Author Archives: Edward Hugh

About Edward Hugh

Edward 'the bonobo is a Catalan economist of British extraction. After being born, brought-up and educated in the United Kingdom, Edward subsequently settled in Barcelona where he has now lived for over 15 years. As a consequence Edward considers himself to be "Catalan by adoption". He has also to some extent been "adopted by Catalonia", since throughout the current economic crisis he has been a constant voice on TV, radio and in the press arguing in favor of the need for some kind of internal devaluation if Spain wants to stay inside the Euro. By inclination he is a macro economist, but his obsession with trying to understand the economic impact of demographic changes has often taken him far from home, off and away from the more tranquil and placid pastures of the dismal science, into the bracken and thicket of demography, anthropology, biology, sociology and systems theory. All of which has lead him to ask himself whether Thomas Wolfe was not in fact right when he asserted that the fact of the matter is "you can never go home again".

EU Enthusiasm Study

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According to a new study released today by the commission, the EU’s image amongst its citizens is deteriorating and confidence in EU institutions is decreasing:

The EU’s image is worst amongst British (28%), Finnish (30%) and Austrian (30%) citizens but best amongst the Irish (68%), Italians (63%) and Luxembourgers (58%).

Support for the thorny issue of further enlargement lies at 50% in the EU – a slight decrease since 2004 (53%) – but the figures show a large discrepancy between old and new member states.

Forty-eight percent of EU citizens from old member states support Croatia’s membership of the bloc with the number reaching 72% amongst the new member states.

Croatia is followed by acceding countries Bulgaria (46% support among old member states and 70% amongst the ten new members) and Romania (43%, and 58% respectively).

Turkey has gathered the least support particularly amongst the old member states (32%) and picking up 48% support from new member state citizens.

Garzon Gets His Man

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One day it might be worth writing a post on the life and times of Judge Balthasar Garzon. Today we might just note that he finally has ‘his man’: the US have just agreed to hand-over Lahcen Ikassrien to Spanish authorities. Ikassrien is being held in Guantanamo, but it is important to note that Garzon wants to interview him, not so much about the Madrid bombings, as about the Spanish end of the 11 September operation.

The Chatham House Paper

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This paper from the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) is causing an awful lot of fuss at the moment.

What it doesn’t say

“The question you have to pose is: what is this report suggesting we should have done? It is suggesting we should simply have put our heads down and hoped that we weren’t going to be attacked?”
Tony Blair

The report does not say anywhere ‘we should simply have put our heads down’. Blair obviously hasn’t either read it or been well briefed.

“I’m astonished that Chatham House is now saying that we should not have stood shoulder to shoulder with our long-standing allies in the United States,”
Jack Straw

The report says the UK shouldn’t have of been “working shoulder-to-shoulder with the United States as a back seat passenger rather than an equal decision maker.” This is not the same thing as not standing shoulder to shoulder. Our voice was not (eg) listened to over Fallujah.

What the report does say:

The Royal Institute of International Affairs, known as Chatham House, said that Britain’s support for the US did not mean it was an equal partner but a “pillion passenger compelled to leave the steering to the ally in the driving seat”.

The think-tank concluded that “the UK is at particular risk because it is the closest ally of the United States, has deployed armed forces in the military campaigns … in Afghanistan and in Iraq, and has taken a leading role in international intelligence, police and judicial co-operation against al-Qa’ida and in efforts to suppress its finances,” it said.

Chatham House warned that Iraq had created difficulties for the UK and the coalition. “It gave a boost to the al-Qa’ida network’s propaganda, recruitment and fundraising, caused a major split in the coalition, provided an ideal targeting and training area for al-Qa’ida-linked terrorists, and deflected resources that could have been deployed to assist the Karzai government [in Afghanistan] and bring Bin Laden to justice,”

Now go read, and let’s discuss (btw the thread on this starts in the last Turkish Bombing post).

Another Thread

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There is considerable speculation taking place at the moment about the nature of the connections (if any) between the British born bombers and militant jihadists in Pakistan. One of the names which keeps appearing is that of the group Jaish-e-Mohammad. Now this name should remind us that this is not the first time British-born Pakistani terrorists have caught the headlines: there is – for example – the case of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who attended English public school Forest School Snaresbroke, and then the London School of Economics, before graduating to assasination and, in particular the horrendous killing of Daniel Pearl. Saeed Sheikh is a member of Jaish-e-Mohammad. Pakistani police are claiming that Shehzad Tanweer met with convicted Church bomber and terrorist Osama Nazir. Nazir is in custody in Pakistan, and according to sources there has allegedly confirmed the meeting:

“Nazir, a member of the al-Qaida-linked Sunni militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed, told authorities from jail Thursday that he met with Tanweer in Faisalabad, 75 miles southwest of Lahore, before his arrest.

It was not clear what the men discussed, or whether there was any connection between that meeting and the July 7 attacks against three trains and a double-decker bus.”

Rather chillingly, the above link on Jaish-e-Mohammad has the following under operational strategies: “Most Jaish-e-Mohammed attacks have been described as fidayeen (suicide terrorist) attacks”.

The ‘Chemist’ Arrested

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Police in Cairo may well have arrested Magdi el Nashar the chemistry PhD who is being sought by police in connection with the London bombings.

“Security forces in Egypt have arrested a man suspected of helping to make the bombs that killed 54 people in London last week. Scotland Yard has confirmed the arrest, saying that a man sought by British authorities had been detained near Cairo and is being questioned.”

Out Of Tragedy Comes Hope?

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On August 11, 1965 citizens of the United States woke up to news of an incident which, one way or another, changed fundamentally recent American history: the traffic arrest which lead to the Watts riots. The nature and context of the London Bombing may be different, but its impact on a nation may not be. I retain my view: the effects of what has just happened will be significant.
Continue reading →

The Explosives

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The Times has just posted the following:

“Police believe that explosives used in the London bomb attacks may have been homemade and of a type that has been a hallmark of al-Qaeda operations, as the death toll from the July 7 atrocity rose to 54.

Forensic detectives believe that a flat in Leeds was used as a bomb factory to convert acetone peroxide, or triacetone triperoxide (TATP), made from chemicals bought over the counter, into a potent explosive. The mixture is so volatile that it is nicknamed Mother of Satan.

This is the same type of explosive that Richard Reid had in his shoes when he attempted to blow up a Transatlantic flight in 2001, and the Gloucester shoebomber Sajid Badat who decided not to go through with his mission. The discovery provides the strongest link yet between the perpetrators of the bombings and al-Qaeda.”

This explains all the interest in “the chemist“.