In the run-up to Hong Kong’s return to China in 1997, the world wondered what officials in Beijing would do with the place. Would Hong Kong’s dynamism and openness catalyze change in China, or would the Communist Party try to remake the freewheeling city-state in its image? Read Here – Bloomberg
Africa‘s thriving democracies and economies, and its alarming transnational security threats, make it more important than ever to the United States. Obama, however, has largely ignored the continent. Regardless of who wins in November, Washington cannot afford to continue on the president’s current path. Read Here – Foreign Affairs
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) remains in power because its governance system has proven flexible enough to either respond to or preempt emergent social, economic and political pressures. Read Here – The Diplomat
The problem is that China does not really have a liquidity crisis; it has a debt crisis, and the debt crisis is the result of a slowdown in the economy. Despite claims from China’s National Bureau of Statistics that the economy is growing 7.7 percent, growth is more like 3 to 4 percent. And if […]
Thein Sein often mentions that the aim of Myanmar’s foreign policy is to live peacefully with the rest of the world. Who would disagree with this vague formulation? But in more specific terms, Myanmar’s current foreign policy can be best termed “Look West”—similar to India’s “Look East” and the American “Pivot toward Asia.” Read Here – The […]
John Kerry has got India thinking. The new US Secretary of State is no stranger to New Delhi and neither are his views, but the fact that he has embarked on a course that threatens to upset the finely tuned balance in Afghanistan prompts the question: Is the US redesigning its approach on Afghanistan post-2014? […]
The impression is now widespread that India-America relations are on a plateau, if not in the doldrums. This would not matter had they matured into a mutual understanding that allows two countries to be satisfied with nothing striking happening between them as welcome normalcy. Read Here – The Hindu
Iran votes on Friday in a presidential election unlikely to result in seismic shifts in its troubled relations with the West and Gulf Arab neighbors, but which could bring a softening of the confrontational style personified by outgoing president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Read Here – Reuters
The World Bank’s Doing Business rankings rate countries on the complexity and time taken to follow the official steps to set up and run a company. It may sound like a banal process, but the ranking has sparked a bitter international argument. Read Here – Businessweek
By 2025, the world will have almost 800 million people over the age of 65. About 556 million of them will be in developing countries, another 254 million in developed ones. On a global scale, Asia absorbs the majority, and it seems as though Latin America will have “only” about 70 million. These demographic forecasts are […]
looking beyond borders 