Mega-Tuesday: Can Anyone Stop Trump? Can Sanders Surprise Again?
Another Tuesday in March; another crucial set of primaries. After the violent clashes in Chicago on Friday night, it’s back to the nitty-gritty of votes and delegate counts. By Tuesday night, Donald Trump could be well on his way to wrapping up the Republican nomination, or he could be facing the pr…
Is the EU really ready to commit to Turkey?
The longstanding relationship between Turkey and the European Union has been turned on its head. At least for now, Turkey appears to hold the power. For a long time, Turkey seemed desperate in its courtship of the EU, while the latter was happy to keep its distance, reluctant to commit to the largel…
The World Has a Problem: Too Many Young People
At no point in recorded history has our world been so demographically lopsided, with old people concentrated in rich countries and the young in not-so-rich countries. Much has been made of the challenges of aging societies. But it’s the youth bulge that stands to put greater pressure on the global e…
A Radical Idea to Rebuild a Shattered Libya: Restore the Monarchy
TRIPOLI, Libya — The deserted royal palace here, hidden behind locked gates and an overgrown garden, stands as a monument to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s virulent rejection of Libya’s monarchy. Colonel Qaddafi overthrew King Idris, the country’s founding leader, in a 1969 coup, but that was not all. He…
Europe Without the Union
The European project was always bound to fail. Europe is a continent riven by geographic barriers. It has spent two millennia not only indulging in massive and constant internal wars, but also keeping written records of them, informing each generation of all the times their forebears were wronged. O…
MALI’S LONG ROAD TO STABILITY
Giorgia Nicatore Most people that know Mali I think would agree with me when I say that Malians are warm, friendly people, who are rarely caught without a smile on their face. In my experience, Malians constantly look to the future with hope and are optimistic about what’s to come, even in the face …
Why Iran’s Elections Matter
Interviewee: Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar Interviewer: Zachary Laub When Iranians elect a new parliament and Assembly of Experts on Feb. 26, they will find their choices circumscribed: nearly all the reformist candidates and many pragmatists were disqualified. “The elections are not free and fair,” bu…
U.S. shale’s message for OPEC: above $40, we are coming back
Devika Krishna Kumar For leading U.S. shale oil producers, $40 is the new $70. Less than a year ago major shale firms were saying they needed oil above $60 a barrel to produce more; now some say they will settle for far less in deciding whether to crank up output after the worst oil price crash in a…
Oil Dictator Dominos
Bill Emmott Price movements as large and rapid as those that have upended oil markets since June 2014 are sure to cause pain to some and benefit others. Though the pain tends to capture the most attention, the benefit is just as important – if not more so. The 70% drop in the price of a barrel of cr…
A New Deal for Europe
Thomas Piketty The far right has surged in just a few years from 15 percent to 30 percent of the vote in France, and now has the support of up to 40 percent in a number of districts. Many factors conspired to produce this result: rising unemployment and xenophobia, a deep disappointment over the lef…