IMF Loan To Ukraine Sparks Battle For Reform With US Congress

The U.S. is stalling on the approval of IMF reforms that could have huge implications for Ukraine, adding tension to the ongoing East vs. West battle over Kiev.

Frederick Reese
By Frederick Reese
Bulgaria

In a referendum that left Crimeans with only two choices -- join Russia or declare Crimea an independent nation -- an overwhelming majority of those that voted chose the former on Sunday. This has triggered a cascading array of new fights, complications and declarations, all of which threaten to redefine international economic policy for years to

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Putin: Russia Has Right To Use Force In Ukraine

Putin declared that Western actions were driving Ukraine into anarchy and warned that any sanctions the West places on Russia for its actions there will backfire.

Associated Press
By Associated Press
Ukraine

MOSCOW (AP) — Accusing the West of encouraging an "unconstitutional coup" in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Moscow reserves the right to use its military to protect Russians there but voiced hope it won't need to do so. The Russian leader's first comments on Ukraine since its fugitive president fled to Russia came as U.S. Secretary of

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Fossil Fuel Subsidies at $2 Trillion, Despite Global Condemnation

Despite a growing consensus that support for the oil and gas industry is unfair, inefficient and globally dangerous, there’s no actual implementation of plans to change it.

Carey L. Biron
By Carey L. Biron
Oil pumps work Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014, in the Persian Gulf desert oil field of Sakhir, Bahrain. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

WASHINGTON - Global tax breaks, incentives, and various other consumption and production subsidies for the fossil fuel industry are likely topping $2 trillion each year, amounting to 2.5 percent of total gross domestic product for 2012.  After a dip in the immediate aftermath of the global financial recession, these figures have risen in recent

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The Great Convergence: A New Era Of Globalization

As the world becomes one big economy, struggling nations will rise substantially until the great convergence is complete – not only economically, but politically and socially.

Erik Hare
By Erik Hare

The big story of the last 20 years has been a tale of two worlds coming together.  While the developed world experienced a decade of growth in the 1990s followed by stagnation and then decline in the 2000s, the developing world saw nothing but growth.  The two  phenomena are related in the tremendous expansion of credit and general money supply,

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IMF Raises Outlook For Global And US Economies

The International Monetary Fund is optimistic about the coming year.

Associated Press
By Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The International Monetary Fund is slightly more optimistic about the global and U.S. economies this year than it was three months ago. In an updated outlook released Tuesday, the global lending organization forecasts that the world economy will grow 3.7 percent in 2014 and that the U.S. economy will grow 2.8 percent. The

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Ukraine’s U-turn On EU Agreements Hearkens Back To Cold War Climate

President Yanukovych finds himself in an uncomfortable position, having to reconcile irreconcilable forces.

Magda Fahsi
By Magda Fahsi

BRUSSELS --- The Ukrainian president announced on Nov. 21 that he would not sign a political Association Agreement and an economic Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) with the European Union, leaving the Europeans empty-handed just days before what was hoped to be a historical summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, and facing the near

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