How Brazil’s Lula added a spring to Xi Jinping’s step 

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For Xi Jinping, last week was easily among the best the Chinese leader has had in a long while. First, French President Emmanuel Macron dropped by to talk up the merits of Europe forging a diplomatic path independent of the US. For good measure, Macron gave Beijing the impression Paris isn’t keen on coming to […]Continue Reading

The emerging new world economy

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The flags of the BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – ripple in the breeze ahead of the summit. Photo: iStock

The emerging new always both frightens and inspires the fading old. History is evidence of that unity of opposites. Sharp-edged rejections of what is new clash with enthusiastic celebrations of it. The old gets pushed away even as bitter denials of that reality surge. The emerging new world economy displays just such contradictions. Four major […]Continue Reading

Georgia: fine wine and Russia troubles

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I’m writing this post in Georgia – not the US state known for peaches but the country known for wine and wine grapes. This Georgia is nestled in the Caucasus mountains with the Black Sea to its west, Russia to the north, Turkey and Armenia to the south and Azerbaijan to the east and southeast. […]Continue Reading

Alibaba share sale a sign of SoftBank trouble

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TOKYO — For once, news that Masayoshi Son is slashing his stake in Alibaba says more about SoftBank’s troubles than it says about the Chinese e-commerce giant. The specter of the Japanese billionaire – who effectively discovered Jack Ma back in 2000 – dumping Alibaba has long maddened investors. Whenever such talk flared up amid […]Continue Reading