The assault on Europe has entered a new stage. The bridges that connect the continent to the past of its historic normalcy are being blown up one after another. With bombs, literally!  The new terror attack in Belgium is the obvious follow-up of Paris. Like shells in a machine gun, others are waiting their turn, to spit fire and death at a quick pace. "The police" and "the services" have plenty of post-factum explanations, and their learning curve seems to be completely overcome by the speed in planning and execution of the new wave of terrorism. Where does its effectiveness come from? Some people claim that it is simply the exploitation of Europe's historic weaknesses. A continent which, after two devastating wars of the 20th century and after another half a century of "cold war", is not, can not be prepared for anything else but peace. The ideology, the politics, the infrastructure, the military equipment to say nothing of the culture of war have all been marginalized in the European perimeter. Robert Kagan also told us that, in the beginning of the new millennium, but nobody paid any attention to him. The Europeans had an esthetics guided reaction, noting the poignancy of the metaphor!!! Not one European of the 21st century would have been willing to open the door to war, to welcome it back in the city. As a result, the Old Continent has become what the garden of Eden was to the Biblical snake. A hunting ground which makes Adam's innocence the guaranteed reason for Evil's victory.

....Why has Europe become these games' victim?   From Russia's point of view, because it in the "post cold war era", Europe refused to embrace the role and status of "neutrality" in relation to Russia's grand plan to get its superpower status back. To Moscow, Europe's weakening means America's weakening, and America's weakening is the only solution for Washington's imperial grandeur to return to the much sought after - by Kremlin - "strategic parity". For Washington, Europe's weakening has been a historical, untreatable syndrome. When necessary, it has been just perfect for exploiting by sanctioning Europe's "flirting" with Russia, so negligently hidden under the cape of the new German-Russian relations. Through Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks that segment of the radicals of American politics annoyed that Europe has not unreservedly embraced America's "imperial destiny", but it has actually dared to criticize it, or to announce its fading, long before it has reached its historical potential. The threat of cutting the American contribution to Europe's security, through its repositioning in NATO, or even the possible passing into "oblivion", or "torpor" of this organization is just another way of telling Europe that if it doesn't find a way to make itself useful to America, it could very well become a pile of historical relics, not just from a tourist point of view, but politically as well.  With bombs and harsh words, somebody is shaping up the future of a Europe that is different from what the great men of the post-war generation wanted. And in this future, war in its newest, or oldest forms, is not just an integral part, but also a part of the definition of the future itself.

The London Stock Exchange’s merger with Deutsche Boerse is coming under fire in Germany, with politicians and industry veterans speaking out against the deal amid fears that Frankfurt’s status as a financial hub will be eroded. As both exchanges canvass investors about their £21bn merger, the decision to move the combined group’s headquarters to London while giving the German bourse’s chief executive, Car­sten Kengeter, the top job has been criticised. Manfred Zaß, a former Deutsche Boerse director, has warned that the compromises contained within the “merger of equals” could damage Frankfurt’s standing, despite Mr Kengeter’s claims that the deal would safeguard the city while enabling both the UK and Germany to compete in global markets. Mr Zass, who left the bourse after its failed bid to buy the LSE in 2005, told a German magazine: “We should not be naïve… With respect, if you know the push and pull behind such a merger, it sounds more like an investment banker fairy story. "The supposed parity – the boss here, the domicile there – creates a recognisably lopsided Frankfurt," he told a German magazine. Deutsche Boerse’s home district is also lobbying to retain the exchange’s head offices. Ulrich Caspar, who sits in the regional parliament in Hesse, has said he harbours concerns about the majority of the enlarged group’s shareholder base coming from English-speaking countries.  “It is the task of the German, Hesse and Frankfurter politicians to ensure that the stock market can continue to develop,” he told the German media.  Mr Caspar was a vocal opponent of Deutsche Boerse’s ultimately unsuccessful plans to merge with NYSE in 2012, part of a global wave of consolidation among financial market operators. Wilhelm Speckhardt, former mayor of the Frankfurt suburb of Eschborn, has described the plan to shift the holding company to London as “an unimaginable catastrophe for the town”.

