Europe

It has been over a month since the November 13 Paris terrorist suicide bombings and mass shootings and the subsequent warzone-like shutdown of Brussels, and Europe was just starting to emerge from its terrorized shell.

However, for a continent which wants to "use global issues as excuses to extend its power", issues such as terrorism in the words of the infamous 2008 AIG presentation, which serve as an "excuse for greater control over police and judicial issues; increase extent of surveillance" a return to normalcy is unacceptable.

In a weekend of little macro newsflow facilitated by the release of the latest Star Wars sequel, the biggest political and economic event was the Spanish general election which confirmed the end of the PP-PSOE political duopoly at national level, with Rajoy's leading block losing the absolute majority it had enjoyed since the last elections while rewarding the anti-austerity Podemos and the liberal Ciudadanos party, who between them took 109 seats in the 350-member parliament. As a result no clear governing majority emerged.

On Tuesday, we brought you Bloomberg’s top 10 “worst case scenarios” for 2016. The list, compiled by polling "dozens of former and current diplomats, geopolitical strategists, security consultants, and economists" included everything from devastating cyber attacks by Iranian and Russian hackers to a military coup in China. 

They even threw in a Trump victory in the national elections for good measure.

Last week we reported that in a move which the FT dubbed would "arguably represent the biggest transfer of sovereignty since the creation of the single currency" Brussels was about to propose the creation of a standing European border force that could take control of the bloc’s external frontiers — even if a government objected.

Authored by Alastair Crooke, originally posted at ConsortiumNews.com,

Official Washington is awash with tough talk about Russia and the need to punish President Putin for his role in Ukraine and Syria. But this bravado ignores Russia’s genuine national interests, its “red lines,” and the risk that “tough-guy-ism” can lead to nuclear war, as Alastair Crooke explains.