SINCE the beginning of the year, Brazil has been lurching from crisis to crisis with the elected government now under the threat of being overthrown by a cabal of right wing politicians, businessmen and judges, acting in an extra-constitutional way. The current political crisis has its roots in the economic downturn the country has been facing since the re-election of President Dilma Rousseff for a successive second five year in office. Her victory coincided with the collapse of the commodity boom.

THE announcement on March 14 by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin that the bulk of the Russian forces deployed in Syria were being withdrawn caught Washington and its allies on the wrong foot. Their predictions that Russia would be mired in a long drawn out war were deflated. At the beginning of the military campaign in Syria last year, President Putin had made it clear that the mission in Syria was a time bound one with clear cut military goals.

PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma is coming under increasing political pressure, both from within his party and from the opposition on an array of issues. His handling of the economy has been particularly under the scanner. Plummeting commodity prices have hit the South African economy very hard. The South African economy is heavily dependent on mineral exports. The mining sector, dominated by big conglomerates, accounts for 35 percent of the country's exports. It is the second largest economic sector after the agricultural sector.

WITH the Syrian national army on the verge of totally liberating Aleppo, the country's biggest commercial city and the jihadi forces in retreat from the other sectors, the US secretary of state, John Kerry and the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, announced a “cessation of hostilities” agreement in the second week of February. The two officials made this announcement after a meeting in Munich with the other 15 members of the International Support Group for Syria.

FINALLY, it was the latest terror attack on Paris that may galvanise the international community into taking concerted and coordinated action against the threat being posed by the Islamic State (IS). The French President Francois Hollande has called for the formation of a “large alliance” to “decisively” take on the IS. President Hollande has not invoked Article 5 of the NATO alliance treaty which would have obligated all alliance members to militarily help France. This would have meant involvement of countries like Turkey which are playing a dubious role in the conflict in Syria.