Countries
Americans were stunned – and humiliated – when U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen bowed, not once, but repetitively, when she met Vice Premier He Lifeng during her visit to Beijing last week. Her Chinese counterpart was pleasantly surprised with her gesture that he appeared to backs away to give Yellen more room to “kowtow” and […]
... written on Jul 11 2023Since Donald Trump launched his trade war in 2018 against China, there has been concern in the West that the Chinese government would retaliate. In the second phase of the trade war, the U.S. president banned Huawei with an executive order prohibiting U.S. companies from selling semiconductors to (or buying technological equipment from) the China’s […]
... written on Jul 05 2023Stalin used to allow – even encourage – mini rebellions to occur so that the revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953 could cling to power by flushing out traitors. He would suddenly disappear from the office without announcement for a few weeks, presenting the opportunity to enemies to […]
... written on Jun 30 2023The upcoming BRICS summit in South Africa will be absolutely interesting for two reasons. First, will Russian President Vladimir Putin be arrested? Second, will French President Emmanuel Macron attend the summit? The success of BRICS in the past years has seen a rising number of countries expressing interest to join the bloc, which was set […]
... written on Jun 23 2023U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Beijing on Sunday (June 18) with little expectation that the planet’s two largest economies could ease the heightened tension. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the visit, but did not provide details on specific meetings – suggesting the insignificance of Blinken’s trip to the Chinese government. […]
... written on Jun 18 2023In an effort to lower inflation, the Federal Reserve has increased interest rates a whopping 10 times since March 2022. Over the period, inflation hit 9.1% in June 2022 – its highest point since 1982. In the latest inflation report, the inflation appears to have slowed down – recording 5.3% in May 2023, compared to […]
... written on Jun 13 2023Lloyd Austin, the first African American to serve as the U.S. secretary of defence, was eager to meet Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu at the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit on Saturday (June 3). His wishes came true – for only 10 seconds. He took the initiative to reach out to the Chinese minister where both […]
... written on Jun 06 2023Germany officially plunged into recession during the first three months of the year. The Europe’s largest economy contracted by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2023 after it suffered a decline of 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2022. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction, therefore, the German economy has entered […]
... written on May 29 2023You can only push someone so far for so long before he fights back. For the last couple of years, the U.S. has been aggressively trying to stop the rise of the red dragon – from trade war to tech war, and from blacklisting Chinese technology giant like Huawei to forcing South Korea, Japan, Taiwan […]
... written on May 22 2023Since Russian president Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the United States has seized several superyachts belonging to Russian oligarchs. It was part of Washington’s tactic to seize the assets of Russian billionaires, believed to be Putin’s cronies, in order to put pressure on Moscow to end the war in Ukraine. But the confiscation […]
... written on May 18 2023
