Economics
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20.06.2019
OBOR Initiative: Critics and New Members
The second BRF-2019 Summit in Beijing became a landmark event that marked achievements of this infrastructure project, which, in 2016, changed its former name One Belt, One Road (OBOR) to Belt Road Initiative (BRI). The word ‘Belt’ refers to land routes, while ‘Road’ to maritime routes, the words “one, one” were removed from the name […]
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16.06.2019
Will China Autos Trigger Next Economic Downturn?
Sales of new cars in China, today the world’s largest automobile market, plunged a dramatic 16.4% in May, making the worst month in the history of the relatively new China auto industry. According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), the disastrous May sales came after declines of 14.6% in April and 5.2% in […]
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09.06.2019
What direction is China’s OBOR Initiative Moving in and How is it Progressing?
Discussions, meetings and banquets at the 2019 Belt and Road Forum in Beijing have finally come to an end. More than 150 delegates attended this event. What can we discern about this project at this stage? Have any new sceptics, opponents or proponents of China’s global initiative, which celebrated its 5-year anniversary last year, emerged? […]
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08.06.2019
The Geo-Port-Politics of Gwadar and Chabahar
In a highly surprising move, Iran’s foreign minister, on an unscheduled and unannounced visit to Pakistan on Thursday (May the 23rd), announced the proposal to link Pakistan’s port of Gwadar with Iran’s Chabahar port. This announcement signals tectonic geo-political shift taking place in the region in the wake of increasing tensions between the US and […]
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06.06.2019
Europe Has no Freedom But to Choose “Freedom Gas”
The US Department of Energy (DOE) recently renamed US liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports “freedom gas.” But freedom for who? For Europe who already has a cheap and reliable source of natural gas, but is being forced to switch over to more expensive US gas under the threat of sanctions? Certainly not. Or freedom for […]
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04.06.2019
US War on Huawei is a War on Tech Sovereignty
Unable to compete on equal terms with Chinese telecom giant Huawei, the United States and the corporations that influence its domestic and foreign policy have decided instead to simply cut Huawei off from its many monopolies including chip manufacturing and mobile phone operating systems. But US measures come at a time when Huawei is already […]
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31.05.2019
Do We Face a Global Food Disaster?
No, this is not at all an endorsement of the apocalyptic scenarios of AOC or that famous young Swedish climate expert, Greta. It is, however, a look at unusual weather disasters in several key growing regions from the USA to Australia, the Philippines and beyond that could dramatically affect food availability and prices in the […]
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26.05.2019
Are Rare Earths China’s Ultimate Weapon?
In the dramatic escalation of tariff escalations and trade war tensions between China and the USA, China President Xi Jinping made a well-timed visit to see the JL Mag Rare-Earth Company Ltd., a state-owned complex in Ganzhou. Though he did not openly threaten, he sent a clear psychological message to Washington that China has more […]
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24.05.2019
Does the EAEU Have a Future?
On 29 May Nur-Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan, will host leaders of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) at a summit to mark the 5th anniversary of this organization. The fact that this meeting will take place in the capital of Kazakhstan is quite symbolic, as the treaty to establish this union was signed in this […]
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22.05.2019
Greek Debt, Nazi Reparations, and a Fair Shake
With the Greek parliamentary elections only a few days away, incumbent politicians are clamoring for a foothold on victory once again. In a high profile vote recently, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the sitting parliament rekindled the old World War 2 reparations fires against a Germany Greeks blame for painful austerity measures imposed in […]
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20.05.2019
A China Food Crisis More Danger Than Trade War?
China faces a threat to its agriculture that could do far more damage to her political stability and economy than the escalating USA tariff war. In recent months cases of deadly African Swine Fever (ASF) among the pig population of the world’s largest pig producer have forced drastic killing off of the pig population since […]
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12.05.2019
Will Tajikistan ever enter the Eurasian Economic Union?
The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is an international organization, member states of which include Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. As the name implies, the EAEU aims to integrate Eurasian economies in an economic union work together with all its potential trading partners. The Union’s reach now extends far beyond Eurasia: it has already established […]