Turkey’s central bank in no rush to start easing policy
The new governor of Turkey’s central bank, Naci Agbal, said he does not expect it to begin considering cutting interest rates from 17% until much later this year given upward…
Reframing Mideast, Biden takes new distance from allies
President Joe Biden is quickly if subtly rebalancing US priorities in the Middle East, walking back his predecessor’s all-encompassing embrace of Saudi Arabia and Israel while seeking diplomacy with Iran.…
Turkey’s state banks likely to follow central bank and slash rates
Turkey's state banks are expected to cut borrowing costs on loans by around 200 basis points on Monday, according to three people with knowledge of the plan, following last week's…
A man’s world
IT wasn’t a particularly sensitive choice of words when the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, declared on Monday that his government would henceforth look towards women through a “fresh lens”.…
Battle of rival memories
THE Nakba is to the Palestinians what the Holocaust is to the Jews. There is a difference though. Nobody in their senses would deny the horrors inflicted on European Jews…
Addictive charity
STATE charity is an opiate: it creates addicts of both the donor and the donee. The poor accept charity because they have little or no option. Governments turn to charity…
Two steps back
HUMAN history is replete with instances of places of worship being repurposed by rival faiths in the wake of conquests or other cataclysms. It’s no longer a common phenomenon, yet…
A date with toxic alchemy
AUG 5 will mark a year since India’s annexation of Jammu and Kashmir was carried out with stealth and speed that left the opposition gaping at their shoestrings. It is…
Crossing the line
DEMOCRACY is dying. This may seem a strange thing to say as the world breathes a sigh of relief, buoyed by the pro-democracy paean that was US President Joe Biden’s…
Crisis of dictatorship – Part II
It is noteworthy that in 1922 Belarus was one of the four units that formed the Soviet Union. And in 1991 three of the four units – Russia, Belarus and…
