Jonathan Power

Oil provides 70 percent of booming Nigeria’s government revenues and, without that, since tax collection is so poor, Nigeria would be a country without much in the way of education, health facilities, infrastructure building and urban renewal. People talk suggestively about a corrupt elite creaming off oil money. Although true, it is only the cream. […]

South Africans of all races know how to behave at election time: responsible as voters and honest in their voting procedures. This is part of the legacy of Nelson Mandela who, as his funeral last year made clear, was the most honoured and respected leader in the world. The country that has tripled its income […]

South Africans of all races know how to behave at election time: responsible as voters and honest in their voting procedures. This is part of the legacy of Nelson Mandela who, as his funeral last year made clear, was the most honoured and respected leader in the world. The country that has tripled its income […]

When it comes to Ukraine, the US and the EU are adopting a holier than thou attitude which, unfortunately, leads them not to worship at the altar of truth. Take the issue of the fuss made over alleged soldiers wearing Russian uniforms. They are not dressed in the smart fatigues of the unmarked Russian soldiers […]

US Secretary of State John Kerry’s foray into the politics of peace between Israel and Palestine appears to have run aground despite his tireless and single-minded efforts. It is clear that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu never believed in them. Israelis often see their predicament as David against Goliath. In truth, it is the reverse. […]

The widespread perception that China is or will become soon an aggressive, expansionist power is simply wrong. It is propaganda, rather than fact, a kind of right wing agitprop. Far from being an aggressive power, China is a defensive one, and has long been so. It is the one who has been attacked and invaded […]

The widespread perception that China is or will become soon an aggressive, expansionist power is simply wrong. It is propaganda, rather than fact, a kind of right wing agitprop. Far from being an aggressive power, China is a defensive one, and has long been so. It is the one who has been attacked and invaded […]

Both Russia and China feel themselves under threat from the US, and their people are clearly behind their governments on this. Not without reason. NATO has pushed itself up to Russia’s borders. China feels encircled by US naval deployments armed with nuclear weapons in the East China and South China seas, together with the US’s […]

President Vladimir Putin’s speech to both houses of the Russian parliament last week got bad notices. Anne Applebaum, the experienced Russia-watcher, wrote in her column in the Washington Post that it was “an imperial rant” and went on to say, “NATO should move its forces from Germany to the alliance’s eastern borders.” Most western governments […]

In 1913, following the overthrow of the last emperor, citizens walked, pedalled or rickshawed to the polling stations, although opium smokers, Buddhists and policemen were forbidden from voting. In the annals of the 2,500 years of Chinese civilization, it is the one and only time the Chinese have voted in a national election. Under Mao […]