Changes in the Commodities Market - Part 2: What is the role for international trading companies?

The Taliban movement took control of Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, without confrontation or resistance, as soon as the president, Ashraf Ghani, fled the country. Afghan forces were not able to face the Taliban, despite of the fact that Taliban was technically outnumbered and outgunned by Afghan government forces. The New American administration first priority is to make US military mission in Afghanistan conclude by August 31st. Biden believes that the mission US army in Afghanistan ...

The Nile is a monster, at 6,650 kilometers the longest river on the planet. Control of its waters has kept rulers in power for thousands of years. The Blue and White Niles merge in Khartoum then flow northwards, travelling through Sudan to Egypt, the glorious land of Pharaohs. Conflict or cooperation The Blue Nile nations, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt, are facing the question of conflict or cooperation, as Sara Hasnaa Mokkadem wrote in her study for the Annual Report on Africa’s Geop ...

The EU and Africa aim to put their cooperation on a new footing. Thus, the EU Commission proposed in March 2020 close future relations based on five partnerships: 1) for green transition and energy access; 2) for digital transformation; 3) for sustainable growth and jobs; 4) for peace and governance; and 5) on migration and mobility. Hopefully, both sides can discuss and adopt the strategy at the next EU-Africa-Summit. The present study deals precisely with the third aspect, i.e. ec ...

Abdelhak Bassou is one of the leading national and African security experts. He is a Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South and a highly appreciated professor at the elite University Mohammed VI, near Marrakech. His opinions provoke thoughts and comments, just as they should. The Policy Center for the New South’s Annual Report on Africa’s Geopolitics, coordinated by Mr. Bassou, contains numerous reports on the damaging effects of COVID-19 on Africa’s societies: ‘Impact ...

L’actualité pétrolière très chargée de ces derniers mois a mis sur le devant de la scène une entité appelée OPEP+. Ce nom est aujourd’hui régulièrement cité par un grand nombre de médias dans des commentaires et analyses sur l’évolution du marché pétrolier mondial et des prix du pétrole. Il faut souligner d’emblée que l’OPEP+ n’est pas, comme on pourrait le croire, une organisation. L’OPEP (Organisation des pays exportateurs de pétrole), elle, est une véritable organisation avec un ...

Macroeconomic dynamics in the U.S. economy has increasingly become associated with asset price fluctuations in the past few decades. Financial conditions have increasingly become an influential factor shaping the cyclical pace of the macroeconomy. There has been a mismatch between rising financial wealth and the pace of creation and incorporation of new assets. Several secular stagnation hypotheses offer explanations for the insufficient creation of new assets. Public debt—and its p ...

The ongoing war in the Tigray region of Ethiopia has resulted in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in a decade. The escalating conflict has led to the death and displacement of thousands of civilians, raised ethnic tensions in Ethiopia, and caused a food crisis that could lead to widespread famine. Much can be said about this conflict—how it revolves around models of governance and conflicting visions of self-determination, and how its impact will be felt across the region. Here ...