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20.12.2016
In traditional terms, the significance of a country’s political power was assessed according to its military might: the nation with the largest army had the most power. But that logic was not always reflected in reality. The US lost the Vietnam War; the Soviet Union was defeated in Afghanistan. In its first few years in Iraq, and despite its military victory in the original war, the US discovered the wisdom of Talleyrand’s adage that the one thing you cannot do with a …
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16.12.2016
Out of all emerging countries, Brazil is the one which has probably had the roughest time in 2016. There is little question that the country is living a deep political crisis. In the last six months, the list of scandals, surprises, and downfalls seems to have been updated on a daily basis. Among the casualties are President Dilma Rousseff, impeached late August through a highly contested process; Eduardo Cunha, former House Speaker, now in jail for corruption, as are …
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15.12.2016
The assassination of the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, Andrey G Karlov, by an off-duty Turkish police officer in the Turkish capital Ankara appeared, at first glance, to be a game changer in the ongoing Syrian war. When Karlov was gunned down at a public event by Mevlut Mert Altintas, the war had already entered a new phase with the fall of Aleppo through the support of Russia and Iran. But far from bringing about the beginning of World War III, the assassination has …
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4.12.2016
Contrary to perception, Donald Trump is a member of the transnational capitalist class (TCC). His vast business empire spans several dozen countries around the world. Much of his “populism” and his anti-globalization discourse have to do with demagogy and with political manipulation in function of the electoral campaign. Trumpism and the specter of 21st century fascism must be seen as a response to the crisis of global capitalism. Trump’s global business empire could …
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3.12.2016
Turkey, together with Russia and Iran, appears cautiously engaged in an attempt to broker an end to the bloodshed in Syria through a newly declared cease-fire between the regime forces and different non-jihadist rebel groups. Turkey’s motives behind its work to create a long-lasting cease-fire and its anti-ISIS [Daesh] military campaign launched in August 2016 are not too complicated to grasp. Turkey is attempting to neutralize the devastating effects on its national …
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29.11.2016
Over the last few years, many policy-makers and government officials in the United States have been advocating for an American ‘Pivot to Asia.’ Not to be outdone, the governments of other countries, such as the United Kingdom, Russia, and Australia, have all tried to also ‘pivot’ toward Asia. The idea of ‘pivoting’ or ‘rebalancing’ to Asia is based around the premise that the Asia-Pacific, particularly East Asia is the location of the most important trends in 21st …
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22.11.2016
Beginning with the 2010 Seoul Summit, the G20 has embraced global development as a key concern. On that occasion, the leaders established a Development Working Group (DWG) as part of the Sherpa track. In recent years, the DWG has focused on important issues, such as inclusive business, vocational skills and cost reduction for workers’ remittances. However, the overall impact of such measures has been quite limited. The DWG should not be faulted for this. The reason …
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19.11.2016
Sustainable development has become one of the animating norms of world politics. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as the framework for international development agenda through 2030. Sustainable development can only be pursued through multilateral cooperation. Cooperation is necessary in order to capture the multiple externalities between issues and their governance within and between countries. Because of the technical …
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18.11.2016
In June 2015, the
AIIB was officially launched, with 57 founding members and an initial capital of US$100 billion, to finance infrastructure and sustainability projects in the Eurasian region. As of November 2016, it has officially approved six projects in two batches of loans (see the table below). Although it may be too early to make a conclusion about the lending practices of this nascent organization, two preliminary observations are noteworthy. First, most of the …
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13.11.2016
Understanding Chinese politics is a matter of the utmost importance in terms of geopolitical, economic, and strategic stakes, especially given that the weight of the Middle Kingdom on the world stage is getting heavier day by day at the expense of Western countries. What’s better then than looking back into China’s history that reveals useful clues that can be decoded to understand the present and to help anticipating the future? China’s history is captivating. When we …
