
Fabio Rafael Fiallo is a Dominican-born economist and writer and retired official of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). His latest publication, “Ternes Eclats” or “Dimmed Lights” (L’Harmattan), presents a critique of the conventional wisdom of international organizations.
The death rattles of a failed Palestinian leadership
In the new Middle East, scapegoating Israel for the region’s woes is no longer the handy, catch-all device that it once was. That's bad news for Hamas and Fatah
- 9 July 2014A stalemate: The least bad option in Iraq
Perhaps the best option available to the U.S. in the ongoing Iraq debacle is one straight out of the Kissinger playbook: playing the role of a balancer
- 20 June 2014Argentina and Russia: The has-been curse
Despite their differences, Russia and Argentina both stand to gain from being ruled by political elites with a better grasp of the intricacies of market behaviours than Cristina Kirchner and Vladimir Putin have shown to have
- 2 June 2014Venezuela's petty socialism
Venezuela’s socialism will be durably remembered as an archetype of economic failure, political repression and ludicrous leadership. Even its closest allies are taking heed
- 13 May 2014The German "diktat" and its discontents
The German "diktat" towards austerity is keeping its neighbours afloat. But if Germany changes its mind, all bets are off, and default awaits...
- 31 May 2013France readies for a Chavez
Today’s France finds herself in a situation similar to that of Venezuela on the eve of the Chávez era. Will a demagogue emerge to lead the way?
- 18 March 2013Cameron's outstanding sense of timing
Cameron has displaced the centre of gravity in the upcoming negotiations on the future of the EU - and with expert timing
- 29 January 2013Hamas's "victories" and Israel's "defeats"
Hamas may continue to wave the banners, pretending to “win” each and every military conflict against the “Zionist entity” but Israel, for its part, shouldn’t mind “losing” them all
- 29 November 2012Revolt over France's addiction to state meddling
It is not for the state, but for profit-seeking firms, to decide where and when a niche deserves to be exploited
- 5 November 2012Putin is pursuing a failed strategy à la Brezhnev
The loopholes of Russia’s stance on Syria are not a fortuitous phenomenon but the logical consequence of Vladimir Putin’s disdain for public opinion
- 30 July 2012The dismal economics of resource nationalism
Resource nationalism is condemned to join other “progressive” economic recipes in the dustbin of history. Sadly, for Latin America, many of its people will find out the hard way
- 11 May 2012The new generation of Latin American autocracies
Similarly to Plato's assertion on the autonomy of ideas, in Latin America, dictatorial drives hang over the subcontinent, waiting to be seized by perspicacious opportunists
- 15 March 2012One more Cuban martyr – and Latin America’s leadership turns a blind eye
The day of reckoning will inevitably come for the tribunal of History to deliver the last word with respect to the Cuban ordeal. On that day, some of Latin America's leaders will receive a moral condemnation
- 27 January 2012Lenin, Trotsky and the 99 percent: The denial of democracy
The Spanish fiasco of the Indignants is the latest avatar of the pernicious nature of the denial of democracy. Such a denial, when manifested by those who hold power, leads to a totalitarian State
- 8 December 2011The obstinacy of a crumbling Castroism
Meaningless economic "readjustments" will be remembered, not as the initiators of the rejuvenation of the Cuban economy, but rather, as the final rattles of one of the few remaining relics of communism
- 24 November 2011