About a generation ago, on November 8, 1989, the Berlin Wall collapsed. It was a momentous event in modern history that marked the rise of the United States as the sole global superpower, and shortly thereafter, the rise of the European Union (EU) as a supranational concept dominating national European government policymaking in a range...Read More

Bob Savic says China’s offer to mediate between Myanmar and Bangladesh – in order to solve the core issues of the Rohingya refugee crisis – is an extension of its diplomatic Belt and Road Initiative. When Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the “Belt and Road Initiative” in 2013, it seemed to be essentially an economic project, albeit one of...Read More

US President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing, China, on November 8th and 9th, as part of his 12 day-tour of Asia-Pacific ending Monday, November 13th , went much as expected, focusing on reducing America’s trade deficit while playing on the region’s North Korean nuclear threat – save for an unexpected remark to China’s President Xi...Read More

The statements and exchanges at the conference regarding relations with the West were of the “he said, she said” variety that have become so drearily familiar over the years. READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE.Read More

Bob Savic says having recently consolidated their power domestically, both leaders should have a freer hand to cooperate and advance common goals, among them a resolution of the North Korea nuclear stand-off. China’s 19th Communist Party Congress ended with the inclusion of President Xi Jinping’s name and political thought into the party’s constitution, elevating his status as a...Read More

Former global energy competitors and geopolitical rivals in the Middle East and Central Asia, Russia and Saudi Arabia have been resolving their differences in order to build a long term strategic partnership. Recent backdrop to Russia-Saudi relations Following on from Saudi’s deputy Crown Prince and Defence Minister, Prince Mohammed’s visit to Moscow, in early 2017,...Read More

The ongoing impact of the financial crisis upon the global economy and the concomitant shift towards more regionally-oriented patterns of trade have greatly increased the cogency of the case for more effective policy cooperation at a European level. But that case had already been well-established by the rise of the new emerging powers over the...Read More

The collapse of the Shanghai stock market at the end of August (a downward correction of 37% since 12th June) has brought back to the fore the inherent weaknesses in China’s current economic development. The country’s decreasing growth to 7% over the first six months of the year (with an annual forecast of 6.7% for...Read More

Since Prime Minister Modi took office in May 2014, India has embarked on a number of measures to encourage the development of the country’s economy and the streamlining of its indigenous defence capabilities. Probably the most prominent reform has been the raising of a foreign direct investment cap from 26% to 49% since August 2014,...Read More

This paper utilises long term data series on short-term Japanese interest rates to identify historical changes in interest rate behaviour. Japanese trajectories are then compared to those of key foreign short-term rates and their relationship examined using cointegration analysis to assess the impact of international financial integration. The findings suggest that lasting changes began in...Read More