Institutions and Competition

Now that prominent s.British peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet has reported that recent trials of  the Gamaleya-developed "Sputnik V" Covid vaccine shows no adverse affects and generates antibody response, Kremlin supported efforts to produce…

Sports diplomacy existed long before Joseph Nye coined the term “soft power”. It was supposed to peacefully “co-opt” political actors rather than threaten or coerce them—which is, historically, how “hard power” works. But facing the…

UPDATE 27 JAN 2019   In an exclusive Davos interview, Brazil's new leader Jair Bolsonaro tells celebrity editor Lally Weymouth of the Washington Post that he wants to "make Brazil great again",  why is a big fan of Donald Trump, and waffles…

UPDATE 27 NOV 2018   There has been much discussion of  populism lately,  and buzz in mainstream and social media about  "The New McCarthyism." But to understand the social dynamics of  what a "new McCarthyism" might be or mean…

UPDATE 17 DEC  In its long obituary of GFK, The Guardian notes that during the "McCarthy Era"  U.S. senator Joseph McCarthy  called GFK, of all people,  a "commie lover."  (Note- You need to read the entire article to find the…

UPDATE 4 JAN 2019   Regardless of how much US secretary of state Pompeo urged Brazil to walk back its relationship with China during his recent visit to attend the inauguration of president Jair Bolsonaro, the official Brazil government news…

UPDATE 9 DEC  With incoming president Bolsonaro lacking firm leadership in Brazil's lower house, Exame and other sources report an escalation in the feud between the Bolsonaro family and the powerful transgenerational political clan, the Maia family…

UPDATE 27 Jan 2019  Leading print and online journal has st juprovided the general public with a list of the politicians involved in the what is probably the biggest bribery and corruption scandal to hit the Andean nation since the days of security…

During the "Cold War" amidst cries of "we will bury you" and the U-2 incident, American and Soviet scientists worked togther to develop and proliferate an oral vaccine to mediate the feared polio virus that during the first half of the 20th century and…

UPDATE 19 DEC  According to Buenos Aires News and other sources, Colombia's justice system has fined Brazil construction and engineering giant Odebrecht $250 million, having found the firm guilty of corruption to secure contracts. The company is…

Once they move beyond the “rage phase” of demonizing the Trump administration, leaders of the world's top economies, media assets and civil society groups would be wise to reexamine the benefits and the costs of the Paris climate deal. Climate…

Turkish-born preacher Fethullah Gulen has been broadcasting his brand of Islamism from a protected enclave in the United States since 1999.   Even before going into exile on Main Street, the ex Imam maintained what some might call a relationship…