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Euromoney (November 29)

2023/ 11/ 29 by jd in Global News

“The travails of Zhongzhi, a key player in China’s poorly regulated $3 trillion shadow financing market, underline why a future crisis in the country is more likely, not less.” The government “continues to let problems mount perilously before stepping in… and to kick cans down roads in the hope that unsteady local banks will resolve bad-debt woes or find their own way out of insolvency…. Eventually, one of these financial mini-crises will mutate into a real monster. One that it cannot control.”

 

The Guardian (October 8)

2023/ 10/ 09 by jd in Global News

“Sport and politics often mix. But authoritarian regimes are clearly laundering their reputations through control of global games.” On one hand, “the ruthless advance of commercial interests” may seem “like progress,” but “realpolitik can’t be overlooked. Respecting different cultures does not mean abuse is condoned. The lure of the arena ought not excuse a lack of moral responsibility.”

 

Financial Times (January 14)

2023/ 01/ 15 by jd in Global News

“Since the Bank of Japan stunned markets by widening the band of its yield curve control (YCC) policy on December 20, markets feel things are now moving tectonically for one of the developed world’s most unorthodox financial regimes.” At long last, the ‘widow-maker’ trade “is making money. On Friday and for the first time in almost a decade, yields on the benchmark 10-year JGB rose to 0.53 per cent and, critically, outside the BoJ’s target band in defiance of its ever more desperate efforts to fight the market.”

 

Newsweek (January 4)

2023/ 01/ 06 by jd in Global News

“For all its love of control, the Chinese leadership appears to have condemned its public to relive the uncertainty of early 2020, when Western capitals couldn’t grasp the spread of COVID. For those hoping to track the country’s first nationwide outbreak, it’s nothing short of a guessing game.”

 

Washington Post (December 28)

2022/ 12/ 29 by jd in Global News

ChatGPT, which is “is conversant in a way previous chatbots haven’t been,” has captured the imagination and stoked new fears. “Humans today are still in control…. Ultimately, unleashing the full potential of the technology that appears tantalizingly close to our grasp comes down to this: What do we as a species hope to gain from artificial intelligence, and — perhaps more important — what are we willing to give up?”

 

The Economist (October 13)

2022/ 10/ 15 by jd in Global News

“The Communist Party has always been obsessed with control. But under President Xi Jinping that obsession has deepened. After three decades of opening and reform under previous leaders, China has in many ways become more closed and autocratic under Mr Xi.” The obsessive control is, however, weakening China.

 

Washington Post (May 17)

2022/ 05/ 17 by jd in Global News

With May “more than half over,” Russia’s Plan B is clearly “fizzling” with a notable retreat from Kharkiv. Russia “now appears to be aiming to take, at most, the entirety of a single Ukrainian region, Luhansk. And even that might be beyond the capability of Russia’s depleted, poorly led forces.” Instead, “a widening Ukrainian counteroffensive” might succeed in bringing “more of the Russian-held south and east of Ukraine back under the control of its legitimate government.”

 

Financial Times (January 28)

2022/ 01/ 29 by jd in Global News

“Oaktree Capital is risking a showdown with Beijing over control of one of ailing property developer Evergrande’s most-prized projects in mainland China.” Seizing “the Venice development could have a profound effect on the wider restructuring of Evergrande, the property developer that has scrambled to reassure its creditors since its finances started to unravel last year.”

 

The Economist (March 20)

2021/ 03/ 21 by jd in Global News

Last week China slapped down democracy in Hong Kong. The imposition of tight mainland control over the territory is not just a tragedy for the 7.5m people who live there, it is also a measure of China’s determination not to compromise over how it asserts its will.” But China has pressure points. It is “more tightly coupled with the West than communist Russia ever was. This presents the free world with an epoch-defining question: how should it best secure prosperity, lower the risk of war and protect freedom as China rises?”

 

Washington Post (February 2)

2021/ 02/ 02 by jd in Global News

The emerging new strains of the novel coronavirus “are a powerful reminder that we must remain vigilant in fighting the virus, even as vaccines promise an end to the pandemic. And they are a warning that if the world doesn’t bring the virus under control everywhere, this nightmarish pandemic could continue for years longer than it needs to.”

 

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