The NATO that I used to know There is now an avowed crisis in NATO, an organization that has been unable to inspire confidence in the citizens it is supposed to protect. Pity it does such a good job to protect its supposed reputation, but that's bureaucracy for you. This article has been inspired by a Wall Street Journal piece which is singularly below the usual high standard of journalistic integrity they apply, and that can be found here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/nato-countries-defense-spending-europe-russia-ukraine-2cae6723?st=ei8f5zo4ptb4txq While the article quotes official sources the message is deceptive: on reading it one would think European members of NATO have largely mended their miserly ways and are now serious about being actually able to defend themselves, while reality projects a very different message. There are points that are particularly misleading so I will parse it. “ Some 23 of 32 NATO member countries are on track to spend at least 2% of t...
Meloni: a Spring or a milder Winter? Whilst her first public appearance as Premier signals a change, her words indicate that this might not actually be THE change. First, an apology: whilst this represents what my VERY initial assessment of what "Premier Meloni has said so far"... a part of the actual analysis is deliberately missing. The reasons are obvious to those seeing the gaps: after all I live here, in a legendarily dysfunctional country, and my recent years have been an object lesson in not trusting strangers as much as I ordinarily would have done previously. Also, this is also part of my edge in my day job, and some things are free but some you pay for, sorry. But I stand by all the words I am typing in order to put on screen what I found comforting in the first steps of this new government, what I think you should expect going forward, and what I would have hoped to see but I haven't so far or think I won't ever see. The road to power Gi...
The little coin that could The concept that the Euro as a single currency has been THE problem that doomed Italy to decades of stagnation might be an attractive concept, but my opinion is that this is a typical case of “post hoc ergo propter hoc” . We're approaching August, and in late August 1988 I started working in a fund management company in Italy. So I am approaching 35 years in the business. Since I immediately engaged in foreign investment for an Italian fund, I was acutely aware of the currency risks involved in that part of the business. Yes, for my position devaluations were a sort of a bonus ball (all positions held abruptly rose in domestic currency terms), but having lived through that period and the whole life of the Euro currency so far, I hold opinions which are different from mainstream. So when I saw this post on X by Michael Arouet , I felt compelled to shove my oar in: Notice that the first sentence is factual (d...
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