The Greek and Eurozone crisis is spinning dangerously out of control, and The Economist reflects the mood with a cover inspired by Francis Ford Coppola’s brooding Vietnam film Apocalypse Now. “It will strike some as mystifying that a small, peripheral economy should suddenly threaten the world’s biggest economic area,” the business weekly writes, before squarely putting the blame on Germany, which has dragged its feet over a rescue plan. “All along, it has tried to have it every way – to back Greece, but to punish it for its mistakes; to support the Greek economy, but not to spend any money doing so; to treat this as just a Greek problem, when German banks and German citizens, who lend to Greece, stand to lose money too.” Instead of explaining to her electorate why help for Greece is in its national interest, “Angela Merkel, has run scared of upsetting them before a big regional election on May 9th.” To avoid the risk of this “contagion” affecting the entire continent “Europe will not stem this crisis unless its decision-making apparatus is overhauled and Germany radically changes its tune.”
As is traditional in major international elections, The Economist pronounces on its favoured candidate. As Britain goes to the poll on 6 May, the weekly concedes that although the Conservatives “plainly have faults” and “have run a lacklustre campaign”, David Cameron will get its vote.
The leader of Greece’s leftist alliance SYRIZA is the new bright hope of Greek politics. Steering a course between pragmatism and the rhetoric of class warfare, he has unsettled Berlin, and not just those who back Angela Merkel's austerity policies. 
Europe’s economic woes have forced us to try to understand the secret Olympian world of global finance. But now that we pay more attention to bond yields and stability mechanisms, isn’t it clear that the experts up on their lofty peaks don’t know what’s going on either? 
This year’s Eurovision Song Contest is hosted by Azerbaijan, a country that is far from being a model democracy. An Estonian journalist takes a critical look at the deferential treatment enjoyed by the regime in Baku.