I say Merkel is being "catastrophic"... Let's LEAVE THE EU NOW !!!!...

Concern over Spain’s ability to manage its debts has been mounting and is likely to be the focus of the eurozone finance meeting in Copenhagen on Friday. Finance ministers are under pressure to agree to boost the eurozone’s bail-out capabilities - particularly as a show of support for Spain. Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, on Monday insisted the firepower of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) should not be raised beyond its €500bn cap but agreed she “could imagine that it could run in parallel” with the €440bn European Financial Stability Facility. Inan interview on the BBC's Newsnight program on Monday night, Ms Merkel ruled out Greece or any other country leaving the eurozone. “We have taken the decision to be in a currency union,” she said. “This is not only a monetary decision it is a political one. It would be catastrophic if we were to say [to] one of those who have decided to be with us, 'We no longer want you’.” "We debate very harshly in our parliaments and we use tough words. That has characterized Europe-wide debates too." Merkel added: "Thankfully we have learnt to solve our conflicts peacefully, to talk about them and to turn this crisis into opportunity." In this interview, Ms. Merkel also reiterated her support for Britain's strong presence in the EU, despite Prime Minister David Cameron's move to block a new fiscal pact in December. "Britain needs to know that we in Germany want a strong Britain in the EU, we always have and we always will," she said. My point : German Chancellor Angela Merkel says it would be "catastrophic" to allow Greece to leave the eurozone because of its debt problems... I say Merkel is being"catastrophic"... Let's LEAVE THE EU NOW !!!!... Greece off the euro means Greece can devalue its way out of trouble. Compared to the euro, the lower-value drachma would make way for a tourism boom for Greece and potentially outward investment in other sectors of Greek industry (there are many of us in the UK who are not sports fans who would very much appreciate a very good value escape to Greece this summer). However, Greece off the euro means fewer euro for your dollar/yen/pound/magic beans of preference. Fewer euro for your currency means German exports cost you more. Higher selling prices means Germany sells less. For Germany, the choice is stark. Either, give Greece an austerity-busting amount of free cash with no strings attached or support a Greek exit from the euro. The issue is German, not Greek. So, what's a Merkel to do?

Germany - completely schizophrenic: - 78% still mourn the DMark ; 80% are against Club Med bail outs ; 66% want to keep the euro ?!?!?!

Lenders are already attempting to reduce their balance sheets by selling trillions of euros of assets, as well as so-called "liability management" exercises to cut the size of their debt piles. BNP Paribas, Lloyds Banking Group and Santander have all attempted with varying degrees of success to buy back or replace junior debt in an attempt to strengthen their core capital rations. However, Societe General analysts noted that these programs would not be enough to close the capital shortfalls worrying investors. The European banking system is a 31 trill.$ monster.The US printed some 16 trill from the beginning of the crisis to save the much smaller Wall Street . I assume that for saving the EU banking system and that includes the UK,the ECB and the BOE would have to 'create' money in a amount similar to 50% of world GDP.The moment France goes, 380 bill. black hole opens in Frankfurt and when Germany goes down,the city crashes as Britain holds some 400 bill in German debt. The world faces a cascading default in the largest economic unit on the globe. Frankly there is nothing that Paris,Berlin,London or Brussels can do about it, except for a complete reset of the system next year. Germany is however ahead of the curve since it endured 3 currency reforms in the past century and they realize when things are headed in that direction. So do it like us and go on a shopping therapy just before the crash,while you can still get something for the cash. I guess German angst was changed for escapism. The nation is completely schizophrenic: - 78% still mourn the DMark ; 80% are against Club Med bail outs ; 66% want to keep the euro ?!?!?! In the meantime, funding market conditions for euro zone banks continued to deteriorate last week despite the introduction by the European Central Bank of two long-term refinancing operations (LTRO) providing three-year funding. Euro zone banks shortage of collateral to borrow against, led the central bank to widen the pool of assets that "It" will accept, however analysts warned the move could be a "fast-track to destruction ". Excess bank usage of the three-year LTRO runs the risk of creating more banks who are dependent on ECB funds – ie. the classic model of "zombie" banks, said an analysts at Barclays Capital. A "zombie" bank is defined as one which relies on central bank funding to survive.

