It's official: As anticipated, the nuclear deal went into full effect Jan. 16 as Iran completed a series of steps to limit its nuclear activities, including mothballing thousands of centrifuges, sending out most of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium to Russia and removing the core of a heavy water reactor and filling it with concrete. … Continue reading Implementation Day links

Last night's al-Qaeda-linked attack on the Cappuccino Cafe and the nearby Splendid Hotel in Ouagadougou left at least 28 people dead, plus the four attackers. Over 125 hostages were freed by Burkinabé security forces, working with French assistance, during the hotel siege. Many of the victims were foreign nationals (Canadians, French nationals, Swiss nationals), and … Continue reading Burkina Faso update

I was asked to appear on Alhurra's "Thirty Minutes" program this afternoon to talk about today's big meeting between John Kerry and Mohammad Javad Zarif in Vienna. The expectation was that they'd be announcing that we'd reached Implementation Day, and that sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program were being lifted. So we were going … Continue reading The fruits of diplomacy

An ongoing terrorist attack by an estimated 4-6 gunmen on the Splendid Hotel in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, has left at least 20 people dead with and unknown number of people still being held hostage. So far 15 hostages have reportedly been freed, but the situation is developing rapidly, and Burkinabé security forces have launched … Continue reading Al-Qaeda attack in Burkina Faso kills at least 20, still developing

This news is so last week (literally), but the South Sudanese government and the rebels it's been fighting since December 2013 announced last Thursday that they'd reached an agreement on a power-sharing arrangement that could finally lead to an end to their civil war: The ministries of finance, defense, justice, and information will go to … Continue reading South Sudan’s progress toward peace

After nine weeks and an estimated 140 deaths, the Ethiopian government on Wednesday finally made a big concession to the Oromos who have been protesting against it: it agreed to suspend its plan to expand the city of Addis Ababa into Oromian land. Unfortunately its statement about the decision suggests that it has no real … Continue reading Ethiopia blinks, a little, sort of

Earlier this week it was reported that Iran has taken the core out of its heavy-water nuclear reactor at Arak and filled it with concrete. The deputy director of Iran's nuclear program later disputed the concrete part, saying that the core was going to be modified with Chinese technical assistance, but the US is saying … Continue reading Implementation day approaches, but don’t expect a dramatic turnaround

Finally, my life strategy of being too poor to have any investments is paying off. What's the problem? Well, lots of things, apparently: Weak U.S. economic data has not helped matters today. December retail sales dipped 0.1% in December. Manufacturing in the New York region came in much weaker-than-expected in January and industrial production for … Continue reading Riding the roller coaster