Iran looks to Russia for Su-35 fighter jet deal

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Iran has confirmed plans to purchase Su-35 fighter jets from Russia to modernize its aging air force. The planned procurement would mark one of isolated Tehran’s most significant defense purchases since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iranian Air Force Commander Brigadier General Hamid Vahedi announced that purchasing Su-35 fighters is on the agenda of the air […]

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Fujitsu to bring quantum computing to Japan Inc

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TOKYO – Fujitsu and research consortium RIKEN aim to bring quantum computers into service in Japan by next April, providing an alternative to America’s IBM in the country.

Their first quantum computer will reportedly have 64 qubits, well behind IBM’s 127-qubit Eagle processor. Fujitsu and RIKEN are also latecomers to the quantum computing race compared to Google and Chinese makers, but for the time being their focus is on Japan.

According to sources at Fujitsu and RIKEN, their quantum computers will not be sold. Rather, Fujitsu will take the lead in “offering” them to corporations (on unspecified terms) for purposes of joint research and development of the technology.

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The future of farmland: asset in jeopardy?

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The late American social commentator Will Rogers has been quoted as saying, “Buy land. They ain’t making any more of the stuff.” The global population is about to surpass the 8 billion mark. Meanwhile climate change, soaring costs of living, and sharp increases in the price of fertilizer mean the global food system could face […]

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How Zero Covid failed again in Chengdu

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NEW YORK – Chengdu’s 21 million people went under Covid lockdown on September 1, among 65 million Chinese in 33 cities now held in place under the country’s “Zero Covid” policy, including Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province. Western media reported that local officials in Chengdu enforced the lockdown even as tremors hit the city […]

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China locks down 34 cities for a smidgen of Covid cases

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In the latest flex of China’s economy-killing “zero Covid” policy, at least 34 cities are now partially or completely locked down after a total of 6,696 cases were identified across the country of 1.4 billion earlier this month. Tianjin municipal city and provincial cities including Sichuan’s Chengdu, Tibet’s Lhasa, Qinghai’s Xining, Xinjiang’s Urumqi, Henan’s Shijiazhuang, […]

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Breaking down Cambodia’s naval base controversy

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Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base — a facility in the Gulf of Thailand — has in recent years been the subject of interest from major powers competing for influence in Southeast Asia. China’s efforts to access the base first surfaced in July 2019 after the Wall Street Journal reported an alleged agreement allowing the Chinese military to use […]

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UK’s Truss likely to pick a fight with China

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On September 5, 2022, members of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party chose the next prime minister. Liz Truss defeated her rival Rishi Sunak in a vote of 160,000 or so party members. For years, China was a near irrelevance in UK politics. That changed when a range of crises raised China’s profile in a highly […]

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Frankenstein yen vs Godzilla dollar in a FX horror show

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TOKYO – If you want to know what losing control of a monster you created looks like, Japanese monetary authorities offer a dramatic example.

For roughly 25 years now, since at least 1997, a weaker exchange rate has been the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s top policy tool. Twelve governments later, though, the yen’s drop to 140 to the dollar – a 22% loss this year – is more of an economic liability than a benefit.

In years past, a sliding yen was a boon for exports. Now, the weakest exchange rate since the late 1990s has Japan importing inflation amid surging prices of oil and other key commodities.

The yen’s plummet speaks to two even bigger problems. One is how it might kick off new currency skirmishes in Asia. Two is the Frankenstein-like threat facing the Bank of Japan and Ministry of Finance as they endeavor to halt the yen’s plunge toward 150.

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Saudi Arabia’s ‘The Line’ and the need for big ideas

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Now, perhaps more than ever, the world needs big dreamers with big ideas. They change things. They challenge redundant orthodoxies, through sudden revolution, not slow evolution. Big dreamers gave us everything from internal combustion, powered flight and spaceships to electricity, nuclear power, antibiotics and vaccines. One of the first big dreamers lived some 6,000 years […]

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Japan’s Aegis Ashore destroyer plan is full of holes

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In a surprising policy reversal, Japan is mulling an unprecedented upgrade of its missile defense systems against hypersonic missile threats from China and North Korea. Whether it will be money militarily well-spent, however, is in question.  Japan’s Ministry of Defense (MOD) says it plans to spend US$7.1 billion on a sea-based version of the Aegis […]

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