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Category Archives: geopolitics
Overspecific Prediction of the Day
I give this one a 100% chance of being wrong: Mr. Panarin posits, in brief, that mass immigration, economic decline, and moral degradation will trigger a civil war next fall and the collapse of the dollar. Around the end of … Continue reading
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Why Sovereign Wealth Funds Should Invest in Africa
I’m a fan of World Bank president Robert Zoellick’s idea yesterday that sovereign wealth funds should invest 1% of their assets in Africa. For one thing, as Zoellick says, this kind of investment makes sense on a purely financial level. … Continue reading
Posted in geopolitics, world bank
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Why Airstrikes Don’t Move Markets
There’s a lot of big news on the geopolitical front right now: Russia has elected a new president, Israeli forces have pulled out of Gaza, the US has launched airstrikes in Somalia. How come the markets can plunge in reaction … Continue reading
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Musharraf on the Islamic Bomb
Pervez Musharraf, speaking at Davos, is a bit peevish: We are a nuclear state. Why does the world insist on calling this an Islamic bomb? There is no Hindu bomb or Jew bomb or Buddhist Bomb or Christian Bomb. This … Continue reading
Posted in Davos 2008, geopolitics
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Sovereign Wealth Fund Datapoints of the Day
More from the December Euromoney, this time from Sudip Roy’s cover story on sovereign wealth funds. Two datapoints jumped out at me: "For all of the headlines being generated by the investments in the US and Europe, it’s a fraction … Continue reading
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Nasdaq is not a Strategic Asset
Matt Cooper today describes a 19.9% stake in the Nasdaq stock exchange as a "strategic US asset" – going even further than Chuck Schumer, the only lawmaker who seems to have any concerns about the deal at all, who said … Continue reading
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War/Oil Datapoint of the Day
According to the invaluable CIA World Factbook, US oil consumption is 20.73 million barrels per day. Which works out to 7.57 billion barrels per year. At the new record price of $82.03 per barrel, that would value US oil consumption … Continue reading
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Alan Greenspan and the Strait of Hormuz
This morning, I quoted Alan Greenspan, foreign policy wonk, implying that he wants the US to attempt regime change in Venezuela. Greenspan’s attitude to Hugo Chávez was so startling – even Otto Reich wouldn’t say that kind of thing on … Continue reading
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How Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani Won the Cold War
Did Reagan win the Cold War? Or, more broadly, did US policies in the 1980s
result in the collapse of the Soviet Union? A wonderful
analysis by Yegor Gaidar, who was there when it happened,
suggests that the answer is no.
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Sudan Versus Coca-Cola
Sudan threatens to cut of Coke’s gum arabic supply.
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Mohamed El-Erian Solves the Economics of Investing
What Makes Mohamed El-Erian a first-rate investor.
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Posted in economics, geopolitics
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African Nations Need to Grow Up
It boggles the mind that Africa’s diplomats and politicians, who have been agitating for years to have more ownership of development programs on their continent, would turn around and nominate Zimbabwe as the chair of a development committee. It’s almost as though they want to prove to the world that they simply don’t care about murder, corruption, poverty and famine.
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Mystery Russian Billions Update
It’s obviously Mysterious Russian Billions day today. Not only do we have the
shady Oleg Deripaska paying $1.54
billion for a 15% stake in Magna, a Canadian auto supplier, but we also
have the even shadier Prana, whatever or whoever that might
be, paying $3.9
billion for a shabby 22-story building in Moscow and a few other assets
of dubious value.
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Bolivia Exits ICSID, Endangers Global Direct Investment
Bolivia’s leftist president, Evo Morales, has announced that his country is unilaterally
exiting ICSID. What’s more, other countries in his bloc, including Nicaragua
and Venezuela, are likely to follow suit. This is bad news not only for Telecom Italia, but also for any companies investing abroad.
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Nuclear Proliferation Keeps Rupert Murdoch Up At Night
Can Rupert Murdoch help save the world from nuclear holocaust?
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