The lights are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime. Thus spake Sir Edward Grey, British Foreign Secretary in 1914 at the start of the First World War. The lights went out again in 1939 at the start of the Second World War.
Is 2010 the third time in a century the lights are going out over Europe? The world wars brought about by German territorial ambitions of Kaiser Bill and Fuhrer Adolph were resolved only by the sacrifice of millions of lives and huge damage to property.
The price to be paid for German intransigence in economic and fiscal matters in the EU will be the destruction of living standards in Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and now Belgium, the home nation of the EU President Herman van Rumpoy.
Chancellor Merkel of Germany has insisted that the holders of sovereign debt will have to suffer a 'haircut' on their holdings which basically means they will not get all their money back. Said, soon after the Irish agreed to be 'helped', the consequence of her remarks no doubt made to placate German citizens, has been to make the sacrifice of the Irish worthless as pressure has mounted on Portuguese and Spanish bonds. The very thing the Irish bailout was intended to avoid has been caused by the outpourings of Merkel.
Hitler failed to subjugate Europe my military means - just. Merkel may succeed where guns failed.
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