Europe

After yesterday's speech by Janet Yellen which signaled a path of steady interest rate increases and was perceived as hawkish, the dollar rebounded, Asian shares slipped and government bond yields jumped to multi-week highs on Thursday.

While ECB President Mario Draghi may sound slightly hawkish at tomorrow’s press conference after an unexpectedly strong acceleration in CPI in December and European economic growth modestly picking up, the ECB is set to argue on Thursday that its extra-easy policy stance is still needed to keep the recovery on course. As a result, it is all but certain to leave current monetary policy in place and maintain a promise for lengthy stimulus, having extended its bond-buying program just last month coupled with the tapering (just don't call it a taper) of its bond purchases this year.

This article was orignally posted at www.disobedientmedia.com
Abstract

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other Europhile politicians have pushed forward with an aggressive campaign to militarize the European Union. These plans have at times been kept from European citizens in certain states. The new EU Army appears to be supplied at least in part by NATO which is currently being affected by corruption scandals and the death of its Chief Auditor under suspicious circumstances.

According to some, it all started with Mario Draghi, who back in 2012 said that the ECB would prevent the collapse of the Eurozone "whatever it takes." By saying that, he effectively took the impetus away from Europe's politicians to engage in any real structural reform and promote difficult policy changes, and well, here we are five years later with a "populist" wave sweeping across Europe which is now ex the UK.