The Socialist Who Can Rattle the Global Economy
At the end of a week of bad news across Europe, the French have handed the Continent another cliffhanger: In the first round of polling for the presidency on Sunday, incumbent Nicholas Sarkozy trailed his Socialist Party challenger, François Hollande….
How a European Recession Can Infect U.S. Markets
Europe is starting to look slightly schizophrenic, and we had all better pay attention. The stock slide last week — the worst of the year — was the direct result of wobbly conditions among the European economies, notably a growing…
Spain, on the Brink, Could Derail the U.S. Economy
Greece’s austerity plan, complete with debt swap, is now in place. Spain has announced its most rigorous budget since the post–Franco restoration of democracy in the 1970s. Italy has passed economic reforms worth more than $130 billion, 7 percent of…
Why Obama’s Iran Strategy is All Wrong
The good news: We now have a new set of talks on Iran’s nuclear program scheduled for mid April in Istanbul. The bad news: Washington and its allies have not prepared the ground for these talks. We are a negotiating…
China Reboot: From Textiles and Tea to High Tech
The tea leaves have not yet settled in China after the ousting of Bo Xilai, a leading figure in the Chinese Communist Party and (until last week) a shoe-in candidate for a seat on the Politburo’s powerful standing committee. But…
Rare Earth Minerals: China’s Got ‘em, We Want More
President Obama’s move last week to pursue a WTO case against China, whatever the merits of the U.S. argument, is at the least badly timed and is possibly a mistake altogether. We are all for an amicable, equitable relationship with…
The Greek Debt Deal: Austerity on Steroids
What a week to be Greek—or Spanish, or Portuguese. The debt-swap deal that most of Greece’s private creditors accepted last Thursday evening is of historic importance. Greeks now have at least a fighting chance of digging themselves out of debt…
6 Ways to Avoid an Economic Implosion in China
“What if China Fails?” This was the headline on an essay in the Wilson Quarterly in August 2010. It is now 2012, and we are still seeing strong economic growth, although Beijing just slashed the target to 7.5 percent–an 8-year…
EU Leaders ‘Occupy Greece’ to Oversee Bailout
The Greek financial rescue package, apart from its obvious necessity as a bailout mechanism, has always been about holding eurozone together, and living up to the legacies left by the European visionaries who started the continent on its way to…
Why the Greek Bailout Won’t Work in the Long Run
For the second time in a little over 3 years, Athens is burning. In December of 2008, police shot and killed a teenage student, igniting an explosive reaction by young people throughout the country and beyond. Back then, the riots…
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