Europe

Spanish Judge Crosses Line by Sending Bank CEO to Jail

By Don Quijones: The Spanish magistrate Elpidio Silva is just about the only judge in the Western hemisphere to have sent the CEO of a bailed-out too-big-to-fail bank to jail. Turns out, that was huge mistake.

Mutiny of the Lab Rats: Europeans Grow Weary of EU Experiment

By Don Quijones: Europeans are pushing back against the EU Super State. Tired of being treated as lab rats in a dysfunctional economic and political experiment, a large minority will vote for euroskeptic parties in the nearing European elections.

Putin Parties With German Ex-Chancellor, Sanctions Be Damned

Putin is a master at this game. Even as the sanction spiral is supposed to strangle his ambitions for the Ukraine, he set up a photo op of incomparable ingenuity. And his confidant, ex-Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schröder stepped in it with gusto.

LEAKED: Draghi’s Sudden Switcheroo On QE

It happened at a private meeting with top lawmakers in Germany during a two-day shindig.

Liars, Damned Liars, and Spanish Banks

By Don Quijones: “Spain’s banks are back on track,” the Spanish Banking Association announced to great fanfare. That’s the official story. But these banks reported financial results that “bear no relation to reality.”

‘People Don’t Grasp Yet What European Unification Will Cost Them’

By Cassandra: In the South of the Eurozone, people feel crushed, their future sacrificed on the altar of the Holy Euro. I’m in the Netherlands, so north of the Great Divide. We’re not suffering as much as the people in Greece, Spain, and Portugal. Not yet.

What the Heck is Going on With US Treasuries In Belgium?

The tiny country of Belgium with a GDP of $484 billion, a country that became famous to the chagrin of some people because it did just fine for a couple of years without a national government – well, it’s growing an enormous mountain of US Treasuries.

“Uncreative” Destruction: The Troika’s Hostile Takeover of Europe

By Don Quijones: The story is now playing out across Europe’s bailed-out nations. The losers are by and large the poor and middle classes, while the beneficiaries are the same as always: the world’s largest multinational corporations and banks.

Head of EU’s Newfangled Bank Regulator: Markets Are Dumb, Pumps Stocks Of Teetering Banks To Keep them From Toppling

It’s not often that a bank regulator proclaims stocks of teetering banks are undervalued because markets are too dumb to value them correctly. That’s what Danièle Nouy, chair of the ECB’s Single Supervisory Mechanism just proclaimed. She has a motive.

Another Day, Another Political Scandal In Spain’s ‘Mafia State’

By Don Quijones: Political corruption has already become synonymous with political leadership in Spain. But now there’s a spectacle of political hubris and impunity so farcical and obscene that it leaves no doubt in one’s mind: Spain is run by a mafia state!