It is unclear whether current widespread product shortages are merely a temporary disruption or evidence of a global production meltdown. But today’s supply shocks offer striking parallels with the 2008 global financial crisis, and may require a similarly bold policy response. Read More Here
Joe Biden might have scorned Trump’s “America first” approach to the world, but he’s doing his best to carry on Trump’s legacy on everything from foreign policy to trade and immigration. Read More Here
Federal Reserve officials have indicated they expect to soon slow the asset purchases they have been using to support the U.S. economy and predicted they might raise interest rates next year. Read More Here
A new world is beginning to take shape, even if it remains disguised in the clothes of the old. The United States, Britain, and Australia have announced what is in effect a new “Anglo” military alliance. Read More Here
China’s domestic situation must be watched very closely in the year to come, before Xi is elevated to Mao status by the next Party congress. We should not discount the rationality of many of the new rules being introduced. Read More Here
China has reassured the Taliban that it is ready to begin development activities in Afghanistan via its ambitious multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road initiative (BRI), as the war-torn country drifts toward an economic meltdown. Read More Here
The Taliban has appointed Mohammad Hasan Akhund, a close aide to the group’s late founder Mullah Omar, as head of Afghanistan’s new caretaker government, weeks after it took control of the country in a rapid offensive. The list of cabinet members announced by chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid was dominated by members of the group’s old guard, with no women […]
In a country that regularly censors opposing viewpoints, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s push for “common prosperity” has triggered something unusual: A spirited public policy debate. Read More Here
Growing tension with India and the West has further pushed Sri Lanka into China’s embrace. Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government increasingly sees a friend in China who can bring much needed foreign exchange to Colombo. Since the pandemic struck in 2020, Beijing has provided crucial and timely economic and health aid support. China provided over US $2 billion […]
For members of China’s red aristocracy, the problem isn’t billionaires—it’s billionaires they’re not related to. The new rich of the 1980s onward often scrabbled to build connections to powerful families, like the relatives of Gen. Ye Jianying, for exactly this reason. Read More Here