The eurozone faces calamity unless Germany gives up it's expantionist behavior...

Ferdinand Foch allied commander said after the Treaty of Versailles : "This is not a peace. It is an armistice for twenty years" Well it would prove prophetic; World War II started twenty years and sixty five days later. It must be about 20 years since German reunification and they are at it again !!! ... The all-important spread between the 10-year French government bond and its German equivalent touched yet another euro-era high last week. Spain, also, despite its relative fiscal strength, just paid a crippling 6.9pc on 10-year money. Yields on paper issued by the EFSF, the bail-out fund meant to reassure eurozone creditors, are now spiraling out of control. Investors beyond Europe, deeply disturbed at the region’s economic incoherence, are even questioning German bonds. How much louder do the alarm bells need to ring before time is called on this absurd monetary experiment? There may be “no such thing as an orderly break-up”. But there is a very big difference indeed between embarking on a tough transition to a smaller eurozone with a coherent plan agreed by respective governments on the one hand, and a hugely-damaging systemic meltdown on the other, to be followed by years of pan-European loathing and mutual recrimination. Maybe Merkel will attempt to “muddle-through” - printing a bit here, a bit there, trying to keep it all under wraps. If so, she will learn that the status quo really isn’t an option. The euro in its current form is incendiary and explosive, a macro-economic weapon of mass destruction. It simply must be defused.

Euro -Zone, hot air, indecizion and in conclision, NO DEAL -- Germany and the U.K. remained at odds about the introduction of a levy on financial transactions at European level, but agreed on a limit for the rise in the budget of the European Union, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said after meeting Friday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron spoke to the media after thetalks at the Chancellery on Friday. "We are one in saying that a global financial transaction tax would be introduced by both countries immediately," Ms. Merkel said, but acknowledged that no progress was made on a possible introduction of such a levy by Europe alone. Germany wants the EU to pioneer the set-up of the tax, while the U.K. is resisting that, fearing the position of London as a financial center could be harmed. The two leaders showed more agreement on the issue of the EU's budget. "It's not acceptable that the [EU] budget grows by 5%," Mr. Cameron said, rejecting a proposal by the European Parliament. Efforts to consolidate national budgets should be mirrored in the EU budget, Ms. Merkel said, proposing the budget increase to stay close to the inflation rate. After recent disagreements between the 17 countries belonging to the euro zone and the 10 EU countries outside of it on a possible change to the EU treaty, Ms. Merkel also suggested as a compromise that a treaty change should only be adopted by the euro-zone countries. Mr. Cameron and his finance minister, George Osborne, have openly backed the need for greater euro-zone integration, even if it requires a treaty change.

The new central bank boss, Mario Draghi, defied the expectations of most analysts, who said a rate cut was more likely next month. The former head of the Italian central bank, who took over from Jean-Claude Trichet this month, instead asserted his authority. The ECB also cut the interest rate on its deposit facility to 0.5% and the rate on the marginal lending facility to 2%. Trichet was widely criticised for raising rates by 0.5% in the spring. Spanish and Greek politicians condemned him for make borrowing costs higher at a sensitive time for the single-currency bloc. Trichet said the hikes were necessary to tackle inflation. In his valedictory speech, he said the ECB's task of maintaining low and stable inflation had been achieved in his eight-year term and over the 12-year life of the euro. Ian Kernohan, an economist at the investment firm RLAM, said: "Although the market was expecting a rate cut in December, it can't have been a huge surprise that the ECB cut rates today, given the very poor run of economic data in Europe. "I don't think this move has much to do with change at the top of the ECB. The economic backdrop has altered dramatically since the summer, and I suspect Trichet would have agreed to this move, if he was still president." Natalia Aguirre, research director at Renta 4 brokerage in Madrid, said: "There's no doubt it's good for all of the heavily indebted economies such as Spain. Now we just need it to be transferred to the Euribor review. "The markets right now needed help from every side." Pierre Ellis, global economist at Decision Economics in New York, said: "This is a response to the weakening European economy. There is not a situation to further roil the market, given the situation in Greece. They are in a situation that makes conforming to a pure inflation target a charade."

