Easy US monetary policy, followed by monetary easing in countries that formally pegged their exchange rates to the US dollar (as in the Gulf) or that maintain undervalued currencies to achieve export led growth (China and other informal members of the so called Bretton Woods 2 dollar zone) has fueled a new asset bubble in commodities and overheating of their economies.

The diversion of land to bio fuels production has reduced the land available to produce agricultural commodities.

Doubling the area of protected coastal land and bringing substantial areas of open ocean into reserves is a particularly formidable task.

CNN and BBC have been attacked for their alleged bias in showing the human side of the protesters and giving insufficient time to the uglier aspects.

The first element of reform should be to give a greater role to the only true international money that the world now has the IMF s Special Drawing Rights, created in 1969 as the result of another dollar crisis.

And yet many policymakers are insisting on immediate action to rectify not only fiscal deficits, but also trade imbalances and banks balance sheet weaknesses. While these undoubtedly need to be addressed in the longer term, prioritizing them now effectively stymies stronger, sustained recovery efforts.

While these undoubtedly need to be addressed in the longer term, prioritizing them now effectively stymies stronger, sustained recovery efforts.