Russia: President Vladimir Putin deserves kudos for 2014 Sochi Olympics - a job well done

President Vladimir Putin

Even though most of us in the Western Press had initially used every possible occasion to be critical about a variety of issues surrounding  the Sochi Olympics project, the Olympics not only got off to a brilliant start, but also throughout the games showed to be a smooth and perfectly managed operation.

This was recognized by just about everyone afterwards.

Olympic Committee officials went to great lengths to praise these much-maligned Games in their closing news conference.

"They've done a phenomenal job," said USOC chairman Larry Probst, mentioning everything from smooth transportation to Vladimir Putin's presence throughout the previous 15 days. "(Putin) has really owned these Games," he said.

Like it or not, President Vladimir Putin deserves to receive Kudos, not only for these Olympic games, but also for doing everything in his power to turn Sochi into a household word and exposing a cultural, warm and friendly face of  Russia to the rest of world.

Indeed, Mr. Putin might not be everyone's friend - which great leader ever is- but he will certainly be viewed by historians later as the Russian leader who picked up Russia by the bootstraps, after it was down and nearly out when the Soviet Union fell apart, and turning it into the modern society it is today.   

According to Russian public opinion polls, Mr Putin not only remains popular - his popularity is even rising.  In the latest poll, taken in December 2013, by the independent research organization, the Levada Centre, 68 per cent of respondents said that if new presidential elections were held this they would vote for Putin. This was up by 10 per cent from December 2012.

Why is Mr. Putin so popular at home? The simple answer is that the Russian population of 144 million is much better off today than it has ever been. Real incomes have risen substantially over the past decade, and the share of the population living below the poverty line has fallen.

The range of available consumer goods is worlds apart from when the Soviet Union fell apart little more than two decades ago.  Many of the middle class Russian families are now taking vacations outside their country and in the summer you will now find Russians vacationers just about everywhere in the world with a large contingent  in Turkey and Thailand..

During his two terms as president, Putin signed into law a series of liberal economic reforms, such as the flat income tax of 13 percent, a reduced profits tax, a new Land Code and a new edition (2006) of the Civil Code. Within this period, poverty in Russia was cut by more than half and real GDP has grown rapidly.

Some of the main features of Putin's regime so far have been: development of a corporatist system by pursuing close ties with business organizations, social stability and co-optation of opposition parties.

In 2005, Putin launched National Priority Projects in the fields of health care, education, housing and agriculture. In his May 2006 annual speech, Putin proposed increasing maternity benefits and prenatal care for women. Putin was strident about the need to reform the judiciary considering the present federal judiciary "Sovietesque", wherein many of the judges hand down the same verdicts as they would under the old Soviet judiciary structure, and preferring instead a judiciary that interpreted and implemented the code to the current situation.

In 2005, responsibility for federal prisons was transferred from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the Ministry of Justice.

The most high-profile change within the national priority project frameworks was probably the 2006 across-the-board increase in wages in healthcare and education, as well as the decision to modernize equipment in both sectors in 2006 and 2007.

So far during Putin's government, poverty was cut more than half and real GDP has grown rapidly.

In a rare sign of emotion and patriotism, he once said in an interview with Time magazine: "Russia is an ancient country with historical, profound traditions and a very powerful moral foundation. And this foundation is a love for the Motherland and patriotism. Patriotism in the best sense of that word. Incidentally, I think that to a certain extent, to a significant extent, this is also attributable to the American people."

Kudos Mr. Putin, Sochi was a job well done.

EU-Digest

Economic Indicators: The Zombie Numbers That Rule the U.S. and Global Economy - by Zachary Karabell

Economic Indicators have outlived their time

This Thursday ( February 21) the Conference Board, a global business association, released its monthly index of “leading economic indicators.”

Like the unemployment and inflation, housing starts, G.D.P. changes and other figures, these numbers arrive in metronomic waves. Financial services like Bloomberg, Dow Jones and Reuters blast them out the moment they’re released. Stock markets will often respond within seconds. Commentators and policy makers attribute to them a near-cosmic significance.

We act as if they are markers from time immemorial, but in fact they were invented for modern industrial nations after the Depression and World War II and are now seriously outdated.

Take gross domestic product. Derived from formulas set down by the economist Simon Kuznets and others in the 1930s, its limitations have long been recognized, none more eloquently than by Robert F. Kennedy in a famous speech in 1968 when he declared that it measured everything except that which is worth measuring.

