December 3rd, 2021
Courtesy of The Wall Street Journal, a report on Turkey’s economic crisis: The two-decade economic boom that lifted millions of Turks into the middle class is beginning to unravel, threatened by a currency crisis that has people lining up for subsidized bread, cutting back on meat and fleeing for a better life in Europe. The Turkish lira […]
Read more »The Real Reason China Is Pushing “Digital Sovereignty” In Africa
December 3rd, 2021
Via Rest of World, commentary on the real reason China is pushing “digital sovereignty” in Africa: This June, Senegal’s president, Macky Sall, proudly commissioned the construction of the Diamniadio National Datacenter, about 30 kilometers outside the capital city, Dakar. Sall said the West African country would move all government data and digital platforms from foreign servers abroad […]
Read more »December 3rd, 2021
Via The Frontier Post, a look at Algeria: The Algerian economy is gradually recovering from the initial impact of the pandemic and last year’s oil price shock. The health crisis has eased, most containment measures have been lifted, and domestic production of vaccines is supporting immunization efforts. With the rebound in hydrocarbon production and prices, […]
Read more »Digital Silk Road: A Platform for Techno-Authoritarianism in China and Abroad?
November 28th, 2021
Via CSIS, a transcript of Congressional testimony of Jonathan E. Hillman Senior Fellow, Economics Program, and Director, Reconnecting Asia Project re: the digital Silk Road: Chairman Merkley, Chairman McGovern, and distinguished Members of the Commission, thank you for holding this important hearing and asking me to participate. This testimony draws from my book, The Digital Silk […]
Read more »November 27th, 2021
Via MIT’s Technology Review, an article on how a once-thriving network of merchants selling digital content to people without internet connections is struggling under Taliban rule: When Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in August, Mohammad Yasin had to make some difficult decisions very quickly. As the country reeled from the shock of the insurgent takeover, […]
Read more »Afghan Economy Nears Collapse as Pressure Builds to Ease U.S. Sanctions
November 27th, 2021
Courtesy of the New York Times, a report on how Afghanistan’s economy has crashed since the Taliban seized power, plunging the country into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis: Racing down the cratered highways at dawn, Mohammad Rasool knew his 9-year-old daughter was running out of time. She had been battling pneumonia for two weeks […]
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