BROOKINGS: The euro zone is in serious trouble

The events of the past six months are consistent with a process of disintegration, while the process of integration has steadily weakened. The question is no longer, “Will Europe unravel?” We should be asking, “Can European disintegration be reversed?”

The trigger that brought integration to a halt and set disintegration in motion is surprising.

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A very dark swan

The Daily Beast:

The overthrow of the Saudi royals is finally a possibility. In an excerpt from a new Brookings Institution briefing book for Obama’s second term, Bruce Riedel on what a catastrophe it would be for Obama.

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Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Takes Elections by Storm

From ARUTZ SHEVA

Islamist parties are expected to control Cairo's parliament by the spring with the Muslim Brotherhood projected to be in the driver's seat...

Isn't it amazing how liberals denied what we always knew would happen...

From The Brookings Institution:

Liberals had often told the world—and, perhaps more importantly, themselves—that the Bush administration’s destructive policies were a historic anomaly. When a Democrat was elected, America would undo the damage. For many liberals, including myself, this was what Obama could offer that no one else could—a president with a Muslim name, who had grown up in a Muslim country, who seemed to have an intuitive understanding of the place of grievance in Arab public life. But, after President Obama’s brief honeymoon period, the familiar disappointments returned. In a span of just one year, the number of Arabs who said they were “discouraged” by the Obama administration’s Middle East policies shot up from 15 percent to 63 percent, according to a University of Maryland/Zogby poll. By the time the protests began in December 2010, attitudes toward the United States had hit rock bottom. In several Arab countries, including Egypt, U.S. favorability ratings were lower under Obama than they were under Bush. Indeed, an odd current of “Bush nostalgia” had been very much evident in Arab opposition circles. In May 2010, a prominent Brotherhood member complained to me: “For Obama, the issue of democracy is fifteenth on his list of priorities. … There’s no moment of change like there was under Bush.

”What Obama and American Liberals Don’t Understand About the Arab Spring

Don't expect the horrific ISLAMIC VIOLENCE AGAINST CHRISTIANS to stop anytime either...

White House sez: (Now) Greed is Good

OK kids: Now it's time to put away those dirty old blocks we gave you last week and take out your brand new ones! Stay tuned for the Larry & Barry show.

The nation’s economy used to have too much greed and not enough fear of the future, but now has too much fear and could use a little more “greed” — spending.

Lawrence H. Summers, the White House economic adviser, calls it “the paradox at the heart of the financial crisis. “

“In the past few years, we’ve seen too much greed and too little fear; too much spending and not enough saving; too much borrowing and not enough worrying,” Summers said Friday in a speech to the Brookings Institution. “Today, however, our problem is exactly the opposite.”

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