http://www.project-syndicate.org The highest quality commentaries and analysis from distinguished voices across the world en 2012-02-04T05:15:10+01:00 webmaster@project-syndicate.org webmaster@project-syndicate.org 1994-01-01T00:00:00+01:00 4 hourly http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/gros32/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/gros32/English>GROS: Austerity under Attack</a> As the European economy risks falling into recession, many observers are asking whether austerity could lead to such a sharp decline in economic activity that revenues fall and the fiscal position actually deteriorates further. But it would be dangerous for the eurozone’s highly indebted countries to abandon austerity now. Daniel Gros 2012-02-03T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/schwarzenberg6/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/schwarzenberg6/English>H RIGHTS: Havel Lives</a> <p>PRAGUE – The death of Václav Havel, the former president of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, has been marked with mourning around the world. For his friends, the loss is overwhelming, but we all take comfort from the fact that his courage and his ideas helped to change our world for the better, and are still continuing to do so.</p><p>Throughout his life, Havel was an unconquerable fighter for freedom and human dignity. He was the leader of the Velvet Revolution, which brought communism to a peaceful end in his homeland, a dissident intellectual who, by his unswerving conscientiousness and disciplined, down-to-earth idealism, led his compatriots in their struggle to overcome the totalitarian mindset in the years after they regained their freedom. Indeed, that mental liberation remains a living, essential part of Havel’s legacy.  </p> Karel Schwarzenberg, Desmond Tutu, Richard von Weizsäcker 2012-02-03T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/benami62/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/benami62/English>BEN-AMI: The Decline of the West Revisited</a> Since the publication in 1918 of Oswald Spengler’s The Decline of the West, prophecies about the inexorable doom of what he called the “Faustian Civilization” have been a recurrent topic for thinkers and public intellectuals. But the debate's recurrence is itself proof that Spengler was wrong. Shlomo Ben-Ami 2012-02-02T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/jecohen1/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/jecohen1/English>SCIENCE: A Seismic Crime</a> The devastating earthquake that hit L'Aquila, Italy in 2009 has sparked a court trial and lingering questions about scientific experts' failures to communicate risk to the public. Scientists around the world have rightly spoken out against the trial in Italy, but will we be ready when the next big earthquake strikes? Joel E. Cohen 2012-02-02T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/tyson2/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/tyson2/English>TYSON: America’s Three Deficits</a> The US faces painful choices about how to close its long-run fiscal gap, and a credible plan should be decided now and implemented promptly – but only after the economy has recovered. For the next few years, the priorities of fiscal policy should be jobs, investment, and growth. Laura Tyson 2012-02-02T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/zingales13/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/zingales13/English>ROE/ZINGALES: Central Bankers in the Line of Fire</a> The decision in January by Philipp Hildebrand to resign as Chairman of the Board of the Swiss National Bank, after a suspicious trade made by his wife, is to be welcomed. But, while Hildebrand’s resignation should serve as a precedent to be followed elsewhere, the circumstances surrounding his departure smell much worse than what caused it. Luigi Zingales 2012-02-02T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/okonta12/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/okonta12/English>AFRICA: The Nigerian Crucible</a> Nigeria's president, Goodluck Jonathan, has allowed his government to loot the treasury, while militant organizations terrorize the populace. Its rich and powerful have already plunged Nigeria into a bloody civil war once, and they appear ready to do it again. Ike Okonta 2012-02-01T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/rogoff89/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/rogoff89/English>ROGOFF: Coronary Capitalism</a> Just as the financial industry caused a near-meltdown of the global economy in 2008, the food industry has facilitated the explosion of obesity around the world. In both cases, the links to broader problems with contemporary Western capitalism have become impossible to ignore. Kenneth Rogoff 2012-02-01T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/boskin19/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/boskin19/English>TA: A Referendum on Obama</a> The 2012 US presidential election will be a referendum on Barack Obama’s policies and performance. A Republican presidential victory, together with Republican control of Congress, would most likely lead to substantial reduction, repeal, and replacement of many Obama initiatives, attempts to reform taxes and entitlements, and greater fiscal discipline. Michael Boskin 2012-01-31T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/chellaney25/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/chellaney25/English>ASIA: No Escape from Empire’s Graveyard</a> With the stage set for secret US-Taliban talks in Qatar, President Barack Obama’s strategy for a phased exit from war-ravaged Afghanistan is now being couched in terms that hide more than they reveal. In seeking a Faustian bargain with the Taliban, Obama risks repeating US policy mistakes that now haunt regional and international security. Brahma Chellaney 2012-01-31T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer70/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fischer70/English>FISCHER: The Chancellor Who Played with Fire</a> If Angela Merkel is unlucky, the eurozone crisis will come to a head at the start of the German election year in 2013, rendering moot all previous calculations, because, despite Germans’ frustration with Europe, the electorate would punish severely those who allowed Europe to fail. And Merkel seems willing to do just that. Joschka Fischer 2012-01-31T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/phelps14/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/phelps14/English>ECON WEEKLY: Blaming Capitalism for Corporatism</a> The future of capitalism is again a question. Will it survive the ongoing crisis in its current form? If not, will it transform itself or will government take the lead? Edmund S. Phelps, Saifedean Ammous 2012-01-31T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/sachs186/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/sachs186/English>SACHS: Sustainable Humanity</a> Sustainable development means inclusive economic growth that protects the earth’s vital resources. Yet achieving it will be a matter not only of technology, market incentives, and appropriate regulations; we must embrace sustainable development as a common commitment to decency for all human beings, today and in the future. Jeffrey D. Sachs 2012-01-31T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/wolf44/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/wolf44/English>WOLF: An Iraqi Film Hero in America</a> One of Iraq’s only working filmmakers, Oday Rasheed – whose brilliant "Qarantina" follows a group of characters in Baghdad after the US-led invasion in 2003 – is in Manhattan. And Americans can't seem to stop apologizing when they see his work. Naomi Wolf 2012-01-31T00:00:00+01:00 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/ashour9/English <a href=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/ashour9/English>WEEKLY: What do Egypt’s Generals Want?</a> One year after Egypt's revolution began, the country's Praetorian rulers are eager for a system in which they maintain their vast economic holdings, legal immunity, and a final say over high politics. But the generals must contend with Islamists in Parliament and pressure from the street, suggesting that a more democratic system is possible. Omar Ashour 2012-01-30T00:00:00+01:00