A boat passes by the skyline of downtown Dubai featuring the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, UAE, Dec. 18, 2016 (AP photo by Jon Gambrell).

After more than three years in the doldrums, the economy of the United Arab Emirates is headed for a recovery. Spurred on in part by the highest oil prices since December 2014, the UAE has also taken strides to implement important, if long overdue, structural reforms aimed at liberalizing and diversifying its economy. One expected boost to revenue in 2018 will come from a 5-percent value-added tax that was rolled out Jan. 1. While all six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council initially intended to adopt the VAT initiative together, only the UAE and Saudi Arabia moved forward at the […]

A demonstrator waves an Argentine flag as a crowd marches to the Congress to protest the recent pension reform, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dec. 19, 2017 (AP photo by Victor R. Caivano).

Argentina’s president, Mauricio Macri, opened the year on the heels of a bruising fight over pension reform, which has galvanized the opposition and sent his approval ratings tumbling. But the promise of greater economic growth and persistent divisions among the opposition make it far from certain that this short-term turmoil will derail his government’s agenda and turn into a major barrier to his re-election next year. Macri’s team first began floating the idea last summer of reforming a retirement system that is plagued by an insufficient funding base—the result of demographic factors and widespread labor informality. His determination to secure […]

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull poses with Chinese President Xi Jinping for a photo ahead of the G-20 summit, Hangzhou, China, Sept. 4, 2016 (Pool photo by Wang Zhao via AP).

Over the past six months, debates have grown in Australia and New Zealand about whether China is wielding more political influence within their borders than at any time in recent memory. In September, a New Zealand academic, Anne-Marie Brady, released an exhaustive report detailing Beijing’s efforts to influence the country’s politics. Tactics included trying to control organizations representing the ethnic Chinese community in New Zealand and channeling money to politicians and educational institutions. In late 2017, New Zealand’s deputy prime minister called for an investigation into the vetting process for national security clearances, after Brady and several reporters revealed that […]

An Afghan vendor of lapis lazuli waits for customers, Kabul, Afghanistan, March 28, 2016 (AP photo by Rahmat Gul).

Afghanistan has some of the richest mineral deposits in the world, but extracting them has proven difficult amid years of instability and war. There were modest signs of improvement in 2017, most notably the Afghan government’s ability to manage and report its earnings from mining royalties and taxes, which it couldn’t do much at all a few years ago. But challenges remain to attract more meaningful foreign investment and capitalize on the country’s resources. The Afghan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum reported earning approximately $86 million in revenues in 2017, $19 million more than it reported earning in 2016. Yet […]

Police officers arrest a supporter of independence for West Papua during a rally in Jakarta, Indonesia, Aug. 15, 2017 (AP photo by Tatan Syuflana).

John Ondawame greatly admired the independence struggle in East Timor, especially its ability to win active support from people in Europe, the United States and Australia. But the exiled former fighter, activist and spokesman for West Papuans also longed for the world to take notice of the plight of his people and to see the shared contours of the two conflicts—two ethnically distinct regions of Indonesia longing to break free. Ondawame did not live to see his dream of West Papua’s independence fulfilled; he died in 2014. But it is more difficult than ever for the Indonesian government to keep […]

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Chinese President Xi Jinping pose for photographers at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, May 16, 2017 (Pool photo by Damir Sagolj via AP).

HONG KONG—There are few winners from the crisis in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine, where thousands of ethnic Rohingyas have lost their lives in an ongoing military crackdown and hundreds of thousands more have been displaced. But one exception is China, whose diplomats have skillfully exploited the turmoil to advance Beijing’s interests. In August, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, an insurgent group claiming to represent Myanmar’s Rohingya minority, attacked a series of security installations, provoking a murderous reaction from the military. Doctors Without Borders reported that at least 6,700 Rohingyas were killed in the first month of violence, while over […]

A march against corruption in Bolivar Plaza, after revelations that Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht bribed Colombian officials and illegally financed candidates, Bogota, April 1, 2017 (AP photo by Ivan Valencia).

BOGOTA, Colombia—It was one of the biggest corporate corruption scandals in history, and its web of connections still hasn’t been fully untangled across Latin America. Having paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in political bribes in order to secure lucrative contracts at home and abroad, the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht continues to upend politics, lately in Ecuador and Peru. But things are picking up in Colombia, too. In August, Colombia’s Supreme Court called on President Juan Manuel Santos and several former ministers to testify about Odebrecht bribes to the Colombian government that the attorney general’s office says exceed $27 […]

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