Until the 2000s, Africa seemed completely doomed. But since the beginning of the new century, Africans have tripled their income. Countries like Ethiopia are growing at a 10% growth rate year after year. We are starting to see how African companies are expanding internationally. For example, Ethiopian airlines or M-PESA, a mobile phone payment plat…

Donald Trump thinks Iran is behind the attacks against the oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. There is a real risk for America to start a war with Iran. In fact, if it hasn’t happened yet is because of a last minute decision taken by Donald Trump. Basically, the Strait of Hormuz is the most important enclave in the oil trade worldwide. 1 out of 5…

Have you ever heard of Uzbekistan? Would you know where to place it on a map? Could you name its capital? If you answered all three questions correctly, congratulations! You’re an expert in international geography. If not, don’t worry, it’s normal, Uzbekistan is as remote as it is unknown. Lately, however, things are starting to change. Uzbekistan …

Alstom and Siemens are two big high-speed train manufacturers that wanted to create a merger in order to form the second largest company on the industry—at an international level. Nevertheless, European Union, led by Margrether Vestager (EU commissioner for competition) have vetoed this merger. Why? This example showcases two antagonist visions for…

You might Narenda Modi, Indian PM, but he rules the World’s biggest democracy. More than 600 million people have casted their votes in the latest Indian elections: this is twice the total population of America. And who did they voted for? Well, you might be surprised but the country of yoga, non-violence and spirituality is also the country were th…

Nuclear power is like a hamburger… you said you wouldn’t have it anymore, but, at the end of the day… you can’t resist the temptation! The same goes for nuclear power. We all use it even if it’s just a little controversial. If you’ve been following VisualPolitik for a long time, you already know that China has been building nuclear power plants lik…

Pakistan and India are diehard enemies since the day both countries were founded. This mutual hate is specially worrisome if we take to account that both nations have the nuclear bomb. This is why, when New Delhi and Islamabad had growing tensions in the latest months, the whole World was watching. Chances were there could be a nuclear war. The rea…

With an initial exchange rate of USD 1.1789, the euro was born on January 1st of 1999. It began to operate as an electronic currency, used in financial markets and for cashless payments. However, it wouldn’t be until three years later, that is the beginning of 2002, when the Euro coins and notes that we all know today began to circulate. Since then…

Can you imagine a far-right wing party and a populist left wing platform joining forces to make a government? This is what happened in Italy. OK, it is true, “The League’ (formerly called ‘Northern League”) is not a classical far-right party. The same goes with the 5 stars Movement, which is not liberal on the Ocasio Cortez sense. Then again, we ca…

The rivalry between China and the United States is peaking: the trade war, the struggle for dominance of the Pacific, for the control of Africa and the new silk route. and, now, this clashis reaching one of the great pillars of the North American economy: the dominance of the US dollar. Even though China is already the second world power, the secon…

With seven and a half million inhabitants and more than 1,200 skyscrapers, Hong Kong has been the great benchmark of almost the entire Asian continent in recent decades. However, now everything is changing. Hong Kong faces many economic and political problems. Cities such as Shenzhen have already surpassed Hong Kong’s GDP and according to surveys, …

South Korea has been one of the greatest economic success stories s in history. In little more than three decades, South Korea went from being a third world country to becoming one of the richest countries on the planet. However, the truth is that the South Korean economy is going through a slump and many experts are already talking about an exhaus…

The President of the United States, Donald J. Trump has declared a state of national emergency in order to carry out one of his great campaign promises: to build a huge wall along the entire border between the United States and Mexico, a wall that is estimated to cost tens of billions of dollars. But why is this wall so controversial? Why oppose hi…

China is facing an existential threat and therefore it needs to expand the military. This is why they created what has been called the String of Pearls strategy. This is a set of ports that can double as military bases that would go from the South China Sea to Africa. And, in another video, we told you about what we like to call sugar daddy diploma…

During decades, Beirut was short of the New York City of the Arab World. Lebanon was called the Switzerland of the Middle East. We are talking of a small country where, for many years, both Sunni and Shia Muslims coexisted with Christians in peace and harmony. Lebanon was a model for the whole Arab world. The country with the biggest liberties, the…

The space race is back. Companies like SpaceX or Virgin Galactic have given a new push to the space exploration. But there is more than this: outside of Earth there are lots of natural resources to be exploited. Some asteroids are nothing but flying piles of minerals, water or even natural gas. Both Japan and America have already sent proves to the…