The Greek government is expected to be unable to pay wages for state workers and pensions next month without a planned injection of £8 billion of EU cash. George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister, met his French and German counterparts ahead of today’s G20 summit of world leaders. Mr Papandreou has called a referendum on whether the Greek public supports the bail-out. The decision has plunged the rescue into turmoil. David Cameron said yesterday that the world was facing a “financial storm” as Greece may now be forced out of the single currency. Simon Johnson, former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, said that “we are now looking straight into the face of a great depression”. A showdown between the most powerful leaders in the eurozone and George Papandreou is under way amid increasing concern about the Greek prime minister's plan to hold a referendum and the impact it is having on financial markets. Ahead of a crunch two-day summit of the leaders of the G20 in Cannes, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, were holding make-or-break talks with Papandreou. Greece was warned it will not be handed €8bn (£6.9bn) of bailout money due this month unless there is a swift yes vote in the referendum. Officials at the Greek interior ministry have identified two potential dates in December for the vote – which cannot take place until ratified by parliament. That, in turn, requires Papandreou to survive night's crucial vote of confidence in his fragile government in Athens. The European leaders met their international counterparts amid signs that a new recession is now stalking the eurozone – blamed in part on the sovereign debt crisis. A report showed factories in the 17-nation euro area suffered their sharpest decline in output in two years. I hope the Euro will dissapear and the European Union as it is will realize that it will be impossible to fulfill germany's dreams of ruling our sovereign nations !

China has stressed it will not be a "savior" to Europe as President Hu Jintao embarks on an official visit to the continent that will take in this Thursday's crucial G20 summit in Cannes The warning came as European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy urged G20 leaders to use the meeting of major economies to address Europe's debt crisis, saying measures proposed last week were not enough by themselves. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said Beijing had a "major role to play" in proposals to expand the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to €1 trillion (£877bn), possibly through a special purpose investment vehicle that would attract backing from sovereign wealth funds. The head of the bail-out fund, Klaus Regling, was dispatched to Beijing to discuss terms, but traveled on to Japan at the weekend without an agreement. China, holder of the world's largest foreign exchange reserves at $3.2 trillion, said it wanted more clarity before investing. The official Xinhua news agency, used to communicate Communist Party policy, said Europe must address its own financial woes. "China can neither take up the role as a saviour to the Europeans, nor provide a 'cure' for the European malaise," it stated. "Obviously, it is up to European countries themselves to tackle their financial problems."

Before the rebellion broke out in February, Libya exported 1.3 million barrels of oil a day. While that is less than 2 percent of world supplies, only a few other countries can supply equivalent grades of the sweet crude oil that many refineries around the world depend on. The resumption of Libyan production would help drive down oil prices in Europe, and indirectly, gasoline prices on the East Coast of the United States. Western nations — especially the NATO countries that provided crucial air support to the rebels — want to make sure their companies are in prime position to pump the Libyan crude. Foreign Minister Franco Frattini of Italy said on state television on Monday that the Italian oil company Eni “will have a No. 1 role in the future” in the North African country. Mr. Frattini even reported that Eni technicians were already on their way to eastern Libya to restart production. (Eni quickly denied that it had sent any personnel to the still-unsettled region, which is Italy’s largest source of imported oil.) Libyan production has been largely shut down during the long conflict between rebel forces and troops loyal to Libya’s leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. Eni, with BP of Britain, Total of France, Repsol YPF of Spain and OMV of Austria, were all big producers in Libya before the fighting broke out, and they stand to gain the most once the conflict ends. American companies like Hess, ConocoPhillips and Marathon also made deals with the Qaddafi regime, although the United States relies on Libya for less than 1 percent of its imports.

