David Blair's Blog, page 105

Winner Take All by Dambisa Moyo: review

David Blair is not impressed by Dambisa Moyo's Winner Take All, a look at the Chinese economy.

Iran nuclear negotiations in Moscow: face-saving, PowerPoint slides and impasse as usual

I’m in Moscow for the third round of negotiations between Iran and the world’s six leading powers so far this year . Events of this kind remind you that so much of diplomacy boils down to questions of process, procedure and face-saving.

Iran gives first 'detailed' response to plan drawn up to break nuclear impasse

Iran gave its first "detailed" response to a plan designed to break the impasse over it nuclear ambitions during "intense and tough" negotiations with the world's six leading powers.

Iran and world powers meet for make or break talks over nuclear programme

The world's six leading powers will try to defuse their nuclear-tipped confrontation with Iran on Monday when talks open in Moscow on the eve of Tehran suffering a total European Union oil embargo.

First World War British submarine found 94 years after being abandoned

A British submarine which executed one of the most daring raids of the First World War, penetrating the Dardanelles to sink a small flotilla of Turkish warships, has been found 94 years after being abandoned.

It’s a poker game, and Angela Merkel will win

With 60 per cent of Germans believing Greece should leave the euro, the Chancellor will not be swayed from her dogmatic attachment to budgetary rigour.

Syria: new massacre discovered

Another massacre of civilians has taken place in Syria with militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad killing 13 people, according to opposition activists.

The real dilemma on Syria: can the West go it alone?

Day by day, the clash between Russia and the West over Syria grows more acrimonious. The massacre of the innocents in Houla has turned a simmering diplomatic disagreement into an escalating confrontation.

War crimes court hands Liberia's Charles Taylor 50-year jail term

Charles Taylor, the warlord who became president of Liberia and one of the most bloodstained figures in African history, received a 50-year jail term yesterday for “aiding and abetting” crimes against humanity.

Choosing who lives and who dies: the methodical assassinations of Barack Obama's 'kill list'

There is something deeply unsettling about the disclosure in The New York Times that America has developed a clinical, dispassionate procedure for selecting the targets of drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. Every week or so, about 100 national security officials gather by video conference to pore over the...