A big heart stopped beating one year ago. The Empress of Africa is now in Heaven. But there'll be a place for her in our hearts. Forever.

Rest in peace, Mama Africa...

...or something like that.

Some are celebrating 20 years of democracy in Eastern Europe, and meanwhile a small think-tank where i've been for years is marking its anniversary too - with the usual discussions on such global topics like the one which is to follow below. So this one would be about the ever more frequent argument between these two camps:

- the current global financial crisis is the final nail in the coffin of the US dollar as a dominating international currency;
- the current global financial crisis is just the next test in a long line of tests which the US dollar has gone through, and overcome.

Here i'll just spill some pros and cons.

(The rest of the post)