Robert Rubin writes that the ECB would risk losing its credibility and stoking inflation if it did not impose conditionality on its bond-buying program.

Sebastian Mallaby argues that the conditionality of the ECB plan to resume sovereign bond purchases will blunt the intervention's effectiveness.

Elliott Abrams examines the recent upswing of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel activity in Scandinavia.

Amartya Sen writes: "Europe has been extraordinarily important for the world, which has learned so much from it. It can remain globally important by setting its own house in order--economically, politically, and socially. The first step is to understand properly, with some clarity, the policy challenges that Europe faces today. A failure to do so will reverberate far beyond Europe's own borders."

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney gave this speech in Warsaw, Poland on July 31, 2012.

Commodities traders are looking to countries beset with internal unrest to make high-risk bets for high rewards.

Russian President Putin, mistrustful of Western motives, is likely to resist pressure to commit to stronger sanctions against Syria's government, says expert Dimitri Simes.

A proposed centralized banking supervisor could help stabilize Europe's struggling banks and increase vital capital flows within the euro area, says expert Domenico Lombardi.

The financial and political crisis facing Europe can only be redressed with further eurozone integration that the continent's publics may not be ready for, says CFR's Charles A. Kupchan.

EU approval of a new proposal for a banking and fiscal union would help reassure global financial markets and alleviate the eurozone debt crisis, says Bruegel's Benedicta Marzinotto.

Vladimir Putin's Middle East trip was an effort to explain policies on Iran and Syria that have put it at odds with Israel and many Arab states, says CFR's Stephen Sestanovich.

If the eurozone splinters, it will have been an avoidable disaster.

Ed Husain argues, "Russia should see that unless Assad gives way, the opposition will become more radicalized and increasingly jihadi."

Sebastian Mallaby examines the Spanish experience with countercyclical capital buffers to argue that even the most innovative banking regulations will never take taxpayers completely off the hook when banks go bust.

Steven A. Cook says Mohamed Morsi's victory in Egypt's presidential election puts Islamists in control an office that was once the exclusive province of the military, but asks whether Sunday's Tahrir Square celebration was premature.

Max Boot argues that Russian assistance to Syria means it's time for the United States to change its policy.

Inside the petro-fueled naval military buildup you've never heard of: It's Russia versus Iran, with three post-Soviet states -- and trillions of dollars in oil -- in the middle.

G20 members meeting in Mexico won a commitment on banking sector integration despite limited influence on eurozone politics, says expert Jacob Funk Kirkegaard.