With the European Commission seriously considering a tax on financial transactions - sometimes referred to as a “speculation tax”- its opponents are shifting their campaign into high gear. The predictions of disaster from the financial industry if the European Union chooses to implement it are, however, misguided.

As the Greek Debt Crisis drags on with no end in sight, it is becoming harder and harder to skirt around one wholly uncomfortable though increasingly unavoidable question: Who is all this bailing out and austerity really for- the Greek people, or the European banks that financed their government?

Increasingly Europeans are leaving the European Union in search of employment and better opportunities.

One of the systematic questions of the post-Cold War international system is the role of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in a world where Europe and North America are no longer threatened by the USSR.

As the Italian debt crisis deepens and the government’s economic policies are being scrutinized, it is important to realize the effects its social policies and strong anti-immigration stance have had on the economy.

Global markets stand on the precipice of another plunge into the now familiar territory of red and recession, though this time there won’t be the prospect of government stimulus spending to soften the blow.

Market jitters over Italian insolvency are more than just another soft European economy being added to the ever-growing list of debt anchors pulling the Euro Zone into the abyss.

The arrest and subsequent resignation of former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn won’t just impact the Euro sovereign debt crisis, but the wider international monetary order as well.

It’s about time for a frank discussion about the concept of humanitarianism through the barrel of a gun and whether it’s a boon or a bane to international society and human rights as a whole.

A bailed out Greece and Irish Republic may have temporarily calmed the beast of rampant bond speculation, but deep fiscal rot in both Portugal and Spain has the potential to kick off a new round of European debt déjà vu.