Subterms
Dubai — memorably called the world’s fastest city by author and analyst Jim Krane — was already traveling in the slow lane when COVID-19 arrived. The Gulf city-state is one of seven that make up the United Arab Emirates. It had survived the crash of 2009 and thrived anew on tourism, transportation, financial and property markets. However, […] More
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is grappling with COVID-19, an unresolved war in Yemen and collapsed oil prices. At the same time, recurrent purges of opponents of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) are harming the country’s foreign investment climate. Within this context, the ambitious Vision 2030 initiative to transform Saudi economy and society is […] More
Everyone likes a snappy pop-cultural title with which to approach international politics and strategy because it makes relatable what is often viewed as an opaque process of the elites. Rudyard Kipling’s “Great Game” was a chessboard and originally referred to the various schemes and posturing of the British and Russian empires throughout Central Asia, with […] More
The current public health crisis has become a major challenge for European economies. It particularly affects countries in the southern part of the eurozone, as they are still suffering from the effects of the euro debt crisis of 2009-12. In the absence of a convincing fiscal policy response from the European Union or the eurozone, […] More
W hen coronavirus crept across the world in early February, talk of how different nations were dealing with the virus came to resemble the Olympics for state capacity. Which country had the authority, the supplies and the expertise to “crush the curve”? A balance sheet of national progress marked out a bleak race to the […] More
Since 2016, the year the British voted to leave the European Union and the US elected trade-war baron Donald Trump, Europe has had its share of political and economic storms. The EU’s lack of unity and coherence and its fragility as a geopolitical institution have never been more obvious. The euro was already under threat […] More
Morocco is committed to finding opportunities to restructure and redirect its economy to be better prepared for other potential calamities, such as the coronavirus pandemic. The economy is already facing a downturn due to drought, which may result in as much as a 42% decline in cereal production for 2019-20. However, given advances in the agricultural sector […] More
Even leaders who thrive by bullying people have realised that they can’t bully a pandemic. But nor does caution fit easily with their macho political image. Their temptation has been to let it run its course instead. Now the facts are catching up with them. The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has repeatedly dismissed the risks […] More
