September 2011

China’s leaders, even in their wildest nationalist dreams, could not have imagined a more spectacular reversal of history than that the US should be chastened and no longer top of the (capitalist) class, appealing to China to bail it out and boost world growth.
They can no longer resist the temptation to lecture the US, via the official news agency Xinhua, on the need to “cure its addiction to debt” (6 August 2011), and to assert that Beijing “has every right now to demand that the United (...)

Gaddafi was defeated, as he had been sustained, by tribal affiliations and alliances as much as by the impromptu rebel uprising. Now he’s gone, tribal politics will be crucial to establishing a viable state

Pre-crash free market ideology was only briefly out of favour. Although it was proved false and unviable, it soon returned to fill the void. Nobody knows any better — or can think any differently

Somalis, in growing numbers, are dying of famine after the severest of droughts. They are also the casualties of the conflict between al-Shabab and Somalia’s transitional government

The August riots in England may foreshadow far worse: they are the result of almost 30 years of deliberate destruction of a way of life and work that had a place for even the least-educated of young urban men

In London last month every local uprising, or as a notice in a closed Clapham pub read, ‘social unrest’, had different origins and manifestations. And very few of them were riots

France’s Front National is pushing to become part of the political mainstream, while the UK’s British National Party has returned to the fringes

Middle-class Israelis, aware they have lost social security and affordable housing, are protesting by pitching tents and demonstrating in city streets. But will they demand equality for all? For now, they seem intent only on their own lost privileges

A money-and-media election complex has transformed US politics, and taken it further and further away from a democracy functioning for the benefit of all. It is set to overwhelm the 2012 election

In just a few years Qatar has risen to the forefront of the global economic scene. Though the unexpected influence of the TV network Al-Jazeera can occasionally put Doha in a tight spot, the growth of this small Gulf emirate owes nothing to chance. Its rise is based on a long-term strategy that combines liberalism and free trade, development of its exceptional gas reserves and investment in new technologies

Qatar stands out in a region rich in oil, with the third largest natural gas reserves in the world, after Russia and Iran. This unique position puts it among the big international energy players, but also means costly investments

Al-Jazeera has great influence in the Arab world, now in ferment. And it is able to embarrass Qatar’s government by contradicting its diplomatic moves

Over the past 20 years the beautiful people have gone from merely staying as tourists in Marrakesh’s hotels and palaces to buying second homes there, often right in its historic heart, the Medina. As a result, the city’s real citizens now come second to service industries

It takes a brave man to attempt a summary of a hundred years of Russian history in 71 drawings, but Maxim Kantor has taken up the challenge. One may or may not share his dark vision, but one cannot remain unaffected by it

Gentrified Paris is so charming it feels like a theme park. But the charmless, wonderful Hôtel-Dieu still cares for the sick in rooms that would cost a fortune if it were a hotel