Chinese private security firms spreading far and wide in Africa

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Chinese private security companies have found a profitable niche market in Africa: guarding Chinese executives and construction sites. They’re also securing Chinese vessels at sea against piracy. The growing presence of Chinese private security companies in Africa comes against the backdrop of a global security architecture that’s in transition. These changes reflect the US moving […]

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Ukraine – the situation (August 10, 2022)

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Overview * The Ukrainian “offensive” in the south has been underway for 18 days as of today. As an American military intelligence officer observed, “I’m reminded of Lincoln’s comment about McClellan: ‘He has a case of the slows.’” More on this propaganda offensive below. * In the principal theaters of action, the mouth of the Donbas salient, the line of […]

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US Fed becoming Asia’s Public Enemy No. 1

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As Joe Biden revels in a series of legislative victories in Washington, events in Moscow remind the US president that his troubles may be just beginning.

On Monday, United Co Rusal International PJSC, an aluminum producer listed in Moscow and Hong Kong, raised US$590 million in a first-of-its-kind debt sale in Russia. The reason it matters for Biden’s White House: the bonds were denominated in yuan.

Gazprombank, the lead manager of the deal, said it received about 100 orders from asset managers, banks, investment and insurance companies, and individuals.

It remains to be seen if such transactions amount to death by a thousand cuts to the US dollar. Yet the trend is emblematic of how economic policy errors are colliding with global reactions to Western sanctions on Moscow for its Ukraine invasion. The latter includes freezing hundreds of billions of dollars of Russia’s foreign currency reserves.

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Russia lending Iran a helping hand in space

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On August 9, Iran launched its indigenous Khayyam satellite using a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The sanctions-busting move strengthens Iran’s self-sufficiency in space-based military capabilities and deepens the strategic partnership between Iran and Russia.   According to the news website Iran Press, Khayyam can be used beyond border surveillance for […]

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Is Xi Jinping leading or being led on Taiwan?

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With Chinese military drills lobbing missiles into the nearby sea and Chinese officials firing angry rhetorical fusillades, the potential for a full-scale China-Taiwan conflict has seemingly never been higher. Following US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has conducted more than 100 sea and air crossings of the Taiwan […]

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‘US has destroyed its own hegemony’

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Paul Craig Roberts was the US assistant secretary of the Treasury for economic policy under president Ronald Reagan. He was a driver behind the economic policy of the first term of the Reagan administration and was lauded as the “economic conscience” of the president. After leaving the government, Roberts held the William E Simon Chair […]

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Realpolitik drives engagement between India and Taliban

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When the death of Ayman al-Zawahiri was announced last week, the government of India, a country singled out as a target by the al-Qaeda leader, remained quiet. Many analysts read the fact that he was able to base himself in the Afghan capital as the Taliban’s failure to keep its promise that the group had […]

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China gives green light to self-driving cars

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The Chinese government offers started an one-month public consultation for the nationwide law that will allow driverless cars to run on roads and will define the culpability when traffic incidents happen. The Ministry of Transport upon Monday (August 8) released a set of recommendations that encourages the usage of self-driving cars designed for taxi services […]

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On Taiwan, China meets its ‘gray-zone’ warfare match

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China, a global leader in the exercise of gray-zone warfare, has suffered through what amounts to an ALL OF US government gray-zone strategy involving Taiwan throughout the Trump and Biden administrations. In the consequences of the visit to Taiwan by US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, we are seeing via specific Chinese actions how Beijing details […]

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Organic farming angle to Sri Lanka’s torments

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Up until recently, American farmers and ranchers have had little reason to pay attention to Sri Lanka. The South Asian island nation is 9,000 miles away, smaller than South Carolina and less populated than Texas. As a market for US agricultural exports, it ranked 56th in 2021. But lately, Sri Lanka has been hard to […]

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