When the Federal Reserve cut interest rates on July 31st for the first time in more than a decade, commentators were asking why. According to official data, the economy was rebounding, unemployment was below 4%, and GDP growth was above 3%. If anything, by the Fed’s own reasoning, it should have been raising rates. The…
Think tanks sprout like weeds in Washington. The latest is the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, which is engaged in a pre-launch launch and is attracting some media coverage all across the political spectrum. The Institute is named after the sixth US President John Quincy Adams, who famously made a speech while Secretary of State…
There are striking structural similarities between Kashmir and Crimea that should make Russian decision makers think twice before endorsing the unilateral actions of their decades-long Indian partners if they want to remain politically consistent. Kashmir and Crimea share many structural similarities that most observers might have missed upon first glance or if they were earlier…
It cannot be denied that much if not most of the western anti-war movement has ignored the plight of Kashmir and in recent years, things have grown worse rather than better in this respect. The root of this problem has comparatively little to do with India and Pakistan’s role in the Cold War rivalries between…
Turkey is changing, and the projections of George Friedman, founder of Stratfor, are shown to be wrong. If the ex-Ottoman empire is to develop, it will not be as a vassal of the United States. Rather than judging Turkey from the point of view of Western standards, and mocking its « new sultan », we…
President Donald Trump’s pre-election pledge to end America’s useless wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan just might turn out to be somewhat less than what was promised if some political allies of the president have their way. For the past year there have been rumors circulating in Washington about the possibility of using mercenaries…
