EU integration " has become a secular religion that serves only the interest of a small group of political elites"

Luke Coffey, fellow at the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, has published one of 
the best brief descriptions of what is wrong with the eurozone and the European Union:

Over the years, economic and political power in Europe has been incrementally shifted to Brussels—away from the national capitals. The key decision-making bodies in the EU are largely unelected, and largely unaccountable to the national governments. For many, deeper European economic and political integration has become a secular religion that serves only the interest of a small group of political elites at the expense of others. -

In responding to the eurozone crisis, the actions taken by the EU has led to political and economic instability in a way that has not been seen for decades across Europe. Extreme fascist and communist political parties are once again doing well in elections, and secessionist movements are increasing across the continent.

In many southern European countries, rioting and protests are becoming commonplace. In Greece, anarchist groups are increasingly carrying out attacks on symbols of state authority or wealth. The most recent example of this violent unrest was yesterday’s bomb explosion in Athens. Far from creating tranquility, peace, and prosperity, the EU has created instability, disenchantment, and contempt across Europe.

Now that the EU has forced these draconian economic measures onto the people of Cyprus, there will be nothing stopping them from supporting similar acts in other ailing eurozone economies like Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. In fact, Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem hinted that the Cyprus bank raid could serve as a template for dealing with future eurozone crises. Those living and investing in southern Europe should consider this a warning.

Bureaucrats in Brussels have had a taste of power and now do not want to relinquish it. Consequently, the EU has transformed into an organization that regards basic Western values of liberty, economic freedom, and self-determination as roadblocks to an eventual United States of Europe.

Europe needs to return to the fundamental basics of democracy. Power needs to be brought back to the member states and to the people. Economic policies of growth need to be pursued. Intrusive and excessive EU regulations need to be curtailed. The wasteful spending in Brussels needs to end. The excessive borrowing and entitlement programs need to stop. Until this happens, the people of Europe will pay dearly for the incompetency of Brussels.

Read the entire article here

Global warming keeps its grip of Germany: March will probably end up being coldest since records began in the 1880s

Global warming continues to keep its grip on Germany. This March will most likely end up as the coldest in northern Germany since records began in the 1880s:

The average temperature in the northern German states of Berlin, Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt has been minus 2 degrees Celsius (28.4 degrees Fahrenheit) this month. If Jack Frost doesn't head back to Siberia soon, this March could break the record established in 1883, two years after records began. For Germany as a whole, the month will likely end up as the coldest March in 25 years.

Surely, one might think, spring is just around the corner? Not so, say meteorologists. The Easter Bunny will find himself confronted with snow and sleet in northern Germany on Sunday. And there is no improvement in sight.

Read the entire article here.

PS

In case you are interested, Der Spiegel has a nice photo gallery, called Dreaming of a White Easter. 

WWF Russia is worried about huge snow cover killing animals

For once the WWF is worried about a real environmental problem. WWF Russia reports that an up to two meter thick snow cover is killing animals in the country's far eastern regions: 

Deep snow covered by ice crust has led to the deaths of many wild hoofed animals of various species in the far eastern woodlands in Russia, WWF Russia said.

"Dense snow which fell in January and was followed by a thaw in early February has created critical environmental conditions for the survival of wild hoofed animals. The snow is almost two meters thick in some places," the WWF's the Amur branch said.

According to Sergey Aramilev, WWF Russia Amur branch biodiversity conservation coordinator, both adult and young animals including boars, Manchurian wapitis and roe deers, have died because of unusually dense snow and poaching.

No doubt the alarmists at the WWF International Headquarters in Switzerland have  already reprimanded Mr. Aramilev for "forgetting" to mention that the thick snow is entirely due to human caused global warming. 

