A Fukuyama moment in finance

Europe's death by guarantee

A humiliating deal for Iceland is just the starting marker of the terminal decline of Europe. Domestic economic problems combined with unwieldy banking and regulatory supervision will put paid to the continent's hopes of surviving the current market carnage.

Dismal math

Deaf frogs and the Pied Piper

The United States financial crisis is being hailed as the death of market capitalism and has resurrected enthusiasm for socialism, notably as practiced in various parts of Asia. Choose that route, and Asian governments can yet manage to heap misery on their unsuspecting populations for years to come.

Terminal velocity

Waiter, there's a banker in my soup

Pareto's bazooka

Triangulating an Asian conflict

It's possible that in the near future Islamic extremists will have their finger on the Pakistani nuclear trigger, while Han nationalists in China and Hindu fundamentalists in India control their nuclear-armed countries. These are the trends shaping tomorrow's world, writes Chan Akya, who does not see the avalanche of words about a US vice-presidential candidate as particularly relevant ...

Bear-faced bluff

Economies in Asia meet gravity

Utterly pointless Europe

The anatomy of an Olympic winner

Sporting success is a source of nationalist pride, an avenue for chest thumpingor more usually an opportunity to make money. Americans love and respect sportsmen, which is why they consistently produce some of the world's best athletes. Perverse incentives force ex-communist countries to rely on producing the world's best chemists. India doesn't win medals because it simply isn't profitable for individuals to do so.

A Turkish theater for World War III

A stone for Chris Cox

Investors in the United States might wish they, like Pakistanis, could stone their stock exchange. New rules designed to reduce market volatility will have the exact opposite effect by locking in unsophisticated investors into a permanent downward spiral.

And now, for Fannie and Freddie