Carnegie Moscow Center
As Italian and Spanish spreads on government bonds decline, Europeans are breathing a big sigh of relief. But true recovery requires big structural shifts that will take many years.
Putin's economic agenda offers only more of the same heavy-handed policies that have failed to modernize Russia and made the country more vulnerable to external shocks.
Russia faces serious economic challenges, including a demographic crisis, corruption, weak enforcement of property rights, and over-reliance on hydrocarbons. A combination of structural political and economic reforms is required to save the country from stagnation.
With recent financial headlines echoing those just before the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, European and U.S. policymakers must take urgent steps to reduce risk and prepare for bad times ahead.
French President Sarkozy’s request for Chinese money in support of the euro rescue symbolized three historic shifts in great power relations: the fragility and endangerment of the European project, the ascendance of China, and the beginning of the end of the American era.
With the global economy on unstable ground and little economic space remaining for additional policy support, world leaders must focus on preventing a catastrophe in Europe.
The climate change negotiations in Durban did not succeed in developing a joint system to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Developing and developed countries should consolidate their efforts to achieve a new global agreement.
Tens of thousands of Russians took to the street in protest over voter fraud allegations in the country’s parliamentary elections. It remains to be seen what this public response and the election results will mean for the country’s future.
The euro crisis has grown too big for Europeans to handle alone. The United States must act to help save the euro—or risk paying a much bigger price if it collapses.
Almost two decades after negotiations began Russia is set to join the World Trade Organization. Russia, the biggest country to enter the WTO since China joined ten years ago, is expected to be confirmed as a member during the ministerial meeting in mid-December.