And he also understood that that foundation was crumbling, literally crumbling.

Shaky Social Contracts

If States are fragile, the peoples of the world will not enjoy the security, development and justice that are their right.

Bookstores and grocery stores are the two most precarious physical retail sub sectors, and were the first to be knocked out after the rise of Amazon.

We stayed in old, crumbling, walled cities, in tiny little hotels, and we would climb up to the roof and drink Vinho Verde and watch the sun set and play checkers.

But despite his colleagues fleeing for their lives, 21 year old Anthonius Gunawan Agung refused to leave his post in the wildly swaying control tower at Mutiara Sis Al Jufri Airport Palu airport.

NEW YORK The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 marked an end and a beginning. The close of the Second World War ushered in a Cold War, with a precarious peace based on the threat of mutually assured destruction.

While the Group of Eight committed itself to cancelling all debts of eligible heavily indebted poor countries, countries that are euphemistically described as middle income countries teeter on the brink of disaster as they struggle with unsustainable debts.

In this case, they're both wobbling quite a lot.

In terms of the French Republic s credo, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, the first principle, liberty, became the motto of our age after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 the second is gaining greater precedence today as the economy falters.

But, while celebrity activists warn about the impending doom posed by climate change, a more realistic view is offered by these cities ability to cope. Despite dramatic increases over the past 50 or 100 years, these cities have not come tumbling down.

CAIRO Last year s events in Egypt and Tunisia drew the curtain on a tottering old order and delivered much of the Arab world into a long awaited new era. 160 But what that new era will look like remains very much an open question, given the many challenges that the region s countries still face.

CAIRO Last year s events in Egypt and Tunisia drew the curtain on a tottering old order and delivered much of the Arab world into a long awaited new era. But what that new era will look like remains very much an open question, given the many challenges that the region s countries still face.

In fact, China already experienced the impact of deleveraging late last year, when the European financial system seemed on the brink of collapse. With European banks hunkering down, the renminbi s exchange rate fell for 11 consecutive days, even though China was running a current account surplus.

Russian President Vladimir Putin s forces have invaded Crimea and eastern Ukraine. Add to that a faltering global economy, and there seems to be little holiday cheer on offer.

The rocking podium.

Depending on the context, depending on the outcome, choose your paradigm.

The legitimacy of their autocratic systems is almost entirely dependent on their success in delivering rapid economic growth. When growth falters, or goes into reverse, there is no one to blame but the system.

Of course. You shake it.

Afghanistan s future hangs in the balance as its weak national government struggles to maintain support and legitimacy in the face of a widening insurgency, warlords, the heroin trade, and a disappointed populace. Across an arc extending from Afghanistan to East Africa, violence now also surges in Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, and beyond, to Sudan s Darfur region.

These are timeless questions but, in an era of increased and instantaneous communication, centralized, big government bureaucracies are creaking or worse. People want more effective and more affordable government that responds to their concerns, and are demanding that decisions be decentralized.

BRISBANE The G 20 s upcoming meeting in Brisbane, Australia, comes at a time when a precarious global economy requires big decisions to be made. But it is far from clear who will provide the decisive voice needed to set a bold agenda and then shepherd its implementation.

ISLAMABAD Since mid December, Pakistan has experienced political and economic volatility that is extraordinary even by Pakistani standards. The fragile political structure that began to be erected following the resumption of civilian government in 2008 is now shaking.

Furthermore, waves of Syrian refugees are threatening the sustainability of the Jordanian monarchy, already roiled by profound internal cleavages. Hezbollah has drawn Lebanon into the Syrian conflict, setting up a showdown between Shia and Sunni at home.

William McDonough on cradle to cradle design

Complicating matters further is the fact that China s political evolution has failed to keep pace with its economic progress. If the Chinese Communist Party feels threatened by a public frustrated with insufficient political participation and enduring social repression, it could slip into competitive nationalism, upending the already delicate regional status quo.

The truth about AIPAC that it is influential, but far from invulnerable has recently been revealed, both to the public and to the group itself. Having been pushed by Netanyahu into an unwinnable fight against US President Barack Obama s administration over its nuclear deal with Iran, AIPAC is now crumbling under the weight of its own hubris.

Without the socialization of debt provided by the rescue packages, Varoufakis, or whoever led Greece s finance ministry, would have had to declare insolvency and then confront private creditors from a variety of countries. These countries governments would then have felt compelled to rescue tottering banks with their taxpayers money.

Public safety nets are overstretched, with too many poor people falling through. Moreover, other support networks including income opportunities in tourism, the informal sector, and charitable and family support are crumbling under the pressure of growing poverty.

NEW DELHI At the nadir of the financial crisis four years ago, many Asian governments came to believe that robust growth had led to a near decoupling of their economies from the West and its ongoing problems. But now, as the eurozone teeters and America s recovery weakens, Asia, too, is showing signs of faltering.

Perhaps most important is a coherent, consistent approach to dealing with the imminent failure of systemically important institutions. Taxpayers and governments alike are tired of bailing out creditors for fear of the destructive contagious effects of failure nbsp even as bailouts encourage excessive risk taking.

Another round of bank bailouts is politically unacceptable and economically unfeasible most governments, especially in Europe, are so distressed that bailouts are unaffordable indeed, their sovereign risk is actually fueling concern about the health of Europe s banks, which hold most of the increasingly shaky government paper.

Perhaps most important is a coherent, consistent approach to dealing with the imminent failure of systemically important institutions. Taxpayers and governments alike are tired of bailing out creditors for fear of the destructive contagious effects of failure even as bailouts encourage excessive risk taking.

The newborn giraffe stumbled around on rickety legs.

She said, If you're talking about hope and peace, ring this.

And so we call it cradle to cradle, and our goal is very simple.

Oh, you're all shaking your heads, but only a few of you are shaking your heads very firmly.

The financial system may be more stable than it was five years ago, but that is a low bar back then, it was teetering on the edge of a precipice. Those in government and the financial sector who congratulate themselves on banks return to profitability and mild though hard won regulatory improvements should focus on what still needs to be done.

This means that their interests vary as situations change. It also means that they no longer find a political home in parties, but react to situations, to vague moods, and above all to appeals to sentiments, if not resentments.

The girl, my old love, the last lost time I saw her when she came to find me at a party, her drunkenly stumbling, falling, sprawling, skirt hiked, eyes veined red, swollen with tears, her shame, her dishonor.

The Wobbly West

Biotechnical nutrients the Model U for Ford Motor, a cradle to cradle car concept car.

Although the numbers were never as rosy as market enthusiasts seemed to think, they did divert attention away from the shaky foundations of the newfound prosperity. The growing need for measures to correct global imbalances was met with disbelief by influential policymakers and market analysts alike Why change a winning formula?

Yemen emerged in 1990 from the reunification of South Yemen and North Yemen, which fought bitter wars in 1972 and 1979. But its leaders have never been able to integrate the tribes, the primary units of Yemen s social structure, into the political system in a manner that generates their unequivocal acceptance of the sovereign state.

For once, the faltering Czech presidency of the EU reflected a European consensus when it defined Obama s astronomic financial stimulus as a road to hell. The unprecedented explosion of America s fiscal deficit raises the risk of high inflation in the future exactly the kind of scenario that Europeans want to prevent at all cost.