If the Euro Fails, Merkel Fails
German Chancellor Angela Merkel may not be to blame for the crisis in Greece, but her handling has contributed to the emergency the euro finds itself in now.
Death of a Salesman
There was nothing he wouldn’t sell and very little he couldn’t buy. Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski was communist East Germany’s foremost capitalist. Having outlived the state he served by a quarter century, he died on June 21 at the age of 82.
In a Downward Spiral
Don’t fall for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear grandstanding: economically, he has his back to the wall. The deployment of US troops and heavy weapons in Eastern Europe would only play into his hands.
The Waiting Game
No, the West has not (yet) lost Ukraine, and the fragile Minsk truce and Western sanctions on Moscow have not (yet) failed. But Vladimir Putin’s 19th-century fixation on national military greatness may yet spoil attempts to stabilize the situation.
At the Peak of Her Power
This week’s G7 meeting at Schloss Elmau may not have produced many tangible results, but it did offer yet another display of the power German Chancellor Angela Merkel currently wields in Europe.
In 140 Characters (#i140c): Jens Stoltenberg
NATO’s Secretary General on expecting the unexpected and how to relax in snow-deprived Brussels.
Myths of Austerity – and Paul Krugman
Seen from the other end of the Atlantic, the solution to the euro crisis always seemed obvious to some – not least NYT columnist Paul Krugman. Yet the Nobel Prize-winning economist has been wrong on virtually everything he has said about European fiscal policy.
Exhibition Match
The US Department of Justice’s indictment of leading FIFA officials is likely the result of successful cooperation with between US and European authorities, and relied on robust data collection. This example of successful surveillance could do with a bit more fanfare.
