, Columnist
Lagarde, Putin, Biden and the Trouble With Drawing Red Lines
Part of being a leader is deterring adversaries from doing undesirable things. That comes with huge risks.
Lagarde wields her pen.
Photographer: Bloomberg
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Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank, is svelte, urbane and French. She knows better than to show up at a press conference and say brutish things — such as “Bring it on,” or “Go ahead, make my day.” Or even: “Don’t cross my red line.”
But a red line is, in effect, what she drew last week. Lagarde and her colleagues at the ECB are worried that rising interest rates, excessive debt and political turmoil will lead to Euro Crisis 2.0, which would start in Italy this time.