The drums of war are being banged ever more loudly in the Middle East.

But, despite these trumpeted results, the reality is much harsher.

The social and societal upheaval known as the Roaring Twenties began in North America and spread to Europe in the aftermath of World War I.

But Obama s strategy in Syria seems to be speak loudly and throw away your stick.

Just last month, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew trumpeted Doing Business in congressional testimony justifying American support for multilateral development banks.

Leading German political figures are becoming increasingly suspicious of the European Central Bank, while also worrying aloud about the US Federal Reserve s monetary policy.

That action is typical of some developed countries, which, while giving with great fanfare some assistance to the developing countries, quietly take away even more through harmful trade and economic policies.

As proof of this new realism, the government has been trumpeting its response to the set of policy recommendations that an expert panel led by the business executive Louis Gallois presented two weeks before the downgrade.