Via Foreign Policy, the annual Fragile States Index: RANK NAME TOTAL DEMOGR. PRESS. REFUGEES AND IDPS GROUP GRIEVANCE HUMAN FLIGHT UNEVEN DEV. POVERTY & ECON. DECLINE LEGIT. OF THE STATE PUBLIC SERVICES HUMAN RIGHTS SECURITY APPARATUS FACTION. ELITES EXTERNAL INTERVENTION 1 Somalia 114.0 9.7 9.7 9.4 9.5 9.3 9.0 9.5 9.0 9.7 9.7 10.0 9.5 […]
Read more »Courtesy of The New Yorker, a look at Afghanistan President Ghani’s efforts to save his country from collapse: Ashraf Ghani, the President of Afghanistan, wakes up before five every morning and reads for two or three hours. He makes his way daily through an inch-thick stack of official documents. He reads proposals by applicants competing […]
Read more »Via Eurasia Review, some commentary on China’s One Belt, One Road initiative: China’s “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR) concept for regional cooperation, which encompasses 65 countries along the land and maritime Silk Road routes, highlights China’s economic and strategic objectives as it faces slower growth and seeks to promote new growth drivers. “This is beyond economics,” […]
Read more »Courtesy of STRATFOR (subscription required), a detailed analysis of Paraguay: Forecast Paraguay’s strategic location within 1,500 kilometers (about 930 miles) of Mercosur’s most important markets will continue to drive foreign investment. But the country’s overdependence on Brazilian and Argentine business cycles will limit its industrial growth in the coming years, prompting Paraguay to look for […]
Read more »Via The Diplomat, an interesting look at Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka is in an enviable location. The busy East-West shipping route passes just six to ten nautical miles south of the island. More than 60,000 ships ply this route annually, carrying two-thirds of the world’s oil and half of all container shipments. Sri Lanka is […]
Read more »Via Value Walk, an interesting look at China’s growing influence in Central Asia: Turkmenistan sits upon around one-tenth of the world’s proven natural gas reserves. Tajikistan is so poverty-stricken that around half its adult male population is forced to travel abroad in search of work. Even with their starkly different economic profiles, the two countries […]
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