Financial Crisis and Geopolitics

What really went on at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen? Secret recordings reveal how China and India prevented an agreement on tackling climate change at the crucial meeting. The powerless Europeans were forced to look on as the agreement failed.

Knowing a bailout for Athens would be unpopular, Chancellor Angela Merkel wanted to postpone taking action on the Greek crisis until a key state election on May 9. But financial markets don't care about domestic German politics. Her delay could end up costing the country billions.

The growing crisis in the eurozone threatened to undermine the global economic recovery as markets plunged across the world on fears that European leaders may not be able to contain the debt contagion spreading from Greece.

Leaders from the euro zone countries signed off on a support package for Greece on Friday night and pledged to take steps to stanch a spreading debt crisis before markets opened on Monday morning.

Analysts and investors have begun to focus on the risks to European banks if severe budget cuts by debt-ridden countries freeze credit markets and cause a double-dip recession.

Europe's consistent inability to move quickly enough to get ahead of the financial markets during the Greece crisis is shaking the euro and the foundations of the European Union itself, as critics of the euro have long predicted would happen.

Defeat in North Rhine-Westphalia would undermine German chancellor's legislation on tax cuts and health reforms

Years of national denial about looming bankruptcy have turned to resentment as Greece is told how it must tackle its debt crisis

The fear that began in Athens, raced through Europe, and finally shook the stock market in the United States is now affecting the broader global economy, from the ability of Asian corporations to raise money to the outlook for money-market funds where American savers park their cash.

China is busy turning the global challenge of climate change into a national opportunity, but it needs another decade to advance its technology to the point where superior manufacturing and lower costs will secure its dominance of the clean-tech sector. By giving China more time to develop its capacity while neglecting our own, America is not just losing the clean-tech race, it's forfeiting it.

Markets in the United States and Europe fell and the euro hit another low for the year on Thursday after the European Central Bank disappointed investors hoping for decisive action to contain the euro zone's increasingly virulent debt crisis.

Ao contrário das aparências, em plena crise econômica, o presidente Obama decidiu mudar o foco e dedicar-se à consolidação do poder militar dos EUA em todo mundo, demonstrando plena consciência de que este poder militar é indispensável à reconstrução da economia norteamericana e da própria liderança mundial do dólar. Deste ponto de vista, o que Obama está propondo, de fato, é uma espécie de congelamento da atual hierarquia do poder militar mundial, com a manutenção do direito e da obrigação americana de aumentar continuamente os seus próprios arsenais. O artigo é de José Luis Fiori.

An absolute environmental catastrophe is unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico right now. British Petroleum (BP) has opened up the sea floor 40 miles off the Louisiana coast allowing millions of gallons of crude oil to erupt into the Gulf. The scope of the discharge is far worse than being reported in the main-stream-media.

Greece is only the beginning. The world's leading economies have long lived beyond their means, and the financial crisis caused government debt to swell dramatically. Now the bill is coming due, but not all countries will be able to pay it.

Markets fear deal will not cover Greece's borrowing needs. German minister: Greece could need more money. Cost of insuring Greek, Spanish and Portuguese debt rises.

Concerns €110bn bailout will not be enough. NYSE 200 points lower; FTSE 100 down 2.5%. Spain's stock market falls 5%; Germany 2%.

Spain risks falling into the same trap as Greece, these investors say, unless it takes more forceful action. It could find itself unable to raise money on the private markets at acceptable interest rates - even though its government debt burden, as a share of the overall economy, is only half what Greece carries.

Emergency moves by the European Central Bank on Monday and the €110bn ($145bn) international rescue package agreed over the weekend have failed to quell investor fears about the future of the eurozone as concerns have risen about other member countries' stability.

China is spending mountains of money to expand its country's high-speed railway network and manufacture the world's fastest trains. But do its ambitions in the railway sector justify how these goals are being pursued -- and the risks they might ultimately pose?

En China, el diseñador Chen Jianjun creó una alternativa complementaria a las altísimas velocidades que alcanzan los trenes modernos, los que deben detenerse en cada parada para tomar y dejar pasajeros, lo que hace perder tiempo y energía al sistema, debido a las frenadas y cambios de rapidez.