What started as a Greek fiscal and public debt crisis in October 2009 has matured over the past seven months into a fully fledged crisis in the eurozone. It extends well beyond the immediate causes – collective irresponsibility in Athens during the past decade and a lack of effective policy intervention and coordination in Brussels. [...]
Set a point of no return, move past it, don’t worry about public opinion and let the details take care of themselves”. This is how Chancellor Helmut Kohl summarized the strategy that led to Maastricht and EMU. A policy well disliked by the German public that was unwilling to sacrifice the Deutschmark for the sake [...]
When Prime Minister Zapatero announced a few weeks ago their plan to reduce the Spanish budget deficit, he said that the main problems of the Spanish economy are a 20% of unemployment rate and an 11.2% rate of public deficit. He was wrong again. Deficit and unemployment are not the problems but their consequences. [...]
The recent signing of the new Russian-U.S. strategic arms reduction treaty launches a month of intense activity focused on reducing the threats of nuclear conflict and nuclear terrorism and tightening control over nuclear materiel and technologies. Regardless of outcomes, this reflects the new dynamics driving the original nuclear club of the U.S., Russia, Britain, France, [...]
The fear of contagion has spread over Europe. Many see Greece as the potential first domino to fall in a scenario that runs as follows: the Greek austerity measures do not suffice, the debt crisis deepens, and the risk of a sovereign default spreads to other European economies. As the Greek domino falls, countries like [...]
