October 12, 2008
Financial MarketsWords no Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund ever wants to utter: “Intensifying solvency concerns about a number of the largest US-based and European financial institutions have pu…
August 12, 2011
Budget, Debt, and DeficitsWinthrop, Iowa. (Jessica Rinaldi/courtesy Reuters) Above the Fold. Foreign policy took a back seat to Obama bashing and internal GOP sniping in last night’s Republican presidential debate. Rick Sant…
August 18, 2011
Conflict PreventionAn aerial view of downtown Chicago is seen from Air Force One July 6, 2006 (Jason Reed/Courtesy Reuters). I want to highly recommend a new documentary film, “The Interrupters,” which provides a grip…
September 19, 2011
Sub-Saharan AfricaA man, suspected of being involved in a series of bomb attacks, walks handcuffed outside the Wuse magistrate court in Nigeria's capital Abuja September 13, 2011. (Afolabi Sotunde/Courtesy Reuter…
October 21, 2011
Budget, Debt, and DeficitsA pigeon sits on a clock in Frankfurt. (Alex Domanski/courtesy Reuters) Above the Fold. The super committee now has a bit more than a month to strike a long-term deficit reduction deal. I’m skeptica…
February 14, 2012
Sub-Saharan AfricaBayelsa state, in the oil-rich Niger Delta, went to the polls on Saturday to elect a new governor. The winner, by a huge majority, was Henry Dickson, the PDP candidate and a close political ally of P…
April 16, 2012
Sub-Saharan AfricaPresident Amadou Toure agreed to step down as president, clearing the way for the vice president to become chief of state. The military in turn agreed to the restoration of constitutional government…
June 12, 2013
Sub-Saharan AfricaFrance and the United States are leading the push for elections to proceed on schedule in Mali in late July. The urgency reflects the view that elections are crucial to ending the rift in Bamako and …
July 29, 2013
Sub-Saharan AfricaInformation about Mali’s polling on Sunday, July 28 is coming from western sources–notably Radio France Internationale (RFI), Deutsche Welle (DW), and Voice of America (VOA). As is usual the day afte…
August 17, 2013
EgyptI’ll be disconnected most of the coming week, enjoying some downtime with my wife and daughters. With everything that is going on in Egypt, however, I’ve asked my research associate, Alex Brock, and …