With the European economy in shambles from a seemingly intractable sovereign debt crisis and the United States technically out of money to fund its own bloated government, talk of sovereign default is in the air. Greece, the beneficiary of the first of three EU/IMF bailouts, is again on the ropes, insisting that it will not be able to meet its June obligations of more than $13 billion in interest payments. The hard-pressed Greek populace, meanwhile, is balking at the range of financial austerities being urged upon them by their government’s creditors, and Greece’s political class is caught in the middle. The financial world is expecting Greece to default eventually, and other EU debtors like Ireland, Portugal, and even Spain to follow suit.

With the turmoil in the Middle East and the catastrophe in Japan, it is easy to be distracted from the power plays of the global elite. But this week’s ruling by the World Trade Organization declaring $5.3 billion in U. S. government subsidies to Boeing Corporation illegal is a significant episode in the 15-year effort of the WTO to wrest trade sovereignty from the nations of the world and consolidate it under a global authority.

The dogs of war are straining at the leash once again. Senator John McCain, who never met a military intervention he didn’t like, is now calling for the United States to begin bombing Syria.