The US dollar has had a good run during the last year or so. Is that run coming to an end? Some currency-market players think so. For example, on May 31 UBS, a Zurich-based bank, switched its outlook to “dollar neutral,” saying the “USD rally has run its course, and we see limited upside from […]
Posted inGallery
Asia’s houses of the holy
In the 1960s, “The Orient” captured a new interest among the post-World War II Beat Generation as the lures of Zen Buddhism, Indian music, Thai weed and related mind-altering experiences rippled through the hip communities of the West. While young American GIs were fighting the Vietnam War, more peaceable folks were donning backpacks and heading […]
Posted inNorth-South Korea
Moon’s right-hand man former friend to the North
This article was originally published May 14, 2017. Im Jong-seok has now been mentioned as President’s Moon’s possible nominee for the post of unification minister. As US investigators hunkered down last week to investigate whether US President Donald Trump’s election campaign colluded with a hostile government, South Korea’s new president was appointing a right-hand man […]
Posted inAT Financial
Asia Times Financial launches news service, China domestic bond index
Asia Times Financial (ATF) today launched news and index services – notably the Asia Times Financial China Bond 50 Index – to provide expert, fast and accurate narratives about key Asian credit markets. The ATF China Bond 50 Index is a product created by the collaborative strength of Capital Link International and its partners: media platform ATF and […]
Posted inOpinion
Ukraine building new bridges in US
Rather than waiting for US tech CEOs to come to Ukraine, Ukraine’s leading tech owner and CEO, Boosteroid’s Ivan Shvaichenko, went to the United States to launch its US headquarters and future $1 billion-plus NASDAQ listing of the world’s third-largest cloud-game hosting company after GE Force of Nvidia and XCloud of Microsoft. But Shvaichenko’s first […]
Posted inOpinion
How ‘Assassin’s Creed’ imagines medieval Baghdad
Video games are among the most popular forms of mainstream entertainment, with an estimated 3.38 billion players globally – about 17% of whom are in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). One of the most anticipated video game titles of 2023, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, puts the spotlight on medieval Islamic civilization. Given the popularity of video games, […]
Posted inUkraine War
Is the ATACMS tactical missile already in Ukraine?
Russian defense sources say that an ATACMS tactical ballistic missile was launched from Kulbakino Air Field in Ukraine. If the Russian report is correct then the Washington debate about sending tactical ATACMS missiles to Ukraine is fake, as they already are there. The Russian report has not been confirmed. What is clear is that the Ukrainians used missiles to attack Sevastopol on […]
Posted inUS-China tech war
China pushes supercomputing goal despite US curbs
China is expected to complete the construction of a site in Shenzhen for its third exascale supercomputer in 2025, aiming to show its determination to bypass the United States’s sanctions. An exascale supercomputer is more than a million times faster than the US Department of Energy (DOE)’s Intel ASCI Red supercomputer, which was launched in […]
Posted inJapan
BOJ’s policy calls are being made in Washington and Beijing
TOKYO – Though governor Kazuo Ueda announced the news last Friday, the Bank of Japan’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged was really made in Washington. Two days earlier, US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell disappointed many by suggesting the harshest US tightening cycle in 30 years isn’t over. That news, in many ways, left […]
Posted inEspionage
US to move intel technology from planes to satellites
The US plans to shift a significant portion of its intelligence-gathering technology from planes to satellites, capitalizing on the strategic advantages of space-based assets but coming up against significant political, operational, and military challenges. This month, Defense One reported that the Pentagon is considering moving intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities from aircraft to less […]
Posted inIndonesia
Trial delay for Bali bombing suspect drags on
It is coming up on the 21st anniversary of the devastating 2002 Bali bombing as the US Military Commissions plan pretrial hearings for Encep Nurjaman, the Indonesian militant accused of masterminding a crime that claimed the lives of 202 people, but who can’t be prosecuted in his own country. Incarcerated at Cuba’s grim Guantanamo Bay detention […]
Posted inHuawei
Huawei’s new AI strategy aims to transform industry
In her keynote speech at the Huawei Connect 2023 conference on September 20-22 in Shanghai, Huawei deputy chairwoman, rotating chairwoman and CFO Meng Wanzhou (Sabrina Meng) presented the company’s new computing and communications strategy to “accelerate the intelligent transformation of thousands of industries.” Called All Intelligence, a fusion of the company’s previous All IP and […]
Posted inOpinion
Biden UN speech: no Ukraine compromise, negotiation
