A common fiscal policy remains a distant dream, as does a genuine political union.

Ten years ago, Germany was like France is today the sick man of Europe.

Like the Bank of Japan in the 1990 s, it interprets its mandate narrowly.

She was devastated when she found out Amjad, like so many others, didn't make it.

PARIS Despite the frequency with which the phrase international community is invoked, its precise meaning like its origins is difficult to discern.

The PA prime minister, Salam Fayyad, like his Hamas counterparts in Gaza, rules by decree, keeps parliament inactive, and silences the opposition.

Like many of the Iraqis who went to Europe, Aziz was the breadwinner for his family. But now he couldn t send any money home.

The country s rural and elderly population like those in other former Soviet countries appears to prize economic stability and social order over democratic development.

Hugo Chávez was very interested in the Third Way a modus vivendi between American style capitalism and state socialism as had been Tony Blair a few years earlier.

The Federation Council (the upper chamber of the Duma), too, was generally loyal to the president, as were regional governors, while remaining independent.

And, for example, if you're in a school that doesn't have a lot money, which is probably a lot of schools, or if you're in an office environment, and you want an interactive whiteboard, normally these cost about two to three thousand dollars.

GV What are the views of the Syrian diaspora in Brazil on what is happening in their native land? Are they as divided as Syrians are internally?

While roughly the first half of the novel is concerned strictly with the fictional characters, the later parts, as well as one of the work's two epilogues, increasingly consist of essays about the nature of war, power, history, and historiography.

For mainstream French politicians, renouncing the European project to buy the time required to restore competitiveness is as unthinkable as is the logical alternative an all out push for full European political union.

In an Africa bereft of successful populist politicians, Zuma s role models may come from Latin America, where income inequality is also extreme and the trade union movement, as in South Africa, is strong and militant.

Moreover, individual habits such as diet, exercise, the quality and quantity of sleep, and substance abuse also play a major role, as do early life experiences that set life long patterns of behavior and physiological reactivity.

The eurozone is distinct from the EU of course, but it is the Union s most ambitious undertaking to date, and it is still struggling to equip itself with the structures needed to bolster a currency union. A common fiscal policy remains a distant dream, as does a genuine political union.

PARIS Despite the frequency with which the phrase international community is invoked, its precise meaning like its origins is difficult to discern. And, as France s recent intervention in Mali has shown, this ambiguity lies at the root of many of today s most urgent foreign policy problems.

I never accepted that reproach of the EU and its institutions, but I do see a new and dangerous deficit within the Union a trust deficit, both among governments, and among the citizens of various member countries. Indeed, if today s euro banknotes included a motto, as dollars do, it could well be, In Europe We Distrust.