Where is Europe’s ‘firewall’?

After two years of denial about the European periphery's solvency problem, European policymakers are finally, grudgingly, facing reality. They are recognizing that Greece is almost certain to default by year-end. And they have concluded that it is imperative to recapitalize Europe's banks and to erect an effective "firewall" around Spain and Italy to reassure markets that if Greece defaults, the crisis will be contained there.