“Italy confirmed it held talks with Chinese officials amid speculation Rome is looking to persuade Beijing to buy its bonds or invest in its companies, while premier Silvio Berlusconi flew to Brussels Tuesday to discuss the market turmoil.”  While Berlusconi met with the EU President about Italy’s debt, his government was apparently seeking bailout help from China.  The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times both reported that Italian talks took place last week with the chairman of China Investment Corp.

With the financial crisis weighing heavily on Greece, creditor nations are now discussing the issue of obtaining collateral for money they loan Greece—in the event that Greece proves unable to pay back any loans.  Such collateral could include Greek real estate or shares in state assets such as utility companies.

Last week in Berlin, former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called for the creation of a “United States of Europe… to avoid future economic crises,” declaring “we will have to give up national sovereignty” to a common government (Reuters.com, September 4, 2011).  This conviction is being voiced around the world.

“I know that there is only the smallest measure of inspiration that can be taken from this devastation. But there is a passage in the Bible from Isaiah that I think speaks to us all at times like this. ‘The bricks have fallen down but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig trees have been felled but we will replace them with cedars.’ That is what we will do. We will rebuild and we will recover…” So spoke United States Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, on September 12, 2001, in response to the shocking terrorist attacks the day before.

In an article in the UK’s Guardian, author Damian Carrington reviewed recently published research by three Cornell University faculty members suggesting that when food prices reach a specific level, riots and civil unrest are more likely to occur.