GDP treats all output as a positive. When you buy LED lights that obviate the need to spend on incandescent bulbs and reduce energy consumption, GDP goes down and what should be an unmitigated good becomes a statistical negative. If a coal company pollutes a river, the cleanup costs are positive for GDP, as are any health care costs for those harmed.

What’s more, we have also come to assume that with output comes more spending and employment, but factories today are powered by robotics and software, and robots don’t buy more lattes and shoes.

GDP is a good number for a nation that produces lots of stuff made by lots of workers, but for an information economy grounded in services and intellectual property and awash in apps that cost nothing yet enable commerce, it is not up to the task. Nor are many of our indicators. Our trade figures treat an iPhone made—more accurately, assembled—in China with no reference to the intellectual property created by Apple in California.

Yes, large corporations have economists who attempt to draw correlations between macro-indicators and business trends, and companies decide on how to much to spend based in part on a read of future interest rates, growth trends, and inflation. But even here, the connection between big numbers and business realities has broken down. If national retail sales that measure big stores in malls are weak, that says nothing about how much e-commerce might be up. If consumer spending writ large sags, that says nothing about higher end spending at mass luxury stores like Michael Kors or lower-end retailers such as Dollar Tree. Making decisions based on what the indicators say is almost certainly a recipe for making the wrong decisions.

Weaning ourselves from our obsession with economic indicators is a vital step to grappling with the world as it is and making decisions that yield positive results. Individuals, companies, and governments will find their interests best served by creative approaches that craft indicators that draw on the wealth of big data information rather than cramming all reality into a few simple averages. The indicators of the 20th did yeoman service in taming the worst extremes of economic cycles. We should thank them, and move on.

Read more: The Zombie Numbers That Rule the U.S. Economy - Zachary Karabell - The Atlantic

Global GNP: Holland outside the EU would be reduced to the same level of global importance as Florida

Netherlands equal to state of Florida

How does the U.S. economy measure up to the rest of the world? You could find out by poring over a table of GDP figures, or you could get a snap perspective from this map, which renames every U.S. state according to a country with a matching GDP.

One million Rhode Islanders have as much wealth as 15 million Guatemalans. Texas has an economy the size of Australia’s. And New York has met its match, Mexico.

The map from economist Mark J. Perry at the American Enterprise Institute puts America’s $16 trillion GDP in perspective. “The map and these statistics help remind us of the enormity of the economic powerhouse we live in,” Perry writes, at least to the 4% of the world’s population that lives there.

The Netherlands economy (GDP) is approximately the same as that of the state Florida in the USA with a similar number of inhabitants (17 million people) . 

This report underscore the fact that if the EU would break up - as most of the Eurosceptics would like to see happen -  individual EU member-states would not be able to play any significant role on the global scene in relation to international trade, economics, finances, jurisdiction or military matters. 

In other words a united Europe can be a master of its own fate but divided it will fall.

Read more: GDP Map of U.S. States Compared to World | TIME.com

European Financial Industry: Germany, France back EU tax on derivatives - by Jean-Baptiste Vey

France and Germany agreed that a planned pan-European tax on financial transactions should cover all derivatives products, a source close to French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said on Wednesday.

President Francois Hollande and Chancellor Angela Merkel said after a joint meeting of their two cabinets in Paris that they wanted other EU partners to agree on such a levy by European Parliament elections in May.

France and its banks have in the past warned that imposing a transactions tax across the board of financial products could damage Europe's financial sector. But Germany has in recent days suggested a compromise under which different components of the tax could be phased in over time.

While Hollande and Merkel signalled their will for the 11 countries who back the tax to conclude a deal on it by the European elections, it was still not clear how high the final tax would be and when it would be applied to specific products.

Asked whether he favoured a phase-in of the tax as suggested by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble - starting with share trades first - Hollande said such details would be worked out in minister-level discussions.

"The main thing is that it happens. If we seek the perfect product, I know there are some people who will go so deep into details that there will never be a financial transactions tax. I prefer an imperfect tax to no tax at all," he said.

Note EU-Digest: every politician in the European Union should keep in mind that we elected them to defend the interests of the voters and not only the interests of  the financial, banking industry, or specific corporate interest groups. 
 
