New York Times (September 7)
Japan has had 14 prime ministers in the last 20 years and now faces the possibility of a third prime minister in a single year. The “leadership merry-go-round” must end. “Revolving-door leaders with constantly shifting agendas are not in Japan’s interest — or the rest of the world’s.”
Tags: Japan, Prime minister
Washington Post (September 7)
We used to divide Europe into the East and West, but Europe “is slowly redividing itself into ‘North’ and ‘South.’” The description is not strictly geographic. Countries in the North (Germany, Poland, Estonia, Scandinavia, the Czechs and the Slovaks ) follow conservative fiscal policy. The South is made up of those countries that overspend (Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and Ireland). In between, is the UK, which is desperately trying to get back into the Northern grouping with drastic austerity measures.
Tags: Europe, Fiscal policy
