One of the key outcomes of the London G20 summit - perhaps even more important than Michelle Obama’s hug for the Queen - was the allowance for the IMF to allocate $250 billion worth of Special Drawing Rights. This could be the basis of a future global reserve currency outside the sovereign control of [...]
The Dollar fends off blows from the Chinese and the Russians
Just the other day China’s central bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, was calling for the creation of an alternate global reserve currency. Now the Russians are suggesting a partial return to the gold standard. In practical terms, this is all a stretch but it reflects the jockeying for position that will be with us [...]
Gannibal: the Moor of St. Petersburg
On the right is Ibrahim Abram Petrovich Gannibal flanked by his great grandson, Aleksandr Pushkin.
The extraordinary Gannibal was the African great-grandfather of Aleksandr Pushkin, Russia’s greatest poet, who spoke proudly of his own inherited “blackamoor profile”. Read a review of Hugh Barnes’ extraordinary biography about this Chadian who changed the face of Russian history.
Back From St. Petersburg
Indeed I am back, back to the land of boiled cabbage and queues. In the White Night of St. Petersburg’s summer, blogging, surfing and generally keeping up with the world receded in importance. The hangovers did not help for that is a land where beer is considered a soft drink and seeing some dude taking [...]
Putin and His African Cannibalism Take
Being in St Petersburg and only now learning that Putin said that Africans had a history of cannibalism made me laugh till the tears rolled. Not because what he said was really funny, but because of the knee jerk outrage that poured out of my own folks over the statement and not the promise [...]
The Vodka Haze and Related Matters in St Petersburg
Never ever try and blog as a Kenyan in St Petersburg, Russia. It is not possible; it is beyond the bounds of credulity and possibility. They have this clear, tasteless substance called Russian Standard Vodka and it really has been sad for this particular African. The toasts don’t stop, or the misplaced [...]
An African in St. Petersburg: The Arrival
From today, I will try and keep a kind of diary of my two-week trip to St. Petersburg. Hopefully I will be able to find a computer that I can use to upload the pictures that I am taking.
The Arrival
I flew into St. Petersburg yesterday evening on a flight from Vienna. I have [...]