Opinion: (Christine Lagarde, IMF Managing Director): “Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, has urged countries across the globe to work together to fix the European debt crisis, and stimulate economic growth, urgently stimulate economic growth or risk a return to the Great Depression.

“In a stark warning, Lagarde said the global economic climate was ‘quite gloomy,’ and that no country or region was immune to the dangers posed by the situation in Europe.

“‘There is no economy in the world, whether low-income countries, emerging markets, middle-income countries or super-advanced economies that will be immune to the crisis that we see not only unfolding but escalating.’

“She said the Eurozone crisis was ‘not only unfolding, but escalating,’ adding that: ‘It is not a crisis that will be resolved by one group of countries taking action. It is going to be hopefully resolved by all countries, all regions, all categories of countries actually taking action.’

“The most alarming part of the speech — made at the US State Department in Washington — are where Lagarde warns of the consequences of failure. They include: ‘Protectionism, isolation, and other elements reminiscent of the 1930s Depression.’”

My Comment: The correct opinion is being formed gradually that the retreat from further integration threatens unpredictable consequences. This gives some hope that despite egoism, humanity will gradually acknowledge the need to reach unity.
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In the News (from lastampa.il): “Italy is an aging, but healthy country, the third in Europe by life expectancy. … But there is a decrease in mental health: The use of antidepressants … has doubled over the past ten years.

“Depression comes from a deep dissatisfaction. In recent years, depression has become a real social problem.

“Society does not tolerate weakness. It is forbidden to show suffering. One must live in an artificial atmosphere of good mood. Melancholy and sadness have turned into a disease.

“The massive use of antidepressants indicates that pills are seen as the shortest way to resolve the issue, even without trying to solve it. Theoretically, the drugs should be taken in a critical situation until the recovery, but most people cannot abandon the medications and are not cured.”

My Comment: Depression is the most widely spread disease of the world, and it causes virtually all other illnesses. Our essence is egoism, therefore its emptiness, void, and dissatisfaction, is the foundation of our common condition.

A disease is the manifestation of the imbalance of the body, the system that constantly monitors its internal equilibrium. Our lack of balance between ourselves and with nature at the “human” level puts all the systems of nature out of balance: at the level of inanimate nature, the processes inside the Earth (the awakening of volcanoes, earthquakes) and on its surface (hurricanes), at the vegetative and animate levels, the extinction of species, and so on.
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Opinion: (German Chancellor Angela Merkel): “German Chancellor Angela Merkel says there are no easy or fast solutions to Europe’s economic crisis, but the agreement by eurozone countries last week for more fiscal discipline was a good step.

“The German leader said while the path to full ‘fiscal union’ in the EU would be a long process that may take years…”

My Comment: This process will take years because only when people realize the futility of looking for solutions in old paradigms will they consider heeding a different solution, one that requires changing the way we relate to the world.

The world must understand that the new attitude toward life isn’t about constant and aimless growth. Rather, industry must satisfy basic necessities instead of promoting purposeless hoarding. This would also free people up to be educated on the next level of civilization: unifying above the individual ego of every person into a single whole.

Nature is pushing us toward this, and this pressure will only continue to build. In the past we have always developed by compulsion, as the ego developed within us. But we felt this development as desirable because we are inherently egoistic. However, now nature is forcing us to rise to the next level of our development, which is about rejecting the ego. And that is why nature gradually shows us that our ego is evil.

The choice is ours. We can advance toward rejecting the ego and building the connection between us under the coercion of blows, such as the present crisis, wars, epidemics, or natural disasters. Or we can arrive at the realization that it’s better to rise above the ego in favor of unity and an integral society before the ego fully reveals itself as evil. To this end, we need to institute a system of integral education and upbringing of the whole humanity. The task is far from simple, but it is the only way to avoid catastrophes.
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In the News (from Panorama.it): “‘It is important [for Europe] to keep the single currency for one main reason: Europe needs to compete with … China, India, Russia, Brazil and the United States of America,’ explains Stefano Caselli, an economist at Bocconi University in Milan. ‘The smallest of these countries is nearly as large as the EU, so Europe needs the euro to compete more strongly….’

“This is why it is dangerous to play the breaking of the euro zone. … ‘We will immediately trigger a spiral of rising prices of consumer goods and inflation…’ adds Caselli.

“Financial speculations … require only one thing: Europe has to actually become one nation, where it’s not enough to have a single currency. You need a centralized government, where each state is willing to give up part of its sovereignty, starting with Germany.”

My Comment: There is only one right way: towards a greater integration, to the point of creating a single government. However, this requires preliminary education of the public in the spirit of an integrated society and mutual guarantee.
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Opinion: (German Chancellor Angela Merkel): “‘We have started a new phase in European integration,’ Mrs Merkel said.

But she made it clear that this was a long-term process that would take years.”

My Comment: Europe cannot be rebuilt on the old egoistic principles. The laws of the world have changed: The laws of an integral system are manifested in society, and a financial and economic system needs to be built in accordance to them. Europe could be an example for the entire world.
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In the News (from The Economist): “The Credit Suisse ‘Global Wealth Report’ estimates that there were 24.2m millionaires [a millionaire is anyone whose net assets exceed $1m. That includes everything: a home, an art collection, even the value of an as-yet-inaccessible pension scheme] in mid-2010, about 0.5% of the world’s adult population. By this measure, there are more millionaires than there are Australians. They control $69.2 trillion in assets, more than a third of the global total. Some 41% of them live in the United States, 10% in Japan and 3% in China.

