Long viewed as a safe investment in times of economic turmoil, the US dollar, also known as ‘Greenbacks,’ may be losing its safe haven appeal as it suffers strong downward pressures resulting from rising oil & commodity prices, high Federal budget deficits, soaring national debts and economic uncertainty in the aftermath of several financial crises.
I flagged an event to you recently, “The Climate for Renewable Energy,” cosponsored by the government of Navarra and NYU’s Center for Global Affairs. There were some excellent presentations made by the impressive group of panelists assembled for the evening. The President of Navarra, Miguel Sanz Sesma, noted that his province has developed a “comprehensive […]
By now, everyone monitoring the developments in the Middle East can’t help but liken them to dominos: once the first dictatorship fell (in Tunisia), the rest were just a matter of time. Of course societies do not behave like toys – what is common among the revolting populations of the Middle East is that they […]
News and Media coverage in China, is generally not my area of expertise… but this is the best account I have seen of the reaction by China’s authorities on developments in Egypt. Willy Lam has an intimate knowledge of developments in China, which is why I am reproducing his recent commentary on Beijing’s response to […]
The recent official state visit to Washington, DC, by China’s President Hu Jintao, was as boring and as uneventful as all the experts expected to be but hoped it would not. President Obama pulled out the red carpet for President Hu, with all the majesty and fanfare that the Chinese leader ‘deserves:’ two dinners at […]
Every speechwriter knows that when a politician needs a speech, there are certain key words and phrases to hit on. In the case of the President of the United States, they are usually things like “hope” and “challenge” and “promise.” There is also the seminal standby: reaching across the aisle to work with (fill in […]
Another year has sped by with more change and economic uncertainty throughout the global markets. From a journalist’s viewpoint, 2010 was filled with some of the most dynamic and complex economic trends and global market events possible. For instance, the Euro zone debt crisis, the global currency war, coverage of the international currency war – announced by Brazilian Finance Minister and precipitated by Ben Bernanke’s quantitative easing monetarist policy – the perils of high-frequency trading, and the burdensome economic impact of two-front warfare on the domestic agenda are just a few issues that led the Global Markets through a year of risk, volatility, turmoil and uncertainty.
Last fall, an article by the Economist praised the consolidation of railway companies in the former Yugoslavia as a development that will ease the movement of freight from Turkey to Central Europe. The Economist went on to argue that a future rail tunnel under the Bosporus and plans between Turkey and China to link Beijing […]
by Cate Mackenzie *For many, the 1st of January heralds a new start, and it’s not uncommon for weight loss to top the New Year’s resolutions list. Sense About Science, a London-based nonprofit has released its Celebrities and Science 2010 Review, which counters the more unusual diet and nutrition tips that have appeared in magazines […]
In December 14-15, Chinese officials met with their American counterpart in Washington DC for the plenary meeting of the U.S.-China Joint Committee on Commerce and Trade (JCCT). This was the 21st Session of the JCCT, high level talks between U.S. and Chinese government officials intended to address the more technical trade issues of the bilateral […]
It has to be, without a doubt, that the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent collapse of communism constituted the single most transformative event of the past 40 years. Since man walked the surface of the Moon, the collapse of communism signified the predominance of ‘one’ over the ‘other.’ A New World Order […]
Further to my post from yesterday in which I noted that researchers were recording ever-increasing carbon dioxide emissions from China and, to a lesser extent, India, there have been some articles recently on the rapid rise in China’s coal consumption. The graphics here are from Elisabeth Rosenthal’s article yesterday in the NY Times about how […]
by Elizabeth Samson On November 10, 2010, the United Nations took an important step towards committing itself to female empowerment with the election of 41 member states to the board of a new agency—the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. Known as UN Women, the new body brings four organizations that […]
G-20 world leaders meeting in Seoul, South Korea, concluded the summit late Friday by issuing a joint communiqué, with no specifics, agreeing only in general terms to curb “persistently large imbalances” in saving and spending. But deep divisions, especially over the US-China currency dispute, left G-20 officials negotiating all night to draft a watered-down statement for the leaders to endorse, keeping alive a dispute that raises fears of a global trade & currency war, and fears of rising protectionism among nations.
by Deborah Fallows The village of Xizhou is nestled in a verdant strip of land in China’s southwestern Yunnan Province. To the east lies Erhai Lake, where cormorants play. To the west, hills rise to the Tibetan Plateau, where herders graze their yaks. During World War II, Xizhou offered a first radio contact point for […]