The year is ending with Trump doing a whistle-stop tour of several Asian countries – Southeast Asian and East Asian this time – signing several trade agreements along the way. Of course, the highlight at the ASEAN conference in Malaysia was the peace agreement between Cambodia and Thailand, one of Trump’s many showpiece peace treaties… Continue reading Asia Becoming Theatre of US-China Competition
Sounds like a crazy statement to make about the world’s largest trading bloc, comprising 400 million people, you may think. But not if you consider the EU’s own aspirations and ambitions, captured in Mario Draghi’s voluminous report. The EU’s own predicament faced with the raging Ukranian conflict with Russia on the one hand, and with… Continue reading The EU Needs to Look Beyond Trade for Growth
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It was too good to be true. China’s economic growth powered by its exports sector delivered annual rates of real growth between 10% and 14% for years together in the 1980s and 1990s. Something the world watched with awe and admiration, as the Middle Kingdom surged to become the world’s second largest economy in GDP… Continue reading Are the Chickens of China’s State Capitalism Coming Home to Roost?
What a remarkable turn of events in the Middle East this past week. From constant shelling and the killing of innocent civilians – many even as they lined up for food – to the cessation of hostilities and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners. So far, so good. At least as far as… Continue reading A Peace Plan That Leaves the Palestinian State for The End
In an earlier blog post on media brands, I had written that BBC’s coverage of the conflict in Gaza was found wanting, and that I was particularly disappointed because I happen to be a regular BBC World News viewer and because I had done some advertising work for BBC when they were launching India-specific programmes… Continue reading How the BBC Can Become More Competitive
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More than half of 2025 is over and we’re almost about to enter the last quarter of the calendar year. It’s time to assess which way the global economy is headed because the last time I wrote about it, it was just after the IMF and World Bank Group Spring Meetings in the US in… Continue reading Which Way Go-eth The Global Economy?
As if the world doesn’t have enough geopolitical tensions and trade wars to contend with, we have peacemaking efforts in the two wars raging that are threatening to only escalate tensions between the warring parties. And India finds itself in the crosshairs of the conflict in Ukraine, because we’re buying Russian oil and defence equipment.… Continue reading Of Wars and Bombed Peacemaking Efforts
A few days after Trump’s 50% reciprocal tariffs on India – including penalty for buying Russian oil and defence equipment - went into effect, the country announced its GDP numbers for Q1 of FY26, and did they surprise us all. It was almost like a rejoinder to Trump calling India “a dead economy”. But trade… Continue reading Why The Indian Economy Needn’t Be Tarrified
Peripatetic Perch 