President Obama has imposed another set of sanctions against Iran. Any foreign bank found to be handling Iranian transactions will be barred from operating in the US. There’s a three-month grace period from today, but the sanctions will significantly affect many countries still buying Iranian oil (most of which are in South and East Asia). I suspect that many of these countries will find ways to avoid the sanctions (Iran, for example, is providing Syria with an oil tanker to ship oil to China–giving Syria an incredible boost to its governmental revenues), but they will still have a major effect on the Iranian economy. Iran will probably become more eager to engage the West in negotiations, but I doubt that its nuclear program will slowdown at all.
The pressure for reform in the US/European/Japanese domination of the global economy is slowly increasing, as the emerging nations demand a greater voice in the decision-making of the IMF and World Bank. The calls for reform are intense, but the BRICS are riven with their own internal disputes. I doubt, however, that the pressures for reform will diminish any time soon.
The situation in Mali remains tense, but the rebel group is getting little in the way of outside support. Right now it appears as if there is a stand-off between the government and the rebels, but without some external aid, the rebels will be hard-pressed to maintain their position.
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