Not the United States. We do all sorts of things that aren't the best for us. Additionally, you took me literally word for word. Russia will do something positive if it is good for them (and bad for anyone else).
Well, I disagree... All countries, including the US, Russia and the rest, do all those things because the leadership thinks and expects it will be of benefit. Of course, whether that turns out to be the case, that's a different issue. But I don't think there's any reason to believe that the US is acting any more altruistically than any other country.
You can disagree. That is certainly your right. But Russia acts more to thwart than to help, even when it looks like they're acting to help. After living there for a long enough time, I am all too aware that there is an angle to their politics that outsiders (you, for instance) don't get.
the market should be setting interest rates not central bankers. german bankers are in temporary trouble because they assume that the gov't will bail them out. that is problem with western countries. banks act like wild swinging hedge funds because they know the gov't ie taxpayers is going to bail them them out. it is doubtful that Germany intended to screw the rest of the EU. you certainly have not offered any proof. the same cannot be said for Greece which stole hundreds of billions in agricultural subsidies from northern europe by inflating its production figures. as to greece stiffing they should forswear their debt if it is to their advantage. in spite of martinghoul's calamitous predictions on icelandic defaulting on its debts iceland is doing just fine. unfortunately for greece the greek character is not as tough as the icelandic character or for matter the latvian character. internal devaluation is the solution as in latvia but the greeks seem to prefer to live in lala land by rioting.
No doubt Putin and his gang of thugs would love to restore the empire because they're power-loving pricks but sometimes empire-building is costly rather than profitable and modern empires are almost exclusively about economics. The Euro-Europeans wouldn't bail out Greece on Russia's say-so. The Russians know that Greece will be either dropped or rescued by Euros acting exclusively in their own best interest. We'll have to see whether or not the Russians actually cooperate or exacerbate things by, for instance, reducing oil exports to the Euros. Russia's always playing chess with the world. We can't trust them except to do what works for them. They may be backing a bailout of Greece because they somehow have a vested interest in avoiding a Euro-crisis at this time. We'll have to hear what else they have to say and see how what they say correlates with what they actually do.
We got into the financial mess mostly because of government greed, government deficits and Central Bankers around the word pumping money into their systems @ 15-25%/yr for several years. So.... the solution is greater deficits and MORE money pump into the sytem?
they won't be. that's what leveraged EFSF means - it is for ringfencing the Greece default. other countries will be fine after that as the market pressure subsides and fiscal consolidation continues (as opposed to US).