Europe
As the Greek bailout program reaches its scheduled end in August 2018, the country’s government and international community must decide what comes next. Some reforms have been implemented, and the public budget even runs a surplus. But the economy remains vulnerable. The EU could dig in and insist Athens reimburses at least part of its debt, or it could cancel it altogether. The latter option is preferable – and more likely – but the EU will have to be ready to stand up to some tough criticism about the precedent it would set.
North America
Cuba’s new president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, has two problems to fix. First, the country’s increasingly youthful population demands the goods and services they know are available elsewhere. Second, Cuba has lost most of the international support system that propped upits socialist welfare state. To resolve both, he must open up the economy – but by doing so, he will give the Communist Party and the intelligence services more leverage to use against him.
Europe
Washington’s decision to sell modern U.S. anti-tank missiles to Kiev means that a red line in the West’s involvement in the Ukrainian crisis has been crossed. Whether the delivery of this expensive weapon system to the embattled nation serves U.S. national security interests or brings Kiev closer to reclaiming the territories it had lost to Moscow-backed insurgents is highly debatable.
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