The recent Franco-Prussian, upssss, Franco-German summit in Paris between Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy, the latest in a series of failed attempts by the deluded duo to overcome the sovereign debt crisis, ended with ringing tones of a "true European economic government". Cue alarm bells this side of the Channel at the prospect of the 17-strong eurozone at the very least being transformed into a fully-fledged fiscal union, nay a united federal state, with headquarters in Berlin. Germany would dictate the terms of its creation, oversee it and severely punish those which failed to live up to its own standards of Disziplin und Ordnung, Sparsamkeit und Stabilität.This paranoid fantasy was expressed most crudely in yesterday's Daily Mail by Simon Heffer, whose lengthy rant, not only eurotoxic but virulently anti-German, ended with the phrase: "Welcome to the Fourth Reich." Pitiful if it were not so perniciously poisonous.Even the notion that Merkel and Sarkozy are talking about an "economic government" is wholly erroneous. When the German chancellor talks of Wirtschaftsregierung or the French president of gouvernement économique the Brits would say "economic governance". In Paris it's shorthand for reining back politically the European Central Bank's independence; in Berlin for fiscal probity. The Franco-German pair did little more on Tuesday than rehearse arguments and notions that date back to at least earlier this year for improved economic governance in the wake of the initial Greek crisis. This means turning the EU's discredited stability and growth pact into a more effective mechanism for preventing excessive budget deficits, imposing stricter debt ceilings and resolving economic imbalances.

Renewed worries about the Eurozone's finances and the state of its banks - particularly the French ones - have sent shares sharply lower again, all but wiping out Tuesday's Bernanke bounce on Wall Street. The US market, which invoked a rule to help prevent turbulence at the open, is down more than 242 points, having started down 75 points and fallen by more than 300 points at its worst so far. Last night the US market mounted a more than 400 rise after US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke vowed to keep interest rates low until 2013, but it seems investors are now nervous about what that means for the state of the US economy, and how bad it could get. But attention also moved back to Europe, with news that President Sarkozy was locked in emergency talks with his ministers seeking ways to cut the country's deficit. That prompted rumours that the country was likely to be next to lose its Triple A rating, and also talk that one of its banks could be in trouble in the current financial turmoil, leading to hefty double digit share price falls at the likes of Societe Generale and BNP Paribas. In a note on the rating this week Citigroup said: We expect that France, with its high public debt and deficit, and popular resistance to cutbacks in its even by euro area standards extremely large welfare state is now likely to be the G7 country at the highest risk of losing its AAA rating. The markets appear to share this sentiment with French 10-year spreads over German Bunds reaching 16-years highs on Friday.

LONDON—Europe's financial markets plunged after a volatile, nervy open Tuesday, following another wave of stock selling in Asia, with investors focused on the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy meeting later in the global day. To say that the market will be watching closely "would go down as a great under-statement," said analysts at Rabobank, especially given Fed chairman Ben Bernanke's belief that the effectiveness of past quantitative easing can be seen in the buoyancy of stock prices. By 0830 GMT, London's FTSE 100 index was down 4.8%, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 3.8% and the DAX in Frankfurt had lost 7%; all had risen soon after the open. Despite a torrid Asia session Tuesday, which saw the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo end down 1.7%, there was some relief, especially in the Australian market. There, stocks made a dramatic recovery from over 5% down to close 1.2% higher, while the Australian dollar climbed off a four-month low of $0.9927 to $1.0167 at 0810 GMT. Traders said that some profit taking on short positions in Asia, in currencies such as the Australian dollar, had led to some buying of risk currencies in Europe. The euro was at $1.4233 at 0810 GMT, well above the Asian low of $1.4152. Elsewhere, yields on Italian and Spanish sovereign bonds fell further early Tuesday after the European Central Bank bought the bonds of both countries for the first time Monday and then did so again Tuesday. Spanish 10-year yields dropped to 4.995%, according to Tradeweb, 0.21 percentage point tighter versus safe-haven German bunds. Italian 10-year bonds tightened 0.20 percentage point versus bunds to yield 5.14%. The ECB was widely expected to maintain its presence in the market to stop Italian and Spanish yields drifting higher again.

