Samsung, change needed: In 1993 Samsung started a journey that saw it become one of the world’s leading electronics groups, after founder Lee Kun-hee told his employers “Change everything but your wife and children”. Andreea Zaharia argues that the bribery and embezzlement crisis facing the biggest of the South Korean conglomerates will actually see it successfully reinvent itself once again.
Putin, in charge? It is highly unlikely that President Putin would have sanctioned a sarin attack in Syria because it would certainly derail a Russian peace process that he hoped Washington would eventually support. Stephen Bryen explains how some are now suggesting the various confrontations against the West in Easter Europe, the North Sea, Black Sea and Atlantic, are actually promoted by the Russian military and are not actually supported by Russia’s civilians leaders.
Thailand separatist escalation: In the wake of an upsurge of attacks across Thailand’s three volatile southernmost border provinces, the region’s foremost Malay-Muslim separatist faction, the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), has issued a rare communiqué. Anthony Davis reports the statement brushes aside the ruling junta’s current negotiation attempts and reflects the rising anger over the controversial and slow-moving peace process.
China’s deadly secrets: Beijing remains the world’s top executioner, an Amnesty International claims, and in 2016 killed more prisoners than all other countries put together. Liu Hsiu Wen writes that while China has also sought greater international co-operation in combating terrorism and drug trafficking, Amnesty says its lack of transparency in relation to its own enforcement methods remain a concern.
