If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Blog
In case you blinked, here's a quick update: On May 30, the European Union announced that France and Spain reached their purse seine quota for bluefin ...
Whereas Americans find their identity in the future that they are building, the British find their identity in their past -- in the institutions, ideas and even buildings that tell the story of a nation that has always been a work in progress.
Unlike the environmental threats addressed successfully in past U.S. legislation, climate change is essentially unobservable to the general population.
These issues doubtlessly need to be addressed, but what's notable is the sea change in the conversation. Ideas that were once off the table are now being taken up by EU governments and organizations and Euro pundits. The austerity discourse no longer dominates. Why?
Last week the Financial Times ran a piece which opened thus: "Greece's banking system is being propped up by an estimated €100 billion provided by the country's central bank -- approved secretly by the European Central Bank." The news barely made it into the U.S. press.
Historians will look back on the spring of 2012 as moment when Europe's institutions and leaders either failed to contain a deepening crisis -- or as a time when leadership grasped the common stakes and rose to the occasion.
At a time when Western leadership is being questioned, encouraging Turkey's emergence as a responsible transatlantic partner in regional stability has never been more necessary.
The financial crisis and the resulting political instability in Greece has led to desperation and despondency that have clouded the core values of the Greek people.
"Jack and the Beanstalk" is a story about how Jack and a terrible ogre finally compromise, learning to live together because they fear one another too much to risk doing otherwise. A similar hope of compromise is what lies at the heart of Greek voters.
Austerity Isn't Working's goal is to illustrate the human cost of austerity, compile the growing economic evidence that austerity isn't working, and promote fresh ideas designed to shape a fiscally responsible, pro-European, pro-growth response to the crisis.
There's a lot of confusion about the ballyhooed NATO Summit in Chicago, intended as a big boost to Obama's geopolitical leadership, showcased in his hometown. Here are some big outstanding questions about NATO's future.
What would happen to Greece if it quit the euro? Financial chaos, capital flight, riots and bank failures... maybe. But after the apocalypse, Greece would eventually revert to its 1960's status: a poor but proud nation living off tourism, shipping, agriculture and fishing.
People often ask whether America or Europe fare better or worse in terms of political extremism. Yet, in a race to the bottom, what matters most is the direction.
If President Obama loses his bid for re-election it will probably be because of the economy but not America's economy. How do you put on a bumper sticker, "I saved GM but had no power over the Euro?"
As the debt crisis in Europe continues to unravel, it has become increasingly clear that each country has a very different set of problems. Nowhere has this been more evident than in Greece.
As Greek departure threatens to incite the vultures and to extinguish that dream, a tremendous leverage is linked to exit. In this moment that specific power accrues to the Greeks. Does that make it their best option?
