Finance and Economy
Who will become Malaysia’s next prime minister after the 15th General Election, which does not need to be held till middle of 2023, but is being vigorously pushed by the top leadership of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO)? The political party has just concluded its general assembly, but the competition for the top post […]
... written on Mar 22 2022Can the Russian invasion of Ukraine be avoided in the first place? Definitely, but the conflict was never about Ukraine to begin with. Russia was engaged in a bold brinkmanship game with the United States and NATO over their respective sphere of influence. And Ukrainian President Zelensky was foolish enough to believe that Russian Vladimir […]
... written on Mar 17 2022Najib Razak has been telling everyone, especially his gullible supporters, that he didn’t steal a single penny from 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Bhd), a sovereign wealth fund which had accumulated a staggering debt of RM50.75 billion. He especially loves the part where he says the US$681 million (RM2.6 billion) found in his personal bank accounts was […]
... written on Mar 15 2022Barisan Nasional has managed to repeat its Melaka state election victory, winning two-thirds majority (40 out of 56 seats) again in the Johor state election on Saturday (March 12), despite scooping only 43.11% of all ballots cast. All the opposition parties grabbed the remaining 16 seats, even though they had won the popular votes (56.89%). […]
... written on Mar 14 2022After the U.S. and Europe imposed sanctions on Russia, it triggered a massive devaluation of the country’s currency – ruble. Russians lined up at ATMs to withdraw their money. The Bank of Russia immediately hiked the interest rates to 20% to slow the withdrawal, as the ruble plunged 30% against the US dollar after the […]
... written on Mar 12 2022Forget US$100 crude oil. We have passed that. Crude oil has already hit US$130 a barrel. Chances are the commodity will stay above 100 bucks as long as the Russia-Ukraine war does not de-escalate. And it appears the worst is yet to come. When will the Western powers realize that sanctions will not work on […]
... written on Mar 08 2022China is arguably the biggest winner in the current Russia-Ukraine war. And if it’s true that senior Chinese officials told senior Russian officials in early February not to invade Ukraine before the end of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, as claimed by the New York Times (which has been rubbished by Beijing), it means Beijing […]
... written on Mar 04 2022Colgate-Palmolive CEO Noel Wallace has warned American consumers to get ready to pay 10 bucks for a tube of toothpaste. Consumer goods companies like Colgate has started increasing prices last year as a result of rising war material costs and labour shortages due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But the Russia-Ukraine war will certainly escalate the […]
... written on Mar 02 2022Putin might be a mad dictator to the Western countries, but he is not crazy, let alone stupid. On the contrary, he could be smarter than the U.S. and NATO, based on his political chess game so far. He tactically recognized the independence of two self-proclaimed and pro-Russian republics in eastern Ukraine, before sending troops […]
... written on Feb 25 2022Najib Razak, the disgraced former prime minister of Malaysia, is appealing his corruption convictions after being sentenced to 12 years’ jail and fined RM210 million. The High Court delivered the guilty verdict in July 2020 for abuse of power, criminal breach of trust (CBT), and money laundering – all involving RM42 million stolen from SRC […]
... written on Feb 23 2022
