An Economic Showdown Brews In The Gulf

Saudi Arabia is laying the foundations for another Gulf crisis – this time provoking its ally, the United Arab Emirates. Just weeks after patching up a years-long dispute with Qatar, the kingdom has announced a new plan to require all foreign businesses to have a regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia, or risk getting locked out of contracts […]

Rate this:

The New ‘End Of History’

China’s unshakeable presence as a superpower affirms that geopolitics has become, for the first time in history, both multipolar and multi-civilizational. But this does not make China the new end of history. It represents about 15 percent of global GDP, not the 50 percent embodied in post-war America. Furthermore, the geographic playing field does not favour China… […]

Rate this:

The Coming Battle Over Rare Earths

Depending on who you ask, there are either good reasons to panic about China one day weaponizing its dominance of the market for rare earth elements, or to think that the risk is overblown. Judging from President Joe Biden’s executive order last week calling for a major 100-day review of U.S. strategic supply chains, including rare earths, […]

Rate this:

Is Inflation Alive?

Inflation in most rich countries has been low since the 1990s, not least because of central banks’ success in lowering long-term inflation expectations. But today’s policymakers must weigh how far they can go in trying to engineer a post-pandemic recovery without unanchoring these firmly entrenched beliefs. Read Here | Project Syndicate

Rate this:

China Eyes Great Welfare Leap Forward

In February, China’s President Xi Jinping announced a large and bold plan for a nationwide basically all-encompassing welfare system, arguing it is a crucial issue for state stability. It is a correct assessment because if there is no social security there will be a potential army with nothing to lose that will feel cast out from […]

Rate this:

Headwinds From The US

The end of the Cold War had already reduced Pakistan’s importance in America’s strategic calculations. On top of that, there is now growing strategic divergence between Pakistan and the US because of the development of the Indo-US partnership as an essential element of the US policy of containment of China, on the one hand, and […]

Rate this:

Counting The Costs Of Pakistan’s Terror Financing

Pakistan’s failure to tackle terror financing and money laundering has cost the nation an estimated US$38 billion since 2008, new independent research reveals. The losses have mounted while the country was on an international finance watchdog’s “grey” list. The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) sets standards and promotes legal, regulatory and operational measures to fight […]

Rate this:

China Is Not Ten Feet Tall

China is the second most powerful country in the world and the most formidable competitor the United States has faced in decades. Yet at the same time, and in spite of its many visible defects, the United States remains the stronger power in the U.S.-Chinese relationship—and it has good reason to think it can stay […]

Rate this: