China’s New Development Bank: How Obama Blew It in the Pacific (Again)
When China launched a new multilateral lending institution last October amid fanfare in the Great Hall of the People, the Obama administration had already spent many months opposing it. It urged Beijing not to go forward; then it lobbied allies…
Why Draghi’s Stimulus Plan Is Europe’s Last Shot
It looks as if Mario Draghi is at last on the way to earning his nickname. Mr. Whatever It Takes, the European Central Bank’s president, launched his long-awaited quantitative easing program last week. Early indications are promising: The policy that…
A Nuclear Deal with Iran Starts to Look Likely
Will we or won’t we have an international deal defining Iran’s nuclear programby the negotiators’ self-imposed deadline? There are two weeks left. This is now the kind of cliffhanger the London bookmakers usually offer odds on. My wager is that…
Germany’s New Policy Plan Puts the US on Catch Up
It takes a strong nation, as opposed to one that’s merely powerful to rethink the way it conducts its foreign relations. Germany now proves the point, and Americans should sit up straight and take a long look. This is nothing…
For Greece Now, It’s Political and Economic Mess
There’s nothing wrong with buying time if that’s your need. And Greece’s daring new finance minister Yanis Varoufakis got some when he struck a deal in Brussels Friday to extend the European Union’s bailout for four months. The markets greeted…
Saving Ukraine: Why the IMF’s Bailout May not Work
Could last week’s ceasefire in Ukraine, announced in Minsk Thursday after 17 hours of negotiation, have been any more dramatic? The German and French leaders, who presided in the Belarus capital, leapt into 11th hour action when Washington disclosed it…
Ukraine’s Second Front: Obama and Kerry Are Now at War With Europe
The Obama administration appears to be spinning the Ukraine crisis out of control and doing serious damage to trans-Atlantic relations all at once. Tensions between Europe and the U.S. over how to address the year-old crisis in Ukraine have simmered…
First Greece, Now Spain: Is Europe in for a Political Earthquake?
It took a mere six days for the election victory of the anti-austerity Syriza party in Greece to start ricocheting around Europe like a stray bullet in a concrete bunker. And already the fight between northern Europe’s austerians and their…
Greeks See Light at the End of the Austerity Tunnel
A decisive vote for Syriza and its left-leaning leader, Tsipras A chunk of Draghi’s $1.23 trillion stimulus will go to Greece Time to book a trip—the euro is now $1.11 In a single week, we witnessed these events: Mario Draghi…
Iran’s Trade Deals: Will the US Miss the Boat?
It is hard to find anything Israelis and Iranians agree upon, but they now hold one truth in common: The sanctions imposed on Tehran in mid–2010 over its opaque nuclear program are crumbling. Executives and state-enterprise bureaucrats from Beijing to…
Recent Comments