The World Trade Organization made history last month when its members chose Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as director-general, the first woman and first African to hold that position. A former Nigerian finance minister and senior World Bank official, Okonjo-Iweala enjoyed near-unanimous support, but her candidacy had been stalled by opposition from the …
Read More »China’s Boycotts of Western Brands Aren’t Very Effective
China has a long history of wielding its immense market power as a tool of economic coercion. During the first half of the 20th century, it fought back against colonial powers by organizing boycotts of goods from the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan. Nearly a century later, China …
Read More »Biden Won’t Say It Out Loud, but He Might Want a Weak U.S. Dollar
“The exchange rate is the most important price in any economy, for it affects all other prices,” as Harvard political economist Jeffry Frieden put it. Since the U.S. dollar is the most widely used currency for cross-border exchange and investment, it is fair to say its value is the most …
Read More »John Bolton joins newly launched Turkish Democracy Project
The group describes its mission as “encouraging Turkey to adopt more democratic policies and responding to the steady erosion of Turkey’s democratic institutions.” John Bolton, the former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, says he’s joined the advisory council of the Turkish Democracy Project, a newly launched nonprofit, “to …
Read More »Turkey arrests 26 in raids against Islamic State
There are concerns about the Islamic State’s ability to still operate within and close to Turkish territory. Turkish police arrested 26 people on Monday for allegedly being linked to the Islamic State (IS).
Read More »Israeli Foreign Minister Kicks Off Visit to UAE
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Tuesday touched down in the United Arab Emirates, becoming the first minister from Jerusalem to formally visit the Gulf nation. Lapid met with counterpart Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and will later inaugurate the Israeli Embassy in Abu Dhabi, as well as Jerusalem’s Consulate …
Read More »Israel must stay out of the US-China struggle – editorial
President Joe Biden is keen to continue the Trump-era legacy of pressure on the People’s Republic, but Beijing won’t sit back and accept this behavior. In recent years, the United States has expressed growing concern about the rise of China, and especially Beijing’s role in seeking to play a greater …
Read More »Lebanon’s Army Approaching a Crisis Point
The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) is in dire need of emergency assistance to help sustain it and prevent an outright collapse. The average monthly salary for a soldier is just $80, leading some soldiers to abandon their jobs amidst deteriorating morale within the army.
Read More »Iran’s Next President
The regime’s efforts to ensure the election of a president closely allied with Iran’s Supreme Leader succeeded with the victory of Ibrahim Raisi in Friday’s vote. The low voter turnout indicates widespread resentment at the regime’s narrowing of the candidate field to favor Raisi, foreshadowing potential future unrest. As president, …
Read More »Fizz is gone from Biden-Putin summit
The morning after a Russian-American summit is most critical to know whether the previous day’s bonhomie was real, surreal or unreal. Surveying the Geneva Summit (June 16) between presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, I cautiously assessed the next day, “Does Biden have the political capital to press ahead with …
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