EU’s narrative that high wages, early retirement, and generous benefits have led several countries to the verge of bankruptcy is nothing but a fairy tale.
Europe’s Austerity: Like Something Out of the Brothers Grimm
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Europe & Central Asia
The Battle for Greece
While the world’s attention is focused on the revolution in Egypt, street fighting in Libya, and the battle for Sana in Yemen, in democracy’s birthplace people are also taking to the streets, continuing to protest an austerity plan that many Greeks say will beggar them. On February 23, protesters conducted a 24-hour strike that brought hundreds of thousands of people into the streets of Athens.
How to Prevent Pakistani Anarchy
U.S. policymakers should learn from the events in the Middle East that the Muslim impulse for modernity and freedom is hindered, not helped, by Western military intervention. And they should learn soon. The U.S. “Af-Pak” war is accelerating the self-destruction of the world’s second largest, and only nuclear, Muslim country.
Days of Rage in Croatia
Thousands of people have gathered in the main square of the capital city demanding the resignation of the ruling government. This time it’s not Cairo or Tripoli, but Zagreb. For the past 16 days, the residents of Zagreb, along with citizens in towns across Croatia, have been demonstrating every other day. Their numbers seem to be growing. According to recent estimates by Croatian media, up to 100,000 people across the country have participated in the protests.
Putin’s Extravagant Proposal to Abolish Visas Echoes Gorbachev and Nukes
Meanwhile, Moscow once again boasts more billionaires than New York City.
By Enabling India’s Nuke Program U.S. Shares Blame for Pakistan’s
By enabling India to have its nuclear cake and eat it too — enough nuclear fuel for weapons as well as energy — the U.S. also fuels Pakistan’s nuclear-weapons expansion.
What the Army Thinks the Taliban Would Do With Data on Genitourinary Injuries
The U.S. army doesn’t put some of the dirtiest fighting ever past the Taliban.
Left Bares Its Claws in Irish Vote
If the Irish can come up with a strategy to resist shifting the financial crisis onto the backs of those least able to pay for it, that might be a blueprint for other countries ravaged by debt and economic malaise.
Raymond Davis Incident Shows How Tangled U.S.-Pakistan Web Is
Raymond Davis’s shootings in self defense shoot went beyond not only preventive, but preemptive. Conn Hallinan at the Foreign Policy in Focus blog Focal Points.
The Turko-Persian Tandem
Home to the region’s biggest economies, largest middle classes, and most educated populations, Iran and Turkey represent vibrant societies with huge reservoir of both soft and hard power. Growing cooperation between the two may signal the opening of a new chapter in the Middle Eastern affairs.