Europe

Following Mario Draghi's seemingly constant mention of The ECB's credibility during yesterday's press conference, none other than ECB member (and Austrian national bank chief) Ewald Nowotny exclaimed rather oddly that "The ECB is the most independent central bank in the world." This was apparently more than former Greek FinMin Yanis Varoufakis could handle as he unleashed a scathing op-ed to explain why, in fact,  The ECB is the least independent central bank exclaiming that "the pretense of independence serves as a fig leaf for interventions th

Submitted by Michael Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

A year ago, Germany’s Green Party wanted to hold a vote on responsibility for the Ottoman massacres, a systematic expulsion and annihilation of over 1 million ethnic Armenians in 1915.

Germany delayed the vote, not wanting to upset Turkey... until yesterday, when Germany held the vote, upsetting Turkey much more.

After a near-unanimous vote, Turkey recalled its ambassador to Germany calling the vote, “null and void”.

Europe are cracking down on freedom of speech and people’s right to privacy by insisting that all social media giants require users to provide state-issued ID cards to log-in.  The European Commission say that YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Uber must require all European Union citizens to show proof of their identity before being allowed to access the sites. Leaked EU Commission documents reveal a concerted push by Brussels to roll out more expansive use of national ID cards across the EU. The documents have been uploaded to the Commission’s official website since the leak.

Submitted by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

When you first go on duty at CIA headquarters, you raise your hand and swear an oath — not to government, not to the agency, not to secrecy. You swear an oath to the Constitution. So there’s this friction, this emerging contest between the obligations and values that the government asks you to uphold, and the actual activities that you’re asked to participate in.

 

The British labour leader has promised to veto the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal between the EU and US due to concerns over “irreversible” privatization and “watered down consumer rights.” Jeremy Corbyn has vowed to stop the adoption of the deal if he is elected prime minister before it is completed.