The year of 2010 could be a very agitated one in Latin America says Thiago de Aragao from the Foreign Policy Centre.

With only days before the final vote on Sunday, 7 February, Yuliya Tymoshenko is still looking for a game-changing strategy to leapfrog Viktor Yanukovych, who beat her into second place in the first round. Her campaign faces three main problems.

Like the nation’s roads and bridges, most state Information Technology systems need costly makeovers at a time when states’ can ill afford them — presenting a quandary for those aiming to make state government more efficient for the long haul.

Is this really too much to ask of our national leaders? If it is, then we had better prepare ourselves, Lisbon or no Lisbon, for a deepening European twilight says Nick Whitney from European Council on Foreign Relations.