MOST RECENT COMMENTARIES
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The Snow Revolution’s Orange Shadow
Anders Åslund Series: A Window on Russia 2012-02-10Vladimir Putin’s regime is warning Russians that their budding “Snow Revolution” will be as big a mistake as the Ukrainian Orange Revolution of 2004. The Orange Revolution was no mistake, but it should serve as a lesson to Russians that a just cause is no guarantee of victory.... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 1983
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Opening Europe’s Mediterranean Window
Ana Palacio Series: The Turning Point 2012-02-10
One year after the fall of Hosni Mubarak, with popular upheaval continuing to roil the Arab world, it is increasingly clear that Europe can no longer sit still and do nothing. The ongoing protests have exposed an urgent need for renewed engagement with the region in general – and, in particular, with the southern and eastern Mediterranean countries.... read Comments: 1 Recommended: 0 Read: 2070
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The Ethics of Internet Piracy
Peter Singer Series: The Ethics of Life 2012-02-10Last month, the US considered legislation that aimed at stopping Internet piracy. The measure went too far, and has been withdrawn, but, unless a workable solution is found, most creative people will need to earn a living doing something else, and we will all be the losers.... read Comments: 3 Recommended: 0 Read: 5726
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The Eurozone’s Fork in the Road
Mario I. Blejer and Eduardo Levy Yeyati Series: The New Global Economy 2012-02-09
The ECB's recent decision to lend unlimited funds to eurozone commercial banks at very low rates acknowledges the need to address a core drawback in the euro-architecture: the ECB itself. However the banks use the money, it is now clear that the eurozone’s future will be determined largely by the ECB.... read Comments: 5 Recommended: 0 Read: 6180
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Europe’s Tobin Tax Distraction
Barry Eichengreen Series: The Next Financial Order 2012-02-09European leaders have revealed their top-secret plan for solving the euro’s crisis: a version of the “Tobin tax,” a levy on financial transactions first suggested in 1972. The only problem is that the tax was intended to solve an entirely different problem from those that afflict Europe today.... read Comments: 4 Recommended: 0 Read: 7481
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Obama’s Middle East Malady
Zaki Laidi Series: The World in Words 2012-02-08
No sooner did Barack Obama welcome home US troops from Iraq and laud that country’s stability and democracy than an unprecedented wave of violence revealed the severity of Iraq’s political crisis. Is that crisis an unfortunate exception, or, rather, a symptom of the failure of Obama’s Middle East diplomacy, from Egypt to Afghanistan?... read Comments: 4 Recommended: 0 Read: 5542
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When Women Lead
Joseph S. Nye Series: Of Might and Right 2012-02-08Would the world be more peaceful if women were in charge? It is an interesting question, but the key choices about war and peace in our future will depend not on gender, but on how leaders – men and women alike – combine hard- and soft-power skills to produce smart strategies.... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 11549
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China’s Syrian Folly
Steve Tsang Series: China World 2012-02-08
In vetoing the UN Security Council’s draft resolution on Syria, China claims that it has acted in the interests of the Syrian people. In fact, the Chinese stance has effectively ensured that atrocities in Syria will continue and increase in intensity – and that China's soft power will diminish throughout the Middle East.... read Comments: 6 Recommended: 0 Read: 4713
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American Funk
Ian Buruma Series: Crossing Cultures 2012-02-07Many American fearmongers would have us believe that the US is now in a dangerous state of funk – a loss of self-belief that signals the end of its world leadership. But they are wrong to claim that the decline of US military dominance will lead to the collapse of world order.... read Comments: 5 Recommended: 0 Read: 6899
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Tomorrow’s Pax Pacifica
Kevin Rudd Series: The Asian Century 2012-02-07
Although the relationship between China and the United States is critical to Asia’s future, the concept of a "G-2" is never going to fly in the region. The task today is to recognize the realities of US and Chinese power, without turning the rest of the region into collateral damage should the Sino-American relationship deteriorate.... read Comments: 3 Recommended: 0 Read: 6116
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Capturing the ECB
Joseph E. Stiglitz Series: Unconventional Economic Wisdom 2012-02-06There are several explanations for the ECB’s insistence on a "voluntary" restructuring of Greece's sovereign debt, none of which speaks well for the institution. Indeed, as we have seen elsewhere, institutions that are not democratically accountable tend to be captured by special interests.... read Comments: 3 Recommended: 1 Read: 22771
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Seizing Sustainable Development
Jacob Zuma and Tarja Halonen Series: The New Global Economy 2012-02-06
The world is on an unsustainable path, and must urgently chart a new course forward, one that brings equity and environmental concerns into the economic mainstream. To do so, we must put sustainable development into practice now, not in spite of the economic crisis, but because of it.... read Comments: 7 Recommended: 0 Read: 7522
| A Strategy for Russia’s Snow Revolution | Mischa Gabowitsch 
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| Austerity under Attack | Daniel Gros
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