https://www.scmp.com/rss/316372/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com The Greek government's unexpected decision to call a referendum was bold and self-destructive, but also very clever. It was bold because its consequences were unknown, and they are not much clearer even after the event. It was self-destructive because it was bound to wreak havoc on a struggling Greek economy and society - which is what already started happening over the past week. But it was also clever, because doing so called Europe's bluff: as the European Union sees itself as a beacon of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1834080/greeks-show-when-push-comes-shove-national-unity-wins-out?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1834080/greeks-show-when-push-comes-shove-national-unity-wins-out?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 Jul 2015 05:10:42 +0000 Writing for the Australian Literary Review in 2011, I likened the dysfunctional relationship within Europe's currency union to Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. She had this to say about her husband: "I have heard it said that women love men even for their vices, but I hate him for his virtues … Would you believe it, that knowing he's a good man, a splendid man, that I'm not worth his little finger, still I hate him. I hate him for his generosity." Germany is the virtuous husband, and passionate... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1711760/greeces-euro-zone-troubles-are-fast-track-tragic-end?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1711760/greeces-euro-zone-troubles-are-fast-track-tragic-end?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Feb 2015 05:10:26 +0000 The euro zone is this week heading towards a perfect storm. The market turbulence caused by the sudden surge of the Swiss franc is a foretaste of more instability in Europe and globally. The euro zone crisis is about to be revived where it started almost exactly five years ago: in Greece. General elections there this Sunday are expected to bring about the victory of Syriza, a populist party opposed to the austerity policies that Greece has been subject to in exchange for European Union... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1682820/greek-election-send-euro-zone-deeper-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1682820/greek-election-send-euro-zone-deeper-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Jan 2015 06:18:58 +0000 The spectre of a "colour revolution" is haunting Hong Kong. Leaders of the "umbrella movement" are adamant that what they have initiated is not yet another such revolution. They are keen not to frighten the rulers in Beijing and the local administrators. To be sure, the events in Hong Kong are unique. Yet theirs is a non-revolutionary revolution, echoing the tradition of non-violent revolutions in Central Europe of 1989, of which the colour revolutions are rightful inheritors. It tends to be... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1620579/just-how-revolutionary-hong-kongs-umbrella-movement?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1620579/just-how-revolutionary-hong-kongs-umbrella-movement?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Oct 2014 07:00:30 +0000