Like most people know (or I'd like to think they do) World War II ended with the Yalta agreement where Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin decided it's time to set differences aside and start a brave new world. And for millions behind the Iron Curtain, 1984 began in earnest. Then in 1989, communism collapsed and everybody was happy again. Or were they?
Well, this blog isn't about that. Not necessarily. It's about one European's uncertainty on what Europe really means.
Before the 1989 Revolution which attempted to put the country back on the democratic track it had been taken off by the Soviet Union, two things were known about Romania by almost anyone abroad: girls’ gymnastics and communism.
More than 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, here’s a strange rendition of the moment the West united with Russia to decide spheres of influence over that country :-)
When Romania’s girls’ fencing team won the gold in the European Championships in Sheffield, everything seemed to go smoothly. Medals were hung around their necks, little souvenirs handed over... then, at minute 4:35 of this video, the whole team leaves the podium in the middle of the ceremony! Only to be replaced, moments later, by smiling Russian and French girls, silver and bronze medallists. The Russians went as far as to sit on the podium while the Romanians were nowhere to be seen.
How rude of the Romanians to leave this way, many people are likely to say. But maybe if they knew that the old, communist anthem of Romania was played during the ceremony instead of the one chosen by the country when it got rid of the communist dictatorship at the price of more than 1,000 lives, they’d be more sympathetic.
A story going around on forums for existing and would-be migrants to the UK has a headline that makes you really want to click on it, even if you have no interest in the subject.
I humbly submit an alternative headline: "British Jobs for British Boners." Not as suggestive, I agree, but at least the image it puts into your mind is not that painful – unless you're thinking of Lorena Bobbitt.
OK, I admit it; I am a foreigner in London. That means I’m not used to how things are done here and should probably keep my mouth shut.
But one of the things I really enjoy in London is now in danger of disappearing. No, it’s not a pretentious pub or restaurant in the City, nor a trendy boutique somewhere near Covent Garden, nor a stall in Greenwich Market (the shiny, touristy one).
I’m talking about Streatham Ice Rink. I’ve only discovered it recently, after skating unenthusiastically on the tiny, crowded and cheekily expensive open-air rink at Somerset House, changing my mind about going on the half-flooded surface of the rink outside the Natural History Museum and staring in disbelief at the minuscule rink in Canary Wharf before deciding the "experience" was not worth the price of the ticket.
Streatham Ice Rink, at the first look, is nothing extraordinary – actually, it could not be more ordinary. But this is exactly what I like about it. It’s unassuming, simple and genuine- things that are harder and harder to find in London these days.
If you’re tired of the crowds of tourists and the well-off-looking skaters you bump into on rinks closer to the Square Mile - where, besides skating, you are invited to try an "unique experience" consisting of adjacent "activities" such as sipping various overpriced drinks or nibbling various equally overpriced exotic things - go to Streatham Ice Rink. It offers only what it promises: great skating.
The ice is incredibly good. No scratches or uneven surfaces, no water on ice, and you’re inside – so you can pass a rainy weekend skating. The staff are friendly, the skaters are nice.
Granted, it could do with a lick of paint and the toilets and the cafeteria are in need of some improvements. But these are minor inconveniences when you think that Streatham Ice Rink is 78 years old. Think about how many kids skated there who now, as adults, remember those moments as maybe some of the happiest of their lives.
I am gutted at the thought that all this will all go in a few months– weeks maybe. Tesco got permission from the Lambeth Council to redevelop the area and they say they will build a temporary rink somewhere in Brixton until they manage to replace Streatham Ice Rink within their new development – which will include a supermarket and houses.
Their new rink – when, but especially if it is finished – will perhaps be shinier, more colourful and will offer "modern facilities." But in the meantime they will demolish a London landmark and bulldoze over thousands of childhood memories – and nobody seems to give a toss.
News of Hosni Mubarak's departure has dwarfed another high-profile resignation, one that would normally top the news pages.
Axel Weber, the Bundesbank President, is leaving at the end of April.Yeah, I know, it sounds boring, another central banker just leaving, good riddance.
But what may actually follow is very important. His departure from Buba – and his non-participation in the race for European Central Bank chief when Jean-Claude Trichet leaves in November – means the ECB's philosophy will change maybe beyond recognition.
The central bank says it is buying these bonds only to ensure the orderly functioning of the markets. But if the markets price these bonds as very risky, this probably means the markets perceive a risk there, therefore they are functioning in an orderly way... so why should the ECB intervene?
Since the beginning of the crisis, the ECB has lost a lot of its credibility. It keeps saying the only needle in its compass is fighting inflation – but it keeps acting as if it has to save the periphery members by buying their bonds, in exchange for imposing fiscal tightening measures to try and solve the mess.
Many people will say there is nothing wrong with the ECB doing all these things – after all, somebody has to be in charge. Except, of course, that its members were not democratically elected by people in these countries so therefore they have no mandate to impose raising taxes and cutting spending.
Really, the ECB should just stick to their needle. But maybe that's what Weber's decision is signalling: that the ECB's mandate of just fighting inflation is really and truly over. Let the money printing...err, bond-buying bonanza begin.
PS Come to think of it, one good thing may come of this: the markets may save the day. Investors may think that, with Weber gone, the ECB won't shy away from printing money. They will therefore price the periphery bonds as less risky, since the ECB is there to save them. So the ECB may not need to actually print the euros. Spring is near, let's be positive.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has left, according to his Vice President. Crowds in Cairo, who have been booing him for the past 18 days, are now cheering.
