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FT Op-Ed: The battle of the oligarchs behind the gas dispute

by afew
Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 04:30:17 PM EST

As the Russian-Ukrainian "crisis" reaches its paroxysm, with gas supplies reduced to a number of European countries, the Financial Times publishes an op-ed piece (The battle of the oligarchs behind the gas dispute) inspired by the longer post Jerome wrote a few days ago on this dispute: Ukraine-Russia: some background and context.

The full article is copied below the fold, but, of course, go over to the FT site to see it, if you're not coming from there. (And, if you are, welcome!) If you're interested in the topic, recommended reading: Jerome wrote an excellent and more scholarly article almost two years ago for IFRI, the French international affairs research institute: Gazprom as a Predictable Partner. Another Reading of the Russian-Ukrainian and Russian-Belarusian Energy Crises , as well as this background article here on ET in 2005: Ukraine vs Russia: Tales of pipelines and dependence (Dec. 30, 2005).

Note by afew: I reformatted the article for op-ed use with Jerome, and he kindly included me in the byline. It should be clear which of us has the expert knowledge...

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The euro at 10 - the return of the real economy

by Jerome a Paris
Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 03:38:20 PM EST

I found it oddly appropriate that on the day the euro ended its 10th year (and in the middle of an ongoing discussion with ChrisCook about the nature of money), we could read a distinctively plaintive editorial in the FT trying to argue that finance is not that evil and that it is necessary to the "real economy."

There is a more extreme view, though, which points to the growth in finance as a share of output in rich countries and says the overmighty financial sector must become smaller, both to tame its capacity for disaster and to free resources and talent for more “productive” and “real” activities. This view is wrong.

bumped to give readers coming from the FT a different take on the financial crisis: what I call the Anglo Disease

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Red Arrow to Bologna

by DoDo
Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 03:35:47 PM EST

[Last month], Italian State Railways (FS) inaugurated its Milan-Bologna high-speed rail line. From [December 15], regular trains traverse it at 300 km/h.

Above: an ETR 500 train in new Frecciarossa livery passes the new Po bridge (cable-stayed, main span: 194 m) in autumn fog. Photo from FS.
Below: parallel test run at 300 km/h on the new line by test units ETR 500 Y1 and Y2, filmed by apparent test train driver 44Nikko87.

Let me introduce the line (doing some more parallel bridge blogging) and say a few words about high-speed in Italy below the fold.

Bumped to showcase a recent example of Train Blogging, a regular feature on European Tribune.

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European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 7. January

by Fran
Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 03:12:39 PM EST

On this date in history:

1899 - Birth of Francis Poulenc, a French composer and a member of the French group Les Six. He composed music in all major genres, including art song, chamber music, oratorio, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music.(d. 1963)

More here and video

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Tuesday Open Thread

by In Wales
Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 10:25:43 AM EST

How has your day been?

Comments >> (76 comments)

My Long Thaw

by sidd
Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 07:35:18 AM EST

[The title of this piece is a riff on the book by Prof. David Archer.]

I was tempted into writing this entry upon reading a piece by Mr. de Sousa , especially the sentence

"What is needed now is to bring the debate to the public, dig it out of shady blogs and impenetrable scientific journals."

By way of background, I am a once and sometime physicist. I have plowed through my share of impenetrable journals. So I do feel a certain sympathy for the sentiments expressed by Mr. De Sousa.

That said:

Everyday, I am presented with questions that I cannot fully answer. If these questions are sufficiently important, I educate myself sufficently to form an opinion. If time and circumstance preclude sufficient education, I defer to the opinion of those I consider trustworthy in the matter at hand.

This is dangerous.

If I have not the expertise to form a decision, I naturally tend to agree with a purported expert whose opinion furthers my other interests.

Therefore: If the matter is sufficiently important, I bend priorities and arrange circumstance in order to educate myself.

promoted by afew

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European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 6. January

by Fran
Mon Jan 5th, 2009 at 03:08:20 PM EST

On this date in history:

1655 - Birth of Jakob Bernoulli, a Swiss mathematician and the first person to develop the technique for solving separable differential equations. (d. 1705)

More here and here

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Monday Open Thread

by In Wales
Mon Jan 5th, 2009 at 11:01:31 AM EST

An Open Thread for Threaders

Comments >> (50 comments)

Now they tell us

by Colman
Mon Jan 5th, 2009 at 03:48:27 AM EST

Martin Wolf, writing in the FT, takes some lessons from Keynes on how to think about the current economic crisis:
The third and most important lesson is that one should not treat the economy as a morality tale. In the 1930s, two opposing ideological visions were on offer: the Austrian; and the socialist. The Austrians – Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich von Hayek – argued that a purging of the excesses of the 1920s was required. Socialists argued that socialism needed to replace failed capitalism, outright. These views were grounded in alternative secular religions: the former in the view that individual self-seeking behaviour guaranteed a stable economic order; the latter in the idea that the identical motivation could lead only to exploitation, instability and crisis.

