The article (link) examines the rationale behind the exploration by the vast majority of the world’s central banks of introducing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The phenomenon is discussed in the context of a number of key issues: a) the main drivers of central bank interest, b) the crucial role of public money in supporting...Read More

Two well-respected analysts and commentators, John Mearsheimer (2022) and Wolfgang Streeck (2022a and b), have recently put forward a persuasive thesis that historical and contemporary fault-lines are placing the EU in a position where its political and economic independence may be terminally challenged (see especially Streeck (2022b) in an Unheard interview. In summary, the thesis...Read More

The USA’s long-awaited ‘Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity’ (IPEF)[1] was released on 23 May at the Tokyo meeting of the Quadrilateral Dialogue (Quad). The IPEF complements the ‘The Indo-Pacific Strategy of the United States’ (Executive Office of the President 2022) launched on 11 February and the two documents have much in common, which reflects the...Read More

Despite the apparent acceptance at international level of several linked, though in some cases contradictory, norms, namely the (civic) nation-state sovereignty, the territorial integrity of nations-states, unitary and federal governance structures, and the right of self-determination, these norms are frequently challenged. The artificiality of such norms – confirmed only by the flimsy apparatus of international...Read More

There seems little doubt either that a new Cold War is appearing in the world, or of its ideological content. This is not to dismiss economic competition and security issues, but there needs to be a recognition of the ideological content of the contemporary antagonisms. The difference with the new Cold War is that the...Read More

The USA’s long-awaited strategy for the Indo-Pacific (I-P) was released on the 11th of February (Executive Office of the President 2022), it contains few surprises.  The stated goal is to work toward a free, open, connected, secure, and resilient region by anchoring the United States’ interests and values more firmly within it.  This is set...Read More

Negotiation involving compromises on both sides will spare the people suffering, while preserving their sovereignty and independence. “Forget the cheese – let’s get out of the trap” — Robert A. Lovett, U.S. Secretary of Defense 1951-53. The talks now underway in Belarus between Ukraine and Russia provide the possibility of a peace agreement and an...Read More

In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the West now has no choice but to impose the toughest possible economic sanctions on Russia and to seek to unite as much of the world as possible in pressing Russia to end the attack. All scholars and analysts of Russia and the countries of the former...Read More

In recent years, the world’s great powers have increasingly placed their own narrow interests and their deepening competition with one another ahead of the well-being of the wider international order: the United States reiterates its lofty principles without truly addressing the security concerns of its adversaries; Russia pursues destabilizing actions to gain an edge in...Read More

The Western attempt to expel Russia from Europe has failed. That there was such an attempt was always implicit in the strategy of seeking to admit every European country but Russia into NATO and the European Union. In this context, the NATO slogan “A Europe Whole and Free” is an explicit statement that Russia is...Read More