Zero Covid Protests in China Uncovers Growing Discontent
In addition to Tehran, Beijing is experiencing one of the largest grassroots protests in the People’s Republic’s history. Like Iran, the Chinese protests shortly followed China’s authoritarian approach to stamp out the COVID-19 virus. A so-called “zero-COVID” policy has led many in the People’s Republic to become frustrated with the current Chinese Communist Party (CCP) […]
Renewable Energy Supply Chain Concerns
2022 has seen calls have increased from governments and citizens worldwide to transition to cleaner alternative energy sources, driven by consumer demands and high fossil fuel prices. Growing human rights and supply chain concerns may stymie those drives as Western governments attempt to respond to pervasive human rights concerns in the industry. Xinjiang Issue and […]
Iranian Protests : A Women’s Rights Movement Sparks National Unrest
On 16 September 2022, a 22-year-old Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, was pronounced dead in a hospital in Tehran due to a skull fracture she obtained while in police custody. Amini had been arrested by the Guidance Patrol, an Islamic police force tasked with enforcing the country’s strict Islamic dress code. She was arrested for wearing […]
Brazilian Presidential Election and Political Turmoil as Lula Returns to Power
On 1 January 2023, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (more commonly known as Lula) is scheduled to return to the office of the Presidency in Brazil, more than a decade after he left the office in 2010. His first two terms of the Presidency (2003-2010) was plagued by corruption scandals, most notably the Mensalao vote-buying […]
EU Ban on Russian Oil: Can the Kremlin Raise its Fuel Revenue following an Embargo?
At a meeting in Brussels held on 30 May 2022, leaders of the European Union (EU) agreed to cut 90 percent of Russian oil imports to the EU by the end of this year. The aim is to deprive the Kremlin of its main source of funding for the war in Ukraine. The remaining 10 […]
Ukraine Conflict: A Shift in Corporate Behavior
While corporations tended to differentiate trade and state affairs in the past, the Ukraine-Russia conflict has prompted their increasingly active role in geopolitics and altered corporate behavior in general. The conflict has exacerbated the challenges facing the global economic and political structures, forcing multinational corporations to adapt their business strategies to a new set of […]
Russian Fake News and Misinformation: A Strategic Weapon in the Ukrainian War
From the first moments of the Russian invasion, many misleading videos and false information started circulating on social networks, especially on Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok. In just a few hours, internet trolls and propagandist pages supported by Moscow were extensively sharing misinformation and fake news that contained false information about alleged Ukrainian war crimes and […]
COVID-19 and the Rise of Income Inequality
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused not just an enduring health crisis, but also an economic one. The global economic crisis caused by continued supply chain disruptions and bottlenecks shows no sign of abating. Though countries are slowly starting to return to business-as-usual as the pandemic starts to die down, many are warning of long-term financial […]
Anticipating the Global Food Crisis
The war in Ukraine has not only led to a severe humanitarian crisis in Ukraine but has also fueled the rapidly developing global food crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine comes as the latest development in the crisis that has been straining the food market for two years, stimulated by […]
Cryptocurrency and Blockchain: How to Understand the Risks of the Latest Financial Asset Class
Blockchain and Crypto Assets Rising inflation and fears of recession spurred by rising interest rates have seen a general economic downturn. Crypto-assets are no exception to this overall downturn. In a space that has been price exclusionary for many, the market factors are causing many investors to consider the present a prime opportunity to enter […]
