Never mind that most of the crises could have been avoided, or late least substantially mitigated, if governments had let their currencies float against the dollar, rather than adopting rigid exchange rate pegs. Instead, the bogeyman of financial globalization is used as an excuse for continuing to coddle inefficient and monopolistic domestic financial systems.

While it is now clear that much of the Arab world is in transition, the end point is not yet clear. But Barack Obama s administration apparently has concluded that Arab monarchs are likely to survive, whereas Arab presidents are more likely to fall, and that it is acceptable for the United States to continue to coddle tyrannical kings.