Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Israel is winning the battle in Gaza, but it is losing the war for world opinion and long-term security. Public opinion in Europe and emerging countries is hostile to Israel and even in America only a quarter of young people support it. As our cover leader agues, that matters, not just because Israel is an open trading nation that depends on America for its security, but also because some of the foreign criticism—especially on its current approach to peace negotiations—is right John Micklethwait, Editor-in-Chief

New sanctions against Russia This will hurt READ MORE » China's purge Fall of the mighty Zhou READ MORE » How to declutter your business Exterminate managers and meetings READ MORE » Politics this week The death toll in the Ukraine war is mounting. The United Nations reported that by July 26th 1,129 people had been killed in eastern Ukraine, 799 of them civilians. Ukraine’s army has made advances since the start of an offensive in early July, surrounding Donetsk, the region’s biggest city, and establishing some control over border crossings. But many of the pro-Russian insurgents are now dug in to cities. To dislodge them, Ukraine may step up its shelling and engage in street fighting. That could speed up the rise in casualties. SEE ARTICLE » MORE FROM: POLITICS THIS WEEK » Business this week A court of arbitration in The Hague awarded some former shareholders of Yukos, a defunct Russian oil company, $50 billion in damages. The court found that the Russian government had acted illegally when it forced the firm into bankruptcy in 2006 before taking control of its assets through Rosneft, a state-run company. It also said that the prosecution in 2003 of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once the majority shareholder in Yukos, was unlawful. Mr Khodorkovsky was jailed for tax evasion and fraud. Russia is likely to resist paying up. SEE ARTICLE » MORE FROM: BUSINESS THIS WEEK »