Bi-Weekly Geopolitical Report
Weekly Geopolitical Report – Greek Games (February 9, 2015)
by Bill O’Grady After the Syriza party won 149 of the 300 seats in the Jan. 24th Greek elections, European markets have been roiled by worries over another crisis developing. The party has engaged in some provocative behaviors; its leader and Greece’s new prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, decided that his first official visit would be to… Read More »
Weekly Geopolitical Report – Reflections on 1986 (February 2, 2015)
by Bill O’Grady Since last summer, oil prices have suffered a precipitous decline. The weakness is mostly due to supply and demand factors; however, because oil is a market with an active cartel, the decision by the cartel leader, Saudi Arabia, to allow prices to decline is also a key factor in price weakness. This isn’t… Read More »
Weekly Geopolitical Report – Saudi Succession (January 20, 2015)
by Bill O’Grady On New Year’s Eve, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was hospitalized with pneumonia. According to reports, he is taking visitors and will probably survive this illness. On the other hand, the king is at least 90 years old and is becoming increasingly frail. In light of his advanced age and declining health, an… Read More »
Weekly Geopolitical Report – European Populism (January 12, 2015)
by Bill O’Grady In our 2015 Geopolitical Outlook, one of the risks we discussed was the rise of populism. In this week’s report, we will focus on European populism. The recent attack on the employees of Charlie Hebdo in France makes this a timely topic. In this report, we will define populism, examine why populism has… Read More »
Weekly Geopolitical Report – The Cuban Thaw (January 5, 2015)
by Bill O’Grady On Wednesday, December 17, 2014, President Obama surprised the country by announcing a prisoner exchange and negotiations to begin establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba. Given that the Eisenhower administration broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba in January 1961, even considering resuming relations is a major change in policy. In this report, we will… Read More »
Weekly Geopolitical Report – The 2015 Geopolitical Outlook (December 15, 2014)
by Bill O’Grady As is our custom, we close out the current year with our outlook for the next one. This report is less a series of predictions as it is a list of potential geopolitical issues that we believe will dominate the international situation in the upcoming year. It is not designed to be exhaustive;… Read More »
Weekly Geopolitical Report – Hungary’s PM: Madman or Geopolitical Genius? (December 8, 2014)
by Kaisa Stucke, CFA Hungary has seen increasing domestic civil unrest over centralization of power and international criticism over potential changes in its democratic process. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban supports the creation of an “illiberal democracy,” noting that countries with restricted democracies have been the rising stars on the international front. He is also one… Read More »
Weekly Geopolitical Report – Reflections on the 25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall: Part 2 (November 24, 2014)
by Bill O’Grady Last week, we began our two-part series on the fall of the Berlin Wall with an examination of the end of Marxism. In this report, we will examine the rest of the important consequences from the fall of the Berlin Wall. These are: The Collapse of the U.S.S.R. The Onset of the… Read More »
Weekly Geopolitical Report – Reflections on the 25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall: Part 1 (November 17, 2014)
by Bill O’Grady It has been 25 years since the Berlin Wall ceased to divide East and West Berlin. After signifying the “hard border” between two competing world systems where East German security forces “shot to kill” their countrymen who tried to cross into West Berlin, suddenly, Germans were safely pouring across the dividing line. … Read More »