Global Economic News and Analysis
by STRATFOR With a dramatic hike in Turkey’s overnight lending rate from 7.75 to 12.5 percent announced on Jan. 28, Turkish Central Bank Gov. Erdem Basci followed through on his earlier promise to use interest rates as a weapon to defend Turkey’s currency, the lira. While the hike is a bolder-than-expected move designed to jolt …
Continue reading “Stratfor: Limits of Turkey’s Interest Rate Hike”
By George Friedman, Stratfor A few months ago, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich was expected to sign some agreements that could eventually integrate Ukraine with the European Union economically. Ultimately, Yanukovich refused to sign the agreements, a decision thousands of his countrymen immediately protested. The demonstrations later evolved, as they often do. Protesters started calling for political …
By George Friedman, Founder and Chairman, Stratfor An era ended when the Soviet Union collapsed on Dec. 31, 1991. The confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union defined the Cold War period. The collapse of Europe framed that confrontation. After World War II, the Soviet and American armies occupied Europe. Both towered over …
Continue reading “Stratfor: Beyond the Post-Cold War World, Balancing Economic and Military Power”
By George Friedman, Founder and Chairman, Stratfor The European economic crisis has taken different forms in different places, and Cyprus is the latest country to face the prospect of financial ruin. Overextended banks in Cyprus are teetering on the brink of failure for issuing loans they cannot repay, which has prompted the tiny Mediterranean country, …
Continue reading “Stratfor: Disturbing Precedent in the Cyprus Bailout”
By George Friedman, Founder and Chairman, Stratfor The global financial crisis of 2008 has slowly yielded to a global unemployment crisis. This unemployment crisis will, fairly quickly, give way to a political crisis. The crisis involves all three of the major pillars of the global system — Europe, China and the United States. The level of …
Continue reading “Stratfor: Europe, Unemployment and Instability”