re: "If one Eurozone can't work - have Two (or more)"

Charles Crawford at his Blogoir ("A digital hybrid of blog and memoir presented on a daily basis, or not.") postulated that be more might better.

Money quote(s):

"The best chance for some sort of orderly outcome is to divide the Eurozone into two new currencies (Euro 1 - based on the deep logic of the old Hanseatic League which did well for 402 years! - and Euro 2), letting those countries which need a devaluation boost join Euro 2. If Germany heads Euro 1 and France Euro 2, the Franco-German axis can have a fine new job."

It reminds me of the Cold War story of some national leader or another saying he liked Germany so much he wanted two of them.

"What do we Europeans basically want? To get richer, live nicely and not fight.

There is no reason why this should not be achieved through a network of several smaller regional European Unions with customised levels of integration and mutually reinforcing basic trading and security relationships. This arrangement would also make further enlargement much easier - Turkey might become the core of a new Regional Union.

All the expensive and annoying central bureaucracy could be scaled back or even abolished - farewell, European Parliament. Legitimacy and public accountability within each Regional Union would soar, as the governing arrangements would be much less remote.

Above all such a scheme would not be brittle, subject to horrible institutional contortions as one sprawling Union tries to accommodate quite different needs, policies and cultures."

8/20

re: "MEPs again flex muscles in diplomatic service debate"

Honor Mahoney at EUObserver.Com ("to support the debate on - and development of European affairs") has news of the upcoming EU diplomatic service.

Money quote(s):

"New agreements on setting up a budget line for the External Action Service (EAS) as well as hiring national diplomats to kit out the service share the power of decision-making between member states and parliament - a situation that has forced national governments to make some concessions on the diplomatic service."

&

"Their main objections are that service is not politically accountable to the parliament; that its decision-making in key areas such as in development aid (an area with an annual budget running to billions of euros) is convoluted; and that the civilian mission part of the service is too entangled in the military structures of the service. "

WT - STEVENSON: End blacklisting of Iranian patriots. People's Mujahedin "terrorist" designation was always about politics.

From my archive of press clippings:

Washington Times

STEVENSON: End blacklisting of Iranian patriots

People's Mujahedin "terrorist" designation was always about politics

By Struan Stevenson

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Back in 1997, the United States and its Western allies thought they saw an opportunity for their first meaningful dialogue with Iran since the 1979 revolution. In the newly elected president, Mohammad Khatami, they saw someone whom they could deal with, a man who could bring about change from within the established system.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"But the mullahs who ruled in Tehran had a price - the West had to blacklist the People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI) by adding it to the list of "terrorist" organizations."

"(T)he U.S. no longer can remain blind to the sea change taking place before its eyes in Iran. It must change its approach, and that starts with bringing the persistent dissidents into the equation.

The old policy was based on the premise that the Islamic Republic is here to stay for the foreseeable future, and the United States either has to find a compromise or go to the extreme of waging a war."

"(T)he approach to the opposition also should change.

That should start by removing the PMOI from the terrorist list, which the United Kingdom and European Union did last year and this, respectively, after long court battles that fully exonerated the PMOI from any engagement in terrorism. The delisting came about despite strong resistance from European capitals that were more concerned about the impact of the delisting on their trade with Iran.

Credible records demonstrate that the PMOI has not engaged in any violent activity since 2001. In 2003, it formally renounced violence and voluntarily disarmed. Extensive interviews and investigations by U.S. security agencies of PMOI members based at Camp Ashraf in Iraq confirm that the group poses no threat to U.S. security.

Indeed, through its extensive network and popular support inside Iran, the PMOI has been an important asset by revealing Tehran's clandestine nuclear weapons program over the years; revelations which nuclear experts believe has been correct 90 percent of the time."

&

"The PMOI is more than a thorn on the side of the clerical regime and that's why the mullahs prevailed on their friends in Baghdad to try to wipe out Camp Ashraf in July - but that effort failed.

The blacklisting of Tehran's opponents has been an unwarranted gift to the mullah's regime."

_____
Struan Stevenson is a member of the European Parliament and president of the EP's Delegation for Relations with Iraq. He is also the chairman of the Friends of a Free Iran Inter-Group in the European Parliament.