The ECB's U-turn on buying Spanish and Italian bonds may suggest that the eurozone's financial establishment is edging towards fiscal union. But don't confuse a shuffle, performed over a weekend in the midst of a crisis, with the real thing. German public opinion will continue to dictate chancellor Angela Merkel's freedom to act. Will the ECB “sterilize” its purchases?... So far, the ECB has said it isn’t printing euros to run its secondary-market bond buying program (which has been going for more than a year for Greece, Ireland and Portugal). That’s because for every euro it spends on government bonds, it vacuums up a euro–thus there’s no net increase in liquidity. Up to now, the ECB has done this every week by taking in deposits; the volume is now at €74 billion. Can the ECB continue to do this if the volume is several times bigger? We are somewhere in Act IV or V of the euro-zone debt drama, but, lo!, the European Central Bank has descended, deus ex machine, to buy Italian and Spanish bonds. This is a major, major development. Here are three things to consider. How long will it last?.... The ECB very much did not want this role of crisis-fighter of last resort. For months, it had agitated for euro-zone governments to seize the mantle. The governments’ attempt, at the July 21 summit, was judged too little by markets, and the rout of Italy commenced. The governments then made clear they weren’t interrupting their August holidays to do anything else before the fall, and so the crisis was left to the folks in Frankfurt. Look for them to try hard come September to hand it off to Paris, Berlin and Brussels. This is the crux of the euro-zone tug-of-war: Do the governments of the strong countries tax their citizens to pay for the rescue? Or does the ECB create euros to pay for it?

Italian households and businesses are sitting of the biggest stockpiles of private cash in Europe. There are three reasons for this. The huge Italian black market means that many transactions go unrecorded. The arrival of the euro means that unrecorded transactions have spread into the rest of Europe and especially eastern Europe. The peculiar nature of Italy's economy. Not only does it have a massive agricultural sector and enormous tourist industry, but it also has a vast industrial base in the north made up substantially of small firms who intertrade. It is the intertrading, much of it unrecorded, between all these enterprises, industrial, agricultural and touristic, both at home and abroad, which generates stockpiles of private cash.
Add to that the high Italian savings ratio and you have the biggest deposits of private cash in Europe, all denomitaed in euros so it keeps its value. The Italian govt on the other, hand, takes all the nation's debt upon itself. Bereft of potential tax receipts, it issues more and more bonds to fund its activities. Now these bonds are being supported by Italy's eurozone partners in order to protect the euro.
Effectively Italy's public debt is being paid off by foreigners, while the Italians get to keep their mountains of private money.

US government debt is a cornerstone of the world's financial system, is held in large amounts by foreign creditors such as China and Japan and is used as collateral on a daily basis by banks and investors. While the move has been anticipated by markets since last week's deal in Washington agreed a cut of only $2.5trillion in the deficit, it's unclear how markets will react when they open on Monday. America's debt is still rated AAA by Moody's and Fitch, the two other largest agencies. Analysts at Capital Economics said the move will "surely rock the financial markets when they open on Monday" but added that any moves are likely to be short-lived because the slowing global economy makes US government debt, or Treasuries, an attractive place for investors to park money. At roughly $9trillion in size, the Treasury market has advantages and liquidity that rival government bond markets, including Britain's, cannot match. Despite the threat of the downgrade, the prices for Treasuries are close to their highs for the year as investors seek safe-havens and expectations for economic growth diminish. Whatever the reaction next week, investors are clearer that the downgrade is a severe blow to America's prestige and is also likely to increase the US government's borrowing costs. JPMorgan this month estimated that such a move could add about $100bn a year to America's funding costs as lenders demand more to compensate for the greater risk. The US spent $414bn last year on interest payments. "I have a feeling the dust may settle quite quickly," said David Buik of BGC Partners in London. "The US Treasury market is the most liquid in the world." Either way, it frays nerves further before what was already going to be tense opening of financial markets next week.