Desperate warmists: The probably coldest March in 100 years is a result of global warming

“This March could be the coldest of the last 100 years,” according to a German meteorologist. The massive snowstorms and freezing "spring" weather across large parts of Europe and North America make people wonder, what happened to global warming. The more and more desperate warmists are busy trying to convince the dwindling number of global warming believers that the record cold is due to human caused global warming: 

Climate scientists have linked the massive snowstorms and bitter spring weather now being experienced across Britain and large parts of Europe and North America to the dramatic loss of Arctic sea ice.-

According to Francis and a growing body of other researchers, the Arctic ice loss adds heat to the ocean and atmosphere which shifts the position of the jet stream – the high-altitude river of air that steers storm systems and governs most weather in northern hemisphere.

"This is what is affecting the jet stream and leading to the extreme weather we are seeing in mid-latitudes," she said. "It allows the cold air from the Arctic to plunge much further south. The pattern can be slow to change because the [southern] wave of the jet stream is getting bigger. It's now at a near record position, so whatever weather you have now is going to stick around," she said.-

The heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures which have marked March 2013 across the northern hemisphere are in stark contrast to March 2012 when many countries experienced their warmest ever springs. The hypothesis that wind patterns are being changed because melting Arctic sea ice has exposed huge swaths of normally frozen ocean to the atmosphere would explain both the extremes of heat and cold, say the scientists.

Read the entire article here

Former maoist Barroso has not lost his sense of humor

The former maoist has not lost his sense of humor.

Joke of the week:

"The Commission stands by the Cypriot people."

Former maoist José Manuel Durão Barroso,  President of the European Commission
on March 25, 2013. 

WWF and Coca Cola restore unique English rivers - but want to fill their surroundings with ugly wind turbines

WWF and Coke are cleaning the rivers, but want to fill the surrounding landscapes with ugly wind turbines.

The UK branch of the WWF, the world's probably richest envirofundamentalist organization, has published a propaganda video extolling the benefits of its cooperation with Coca Cola:

WWF and Coca-Cola: a year of protecting English rivers

Together we’ve already made some great progress in helping to restore English rivers. For example, we’re working to improve the health of the River Nar, in the Norfolk countryside. The Nar is one of only 200 chalk streams in the world, over two thirds of which are here in the UK.

There is, of course, nothing wrong in protecting these unique chalk streams, but what about the unique landscapes where these rivers originate and flow? Aren't they also worth being preserved? 

Apparently not, if one is to believe the WWF, which (together with Coke?) wishes to see unique areas of natural beauty filled with ghastly bird killing, ineffective and expensive wind turbines. 

Thank God, there are still organizations, which remain true to their original purpose, like the National Trust:

The National Trust has set out its battle plan for rural "warfare" with a list of 25 wind farm projects it is challenging.

Sir Simon Jenkins, the Chairman of the Trust, spoke yesterday of the “warfare” in the countryside sparked by a huge number of housing developments and wind farms planned in rural areas.

Today the Trust reveals they are opposing or "keeping a close eye" on 25 wind farms that threaten stately homes and unspoilt landscape around the countryside.

Britain is building more wind turbines this year than ever before with more than 1,200 turbines due to start spinning throughout the countryside and around the coast over the next 12 months.

Opposition against the WWF supported destruction of the rural natural heritage areas is fortunately growing also in Scotland:

The villagers of Straiton in South Ayrshire have launched a campaign against the projects, which they say have reduced residents to tears and would devastate an area of outstanding natural beauty.

The Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson said the village, in the heart of the Galloway Forest Park, had survived as an exemplar of Scotland’s unique rural heritage for over 250 years and was “packed with a dazzling array of flora and fauna”.

He added: “However, the area is now under imminent threat from wind farm developers. Separate plans from five different companies, if allowed to go ahead, would see the village encircled in a virtual ring of steel, which would devastate the local environment and put the villagers’ way of life in peril.”

(image by wikipedia)

Hooray - the euro is saved, once again

The future for Cyprus does not look very promising, when one looks at the Cyprus deal agreed in the morning hours today. But the holy euro is once again saved, and Brussels is celebrating:

Nobody doubts that, after such a severe blow to its lucrative banking sector, Cyprus will be pushed into a harsh recession. Some sources in the troika tentatively estimate that GDP will shrink by about 10% before any hope of recovery.

