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Can political and economic crisis move from the UK to Germany in 2020?

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Political instability in Germany, coupled with ongoing economy uncertainty, could mean that the disruption seen in the U.K. during its Brexit crisis could shift across the continent to Europe’s largest economy, according to economists and market watchers. The German economy narrowly avoided a technical recession in 2019. The political and economic identity crisis seen in the U.K. during its torturous Brexit process could shift across the continent to Europe’s largest economy Germany in 2020, according to economists and market watchers.     Germany’s political system is going through a period of instability with the governing “grand coalition” of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) under increasing strain over the last year.  Tensions came to a head earlier in December when the CDU party leader, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, rejected ...
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Why Americans shouldn’t worry about war with Iran

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Following Iranian Gen. Qassem Suleimani’s killing by a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad, some believe that Americans are once again trapped in another escalating conflict in the Mideast. A more realistic view shows such a spiral to be improbable. Over the past two decades, Iran built a powerful network of proxies in the Middle East. This created the image in American minds of an all-powerful Iran. The reality of Iranian power is less impressive. Suleimani masterminded a handful of small conventional attacks from Syria on Israel from 2017 to 2019. In response, Israel has struck Iranian targets more than 1,000 times. When Iran engages in conventional military exchanges, it normally loses. Naturally, then, the Iranians will limit any retaliation for Suleimani’s death to targets that will not draw a conventional response, and President Trump has established a clear standard: He repeatedly did not retaliate after attacks on American allies’ oil facilities or tankers. These alli...
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100 Reasons to stay in the EU

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With the Brexit deadline fast approaching and no deal in sight, we thought now might be a good time to take a look at 100 benefits of EU membership for the UK. The Bank of England estimates that the fallout of a No Deal Brexit will be worse than the 2008 financial crisis. Needless to say this will likely be very bad for UK small businesses. However, the UK can unilaterally revoke article 50 at any time to stop this madness. Here 100 reasons why we should:   Membership of the world’s largest trading bloc with over  500 million  consumers, representing  23%  of global GDP   The UK has greater global influence as a member of the EU   The EU provides a counterweight to the global power of the US, Russia and China   With Trump in the White House the UK’s strongest natural allies are France, Germany and our other West European neighbours   Tariff-free trade within the EU   The abol...
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Brexit – what does it mean for Swedish trade?

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The United Kingdom is expected to leave the EU. However, it is not yet clear whether there will be an exit agreement between the United Kingdom and the EU.                           With an exit agreement, there will be transitional provisions for trade between the United Kingdom and the EU up until and including 31 December 2020. This means that, throughout the transitional period, there will be no changes as regards trade in goods to and from the United Kingdom. Customs transactions between Sweden and the United Kingdom   All investigations have indicated that Brexit will entail customs formalities in the trade between the EU and the United Kingdom. This means that, amongst other things, companies must: Submit entry/exit summary declarations and, when exporting, comply with the security and protection rules. Notify means of transport and present goods to customs (when arriving in the EU and at the expo...
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