I congratulate the outgoing Nigeria President Mr Goodluck Jonathan for his grace in conceding defeat.
Across the continent, political divisions are deepening. For all of these reasons, the specter of a euro zone collapse has not been dispatched.
The consequences of a collapse would not be pretty. Whichever country precipitated it - Germany by threatening to abandon the euro, or Greece or Spain by actually doing so - would trigger economic chaos and incur its neighbours' wrath.
More than the Big Mac, Coca Cola, or Levi's 501 jeans, the dollar is surely the United States' signature export.
The 1992 crisis proved that the existing system was unstable. Not moving forward to the euro would have set up Europe for even more disruptive crises.
Southern Europe has not done enough to enhance its competitiveness, while northern Europe has not done enough to boost demand. Debt burdens remain crushing, and Europe's economy remains unable to grow.
Political union means transferring the prerogatives of national legislatures to the European parliament, which would then decide how to structure Europe's fiscal, banking, and monetary union.
Empire may be gained by gold, not gold by empire. It used, indeed, to be a proverb that "It is not Philip, but Philip's gold that takes the cities of Greece.
The truth--a hideous spectacle!
If I really think about what drove me from the beginning to become a designer, it is really the idea of trying to make everyday life a little bit better - to make it more functional, more desirable, to improve quality of life somehow.
Prayer infuses the air of a time yet to be into the suffocating atmosphere of the present.