algeria gas station

Algeria’s Zero-sum Game Attitude towards Maghreb Union Backfires

Only words but no action. That sums Algeria’s attitude towards any initiative to reinvigorate the Maghreb. Algeria, which maintains borders closed with Morocco despite calls from Rabat to normalize relations, went further in its obsession of containing Morocco by adopting self-defeating strategies in the Sahel. Governing behind the curtain of a dead-living president, the deep […]

The Fed Up, the ECB Down: Time to Endow the ECB with a Level Playing Field

After years of loose monetary policy, with 0.5 percent interest rate and three consecutive waves of quantitative easing (QE), including buying US$ 85 billion per month of Treasury bonds (T-bonds), Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Fed’s board of governors, announced in May the Fed’s intention to commence tapering its asset purchase program. The Fed’s […]

Dozens of al-Shabab militants killed as UN study warns of Somalis being “highly traumatized”

Years of political instability, prolonged violence and humanitarian crisis have left people in Somalia highly traumatized, a new health study said, as the country’s military officials reported Thursday that 69 al-Shabab militants were killed in two separate military operations in southern and central Somalia. Mental or psychological disorder is prevalent across Somalia, with the cases […]