Cauldron

NOVEMBER 1993 — ”EUROPE MIRED IN NEW FINANCIAL MESS,”

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Torn by wildly variable interest rates and renewed pessimism about the world economy, the turmoil in Europe’s financial markets intensified yesterday. Despite frantic interventions by their central banks, the British pound and the Italian lira continued their free fall against the German mark and the French franc. Angry exchanges between government officials in London, Rome, Paris, and Berlin seemed likely to doom any hope for an early end to the chaos.…

JANUARY 1994 — ”RACE RIOTS FLARE IN MAJOR EUROPEAN CITIES,”

WASHINGTON POST

Angered by a new surge of economic refugees from poverty-stricken Eastern Europe and North Africa, neo-Nazis, skinheads, and radical leftists went on a bloody rampage through industrial towns and cities across western Europe. In day-long rioting that left dozens dead or seriously injured…

JULY 1994 — ”‘TRADE CRISIS LOOMING,’ U.S. WARNS,”

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Recent French and German moves to protect their industries against fair international competition raise the specter of a devastating global trade war, key U.S. officials warned. On Capitol Hill, congressional leaders are already considering legislation to impose retaliatory tariffs and restrictions on goods imported from the two European countries.…

DECEMBER 1994 — ”EASTERN EUROPE ON THE AUCTION BLOCK,”

THE ECONOMIST

Desperate for the foreign monetary and food aid they need to stay afloat through the winter, several of Eastern Europe’s newly installed military regimes have signed pacts that give French- and German-owned corporations a stranglehold over their trade and economic development. So-called Governments of National Salvation in Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, and Romania were among the first to mortgage their future to Paris and Berlin.…

FEBRUARY 1995 — ”NATO ALLIANCE DISSOLVES,”

BALTIMORE SUN

An era of unprecedented international defense cooperation came to an end today in rancor, bitterness, and suspicion. Outraged by French and German policies they blame for the continuing world recession, the United States, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Norway formally withdrew from the NATO Alliance.…

SEPTEMBER 1996 — ”WORLDWIDE SLUMP WORSENS,”

DALLAS MORNING NEWS

With whole segments of international trade at a complete standstill, the global economic downturn worsened last month. As unemployment rose to near-record levels in all major industrialized countries and famine spread throughout the third world, many economists are now labeling this a depression.…