In the Steps of Thucydides

In the Steps of Thucydides: Cretan Studies Association has inaugurated a program of educational partnership with Emmanuel College of Boston, hosting a group of students from Emmanuel College who have been attending the seminar 'In the Steps of Thucydides'

Is the canary about to die?

Since 2008 and as the economic crisis in Europe has led to fiscal austerity and increased taxation, the national citizenries throughout Europe have felt in varying degrees the pain of those policies, and have come to realize that the economic criteria were much stronger. The political and social dimensions of  citizenship had become secondary to economic terms of efficiency, productivity, and competitive within a global market. So as the financial pressure is getting greater national citizenries are demanding from the national politicians greater relief and support which they can't deliver as the political elite are bound by their European integrationist limitations.
I have argued that in fact the Maastricht Treaty, which defines the European integration and the creation of the Eurozone has killed Social Democracy in Europe. In this context the change in administration in France and the inability Greek politicians to form a government following the May 6th elections means very little.  The austerity prescription that the European Central Bank and the German-French axis will continue, since the forces that are driving this policy have not been persuaded. As far as Greece is concerned, the situation there is more dramatic since the anemic social and political Greek system is feeling the pressure of the Maastricht economic straitjacket. Unfortunately Greece is the "canary in the coal mine" and as such nothing will change until the canary dies.

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.