By Stefano Casertano -
29. 05. 2015
The battle in Italy over the revaluation of pensions has made the country’s tricky financial situation worse. Could the resulting climate drive Ital...
By Stefano Casertano -
20. 05. 2015
Italy’s government is celebrating the country’s recent economic growth, but not all indicators point to success. What happens in the future will d...
By Stefano Casertano -
14. 05. 2015
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is bringing stability to Italy with his grand coalition and electoral reforms. But how long will it last? ...
By Stefano Casertano -
20. 04. 2015
Lamentations about the state of the Italian economy have become so commonplace, Italians barely react to them. But Italy’s public debt problem has p...
By Stefano Casertano -
17. 04. 2015
Roman taxi drivers are competing for business against Uber. Is the online service the future of the market or should it be regulated? The struggle is ...
By Stefano Casertano -
1. 04. 2015
Matteo Renzi is a quick learner. The Italian Prime Minister has been quietly forging alliances across Europe – and has emerged as an influential voi...
By Stefano Casertano -
20. 03. 2015
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi seems to be on the right track. But more reforms are needed besides changing the infamous Articolo 18....
By Stefano Casertano -
17. 03. 2015
Berlusconi may still be able to tiptoe around his current legal problems, but this time his political career is finished. What comes next has the chan...
By Stefano Casertano -
18. 09. 2013
Merkel will probably succeed to stay on course but Italians prefer to focus on a sunken ship. This tells a lot about the boring German election campai...
By Stefano Casertano -
3. 09. 2013
A congressional rejection of the military intervention in Syria will give Obama the right excuse to avoid military action and to accomplish his missio...
By Stefano Casertano -
24. 07. 2013
Exports are considered to be the driving force in booming economies. Yet, by focusing too much on growth from outside, economies neglect their most im...
By Stefano Casertano -
17. 07. 2013
The current crisis is driving a wedge between Germans and Italians. Newspapers are filled with reciprocal accusations and criticism, and the gap betwe...
By Stefano Casertano -
10. 07. 2013
Italy needs reforms and restructuring to overcome the current crisis. But attempts to emulate Germany’s success won’t help to solve the country’...
By Stefano Casertano -
4. 07. 2013
US hegemony in the Middle East will not be safeguarded by military interventions. The Syrian crisis proves that today’s global game of power can onl...
By Stefano Casertano -
20. 06. 2013
Without the euro, Southern Europe is headed for trouble. It's in Germany's interest to keep the Eurozone together to prevent turmoil at its doorstep. ...
By Stefano Casertano -
13. 06. 2013
The United States hoped to build Turkey into a model democracy in the Middle East, and to wait out the turmoil of the Arab Spring. Both policies have ...
By Stefano Casertano -
5. 06. 2013
Exactly 24 years after the massacre in Tiananmen Square, Turkey's prime minister has to decide how to respond to demands for real secular democracy. W...
By Stefano Casertano -
30. 05. 2013
Italian soccer clubs have a racism problem. It's indicative of the sorry state of Italian civil society that almost nobody dares to speak openly about...
By Stefano Casertano -
22. 05. 2013
Syria's conflict is likely to continue for years – unless we change more than the rules of the political game. A two-state solution is most likely t...
By Stefano Casertano -
19. 05. 2013
Germany's new energy policy brings out the best in the country's politics – and the worst. Too often, politicians have embraced prestige projects bu...
By Stefano Casertano -
15. 05. 2013
The struggle over the euro currency is re-introducing fragmentation to the European continent. New divisions won't emerge from religious or ethnic fau...
By Stefano Casertano -
8. 05. 2013
The focus of Germany's export economy has shifted from Europe to China – and Germany has emerged as the biggest beneficiary of austerity. ...
By Stefano Casertano -
1. 05. 2013
The problem of Southern Europe is a lack domestic demand, not a lack of competitiveness....
By Stefano Casertano -
24. 04. 2013
Giorgio Napolitano has rescued Italian politics from perpetual quagmire. With the nomination of Enrico Letta, he might even succeed in reforming the I...
By Stefano Casertano -
17. 04. 2013
Germany's economy depends on the euro. And Eurobonds could turn out to be the tool that secures those benefits in the long run. ...
By Stefano Casertano -
9. 04. 2013
North Korea's saber-rattling is laughable. We should be much more concerned if another regime followed Pyongyang's advice. ...
By Stefano Casertano -
28. 03. 2013
US energy independence presents an opportunity for American leadership in the Middle East. ...
By Stefano Casertano -
14. 03. 2013
Germany continues to push for austerity abroad – and has helped to spark a populist reaction in Italy. Maybe Europeans can learn a lesson from the U...
By Stefano Casertano -
26. 02. 2013
Given the choice between austerity measures and Berlusconi's leadership, most sane Italians will choose the latter. ...
By Stefano Casertano -
25. 02. 2013
Italy's problem isn't Silvio Berlusconi – it's the lack of young, competent politicians. The decline of the Italian middle class has silenced two ge...
By Stefano Casertano -
13. 02. 2013
As long as the powerhouses of Europe prefer austerity over economic solidarity, we must remain pessimistic about the future of the continental union. ...
By Stefano Casertano -
30. 01. 2013
Neither Great Britain nor Germany can take full credit for their economic recovery. ...
By Stefano Casertano -
16. 01. 2013
Criticizing Berlusconi's "Bunga Bunga" attitude won't stop his resurgence - it will only convince more Italians that the world is out to get them. ...
