Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

Between one thing and another, we didn't get around to mentioning Michael Arrington's excoriating post on the EU and Microsoft. We're never done here referring to Brussels an anti-democratic, bureaucratic ogre, so it's refreshing to hear it called a racketeering front as well. In "Microsoft: The EU's ATM Machine", the Techcruncher-in-chief hits hard:

EU's chief Microsoft-taxer, errr, antitrust chief, Neelie Kroes, seems determined to make a name for herself by filling the EUs coffers. But perhaps it's time for Europe to stop looking for the Microsoft handouts, and start promoting actual capitalism within their borders. Google, Apple and Mozilla, among others (including Germany's SAP), seem perfectly able to compete against Microsoft without crying for help every time users decline to use their products.

Those who can, do. Those who can't apparently live in Brussels and engage in a legalized shakedown of Microsoft every couple of years."

Indeed. There is no European Google and there never will be as long as the EU continues to foster a culture that's hostile to risk taking and related innovation. There are plenty of European Facebook clones, though, which speaks volumes about the culture of dishonesty that Brussels has cultivated.