“The global wealth pyramid has a very wide base and a sharp point. The richest 1% of adults control 43% of the world’s assets; the wealthiest 10% have 83%. The bottom 50% have only 2%. This suggests a huge disparity of influence. The wealthiest tenth control the vast bulk of the world’s capital, giving them a lot of say in funding businesses, charities and politicians. The bottom 50% control hardly any capital at all.”

My Comment: Until people become equal, the causes of hostility, insecurity, and hatred will not disappear. According to the plan of nature, we must realize that the most perfect state of humanity is equality (see Baal HaSulam’s article “Peace in the World”). First, it is equality with each other, which is the first degree of our spiritual development, and then equality with the Creator, which is the final, 125th degree of this ladder, the purpose of creation.
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In the News (from TheMarker): “Analysts are becoming more pessimistic about the present situation in Europe.”

Dylan Grice, a research analyst at Société Générale’s Global Strategy Team: “… compared Germany’s policy today against the policies that enabled the rise of Hitler. Specifically, he said that post-Weimar, Germany became too aggressive about fighting inflation, thus prompting deflation, thus prompting more unemployment, thus enabling the rise of the Nazis.”

Bob Janjuah, strategist, Nomura Bank “said that any talk of the ECB saving Europe was a mere pipedream.”

Jim Reid of Deutsche Bank: “If you don’t think Merkel’s tone will change, then our investment advice is to dig a hole in the ground and hide.”

George Goncalves, Managing Director and Head Of Us Interest Rates, Nomura Securities: “We could be approaching the point of no return for the fate of the euro… We still believe there is time to prevent worst-case scenarios, but these sort of watershed moments reveal one thing, that market practitioners are ill-equipped to navigate the political process, especially one that is driven by 17 different governments.”
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Opinion: (George Soros, billionaire investor): “The world financial system not only isn’t functioning, it’s on the brink of collapse…

“The Hungarian-born philanthropist, who recently spent time in areas where his charities are active, such as Africa, said he sees a growing bifurcation between emerging and developed countries – and he’s more confident about prospects for the emerging ones.

“Despite their assorted problems, including corruption, weak infrastructure and shaky government, developing countries are relatively unscathed by the ‘deflationary debt trap that the developed world is falling into,’ Mr. Soros said…

“The current global financial system is in a ‘self-reinforcing process of disintegration,’ Mr. Soros warned, and ‘the consequences could be quite disastrous. You have to do what you can to stop it developing in that direction.’

“While the economic and fiscal woes of the developed world remain critical, Mr. Soros said his recent travels gave him a sense of optimism about Africa and the Arab world.

“‘A lot of positive things are happening,’ he said. ‘I see Africa together with the Arab Spring as areas of progress. The Arab Spring was a revolutionary development.'”

My Comment: Were it not financiers who brought the world to its collapse? And now they still claim to be its advisers and leaders! They consider the Arab revolutions they have made as progress because it suits them. But the general crisis will sweep everything away and will force to think not in terms of dollars, but integrality.
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Opinion: (Matteo Cazzulani, journalist): “London is often accused of connivance of the U.S., of the alleged conspiracy against the implementation of the United States of Europe. These theories are fashionable among anti-American minded people and various movements against globalization.

“What if the solution to the problem is not a closer union of the EU, but the strengthening of trans-Atlantic relations, given that the economic crisis in Europe is shared by the United States?

“Maybe in the economic jungle of the globalized world, ruled by developing Asian tigers, Brazilian cougars, and Russian bears, in short, by the so-called BRICS, it makes sense for Western countries to unite in a common movement in the interests and values ​​that underpin our civilization, such as free market and initiative, competition, democracy, human rights, separation of powers, social justice, protection of property, and private initiative?”

My Comment: No decision will survive and become successful if it is against somebody, rather than for somebody. Connection is always commendable, but it must be open for everybody to truly ensure complete unification. Only then will it lead us out of the crisis, from the path of suffering towards complete unity through conscious universal integration.
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Opinion: (John Urry, sociologist, Lancaster University): “The instability of contemporary societies is the main result of globalization. But possibly, this instability is a guarantee of the harmonious development of the world, argues sociologist John Urry.

“But administrative and political conditions most frequently prevent us from grasping the spirit of globalization. We evaluate global processes while being located at the fixed point of space, under the rule of the specific state. And usually this distorts perspective and makes it necessary to think in terms of boundaries and by territories, although this logic no longer functions in the epoch of the global world.

“Today, the concept of order on the verge of chaos is popular in natural sciences. Physicists say that many systems are in the ‘meta stable’ state, that is, they are close to the stability, but do not reach complete stability. The contemporary world order works in exactly the same manner. It is not a strict order, but infinite adjustments. The order of contemporary world is infinite relationships; the participants constantly change the environment and the rules of the game. There is no stable regularity in the world system.

“Many European countries discuss the change of state politics towards regulation. The sociologist Zigmunt Baumann compares the states of the middle ages with modern times, using the images of a forester and gardener. The forester only protects and supports natural balance, the gardener actively imposes his order. The states of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany behaved as gardeners.

“We are likely to witness the return of a state-forester since contemporary state structures cannot fulfill the chosen role and manage the movement of ideas, information, intellectual property, and the global media. The European Union is an example of the state-regulator.

“National states could not function without commonplace nationalism: the respect of the flag and anthem, the cult of the native language and boundaries. The new, global structures of authority need their kind ‘commonplace globalism’ – new ethics, the map of a united Europe, photographs of the blue Earth, pictures of the terrestrial globe. But the most important thing is the formation of new common ethics. What must be established first of all is a clear understanding of what is good and what is bad for the global world.”
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