globalising and globalisation
saturday afternoon in Vienna. Ulrich and Petr, his cous, are off seeing the main sites of the city on a walking tour. I railed against such an imposition to a designated lazy afternoon, and seeing as i did not have to get the map out of my jacket pocket whilst navigating the city centre i felt that such a decision could be justified. In the 4+ days here i have seen many churches, museums and palaces, as well as walked many miles and taken in a decent amount of cultural and historical information. enough is enough.
vienna is a beautiful city. its history is entwined with some of the most powerful empires in Roman, medieval and renaissance europe, the Hapsburgs for instance. The city was initially established as a Roman camp to keep watch over and launch campaigns against two barbarian nations to the north, around where the czech republic now lies. The city was also a bastion against the maruading Ottoman empire which threatened Christian Europe in the early 1500´s (1529?) and in 1683. Had it not been for the desperate last stand of the viennese and a rescue by several other nations (led by the Polish Prince), who had banded togerther in an unusual display of solidarity along religious lines, there might not be any need for the present ´war on terror´, as Europe may well have come been converted, or atleast come under Muslim dhimitude (rule) by those troublesome turks...
the viennese themselves have been welcoming and friendly. They are generally laid back, but still fashionably yuppified. in Europe, perhaps the term would be bohemian. the colder weather entails fuller, often furry coats. As of now, exchanges of communication with the locals have largely been few and generally limited to ordering food or drinks.
I won´t go on, as these euro´s will no doubt pile up sitting here at this computer. However, a cautionary word on debt and the effects of globalisation. Accodring to two sources (The Economist´ and some knowlegable person on abc radio in Australia), the western world is sitting on a precarious ledge, made unstable because of the weight of debt and the starkly understood forces of developing economies. These forces have kept inflation down and fooled the reserve banks in the developed world into keeping interest rates down as traditional theory would seem to justify. But the weight of debt is mounting and interest rates will have to rise significantly in times to come resulting in a unpayable loans and recession. One source believed a deep recession is immenent - within the next couple of years. So if you are looking at a loan or mortgage, etc, it might be wise to consider these macroeconomic tendencies and think twice.
I#ve attached some random pics.
vienna is a beautiful city. its history is entwined with some of the most powerful empires in Roman, medieval and renaissance europe, the Hapsburgs for instance. The city was initially established as a Roman camp to keep watch over and launch campaigns against two barbarian nations to the north, around where the czech republic now lies. The city was also a bastion against the maruading Ottoman empire which threatened Christian Europe in the early 1500´s (1529?) and in 1683. Had it not been for the desperate last stand of the viennese and a rescue by several other nations (led by the Polish Prince), who had banded togerther in an unusual display of solidarity along religious lines, there might not be any need for the present ´war on terror´, as Europe may well have come been converted, or atleast come under Muslim dhimitude (rule) by those troublesome turks...
the viennese themselves have been welcoming and friendly. They are generally laid back, but still fashionably yuppified. in Europe, perhaps the term would be bohemian. the colder weather entails fuller, often furry coats. As of now, exchanges of communication with the locals have largely been few and generally limited to ordering food or drinks.
I won´t go on, as these euro´s will no doubt pile up sitting here at this computer. However, a cautionary word on debt and the effects of globalisation. Accodring to two sources (The Economist´ and some knowlegable person on abc radio in Australia), the western world is sitting on a precarious ledge, made unstable because of the weight of debt and the starkly understood forces of developing economies. These forces have kept inflation down and fooled the reserve banks in the developed world into keeping interest rates down as traditional theory would seem to justify. But the weight of debt is mounting and interest rates will have to rise significantly in times to come resulting in a unpayable loans and recession. One source believed a deep recession is immenent - within the next couple of years. So if you are looking at a loan or mortgage, etc, it might be wise to consider these macroeconomic tendencies and think twice.
I#ve attached some random pics.
posted by Handsome Hish at 12:29 AM
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