But they should stop for a minute and think. How did this happen? First, he made various promises only to see the crowds rejecting them. Then, he promised to step down, only not just yet. And finally, he did step down, of sorts – announcing it through Vice President Omar Suleiman, who also said he gave power to the military.
So ... yes, the man may have stepped down. But the regime is still intact. The military has been, on the face of it, neutral in this protest – looming menacingly over it, but not intervening. Meanwhile, protesters in Cairo don’t know what decisions were taken and what options were discussed during the 18 days and what the military was promised.
I can hardly believe the army just contended themselves with baby-sitting the demonstrators, hoping they’ll just one day get bored and leave. Or, having seen their request satisfied, that they will leave and let the authorities go about their business.
Egyptians protested against Mubarak. He’s now gone, but the whole regime is still in place. 18 days is a long time to plan succession and spoils - if I were in Cairo, I’d ask: what really has changed?
What is happening now in Egypt reminds me in an eerie way of the Romanian revolution in 1989. The internet is already abuzz with speculation that Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak might end up like his late friend, former communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who was executed after a very short trial. It’s all down to what the army will do – will it side with the people or continue to protect an increasingly alienated dictator?
I really hope, for the Egyptians’ sake, that the similarity stops here. What happened in Romania after the revolution and the execution of the Ceausescus is a sad reminder that good times do not necessarily begin once the revolution is won, protesters are back from the streets and the dead are buried. Blaming only one person for the evil that has penetrated a country is an easy, but dangerous path to take.
In 1990, after the Ceausescus were gone and the Communist Party supposedly outlawed, the second ranks of his loathed secret police – the Securitate - quickly became the new ruling elite. Without a law preventing them from taking public office, former Securitate agents, informers and collaborators became politicians and created a powerful network of corruption and influence peddling that has engulfed the country ever since.
There have been various attempts to save the Romanian revolution and return its results to the original intended purpose – an end to the corruption that the communist system had encouraged – but they were all stifled by force, the most famous being the two-month long protest in Bucharest and the subsequent bloodshed caused by the miners’ descent on the capital.
21 years after Romania’s revolution, corruption is omnipresent in the country, to such an extent that more than 10 percent of the population has emigrated in search of opportunities that are denied to them in their home country.
Social and economic inequality has deepened, the health system is full of doctors that are so callous they would let patients die unless they receive substantial bribes and many teachers in state schools give grades to young pupils based on the “presents” they receive from pupils’ parents rather than on the pupils’ own knowledge.
On many occasions, employment is subject to bribe giving or “knowing” somebody in the right place, rather than depending on the candidate’s real abilities. The media is made up almost exclusively of local moguls who use the TV channels, newspapers and news agencies they own to blackmail, influence and pressure politicians or companies to do various things that benefit a small and corrupt elite.
Ironically, Romanians are nearly back where they started: 21 years after their own revolution, they don’t have a free media, corruption is as rampant (if not even more) as it was under the communists and the rift between the privileged, ruling elite and its cronies and the anonymous masses who barely make ends meet is deepening.
Sure, they have freedom of speech and freedom of travel, and they take advantage of both. But I doubt that the more than 1,000 people who died in December 1989 sacrificed their lives so that the survivors can emigrate more easily.
That’s one lesson Egyptians could learn from the Romanians’ experience: once the Cairo revolution is over and Mubarak is out, don’t rely on the new people who come in to reform the system all by themselves. You must always be on guard and ready to defend democracy and the rule of law.
China has passed legislation dictating that only journalists with experience or qualifications in the business sector may write about stock and futures exchanges, Zinhua reports.
Now, in a democracy such a law would not really be possible nor, I should add, desirable. After all, freedom of speech is what allows each of us to write about whatever we want – and it’s up to the readers to make up their mind if they believe us or not.
But what about when those readers are traders who are making or losing millions of euros (dollars, yen, whatever free currency – not yuan, obviously, as that’s still tightly controlled) based on what’s written in the press and on the internet?
The context of that story is that on Wednesday the Swiss National Bank confirmed it excluded Irish sovereign debt from the list of instruments it accepts as collateral for its repo operations.
(With repos, banks in need of cash can sell securities to the Swiss National Bank, committing to buy them back at a specific time for a higher price. By excluding Irish debt from the list of selected instruments for such operations, the SNB effectively reduced availability of cash to banks with high exposure to Ireland.)
The Irish news was first reported by an Irish blogger on January 4 but the exclusion actually happened in December 2010, when the SNB published the adjustments it made to the basket of instruments it accepts as collateral.
Portugal Shoots Itself in the Foot
On Friday, riding on the success this story had in spooking markets, Lisbon newspapers apparently reported that Portuguese debt had also been excluded by the SNB from its list of eligible collateral for repos. This scary piece of news was quickly re-printed by other media.
What few media reported, though, is something they could have found out by making a phone call to the SNB: a spokesperson told the few curious hacks who called that the Swiss central bank had stopped accepting Portuguese debt as collateral more than a year ago, because it no longer fulfilled the rating criteria.
If more journalists had made that call, this scary story would have looked totally different, with a headline saying something like “Old News: SNB Doesn’t Like Portugal’s Debt Either.”
Swiss Precision?
But wait, it gets even better. It’s not just the journalists who sent out confused messages, it’s the central bank itself, apparently.
If initially it said it hasn’t accepted Portuguese debt as collateral for over a year because of ratings downgrades, later the SNB sent out a statement in which, according to Reuters, it said it actually never accepted it because of settlement issues.
Do we need a law like China’s in Europe? I don’t think so, seeing as we claim to be a democracy. But we do need authorities who promptly put out the correct message for markets.
Oh, and journalists who think at least twice about the consequences of the stories they write – and about their accuracy, since they’re at it.
