Frankenstein’s Bankers
It is now 5 years since the banking crash but its effects are still with us. What exactly happened, what has the world done about it, and is there anything to stop something similar happening again? “
China’s Third Plenum: great expectations
While there is still hope for change, there is overabundant evidence that Mr. Xi’s dream for China does not include the major reform that many hope for.
Hello Warsaw, This Is Haiyan Calling
The super typhoon that just hit the Philippines should be a wake-up call for climate-change negotiators in Warsaw. This year, the big climate polluters must be denounced for their continued refusal to take the steps needed to save the world from the destruction that their carbon-intensive economies have unleashed on us all.
Winter chill over Hungary’s autumn
The only electoral promise Fidesz has fulfilled has been the “restoration of order”, through a myriad of laws, decrees and regulations and a harsh new Penal Code. Also, assets have been re-distributed to create a new class of loyal, privileged, crony capitalists.
Is the U.S. Losing Saudi Arabia to China?
Saudi Arabia’s declared foreign policy shift away from the U.S. in favour of China is a genuine cause for concern in Washington although a fully-fledged “divorce” from the U.S. appears unlikely.
Budget Wars:1575 Version
The recent US debt ceiling showdown was a game of chicken over the repayment of sovereign debt. There was an analogous historical episode in 16th century Spain, in which city delegates resisted tax increases but the resulting bank failures and credit freeze caused lasting economic damage.
The Winter of Content
One of the last books that economist and public intellectual JK Galbraith wrote in his long and illustrious career, The Culture of Contentment (1992), has passed into relative obscurity. This is a shame, as it may offer a prophetic glimpse into the long-term, paradoxical consequences of the Reagan-Thatcher era.
At the UN, a Latin American rebellion
Latin American leaders are reclaiming a right to differentiate their views from Washington’s. This year’s UN general debate became a forum for widespread dissent and anger at U.S. policies that seek to control a hemisphere that has clear aspirations for greater independence.
Eritrea, a generation in flight
Many of the hundreds of Africans drowned off the Italian coast came from Eritrea. Why are they so desperate to leave their country? When Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki is asked to explain the exodus of his people, he lays the blame on an international conspiracy.
A Czech election with consequences
With a number of new parties seeking to win seats and an anticipated victory of the left, the upcoming parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic might lead to the biggest change in the country’s political map since the 1989 revolution.