Showing 1 - 10 of 223
Trump's 'America First' in overdrive
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 23/01/2026
» President Donald Trump's extraterritorial capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife on cocaine-trafficking and terrorism-related charges earlier this month and repeated demand to take over Greenland at the World Economic Forum this week are part and parcel of a belligerent and transformative "America First" paradigm that dates back at least four decades.
Thailand–Japan ties at a crossroads
News, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 18/11/2025
» For the past four decades, Thailand-Japan ties have been smooth as silk, reflecting the Japanese concept of ishin denshin, an idiom that describes communication without words. That idiom reflects a very good relationship, a deep mutual understanding between the two parties.
‘US Plus One’ trade strategy gains ground
News, Karnjana Karnjanatawe, Published on 13/11/2025
» Amid US-China trade tensions, third countries such as Japan or Asean members are embracing a so-called "US Plus One" business strategy, diversifying partners and taking advantage of tariff gaps to expand exports and strengthen economic resilience despite Trump-era uncertainties.
In a world on fire, workers get burned
News, Sally Tyler, Published on 13/10/2025
» In these chaotic times that many characterise in terms of rollback, regression, and retreat, there is one measure that continues to surge ahead -- global temperature. The year 2024 was the hottest ever since worldwide temperature recording began. Though climate occupied a major space in discussions at the UN General Assembly in New York City last month, significant progress did not emerge from the fractured international environment.
Gaza Strip pantomime ending at last
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 29/07/2025
» The coordinated chorus of despair by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump and their various henchpersons and flacks was quite impressive. The message was that everybody should stop hoping for a negotiated peace. Mr Netanyahu has stared Mr Trump down once again, and the four-month pantomime search for a new ceasefire in Gaza is at an end.
Shape of new climate politics emerges
News, Sam Geall, Published on 07/06/2025
» Only a few months ago, a headline like "United States sets tariffs of up to 3,521% on solar panels from Southeast Asia" could have been dismissed as satire. Today, it's nothing special, one of many published amid an uninterrupted fusillade accompanying Donald Trump's first 100 days in power. Yet it's also part of something bigger, as axes of economic power shift, technological changes surge, and popular sentiments reconfigure and metastasise. Amid that fracturing world order, how should we consider the climate crisis?
Saudi price war looks like unspoken gift to Trump
News, Ron Bousso, Published on 16/05/2025
» Oil barely garnered a mention from US President Donald Trump during his glitzy visit to Saudi Arabia this week. But the black gold may explain why the trip went so smoothly.
Tackling the global divide over the Ukraine war
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 17/03/2025
» At a time of rising geopolitical tensions and deepening global fragmentation, the Ukraine war has proved particularly divisive. From the start, the battle lines were clearly drawn: Russia on one side, Ukraine and the West on the other, and much of the Global South hoping only for the conflict to end. Now, however, alignments are shifting. Whether this will advance efforts to resolve the conflict and strengthen global stability remains to be seen.
Zelensky-Trump clash spurs rethink by US allies
News, Peter Apps, Published on 10/03/2025
» As they watched Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky evicted from the White House last week after an unprecedented live televised quarrel with President Donald Trump and his Vice President JD Vance, some of America's closest allies began to swiftly reappraise decades of foreign and defence policy.
Trump's tariffs will hit consumers and businesses
News, Nancy Qian, Published on 27/02/2025
» The opening salvos of US President Donald Trump's trade war have sent shockwaves around the world. Over the past weeks, his administration has broken with decades of free-trade orthodoxy, threatening to impose tariffs not only on strategic adversaries like China but also on longstanding allies like Canada and Mexico.