Showing 1 - 10 of 40
Jimmy Lai, the HK tycoon who stood up to China
News, James Pomfret & Jessie Pang, Published on 17/12/2025
» Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong media mogul and China critic, was found guilty on Monday on two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of sedition under a China-imposed national security law that could see him jailed for life.
President Trump is losing his geo-economic war
News, Harold James, Published on 16/10/2025
» In an age of shifting geopolitics, many countries' strategic planning includes imaginative exercises in weaponising their positions in the world. While Russia and China have been moderately successful at this game, America's efforts have already boomeranged back on it.
Trump's deals are weakening the rule of law
News, Richard K Sherwin, Published on 09/08/2025
» European Union trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic described the recent US-EU trade agreement in unvarnished terms. Agreeing to a 15% tariff on most exports to the United States and promising to purchase $750 billion (24 trillion baht) worth of American energy over three years and to invest another $600 billion in the US (not including an unspecified amount in additional orders of US-made military hardware) was "clearly the best deal we could get."
Impact of US foreign aid cut in Asia to be minimal
News, James Gomez, Published on 28/06/2025
» The freeze and subsequent reduction of US foreign aid for democracy promotion in Asia, following the Executive Order signed on Jan 20, had a broadly limited impact.
The climate challenge as a development opportunity
Oped, Navroz K Dubash, Published on 06/06/2025
» When climate change is framed as a global problem requiring collective regulation of greenhouse-gas emissions, developing-country governments see little reason to prioritise the issue over others. After all, the rich, industrialised countries who contributed disproportionately to the problem are themselves backing away from decarbonisation and climate-finance commitments, while low-income countries bear the brunt of the costs of climate change. Decision-makers in developing countries understandably conclude it may be more rational to hunker down and focus on climate resilience rather than emissions reductions.
US can't rely on inflation shamanism
News, James K Galbraith, Published on 23/09/2024
» Google "shamanism" and you will find that it is "a tradition of part-time religious specialists who establish and maintain personalistic relations with specific spirit beings through the use of controlled and culturally scripted altered states of consciousness." Every element of that definition applies to monetary policymaking today, as illustrated by the reaction to the US Federal Reserve's Sept 18 decision to cut the short-term interest rate by 50 basis points.
Disinformation killing democracy
Oped, Nishant Lalwani, Maha Taki & James Deane, Published on 01/08/2024
» Last year, OECD countries collectively allocated more than $220 billion (7.8 trillion baht) in official development assistance (ODA). But a rising tide of disinformation is undermining the effectiveness of these investments.
US-led naval force may not end Houthi ship strikes
News, James Stavridis, Published on 22/12/2023
» US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin has announced a new military effort in the Middle East: Operation Prosperity Guardian. It will bring together a coalition of nations to safeguard the dangerous waters of the Red Sea, North Arabian Sea and western Indian Ocean from surprisingly sophisticated attacks by Iranian-sponsored terrorists from the Houthi rebellion in Yemen.
America's 'new' China narrative hits the stands
Oped, James K Galbraith, Published on 24/08/2023
» Three recent articles in The New York Times have signalled a "new" narrative about China. Only weeks ago, China was America's fearsome "peer competitor" on the world stage. But now, we are told, it is a wounded dragon. Once a threat by dint of its inexorable rise, now it poses a threat because it is in decline.
The banks the world badly needs
Oped, Lawrence H Summers & N K Singh, Published on 27/07/2023
» The world is literally on fire. Experts estimate that another Covid-level public health threat is likely to emerge in the next generation. Rising interest rates have left dozens of countries with unmanageable debt burdens. And for the first time in nearly half a century, the global economy is fracturing rather than coming together.