Ιαπωνία: Η επιστροφή της στρατιωτικής ισχύος του Ανατέλλοντος Ήλιου

Η αυτοκρατορική Ιαπωνία αποτέλεσε την ασιατική υπερδύναμη που αντιτέθηκε στις ΗΠΑ κατά τον Δεύτερο Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο- ωστόσο, η τελική της ήττα, που «σφραγίστηκε» με τις ατομικές βόμβες στη Χιροσίμα και το Ναγκασάκι, άλλαξε το πρόσωπο της χώρας σε πάρα πολλά επίπεδα. Η ηττημένη αυτοκρατορία δεσμεύτηκε να μην αποτελέσει στρατιωτική απειλή ξανά, διαμορφώνοντας τις ένοπλες δυνάμεις της στο πλαίσιο ενός καθαρά αμυντικού δόγματος.

Can the Malaysian PM survive the 1MDB Scandal?

An anti-corruption probe has uncovered documents that appear to link Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds. The allegations have helped push the Malaysian ringgit to the lowest level in over a decade. Can the Malaysian economy survive the political fallout?

On 2 July, the Wall Street Journal reported that Malaysian investigators taking part in the 1MDB anti-corruption probe had traced funds entering into the personal bank account of what they believe to be Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

By the numbers: The Greek economy

As Greece works out the details of a deal with the EU for billions of euros in bailout funds and severe austerity measures, the nation continues to feel the effects of nearly a decade of financial turmoil. Here’s how Greece’s economy has fared.

Greece Bailout: What we should expect from today's voting?

The outcome of the 17-hour long meeting of Eurozone leaders last Sunday was a huge blow for the Greek government. Amidst rumors that the Greek PM Tsipras was blackmailed to agree with any measure put in the table, both by the United States and Eurozone leaders, and despite the outstanding support of Greek PM in Twitter using the hashtag #ThisIsACoup, the Greek government finally capitulated to creditors’ demands.

Ο ταραξίας της Ευρώπης

Η εκτίμηση του Αλέξη Τσίπρα ότι «ρίξαμε στην Ευρώπη το σπόρο της αμφισβήτησης που σύντομα θα βγάλει καρπούς» φαίνεται να δικαιώνεται.

Μεγάλα διεθνή μέσα ενημέρωσης κατηγορούν τη γερμανική ηγεσία ότι παίζει επικίνδυνα με τη φωτιά | AP Photo/Markus Schreiber

Κάθε μέρα μεγάλα διεθνή μέσα ενημέρωσης, υπεράνω υποψίας για ροπή προς τον εξτρεμισμό, φιλοξενούν αναλύσεις ειδικών που χαρακτηρίζουν τη στάση της γερμανικής κυβέρνησης απέναντι στην Ελλάδα απαράδεκτη στο ηθικό επίπεδο, τιμωρητική στο οικονομικό και αντιδημοκρατική στο πολιτικό, προειδοποιώντας ταυτοχρόνως την ηγεσία της ότι παίζει επικίνδυνα με τη φωτιά.

The I.M.F. Is Telling Europe the Euro Doesn’t Work

It reads like a dry, 1,184-word memorandum about fiscal projections. But the International Monetary Fund’s memo on Greek debt sustainability, explaining why the I.M.F. cannot participate in a new bailout program unless other European countries agree to huge debt relief for Greece, has provided the “Emperor Has No Clothes” moment of the Greek crisis, one that may finally force eurozone members to either move closer to fiscal union or break up.

The I.M.F. memo amounts to an admission that the eurozone cannot work in its current form. It lays out three options for achieving Greek debt sustainability, all of which are tantamount to a fiscal union, an arrangement through which wealthier countries would make payments to support the Greek economy. Not coincidentally, this is the solution many economists have been telling European officials is the only way to save the euro — and which northern European countries have been resisting because it is so costly.

The Humanitarian’s Dilemma

Stepping out of a car in the West Bank town of Kafr Qaddum, I was greeted by the stench of urine, feces, and burned tires — a foul reminder of the near-constant confrontation between Israeli settlers and soldiers on one side, and Palestinians on the other.

The Abu Ehab family — whose two-story house is on a slope just below the road we drove in on — is caught between these battles. The family members keep their chickens on the second floor and live on the first, but the walls do little to protect them from the exchange of tear gas, burning tires, and hurled rocks. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops frequently move around the Abu Ehab family’s property during nighttime search operations; at times, they enter the house.

In Mexico, Crime Is Bigger Than a Crime Boss

The alleged end of the tunnel through which Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera could have escaped from the Altiplano prison, at a house in Almoloya de Juarez, Mexico, on July 12. (YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

The July 11 escape of the notorious Sinaloa crime boss, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, from a maximum-security prison in Mexico has drawn considerable Mexican and international media attention. While the brazen and elaborate nature of the escape will add to the lore already surrounding Guzman, the escape itself carries little significance for organized crime in Mexico — though it will place a momentary strain on coordination between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement. The forces that drive the evolution of organized crime and their impact on society in Mexico are simply greater than any single crime boss.

The Greek bailout deal resolves nothing

Even if the new bailout makes it through the Greek parliament in coming weeks, the programme's economic incoherence will make it fall apart.

Before the bailout deal was struck, the Greek impasse had descended into point-scoring and finger-pointing, with creditors blaming Greece for the country’s economic woes, and Greeks – and the centre-left in other countries – blaming the creditors for insisting on more austerity and trying to humiliate the country. Now that a deal has been struck, the argument will shift onto whether Alexis Tsipras, with his confrontational bargaining strategy, has won anything that a more emollient government would not. Tspiras and his supporters claim that debt relief and a long-term programme of fresh lending would not have been on the table without playing hardball. But the truth is that Greece capitulated on Monday July 13th, not the creditors, and this has important ramifications for the bailout’s success. 

Nine People Who Saw the Greek Crisis Coming Years Before Everyone Else Did

Although the problems in Greece didn't begin making big headlines until 2009, a number of economists, politicians and professors spotted cracks in the European currency union as early as the 1990s. Meanwhile, it's interesting to note that the country had a tough time making it into the single currency in the first place. Greece failed to qualify for the euro in 1998 before being granted admission in 2001. 

The iron lady vs iron EU.

Photographer: Jeff Overs/BBC News & Current Affairs via Getty Images

Here are some people who must have had crystal balls.