Asia

   Russia’s wealthiest 0.01% (the top 1% of the top 1%) have taken about half their wealth, around $200 billion, out of Russia and stashed it in the UK and other havens. At the same time, America’s wealthiest 0.01% have taken around $1.2 trillion out of the United States, principally to avoid paying taxes. So, in terms of magnitude, American plutocrats match …

  America can’t do without an enemy.  An enemy is what funds America’s largest industry—military spending—and an enemy provides a national security focus which holds our tower of babel together.   During the Obama regime Russia was re-established as The Enemy. Trump’s intent to normalize relations with Russia, that is, to erase Russia’s enemy status, brought fire and brimestone down …

  The Harvard Belfer Center report, “The Great Economic Rivalry: China Vs. the US,” predicts that at the current rate China will overtake the US economically within a decade. When it comes to trade, China has now displaced the US. “When this century began, China was knocking on the door of the WTO and the U.S. was the leading trading …

  The defining geopolitical contest of the twenty-first century is between China and the US. But is it avoidable? And if it happens, is the outcome already inevitable? These are the questions central to the distinguished Singaporean academic and diplomat, Kishore Mahbubahi in his book Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy. “A seasoned Singaporean diplomat’s latest book …

  To log off computers and shut down the constant distraction of social media, and simply sit still in the serenity of a silent room and reflect upon one’s life, can bring more mental health than most think. The recipe for Mental Health: It is most rewarding to engage in philosophical thought on existential topics: What is the meaning of …

  A handful of mega corporations — private investment companies — dominate every aspect of our lives; everything we eat, drink, wear or use in one way or another. These investment firms are so enormous, they control the money flow worldwide. While there appear to be hundreds of competing brands on the market, like Russian nesting dolls, larger parent companies …

  As the dollar declines, so does Washington’s power. Cutting dependence on the US dollar: The De-Dollarization discussion suffers from holdover thinking that a reserve currency is needed.  No reserve currency is needed.  Countries can settle their trade balances in their own currencies or contracts can specify the currencies of trade transactions.   Countries with low inflation and low debt will have stronger …

  No country has successfully challenged the U.S. dollar’s global hegemony—until now. How did this happen and what will it mean? Foreign critics have long chafed at the “exorbitant privilege” of the U.S. dollar as global reserve currency. The U.S. can issue this currency backed by nothing but the “full faith and credit of the United States.” Foreign governments, needing …

  “The neoconservatives who dominate US foreign policy, the principal purpose of which, in their words, is to prevent the rise of other countries with sufficient power to constrain US unilateralism, now face both China and Russia as threats to US hegemony.” “Russia’s punishment is conflict in Ukraine, sanctions, missiles on their border, and blown up Nord Stream pipelines,” says …

  The Arctic Fox Cometh: A few decades ago, we associated George Orwell 1984 with the communist Soviet Union, where the people had little freedom, few chances to succeed financially in the state economy system and free speech was non-existent. Any criticism of Stalin would cause a person to end up in the Gulag concentration camps. Today, the scenario is …