The country needs to have the plan in place by Monday as the European Central Bank has said it will cut off emergency support to the banks.

NPR: Cyprus Lawmakers Work On Economy-Saving Plan

Though still inefficient and scandal-prone, the company provides most of the gas to former Soviet states and to central Europe, as well as 25% of the needs of western Europe.

FORBES: Energy Tsar

But, maddeningly, the institution that needs to do most the European Central Bank is hanging back even as the pressure on countries like Spain, whose sovereign-bond yields rose to euro-era highs this week, intensifies.

ECONOMIST: Central banks (1): When the chips are down | The

That means that external demand needs to be going up, and, as long as the European Central Bank is trying to keep average eurozone inflation slightly below 2%, that probably means that inflation in Germany needs to be significantly above 2%.

BBC: Plan B for the eurozone?

Central bank liquidity policy needs refining and harmonising, as the Financial Stability Forum, a group of banking-industry regulators, made clear in a report in April.

ECONOMIST: Bank liquidity

And because banks hate being beholden to central banks, they are reluctant to lend as much as the economy needs - even when, as is happening in the UK, the Bank of England and Treasury try to chuck unlimited quantities of cheap money at them.

BBC: Business

While we do not believe, as many market participants do, that the Central Bank is shirking its primary responsibilities, it needs to maintain a vigilant stance and compensate for any positive errors in its forecast until, if and when, its more benign views are proven right.

FORBES: Brazil's Interest Rates Going Higher, But Are They High Enough?

The U.S government needs to pay serious attention to these developments in Central America not only as a criminal problem but as a serious national security challenge.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Guatemala: A security challenge

As a result, President Bush needs to make increased U.S. energy security a central part of the overhauled war-fighting strategy that he is set to announce next month.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Securing America's energy needs