Fear and terror rising in Israel’s tinderbox settlements

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The seemingly eternal Israel-Palestinian conflict now includes the increasingly volatile participation of Israeli settlers in the West Bank, who fervently oppose any compromise that would grant land and sovereignty to Palestinians. Ongoing Palestinian violence follows in the path of a pair of past uprisings, each called an “intifada” in Arabic, or “shaking-off.” The settlers are […]Continue Reading

Philippine cop cleanse more theater than reality

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Filipino police officers investigate an alleged drug dealer killed by unidentified gunman in Manila earlier this year.Photo: AFP/ Noel Celis

In January 2023, the Philippines’ Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government, Benjamin Abalos Jr, initiated a process of vetting top police officials. This process calls for the courtesy resignation of all generals and colonels of the Philippine National Police (PNP) while a committee of five assesses their involvement in drug dealing in the Philippines. […]Continue Reading

Why China just might arm up Russia’s war

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China is considering sending weapons, ammunition and drones to Russia, according to information the Biden administration declassified at the end of February 2023. China’s military aid would directly support Russia’s war in Ukraine. This public disclosure, emerging less than a month after the US Navy shot down a Chinese balloon that allegedly was being used […]Continue Reading

China in a hard pivot to more supply-side reforms

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Ten years ago, when China’s leader first took power, Xi Jinping pledged to let market forces play a “decisive” role in economic policy and financial regulation. At the time, and since, foreign investors assumed that meant the government would set the private sector free. Yet a decade on, Xi is now making an argument few […]Continue Reading

Li Keqiang’s farewell points to jobs as China’s major problem 

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Against the backdrop of reopening after three years of zero-Covid policies, China’s outgoing Premier Li Keqiang has set out a GDP growth target of around 5% for 2023. This is lower than last year’s government target (5.5%), though consumption this year will receive a massive boost from the reopening. In other words, Li’s 2023 GDP […]Continue Reading

Marcos vs Marcos in sibling spat over US-China policy

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MANILA – “There was a time where we did not have to worry about these threats and the intensification of the competition between the superpowers,” declared President Ferdinand Marcos Jr in a particularly spirited speech before the Armed Forces of the Philippines in late February. “Now things have begun to change and we must adjust […]Continue Reading

Korea leads Japan in crucial forced-labor plan

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A March 6 announcement by South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin of a plan to resolve the issue of Korean wartime forced laborers marked a triumph of leadership and strategic decisiveness. But it was a triumph almost entirely due to Korea and the government of President Yoon Suk-yeol, in contrast to the timidity and political […]Continue Reading