I have never been a huge fan of Cameron. The über-modernisation. The disregard for the views of Tory MPs and grassroot members. The incompetent 2010 general election campaign. The rush to coalition, including a badly-negotiated deal on AV. The decision to backload spending cuts and frontload tax rises. The lack of a proper growth strategy. This last week has taken me to a new place, however. The

Since 1991 the Russian arts have been the slowest of the country’s institutions to democratize, liberalize, privatize or reform. The reason for that is that the arts, ballet in particular, were more democratically patronized and administered before Yeltsin, more dictatorial after. The oligarchs of the Russian performing arts have grown rich by the conventional oligarchic methods – Mstislav Rostro

America’s concentration on the ‘war on terrorism’ has distorted the mission and scope of its Intelligence Community, according to a secret report commissioned by the White House. The classified report was compiled by the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, which counsels Barack Obama on intelligence matters. It cautions the President that the intelligence output of organizations such as the

"We simply cannot tolerate any challenge now, or in the future. No nation should underestimate the firmness of our resolve," said Shinzo Abe, the hawkish premier bent on national revival.

After talking to Japanese officials in Tokyo over the last few days, I have the strong impression not only that they are ready to fight, but also that they expect to win, and furthermore that confli

This is so bloody brilliant it just has to be shared. Australia’s unique comedy team The Chaser takes 90 seconds to make a mockery of politicians who obsess about public debt and don’t even consider private debt. Hey, can someone do this in the USA … and the UK … and Europe … and Japan?
I don’t think The Chaser would sue if you did: imitation is after all the sincerest form of flattery. Follow t

In the Coquimbo Region, an ongoing drought has caused rural exodus and conflicts between landowners, with some being accused of destroying channels in order to secure more water for themselves.

According to government officials, more than 29,500 acres of agricultural land are dropping in productivity. Local dams are only filled to 4 percent of their capacity. Since the beginning of the water

Cyprus 2013 is worse than the KreditAnstalt and Argentina 2001 crises because it has an element of confiscation and two broken promises that were absent in the latter….

Buddhist monks and others armed with swords and machetes Friday stalked the streets of a city in central Myanmar, where sectarian violence that has left about 20 people dead has begun to spread to other areas, according to local officials.

Members of the Buddhist and Muslim communities in Meiktila township have clashed this week after a dispute between a Muslim gold shop owner and two Buddhist

Forget Cyprus. A much bigger story in the coming weeks and months will be in Japan, where one of the greatest economic experiments in the modern era is about to begin. A country where government debt even dwarfs those of Europe's crisis-ridden nations, Japan will attempt to inflate its way out of a 23-year deflationary spiral.

The overwhelming consensus among the world's economists is that qua

“Just got a call from London. Boris [Abramovich] Berezovsky committed suicide. He was a difficult man. A move of disparity? Impossible to live poor? A strike of blows? I am afraid no one will get to know now,” the lawyer said on his social network page.

According to lawyer, Berezovsky had lost much of his fortune, tabloid LifeNews reports. In August, Berezovsky lost a $5.6-billion co

A Plan for Australian Jobs sets out three core strategies to create more jobs today and to create skilled and rewarding jobs for the future.
.....
Backing Australian firms to win more work at home

The Government will introduce measures to assist our businesses in winning work on major projects.

Find out how we are backing Australian firms.

On Tuesday, March 19, the national legislature of Cyprus overwhelmingly rejected a proposed levy on bank deposits as a condition for a European bailout. Reuters called it “a stunning setback for the 17-nation currency bloc,” but it was a stunning victory for democracy. As Reuters quoted one 65-year-old pensioner, “The voice of the people was heard.”
The EU had warned that it would withhold €10 b

Citing the essay “Argentina, the Church, and Debt” by Thomas Trebat, Mathews argues that, at the height of the debt crisis in 2002, Bergoglio was a leading voice in calling for a debt restructuring in which social programs would be considered more important than repaying and servicing existing financial debt. Statements by the Argentine bishops at that time diagnosed the main problems of the Arge

The total collapse of Cyprus’s financial system is being avoided only by the continued closure of the banks, which will now be kept shut until next Tuesday. The stock market also announced on Tuesday it would close for two days, amid fears that investors would withdraw large quantities of capital.

Negotiations with the EU are on-going, but EU officials insist that Cyprus raise €5.8 billion as

Never has there been a more incompetent and unreliable leader, people say, including many of her own colleagues. Yet this week marked Gillard's 1000 days as Prime Minister. She will soon have served longer than Whitlam.

Gillard has been unlucky enough to have stepped up to the job under two unprecedented circumstances: the hung parliament and the 24-hour news cycle.

The