By Stefano Casertano -
26. 12. 2012
Two years after the beginning of the Arab Spring, the promise of revolutions remains unclear. What we have learned: social media is a very inadequate ...
By Stefano Casertano -
12. 12. 2012
In the Middle East, the hope for democratic change has been replaced by the fear of Islamist autocracy. The role models for Mohammed Morsi are Egypt's...
By Stefano Casertano -
5. 12. 2012
Of course Palestinians have a moral right to statehood, but their wish will not be fulfilled until we engage Israel's strategic security concerns. The...
By Stefano Casertano -
25. 11. 2012
A monetary war has been fought in the Eurozone and Greece has lost. It's in the best interest of the Greek people and of the rest of Europe to cancel ...
By Stefano Casertano -
21. 11. 2012
Israel's biggest foe resides beyond the Gaza Strip: Iran has almost encircled the government in Jerusalem. Israel - the West's only reliable ally in t...
By Stefano Casertano -
14. 11. 2012
America has lost its hegemonic status. If Barack Obama wants to navigate through four more years of foreign policy, he must correct America's view of ...
By Stefano Casertano -
31. 10. 2012
Despite all the hopes of sun and wind enthusiasts, the real revolution in the energy world has been driven by old-style fossil fuels. Shale gas now do...
By Stefano Casertano -
17. 10. 2012
Turkey is struggling to find its role in the Middle East. The past two years have thrown a wrench into Erdogan's plans for regional dominance. ...
By Stefano Casertano -
3. 10. 2012
Silvio Berlusconi is no friend of Germany. But his clownish appearances turn truly destructive when Euroskeptics succumb to his lure. ...
By Stefano Casertano -
20. 09. 2012
One of the main dangerous consequences of unrest in the Middle East would be the retreat of the US into isolationism. The region is volatile - and we ...
By Stefano Casertano -
7. 07. 2012
Global energy supplies are changing rapidly. But one thing must remain: Western commitment to the oil-exporting countries of the Middle East. ...
By Stefano Casertano -
2. 07. 2012
Is Germany secretly a BRICS country, as recently claimed? Compared to China or India, its problems are hardly similar....
By Stefano Casertano -
23. 06. 2012
Chinese officials have not realized that Ai Weiwei is much more harmful to them if he remains in China and imprisoned. Exiled to the West, his influen...
By Stefano Casertano -
16. 06. 2012
Energy independence for Israel is a double-edged sword. While the country wants to rely less on suppliers from the Middle East, autarchy might come at...
By Stefano Casertano -
9. 06. 2012
The Eurozone is drifting farther apart. But are we willing to accept that some countries might be forced to return to their national currencies? ...
By Stefano Casertano -
30. 05. 2012
Facebook's failed IPO illustrates the hubris and greed of the bankers that advised the company. Instead of pursuing a sensible investment strategy, th...
By Stefano Casertano -
23. 05. 2012
China's continuing rise has put virtually every Western power on alert. But it would be a big mistake to see Chinese State Capitalism as inevitable. B...
By Stefano Casertano -
25. 04. 2012
The Euro crisis resembles a Shakespearean tragedy: Despite the obvious deficiencies of the monetary union, all alternatives are decidedly worse for Ge...
By Stefano Casertano -
18. 04. 2012
China is revamping its energy supply: Away from global trade routes, and towards regional cooperation with Russia. ...
By Stefano Casertano -
11. 04. 2012
Global oil prices are staggeringly high, but poised to decline in the future. For a global economy that remains heavily dependent on oil, this is good...
By Stefano Casertano -
4. 04. 2012
In China, a new power is slowly emerging: Rich oligarchs who test the state's limits to control the economy from Beijing. And Western expats are only ...
By Stefano Casertano -
28. 03. 2012
Germany's economic model works admirably - for Germany. He plight of other Eurozone countries cannot be solved through a simple copy-and-paste strateg...
By Stefano Casertano -
21. 03. 2012
Nicholas Sarkozy's political inspiration comes from Italy: First, it was Berlusconi's flashy PR. Now it's the virulent nationalism of Umberto Bossi. ...
By Stefano Casertano -
15. 03. 2012
Syria is increasingly resembling a Gordian knot: If Western powers do not intervene, Assad will continue to slaughter his people. And if they decide o...
By Stefano Casertano -
7. 03. 2012
Greece is caught in a particular bind: If the country acknowledges its default, it could set off a catastrophic chain reaction of economic instability...
By Stefano Casertano -
29. 02. 2012
The crisis in Iran is remaking the global energy landscape. Instead of relying on oil from the Middle East, China has embraced Russia as its new suppl...
By Stefano Casertano -
23. 02. 2012
Germany is tempted by its new Eastern ally: China could become the country's biggest trading partner by the end of 2012 and signals a key shift in eco...
By Stefano Casertano -
15. 02. 2012
Amidst all the uncertainty in the Middle East, two truths emerge: Big power politics has returned to the forefront of international diplomacy. And the...
By Stefano Casertano -
8. 02. 2012
A year after the Arab Spring, the Middle East is quickly moving from revolution to war – and international powers begin to realize that their commi...
By Stefano Casertano -
30. 01. 2012
Today's Italy increasing resembled Russia during the Yeltsin years: A country marked by an exodus of capital, shortage of credit, and inflexible econo...