MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

Is it me, or is panic over the debt mess in Europe really starting to ratchet up? …

By Quentin Peel in Berlin, Jan Cienski in Warsaw and Norma Cohen – “Germany is the only country in Europe that can act to save the eurozone and the wider European Union from ‘a crisis of apocalyptic proportions’, the Polish foreign minister warned on Monday in a passionate call for more drastic action to prevent the collapse of the European monetary union.

The extraordinary appeal by Radoslaw Sikorski, delivered in the shadow of the Brandenburg Gate in the German capital, came as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development called on European leaders to provide ‘credible and large enough firepower’ to halt the sell-off in the eurozone sovereign debt market, or risk a severe recession.

The OECD’s comments came as the organisation slashed its half-yearly forecasts for growth in the world’s richest countries, warning that economic activity in Europe would grind to a near-halt.” Read more.

OECD: euro collapse would have ‘highly devastating outcomes’ worldwide – “The collapse of the euro could send the world’s advanced economies into a severe recession, dragging emerging markets with them into the mire, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warned on Monday… Pier Carlo Padoan, OECD chief economist, made plain in the body’s latest six-monthly economic outlook that the greatest threat to global economic health comes from the eurozone rather than from the tax-and-spend gridlock in the US Congress. In his introduction to the report he said: ‘Recent contagion to countries thought to have relatively solid public finances could massively escalate economic disruption if not addressed.’ In a devastating critique of eurozone leaders’ hesitancy and dilatoriness, he said: ‘The scenario so far is that Europe’s leaders have been behind the curve. We believe this could be very serious.'” Read more.

Britain Now Planning On Belief That Euro Collapse is Now Just a Matter of Time, Foreign Office Warns to Prepare for Riots and Social Unrest – “As the Italian government struggled to borrow and Spain considered seeking an international bail-out, British ministers privately warned that the break-up of the euro, once almost unthinkable, is now increasingly plausible. Diplomats are preparing to help Britons abroad through a banking collapse and even riots arising from the debt crisis. The Treasury confirmed earlier this month that contingency planning for a collapse is now under way.” Read more.