it’s still possible for a Boeing 777-200 with 239 people on board to vanish. For me, it’s mind blowing that all we have to go on is the plane’s radar signature — and even then, that last radar reading was so poor that the search area is thousands of square miles of open water. Surely, given the fact that we can track a damn smartphone anywhere on Earth down to a few meters, there’s a better way of keeping track of missing aircraft?

In the words of Malaysia’s civil aviation chief, the fate of MH370 is “a mystery.” The Boeing 777 took off from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia en route to Beijing, was cruising normally at 35,000 feet… and then disappeared. There was no distress call. The weather was fine. The plane’s last known position, via radar, was just south of Vietnam in the South China Sea — which is where search efforts have been focused so far — but one theory suggests that the plane turned back just after the last radar ping, meaning the plane could be hundreds of miles away in the Strait of Malacca. In the absence of any other information, there is speculation that the plane was target of a terrorist attack. 

For me, the most shocking aspect of the MH370 disaster is that we won’t know what fate befell those 239 souls until we find MH370′s Flight Data Recorder (FDR), aka the black box. Except for that last radar reading, we have absolutely no knowledge of the flight at all until we find that FDR. We have no clue what was said in the cockpit by the captain and first officer — though, seemingly, if something did go wrong, they didn’t even have time to send a mayday message. We have no clue if the plane hit a patch of bad weather, or whether it was hijacked. It really will be one huge mystery until the FDR is recovered — and there’s a good chance, if MH370 did crash into the ocean, that the FDR will never be recovered. In the case of Air France flight AF447, which disappeared off the coast of Brazil, it took two months to locate the wreckage, more than a year to find the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), and the FDR was never found.

So, think about this for a moment. We live in a day and age where GPS (and other radio triangulation methods) can track your smartphone to within a few meters, almost anywhere on Earth. With dedicated, land-based tracking networks, vehicles and devices can be tracked to within a few centimeters. Even in the absence of GPS or radio tracking, inertial guidance (dead reckoning) has been accurate enough since the ’60s to accurately land a nuclear ICBM on the other side of the planet, or put the Apollo mission into space. (Read: Think GPS is cool? IPS will blow your mind.)

And then there’s connectivity. On land, there are networks (both commercial and governmental) that provide data connectivity almost everywhere. Over water is definitely harder, but satellites do provide pretty good coverage — and yes, that particular region of Asia is very well covered by communications satellites. Finally, even if an aircraft is out of satellite/radio coverage, there is absolutely nothing preventing the airplane from transmitting a really juicy low-frequency radio signal that could be picked up thousands of miles away. This is how they communicate with air traffic control, after all.

Why, then, does a plane like the MH370 keep all of its secrets locked up in a black box? Why don’t planes constantly transmit all of their black box data, so that we know their exact location, bearing, altitude, and other important factors, at all times?

The short answer is, there’s no good reason.

Read more: The mystery of flight MH370: How on earth, with all our technology, do we lose a giant plane? | ExtremeTech