A Yemeni man picks his way through rubble [Photo Credit: Khaled Abdullah/Reuters]

The Middle East’s Forgotten War

Clashes between Houthi rebels, government forces, a Saudi-led military coalition, and Al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula have turned Yemen into a living a war zone. Despite this, most headlines today center around conflict in Iraq and Syria, its role as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and the ongoing struggle between Turkey and…

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika [Photo Credit: Sidali Djarboub/AP]

The False Promise of Algerian Constitutional Reform

After promising constitutional reform in the wake of the Arab Spring, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika put forward draft constitutional articles last week aimed at bolstering the country’s democratic institutions. On face value, the changes seem promising: a two-term limit for the presidency, requiring parliamentary approval for the president’s selection of a Prime Minister, and reducing…

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China’s Renminbi Joins IMF’s Special Drawing Right Basket

On November 30, 2015, the International Monetary Fund’s executive board announced the decision to include China’s Renminbi into the Special Drawing Right Basket (SDR), effective October 2016. Created by the IMF in 1969 in the context of the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate system, SDR is an international reserve asset that helps its holder…