Almere-Digest

March 18, 2014

The Netherlands - Russia: Dutch PM says planned Russia trade mission still on 'for now'

The Netherlands will not cancel a planned trade mission to Russia over the Crimea crisis unless the European Union decides on economic sanctions against Moscow, the Dutch prime minister said.

Mark Rutte said on a late-night talk show on Monday that Economics Minister Henk Kamp's trip in May with a number of Dutch oil and gas companies would go ahead as planned. "For now the trip is on," Rutte said.

To date, the European Union has subjected 21 Russian and Ukrainian officials to visa restrictions and asset freezes for their roles in the seizure of Crimea from Ukraine.

Brussels has said more measures could follow in coming days if Russia does not back down and instead formally annexes Crimea.

The Netherlands - On High Security Alert: G7 leaders to meet next week at The Hague to discuss Ukraine

The United States and its G7 allies will gather next week at The Hague to consider a further response to Russia's attempt to absorb Ukraine's Crimea region, the White House said on Tuesday.

The announcement came on the day that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty making Crimea a part of Russia after the region staged a referendum on Sunday that the West has declared illegitimate.

The G7 meeting will take place on the margins of a nuclear security summit at The Hague that U.S. President Barack Obama plans to attend.

"The meeting will focus on the situation in Ukraine and further steps that the G7 may take to respond to developments and to support Ukraine," said White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden.

Note Almere Digest: During the Nuclear conference and the G7 meetings next week a variety of security measures have been taken by the EU and the Dutch Government to protect citizens and visitors against possible terrorist attacks.

These measures will include - extensive controls of all travel and travel points ( train, air, boat) in and out of the Netherlands, a no-fly-zone above the conference areas and all other strategic areas, which will be enforced by Dutch and EU air-force squadrons and special security forces. During the days of the conferences,train, bus and tram operations within the city of the Hague and surrounding areas will be limited.

Read more: G7 leaders to meet next week at The Hague to discuss Ukraine | Reuters

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.

March 12, 2014

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