It will take months to reopen Brussels airport fully, its CEO has warned, as staff return to the site a week after it was targeted by Islamist bombers. Arnaud Feist said the building will have to be rebuilt "from the air conditioning to the check-in desks".  The airport said later it would remain closed on Wednesday, dashing hopes it would resume partial services.  Thirty-two people were killed and 96 more are still in hospital after bombs targeted the airport and a metro train.  EU institutions reopened on Tuesday, amid beefed-up security measures. Increased searches on bags and vehicles are being introduced at the European Parliament while many events organised by non-EU bodies have been suspended.  Some 800 airport workers were asked to return to work on Monday to test provisional arrangements involving a temporary check-in area. Enhanced security measures are being introduced in the temporary building and further screening of baggage will take place before passengers reach the departure lounge.

FOR a brief moment at the turn of the year, Angela Merkel seemed to have recaptured control of Germany’s careering debate over refugees. The chancellor’s traditional New Year’s Eve address was acclaimed for striking just the right note. For the first time ever it was broadcast with subtitles, in Arabic and English, so that refugees as well as Germans would get her message. Mrs Merkel reminded the 1.1m asylum-seekers who arrived in Germany in 2015 to respect German rules and traditions. She urged her German viewers not to let themselves be divided, and warned of “those who, with coldness or even hatred in their hearts, lay sole claim to be German and seek to exclude others”.  Yet even as Mrs Merkel was speaking, about a thousand men, described by police as mainly migrants of north African or Arab origin, began massing between Cologne’s railway station and cathedral, where fireworks were about to begin. Around midnight they broke into clusters and formed huddles around women who had turned out to celebrate. They then set upon the women, harassing and groping them, stripping them of clothing and valuables. One victim was raped. Of the more than 600 women who have since come forward, many described the ordeal as “running the gauntlet”.

The world’s leading oil producers, including non-OPEC members, are meeting on April 17 in Doha, Qatar to discuss the output freeze.  While Iran is seeking to increase production with the lifting of international sanctions, the deal may be successful even without Tehran, according to OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem el-Badri.  “I hope the result of the meeting will be positive. They [Iran] are not objecting to the meeting but they have some conditions for the production and maybe in the future they will join the group,” he said at a conference in Vienna on Monday.  “The price is going up; I hope this trend will continue… I don’t expect the price will go high but I think it will go to a moderate level,” el-Badri added.  According to el-Badri, while inventories are about 300 million barrels above the five-year average, prices will come back to normal, when the glut reduces.  He added it’s too early to discuss a production cut, as producers should deal first with the freeze. “Let us go to the freeze and see what will happen, then we will talk about any other steps in the future,” el-Badri said.  El-Badri’s words briefly bolstered oil prices, but the effect soon wore off. After the terrorist attacks in Brussels, Brent and US WTI benchmarks slightly lost momentum, trading at just over $41 per barrel.  Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has said Tehran will not join a production freeze until its output reaches four million barrels per day. Currently it stands at 2.8 million bpd.

The Bundesbank has announced plans to repatriate some of Germany’s gold reserves from abroad. At least half of the country’s gold would be transferred to Frankfurt by 2020, according to Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann.  Weidmann says 366 tons of gold worth €11.5 billion have been delivered to Frankfurt so far. “There are now about 1,400 tons or 41.5 percent of our gold reserves here,” the banker said.  In October last year Germany’s gold reserves stood to around 3,384 tonnes, worth about €120 billion, which is the second largest in the world after the US.  Weidmann added the rest of the gold will remain in New York and London, which he says are as safe as Germany. In case of emergency, these reserves would quickly be converted on the markets in these cities, the banker said.  The Bundesbank has been criticized at home for keeping a major part of Germany’s gold reserves abroad. Critics are demanding the complete return of the gold to the country. They regard the gold as insurance if a crisis comes, and the immediate physical availability would be the decisive criterion. When trying to move gold from New York in 2014, the Bundesbank met obstacles from US authorities when officials tried to inspect the German gold kept in US vaults.  “I’m no conspiracy theorist, but the Bundesbank should be able to audit the gold once a year like it does with reserves in Frankfurt,” Hans Olaf Henkel, a German member of the European Parliament, told RT.  Some even doubted the German gold is still physically there. “We are still missing … published lists of gold bar number, even though the US Federal reserve publishes this list for their own gold,” said Peter Boehringer, founder of the Repatriate our Gold Campaign.