Or, Rose forced herself to go, as if there were two entities inside Rose's head, engaged in a tug of a war.

China and the US need to talk. Despite their economic interdependence and some 90 inter governmental channels for bilateral dialogue, the two superpowers are caught in a perilous tug of war over interests in the East and South China Seas and the western Pacific.

The figures show that ten federations have equal representation at the level of the executive, that in six associations (11 ) men are underrepresented ( male sports' such as boxing, darts, tug of war, cricket, rugby and drafts) and in forty associations (71 ) women are underrepresented.

It is no longer a two way tug of war between two small post Soviet republics, but part of an Armenia Turkey Azerbaijan triangle. This triangle is the direct consequence of the process of normalization between Armenia and Turkey, which began when both countries presidents met at a football game.

The owners of wealth may increasingly turn to the yen and gold for safety but the may run into resistance from the authorities sooner in the case of the yen than gold. And there will be a tug of war between those who seek safety and those who need to use their reserves to save their businesses.

From Scotland and Catalonia to the borders of Ukraine, the politics of nationality flared, while Europe s economy stagnated hostage to a German inflation phobia that dates back to 1923. And, as the year unfolded, a new geopolitical tug of war between the continent s two early twentieth century giants, Germany and Russia, became apparent, while Europe s amnesiac political elite seemed to be fumbling on one front after another.

Though it is impossible to understand fully the implications of the Commission s new structure at this early stage, some of its institutional ramifications are already emerging. Beyond inciting a kind of tug of war with the European Council, the Commission s shift away from lawmaking will alter the European Parliament s role, which it has forged over the last five years on the back of the Commission s active legislative agenda.

A second term for the Frente Amplio would pose new problems, since the balance of power and political competition will be stronger, both between parties and within the left itself. These challenges may eventually tug Uruguay s social democrats even closer to the experiences of Brazil and Chile.  Like their European brethren, Latin America s social democratic governments should eventually prosper through pluralist democracies and the even more demanding politics of compromise.

A second term for the Frente Amplio would pose new problems, since the balance of power and political competition will be stronger, both between parties and within the left itself. These challenges may eventually tug Uruguay s social democrats even closer to the experiences of Brazil and Chile. Like their European brethren, Latin America s social democratic governments should eventually prosper through pluralist democracies and the even more demanding politics of compromise.

The country seems to be caught in a permanent, uneasy tug of war between the past and the future, between change and the actors who seek to place obstacles in its path. For example, when initial reports surfaced about the first swine flu cases, it took three weeks for the information to reach federal health authorities, because state governments were reluctant to report cases quickly due to political and electoral considerations.

How politics and economics interact nationally and globally is one of the important questions for 2013 and beyond. There are three scenarios good economics and effective politics provide the basis for a growing and more cooperative global economy bad economics interact with dysfunctional politics to ruin the day or the world muddles through, increasingly unstable, as a tug of war between economics and politics plays out, with no clear result or direction.