America, after the collapse… I must admit that, unlike some of my colleagues, I’ve avoided reading books about the global economic crisis. Part of the reason is that I am sceptical about the benefits of ‘instant books’ – that is to say, books about current events published during the event or too soon after it… [Read more]

“It’s the economy, stupid”. It was short and to the point. A perfect anchoring message, created by famed US Democratic Party strategist James ‘The Ragin Cajun’ Carville, that helped Bill Clinton focus his campaign strategy and successfully take over the White House in 1992. It’s all about message control. Being able to frame the debate…. [Read more]

What do the Great Fire of London, the rise of Adolf Hitler, and the attacks of September 11 2001 have in common? Though their occurrence spanned hundreds of years and different continents, they were all predicted well in advance, and by a single man. Michel de Nostradame, a.k.a. Nostradamus, the 16th century seer who used… [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]

“If you have a lot of what people want and can’t get, then you can supply the demand and shovel in the dough”. – Lucky Luciano It’s a simple enough concept, and one that helped make the father of modern organised crime in the United States cited above ‘one of the most influential builders and… [Read more]

My initial reaction at being handed the opportunity to review Riccardo Rebonato’s 2007 work on financial risk, Plight of the Fortune Tellers, was one of enthusiasm (the name’s not Risk Watchdog for nothing). However, while the book proved insightful, I realised early on that I was reading it two years too late. Prior to Lehman’s… [Read more]

Global politics and commerce have long been centred on major basins, starting with the Mediterranean, then shifting to the Atlantic and later the Pacific oceans. In recent years, the Indian Ocean has emerged as the focus of a new geopolitical competition and a realm for promoting ‘South-South’ trade and investment, especially between China-India and Africa…. [Read more]