Papademos walks into a tumult: After days of chaotic political wrangling and general panic over Greece’s debt crisis (as well as the euro zone writ large, as Italy teeters on a dire edge), a new Prime Minister has been selected to replace the outgoing George Papandreau. The new man in charge is Lucas Papademos, the former VP of the European Central Bank. “The course will not be easy. But the problems, I’m convinced, will be solved. They will be solved faster, with a smaller cost and in an efficient way, if there is unity, agreement and prudence,” he said. source
The task of the government is not only to pour honey into a cup, but sometimes to give bitter medicine. But this should always be done openly and honestly, and then the overwhelming majority of people will understand their government.
Russian Premier Vladimir Putin • Explaining what might be coming next for Russians — that is, austerity measures. The former-and-likely-to-be Russian President grew greatly popular on the back of business-friendly economic measures (a flat tax!) that may not be easy to keep up in the current global economic climate. Will Putin, round two, prove to be as memorable as Putin, round one? source
She’s got a lot of work ahead of her: Thanks in part to a “Red bloc” coalition between the Social Democrats and a handful of other parties (and in part due to economic issues), the center-left was able to topple the decade-long rule of the center-right. Many don’t think this will last, however, due to the many differences between the coalition parties. Part of Thorning-Schmidt’s successful pitch, by the way? A bizarre productivity-raising idea that involves increasing the work day by 12 minutes each day, or an hour each week. If you were to pitch this idea in the U.S., there would be cries of socialism so loud that you wouldn’t be able to hear yourself work. Spend 12 minutes surfing the Web and get over it, right? source
Ben Ali wasn’t the end of the unrest in Tunisia by a long shot. Now, Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi has left under the wave of popular unrest.
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Meet Britain’s new Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office: Larry the Cat has one of the most important jobs in Britain – and it’s one that the government, wisely, didn’t put on the chopping block during their recent austerity craze. See, Larry, a 4-year-old former stray, will be in charge of killing mice inside of David Cameron’s 10 Downing Street office. There are many rats in London, and Larry seems like he’s up to the job. We salute you, old chap. source
It has great meaning not to hurt each other, hurt our reputation. Do they want what happened in Tunisia to happen here?
Newly-appointed Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq • Talking about yesterday’s “catastrophe” in Cairo on Egyptian television. To answer your question, Ahmed: Yeah, we’re pretty sure that’s the idea. source
I wouldn’t see it as a sign of liberalisation. With his previous premiership, he talked the talk of reform but little actually happened.
London’s City University Professor of Middle East policy studies Rosemary Hollis • Revealing about Jordan what’s probably obvious from the fact that a previous prime minister (Marouf Bakhit) was appointed to replace the current one (Samir Rifai): It’s likely an act and probably won’t have any real effect on the leadership of the country. “He’s someone who would be seen as a safe pair of hands,” she noted. To be clear, that’s a safe pair of hands for King Abdullah. source
Meet Jordan’s new Prime Minister, Maruf Bakhit. Look familiar? He should. He was Prime Minister from 2005 to 2007. Talk about change you can believe in.
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After the Hezbollah-backed Najib Mikati won appointment as Prime Minister, all hell broke loose in the country, leading to fiery scenes like this one.
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The protesters – at least 10,000 of them – were back to mark the anniversary of the bloodless coup that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
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