Helmut Sorge
| Posted : December 03, 2018
“LEARN TO LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE AMERICA HAS NO ALLIES”
In a review about the novel, Night of Camp David, published by the New York Times in 1965, a critic called the book “too plausible for comfort.” Nineteen sixty-five, ironically, was the same year that the “American congress passed the 25th Amendment, which provides a mechanism for removing a president who is deemed unfit to serve,” as reminded Alexandra Alter in the NYT article. An unknown writer, a high-ranking advisor of the present president of the United States, not long ago, published - on the opinion page of the New York Times - an article in which he confirmed that some Trump advisors had discussed the probability that they would have to activate the 25th Amendment against their boss.
Uri Dadush , Axel Berger , Andreas Freytag , Simon J. Evenett , Christian von Haldenwang , Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz , Raul Ochoa , Agustin Redonda , Karl P. Sauvant
| Posted : November 26, 2018
*The recommendations put forth below have been published, both print and online, in the Financial Times.
The leaders of the G20 will meet on 30 November and 1 December in Buenos Aires for their annual summit. They need to acknowledge that the last two years have been characterized by strong headwinds for the world economy. This time, however, it is not a mixture of poor macroeconomic policies and bad business decisions – as in 2008 when they met in Washington for their first summit – that endangers the well-being of billions of citizens around the globe. This time the threat stems from deliberate political decisions, in particular on trade.
Mehdi Benomar
| Posted : November 25, 2018
Lors du Forum Russie-Afrique, tenu récemment à Moscou, le ministre russe des Affaires étrangères, Sergey Lavrov, a souligné que les relations entre son pays et ses partenaires africains ne seront pas “impactées par des facteurs extérieurs”.
Venant du chef de la diplomatie russe depuis 2004, la formule peut paraître courte mais, à demi-mot, elle est porteuse de la détermination de Moscou de renforcer sa présence en Afrique, surtout que le forum de Moscou s’est tenu en préparation du premier sommet de chefs d’Etat Russie-Afrique, prévu en 2019.
A plus large échelle, le retour de Moscou en Afrique s’associe à une dynamique clivante de l’action du pouvoir russe : critiquée pour la méthode, la recette du président Poutine est appréciée en coulisse, en Afrique et même par certains cercles diplomatiques occidentaux, ‘’traumatisés’’ par la dégradation incontrôlée de leurs relations avec l’administration Trump.
Helmut Sorge
| Posted : November 23, 2018
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU
The term “Orwellian,” the descriptive of totalitarianism or authoritarian repression has entered the language of literature with many of its neologisms, including “Big Brother,” “thought police,” double think,” “un person,” “face crime,” and “thought crime.” George Orwell, the British author, had a sinister, utopian vision of the world, himself obviously disappointed by Marxist theories, communist dictators, or his experience during the Spanish civil war (where he was wounded), fascinated, almost obsessed, by the abandonment of the poor masses, which Orwell described and deplored in his writings.
Bouchra Rahmouni
| Posted : November 22, 2018
Nowadays, links between development and security are widely recognized by many, just as they were during the development of the Marshall Plan. As mentioned in the United Nations "A More Secure World" report, threats to one are intrinsically a threat to all. Thus, 17 UN-agreed goals were agreed upon to help end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all by 2030, including goal 16 for "peaceful and inclusive societies".
Maha Skah
| Posted : November 15, 2018
The workshop “Coping with Climate Change” gathered experts, policy-makers and researchers to discuss recent econometric work on decoupling greenhouse gas emissions and economic growth. It explored different policies and instruments that countries and financial institutions are adopting to cope with the effects of climate change (adaptation) and to contribute to the global effort to combat climate change (mitigation).
Lemine Ould M. Salem
| Posted : November 12, 2018
C’est l’opération de maintien de la paix la plus meurtrière de l’histoire. Installée en juin 2013, la Mission multidimensionnelle intégrée des Nations unies pour la stabilisation au Mali (Minusma) a déjà perdu près de 200 personnes. L’application des dispositions de l’accord de paix signé en 2015 entre le gouvernement malien et les groupes rebelles du Nord marque un grand retard. Pendant ce temps, l’insécurité, longtemps contenue à la seule partie septentrionale du pays, se répand au centre. Chef de bureau de la Minusma à Tombouctou, Riccardo Maia dresse le bilan de cinq ans de présence des Casques bleus onusiens au Mali.
Helmut Sorge
| Posted : November 06, 2018
“WIR SCHAFFEN DAS,” OR DRAGON BLOOD AND TOUGH SKIN
She is modest. Powerful. Thoughtful. The most influential politician of Europe, no, in the world, as US magazine Time stated in a cover story, declaring the German as “person of the year” — in 2015. Often this powerful woman does her grocery shopping without a bodyguard, and only really dresses up for one annual gala, the Wagner-festival in Bayreuth. She enjoys opera, a sharp contrast to her speeches. Richard Wagner, the composer is loud and confusing, sinister and bombastic. His opera, “Parsifal” for example, may take five hours, a great joy for Angela Merkel, who also enjoys football games and is not hesitating to follow the players of the national team directly into their changing room after the match. Last July, she went to see “Tristan and Isolde.” Her dress was as green as the trees in the northeastern Italian Dolomites Mountains, where she often goes tracking with her husband, who is as discreet as a ghost.
Yassine Msadfa
| Posted : November 05, 2018
Il y a une dizaine d’années, le nombre et la complexité des taches que pouvaient effectuer les robots semblaient encore limités. Aujourd’hui, certains robots, munis d’une intelligence artificielle développée, réussissent à apprendre et à exceller dans des jeux de stratégie assez complexes, comme les échecs ou le jeu de GO. Le développement de la robotique, de l’intelligence artificielle et de l’automatisation, en général, s’est fait de façon relativement rapide, incitant plusieurs experts à prévoir un avenir où les hommes peineraient à trouver du travail dans le sens où le gros du travail serait fait par des machines.
Otaviano Canuto
| Posted : November 05, 2018
Islamic finance is a way of doing finance while respecting the Islamic ban on interest-based transactions and ensuring risk sharing between parties in all operations. Contracts are supposed to rule out features that would make them akin to gambling or “making money from money.” Furthermore, engagements in businesses considered immoral or ethically problematic are not allowed.
