Commodities: Cheap and Getting Cheaper
There have been three bouts of bad news for global commodity prices over the past week, all of which are putting more downside pressure on already deflated prices.
The Fed Could Still Surprise in September
Market turmoil is making the Fed’s September decision a lot more complicated than it seemed a month ago.
An Election Crisis in Democratic Republic of Congo Could Mean War
As the regime of Joseph Kabila heads towards its last year in power, a neighboring head of state has just survived provoking a constitutional crisis in order to avoid stepping down. Does Burundi's constitutional seizure foreshadow an electoral crisis next year in its giant neighbor?
Riots in Xinjiang
Violence in Xinjiang presents Beijing with an opportunity to break away from policy failures of the past.
The Arab Spring: One in a Long Line of Arab Revolts
How do we place the Arab Spring in its proper historical perspective?
Riots and Revolutions in the Digital Age
For the Arab Spring it was Twitter; for the summer riots in London it was BlackBerry Messenger. The latest technology is helping to accelerate ‘information cascades’, where people make decisions based on what they see other people doing – and getting away with.
NATO forces turn to warlords
The revelation by the New York Times on Wednesday that Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, has long been on the payroll of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), is only the tip of a much bigger iceberg of heavy dependence by US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) counter-insurgency forces on Afghan warlords for security, according to a recently published report and investigations by Australian and Canadian journalists.
Somaliland’s Fading Chance for Recognition
Recent polls in Somaliland will go down as a lost chance for greater international recognition.
Russia Accuses US of “Incitement” in Georgia
Contrary to being a detached observer of the conflict in Georgia, Russian officials claim the US has incited the Georgian offensive in South Ossetia via years of military assistance and training.
Perfect Storm in Ethiopia: Big Government Controlled by a Small Group
Little progress is being made on investigations into alleged political violence in Ethiopia.