POLÉMICA EN LA EUROZONA, PROTESTAS EN EGIPTO

Top of the Agenda: Eurozone Looks to ECB The European Central Bank has come under mounting pressure to rescue a flailing euro amid burgeoningsovereign debt contagion (NYT). Yields on government bonds rose to record highs in the core of the single currency union, as Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero called on the ECB to act decisively. The ECB, founded with the narrow mandate to promote price stability, is increasingly being called upon to be the eurozone's lender of last resort (WSJ). The ECB has opposed such a move, arguing that it would not be legal under European law to print more money in order to buy up unlimited amounts of eurozone bonds. Germany, the eurozone's largest economy, is also fiercely against such a move, arguing that flooding the market with liquidity would lead to severe inflation. But France--which has seen its borrowing costs rise in the past week--has publicly opposed Germany's calls for the ECB to "actively intervene" (DerSpiegel) in the market. Analysis As the European debt crisis grows more unwieldy by the day, the ECB may be the only entity with enoughfinancial firepower--the ability to bail out debt-ridden countries--to reassure global markets, writes Nicolas Jabko in Foreign Affairs. As the eurozone's biggest economy, it was Germany's job to stabilize the system when the first signs of financial trouble appeared. It did the opposite. The euro's survival depends on Frankfurt finally assuming its role as leader, write Matthias Matthijs and Mark Blyth in Foreign Affairs. The ECB is ready to show flexibility in its response to the eurozone crisis, argue Reuters' Paul Carrel and John O'Donnell. MIDDLE EAST Mass Protests in Egypt Tens of thousands of Egyptians protested in Cairo's Tahrir Square--the birthplace of Egypt's democratic uprising earlier this year--and in Alexandria to pressure the country's interim military leaders (al-Jazeera) to hand over power to a civilian government. Writing for the Middle East Research and Information Project, Nate Wright discusses the challenges faced by youth parties in Egypt, fighting for political space in the fast-approaching elections. IRAQ: Kurdish police in Iraq's northern Kirkuk city blocked senior Iraqi army commanders from entering aU.S. airbase (WSJ), highlighting renewed tension between the semiautonomous Kurdish region and Iraqi central government as U.S. forces leave the country.