Word: westernness
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Twenty years after revolution swept communism from Eastern Europe, the region is in the middle of another maelstrom. The global economic crisis has hit countries like Latvia, Hungary and Poland particularly hard. Eastern Europe's boom over the past few years was fueled in part by heavy borrowing from Western banks and easy access to foreign currency denominated loans. Now, with credit dried up, huge debt loads to pay and Eastern European currencies in free fall, the good times are truly over...
...Ukraine. Last week the Latvian government was forced to resign after massive street protests triggered by government austerity measures. Latvia's GDP dropped 10.5% in January alone. There is talk of countries such as Germany having to bail out their smaller eastern neighbors. But rescue prospects are complicated. Western European governments are battling recession themselves and the debt they have taken on to finance domestic recovery packages may make them unable, or unwilling, to aid their Eastern European counterparts. (See pictures of printing money in Germany...
...acting could end up costing Western capitals more than helping out. That's because Western banks have huge exposure to emerging European economies, either directly or through local subsidiaries. Austrian banks alone have a more than $293 billion exposure to Eastern Europe, roughly 80% of the Austrian GDP. When, on February 17, rating agency Moody's warned that it might downgrade a number of western European banks with exposure to the region, the euro plunged to a three month low of $1.26 against the dollar. "Given the combination of banking and trade links between Eastern and Western Europe that have...
...University currently supports about 20 offices in 10 different countries including Argentina, Japan, and several Western European nations...
...fate of the Swat deal clear in Islamabad, where it has yet to be ratified by President Asif Ali Zardari, whose government is under pressure from Western allies to take a tougher line against the Taliban. Many in his own party privately express misgivings. "What will stop them from going further?" says one member of parliament who asked not to be named. "I don't want my wife or daughter to wear a burqa. What if they don't lay down their weapons? They could be in Peshawar next, or even Islamabad...