Economics & Business Archive

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Anatoly Serdyukov, the director of the Federal Tax Service since 2004, as Russia’s new defense minister. Since then, Serdyukov has kept a low profile, despite a recent visit to China to promote military cooperation and Russian arms sales with Beijing. Serdyukov was a surprising choice. Apart from serving his obligatory two years of military service after graduation from the Leningrad Institute of Commerce in 1984, Serdyukov never worked in the defense community. He has now become the first genuine civilian to head the Russian Ministry of Defense. His Russian and Soviet predecessors had […]

The Year of China in Russia got off to a top-level handshaking start in Moscow this week, ensuring that whatever else might go amiss, visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao would have something to smile about, for the TV stations back home at least. But after three days of political pledges and promises with President Vladimir Putin and other Russian leaders, the Chinese president has returned home without any progress on the one issue that hexes Beijing now — energy security. China cannot maintain its racing economic growth of over 10 percent a year without scouring the world to vacuum up […]

LONDON — In Ivory Coast, it began with a foul stench emanating from the rank of dump trucks hired to dispose of an unknown shipment that had come aground at the port of Abidjan under cover of darkness. The shipment of highly toxic waste, floated through international waters by the Dutch multinational Trafigura aboard a Panamanian-flagged ship, was the residual product from an offshore cleaning of fuel oil tainted with too much sulphur. Shunted from port to port, it finally landed in Abidjan for the bargain-basement fee of $20,000. But in the seven months since it was offloaded and disposed […]

On Feb. 23, senior officials from Canada, Mexico, and the United States met to discuss ways to counter cross-border security threats while enhancing continental commerce as part of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP). U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay, and Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa also made further preparations for a third summit among their heads of government later this year. Since the SPP began in March 2005, its core implementation element has consisted of trilateral working groups. Those engaged in the “Security Dialogue” address such issues as common transnational threats, […]

CHIANG KHONG, Thailand — In the sleepy village of Chiang Khong on the muddy-brown banks of the mighty Mekong river, the young men are excited by talk of a bridge to link Thailand with Laos on the other side. The older population of mostly farmers and small traders are less enthused; they have heard it before. But this time, a bridge to open up a forgotten corner of empty, jungle-covered hills on the edge of the Golden Triangle — notorious in faraway countries for its opium-producing poppy cultivation — might really happen. China has agreed to pay half the $33.2 […]

Fertile fields where there was once barren tundra; the Arctic free of ice; unhindered access to mineral resources — in Russia, there is increasing hope that the country will emerge as a winner from the catastrophe of climate change. For the northern giant with millions of cubic kilometers of permafrost soil, global warming could bring enormous national benefit. The other countries around the North Pole are likewise beginning to imagine the coming of a new Golden Age. On this view, a Union of Nordic Nations might be the strategic alliance of the future, which thanks to the warming climate could […]

Impressively big smallness. That’s how Honda describes its new Honda Fit model, a “bite-sized wonder” the company is pushing to a U.S. car market suddenly hungry for fuel efficiency. The Fit is indeed a snazzy car, and features a customizable back seat that allows owners to alter the vehicle’s interior configuration on a whim. The most interesting aspect of the Fit, however, may be its nationality. Despite the Honda nametag, the Fit is half-Chinese. It is the product of a joint venture between Honda and China’s state-owned DongFeng Motors, and is also being marketed in Europe as the Honda Jazz. […]

ACCRA, Ghana — The green, red and yellow colors and the black star of Ghana’s flag symbolized the rush of pride felt by many people here as their country celebrated 50 years of independence from Britain. Some sported hats and wristbands, while others wore t-shirts, emblazoned with the government slogan, “Championing African excellence.” A few even donned the flag like a cape as they enjoyed their Mar. 6 holiday, the date of founding President Kwame Nkrumah’s declaration of independence in 1957. The vibrant displays of patriotic fashion certainly pleased the eye, but they could not disguise the dissatisfaction with Ghana’s […]

Violence and militancy in Nigeria — particularly in the oil-rich Niger Delta — continues to hamper petroleum production in the volatile West African nation and threatens to disrupt upcoming presidential elections, analysts and experts tell World Politics Review. In just the last few days, at least 10 people have been killed in an around Port Harcourt, the de facto capital of the delta, where some 2 million barrels of oil are produced a day, according to independent estimates. Dozens of kidnappings since the beginning of the year by armed militants have prompted foreign oil firms to evacuate thousands of workers […]

CARACAS, Venezuela — A former paratrooper, President Hugo Chavez is used to battling his adversaries without giving an inch. This time, Chavez has his sights set on Venezuela’s food industry, which he blames for shortages that have left many Venezuelans without basic foods, especially beef, chicken, milk and sugar. “On the hoarders and speculators, I declare war,” Chavez said on his “Hello, President” radio show recently. He added: “If you don’t want to sell beef, don’t — we will sell it. But we’re going to take away the butcher shop, we’re going to expropriate the butcher shop, no matter how […]