Eurozone - Remedy won't be available soon - Faced with the prospect of the Eurozone crisis spreading to Spain, Italy and Cyprus, "Eurozone governments are accelerating efforts to bolster their €440bn rescue fund", reports the Financial Times. On July 21, "they agreed to equip the EFSF with the ability to repurchase the bonds of stricken governments on open markets, provide them with short-term lines of credit and cash to help recapitalise ailing banks." With Spanish and Italian risk premiums on the rise, "the ability to repurchase Spanish or Italian bonds at distressed prices would be one way to help stabilise the markets". "Yet European diplomats and officials acknowledged that it would be weeks – and possibly months – before the EFSF’s new powers could be put to use", notes the FT, reporting that officials of the Eurozone are accelerating their work to produce a draft document. The final text would then have to "be signed by the 17 Eurozone governments, and then undergo a ratification process that includes parliamentary approval in most of those countries."

Germany staged an impressive recovery from the 2008/2009 global economic crisis, but there are increasing signs that the boom is now coming to an end. After almost two years of strong growth, its economic outlook is starting to deteriorate, due to a slowdown in major emerging markets including China and fears of a possible United States recession caused by $2.4 trillion in spending cuts linked to the debt ceiling deal. Various indicators released in recent weeks point to a deceleration of Europe's largest economy. The Ifo business climate index for July fell sharply to its lowest level in nine months, and analysts say it is likely to keep dropping. The ZEW investor sentiment index showed the weakest level since January 2009. And the Markit/BME purchasing managers' index for the German manufacturing sector fell 2.6 points in July to 52 points, its lowest level since October 2009. "New order levels went into reverse in July, as fewer export sales helped end a two-year period of sustained growth," Tim Moore, senior economist at Markit, said. German engineering orders in June rose by just 1 percent year-on-year, after having jumped 21 percent in May, the VDMA engineering industry association said. "There are initial indications that demand for investment goods has become less dynamic in Germany and in the other euro member states," said VDMA economist Olaf Wortmann. In addition, top German firms have given more cautious outlooks for the remainder of 2011. Analysts have been paying particularly close attention to what is being said by the chemicals industry, which is regarded as a bellwether for the general industrial outlook because it supplies many different sectors.

Traditionally, Europe closes for business in August unless there is a good reason policymakers should be shackled to their desks. This year there is. When the heads of the 17 eurozone governments met in Brussels on July 21, they agreed not just to bail out Greece for a second time but to put together a war chest that would enable them to take pre-emptive action in countries seen as vulnerable to attack. The message to the markets was clear: monetary union will be protected come what may, so think twice before turning on Italy and Spain. But it did not take long for the financial markets to unpick the Brussels agreement. They quickly discovered that while there was the promise of more money for the European Financial Stability Facility, it would take months for the funds to arrive, and then only if national parliaments agreed to pony up the cash. What looked on the surface a once-and-for-all solution was exposed as a naked attempt to buy time. Events in the United States over the past week mean the respite has been short. The threat that even the world's biggest economy might welsh on its debts has reignited concerns about the weaker members of the single currency. Dismal growth figures from the US have made matters worse, since the chances of countries like Spain and Italy growing their way out of trouble will be impaired if the recovery in the global economy stalls. That now looks much more probable than it did a fortnight ago.