Congo has more than 80 million inhabitants living within a territory the size of Western Europe and is one of the poorest and most violent countries on Earth. Most of the population of Congo lives on less than a dollar a day. Starvation is common. And guerrilla warfare is so typical in this country that it’s no longer newsworthy.…

Recently, we’ve published a lot of videos about Venezuela and the horrific political situation that this country is experiencing. However, we thought we should make a general review of a fundamental issue: Who are Nicolás Maduro’s main allies? Who are the players that continue, despite everything, to support this regime, and why? What interests do …

Religion and politics always go together in the Middle East: the birthplace of Islam. In countries like Saudi Arabia, the whole political system is inspired by Islam. In neighbouring countries like Qatar or United Arab Emirates (where Abu Dhabi or Dubai are), there is more tolerance for other religions but, still, things like converting from Islam …

Eight months after the historic Singapore summit, the president of the United States, Donald Trump and the North Korea leader, Kim Jong-Un, saw each other again. This time in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Expectations for this summit indicated that, this time, a concrete agreement would be reached with deadlines, goals and objectives. However, tha…

After the Fukushima incident, we might say nuclear power is about to disappear from the World. Many countries like Germany have closed their nuclear reactors. Nonetheless, Asia is renovating is bet on nuclear power and, more precisely, China is leading a nuclear revolution. The economic growth means a huge growth on the power consumption and this m…

The most radical and populist right wing groups are experiencing a boom time: in the United States, Brazil, Hungary, Italy. Now Spain and even Israel seem to be taking the same path. , In 70 years, Israel has gone from being a model socialist nation to being strongly influenced by ultra-conservative political movements. Benjamin Netanyahu, a politi…

Can you name the richest autonomous territory in Latin America? Many may think of Puerto Rico, Panama or Chile, however, the wealthiest territory in the entire region is The Falkland Islands. We’re talking about an archipelago that has just over 3,000 inhabitants, and which is practically isolated from the rest of the continent. Despite this, the F…

You probably already know that Blockchain is the technology that supports Bitcoin. But there’s more to it than that. Blockchain is like a huge book where all the bitcoin transactions that have taken place all over the planet are registered.

If there is a country with a reason to fear nuclear power, that is JAPAN. Japanese have a history of nuclear catastrophes that goes from the Hiroshima bombings to the Fukushima incident. Then again, despite what we might think, Japan is still betting on Nuclear power. Yes, after the Fukushima accident, they stopped all their nuclear reactors but, t…

Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution hasn’t only plundered and destroyed the Venezuelan economy, it has also created a lot of networks and nefarious interests working in the shadows. Some of these networks have played a key role in allowing Nicolás Maduro to remain in power.

In 1963, when it became independent from the British Empire and after its economy was devastated by the Japanese occupation during the Second World War, Singapore was nothing more than an agglomeration of shanties. Today, just five decades later Singapore is an independent country, and this city-state is one of the capitals of the world and one of …

Venezuela is going through a turning point. In fact, the fact the Juan Guaido has taken office while Nicolas Maduro is still in power is, by itself, something unique in history. There are many ways of overthrowing a dictator: revolutions, peaceful transitions… but there is no case where a political leader makes an oath following the country’s const…

Since its founding, relations between Israel and the Arab countries have worsened. Throughout the last 7 decades, wars, confrontations and political crises have been constant. However now all that seems to be changing. Is Israel fashionable among Arab countries? What is happening? We’ll tell you all about it in this video.…

In this and the next video, we’re going to talk about what may be the most disruptive innovation since the Internet. 2018 may not have been Bitcoin’s year, since it went from euphoria to crisis. However, cryptocurrencies, and especially blockchain, are here to stay. And not only that, we may be looking at a technology that could change the society …

March, 2011. A NATO coalition led by France put an end to Muamar el Gaddafi’s rule. In Libya, Arab Spring had it’s biggest achievement: they overthrew the dictator who had been leading the country during 40 years. It felt like his defeat would open a better future. 8 years later, things in Libya couldn’t be worse. So what can we learn from Libya’s …

China needs to expand its military in order to deter potential trade blocks imposed by India. This is why, they want to have military bases in strategic places of the Indian Ocean: this is what we call the String of Pearls. But how are they trying to achieve this? Introducing the… sugar daddy diplomacy! China has gone to countries like Sri Lanka, P…