lee kuan yew

　　in his latest book， lee kuan yew fearlessly expresses his ideas， seeking "to be correct， not politically correct." lee also recounts his impressions of nations， leaders and historic events. in acerbic lee kuan yew style， he describes margaret thatcher， ronald reagan， china’s poetry-quoting jiang zemin， the late mao zedong， the incorruptible zhu rongji to the bold reformer deng xiaoping （whom he remembers as "a five-footer but a giant among men"）。
　　among the most interesting parts of the book were lee kuan yew’s references to the philippines and his sadness that our talented nation could suffer so many socio-political and economic troubles. an anecdote recounts the 1985 official trip to washington， dc where state secretary george shultz asked lee to convince president ronald reagan that his old friend ferdinand marcos was then the problem of the philippines， not the solution. during the uprising the following year 1986， when the u.s. government asked lee’s opinions， he said america should not accept a fraudulent election， and put pressure on marcos to call new elections. （166 words）

　　在回忆录中，李光耀无畏地表达了他的想法，力争做到"凡事正确，但却不是政治上正确"。李光耀以他独特的方式，他描述了撒切尔夫人、里根、喜欢引用诗句的中国国家主席***、已故中共领袖毛泽东、正直廉洁的朱镕基和勇于改革的邓小平（在李光耀的记忆中，尽管 "邓只有五英尺高，却是人中之杰"）。
　　在李光耀的回忆录中，最令人感兴趣的章节是有关菲律宾的问题。菲律宾拥有许多人才，却总是社会、政治和经济问题不断，他对此感到十分惋惜。李光耀叙述他在1985年到华盛顿作正式访问时，当时的美国国务卿舒尔茨要求他说服里根总统，告诉后者他的老朋友马科斯是菲律宾问题的症结所在，而不是解决问题的关键。1986年人民起义发生后，美国政府征求李光耀的意见。李光耀认为美国不应该接受一个出现舞弊的选举，应该向马科斯施加压力，要他重新举行选举。

　an actual recession in the euro area　

　　earlier  this year， when america first sneezed， the european central bank （along with most private-sector economists） argued that the euro area was insulated from america’s slowdown and had little to worry about. this seems to have been wrong. in germany there are fears about recession as business investment and retail sales tumble. recent figures confirmed that germany’s gdp stagnated in the second quarter. italy’s gdp fell in the second quarter， and although growth has held up better in france and spain， the growth in the euro area as a whole was close to zero in the quarter. nobody is forecasting an actual recession in the euro area this year， but it is no longer expected to provide an engine for world growth. as for japan， it is probably already in recession. japan’s gdp GREw slightly in the first quarter. persistent deflation continues to be a severe problem. a revised measure of japan’s consumer-price index， to be published soon， is likely to show that deflation is worse than had been thought. （170 words）

　　美国经济今年初伤风感冒时，欧洲央行（和大多数私营经济学家一道）宣称欧元区不会受美元的萎靡不振所影响，不必杞人忧天。如今证明大错特错。在德国，随着企业投资及零售额双双下滑，人们担心会出现经济衰退。日前公布的德国第二季度的gdp也证明经济停滞不前。意大利第二季度gdp负增长，法国及西班牙虽然稍强，但是欧元区大部分国家第二季度经济都接近零增长。谁也不会预言欧元区今年会有实质性衰退，但谁也再无法指望它来带动全球的经济增长了。
　　至于日本，可能已经陷入了经济衰退。第一季度gdp仅微幅增长。持续不衰的通货紧缩继续成为一个严重的问题。最近即将发表的日本消费物价指数的修订标准可能会显示，通货紧缩比预期的情况更为严重。