Greeks are more distrustful than ever of their political class and its ability to lead them out of the crippling financial crisis. Polls show growing contempt for all parties and the discredited political system. Unemployment is at a record high of 16% – far higher for young people. Those lucky enough to still have a job have suffered dramatic salary cuts and tax increases. Doctors and nurses recently staged walkouts over hospital cuts. Taxi drivers have hobbled Greece with strikes in the past two weeks, protesting at government plans to open up the industry. Their tactics included blocking ports and opening the Acropolis ticket office to let tourists in free. Crucially, Greece's long-running "civil disobedience" movement, where ordinary citizens refuse to pay for anything from road tolls and bus tickets to extra doctors' charges, has not fizzled out in the summer holidays. The "We Won't Pay" offensive is championed as the purest form of "people's power". Organisers warn it could gain renewed force in September as the government launches a new round of financial restraint. On the main Athens-Thessaloniki road, as drivers file back into Thessaloniki from a Sunday at the beach, a crowd of civilians in fluorescent orange safety bibs stand guard at the barriers to the main road toll into Greece's second city. Their jackets are emblazoned with "Total Disobedience". They push aside the red-and-white barriers and wave drivers through without paying the €2.80 toll. Banners read: "We won't pay", and "We won't give money to foreign bankers". Drivers gratefully drive through, some giving the thumbs up.

Europe's leaders, have been warned to adopt a more "cautious" approach when discussing multiculturalism. The Norwegian chairman of the Nobel peace prize committee has told them they risk inflaming far-right and anti-Muslim sentiment. Thorbjørn Jagland, a former prime minister of his country, said leaders such as the British premier would be "playing with fire" if they continued to use rhetoric that could be exploited by extremists. Four months ago in Munich, Cameron declared that state multiculturalism had failed in Britain, a view immediately praised by Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP, as "a further huge leap for our ideas into the political mainstream". Marine Le Pen, vice-president of the far-right National Front party in France, also endorsed Cameron's view of multiculturalism, claiming that it corroborated her own party's line. Jagland's comments come in the wake of the Oslo bomb and the massacre on Utøya Island that left 77 people dead. The killer, Anders Behring Breivik, said he was inspired by the right-wing English Defence League. Breivik sent his manifesto, published online hours before the attacks, to about 250 British members of the BNP, the EDL and the Stop Islamisation of Europe group. Jagland, who is also secretary general of the Council of Europe, told the Observer: "We have to be very careful how we are discussing these issues, what words are used. "Political leaders have got to defend the fact that society has become more diverse. We have to defend the reality, otherwise we are going to get into a mess. I think political leaders have to send a clear message to embrace it and benefit from it.

Begining with 2006 International credit rating agencies were paid billions of dollars to bundle junk debt for international financiers. All the international credit rating agencies bundled the junk debt and then rated all this junk as AAA+ risk free investments, and having paid the credit rating agencies to do this on their behalf, crooked financiers then sold these junk investments to European banks - making them go bust. Then European politicians decided - the banks can't crash - we must let each state go bankrupt and each state crash instead and take on all this debt from the private sector - (miss-rated by the credit rating agencies and miss-sold by international financiers). And then what happens - the same credit rating agencies start waging war on Europe on behalf of the same international financiers that stole our money - to force Europe to sell all their assets - and the international financiers are using the money they stole from European banks to now buy up the European state assets that we are being blackmailed into selling. This is war - just because there are no bullets, bombs or tanks on our streets - the result is the same These financiers are using the money they stole from Europe to buy up our assets and European companies to ensure they control everything and that the people of Europe have to work longer without pensions, have no state benefits, have no national assets and no armies, navy or air force to defend our selves. While our governments wage war on Libyan people our politicians are too cowardly to wage war right back on the international financiers and the credit rating agencies on our behalf . Why are our governments not investigating this financial war being waged on us and why did they force our states to take on this private sector debt. We should all stand together in Europe and tell the financial sector - every single penny of banking debt is being put into one pot and we are not paying a penny of it until every single transaction and credit rating decision on every penny of the debt is investigated. And if the credit rating agencies were found to be fraudulent in their ratings - then the credit rating agencies take on the debt and also has to pay compensation and punitive damages for each bundle of debt they miss-rated and miss-sold to European banks. This is war and it is time our politicians took the war straight back to the people that are causing it.