Keynes’s genius – a very English one – was to insist we should approach an economic system not as a morality play but as a technical challenge. He wished to preserve as much liberty as possible, while recognising that the minimum state was unacceptable to a democratic society with an urbanised economy. He wished to preserve a market economy, without believing that laisser faire makes everything for the best in the best of all possible worlds.

This same moralistic debate is with us, once again. Contemporary “liquidationists” insist that a collapse would lead to rebirth of a purified economy. Their leftwing opponents argue that the era of markets is over. And even I wish to see the punishment of financial alchemists who claimed that ever more debt turns economic lead into gold.

Yet Keynes would have insisted that such approaches are foolish. Markets are neither infallible nor dispensable. They are indeed the underpinnings of a productive economy and individual freedom. But they can also go seriously awry and so must be managed with care.

Markets are tools, not an end in themselves. Society needs to set their rules and their objectives rather than simply allowing them to run wild.

If, like me, you missed it while on holiday, you should probably read Jérôme's comments on this.

Comments >> (23 comments)

European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 5. January

by Fran
Sun Jan 4th, 2009 at 03:03:42 PM EST

On this date in history:

1921 - Birth of Friedrich Dürrenmatt, a Swiss author and dramatist. He was a proponent of epic theater whose plays reflected the recent experiences of World War II. The politically active author gained fame largely due to his avant-garde dramas, philosophically deep crime novels, and often macabre satire.(d. 1990)

More here and here

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Sunday Afternoon Open Thread

by Jerome a Paris
Sun Jan 4th, 2009 at 09:20:15 AM EST

Starting early today...

Comments >> (80 comments)

New Year's Photography Blog (Blog No. 68)

by LEP
Sun Jan 4th, 2009 at 04:18:49 AM EST

The years have turned and Spring will quickly arrive.

Happy New Year to all and if you like, show us your photos.

front-paged by afew

Comments >> (25 comments)

European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 4. January

by Fran
Sat Jan 3rd, 2009 at 03:23:28 PM EST

On this date in history:

1785 - Birth of Jakob Grimm, German philologist, jurist and mythologist, was born at Hanau, in Hesse-Kassel. He is best known as the author of the monumental German Dictionary, his Deutsche Mythologie and more popularly, as one of the Brothers Grimm, as the editor of Grimm's Fairy Tales. (d. 1863)

More here and here

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Saturday Open Thread

by afew
Sat Jan 3rd, 2009 at 11:24:36 AM EST

Saturday Night Fever, already

Comments >> (48 comments)

Ukraine-Russia: some background and context

by Jerome a Paris
Sat Jan 3rd, 2009 at 07:08:06 AM EST

As we enter yet another episode of worried or sanctimonious articles about the gas conflict between Russia and Ukraine, it's worth remembering a few simple facts:

1) The conflict started in 1992, not in 2006
2) Russia cannot win a gas war against Ukraine and knows it
3) the real underlying stakes are not about Russia or Ukraine

Read more... (15 comments, 2281 words in story)

European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 3. January

by Fran
Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 03:21:28 PM EST

On this date in history:

1892 - Birth of J. R. R. Tolkien, an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the high fantasy classic works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.(d. 1973)

More here and video

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Friday Open Thread

by Colman
Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 11:30:35 AM EST

Thread. Open. Not closed.

Comments >> (87 comments)

Countdown to $200 oil (13) - end of year bet results

by Jerome a Paris
Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 09:32:45 AM EST

Despite a last day surge, oil futures closed the year at what can only be described as the "lowish" price of $44.60 per barrel.

After starting the year at just about $100 (indeed, that symbolic threshhold was breached for the first time at the beginning of January), it climbed steadily until reaching $147 in early July. However, it has since undergone (along with the rest of the economy) a radical change, bringing it to a level less than a third of its high in just a few months.

Bets on year-end prices were taken only late in the year in November (on dKos and  eurotrib), but prices were just below $100 at the time. This is reflected in the range of proposed prices, which are, in the majority, above $100. In fact, not a single bet is within $30 of the final price.

Promoted by Colman - the bit after the fold is interesting.

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European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 2 January

by Fran
Thu Jan 1st, 2009 at 02:34:28 PM EST

On this date in history:

1896 - Dziga Vertov, a Soviet pioneer documentary film and newsreel director, was born. (d. 1954)

More here and here

Read more... (49 comments, 443 words in story)

New Year Open Thread

by Fran
Thu Jan 1st, 2009 at 12:38:10 PM EST

Crazy Horse, your wish is my comand... or something like that. :-)

Comments >> (34 comments)

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