Global Economy: Back to the Global Vertical -a politically dangerous development - by Andres Ortega

There are horizontal periods – indeed some people, Thomas Friedman among them, believed some years ago that the world was definitively flat. And then there are periods in which verticality imposes itself again.

In many ways, we are once again moving from the horizontal to the vertical dimension of global affairs.

This “verticality” is making itself especially felt in social terms. Social classes are back on the agenda, although not in the traditional Marxist sense of class struggle.

Rather, we are now coping with the decline of the middle classes and the emergence of a broader “precariat.”

The social escalator is not working as in previous eras, despite renewed growth in many economies following the crisis. Benefits that were taken for granted, such as full-time jobs with social security protections, are disappearing in significant numbers.

Perhaps we are witnessing what Dennis J. Snower calls the “great decoupling,” which he labels “dangerous,” unlike its predecessor, which was “convenient.”

When economic progress is not mirrored or is not linked to social progress, discontent is generated in those left behind. This decoupling ends up manifesting itself in politics.

This is what may be going on in many countries amid the prospect of recovery, an uneven emergence from the crisis and, before that, globalization, which is now generally acknowledged to have produced winners and losers.

The decoupling phenomenon is arising when the advanced economies, both industrial and post-industrial, are recovering from the crisis.

As Marc Fleurbaey of Princeton University argues, we must “prepare people for life and support them in life.”

Central to that is the commitment to education, particularly amid the challenge of technology and its controversial impact on employment and the concept of work.

A smart policy approach in that regard, as Ylva Johansson, the Swedish Employment Minister, points out, is not protecting specific jobs (which may be dying) as protecting workers (which need to be actively equipped and/or a guided toward a new one).

Somehow or other, although no one knows how, remedying the great decoupling will induce the vertical to become more horizontal again. Or so one hopes.

Failing to achieve this will only accentuate more verticality. And vertical moments, as we know, tend to be the more dangerous ones.

Editors note EU-Digest: but the situation is not hopeless. Change is possible. People can and will make the difference. All that is required is for responsible, well educated, socially conscious people, with new ideologies to start speaking out. The outdated, corrupt, political systems in many places of the world must be replaced before it leads to a catasthrophy

If it was possible in France, for a new party to be created within a one year time span prior to their Presidential and parliamentary elections, and for that party to win decisively, in both the Presidential and Parliamentary elections, it can also be done elsewhere. 

The old and established parties have failed the people. The political establishment on both the left and the right have become corrupted by corporate influence and greed. It is high time for change, because the status quo is not acceptable anymore.

Read more: Back to the Global Vertical

Sweden: Apple is working with Ikea to bring virtual furniture to your home

Jim Cook gave a brief mention of plans for a collaboration with Ikea, with the furniture chain bringing 3D models of its various wares into Apple’s nascent augmented-reality platform,

Now, an interview in a Swedish publication has shone a little more light on what shape this partnership will take. As reported by 9to5Mac, Ikea’s digital transformation manager Michael Valdsgaard told Digital.di that the company plans for all of its beds, chairs, cabinets and so on to come in both physical and AR versions.

“This will be the first augmented-reality app that allows you to make reliable buying decision […] When we launch new products, they will come first in the AR app.”

According to Valdsgaard, users will be able to use an Apple device to look around their home, plonking virtual items of furniture on their actual carpet with “millimetre-precise” positioning. Not only with the scale of the virtual object keep in line with its real surroundings, but so will the lighting.

The idea is that you’ll be able to see an augmented-reality layout of your home, to get a better sense of, say, what shade of leather chair looks good beside your enormous stuffed moose.

9to5Mac believes the tool might initially be used in-store, although this seems to defeat the point of the AR app, which is presumably centred on bringing Ikea items (in virtual form) into your own living room. Of course, the heart of all of this is ecommerce, and Ikea is sure to have very obvious links between its 3D models and ways to buy the actual products. What? Did you think Apple and Ikea wanted to make an AR Sims game? Not that that’s completely unheard of...

