Smart Reads 28 January 2014
An escalation of violence in eastern Ukraine in recent days has once again left western governments trying to understand the strategies of pro-Russian rebels and their supporters in the Kremlin...
View ArticleSmart Reads 29 January 2015
Greece is shaping up as a potential ally of Russia after its new leftwing prime minister rattled Europe’s defence and security chiefs by objecting to calls for fresh sanctions against Moscow In...
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Syriza and voodoo economics
The term “voodoo” economics was originally aimed at the Reaganite right – and, specifically, their belief that cuts in taxes would pay for themselves through the higher growth they generated. Now, in...
View ArticleSmart Reads 3 February 2015
Greece’s new finance minister proposed a “menu of debt swaps”, which involve exchanging existing loans for growth-linked bonds, that fall short of a headline write-off of the country’s €315bn foreign...
View ArticleSmart Reads 4 February 2015
After releasing a video showing the brutal burning alive of a captured Jordanian pilot, Isis’ attempts to turn Arabs against each other risk backfiring, writes David Gardner The EU is supposed to be a...
View ArticleSmart Reads 5 February 2015
Greece’s privatisation programme, ordered under the terms of its international bailout, was falling far short of targets even before the country’s new left-wing government vowed to scrap further sales...
View ArticleSmart Reads 6 February 2015
The finance minister of Greek and Germany could not even agree on what they disagreed in comments that show Athens and Berlin are as far apart as ever on how to refinance Greece’s bailout Truth can be...
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Syriza and the rent-seekers
If there was any doubt that the forthcoming negotiations between Greece’s new Syriza government and its eurozone creditors would be fiery, Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras dispelled them in his...
View ArticleSmart Reads 10 February 2015
The war in the Donbass is reaching ‘breaking point’ at Ukraine’s strategic railway hub of Debaltseve, a city vital to coal supplies for electricity generation across the country After Greece’s new...
View ArticleSmart Reads 12 February 2015
A drought in Brazil, which depends on hydropower for 70 per cent of its electricity, is sparking fears of water rationing and energy shortages that could hit economic growth As public deficits rise,...
View ArticleSmart Reads 16 February 2015
Ten years after the assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister Rafiq Hariri sparked the Cedar Revolution that ended the Syrian occupation of the country, five developments stand out The market...
View ArticleSmart Reads 17 February 2015
The scenes of chaos during President Jacob Zuma’s speech at the opening of South Africa’s parliament last week will be remembered as one of the darkest days of the post-apartheid era Visitors from the...
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New Greek president disappoints Syriza’s far left
The election by parliament of Prokopis Pavlopoulos, a centre-right former cabinet minister, as Greece’s new president on Wednesday night has sparked criticism from members of the governing Syriza...
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ECB bond buying: the devil’s in the detail
When Mario Draghi gives his press conference, investors will be focusing on the details of the European Central Bank's bond-buying programme. The purchases could eventually amount to about €850bn-worth...
View ArticleSmart Reads 18 March 2015
Benjamin Netanyahu’s explicit disavowal of a Palestinian state ahead of his election victory leaves a bleak international outlook for Israel, writes Gideon Rachman London’s attempt to curry favour in...
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Greece’s reparations demand could bring the euro crisis to a head
This week Greece finally put a figure on its demand for war reparations from Germany – €278.7bn as compensation for the death and destruction visited by the Nazis during the war. Opinion polls suggest...
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Sun is shining, restaurants are full and Athens is far from panic
Immersed in thoughts about whether Greece will strike a last-minute deal with its foreign creditors to avoid a debt default, I found myself on Tuesday evening outside an Athens souvenir shop selling a...
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