Markets have soared: the ruble is the best-performing emerging market currency this year, up over 20 percent since late January against the dollar, and equities have posted double-digit gains. Russian markets have benefited from a range of macroeconomic and technical factors—a moderate pickup in oil prices, a search for yield by investors punished by low […]
After threatening to set up an air defense identification zone, what might the economic impact be if Beijing went one step further and closed off the entire area inside its so-called “nine-dash line”? Read Here – The National Interest
China’s true interest in the South China Sea has much more to do with history and politics than with oil and security. The South China Sea dispute is not about China’s interpretation of international law. It’s about China’s interpretation of itself. Read Here – Aljazeera
China is in a state of denial about India’s stand on the disputed South China Sea. Two days after the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague ruled that China had no historic rights over the South China Sea, the Chinese press has rolled out a list of 70 countries that have “publicly voiced” their […]
An international tribunal’s rejection of China’s claim to most of the South China Sea has exposed a problem with President Xi Jinping’s “neighborhood diplomacy.” It hasn’t been very neighborly. Read Here – Bloomberg
An arbitration court ruled that China has no historic title over the waters of the South China Sea and has breached the Philippines’ sovereign rights with its actions, infuriating Beijing which dismissed the case as a farce. Read Here – Reuters Why Does China Care So Much About Uninhabited Island President Xi Says China Rejects […]
While Islamabad and Kabul have many reasons to fight each other, there is one reason for collaboration: The Islamic State, which is making inroads on both sides of the border, but particularly in Afghan districts bordering Pakistan like Nangarhar. Read Here – The Indian Express
Misconceptions and outright misrepresentations of the role of oil in the Iraqi debacle remain, spawning conspiracy theories about conflicts from Libya, Syria and Gaza to Afghanistan. The corrupt and sclerotic energy sector continues to hold back the economy and blight the lives of ordinary Iraqis. Searching the Chilcot report to justify decade-old slogans of “no […]
China’s foreign minister has spoken with US secretary of state John Kerry by telephone ahead of a key international court ruling on China’s South China Sea claims and warned Washington against moves that infringe on China’s sovereignty, Beijing’s official Xinhua news agency reported. Read Here – The Guardian
After years of vocal geopolitical neutrality, India has in recent weeks seen firsthand the shortcomings of such neutrality and the promise held by warmer ties between the world’s two largest and loudly pluralist democracies. Read Here – The National Interest
