UPFRONT

Rick Rowden | 31 December 2015 | Foreign Policy Africa was never going to get far without manufacturing — and it can’t do so under today’s trade and investment treaties. In recent years, economists and popular publications alike have argued that Africa was on the threshold of an economic boom. Pointing to a decade of high growth and increased foreign investment, … [Read more...] about Africa’s Boom Is Over

Jeffrey Taylor | 30 December 2015 | The Atlantic A documentary on state television gives a glimpse of Vladimir Putin’s philosophy. “Do you realize what you have done?” Vladimir Putin demanded at the United Nations in September. The question was a rebuke to the American-led bloc of countries that initially viewed with optimism the Arab Spring, which … [Read more...] about The World According to Russia

Robert Fisk | 28 December 2015 | The Independent Isis men are now fighting in their thousands in the country we arrived to “liberate” 14 years ago, quite apart from tens of thousands of Taliban “pushing” in to their “heartland” around Sangin   The news from Afghanistan is very bad. No one says that, of course. President Ghani has a “national unity … [Read more...] about You won’t hear it, but news from Afghanistan is bad

Patrick Cocburn | 27 December 2015 | The Independent Conflicts among communities that once lived together in peace brings the prospect of a refugee crisis that will continue long after the fighting ends Sectarian and ethnic cleansing by all sides in Syria and Iraq is becoming more intense, ensuring that there are few mixed areas left in the two countries and, even if … [Read more...] about Syria and Iraq: Ethnic cleansing by Sunni and Shia jihadis is leading to a partition of the Middle East