Chatham House: Independent thinking on international affairs
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Each year Chatham House experts, speakers and publications contribute to around 3,000 interviews and articles in the national and international media. The list below is a short selection of contributions in recent days and weeks.
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Jane Kinninmont says the verdict sent a tough message to protesters as well as Western countries which have urged the regime to compromise with its opponents.
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The initial protests in North Africa were about the prices of bread and then that very quickly snowballed into protests and unrest about wider issues. So as food prices go up, that part of the world is going to be particularly vulnerable to civil unrest, says Rob Bailey.
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The shoddy construction of China's new housing shows the continuing inability or unwillingness of local governments to enforce building codes, says Philip Andrews-Speed.
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Some of the transformations that are necessary are huge and arguably they cannot happen without a transformation and change of the Angolan state and government model, says Markus Weimer.
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President dos Santos and the MPLA are aware that increasing numbers of Angolans expect their government to provide better services, jobs and prosperity, says Alex Vines.
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The long-running saga of Boris Berezovsky versus Roman Abramovich opened the window on how oligarchical capitalism was established in Russia in the 1990s, writes Richard Sakwa.
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The presidential system built around dos Santos is increasingly inefficient and unable to deal with the challenges of modern Angola, says Alex Vines.
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Under the terms of a new constitution, the leader of the party that wins Friday's parliamentary vote will automatically become Angola's president. This is the first time since 1992 that the president will have a democratic mandate, says Markus Weimer.
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China appears to have got rid of the most dangerous, nasty, polluting and unregulated small scale coal mines and instead of 80,000 or 100,000 there are now around 10,000, says Philip Andrews-Speed.
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It is simplistic to say that because a coalition of the willing has sanctions against Iran, that Iran is isolated. There are tough measures in force, but they don’t require the withdrawal of diplomatic recognition or other forms of trade, says Richard Dalton.
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Expectations of a shale revolution in Europe could be undermining investment decisions. It is okay if Europe is soon awash with cheap shale supplies but if it turns out to be all hype and not reality then it could be too late to invest in alternative projects, says Paul Stevens.
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Against all odds, he has remained in power since 1979, overcoming challenges of war, elections and at the same time displaying a highly refined political craftsmanship, says Alex Vines.
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This project always looked very challenging. The company is very busy on other fronts, including the development of Yamal, which is strategically much more important than Shtokman, says John Lough.
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The authorities shot themselves in the foot by taking a stance on what would have otherwise gone relatively unnoticed, says Katia Glod.
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Not to say that much better roads and bridges and buildings aren't important, but in the end, this election is about better governance, says Alex Vines.
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It's wrong to call it the opposition versus the regime. This is the whole of Syrian society emerging after almost a half-century of being excluded from politics, says Nadim Shehadi.
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Many countries have been trying to work successfully with Russia in the Arctic, but only the Norwegians have done so. However, the relationship is based a lot on personal trust that is unlikely to be replicated elsewhere, observed Cleo Paskal.
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There is no easy solution to this, and if this situation is still in play in a year's time, both the UK and Ecuador might be tempted to do something foolish, says Victor Bulmer-Thomas.
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Many see Hailemariam as a figurehead, part of a gesture by Meles and the majority ethnic Tigrayans to give more prominence to other ethnic groups, says Jason Mosley.
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The UK government can not afford to get into any scraps with Latin American countries, with whom it wants to build better trade links, says Victor Bulmer-Thomas.