Archive for April, 2025
If the just concluded Ayer Kuning by-election is any indicator, the next 16th General Election could see Perikatan Nasional, comprising Bersatu (Malaysian United Indigenous Party) and PAS (Malaysian Islamic Party), to remain as the Opposition. Of course, that provided the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and Democratic Action Party (DAP) continue to work together. As […]
... written on Apr 29 2025Having manufactured a tariff crisis which has backfired in his face, Donald Trump is now scrambling to manufacture a solution – without much success. Even if the U.S. president had deliberately designed the crisis with the purpose of making money through insider trading, he does not appear to have an exit strategy in the event […]
... written on Apr 26 2025Last week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said – “The ball is in China’s court: China needs to make a deal with us, we don’t have to make a deal with them”. But the fact that Donald Trump sent her to make the statement instead of crowing it himself shows that the president was […]
... written on Apr 24 2025Japanese Yakuza have a unique form of extortion known as sōkaiya. Instead of harassing small businesses for protection money, the yakuza harasses the stockholder meetings of large corporations. But that was a big mistake, forcing the introduction of anti-organized crime law in 1992 and 2011. As a result, the mobsters were forced to go underground, […]
... written on Apr 21 2025Rosmah Mansor, wife of disgraced former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak currently in jail for corruption, would be fuming mad if people on the street could easily own and flaunt Hermès Birkin handbags. The Imelda Marcos of Malaysia owned hundreds of luxury bags, and her most favourite was the tote bag introduced in 1984 by […]
... written on Apr 17 2025Beijing has called U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff strategy “a joke”, irritating U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Incredibly upset, the clueless and incompetent Bessent has denied it was a joke. At the same time, the arrogant man is desperately pushing for a negotiation, any negotiations, to start between his boss and Chinese President Xi Jinping. […]
... written on Apr 15 2025Less than 24 hours after Beijing slapped a 125% tariff on all types of American goods going into China in retaliation, President Trump has started showing weakness when he scrambles to undo some of his self-inflicted damage. The U.S. – in yet another embarrassing U-turn – has now exempted smartphones and computers from reciprocal tariffs, […]
... written on Apr 13 2025In all three rounds of tax hikes – from 34% to 84%, and then to 125% – since Donald Trump started his tariff war on China last Wednesday (April 2), the U.S. president actually thought he could win easily. After all, Beijing was weak during Trump’s first term eight years ago, unwilling to go full […]
... written on Apr 11 2025As expected, Donald Trump was incredibly upset after Xi Jinping called his bluff and raised the bets in the poker game. Did the U.S. president really think Beijing will do nothing and with tail between legs, kiss his ring and accept the 34% tariffs slapped on the Middle Kingdom? Nope, the Chinese decisively slapped back […]
... written on Apr 10 2025After announcing sweeping tariffs and triggering global economic meltdown, which hit stock markets, U.S. dollar, oil price and even crypto-currencies, U.S. President Donald Trump left Washington for some round of golf. But not before he fired at Beijing for matching his 34% tariffs. “China played it wrong, they panicked – the one thing they cannot […]
... written on Apr 08 2025
