On Thursday, Vladimir Putin welcomed everyone to Russia for a “splendid football feast”. He then sat down with Mohammad Bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, to watch 11 men from a murderous kleptocracy thrash 11 men from a murderous theocracy 5-0. It all added to a niggling sense that the bad guys are […]
The world’s attention is fixated on Singapore, the venue for a summit that not long ago looked like it wouldn’t happen. Discussion between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump was imperilled by the former’s intransigence and the latter’s rashness. Trump dictated an intemperate letter to Kim on May 24 cancelling the thing. It looked as though […]
Just a few years ago the smart thing to say about Pakistan was that the days of military coups were behind it. “It can’t happen,” the then US ambassador to Islamabad told me in 2012. “For one thing, there are too many TV stations. Think of how many they would have to take off air!” […]
Recently I read a horrifying news report stating that, on average, nearly 240,000 girls under the age of five die in India each year due to discrimination. This does not include the number of female foetuses that are aborted due to their gender. The little girls are neglected in favour of boys. For example, if […]
Foolishness in the political class is a luxury afforded to rich and powerful countries. Reckless rulers, as the unfortunate citizens of Zimbabwe and Venezuela can attest, can bring poor and weak nations to their knees in a relatively short period of time. America, in contrast, is a superpower and, considering the laughably incompetent politicians from […]
Korean peninsula fever has taken over international news in recent months. A dramatic inter-Korean summit and the tense build up to a (potential) Trump-Kim summit in Singapore have resulted in plenty of airtime for the region. But, while the high politics has been more than worthy of our attention, what of the millions of Korean […]
In recent decades, China’s suicide rate has declined more rapidly than any other country’s. It has fallen from among the world’s highest rates in the 1990s, to among the lowest — below the US and only slightly higher than the UK. Rural women are responsible for the lion’s share of the decline. Unlike in most […]
This week I will be in Xi’an, in China’s Northwest Shaanxi province to attend the Silk Road Expo. The Expo is a significant, rapidly growing trade event which will see companies across the world attending in an attempt to seize the growing commercial opportunities offered by the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The Belt and […]
This weekend brought remarkable imagery and hope from the Korean peninsula. The leaders of the two Koreas met and signed a declaration of principles for the future. The pageantry and optics were remarkable. The hype in South Korea is tremendous; the sense that a break-through is near is in the air and all over television. […]
In turbulent times, there is something to be said for the solid virtues of continuity and reliability. So the week’s most pleasing “Dog Bites Man” headlines accompanied the revelation that a hereditary monarch remains in favour of the hereditary principle. What you see from Her Majesty the Queen is what you get. “It is my […]
Earlier this year, the Groningen Growth and Development Centre released a new edition of its Maddison Project Database, which provides information on global growth and income levels over the long run. The 2018 version of the data covers 169 countries up to the year 2016. Some information, dealing with parts of Europe and the Middle […]
For all his capacity to surprise politicians and commentators, Donald Trump has done little in office which could be called truly original. Since his ascent to the presidency, Trump has shepherded little significant domestic legislation through Congress, and his foreign policy could hardly be considered revelatory. Despite promising to smash ISIS within 30 days of […]
As the revolving door at the White House spins ever faster, this week saw an expected arrival, an unsurprising departure, and then a somewhat unexpected arrival. First in, on Tuesday, was Mohammed bin Salman, crown prince of Saudi Arabia. Then on Thursday, President Trump’s national security advisor H.R. McMaster left his position. On his way out, McMaster […]
History is sometimes made in sudden, unexpected bursts. Upon his return to Seoul from his meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, South Korea’s national security advisor, Chung Eui-Yong, announced on March 6, that South Korea’s President Moon Jae In and Kim Jong Un would hold a summit by the end of April. Just 48 […]
He has big hair, and lives in a fantasy palace. He makes alarming statements about using nuclear weapons, and he hires and fires aides on a whim. He is an isolationist, and he wants to bring peace to the Korean peninsula. No, not the American president; Donald Trump only spends his weekends at Mar-a-Lago. We […]
As South Korea relays the news that North Korea may be ready to open new negotiations over its nuclear weapons, it’s important to keep track of just how quickly this long-running crisis has changed. Less than a year ago, the world seemed to be steeling for a full-on war with North Korea. Kim Jong-nam, half-brother […]
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