Headlines:

• Collapse of Euro a very likely scenario
• Turkey sends anti-aircraft guns to Syria border
• Egypt to get Coptic Christian, female Vice President
• Our intention is to invest and endure in Afghanistan: India
• Pakistani public opinion ever more critical of US and India

 

Details:

Collapse of Euro a very likely scenario:

According to Speigel investment experts at Deutsche Bank now feel that a collapse of the common currency is "a very likely scenario." German companies are preparing themselves for the possibility that their business contacts in Madrid and Barcelona could soon be paying with pesetas again. And in Italy, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is thinking of running a new election campaign, possibly this year, on a return-to-the-lira platform. Nothing seems impossible anymore, not even a scenario in which all members of the currency zone dust off their old coins and bills -- bidding farewell to the euro, and instead welcoming back the guilder, deutsche mark and drachma. It would be a dream for nationalist politicians, and a nightmare for the economy. Everything that has grown together in two decades of euro history would have to be painstakingly torn apart. Millions of contracts, business relationships and partnerships would have to be reassessed, while thousands of companies would need protection from bankruptcy. All of Europe would plunge into a deep recession. Governments, which would be forced to borrow additional billions to meet their needs, would face the choice between two unattractive options: either to drastically increase taxes or to impose significant financial burdens on their citizens in the form of higher inflation. Indeed, the European leaders seeking to save the euro are in a race against the clock. The question is whether the economy in Southern Europe will recover before the euro rescuers' tools are exhausted, or whether it will be too late by the time the recovery arrives. It's a question of growth and the economy, but also of character. How willing are the Spaniards and Italians to accept reforms and hardship, and how willing, on the other hand, are the donor countries of the north to provide assistance and make sacrifices?

Turkey sends anti-aircraft guns to Syria border:

Turkey has begun deploying rocket launchers and anti-aircraft guns along its border with Syria after last week's shooting down of a Turkish plane. Columns of military vehicles have been seen moving from military bases to the border, close to where the jet crashed. The F-4 Phantom jet went down in the sea after straying into Syrian airspace. The pilots are still missing. Turkey's decision to reinforce its border with Syria comes two days after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a change in terms of its military engagement. He told parliament that Syria was a "clear and present threat" and any "military element" that approached the Turkish border from Syria would be treated as a threat and a military target. Extra troops have been sent to the area and Turkish TV has shown pictures of a small convoy of lorries carrying anti-aircraft guns into a military base near the border town of Yayladagi. Other military vehicles have travelled to the border town of Reyhanli in Hatay province, reports say. More than 33,000 refugees have fled Syria and have crossed the border into the province.

 

Egypt to get Coptic Christian, female Vice President:

Mohammed Morsi's first appointments as president-elect of Egypt will be a woman and a Coptic Christian, his spokesman has said, allaying fears about the Muslim Brotherhood. Sameh el-Essawy said that although the names of the two choices had not been finalised, they would be Morsi's two vice-presidents. When the appointments go through, they will constitute the first time in Egypt's history that either a woman or a Copt has occupied such an elevated position. The Muslim Brotherhood is at pains to calm fears of what an Islamist president might mean for Egypt and the region at large. Appointing a woman and a Copt is an attempt at a show of unity, and a rule by consensus.

 

Our intention is to invest and endure in Afghanistan: India

India has every intention of expanding its economic presence in Afghanistan as a NATO deadline to withdraw all its combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 draws near, indicated Nirupama Rao, India's ambassador to Washington. "Our intention is to invest and endure, and that's the approach we are taking. We already have committed about $2 billion of investment in Afghanistan and we are prepared to do more," Ambassador Nirupama Rao said at a Bloomberg Government breakfast in Washington. India is hosting the Delhi Investment Summit on Afghanistan today which will draw over 65 foreign companies from around the world, including 12 companies from the US and a handful of companies from even China and Pakistan. At a meeting last week between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, the two countries agreed to hold three-way talks with Afghanistan. At the cost of making Pakistan hyperventilate the US has become very vocal in its appreciation of Indian efforts in Afghanistan. It now wants India to fill up the post-US vacuum in Afghanistan and play a bigger role in training Afghan security forces.

 

Pakistani public opinion ever more critical of US and India:

Following a year of tensions between their country and the United States, Pakistanis continue to hold highly unfavorable views of the U.S. and offer bleak assessments of the relationship between the two nations. Roughly three-in-four Pakistanis (74%) consider the U.S. an enemy, up from 69% last year and 64% three years ago. And President Obama is held in exceedingly low regard. Indeed, among the 15 nations surveyed in both 2008 and 2012 by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, Pakistan is the only country where ratings for Obama are no better than the ratings President George W. Bush received during his final year in office (for more, see "Global Opinion of Obama Slips, International Policies Faulted," released June 13, 2012). Moreover, roughly four-in-ten believe that American economic and military aid is actually having a negative impact on their country, while only about one-in-ten think the impact is positive. Since 2009, the Pakistani public has also become less willing to use its own military to combat extremist groups. Three years ago, 53% favored using the army to fight extremists in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and neighboring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but today just 32% hold this view. Only 22% of Pakistanis have a favorable view of traditional rival India, although this is actually a slight improvement from 14% last year. Moreover, when asked which is the biggest threat to their country, India, the Taliban, or al Qaeda, 59% name India. Pakistanis have consistently identified India as the top threat since the question was first asked in 2009. The percentage fearing India has increased by 11 points since then, while the percentage naming the Taliban has decreased by nine points.