Power of Capital

Chapter 5Terrorism and Instability: When Markets Become Uninvestable: North Africa and the Middle East

Just a few short years ago, I could see absolutely no problem with taking the kids to Ukraine. My husband, however, was dead set against it. In 2014, Russia seized the Crimea and incited pro‐Russian forces in the eastern provinces. Fighting in the Donbas region has been ongoing since then. “It's just not safe.” The events of 2022 proved him right. We would not have wanted to be on the streets of Kyiv on the day Russia decided to invade the entire country.

Instead, we decided to take the family to Tunisia, the beautiful North African coastal country romanticized by the ancient Greeks and William Shakespeare. That choice became one of my greatest mistakes. That's because a country doesn't have to suffer a full‐out war in order to discourage investment. Terrorism of a much smaller order can kill foreign interest.

On the first day we wandered the cobblestoned streets of Sidi Bou Said, a magical town at the edge of the Mediterranean's sapphire blue sea. This village is famously beautiful, with pristine, ivory‐colored houses and doors and window grilles of bright cobalt blue. Picturesque tilework—a Tunisian specialty—with floral motifs of pale yellow and blue, lines its doorways, sidewalks, and fountains.

We spent the night, our first in the country, in a beautiful shell‐tinted home with a large courtyard. We soon learned that the owner of the inn was a colleague of Nikhil's at ...