The ties that bind North Korea and Russia

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Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine has ushered in a new geopolitical reality. The Kremlin and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) may become increasingly close, perhaps even to the point of resurrecting the quasi-alliance that existed during the Cold War. From the start of the Ukraine crisis, Pyongyang has unequivocally supported Moscow. The […]Continue Reading

West African coup highlights Moscow’s murky moves

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There has been a second coup in Burkina Faso; the third in the Sahel this year. Mere months after Paul-Henri Damiba overthrew the country’s democratically elected president, he was himself overthrown last month, and for the same reason. The Islamist militias in the ungoverned spaces of the country continue to claim lives, and have displaced 2 million people within […]Continue Reading

China’s yuan extends slide, stock rebound peters out

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SHANGHAI: China’s yuan extended its decline on Tuesday (Oct 25) to a near 15-year low, following Monday’s sell-off in Chinese assets by global investors worried about Beijing’s policy direction, while Hong Kong and China stocks ended lower as a rebound petered out. The onshore yuan finished the domestic session atContinue Reading

Guns ablaze on Korea’s maritime red line

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SEOUL – Warning shots were exchanged over the Yellow Sea maritime frontier between the two Koreas in the early hours this morning (October 24), pouring fuel onto an already heated situation on the peninsula. There were no reports of damage or death along the NLL, or “Northern Limit Line,” and both sides managed the mini-crisis […]Continue Reading

Will they or won’t they? Japan uses guessing game to shore up yen

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TOKYO: Japanese authorities are relying heavily on psychological tactics to fight yen bears, which means keeping markets guessing about their foreign exchange intervention rather than overt attempts to arrest the currency’s decline to multi-decade lows. The battered yen has whipsawed in recent weeks, which analysts and traders attribute to governmentContinue Reading