Business, Investments And Politics In Central Asia“When everyone is dead, the Great Game is finished. Not before.” — Rudyard KiplingBy Yiannis G. MostrousOn an early September morning almost 10 years ago, more than 500 paratroopers from the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division jumped… Read More

Business, Investments and Politics in Central AsiaOn an early September morning almost 10 years ago, more than 500 paratroopers from the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division jumped into a battle zone near the Tien Shan Mountains (“Heaven Mountains”) along the China/Kyrgyzstan border in Central Asia. Their mission… Read More

By Yiannis G. MostrousATHENS, Greece–I have a friend here in Greece who works as a relationship manager in the private banking (i.e., high net worth individuals; in Greece, that means liquid assets above $1 million) section of a big Greek bank; let’s call him George. Another friend, Nikos,… Read More

By Yiannis G. MostrousATHENS, Greece–When my colleagues Elliott Gue, Ivan Martchev and I were offered the opportunity to write a book on the economic rise of Asia and the changes it would bring to the world, I insisted that a chapter on how geopolitical developments could affect economic… Read More

By Yiannis G. MostrousATHENS, Greece–The time has come. In two days–and if not then, probably in August–the Bank of Japan (BoJ) is expected to end its zero interest rate policy (ZIRP). And every talking head–myself included–has his or her own interpretation of the significance of ZIRP’s end, as… Read More

ATHENS, Greece--SRI comes to you from Greece this week. I’m visiting my native land for personal business, and I’ve benefited from short-term immersion in a foreign market Read More

By Yiannis G. MostrousMCLEAN, Va.–Tactically, portfolios should be positioned for volatility as markets seem reluctant or unable to stage a sustainable recovery, at least until the end of the summer. And although the recent selloff has made valuations look more reasonable globally, the point to remember is that… Read More

By Yiannis G. MostrousMCLEAN, Va.–In the March 8 SRI, Hedge Your Bets, I wrote: The thinking here remains the global economy will perform decently this year, although a US recession in 2007 can’t be ruled out. Yet, there are some signs that many markets around… Read More

By Yiannis G. MostrousMCLEAN, Va.–“Toward this end, and taking full account of the lags with which monetary policy affects the economy, the Committee will seek a trajectory for the economy that aligns economic activity with underlying productive capacity.”These were some of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s… Read More

MCLEAN, Va.--Global markets continue to sell off while investors and talking heads--including me--are trying to find out the underlying cause. I stand by my initial assessment (see SRI, 1 March 2006, The Butterfly Effect): Read More