More than 75 nations participate in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, launched in 2013 to develop trade and connect Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe with ports, roads and railways. But some countries worry about adding to already heavy debt burdens, and some projects have become an issue in local politics. Among the most […]
The continent is an important part of Xi’s Belt and Road initiative – a plan to bolster a network of infrastructure connecting China by land and sea to Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. China has pledged $126bn for the plan, which has been praised by its supporters as a source of vital […]
Since Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations has been contrasted with my own End of History in countless introductory International Relations classes over the past two decades, I might as well begin by tackling at the outset the issue of how we’re doing vis-à-vis one another. At the moment, it looks like Huntington is winning, writes Francis Fukuyama. Read Here – The […]
Why is this boom happening? That’s an almost impossible question to answer. Fundamentally, economists don’t know why booms happen. It’s possible that there’s not even such a thing as a “boom” at all — that this is just how the economy works under normal circumstances, when there isn’t a recession or crisis to throw it off […]
Sitting on top of the pyramid with one eye on the stars, this corporate colossus casts a huge shadow in the land of the giants. But like the majority of state-owned enterprises in the country, the monolithic China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation is shrouded in an aura of secrecy. Read Here – Asia Times
President Donald Trump wants to move ahead with a plan to impose tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports as soon as a public-comment period concludes next week, according to six people familiar with the matter. Read Here – Bloomberg
The Iranian rial: crash. The Turkish lira: crash. The Argentine peso: crash. The Brazilian real: crash. There are multiple, complex, parallel vectors at play in this wilderness of crashing currencies. Turkey’s case is heavily influenced by the bubble of easy credit created by European banks. Read Here – Asia Times
If then Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte was known as “The Punisher” for his tough tactics on crime, Sara Duterte-Carpio, his daughter and now incumbent mayor of the same city, has captivated Filipinos as “The Puncher.” Read Here – Asia Times
Over the last two decades, a few technology giants have come to dominate digital markets. Google performs about nine out of every ten Internet searches worldwide. Facebook, the world’s leading social media platform, has well over two billion users… Apple, originally a computer manufacturer, now runs the world’s largest mobile app store in terms of revenue, […]
Pakistan Foreign Office’s attempts to fast-track the normalisation of relations with Afghanistan, India and the United States are already encountering problems. In a seeming frenzy to meet the 100-day reform target set by the newly-elected leadership, blunders are being made one after another. Read Here – Asia Times
looking beyond borders 