Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced the planned investment of $16.3 billion USD in a New Silk Road policy championed by Beijing. The intention of reviving the old route is historically significant for China, as it did and will serve as the linchpin of the route upon its completion. The vast majority of the funds will be…
A new development in negotiations with Iran has provoked new optimism in a deal that had stagnated over after Tehran blocked IAEA access to select facilities. Iran has tentatively agreed to send the vast majority of its uranium to Russia, should a wider deal be reached with the West. Upon arrival in Moscow, the uranium…
Separatists inhabiting Ukraine’s southeastern region of Donetsk plan to hold their own elections, elect a prime minister and allow for a future elected official to appoint his own cabinet. The announcement was made days after the last bastion of separatist, pro-Russia rebels announced their intentions to hold elections that were not “rigged,” as they have…
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani arrived in Beijing yesterday to begin meetings with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. The recently inaugurated Ghani’s first official trip abroad as Afghanistan’s leading statesman will consist primarily of talks on the future of relations between the two countries. Ghani has made explicit his desire to strengthen relations with Afghanistan’s eastern…
Pro-Western blocs in Ukraine are leading the way with over 22% of the vote in Ukraine’s ongoing parliamentary elections. Competing parties led by Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and current President and former chocolate mogul Petro Poroshenko are leading the with just over 21.65% of the vote each, with all other parties at least seven…
Chinese investment in Tajikistan over the next three years will be equivalent to nearly two thirds of the Central Asian nation’s total GDP in 2013. Chinese presence in Central Asia has grown in stride with China’s own economic growth, though ties with Tajikistan in particular have strengthened as Beijing sees an opportunity to capitalize on…
Talks surrounding the state of Iran’s nuclear program have resumed in Vienna. Negotiators on both sides predicted the meeting’s success in the days leading up to the meeting, though early indications show that fundamental differences still exist between the two sides. The Iranian Foreign Ministry has alleged that it has accepted Western stipulations that only…
Negotiations concerning the state of Iran’s nuclear program will resume this Thursday in Vienna. Ministers on both sides are expected to trifle little while attempting to quickly reach an agreement with the Gulf nation by the 24th of November. The two sides have throughout the process expressed an ever-fluctuating combination of cautious optimism and full-fledged…
The sale of Morgan Stanley’s oil trading and storage businesses to state-owned Russian energy giant Rosneft appears to be in jeopardy following statements released by Morgan Stanley representatives. The transaction, which was brokered last year by the two sides and submitted for approval in July, has recently been hamstrung by the current state of economic…
Russia’s Central Bank has again been forced to intervene in the Russian economy. The latest intervention, which totals over $1.8 billion USD, brings the total amount of funds spent by the Russian CB up to nearly $55 billion this year alone. The fact that Russian intervention into its own economy began prior to the levying…
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