Thorbjorn Waagstein

Thorbjorn Waagstein

Thorbjørn Waagstein, Economist, PhD, since 1999 working as international Development Consultant in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Monday, 07 March 2016 17:23
Published in Politics

Who should we fear most? Trump or Hilary?

A lot of people are horrified by the idea of Donald Trump becoming presidential candidate for the US Republican Party. And rightly so. They tend to look to Hilary Clinton as the sane, moderate mainstream US presidential candidate, who they hope will win. But when we look at their foreign policy statements, it is not so clear, which candidate would be more dangerous for the rest of us as a possible future American president. Taken at face-value, it looks as if it is Hillary.

The Middle East has many bizarre regimes. A theocracy in democratic disguise governing Iran, an elected coup general as President of Egypt plus Sultans and Emirs of all shades. And then the most bizarre of all: the Absolute Monarchy of the House of Saud in Saudi Arabia. A medieval absolute Kingdom armed to the teeth with sophisticated weaponry and until recently awash with cash. Our most important ally in the region, who we support unconditionally, also when it chops off the head of its opponents, cuts off the hands of thieves and beheads women accused of sorcery. It is an absolute Kingdom and an absolute anachronism. How durable is it?

Saturday, 16 January 2016 22:28
Published in Economics and politics

And now comes the hangover

There have been good prices for commodities during the last decade: oil, gas, minerals, agricultural products. Now prices have plummeted. This implies a sea change as commodities are again a buyers' market, as it has been the case for most of the second half of the last century. It tips the correlation of forces in favour of the developed countries against the developing countries, which are generally heavily dependent of the export of commodities. But some developed countries are suffering too.

Monday, 14 December 2015 21:31
Published in Renewable energy

Climate change – many villains and few heroes

The Paris summit ended with an agreement, fortunately. Not good enough to save our grandchildren from climate disaster, but at least a beginning, which we hopefully will be able to build upon. Apart from the climate change deniers, who live in their own claustrophobic world, much of the disagreement is about justice: which are the countries to blame, and which should clean up their acts first? The Paris summit tried to avoid the question of justice and convince us that we all have to contribute, including the developing countries. And the developing countries seem to have gruntingly accepted that.

Friday, 11 December 2015 23:29
Published in Economics and politics

The coming irrelevance of oil

Independently of the outcome of the Paris Climate Change summit, big oil and coal have started an irreversible decline, facing the competition from renewable energies and an increasing political pressure to de-carbonize our societies. This changes completely the game and eliminates the incentive to reduce supply to get higher prices. In stead, the rush is now to exploit the oil and gas before it is too late. Who comes too late, loses. So OPEC has lost its power for good, and there is no chance it will get it back again.

Journalists know that how they express things is important for the message they convey. This is particularly the case when there is a war going on. They are expected to act responsibly and support the national war effort, of course without keeping silent about uncomfortable facts – that would be self-censorship. So it is difficult manoeuvring. Here is a quick guide on what to write and what not to write.

Monday, 09 November 2015 23:43
Published in Politics

THE US-CUBA THAW – WHAT THAW?

The reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US is historic. From not talking together for more than 50 years, they now talk. From the press coverage you could get the impression that the relations between the two neighbouring countries are now almost normal. Alas, they are a very far cry from that. The embargo against Cuba has not been lifted and the financial embargo against the country has actually been tightened. European banks, which have broken none of their own countries' laws, have lately accepted breathtaking fines in the US – the last one of 8,900 million dollars for French bank BNP. Their crime: they have carried out financial transactions with Cuba, not from the US but from their home country. That is a criminal offence in the US.

Tuesday, 27 October 2015 00:00
Published in Economics and politics

THE PRESIDENT IN THE STRIPED SWEATER

Mention Bolivia, and for the last decade it has been difficult not to mention Evo too. Evo Morales was elected as president for the first time in 2005 with 54% of the votes, and he can now celebrate 10 years as president. An absolute outsider, brought forward by social movements of mainly indigenous farmers, workers and small traders, with a tough anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist discourse, he horrified the traditional economic and political elite and the “international community” alike. His government has lived through conflicts and crisis, bordering to civil war, but at the same time it has brought a decade of economic prosperity, dramatic reduction of poverty and a revaluation of the country's indigenous ethnic and cultural roots.

Monday, 19 October 2015 18:05
Published in Economics and politics

THE GRAND NICARAGUAN CANAL

A canal passing from the Pacifc Ocean to the Caribbean Sea has been a century long aspiration for Nicaragua, but when the US finally opened a canal in 1914, it was in Panama, not Nicaragua. After many false starts, the idea of a canal through Nicaragua looks suddenly as a possibility. But the question is, how realistic are the plans? And is it actually good for Nicaragua?

Saturday, 10 October 2015 00:00
Published in Politics

Putin – the man we love to hate

Vladimir Putin has in the West become the symbol of all that we don't like. He is aggressive, authoritarian, brutal and untrustworthy, and he has ice-cold blue eyes, showing no feelings. The perfect villain for a James Bond movie. Unfortunately, he is also quite intelligent, competent and well formulated, and contrary to his ailing predecessors he has good health and is even sporty. Most Russians tend to think he is a better president than the ones they had before him. But how we are longing back to the days of our good old, corrupt, incompetent and drunk Boris Yeltsin.

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