Opinion
FPRI BMB Ukraine: Surviving in Kherson
Slowly but surely, village by village, the Ukrainian army is advancing towards Kherson. This city of more than 200,000 inhabitants was one of the first large Ukrainian cities to fall in the early days of the conflict.
FPRI BMB Ukraine: Central Asia surprisingly neutral on Russian war in Ukraine
To the surprise of many, each of the Central Asian Republics has maintained a neutral stance on Russia’s military operations in Ukraine.
COMMENT: Sovereign Sustainable bonds fit the Ukraine refugee crisis funding needs
Ukraine’s war displacement with 7mn refugees, and even more internally in flux, is the world’s largest, according to the UN refugee agency. Governments have spent some €30bn on help, but more money is needed and the capital markets may help.
ASH: Turkey playing a delicate balancing act between Ukraine, Russia and Nato
Turks are rightly proud of the success of Bayraktar drones in the conflict in Ukraine and Kyiv was grateful, but now they are not so sure as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plays both side of the fence.
HESS: West wins the default battle but the economic war must go on
The Russian Federation has defaulted on its debts, failing to pay interest on a pair of Eurobonds within their 30-day grace period that ended on 26 June – another blow struck against Russia in an escalating economic war.
NEMETHY: Is the US Fed playing with the wrong levers?
Many economists are of the opinion that the US Fed has had a pretty abysmal track record in forecasting inflation during past years. It first deliberately changed policy to allow inflation to run hot at higher than 2%, but now it's too high.
Ukraine has been clear that it needs more weapons from the West. So, what’s the holdup?
On June 13, Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak named the specific amount of Western weapon supplies Ukraine needs in order to “end the war” and “kick Russia out of Ukraine”: 1,000 155-mm howitzers and more.
COMMENT: Why replenished ties between Uzbekistan and Turkey suit both Tashkent and Ankara
For the Uzbeks, the strategic relationship helps with the balancing act between the big powers. For the Turks, it builds regional influence in line with the pan-Turkic agenda.
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Analyst says West should form ‘alliance of convenience’ with ‘unsavoury Erdogan’
Turkish leader might be won round with economic lifeline that would persuade him to abandon Moscow, says Maximilian Hess.
COMMENT: Georgia drops out of the Trio – why did this happen?
Georgia can become an EU candidate country, but not with Georgian Dream in power.
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Book review | China’s “detached” power
A new book exposes the hollowness of many Western assumptions about China’s role in Central Asia.
COMMENT: Ukraine’s Eurobonds – pros and cons of restructuring
The Ukrainian economy has been badly hit by the war and is operating in an extremely challenging environment. Budget revenues have plummeted while expenditures stay elevated. Will the government be forced to restructure its debt again?
COMMENT: Fiscal challenge for Azerbaijan is to not spend the oil price boom
Counter-cyclical fiscal policy needed. Among other things, more modest budget spending would help country combat soaring inflation.
COMMENT: Towards sustainable, safe and smart roads in the Western Balkans
The lack of adequate road infrastructure, as well as road maintenance, has been a persistent impediment to growth in the Western Balkans, but infrastructure bottlenecks are now being addressed.
ASH: Welcome to the new age of inflation
The debate around inflation is centre-stage at present, with headline and PPI inflation soaring globally in response to a range of factors but including climate change/transition and Covid-related supply disruptions.
COMMENT: How international supply chains are contending with the war in Ukraine
When Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, international supply chains were still fragile after the massive impact of COVID-19. Russia's invasion of Ukraine is not causing quite the same pain, but its effects are being felt around the world.
COMMENT: Uzbekistan’s constitutional reforms are for the people
Every modern constitution claims to speak for the public. “We the People,” the US Constitution famously begins. Uzbekistan’s own Soviet era constitution, passed in 1978, declared grandly that “all power” belonged to the people. It didn’t.
NEMETHY: The world continues to hurtle towards recession and potentially financial crisis
There is a widespread feeling of ‘business as usual’. There is very little sense of impending doom. This confidence is misplaced.
ASH: Ukraine should not have to pay for this war
Ukrainians are showing remarkable bravery in defending not only their own country, but our values. But Western financial support is largely credits, not grants. If they are fighting on our behalf, should they also pay for a war they didn’t start?
FPRI BMB Ukraine: A cultural break
“Everything that orc troops celebrate will disappear from the foreign literature programme,” declared Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Education and Science Andriy Vitrenko on June 7, announcing planned changes to the school curriculum in Ukraine.
