Expanding the Legacy
President Putin Turns the Screw
This is perhaps not the time to tell the Germans ‘told you so’ as the nation deals with the fallout of the now disproved premises of its unfortunate energy policy. Not only has Germany’s dependency on Russian natural gas turned out to be a geopolitical miscalculation of almost epic proportions, its much touted and hastily executed ‘Energiewende’ compounds the present-day challenges to the point of intractability.
Emmanuel Macron: Visions of Strategic Autonomy
This Sunday, most French voters held their nose as they granted President Emmanuel Macron a second term in office. Faced with an impossible conundrum – how to spark change without upsetting the apple cart – France reluctantly concluded that President Macron represented the lesser of two perceived evils.
Searching in Vain for a Dollar Alternative
The seizure of Russia’s dollar reserves, part of the first wave of sanctions decreed in response to Moscow’s ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine, has a growing legion of pundits wondering if the time has come to look for a new global reserve currency. Some of the more outrageous suggestions suggest a fresh look at China’s renminbi and a renewed appreciation of bitcoin.
Exposing the Wage-Price Spiral Myth
Inflation equates thievery. It erodes the purchasing power of salaries and steals from creditors. Worse, most economists now issue dire warnings about the evils of a ‘wage-price spiral’ which is said to fuel inflation because workers demand compensation for the increased cost of living – essentially seeking to preserve the spending power of their income.
EU Battles String of Calamities
It’s about the only thing missing from a world in turmoil: France going haywire and off the rails. The solid showing of Marine Le Pen at last Sunday’s polls gives plenty of cause for concern. More moderate in her policy proposals and promises than five years ago, Ms Le Pen may no longer seek to extract her country from the European Union Now, she merely aims to undermine it.
A Reacquaintance with Inflation
An entire generation of workers, executives, and entrepreneurs has never experienced inflation and know the phenomenon only from history books. The Great Inflation of the 1970s is usually attributed to the sudden rise of oil prices after OPEC asserted its power in the wake of the Yom Kippur War. However,...
An Outsider on the Inside
When the going gets tough, Christine Lagarde has often been called upon to broker a deal or find the solution to a conundrum that baffles lesser minds. In a word: she gets going and likens that to being suspended from a ‘glass cliff’ – as opposed to bumping against a glass ceiling – a phenomenon whereby a complex and hazardous job is handed to a woman, making her success improbable, and affording men a measure of plausible deniability.
Russia Banished to Margin of Global Affairs
The Russia of President Vladimir Putin is becoming more isolated by the day as outpourings of indignation reach a fever pitch over the apparently indiscriminate bombing of Ukrainian cities and towns.
Casting Russia Adrift
In a matter of days, Russia was unceremoniously cut off from the global financial system. Credit and debit cards stopped working, as did Apple Pay and a host of other services. Both Visa and Mastercard blocked Russian financial institutions from accessing their network.
Fortress Russia on Shaky Ground
The rouble took a pounding of note, losing almost a third of its value as soon as forex markets opened Monday morning. Equity trading was suspended whilst Russian financial authorities pondered the extent of the sanctions imposed over the weekend.
