As our decade draws to a close, several important developments are taking place that could have a major geopolitical impact in the 2010s.

The first is obviously the foiled Christmas Day plot to destroy Northwest Flight 253 over Detroit. This was a firm reminder that international Islamist terrorism against Western countries is still very much [Read more...]

In case you didn’t notice, Sunday December 27 marked the 30th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which we now know was a pivotal event in world history. It was partly with this anniversary in mind that I recently read Artyom Borovik’s The Hidden War: A Russian Journalist’s Account of the Soviet War in [Read more...]

Dear readers,

Risk Watchdog is taking a break for Christmas, and will return next decade, although it is possible that my colleagues and I will deliver one more podcast before the year is out.

In the meantime, I sincerely wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

On this week’s Business Monitor Podcast, we take a look back at 2009 to give our assessment on what has been an unprecedented year for capital markets and the global economy. Justin Patrie, Head of Europe Analysis, is joined by Terry Alexander, Head of Country Risk Analysis, and Yoel Sano, Head of Political Risk Analysis, [Read more...]

 

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The US Census Bureau on Tuesday released its latest population projections for 227 countries and territories, but what is grabbing the most attention are their figures for China and India (click here for press release).

In particular, the Bureau sees China’s population shrinking from 2026, a year after which they expect India to become the [Read more...]

As the 2000s draw to a close, now is an opportune time to reflect on the big political events of the past decade, and what the future might hold.

First, here is an overview of the main events of the past decade:

The rise of China and India (and emerging markets [Read more...]

Sugar has already been the star performer among agricultural commodities in 2009, but Risk Watchdog believes that the year-long ascent in prices could have further to run. Sugar began the year trading around USc14.00/lb region, but by September, had rallied all the way to USc26.00/lb. Since the summer, prices have edged lower as investors hesitated [Read more...]