ABC News (September 18)
Progress could involve an “active containment” strategy “using existing military capabilities, by forming a missile defense perimeter in international waters surrounding North Korea that would knock down every missile launched.” Not only is the idea currently feasible, it could be achieved relatively simply. “Just two U.S., Japanese, or Korean destroyers in international waters off North Korea could form this missile defense perimeter…. Intercepts could be calculated to occur outside of North Korean airspace, and to have the debris fall harmlessly into the ocean.”
Tags: Active containment, Airspace, Destroyers, Intercepts, International waters, Japan, Military capabilities, Missile defense, North Korea, Progress, South Korea, Strategy, U.S.
Sun-Sentinel (September 18)
Located in hard-hit Broward County, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reminds readers that the Caribbean was hit much harder and is bracing for more. “Our island neighbors have been living a nightmare since Hurricane Irma hit two weeks ago…. Paradise has become a hellhole…. We have our own hurricane headaches here in Florida…. Even still, we cannot forget our neighbors to the south. They got clobbered hard, many of them harder than a lot of us. Now they’re staring down Hurricane Maria…. Our Caribbean neighbors need our help.”
The Economist (September 17)
“Investors outside China have about $1trn invested in firms that use” variable interest entities (VIEs). These include Alibaba and Tencent. Yet, it remains “unclear if VIEs are even legal in China,” exposing investors to two risks. “First, the VIEs could be ruled illegal, potentially forcing the firms to wind up or sell vital licences and intellectual property in China. The second danger is that VIE owners seek to grab the profits or assets held within. If they refuse to co-operate, die, or fall out of political favour, it is far from clear that firms can enforce VIE contracts in Chinese courts.”
Tags: Alibaba, Assets, China, Contracts, Courts, Illegal, Investors, IP, Profits, Risks, Tencent, VIEs
Korea Times (September 15)
South Koreans were not pleased by an editorial in the English version of the state-run People’s Daily, which stated “”Korean conservatives have become stupid after eating too much kimchi.” In response, the Korea Times noted that “being a state mouthpiece, the paper is deceitful as well,” before taking a shot at Chinese journalists. “People do not become stupid only because they eat specific foods. They become so because they are unable to think logically due to blind emotion or obedience (to government authorities).”
Tags: China, Conservatives, Deceitful, Journalists, Kimchi, Mouthpiece, Obedience, People's Daily, South Korea, Stupid
Reuters (September 15)
“Business owners who are trying to get back on track after hurricanes Harvey and Irma now face a different sort of challenge: trying to recoup lost income from their insurers.” Some experts predict approximately $70 billion in property losses from flooding in Texas alone. But recouping insured property loses is much easier than lost income. “Exclusions in the fine print of policies, along with waiting periods and disagreements over how to measure a company’s lost income, make business interruption claims among the trickiest in an industry renowned for complexity”
Tags: Business, Business interruption, Claims, Complexity, Exclusions, Flooding, Harvey, Hurricanes, Insurers, Irma, Lost income, Owners, Policies, Property losses, Texas
The Bangkok Post (September 14)
“The North Korean ‘crisis’ of recent months is largely an invented one.” Little has changed. “The probability that North Korea would fire a nuclear-tipped missile at the United States was” and remains, “essentially zero.” Given “the undeniable reality of mutual deterrence, the North Korean ‘crisis’ of 2017 can most accurately be seen as a media puppet show put on by Chairman Kim and President Trump for their own public relations purposes. Nonetheless, it’s a dangerous play.”
Tags: Crisis, Dangerous, Invented, Kim, Media puppet, Missile, Mutual deterrence, North Korea, Nuclear, Trump, U.S., Undeniable
Website Magazine (September 14)
“By and large, the Web is now a gigantic global software platform. And by extension, modern Web design is no longer Web design; it’s product design.”
Tags: Global, Internet, Platform, Product design, Software, Web design
Investment Week (September 13)
“UK asset managers have listed numerous concerns surrounding the UK’s upcoming split from the European Union including staffing, delegation and passporting issues.” In jeopardy stands “the UK’s position as the largest asset management centre in Europe” and some European clients have already said “they had chose to contract with managers in other jurisdictions rather than face uncertainty surrounding contracting with a UK-based entity.”
Tags: Asset managers, Clients, EU, Jeopardy, Passporting, Staffing, UK, Uncertainty surrounding
Businessweek (September 13)
“As Putin prepares to run for a fourth term in elections next March, the plight of his working-class base across the Russian heartland is emerging as a top domestic challenge.” There’s little doubt Putin will win, “but the discontent threatens Putin’s popularity as the economy continues to sputter. After the longest recession in his 17-year rule, real incomes have fallen 12 percent over the past three years, sparking protests in areas that provided solid backing for Putin in 2012.”
Tags: Discontent, Economy, Elections, Heartland, Incomes, Popularity, Protests, Putin, Recession, Russia, Working class
US News & World Report (September 12)
Putin’s proposal to put U.N. Peacekeepers in Ukraine “seems to be a win-win for Moscow – even if it fails.” Whether it will be a “path to peace” remains to be seen and skeptics believe the Russian president is again scheming at something.
