Zizek remains one of the most striking philosophical cultural studies writers of our times.  Although I am still in the middle of his dense but invigorating Parallax View, I turn to his shorter essays that often appear in the London Review of Books or Harper's. 

Here, Zizek looks at the Greek crisis, linking terrorism, economics, history, politics...as only he can do.  Check out the article yourself.  Consider it in political elections in the coming year.  I will just post two quotes here:

"Some of [warriors against terror] love human dignity so much that they are ready to legalise torture to defend it."

"The Greeks are not passive victims: they are at war with the European economic establishment, and what they need is solidarity in their struggle, because it is our struggle too.  Greece is not an exception.  It is one of the main testing grounds for a new socio-economic model of potentially unlimited application: a depoliticised technocracy in which bankers and other experts are allowed to demolish democracy.  By saving Greece from its so-called saviours, we also save Europe itself."

The question begs, when faced with choice, what do we save first: democracy, economy, freedom, culture, lives.  Of course there is some reciprocal relationships going on here, but it is becoming too easy to put economy first and assume that this will pull the rest along with it.