Valdsgaard said that Ikea is working on a “tight deadline”, so whether or not this tool appears in times for iOS 11 remains to be seen. We wouldn’t be surprised if Apple does a showcase of the tech during its iPhone 8 launch in September

Read more: Apple is working with Ikea to bring virtual furniture to your home |

Brexit Talks Brussels: Davis and Barnier hold press conference after first day of Brexit talks - by Andrew Sparrow

Brexit Negotiations get underway

The British newspaper The Guardian reports EU negotiator Michel Barnier said it will be up to the European council, led by Donald Tusk, to decide later if sufficient progress has been made on these issues to allow talks to move on to trade.

He said, in leaving the EU, Britain will no longer have the same rights and opportunities as EU members.

But the EU can build a new partnership with the UK, and that will contribute to stability on the continent.

He says “a fair deal is possible, and far better than no deal”.

The British negotiator David Davis said the talks were “very constructive”. He says a deal is “eminently achievable”.

Note EU-Digest: Britain is about to go down on its knees before Trump to beg for post Brexit trade access to the USA,  and is in no position to stand up to him and all his nonsensical "make America great again" ideology, as France, Germany and Italy have done, when they issued a powerful joint public statement against Trump policies. Bottom line, the best thing for Britain is to get back into the EU fold and face the global storm winds as a member of the EU. After all  - United we stand -Divided we fall.     

Read more: Davis and Barnier hold press conference after first day of Brexit talks - Politics live | Politics | The Guardian

The Netherlands: Green party's strong stance on migration praised by Radboud Univ. professor - by Janene Pieters

While GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver's firm stance on not making deals with north African countries on asylum seekers may have annoyed many of the other party leaders, his commitment to his his ideals impressed local GroenLinks factions and gained praise from a number of migration experts, including a professor at Radboud university.

The Dutch government formation talks between the VVD, CDA, D66 and GroenLinks collapsed again earlier this week. And again the problem was the asylum policy. The VVD and CDA want to make deals with North African countries - like Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea - on shelter for asylum seekers in the region. Jesse Klaver and GroenLinks are firmly opposed to this.

Klaver fears that the local authorities will not be able to adequately protect the asylum seekers under their care, and that any agreements made with the North African regimes will be very difficult to enforce. Instead he wants the Netherlands to take in more asylum seekers. "We will not send anyone back to countries where it is unsafe", Klaver said in the Tweede Kamer on Tuesday.

Henk van Houtum, expert in European border policy and professor at Radboud University, thinks that Klaver definitely has the right idea about asylum deals with North Africa. "Deals with shady, North African regimes are legally untenable and extremely unwise", he said to Financieele Dagblad. "It is known that regimes in Libya, Sudan and Eritrea do not take human rights very seriously. Nevertheless the Netherlands want North African countries to be responsible for the asylum seekers that the Netherlands is apparently to full for."

Read more: Green party's strong stance on migration praised by Radboud Univ. professor, local parties | NL Times

U.S. Administration Strategy in the Middle East Is Deeply Problematic and EU Should Not Be Involved

In his "landmark speech" last month in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, President Trump called on all “responsible nations” to “work together to end the humanitarian crisis in Syria, eradicate ISIS and restore stability to the region.” While all three are desirable goals, the strategy for achieving them that Mr. Trump outlined in that same speech will achieve precisely the opposite. “Until the Iranian regime is willing to be a partner for peace,” Mr. Trump said, “all nations of conscience must work together to isolate Iran.” The president then called for a U.S.-backed pan-Arab coalition aligned against Iran, which, he says, is stoking “the fires of sectarian conflict and terror.” While that is certainly true, the same could be said of several other states in the region, including the one in which the president delivered his speech.

The president’s proposal is deeply flawed. What is happening in the Middle East today is largely a regional power struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The conflict in Syria is a proxy war, not between the United States and Russia, as some American commentators have suggested, but between the two major powers vying for regional hegemony. By taking sides in the struggle, the administration will only prolong the agony. What is required instead is a kind of détente between Saudi Arabia and Iran, one that would rob their proxies of their reasons to keep fighting. The timing may be right for such an effort. Jean-François Seznec, a Middle Eastern expert at the Atlantic Council, told Voice of America late last year: “Having low oil prices is making life much more difficult for Saudi Arabia and Iran…. If there were a major military conflagration, it would ruin both of them, and I think they realize that.”

