Plunging oil prices and economic sanctions have pushed Russia's economy to the brink of collapse. The Russian Central Bank has raised its key interest rate to 17 percent from 10.5 percent, the biggest hike since Russia's ruble crisis in 1998.

Executives can achieve self-understanding without drowning in unwieldy complexity by concentrating on the Big Four of their 'Inner Team'

1. Inspirational Dreamer (Chief Executive Officer: Power Source is Intuition

• What I want
• What I don't want

  Sweet Spot:

• Generate your vision
• Dare to pursue your dream
• Sense a path forward

2. Analytical Thinker (Chief Financial Officer): Power Source is Reason

• My opinion
• My ideas

Sweet Sport

China has surpassed the United States in terms of GDP based on purchasing power parity (PPP) becoming the largest in the world by this measure, International Monetary Fund estimates show.

Former German chancellor (1982-1998), Helmut Kohl, in his book Aus Sorge um Europa (Out of concern for Europe). Kohl puts the challenges posed by the euro crisis in a historical context and argues that only a unified Europe, not a loose association of states, can ensure peace and prosperity for the continent.

Confidence in the European Union and its institutions is at its lowest ebb and many Europeans criticise the way in which democracy works in the Union. For several years now, the distance between Community Institutions and European citizens would appear to have widened.

According to President Putin:

1. Western governments are trying to raise a new iron curtain around Russia.
2. Some countries would like Russia to be dismantled like Yugoslavia.
3. Even if the events and coup in Ukraine had not taken place, even if Crimea had not been annexed, the West would have come up with another reason to contain Russia’s growing capabilities, to influence it or even better use it for its own goals.

The new buzz word in Moscow these days is cynicism (tsinizm) …. Western Cynicism of course!

The EU should radically overhaul its internal architecture to accommodate the widespread frustration of citizens. This requires full acceptance of what the EU calls subsidiarity, which means ensuring that decisions are made at the lowest possible level, even within Member States. Second and more fundamentally, the EU should embrace the mechanisms of “multispeed Europe.” In the spirit of thinking big, the case can be made for the EU to become a pan-European union that encompasses all of the continent’s sovereign countries.

Donald Tusk took over the EU baton from Belgium’s Herman Van Rompuy on 1 December. The 57-year old former Prime Minister of Poland was born in Gdansk, on the Baltic Sea coast. His three priorities are: to bring an eastern European “sensitivity” to Russia relations; to stop the UK from leaving; and to heal divisions between eurozone and non-eurozone states.

Tusk's priorities are reflected in his choice of top aides:

The European Commission unveiled on 25 November the mechanism for its much-heralded €315 billion investment plan, revealing how a limited €21 billion of initial public money is intended to lift fifteen times as much in capital. The proposal, which must be approved by European leaders at a summit in December, would mix an investment fund with a scheme to match new projects with private money.

The European Commission has announced a new transparency drive, promising that contacts with lobbyists will have to be publicly recorded.  The move, which will begin on December 1, 2014 will focus on contacts between Commissioners, their cabinets and Directors-General as well as interest groups and individuals registered in the Transparency Registry.

The practice will not be enforced by an independent watchdog, rather, the onus will be on each individual to be transparent.