Other Voices

Rekindling the Cold War as Russia rearms

"With the full support of a feckless policy elite and an uncritical media establishment, Washington is slipping, if not plunging, into a new Cold War with Moscow." Strong words from Professor Stephen Cohen in a January article published in The Nation, who is a lonely voice in the US academic establishment with an unpopular point of view.

Friday, March 15, 2013 - 07:29 By:  Ben Aris, BNE
Indonesia’s financial sector: A half-full glass

In 1997-1998, Indonesia faced one of the most costly financial crises in recent history, as nearly its entire banking sector collapsed.

Thursday, March 14, 2013 - 12:13 By:  PS Srinivas, World Bank's lead financial economist for East Asia and Pacific region
Hot, clean and complex: Unlocking Indonesia’s geothermal power

Indonesia has huge potential geothermal resources, but development has been slow and speeding it up is considered a herculean task. The high cost of investment and lack of government capacity are often cited as hindrances to development, along with familiar concerns from the era of decentralized government about unclear regulatory and institutional frameworks.

Thursday, March 14, 2013 - 09:56 By:  Fitrian Ardiansyah and Adhityani Putri, Australian National University
Money talks or why Vietnamese can't simply trust known names

Throughout 2012 and the first quarter of 2013, Vietnamese households and businesspeople lived in uncertainty and fears about the nation’s falling economic performance. We termed the period as “transition turmoil” which is comprised of serial unstoppable mini-crises: banking liquidity crunch, non-performing loans (NPL), declining total demand, rising inventories, slowing growth rate, recurring (high) inflation, rampant financial frauds, alarming corporate bankruptcies, etc.[1]

Wednesday, March 13, 2013 - 13:28 By:  Dr. Vuong Quan Hoang (DHVP Research – Hanoi), Vietnamica
The Arab Spring and the Middle East’s Monarchies

With the notable exception of Bahrain, the monarchies of the Middle East have emerged from the Arab Spring basically unscathed – for now. In today’s Q&A presentation, the CSS’ Lorenzo Vidino explains why they have been able to cope with the political challenges of the region.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013 - 09:12 By:  Lorenzo Vidino, ISN
Stitching together a new Indonesia

The year 2012 was not a good one for religious pluralism in Indonesia. In a staggering six-month period alone, religious violence increased sharply, in particular violence connected to the abuse of religious symbols and closures of places of worship. In the first half of 2012, there were 179 criminal violations based on religion, the majority of them on Java, where the bulk of the country's Muslim-majority population lives.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013 - 14:41 By:  Benny Susetyo, executive secretary of the Indonesian Bishops Conference
Russia in the Caucasus

Despite the attempts by Western powers to penetrate the Caucasus, Russia continues to exert unmatched influence over the region. In today’s Questions and Answers presentation, the CSS' Aglaya Snetkov outlines some of the differences between Moscow’s North and South Caucasus policies.

Friday, March 1, 2013 - 10:35 By:  Aglaya Snetkov, ISN
The Impact of Yukos on the EU-Russia Energy Relationship

The Research Centre for Energy Management at ESCP Europe Business School London recently held an event which examined the impact of Russia's actions against Yukos Oil Corporation OJSC and the impact on the EU-Russia Energy Relationship. Dr Maxi Scherer -Special Counsellor at Wilmer Hale and Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary and Prof Alan Riley - City Law School, City University London, and Associate Research Fellow, Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels. presented their views under the moderation of Dr David Chekroun,Professor of Energy Law at ESCP Europe.

Friday, March 1, 2013 - 09:14 By:  Natural Gas Europe

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What is Other Voices?

Other Voices is intended to provide our readers with material from other countries and other people. Stratfor does not endorse the ideas and may even disagree with them. We nevertheless find them interesting and believe our readers will too. These will appear occasionally on subjects both broad and narrow.

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