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September 18, 2015 " Information Clearing House " -   In my articles I have already mentioned the key challenges that Russia is facing internationally today. Yet this subject deserves a more detailed discussion and not only because foreign policy is an integral part of any national strategy. External challenges and the changing world around us affect our economic, cultural, fiscal and investment policies. Russia is a part of the big world, economically, culturally and in terms of information flow. We cannot be isolated, and we do not want to be isolated. We expect our openness will bring the people of Russia more prosperity and culture and will promote trust, an item that has been in short supply lately. At the same time, everything we do will be based on our own interests and goals, not on decisions other countries impose on us. Russia is only treated with respect when it is strong and stands firm on its own two feet. Russia has practically always had the privilege

By The Saker September 18, 2015 " Information Clearing House " -    Like most of you,  I spent 1 hour listening to Bashar al-Assad’s interview with the Russian media yesterday .  I have to tell you that I am impressed.  But before I discuss this in more detail, let me confess something which old-time readers of this blog might remember: I used to be very opposed to secular Arab nationalists, especially Baathists.  Not only did I have an extremely bad opinion of Saddam Hussein (which does not prevent me from being outraged at the way he was treated and murdered), I also had some Syrian friend who told me a lot about Assad  père , Hafez al-Assad, the corruption of his regime, the very real fear that so many Syrians had of this security services and the  nomenklatura  of wealthy fat cats which surrounded him.  Coming back to Bashar al-Assad, I could not forgive him that he tortured on behalf of the CIA in the so-called “rendition” program and that he, or somebody very

In 1991 the northern section of Somalia declared itself an independent democratic state, since then Somaliland has struggled on its path to find international recognition while the rest of Somalia has become infamous for anarchy and violence. Somaliland: An Experiment in Democracy follows the 2012 election spotlighting the difficulties of running an election in an undeveloped country with a fragile infrastructure. While threats from outside (including terrorism and piracy) and inside (such as factionalism and vote rigging) loom over the process, one man is tasked with keeping the election fair. We follow Ali – an ex-investment banker from Toronto – who gave up his old life to run the electoral commission, and it is through him that we see the scale of the challenge facing Somaliland’s nascent democracy. Somaliland: An Experiment in Democracy is a close up look at how democracy functions under difficult and unfamiliar circumstances, and gives an insight into why so many

September 7, 2015 You are free to judge Gaddafi and condemn him as much as you like, but first, allow us to give you facts on what Gaddafi did/intended to do in Africa. Africa spends billions every year paying Europe for using satellite communication systems, in entertainment, security, business or just communications. Gaddafi wanted to get rid of that by paying and setting up satellite system for entire Africa for free, saving Africa billions annually going to Europe. Africa is divided into over 55 countries, with different currencies. This makes it hard for trade between African countries. If I wanna buy Cocoa from Ivory coast, I'll have to change my money into US dollars (giving US 5-10% of my money), they I will probably have to turn the dollars into euro, losing another 5-10% of my capital to Europe, then change my euro into Ivorian franc, again losing another 5-10% of my money to the french treasury. If I started with about South African rand of 1000, by the