Hong Kong, London Vie to Fund One Belt, One Road

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 5/17/2017 04:12:00 PM
Xi Jinping hawks OBOR to Filipino flunkies. Apparently, there are many of these sorts all over the world. So we may have expressed some doubts about the now-legendary PRC "One Belt, One Road" project--otherwise known as the "New Silk Road"--coming true. However, there is an interesting corollary to the story. What if China's erstwhile economic rivals buy into the hype? The Americans, for instance, are comparing the decrepit state of US infrastructure and the beleaguered Donald Trump's ever-doubtful intentions to fix it with such a massive-scale, global effort: China excels at spectacle, and the Belt & Road Forum was...
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One Belt, One Baloney? PRC's Silk Road Revival Doubts

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,,, at 5/14/2017 04:15:00 PM
Over the weekend, Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted an elaborate event in Beijing concerning the PRC's idea of reviving the historical Silk Road. Spanning much of Asia and the Middle East besides, this trade route epitomized many of the things China wants to be today: (1) at the center of world trade, (2) involved in infrastructure, and (3) a prime mover of international relations. This, of course, stands in contrast to the retrograde "America First" stylings of the racist-protectionist-isolationist American president, Donald Trump. Some hackles were raised about the invitation being extended to North Korea, of all nations,...
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Post-Brexit, Will the EU Stop Speaking English?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 5/12/2017 07:23:00 PM
"We don't need no pidgin English!" The Academie Francaise may be ascendant with the UK leaving the EU. I've talked about how English has become entrenched in global use--most often as a widely-spoken second language--because of its more "open source" nature [1. 2]. That is, people come up with new words to fit novel situations, and these become part of the global lexicon. Think about "Grexit" and "Brexit", which would have been unintelligent gibberish only a few years ago. The Internet has certainly played its part in establishing a common language as well.  It is apropos that we make use of those examples...
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Can California Save the US From Trump's Stone Age?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 5/03/2017 06:01:00 PM
Californians don't dig coal. Yes it can! Or, at least if you listen to New York Times columnist and bestselling author Tom Friedman. Although Friedman meanders a bit getting to the point--blasting Trump for advocating environmentally and socially backward policies along the way--he ultimately ends up there. In his version of events, the "California effect" in which most companies choosing to operate in that state have to meet higher environmental and social standards, usually meaning that they adopt similar standards nationwide, saves the rest of America from Trump's degeneracy: I believe California’s market size, aspirational...
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World's Loneliest ATM Machines...in North Korea

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 5/01/2017 01:06:00 PM
"Those are just props, right?" The ATM at North Korea's brand-new "international airport". A recent New York Times article claims that, actually, North Korea is experimenting with economic liberalization on a controlled basis. That is, small markets featuring wares made by local traders are popping up all over the country. What's more, it claims that the totalitarian dominance of the Kim regime is lessened as more of these merchants pop up and become more affluent. Unless you're a communist diehard, you'd probably agree that something that could really spur this nascent turn towards entrepreneurship is international economic...
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