[b]Europe Scrambles as the Credit Crisis Goes Global
So much for European unity. Less than 24 hours after leaders of the European Union's four largest countries gathered in Paris Saturday to pledge a collective defense in the global financial crisis, the strategy crumbled in the face of a still worsening credit crisis in Europe's banks. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, faced with the breakdown of a government-brokered deal with German banks to save one of Germany's biggest mortgage lenders, announced that all German bank deposits would be guaranteed by the government, causing consternation and anger among her European neighbors, many of which felt compelled to follow suit.
Europe's inability to rise above its "each nation for itself" mode bodes ill for the prospect of broader international coordination to shore up credit markets in the face of a global crisis of financial confidence. If countries that have long vaunted their joint destinies can't ...
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