Perhaps the biggest question is this: once the banks have been cleaned up and shrunk, where will Cyprus find economic growth? The promise of offshore gas deposits is still too uncertain, and tourism may well decline if Russians suddenly find the island to be less hospitable to their money.

Whether the euro zone has gained any credibility for this round of clear-eyed decision-making is a different matter altogether.

Unfortunately president Nicos Anastasiades did not have the courage to follow the advice of his archbishop and opt for leaving the sinking euro ship. 

The WWF has four times more money to spend than "Big Oil" American Petroleum Institute

The Greenpeace fleet includes the state of the art yacht Rainbow Warrior III. 

Envirofundamentalist organizations such as Greenpeace and the WWF often like to talk about the enormous sums Big Oil has at its disposal to counteract their activities. But a comparison done by American University professor Matthew Nisbet shows that the revenues generated by the American Petroleum Institute (API), the largest U.S trade association for the oil and natural gas industry, pale in comparison with such organizations as Greenpeace and the WWF. 

In 2011 the World Wildlife Federation Network generated US$800 million, four times more than the API ($203 million). Greenpeace also clearly beat the API with revenues almost the double:

Even more relevant are the figures reported for Greenpeace Worldwide, which according to the annual report represents the combined budget of Greenpeace International and its affiliated national and regional organizations. In this case, Greenpeace brought in global revenues of €241 million (US$336 million) and spent approximately €159 million on program activities (US$221 million) and €77 million on fundraising (US$107 million) across countries.- 

Greenpeace global revenue also compares well to that of major U.S. industry associations which we commonly think of as having inconceivably large budgets. Consider that in 2009, the American Petroleum Institute generated $203 million in revenue and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce $214 million in revenue from its industry members.

Germans are contributing most to Greenpeace funding, but the Dutch are the leading per capita donors. 
Source: Greenpeace

At the global level, Greenpeace employs nearly 2,200 staff, with 1,039 based in Europe and 314 in the U.S and Canada. As displayed in this graph from its annual report, Germany is the leading source of the organization’s worldwide fundraising followed by the U.S., Netherlands, and Switzerland.

As big in scope as Greenpeace Worldwide might be, it still is smaller than at least one other multi-national environmental organizations. Consider that in 2011, the World Wildlife Federation Network, which includes the U.S. based World Wildlife Federation and affiliates in 80 other countries, generated €575 million in revenue (US$800 million) and employed 5,000 staff worldwide.[3]

The head of the Cypriot Orthodox Church on the euro: "with the brains they have in Brussels, it is certain that it will not last in the long term"

Chrysostomos II
(image wikipedia)

Archbishop Chrysostomos II, the head of the Orthodox Church, seems to be the only major figure in Cyprus, who understands where the future for the islands state lies. He also has a realistic understanding of the leadership capabilities of the current EU leaders: 

The head of the powerful Orthodox Church in Cyprus said in an interview published on Saturday that he favoured the debt-ridden island nation leaving the euro.

“It’s not easy, but we should devote to this as much time as was spent on entering the eurozone,” Archbishop Chrysostomos II said in an interview with the Greek daily Realnews.

“The euro cannot last,” said Chrysostomos, who this week offered to help bail the country out of its financial crisis by putting the church’s considerable assets at the government’s disposal.

“I’m not saying that it will crumble tomorrow, but with the brains that they have in Brussels, it is certain that it will not last in the long term, and the best is to think about how to escape it,” he said.

The Orthodox church is the largest landowner on the island and also has stakes in a wide range of businesses, including in the country’s Hellenic Bank, with total assets estimated to run into tens of millions of euros.

On Wednesday, Chrysostomos met with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, offering to mortgage the church’s vast property holdings to buy government bonds.

The archbishop has a famous predecessor, Makarios III, who also served as the country's influential president. Maybe Chrysostomos should consider doing the same?