No sooner did the global elites leave their annual talking shop high in the Alps at Davos last week than the people spoke in Greece. In a mutiny against an untenable status quo, those who are run over have revolted against those who run things. Now righteous populism must face economic, financial and political realities if other European states don't bend Greece's way.
To keep up with the drama as it evolves over the coming weeks, we've connected WorldPost readers directly to the daily blog of Yanis Varoufakis, the self-described "erratic Marxist" who is now Greece's finance minister. Writing from Athens, HuffPost Greece Editorial Director Sophia Papaioannou says Alexis Tsipras' electoral victory will give suffering Greeks "space and time" to address their predicament. Former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou argues that the path forward after the election is for a national referendum on a "Greek plan" for reform that will bind a now polarized nation. Rena Dourou, a deputy of the victorious Syriza party, notes that the vote was as much against the corruption of the formerly ruling political parties in Greece as it was against austerity.
Xenia Kounalaki, foreign editor of the Greek daily Kathimerini, wonders whether Spain, France and Italy will follow Greece's revolt against austerity. Harris Ikonomopoulos views the Syriza victory as "Pyrrhic" unless its reform plans are supported by other EU states.
Writing from Tokyo, Japan's former defense chief Yuriko Koike, says that Japan's constitutional restrictions on using force have prevented it from taking action to free its hostages from ISIS, and argues that that must change. Writing from New Delhi, Pawan Khera examines whether President Obama's visit to India revived the "Asian Arc of Democracy" strategy that would align India with other democracies in Asia against China.
As fierce battles flare anew in Ukraine, Alexander Motyl asks whether the war with Russia has passed a point of no return. Writing from Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spells out his worldview and says Russia will not be deterred by sanctions over Ukraine and will persist in doing "what we think is right and just."
Writing from Rome, Sebastien Maillard explains in this month's "Following Francis" why the Pope is so focused on Asia, where China may one day have the largest Christian population in the world. Writing from Managua, Father Ernesto Cardenal -- the famous "liberation theologist" scolded by Pope John Paul II during the Nicaraguan revolution -- calls Pope Francis "a real revolutionary." In this week's "Forgotten Fact," we look at the unsolved terror attack in 1994 that has become the center of a current political storm in Argentina following the murder of the prosecutor in the case.
In an essay, Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji argues that "Islam is completely compatible with secularism."
WorldPost Middle East Correspondent Sophia Jones reports that the victory over ISIS in Kobani came at such a grim cost that Syrians find it barely worth celebrating. She also profiles an escaped ISIS child soldier who is now speaking out. His message: "Don't join the Islamic State."
President Barack Obama outlines his plan for reviving the American middle class. Nobel laureate Joe Stiglitz slams "the stupid politics" that are preventing demand stimulus policies that would revive the global economy. Scott Malcomson ponders whether "globalization causes war" because of the disruption, dislocation and political reaction it engenders. WorldPost China Correspondent Matt Sheehan reports that Greenpeace sees "resolve" in the Chinese government to fulfill its plans to cut coal production in the fight against climate change, but the "rustbelt" city of Tangshan is paying the price.
In our Singularity University series this week, we ask if "you are still you" if your mind is uploaded. In an exercise of perception, Fusion asks women to draw their own vaginas.
In an interview with Alain Elkaan, Tom Stoppard talks about his new play on consciousness, "The Hard Problem."
Finally, Nicolas Berggruen and Arianna Huffington mark The WorldPost's first anniversary and note the availability of our new app "WorldPost Voices" and our revamped navigation bar at the top of the page, which links you to HuffPost international editions.
WHO WE AREEDITORS: Nathan Gardels, Senior Advisor to the Berggruen Institute on Governance and the long-time editor of NPQ and the Global Viewpoint Network of the Los Angeles Times Syndicate/Tribune Media, is the Editor-in-Chief of The WorldPost. Farah Mohamed is the Managing Editor of The WorldPost. Kathleen Miles is the Senior Editor of the WorldPost. Alex Gardels is the Associate Editor of The WorldPost. Katie Nelson is the National Editor at the Huffington Post, overseeing The WorldPost and HuffPost's editorial coverage. Eline Gordts is HuffPost's Senior World Editor. Charlotte Alfred and Nick Robins-Early are Associate World Editors.
CORRESPONDENTS: Sophia Jones in Istanbul; Matt Sheehan in Beijing.
EDITORIAL BOARD: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Arianna Huffington, Eric Schmidt (Google Inc.), Pierre Omidyar (First Look Media) Juan Luis Cebrian (El Pais/PRISA), Walter Isaacson (Aspen Institute/TIME-CNN), John Elkann (Corriere della Sera, La Stampa), Wadah Khanfar (Al Jazeera), Dileep Padgaonkar (Times of India) and Yoichi Funabashi (Asahi Shimbun).
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Moises Naim (former editor of Foreign Policy), Nayan Chanda (Yale/Global; Far Eastern Economic Review) and Katherine Keating (One-On-One). Sergio Munoz Bata and Parag Khanna are Contributing Editors-At-Large.
The Asia Society and its ChinaFile, edited by Orville Schell, is our primary partner on Asia coverage. Eric X. Li and the Chunqiu Institute/Fudan University in Shanghai and Guancha.cn also provide first person voices from China. We also draw on the content of China Digital Times. Seung-yoon Lee is The WorldPost link in South Korea.
Jared Cohen of Google Ideas provides regular commentary from young thinkers, leaders and activists around the globe. Bruce Mau provides regular columns from MassiveChangeNetwork.com on the "whole mind" way of thinking. Patrick Soon-Shiong is Contributing Editor for Health and Medicine.
ADVISORY COUNCIL: Members of the Berggruen Institute's 21st Century Council and Council for the Future of Europe serve as the Advisory Council -- as well as regular contributors -- to the site. These include, Jacques Attali, Shaukat Aziz, Gordon Brown, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Juan Luis Cebrian, Jack Dorsey, Mohamed El-Erian, Francis Fukuyama, Felipe Gonzalez, John Gray, Reid Hoffman, Fred Hu, Mo Ibrahim, Alexei Kudrin, Pascal Lamy, Kishore Mahbubani, Alain Minc, Dambisa Moyo, Laura Tyson, Elon Musk, Pierre Omidyar, Raghuram Rajan, Nouriel Roubini, Nicolas Sarkozy, Eric Schmidt, Gerhard Schroeder, Peter Schwartz, Amartya Sen, Jeff Skoll, Michael Spence, Joe Stiglitz, Larry Summers, Wu Jianmin, George Yeo, Fareed Zakaria, Ernesto Zedillo, Ahmed Zewail, and Zheng Bijian.
From the Europe group, these include: Marek Belka, Tony Blair, Jacques Delors, Niall Ferguson, Anthony Giddens, Otmar Issing, Mario Monti, Robert Mundell, Peter Sutherland and Guy Verhofstadt.
MISSION STATEMENT
The WorldPost is a global media bridge that seeks to connect the world and connect the dots. Gathering together top editors and first person contributors from all corners of the planet, we aspire to be the one publication where the whole world meets.
We not only deliver breaking news from the best sources with original reportage on the ground and user-generated content; we bring the best minds and most authoritative as well as fresh and new voices together to make sense of events from a global perspective looking around, not a national perspective looking out.