Read more: Germany, France back EU tax on derivatives - French source | Reuters

E.U. Imposes Sanctions Despite Russian Criticism - by Stephen Castle and Steven Lee Myers

Brushing aside Russian criticism, the European Union agreed on Thursday to go ahead with sanctions that include travel bans and asset freezes imposed on those deemed responsible for the fatal escalation of violence in Ukraine.

A day after the United States announced some similar moves, foreign ministers of the 28-nation European Union said they would devise a list of those who would be subject to the European sanctions, and that the sanctions would also ban the export of equipment likely to be used for repression in Ukraine.

But the European foreign ministers also left themselves room to continue a dialogue with President Viktor F. Yanukovych’s government, emphasizing the importance of political progress in Kiev, where the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland have been trying to mediate.

Britain’s foreign secretary, William Hague, said that the foreign ministers had acted because of the “widespread horror” at what had happened in Ukraine but that the number of those affected by the sanctions would depend on the behavior of the Ukrainian government.

 

Read More: E.U. Imposes Sanctions Despite Russian Criticism - NYTimes.com

Ukraine crisis turning into Revolution: Police storm main Kiev 'Maidan' protest camp - by Daniel Sandford

Police are storming the main protest camp in Ukraine's capital, Kiev, which has been occupied since November.

Explosions are taking place, fireworks are being thrown and large fires have broken out in Independence Square, known locally as the Maidan.

On Tuesday at least 18 people were killed, including seven policemen, in the worst violence seen in weeks.

Opposition leaders later met President Viktor Yanukovych but failed to find a solution to the crisis.

Vitaly Klitschko, leader of the opposition Udar (Punch) party, told Ukraine's Hromadske TV that the president had given the protesters only one option, leave the Maidan and go home.

Security forces had given protesters a deadline of 18:00 local time (16:00 GMT) to leave Independence Square, the scene of a mostly peaceful protest camp since November.

The city's metro service was completely shut down, and there were reports that cars were being prevented from coming in to the capital.

Then shortly before 18:00 GMT, police announced over loudspeakers that they were about to begin "an anti-terror operation".

Late on Tuesday, the police tried to break through a barricade from the Evropeyska Square, but the attack was repelled.

In a renewed assault shortly after 04:00 local time on Wednesday (02:00 GMT), the police tried to move on the protesters' tents near the main monument on the square.

A number of tents were set ablaze, and the police reportedly again began using water cannon.

In speeches from the main stage, protest leaders urged people already on the Maidan to stand firm, and called on Ukrainians elsewhere to come to the square.

Meanwhile, there are reports of unrest breaking out elsewhere in Ukraine, including the western cities of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk. 

Mr Yanukovych's aide said the president was preparing to address the nation, without providing further details.

Read more: BBC News - Ukraine crisis: Police storm main Kiev 'Maidan' protest camp

Germany - EU Privacy Protection Laws: 'I expect Merkel's actions to follow her words'- needs to support European data law reform

DW Question to Green MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht: "John Kerry said during his visit to Berlin, "Let's turn a page and open a new chapter." He has had enough of the NSA spying scandal and the ensuing diplomatic difficulties - with Germany in particular. But Angela Merkel now said in her weekly podcast that she wants to promote a European communications network. That's seen as a direct reaction to the NSA spying allegations. How useful is this proposal?"
 
Data Law Reform, EU, EU Commission, EU Parliament, Germany, NSA Spying, Jan Philipp Albrecht:" I think it's a good sign that we see movement towards a European initiative to better protect our data and the information infrastructure in Europe. Yes, we need that. But on the other hand, it's also clear that we cannot just build borders which would give us some sort of a German or a Schengen zone internet. Instead, we need to have a legal framework which secures our fundamental rights in the European market."

"We need to implement the European data protection reform. Angela Merkel has called that a priority. Now she should follow through with it. It's not just about investing in infrastructure - even though that's a good first step in giving Europeans a choice, so they can choose a European data processer instead of a US firm."

DW: "Even if we did have European data processers - what would that change? Whistleblower Edward Snowden has said, "It doesn't matter where your servers are. The NSA will go where the data is."

Jan Philipp Albrecht: "That's true. We can't just cut the cables. People do want to communicate, and we don't want to stop them. But that's why we need better data protection in terms of services. It has to be made clear that if somebody offers services to European citizens and consumers, these services need to comply with the rules of our market: data security and protection, better encryption, and more control for users. That's what Angela Merkel should safeguard."

Read more: 'I expect Merkel's actions to follow her words' | Europe | DW.DE | 17.02.2014