A Land Without a Rudder - By Joanna Kakissis | Foreign Policy

A Land Without a Rudder - By Joanna Kakissis | Foreign Policy The current Greek situation is indicative of the vision gap between the elite and the people of Europe as to the overall project called European Union. For European leaders since the mid 1980s the European Union and the creation of the eurozone was an attempt at creating a competitive bloc within an emerging global market, while for the people of Europe the post-Cold War unification meant fulfillment of humanistic qualitative aspirations which included political and social rights, labor rights, gender equality, economic equity,  and ecological sustainability. These two divergent visions were compromised in the years following Maastricht through access to cheap money due to lowered interest rates,  increased consumption, and partisan politics that were able to postpone touch decisions through a predatory financial sector. The ability by national political elite to postpone fiscal responsibility by refinancing debt into the future though inventive financial instruments was exposed after 2008. In Greece and soon in Spain and Portugal we are experiencing the complete collapse of the interest articulation structures that has underwritten political and social stability for the last four decades.

The New Math of Geopolitics: Does It All Add Up to G-Zero? - Interview By David Rothkopf | Foreign Policy

The New Math of Geopolitics: Does It All Add Up to G-Zero? - Interview By David Rothkopf | Foreign Policy

UNU Junior Fellows Internship Programme: Call for Applications

UNU Junior Fellows Internship Programme: Call for Applications

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/UNU-Junior-Fellows-Internship-Programme--Call-for-Applications.html?soid=1101235453895&aid=e2hX1EnVuCE

The Obama Doctrine and the Arab Spring

http://www.economist.com/node/18714050

The Oil and the Glory | FOREIGN POLICY

The Oil and the Glory | FOREIGN POLICY

Steve LeVine, outlines the background of a confrontation that's shaping up in Russia between Medvedev and Putin over the presidential office with Caspian oil and energy as a backdrop.

The Story of Laurent Gbagbo

The Story of Laurent Gbagbo, Stephen W. Smith

An enlightening essay regarding the complexity of an obscure news story, that did not receive the attention of the "Arab Spring," yet might prove more indicative of the state of global politics today.

Summer Reading

Four recent publications that I would like to bring to your attention and that you should consider are:

Henry Kissinger: On China (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/10/books/on-china-by-henry-kissinger-review.html)

Francis Fukuyama: The Origins of Political Order (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/books/review/book-review-the-origins-of-political-order-by-francis-fukuyama.html)

Robert Putnam: American Grace (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/books/review/Wright-t.html)

Thomas Friedman: Flat Hot and Crowded (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/books/review/Freedland-t.html)

Andrew Bacevich: Limits of Power (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/books/review/Tepperman-t.html)

and of course the First Year Reading

Rebecca Skloot: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/29/AR2010012902147.html)