Smart Reads 5 January 2015
An FT survey of 32 leading eurozone economists found that most expected the European Central Bank to launch quantitative easing in 2015 – but they believed this would fail to boost growth and...
View ArticleSmart Reads 8 January 2015
Even before yesterday’s shooting, French authorities had warned of a big terrorist attack for months, their concern fuelled by large numbers of French recruits to Islamist groups in the Middle East...
View ArticlePodcast: France after the Islamist terror attacks
France has been through a traumatic period following a spate of terror attacks that killed 17 people, which led to a wave of demonstrations by millions of defiant citizens in response. In the latest...
View ArticleSmart 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...
View ArticleSmart Reads 2 February 2015
New York is loosening up rules on its distinctive yellow cabs in an attempt to lure back Uber drivers disappointed by how much they have earned through the cab-hailing app As Cuba opens up its economy...
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 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...
View ArticleSmart Reads 2 March 2015
Despite a collective show of mourning for the assassinated opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, the prospects for Russia’s anti-Putin movement remain bleak In one of his last interviews days before he...
View ArticleSmart Reads 10 March 2015
Remarks by the president of Chechnya have sparked theories that Boris Nemtsov, the assassinated Russian opposition politician, fell victim to infighting in an opaque regime Policy makers in some of the...
View ArticleSmart Reads 17 March 2015
As Israel goes to the polls today, the winner will have to form a coalition capable of governing. Three different scenarios are most likely An emerging pro-Russia political party in Poland is hoping...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Saudi – Iran power struggle lays the region to waste
Militia men loyal to Yemen's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi loot the barracks of the Special Forces in Aden As Saudi jets launched bombing raids against Yemeni rebel targets, escalating another war...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Conspiracy theories are worry for Turkish democracy
A blizzard of anti-western conspiracy theories has hit Turkey in recent months. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month suggested that the western forces who invaded the Gallipoli peninsula during...
View ArticleSmart Reads 20 April 2015
Despite being accused of naivety in his foreign policy, Barack Obama is showing qualities associated with Henry Kissinger – the arch-realist of US diplomacy, writes Ed Luce Whether by design or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Europe’s migrant crisis in five numbers
EU officials have come under renewed pressure to take action against flotillas of migrants from Africa following the deaths of more than 1,000 people during attempted Mediterranean crossings over the...
View ArticleSmart Reads 2 July 2015
Angela Merkel is taking her revenge on Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras by insisting there can be no more talks on the country’s debt crisis until after its referendum on the bailout on Sunday...
View ArticleSmart Reads 28 July 2015
Behind Turkey’s volte-face on Isis, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is fishing for nationalist votes by tarring as terrorists the pro-Kurdish coalition, argues David Gardner Something is rotten with the...
View Article