Share the View: Protecting Paris, Defending Europe

Share The View

THE LATEST OPINIONS FROM BLOOMBERG VIEW

JANUARY 12, 2015 bloombergview.com

PARIS ATTACK The Editors: "The full cost of France's worst terrorist attack in half a century has yet to be tabulated, much less understood. ... The clearest lesson from last week's events in Paris is that it is impossible to guarantee the safety of a diverse and open democratic society." Read more... Josh Rogin: "The lack of senior U.S. government officials at free speech, anti-terrorism rallies in Paris and Washington Sunday left many wondering why President Barack Obama's administration would miss an opportunity to outwardly display solidarity with France, a country it supports in so many other ways, during its time of crisis." Read more... DECLASSIFIED Eli Lake: "With the news that U.S. prosecutors and FBI officers are seeking to charge former CIA director David Petraeus with felony violations for mishandling classified information, it's a good moment to reflect on the lengths to which the Obama administration has gone to protect state secrets." Read more... ASIA The Editors: "Is Sri Lanka the next Myanmar? After the stunning ouster of strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa in last week's elections, another small, strategically vital Asian nation would appear to have rejected China's embrace. Whether the U.S. and India can exploit this opportunity, however, will depend on whether they recognize what's unique about Sri Lanka."Read more... POLITICS Albert R. Hunt: "In the Reagan era, conservative Republicans felt they had a powerful ally in Pope John Paul II, whose forceful anti-communism and anti-abortion stances played out in American politics. Today's conservatives are apprehensive about Pope Francis, who has changed the tone and culture, not the doctrines, of the Catholic Church in less than two years as pontiff." Read more... ENERGY Matt Levine: "The life of a derivatives salesperson is pleasant enough, but things get weird in the afterlife." Christopher Schroen, who sold natural gas derivatives to the state of California when he was at BP Plc, "has now embarked on the possibly very lucrative career of suing his former colleagues for overcharging California for the natural gas derivatives that he sold them." Read more... ECONOMICS Luigi Zingales: "Does finance benefit society? It's a question that has become all too relevant in recent years, and one that academic economists need to do a much better job of answering." Read more...