If very high interest rates are bad for Europe, then very low ones must be good, right? Seems logical. Yet the big drop in yields on government bonds of Italy, Spain, Ireland, and Portugal isn’t entirely positive, especially for the European Central Bank. Read Here – Businessweek
No one—in New Delhi or any other capital for that matter—should be surprised, however. China, especially since around the end of 2009, has become an aggressive state. It is, among other things, using forceful tactics to grab territory to its south and east. India is not a treaty ally of the US, but three recent […]
Mongolia is mining’s last frontier. The country is one of a small handful of places left in the world with major untouched mineral deposits. Its best — and perhaps its only — hope for broad-based economic development lies in recruiting foreign miners to help develop these resources. The problem is that it has been so […]
Despite the surprise and very rapid election of Giorgio Napolitano, Italy’s 87-year-old outgoing President for a second seven-year term, Italy remains politically gridlocked. His election may have won querulous lawmakers a short breather, but for the moment at least, no permanent end to the crisis is in sight. Read Here – The Hindu
There are many shortcomings in the preemption argument. First, it reflects a failure to recognize the realities and continuities in DPRK diplomacy, where threats, insults, and relatively minor shows of force are simply the first step in the negotiation process. The motives that underlay this strategic approach are still debated, but the fact is that […]
It’s not just Chinese firms that are seeking to profit from America’s energy boom. Roughly 20 percent of the $133.7 billion invested in U.S. tight oil and shale gas from 2008 to 2012 came from abroad. To date, from Asia, Japanese companies have invested $5.3 billion; Indian companies $3.55 billion; and Korean companies $1.55 billion. […]
An iron law of effective diplomacy is that if you make public demands, your credibility depends on sticking to them. European Union foreign ministers saw fit to ignore that lesson yesterday when they formally lifted all sanctions on Burma except an arms embargo. Last year, the same ministers said this step would only be taken […]
Once upon a time, global foreign direct investment flowed from only a few sources: the traditionally wealthy states of Europe, North America, and Japan. But cross-border investment from countries such as Brazil, India, and China is now flowing not just to other emerging and transitional economies, but also to the “old” FDI-exporting states. These changes have […]
The anti-Sikh riots of 1984 still haunt the ruling Indian National Congress. Almost three decades ago around 3,000 minority Sikhs were killed, allegedly at the instigation of local Congress leaders in Delhi in the aftermath of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards, Beant Singh and Satwant Singh, on October […]
Once, when asked for his opinion of Charles de Gaulle, Winston Churchill mused: “If I regard de Gaulle as a great man? He is selfish, he is arrogant, he believes he is the center of the world. He . . . You are quite right. He is a great man.” Churchill knew whereof he spoke: During […]
