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The markets prey on debt-laden nations

By Joergen Oerstroem Moeller - posted Monday, 24 January 2011


The US must admit how its debt has weakened its global role, making it dependent on other countries and undermining its ability to lead.

For China, an equally difficult barrier is realisation that dependence on the global economy requires responsibility.

For the eurozone, the crisis is a wake-up call that the US can no longer automatically be counted upon to support Europe. Europe must undertake what will be agonising reappraisal of its global role.

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Around the world, some will initially express glee at the prospect of seeing the US served the same medicine it has forced upon other countries. But that’s shortsighted, overlooking how much the world still needs the US.

The debt problem, in particular US debt, is one more sign that the established world order of the late 20th century is fading. And if not dealt with promptly, the debt problem could bring world order down crashing.

The US and Europe may still initiate a new world order, but only by putting their own house in order and realising that neither the global financial system nor control over global natural resources are exclusively in their hands. Power and influence must be shared. Otherwise creditor countries will do it their way.

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Reprinted with permission from YaleGlobal Online (www.yaleglobal.yale.edu). Copyright © 2011, Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, Yale University.



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About the Author

Joergen Oerstroem Moeller is visiting senior research fellow with the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, and former state-secretary for the Royal Danish Foreign Ministry.

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