A major hindrance to scientific progress is the increasing scarcity of research funding a trend that has been exacerbated by the global economic crisis.

Other countries in East Africa, including Sudan, South Sudan and parts of Uganda, were also affected by a food crisis.

The next year, the financial crisis struck, convincing Putin that his assessment had been prophetic. The crisis, in his view, was proof that the days of American global dominance were over.

The Brisbane Summit therefore needs to rediscover the activism that it displayed in 2008 and 2009, during the height of the financial crisis. It must be led by the United States and other advanced economies, and backed up by major emerging economies.

The key to ending the European crisis is a stimulus plan that addresses deficiencies on both the supply and demand sides. That is why Germany s refusal to help find a way to finance the proposed European investment agenda which, for a limited time, would fund productive private investment is a mistake.

Despite the depth of Ukraine s plight, Europe cannot avoid taking up the challenge that Putin has set before it. After all, if Putin succeeds in turning Ukraine into a failed state with a frozen conflict embedded within it, he will seek the same outcome all along the EU s borders, from Estonia to Greece.

One reason why the crisis in Ukraine has proved so difficult to overcome is that its roots stretch far outside the country s borders. Finding a genuine solution will require the resolution of a dispute between Russia and the West that dates back to the 1990s, before Russian President Vladimir Putin came to power.

It took more than a year for Europe to do what everyone knew needed to be done to contain the Greek crisis, and it still may not be enough. For the approved measures do not provide the transparent and long term commitment to restoring Greek finances that markets want to see.