Time (August 9)
“If Trump’s goal with two days of tough talk was to scare North Korea, Kim, the commander, put that idea quickly to rest. He called Trump’s rhetoric a “load of nonsense” that was aggravating a grave situation, adding “sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason and only absolute force can work on him.”
Tags: Aggravating, Bereft of reason, Dialogue, Grave situation, Kim, Nonsense, North Korea, Rhetoric, Tough talk, Trump
The Atlantic (July/August Issue)
Although Donald Trump called Kim “a madman with nuclear weapons,” North Korea’s leader “appears to be neither suicidal nor crazy.” In fact, “he has acted with brutal efficiency to consolidate that power; the assassination of his half brother is only the most recent example. As tyrants go, he’s shown appalling natural ability…. his moves have been nothing if not deliberate and even cruelly rational.” With only bad options for dealing with the North, this is “perhaps the most reassuring thing.”
Tags: Appalling, Assassination, Brutal, Crazy, Deliberate, Efficiency, Kim, Madman, North Korea, Nuclear weapons, Rational, Reassuring, Suicidal, Trump, Tyrants
Chicago Tribune (August 9)
“Many Americans had reassured themselves that North Korea was still years away from threatening the U.S. mainland with a nuclear missile. That illusion ended Tuesday.” U.S. intelligence reports appear to indicate that “North Korea now has produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit inside intercontinental ballistic missiles” and has an estimated arsenal including as many as 60 nuclear weapons. North Korea is now clearly a “threat to the U.S., to the world.”
Tags: Arsenal, ICBMs, Intelligence, Mainland, North Korea, Nuclear missile, Threat, U.S., Warhead
Reuters (August 7)
If EU Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger gets his way, “Britain will have to keep making payments for long-term programmes to the European Union until at least 2020, even after it leaves the bloc in 2019.”
The Economist (August 5)
“It is odd that North Korea causes so much trouble. It is not exactly a superpower. Its economy is only a fiftieth as big as that of its democratic capitalist cousin, South Korea. Americans spend twice its total GDP on their pets.” And yet everyone is wondering what to do with this rogue. “There are no good options to curb Kim Jong Un.” But a first strike or “blundering into war would be the worst… The world must keep calm and contain Mr Kim.”
Tags: Blundering, Capitalist, Contain, Democratic, Economy, First strike, GDP, Kim Jong Un, North Korea, Pets, Rogue, South Korea, Superpower, Trouble, U.S.
LA Times (August 3)
“In reality, a grand bargain with China” is unrealistic for North Korea. It would be difficult for China to shut down Kim Jong Un. Moreover, a grand bargain would “destroy America’s global influence, making it impossible for Washington to maintain stability in strategic areas, particularly in Asia and Europe. Indeed, merely proposing an agreement of this sort would make the U.S. into a paper tiger and compromise American credibility in Asia and around the world.”
Tags: Asia, China, Europe, Grand bargain, Influence, Kim Jong Un, North Korea, Stability, Strategic
Institutional Investor (August 3)
“The major shift to passive fund management has increased the need for M&A” so that asset managers can “gain scale and survive increasing pressure” on client fees. The same shift, however, is also deterring potential buyers. “Mergers and acquisitions in the asset and wealth management industry declined in the second quarter,” with the number of deals falling by nearly a third from the first quarter.
Tags: Asset managers, Buyers, Fees, M&A, Passive fund management, Scale, Shift
Bloomberg (August 3)
“Something may be stirring deep within Japan’s labor market. The country’s aging and shrinking population is traditionally thought of as a deflationary factor, driving down potential growth. Yet after years of resisting wage hikes, companies are starting to recognize the need to lock in staff before they literally disappear.”0
Tags: Aging, Deflationary, Growth, Japan, Labor market, Population, Shrinking, Staff, Wage hikes
The Week (August 1)
“President Trump’s approval rating has sunk to historic lows,” but this is not the most salient point. “The politically relevant, and profoundly disturbing, fact is” that after six months of unremitting chaos, lies, ignorance, trash-talking vulgarity, legislative failure, and credible evidence of a desire to collude with a hostile foreign government to subvert an American election, President Trump’s approval rating is astonishingly high.” Over one-third of Americans apparently like “what they see and hear from the White House….That is simply stunning — and reveals just how precarious American democracy has become.”
Tags: Approval, Chaos, Democracy, Disturbing, Election, Failure, Historic lows, Ignorance, Lies, Precarious, Trump, Vulgarity
Wall Street Journal (July 30)
“The retail industry’s woes are often blamed on e-commerce and an excessive number of brick-and-mortar stores. Creditors are now targeting another potential culprit: private-equity investors.”
Tags: Blame, Brick-and-mortar, Creditors, Culprits, E-commerce, Private-equity investors, Retail, Stores, Woes