Joe Biden gave an address to the United Nations General Assembly on September 20th. The speech was a disaster. Putting aside the president’s slurred words, the message from Biden is that there will be no compromise at all when it comes to Ukraine. Here is what he had to say: Russia believes that the world will […]
Posted inGlobal Polarity Monitor
Investment themes in a polarizing world
Military conflict risk: Low with the South Caucus in focus David Woo assesses survey data from conflict-involved countries, which indicates a declining expectation of military conflict intensification in the coming weeks. Tensions are, however, rising in the South Caucasus as Azerbaijan launched a military operation against Nagorno-Karabakh. Investment themes in a polarizing world David Woo […]
Posted inChina
China unveils railgun-armed nuclear-powered supercarrier
China has unveiled a super-ship concept, a railgun-armed nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, reviving an old Soviet concept in line with its bastion strategy in the South China Sea. However, it may be more of a prestige weapon than a viable warship design. This month, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that China’s top naval scientist, […]
Posted inReligion
Behind the India-Canada spat over a Sikh’s killing
India and Canada have engaged in tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions as part of an escalating row over the killing of a Sikh separatist leader on Canadian soil. The expulsions follow claims by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that there are “credible allegations” linking the Indian government of Narendra Modi with the death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. […]
Posted inPhilippines
Philippines on cusp of new South China Sea cold war
In a demonstration of the Philippines’ growing importance as a strategic front line for major powers, the embassies of Japan and China in Manila engaged in a perhaps unprecedented verbal tussle over the latest developments in the South China Sea. Over the weekend, Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Koshikawa Kazuhiko sounded alarm bells over reports […]
Posted inTech Wars
US curbs Chinese firms over tech shipments to Iran
The US Biden administration, evidently seeking to demonstrate after agreeing to a prisoner swap that it isn’t soft on Iran, has sanctioned seven individuals and four entities in Iran, Russia, China and Turkey and accused them of supplying components to Tehran’s drone program. The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Tuesday imposed […]
Posted inArmenia
Will the US enter another war, this one in Armenia?
Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia’s Prime Minister, has decided to align Armenia with the United States, maybe also with NATO. Accordingly, he has arranged anti-Russian protests in Yerevan, and carried out military exercises with the United States. It is unlikely the Russians will allow him to make deals with Washington. Armenia, a country with around three million people, […]
Posted inJapan Defense
Japan stocks up on missiles with China, N Korea in its sights
Japan plans to construct more missile storage facilities to build a long-range counterstrike arsenal against China and North Korea amid a poor track record of munitions stockpiling, and an underfunded defense industry. This month, Kyodo News reported that Japan plans to build more ammunition depots at Self-Defense Forces facilities from fiscal 2024 to store long-range […]
Posted inAfghanistan
US ‘pragmatic engagement’ legitimatizes Taliban rule
For two decades, the conflict in Afghanistan occupied international attention and US resources. But ever since American troops withdrew in 2021, the conflict has seemingly been viewed in Washington more as a concern localized to the region of Central and South Asia. This is due in large part to Washington’s shifting global priorities. The invasion […]
Posted inQuantum Computing
China, India race for 1,000-qubit quantum computers
China and India, the world’s two largest populations, are competing against each other by developing their own 1,000-qubit quantum computers, a goal that will be achieved by the United States’s IBM this year. In terms of making quantum computers, India is a latecomer when compared with China. The Indian government in April this year approved […]
Posted inUkraine War
US fails to get Zelensky to negotiate with Russia
Washington and some NATO partners made a strong effort to see if Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky could be put on a peace track with Russia. The effort failed, and Zelensky’s visit to the UN and Washington is aimed at creating support to continue the war – in particular, achieving a commitment from Congress to approve another $24.9 […]
Posted inAerospace
Silent lightning: US develops EW drone swarms
The US has embarked on a program to develop electronic-warfare drone swarms, the latest in its multiple projects to master what could potentially be war-winning AI and drone technology, though with significant operational and strategic implications and risks. This month, Breaking Defense reported that the US Navy is seeking industry and government agencies to participate […]