Me want cookie: the idiot's guide to being a fun-loving modern fascist

David Mitchell

The Cookie Monster has been outed as an emblem of the far right, but why stop there? How about Hawaiian shirts?

 

If I told you that extreme rightwing activists were using a googly-eyed character with a weird flapping mouth to try and build their support base, you'd probably tell me to stop being rude about Nigel Farage. Or applaud me for being rude about Nigel Farage. But for once I'm not slagging off Ukip's straight-talking bitter drinker. I'm referring to someone who, as far as we know, has never touched beer or cigarettes, which is probably a good thing as he seems to have rather an addictive personality. It's the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street, surely the world's most lovable personification of an eating disorder, whose image has been adopted by a group of German neo-Nazis in an attempt to recruit children.

Russia’s Devious Plan For Eastern Ukraine Is Working

Gleb Garanich

Pro-Russian armed men stand guard in Slaviansk, Ukraine.

As western Ukrainian security forces reportedly seek to dislodge ethnic Russian paramilitaries from government buildings in Slaviansk (although that’s now being questioned) and anti-Kyiv forces muster in other eastern Ukrainian cities, allegations are flying thick and fast about the presence of Russian troops in these disturbances. (I should mention that The Interpreter‘s liveblog is an invaluable service in keeping track of all the claims, counterclaims and reports on the ground.)

The head of NATO says Europe has misread Vladimir Putin for years and now must scramble to push back

By Sohrab Ahmari

 
Until recently, members of the Russian delegation to NATO were free to roam at will about the Western alliance's headquarters here on the outskirts of the Belgian capital. The Russians had an awkward habit of listening intently to others' conversations at the cafeteria, yet their presence was tolerated in the name of dialogue.

Not anymore. In response to Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea, NATO earlier this month suspended all practical cooperation with Moscow. Now most of the 70 or so Russian personnel enjoy about the same level of access to the alliance headquarters as journalists. It's a small but significant sign of what NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen calls "the new security environment" in Europe. 

Capitalism simply isn't working and here are the reasons why

Will Hutton  

Economist Thomas Piketty's message is bleak: the gap between rich and poor threatens to destroy us
Thomas Piketty interview: capitalism just doesn't add up

Thomas Piketty has mined 200 years of data to support his theory that capitalism does not work. Photograph: Ed Alcock for the Observer

 

Suddenly, there is a new economist making waves – and he is not on the right. At the conference of the Institute of New Economic Thinking in Toronto last week, Thomas Piketty's book Capital in the Twenty-First Century got at least one mention at every session I attended. You have to go back to the 1970s and Milton Friedman for a single economist to have had such an impact.

Τhe emergence of the 'silver economy'. A business area with an enormous growth potential. Case Finland

Finland has one of the most rapidly ageing populations in Europe and the world. By 2030, Finland is projected to have 26% of its population over 65 years of age. This is a figure that the UK, for example, is not due to reach until 2051.[i]