Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials -- September 15, 2011

Today's move to boost bank funding has echoes of the co-ordinated action taken by central banks in September 2008 after the Lehman collapse. Photo: AFP/GETTY

Germany Has Shifted And Default Is Now Inevitable -- Andreas Whittam Smith, The Independent

Its agreement with Greece to restructure its economy so that it could grow and repay its debts - thus preserving the euro - has frayed to breaking point.

A Greek debt default is close. It could come next week, or very soon anyway. Think of Greece as being in intensive care. You enter the eurozone hospital and go up to the ward where Greece is stretched out in agony. You peer through tubes and pumps at the screens recording the patient's progress. What do you find?

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Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials

What do Kabul attacks signal in the fight for Afghanistan's future? -- Laura Smith-Spark, CNN
Awkward Silences Over Afghanistan -- Daniel Halper, NPR/Weekly Standard
Afghanistan: Time to head home -- Arnaud de Borchgrave, The Washington Times
Unending game in Afghanistan -- The Hindu editorial
On Afghanistan, getting story right -- Michael O'Hanlon, Politico

Over the Horizon: Israel's 'Zero Friendships With Neighbors' Future -- Robert Farley, WPR

Iraq: ‘Mission accomplished’ -- R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., Washington Times

In Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko is playing at reform -- James Kirchick, Washington Post

The New Scramble For Africa – Analysis -- Eurasia Review

Famine Hits Somalia in a World Less Likely to Intervene -- Jeffrey Gettleman, New York Times

Dark Clouds in the Rainbow Nation: Punishing a South African youth leader for hate speech doesn't do anything to suppress the anger of a generation. -- Eve Fairbanks, Foreign Policy

How China can help Europe get out of debt -- Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post

What's happening to those named WikiLeaks sources? -- Joshua Keating, Foreign Policy

The worldwide bond bubble will burst, and Britain is not prepared -- Allister Heath, Spectator

Swiss Defend Their Island of Prosperity -- Walter Mayr, Spiegel Online

Will German indecision on the euro drag the whole world down? -- Jeremy warner, The Telegraph