SINCE the coup d’état in May economists have been trying to figure what South-East Asia’s second-biggest economy will do next. The data show that this year there will be hardly any growth at all. Spending is weak, investment down, trade and tourism shrinking. A drought is looming in the provinces and in Bangkok easy money has pushed the bourse nearly to an all-time-high. The optimists note that the coup has restored peace and order and things are already looking up. The pessimists see nothing but problems: a collapse in domestic demand, martial law, crippling uncertainty—about the army’s ability to run the economy,…

Fustrated by a growing death toll, the White House has quietly placed a hold on the transfer of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia as the Sunni ally continues its bloody war on Shiite rebels in Yemen, U.S. officials tellForeign Policy. It’s the first concrete step the United States has taken to demonstrate its unease with the Saudi bombing campaign that human rights activists say has killed and injured hundreds of Yemeni civilians, many of them children. The move follows rising criticism by U.S. lawmakers of America’s support for the oil-rich monarchy in the year-long conflict. Washington has sold weapons and provided training, targeting…

For me the Great Plains have a releasing effect. . . . Human effort is seen there in all its pitiful futility. — Thomas Hart Benton Late one afternoon in the winter of 1987, a pair of academics named Frank and Deborah Popper were inching their way down the New Jersey Turnpike when the idea hit both of them at once. Or anyway, that’s how Frank tells it. There they were, puttering along, chatting about the conundrum of the Great Plains, whose rural population has been dwindling for nearly a century, when they were overcome by a shared epiphany, and turned to each…

Generally, the economy in Singapore has a very good reputation. Its strong growth has earned the small country the nickname “Asian tiger”. However, since the economy of Singapore is dependent on exports, it has been affected by recent international crises. Read more in our expat guide. Advantages and Drawbacks As far as the economy in Singapore is concerned, the tiny state has made the best of some unfavorable conditions. Singapore has a small surface area of less than 700 km². It lacks both arable land and natural resources, like fuels, metals, or minerals. It is hardly surprising that only 0.1%…

Although the 2016 presidential election is still in the primaries phase, contenders have already brought up America’s failed foreign wars. Hillary Clinton is taking flak over Libya, and Donald Trump has irked the GOP by bringing up Iraq. But what of Kosovo? The US-led NATO operation that began on March 24, 1999 was launched under the“responsibility to protect” doctrine asserted by President Bill Clinton and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. For 78 days, NATO targeted what was then the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia – which later split into Serbia and Montenegro – over alleged atrocities against ethnic Albanians in the southern…