Syriza’s Spinning, but Nobody’s Buying
The Greek crisis is accelerating more rapidly than many anticipated. As CNN reports: Greek markets are tumbling after the European Central Bank raised the pressure on the country’s new anti-austerity...
Has China Made Its First Big Military Sale In Central Asia?
China has reportedly provided both Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan with sophisticated air defense systems, which would represent the largest Chinese military equipment deal thus far in Central Asia. Reportedly, China has...
Climate Change in the News – Geo-engineering, Agriculture and GHGs and Norway’s Carbon Pledges
I write a considerable amount about climate change. Why? Because I consider it and runaway human population growth to be the two most significant negative impactors in the 21st century. This...
New Georgian Interior Minister Faces Multiple Challenges
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has promoted First Deputy Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri to succeed his former boss, Aleksandr Chikaidze, as minister. Chikaidze had submitted his resignation on January 23, citing as...
A League of His Own: Italy’s Northern League under Salvini
Italy’s far-right Northern League has received considerable attention due to its recent surge in popularity. In the wake of the January 7th Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris the Northern League,...
Ebola: Sierra Leone’s New War
Sierra Leone is a country located on the west coast of Africa. It gained independence from Britain on April 27, 1961. It is bounded to the north and northeast by...
Turkey Urgently Needs to Integrate Its Syrian Refugees
Since 2011, more than 3.2m Syrians are known to have taken refuge in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and a number of other countries. The real scale of the crisis is...
The Collapse of Western Civilization – Speculation on Our Future
“Science fiction writers construct an imaginary future; historians attempt to reconstruct the past. Ultimately, both are seeking to understand the present.” Thus begins “The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View...
The Iranian Role in Iraq is Underreported
News reports tell us that negotiations have been delayed between the U.S. and Iran on nuclear weapons. But the reports divert our attention on Al Qaeda/ISIS while supporting the Shia’s...
Northern Sea Route: A Game Changer for Russia?
Throughout the twentieth century, we see the growing importance of oil to the growth of the global economy. In the unlikely event of the discovery of a major feasible alternative...
Even Among Business Conservatives the Case for a Carbon Tax is Accepted
Taxing carbon has been seen as a bad idea by business and financial conservatives for a long time. But it seems with the Paris global climate agreement on the agenda...
Turkmenistan: What’s Behind Sudden Manat Devaluation?
Turkmenistan rang in the New Year by dramatically devaluing its national currency, the manat, and introducing a steep levy on the price of petrol. The scale of the devaluation –...
What’s The EEU And What Are Its Chances?
Five years ago, Moscow had every reason to feel secure about its neighborhood. Ally Kazakhstan was settling in as the first post-Soviet state to chair the Organization for Security and...
Predictions for 2015
Making predictions or forecasts about a national or the world economy is fraught with failure. There are so many variables to consider and the data available are often inadequate and...
Methodological differences of the PKK, KCK and HDP
Since the PKK was established an illegal, armed organization, it has always been revolutionary in the way it obtained its results regardless of a transformation from separate state to democratic...