The president’s proposal is deeply flawed. What is happening in the Middle East today is largely a regional power struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The conflict in Syria is a proxy war, not between the United States and Russia, as some American commentators have suggested, but between the two major powers vying for regional hegemony. By taking sides in the struggle, the administration will only prolong the agony. What is required instead is a kind of détente between Saudi Arabia and Iran, one that would rob their proxies of their reasons to keep fighting. The timing may be right for such an effort. Jean-François Seznec, a Middle Eastern expert at the Atlantic Council, told Voice of America late last year: “Having low oil prices is making life much more difficult for Saudi Arabia and Iran…. If there were a major military conflagration, it would ruin both of them, and I think they realize that.”

Note EU-Digest: According to a New York Times report, President Donald Trump’s strange allyship with Saudi Arabia over Qatar is cause for suspicion about whether his allegiances are informed by business interests.

The report noted that Trump has been in business with the Saudis for 20 years, since he sold ownership of the Plaza Hotel to a Saudi prince and has one golf course in the United Arab Emirates with another on the way. He hasn’t, however, been able to enter into the market in Qatar.

Also please note : Trump, is the first US president in 40 years who’s failed to divest from all his personal businesses upon taking office, has fallen under criticism for doing so.

“Critics say his singular decision to hold on to his global business empire inevitably casts a doubt on his motives, especially when his public actions dovetail with his business interests,” the Times reported.

Another weird development is that just one week after President Donald Trump accused Qatar of funding terrorism, the United States has agreed to sell Qatar $12 billion worth of F-15s. 

Hopefully EU member states will have the "guts" to totally distance themselves from this bizarre Trump Administration foreign policy, in any form or shape, be it in the Middle East, or any other part of the world .  

EU-Digest

Financial Fraud: EU nations back plans for prosecutors office to fight financial fraud

Europe’s justice ministers have set their sights on tackling financial fraud across the bloc.

After meeting in Luxembourg, twenty EU members have decided to create the European prosecutor’s office.

The new body will focus initially on cross border VAT fraud and EU budget corruption but hopes to expand to other areas.

Announcing the measure Europe’s Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said after its’ adoption there will be a 2-3 year period to establish the office: “This really a big step in our fight against corruption and fraud.”

Read more: EU nations back plans for prosecutors office to fight financial fraud | Euronews

Brexit: Britain is preparing to jump off a cliff

Theresa May's plan seemed so simple: we're way ahead in the polls, so let's call an election, grab a great majority and start building a strong and stable Britain.

Instead, she found out that the British people are tired of empty slogans and that they don't believe she is the right person to lead the UK through the complex Brexit negotiations.

Theresa May remains the British prime minister so far, and is willing to do anything it might take to get life support from the Northern Irish extremists, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

Nobody else is willing to touch the Conservatives, and thus May could soon be pushed out of 10 Downing Street.

So far, her survival strategy was to ritually sacrifice her closest advisers – but it is not only foreign secretary Boris Johnson (despite the loud public denials) that is sharpening his knives.

If May had learned her lesson from former UK prime minister David Cameron's EU referendum disaster and did not call the unnecessary election, London would be fully focused on finalising the preparations for Brexit negotiations right now.

Europe is heading into the talks next week with a clear, detailed and published mandate, unanimously approved by all 27 member states.

However, on the British side of the table, there will be representatives of a very weak government with an unknown mandate, since the unrealistic phrases from the Tory election manifesto are exactly that – unrealistic.

Moreover, the European negotiators will have to keep asking: will our British partners even be at the table a few months down the road? Or will we have to go through every single issue again if there is another snap election and a new British government?

Europe hoped a stronger majority would liberate May from the choke-hold of the Tory Brextremist MPs, and enable her to agree to a deal that makes sense for both sides.

Instead, we will negotiate with a weak government that must rely on extreme partners and where basically every government MP holds a veto, thus reducing the trustworthiness of the British negotiators to almost zero.

Whatever the British negotiators claim, there is simply no guarantee that any agreement will be passed by the current UK parliament.

Read more: Britain is preparing to jump off a cliff