1. How did it all begin? It all started with one of the evilest terrorist organisations in world history: ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham). Long story, but they were basically born out of Al Qaida during the Iraq War, and expanded after the US withdrew from Iraq. Here are 500 years of Middle East history:
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This week, Room for Discussion hosted Dan Ariely, James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University. Being regarded as one of the most prominent behavioral economists in the world, it was great to see him on the famous couch of RfD. You probably know him from his famous TED Talks in
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Interesting insights on the world economy from the interview with the IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath
This week, Room for Discussion hosted Gita Gopinath, the newly appointed Chief Economist of the IMF and also Professor of International Studies and Economics at Harvard University. It was her first visit to the Netherlands and eventually UvA was the only place she experienced about Amsterdam, due to her busy schedule. She began by introducing
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Hasankeyf, ODTU Forest, Ankara Atatürk Forest, and now, Salda and Mount Ida (Kaz Dağları) . There are dozens of other beauties in the world being destroyed by governments and foreign investors. Is there an end to that?
Mount Ida (Kaz Dağları) a.k.a “Valley of Troy” is where the foundations of the Troyan war were laid. The gods watched it from here, Zeus was born on this mountain, Paris lived here. Today, it separates Aegean Region from Marmara Region, and is one of the biggest sources of oxygen and wildlife variety in Turkey, containing
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How Germany succeeds economically?
“Pencil-makers were first recorded in the city of Nuremberg around the year 1660. Numerous craftsmen also set up shop in the surrounding villages, but especially in Stein. Here artisans were not subject to the same strict controls as in Nuremberg, so they had a competitive advantage. One of them was the cabinet-maker, Kaspar Faber. At
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This week Room For Discussion will be hosting Peter Hoekstra, U.S.Ambassador for the Netherlands. The interview will cover the US – Netherlands relationship along with numerous points in Washington’s foreign political agenda like Venezuela, Syria and trade tariffs. The recent government shutdown in the US and Trump’s current situation are expected to be following agenda
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On August 2017, A Russian tanker settling out from Hammerfest in Norway to Boryeong in South Korea travelled through the Northern Sea Route along Northern Russia without an icebreaker escort for the first time.
The journey took only 22 days, 30% quicker than Suez Canal Route. It was significant, indeed, as it drew attention once again to how far Global Warming issue has gone to, while at the same time introducing the world to a new sail route “too economically efficient to ignore”. Discovery of new trade routes has
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This week, Room for Discussion will be hosting two guests – Nora Neuteboom, the economist for ABN Amro along with Macro and International Economics Professor Sweder van Wijnbergen from the University of Amsterdam – on a very relevant current issue: Turmoil in Emerging Currencies. According to IGA Global, developing countries are defined as the ones with low
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Are we a “modern consuming society”? According to Global Footprint Network’s “How many Earths?” research, If we keep consuming at this pace, the US would need the equivalent of 4.6 planet Earths to provide the resources and absorb the waste of the consuming citizens; while Japan would need 2.4 Earths and Europe, 2.3. Those numbers indeed
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While authoritarian regimes are doing much better than expected economically, the world is becoming more willing to exchange its freedom with economic success year by year.
By definition, authoritarianism is “the enforcement or advocacy of strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom.” I consider this definition particularly incomplete. The definition misses the most important part at the end: “for a certain reason“. Mao Zedong explicitly stated “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. Our principle is
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World economy is getting into a Tightening Period after 7 years of recovery from 2008 Financial Crisis. Which two countries overhelmed the world economy after the money taps were left open in 2008?
Alarm bells started to pound louder when former U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen made this statement about real estate prices: “Commercial real estate prices are now ‘quite high relative to rents.’ Now, is that a bubble or is it too high? It’s very hard to tell. But it is a source of some concern
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