But there are two pieces of good news that break through the gloom.

Not surprisingly, the atmosphere at this year s World Economic Forum was grim.

That would cast at least one ray of light on the gloom that envelops Japan today.

Indeed, the record of Internet companies in authoritarian countries is both consistent and grim.

Russia s record is equally bleak on other items on the summit s agenda.

Where not long ago sunshine and solidarity were the order of the day, depression and confrontation are now the rule.

Ultimately, the spiritual gloom and existential dread that we have come to associate with Eastern Europe are merely an extension of our own.

This controversy has threatened to cast a pall over a much heralded summit between two of the world s great democracies.

It is difficult to answer these questions with much conviction while we are still in the midst of the crisis. Indeed, every passing day now seems to bring worse news even weekends no longer provide respite from the steady stream of gloom!

What makes this desolate economic landscape even gloomier is the striking inability of European leaders to explain what has happened and is happening to their citizens.

For all the gloom with which 2010 ended, the new decade has begun with a glorious example of the indefatigable courage of the human spirit. What lies ahead will not be easy.

Perhaps because they are older and more cynical, European societies seem to bask in a collective moroseness, from which they have difficulty emerging.

High unemployment rates even for the more qualified young people demonstrate the great difficulties facing their integration into the workforce and, as a result, the depression and lack of well being among youth.

In short, 2006 will be marked by mounting uncertainty about prospects for global economic growth, even as the distribution of the fruits of that growth remain dismally predictable.

NEW DELHI India s sliding economy has inspired gloom and doom far and wide, but increasingly bearish sentiment is misplaced.

Of course, there is some truth in this characterization of America (and quite a lot in that of Bush), but the picture is not uniformly bleak.

PARIS The newspaper commentaries that I write often have a dark perspective. Sadly, this one will be no different.

But the superb sunshine in Davos these days cannot avoid the shadows of the financial crisis that have enveloped the world, casting an atmosphere of gloom and doom on this year s meeting.

At a time when Europeans are full of self doubt, though perhaps not as morose as the French, this praise from thoughtful Asians is more than welcome.

If Europe doesn t find a way to reactivate the continent s economy soon, it will be doomed to years of gloom and endless mutual recrimination about who sabotaged the European project.

The documentary s footage of shot out computer screens and piles of smashed printers and cameras under graffiti reading Palestine Never makes one despair.

NEW HAVEN China s recent leadership transition was widely depicted as a triumph for conservative hard liners and a setback for the cause of reform a characterization that has deepened the gloominess that pervades Western perceptions of China.

NEW HAVEN China s recent leadership transition was widely depicted as a triumph for conservative hard liners and a setback for the cause of reform a characterization that has deepened the gloominess that pervades Western perceptions of China. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

At a time when Europeans are full of self doubt, though perhaps not as morose as the French, this praise from thoughtful Asians is more than welcome. Europeans, unfortunately, too often fail to see the merits of their peaceful conquest over their own worst natures.

For all the gloom with which 2010 ended, the new decade has begun with a glorious example of the indefatigable courage of the human spirit. What lies ahead will not be easy.