Greece, Europe Teetering on the Edge of Disaster?

It was a pair of bullets in late June, 1914, that claimed the lives of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg. That tiny event morphed into World War I, the conclusion of which led directly to World War II. By the time the bullets stopped flying, tens of millions of people were dead; Europe was in ruin, and a new country emerged as the dominant superpower in the world. While its unlikely to break out into full-scale violent war, the rest of the plot smells a lot like what is going on now in Greece and across Europe. Will Greece's impending economic collapse be the tiny trigger that kicks off a world-wide catastrophe? Not that anyone would call what is happening in Greece a “tiny trigger”. The nation is in full-on riot mode, as citizens of Greece amass and protest what they view as ridiculous cuts in wages, spending and social safety nets, along with the pending sale of Greek assets to private investors. Police have taken to tossing tear gas to try and disperse the crowd surrounding the Prime Minister George Papandreou's residence, but the 20,000-strong crowd refuses to leave. The prime minister insists on pushing forward the measures, as he sees them as the only way for Greece to avoid catastrophic default. Papandreou is truly stuck between two very bad choices. If he does nothing, he appeases his countrymen but probably collapses the economy of Greece, forcing it to drop the euro for its drachma currency. This could set off the chain event that dismantles the European Union and undermines the euro as a currency. If he follows through with the plan, he is committing political suicide, and may just make things worse for the Greeks. The pain has carried over to Germany, France, and the rest of the EU, and there is no guarantee that any of the alternative solutions will stem the crisis. The entire debacle has left forex traders wondering whether or not the euro will survive, let alone thrive, in the coming years. If Europe can emerge stronger from the debacle, and perhaps more united, this could do wonders for the euro. If the U.S. continues to flounder economically, it is possible that the euro takes over as the safe haven currency and the dominant world currency. However, the euro also runs the risk of being obliterated in the coming years, as the european continent learns the lessons of late 18th century America: confederations don't work with a unified currency but no government to back it up.