"Young Europeans flee to find opportunity" by Alan Clendenning | Associated Press, August 05, 2012
MADRID — Santiago Oviedo, a lanky 24-year-old from Madrid, is on track to get his master’s in physics in October — a crucial milestone in his dream of becoming a researcher probing the origins of the universe.
Spain won’t benefit from his big brain.
Because of education spending cuts and Spain’s downward economic spiral, Oviedo is planning to emigrate to Britain, France, the Netherlands, or Germany to get his PhD or work at a company that lets him do research. He’s afraid he may never work or raise a family in his country.
If he had graduated two years ago, Oviedo would have stood a good chance of landing a government-funded scholarship and grant for four years of doctoral study and research. That has evaporated in an austerity drive that has brought slashed budgets for scientific research and waves of layoffs.
Bankers must be paid.
With Spain’s unemployment rate for people under 25 at an astonishing 53 percent, young Spaniards are leaving the country in droves. Most seek jobs, but some, like Oviedo, are leaving because the government is struggling to afford to develop their minds.
That's interesting because here they don't seem interested in developing them, either. It's parrot back the rote propaganda to show yer lurning sumpin', and can you function as a soldier.
Since 2009, when Europe’s financial crisis hit full-bore, the number of Spaniards in their late teens, 20s, and early 30s leaving the country has increased 52 percent — from about 12,500 to nearly 20,000 according to the government statistics agency. Young and talented Europeans from other hurting nations — Greece, Ireland, Italy, and Portugal — are also abandoning home not only for stronger European countries but for surging former European colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
Recolonizing.
Oviedo is set to join a growing number of young Spaniards giving up on Spain, a nation that had visions of grandeur during a decade-long property boom but which is now teetering on the edge of financial collapse....
In addition to education spending cuts, Spain eliminated its Ministry of Science and Innovation to save money last December, making it a division of the Economy Ministry. In May, the country saw a tide of protests against the education squeeze by university students and teachers.
‘‘Science isn’t a priority now in Spain,’’ Oviedo said. ‘‘The economy is terrible. A couple years ago we had a really good public health and education system, but now they are destroying it all.’’
For banks that sold you fraudulent deals, stole from your pensions and bank accounts, and based the debt on fraudulent numbers.
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The long-term toll could be sinking competitiveness as countries lose many of their best and brightest amid falling birthrates — a potential formula for a vicious circle of economic agony.
It's globalization and what the wizards of the world drew up for us. Whadda ya' mean it's no good?
But countries like Spain could benefit if young emigres return because they would bring back work and language skills that would help fix low productivity, said Gayle Allard, an economist with Madrid’s IE Business School.
‘‘If they come back it will be for the good of the country,’’ said Allard. ‘‘If they don’t come back, this is a tragedy.’’
In bailed-out Ireland, emigration has become a defining national characteristic. More than 76,000 people left last year, representing 1.7 percent of the population. They joined 200,000 who have departed since 2008 at the end of a property boom-gone-bust similar to Spain’s. Their top destinations are Britain, Australia, Canada, and the United States....
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Related: Europe frets over Spain’s finances
Yeah, Spain hasn't made my paper much since they got the bailout.
Let's see if I can find you a clipped photo from Spain:
"PROTEST AGAINST WAGE REDUCTIONS -- Demonstrators in Madrid condemned recent austerity measures announced by Spain's government. Thousands of people joined the street protest Friday against a second wave of wage cuts. The latest package of measures amounts to the biggest deficit-reduction plan in recent Spanish history (Boston Globe July 14 2012)."
Looks to me like you Spaniards need a distraction:
MADRID — Police have arrested three suspected members of Al Qaeda who had amassed explosives and may have been plotting attacks in Spain or elsewhere in Europe, Spain’s interior minister said Thursday.
Something about that word makes me want to go to the toilet.
Authorities found evidence suggesting they were experimenting with ultralight planes and remote-controlled planes.
Okay, that is either a test line for a limited hangout or a real in-your-face laugher!
The three — a Russian, a Russian of Chechen descent, and a Turk, according to Spanish police — were detained Wednesday....
I'm seeing CIA, sorry.
The arrests came as the Summer Olympics were being held in Britain under tight security against possible attacks. Spanish authorities had been watching the suspects for ‘‘some time,’’ the minister said, and decided to arrest them after two of them took a bus toward France....
The BLOGS WARNED there would be some "bust" during the games.
Related: Summer Olympics Safe and Secure
Yup, the security net protected you (and killed business, but...)!
Spanish police have arrested dozens of Al Qaeda suspects since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and more after the 2004 train bombings in Madrid.
Related: European Vacation: In a Spanish Second
Well, it might take you about 10 minutes....
Most Islamic-based terror arrests in Spain over the past several years have been of lower-level players and people trying to recruit jihadists, but the detention of the Russians and the Turk was significant because of their apparent high level of training and capability, said Magnus Ranstorp, a terror expert at the Swedish National Defence College.
Definitely intelligence agents. Patsies are doofs.
But getting to Britain during the Olympics probably would have been a challenge for the three, even if they had not been under surveillance.
Have you forgotten about the banker-destroyed economy yet?
Passport-free ground travel in much of the 27-nation European Union meant they could have gone to countries on the continent without facing document checks, but getting to Britain is more difficult because passport checks for visitors are mandatory.
The three will appear soon before an investigating magistrate at the National Court in Madrid and remain under detention while a judge decides on possible charges.
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Another hot story out of Spain:
"2 dead in seaside cliff fall fleeing Spain fire" Associated Press, July 24, 2012
TERRADES, Spain — As a wildfire closed in on them, five members of a vacationing French family abandoned their car and stumbled through thick smoke down a steep hillside in a desperate bid to reach the waters of the Mediterranean. Instead of a beach, they found themselves at the edge of a cliff with no choice but to fall or jump. Two plummeted to their deaths.
The deaths of the father and daughter off the 65-foot-high cliff were among the most tragic accounts from Spain as it battles blazes during one of its driest summers in decades. The fire involved probably was sparked by someone throwing a lit cigarette out of a car along a small road inundated by vehicles heading to France, police said....
How could they know that?
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A couple stragglers:
"Bulgaria says suicide bomb was product of conspiracy" by Veselin Toshkov | Associated Press, July 25, 2012
SOFIA, Bulgaria — A sophisticated group of conspirators was involved in the suicide bombing in Bulgaria that killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver last week, and they spent about a month in Bulgaria before the attack, the country’s prime minister said Tuesday.
Boiko Borisov’s comments confirm suspicions that the suicide attacker who targeted a bus filled with Israeli vacationers last Wednesday did not act alone. But the prime minister did not say how many people were believed to have been involved in the attack on Israeli tourists in Burgas and also declined to back up Israel’s claims that Iran and the militant group Hezbollah played roles.
Meaning they have busted the western intelligence assets that carried out the false flag operation.
Those involved used “leased vehicles, they moved in different cities so as not to be seen together, and no two of them can be seen in one place on any security camera,” Borisov said.
He described the people behind the blast as “exceptionally skilled” and said they “observed absolute secrecy.” He also said DNA samples from the suicide bomber have been shared with all partner security services, but no match has been found in their databases.
I lost the link.
Related: Israel's Bulgarian Bulls***
You kind of get used to it and recognize the stench coming from my desk.
"The ex-wife of a pedophile who aided her husband’s horrific abuse and murder of young girls — and who let two children starve to death while her husband was in jail — was approved Tuesday for early release from prison, infuriating the victims’ parents and reopening a dark chapter in Belgian history."
