Unpacking Zimbabwe’s Ongoing Decline

A cursory glance at recent headlines from Zimbabwe could give one the impression that things are looking up. A recent World Bank report predicted growth of nearly 4 percent this year. The government took a small first step toward compensating farmers whose land was violently seized by the state decades ago. But closer inspection reveals a country with tremendous structural challenges and a government focused only on regime survival.

G-7 Aftermath: Western Leaders in Search of New Animosities

To Recall Active Attendance of Former British Colonialism

The G-7 used to be G-8 inclusive of Russia, but it shrinked to being the “West and America First” and anything else is a matter of opinion to be relevant for global peace and harmony. We, the People of the world are constantly becoming victim of modern ignorance, rooted insolence of withered expectations and growing indifference to much desired international cooperation and working together for peace, intelligence and goodness of humanity. While common masses who are victimized by the atrocities of the few against all – war is not the means to peacemaking and cutting short stupidity and evil-mongering against the global mankind – the real inhabitants of Earth and extended Universal harmony.

Forging a future with rather than against Iran

The rise of hardline President-elect Ebrahim Raisi has prompted someanalysts to counterintuitively suggest that it could pave the way for reduced regional tensions and potential talks on a rejiggered Middle Eastern security architecture but getting from A to B is likely to prove easier said than done.

Games without Frontiers: Renegotiating the Boundaries of Power in Iraqi Kurdistan

Summary

Over the past year, intensifying political and economic conflicts between the Kurdistan Region’s two hegemonic parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, have challenged the legal and institutional order in which the Kurdistan Regional Government operates. A new generation of leadership within the parties, a fraught relationship with the federal government, and a prolonged economic crisis have strained the relationship between the two parties to its breaking point.

The Economics of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham

Introduction

Over the past four years, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has tried to transform itself from a faction of the Global Jihad movement into the de facto local military and governing power in north-west (NW) Syria. This shift requires the group to seek sources of funding other than al-Qaeda and its donors; consequently, HTS has undertaken a slow but steady takeover of the economy in NW Syria, from financial services and oil and gas to internet and telecommunications. This paper lays out how that process has taken place and provides a detailed look at the economics of HTS.

Più respiro e più futuro per l’Unione. Evviva i quasi Eurobond

Sempre vero che la foresta, quando cresce, fa meno rumore del singolo albero in caduta. Ma è destinata a durare, e magari cambiare l’ecosistema.

Martedì l’Europa ha ‘piantato’ quasi in sordina – per quanto fragoroso era stato nella primavera 2020 il dibattito sulla possibile mutualizzazione del debito anti-Covid – il primo bond del Next Generation Eu, il programma comune per ricostruire con intenti sostenibili l’economia dell’Unione. La Commissione ha raccolto 20 miliardi di euro con un titolo decennale per il quale la richiesta degli investitori è stata sette volte tanto, segno che l’interesse dei mercati per un’obbligazione europea ‘tripla A’ è grande. Entro l’anno i miliardi saranno oltre 100. Serviranno a finanziare le sovvenzioni e i prestiti destinati agli Stati membri nel 2021 per realizzare i progetti inseriti nei Piani nazionali dei Ventisette.

Chinese president calls for building closer Belt and Road partnership

China stands ready to work with all parties to build a closer Belt and Road partnership, President Xi Jinping said Wednesday in a written message to the Asia and Pacific High-level Conference on Belt and Road Cooperation.

Xi said the joint building of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that he proposed is aimed at carrying forward the spirit of the Silk Road, working together to build an open platform of cooperation, and providing new impetus for cooperation and development among countries.

Asian Countries Welcome G7’s Answer to China’s One Belt, One Road Program

Bangladesh and nations in Southeast Asia are welcoming the Group of Seven’s new answer to China’s One Belt, One Road initiative, saying it will be another source for financing their burgeoning infrastructure needs.

But because the U.S.-led Build Back Better World Partnership (B3W) initiative is scant in details, officials of some governments in the region and analysts say they also are waiting for more information to see how it can help their countries. China has an eight-year head start and has pumped huge amounts of money into its global infrastructure-building program (OBOR).

Warning Shots Fired at British Destroyer in Black Sea, Russia Says

Russian forces said they fired warning shots Wednesday at a British Royal Navy destroyer taking part in a U.S.-led naval exercise in the Black Sea near Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the action was taken because the HMS Defender entered 3 kilometers into Russia’s territorial waters. Britain says no shots were fired toward the vessel.