Brabeck-Latmathe is particularly critical of the rise in bio-diesel production because, he says, the process has put increasing pressure on food supplies by utilizing precious land and water resources that could otherwise be used to grow crops for human and animal consumption.

"If no food was used for fuel," he told the BBC in an interview, "the prices would come down again, that is very clear. We are now in a new world with a completely different level of food prices because of the direct link with fuel."

Biofuels, he maintains, are only affordable because they receive government subsidies, particularly in the United States. "It is absolutely unacceptable and cannot be justified," Brabeck-Latmathe asserted in the interview. "There is one demand that I have, and that is not to use food for fuel."

For some critics, though, the Games represent a poisoned chalice. London politician Andrew Boff said London 2012 was "one Olympics too many". "It always was an Olympics we did not really need," he added. "London is not a city that needs to be put on the map." The Games has cost the British taxpayer more than £9 billion ($13.97 billion) at a time of economic downturn, when Britons have had to tighten their belts and they have seen public services pared to the bone.

Public resentment against the Games has been heightened by concerns about how an already cramped and creaking transport network, some of which dates back to the 19th century, will be able to cope with an additional million passengers a day. The capital is also threatened with a security lockdown, as many of the world's leaders and top dignitaries, including first lady Michelle Obama, arrive for the opening ceremony.

Security was always going to be an issue after four suicide bombers killed 52 commuters on London's transport network the day after the capital was awarded the Games in July 2005. Tensions were also going to be high as 2012 is the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Munich attack by Palestinian militants that killed 11 Israeli Olympic team members. The Games also face a potential threat from dissidents unhappy with the Northern Ireland peace process.

A panel of respected European economics experts are ringing the alarm bell this week over the euro crisis - direly calling on all European leaders to move swiftly to deploy the most powerful tools available to halt the currency's downward spiral. "We believe that as of July 2012, Europe is sleepwalking toward a disaster of incalculable proportions," the New York-based Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) stated in a report warning leaders they need to move faster and more decisively to save the common currency. Otherwise it could very well disintegrate.

The study's publication on Tuesday couldn't be any timelier, given the recent dramatic developments in the euro crisis. Greece's recession is proving to be far worse than previously expected, it is getting tougher for Spain to raise money on the markets (on Tuesday, interest rates on 10-year Spanish bonds rose to an unsustainable 7.6 percent) and Germany's top triple-A rating is also at risk.

But some people think that a zero growth economy could be a good thing. Brian Czech, president of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (Casse) says that the UK economy has already grown beyond its optimum size. "There are too many problems caused by increasing production and consumption of goods and services," he says.

Casse argues that growing the economy further creates social and environmental problems that outweigh its benefits. "Lots of sacrifices come with growing GDP, such as working too long hours, the depersonalising of workplaces and spending on advertising TO PERSUADE PEOPLE TO BUY MORE AND MORE JUNK THEY DON'T NEED," Mr Czech says.

Where have we seen this before? Bond yields soar above the 7 percent danger level.

Check. The stock market crashes to new lows.

Check. Industrial activity plummets like a rock and the economy contracts.

Check. The unemployment rate skyrockets to more than 20 percent.

Check. The bursting of a massive real estate bubble pushes the banking system to the brink of implosion.

Check. Broke local governments beg the broke national government for bailouts.

Check. The international community pressures the national government to implement deep austerity measures which will slow down the economy even more and hordes of violent protesters take to the streets.

Check. All of this happened in Greece, it is happening right now in Spain, and mark my words it will eventually happen in the United States.

Every debt bubble eventually bursts, and right now Spain is experiencing a level of economic pain that very, very few people saw coming. The recession in Spain is rapidly becoming a full-blown economic depression, and at this point there is no hope and no light at the end of the tunnel.

The bad news for the global economy is that Spain is much larger than Greece. According to the United Nations, the Greek economy is the 32nd largest economy in the world. The Spanish economy, on the other hand, is the 4th largest economy in the eurozone and the 12th largest economy on the entire planet. It is nearly five times the size of the Greek economy. Financial markets all over the globe are very nervous right now because if the Spanish government ends up asking for a full-blown bailout it could spell the end for the eurozone. There simply is not enough money to do the same kind of thing for Spain that is being done for Greece.

Beginning last week, headlines were overrun by a coordinated NATO-backed "Free Syrian Army" (FSA) offensive and an assassination bombing in Damascus, timed so close to each other and the UN Security Council vote on sanctions, the vote was pushed back a day. The attacks dubbed, "Operation Damascus Volcano" were clearly coordinated with the assassination bombing, designed for psychological impact, and when Syrians reacted with resolve, they quickly collapsed.

There is also the Arab League which, speaking on behalf of NATO, attempted one last chance to lure Syria into quick capitulation, offering sanctuary to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad if only he would step down immediately. What has gone largely unreported is the fact that the "Arab League's" demands were made by the despotic governments of mainly Qatar and Saudi Arabia who are openly arming and paying the salaries of the FSA - essentially Gulf State mercenaries - to whom the League is asking Syria to surrender.

Finally, reports of a Turkish military helicopter going down in the Hakkari province, just north of Iraq in operations against Kurdish rebels located there, indicates that another Turkish military operation against its own Kurdish population is underway - albeit very quietly. It would appear that Turkey is engaged in combat operations against its own population, while disingenuously berating the Syrian government over its security operations against the FSA. It would also appear that Turkey has repeatedly violated Iraqi airspace in recent weeks to pursue rebels over its borders - a scenario it and NATO have stated would constitute a war provocation should Syria pursue a similar policy.

“In the moment we see that the Syrians transfer chemical and biological weapons to Hizbullah, this is a red line for us and from our point of view it‘s a clear ‘casus belli’,” Lieberman said, using the Latin expression justifying war. “We will act decisively and without hesitation or restraint,” he added. “It will be a completely different ball game and we hope for the understanding of the international community.” He added that Israel knows that the terrorist organization wants “to achieve [access to] chemical and biological weapons.”

Syria admitted on Tuesday that it has chemical weapons but said it would use them only if an outside force intervenes in the raging civil war that seems to have all but toppled the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.