The Economist (July 20)
“A brawl now under way in Asia, between Japan and South Korea, has the potential to be as damaging as much of what Mr Trump has stirred up. It is also a sign that his model of abusing economic partners is spreading.”
Tags: Abusing, Asia, Brawl, Damaging, Economic partners, Japan, South Korea, Trump
Wall Street Journal (July 19)
“What began as an obscure, tech-supply trade fight between Tokyo and Seoul has now erupted into a boycott mushrooming across South Korea, a backlash targeting Japanese apparel, travel and electronics.” According to a recent poll, “most South Koreans are avoiding Japan-made products.”
Tags: Apparel, Backlash, Boycott, Obscure, South Korea, Tech-supply, Tokyo, Trade fight, Travel
Chicago Tribune (July 18)
“The nuclear arms control edifice that was built up over half a century is in danger of coming apart” as the Trump administration withdraws from the INF Treaty and does not seek to extend New START. “After more than 50 years of U.S.-Russian arms control negotiations and agreements, there is scope for thinking anew about how best to reduce nuclear dangers. But abandoning long-standing agreements and conditioning any new negotiations on including China are not the best way to do that.”
Tags: Agreements, Arms control, China, INF Treaty, Negotiations, New Start, Nuclear, Russia, Trump administration, U.S.
Investment Week (July 17)
“A ‘no deal’ Brexit could result in sterling falling to parity with the dollar,” according to Morgan Stanley. “Exiting the European Union without a deal looks increasingly likely.” In a “worst-case scenario” the pound, currently at $1.24, could plunge roughly 19% “to historic lows of $1-$1.10.”
Bloomberg (July 16)
“South Korea is headed for a demographic crash,” with a fertility rate roughly half the replacement rate of 2.1. In 2018, it “fell to a record low of 0.98—much lower even than in countries such as Japan, whose rate is above 1.4.” By 2080, South Korea’s current “population of 51 million could fall by a third.”
Los Angeles Times (July 16)
“Demeaning, offensive, nativist, unbecoming a president”—President Trump’s words telling 4 members of Congress to go back to their own countries were all of that and more, but “they were not politically stupid.” The president “wants to run against something scarier than he is, which is why he” wants “to paint Democrats as radical socialists.” He “wants the most liberal and controversial House members to become the face of the Democratic Party so he, the most disruptive and norm-violating president of modern times, will seem like the political equivalent of comfort food, or at worst the devil you know.”
Tags: Congress, Controversial, Demeaning, Disruptive, Liberal, Nativist, Offensive, Politically stupid, Radical, Socialists, Trump, Unbecoming
New York Times (July 15)
India’s water crisis offers a striking reminder of how climate change is rapidly morphing into a climate emergency. Piped water has run dry in Chennai…and 21 other Indian cities are also facing the specter of ‘Day Zero,’ when municipal water sources are unable to meet demand.” The Prime Minister “has promised piped water for all Indians by 2024,” but that goal will never be met unless the government also focuses on harnessing “powerful natural water systems that worked in the past…. Mr. Modi’s government’s focus on huge projects is flawed because moving water works only if there is water to move.”
Tags: 2024, Chennai, Climate change, Crisis, Day Zero, Demand, Dry, India, Modi, Natural water systems, New projects, Piped, Water
The Economist (July 13)
Matteo Salvini has in effect “been the most powerful man in Italy since shortly after he became a deputy prime minister in June last year.” His domestic rise has been “relentless,” though it is not connected “to pre-eminence by solving or showing how he might solve any of Italy’s obvious malaises.” Even more worryingly, Mr. Salvini has a very antagonistic relationship with the EU and he could very well instigate a new crisis, willingly or otherwise. “The troubling fact for Europe is that no one knows what this meteor that has flashed across Italy’s skies will do next.”
Tags: Antagonistic, Crisis, Deputy prime minister, EU, Italy, Malaises, Relentless, Salvini, Troubling
INC. (July/August Issue)
“Fully autonomous–that is, self-driving–cars remain years away. But we may soon inhabit a world where 80 percent of all parcels are delivered by other autonomous vehicles. Pharmacy and cannabis orders, groceries, and on-demand entertainment could come to you not in full-size cars and trucks, but rather in robots, high-tech carriages, wagons (yep, just like the one you had as a kid), and drones.”
Tags: Autonomous, Cars, Delivery, Groceries, Parcels, Pharmacy, Robots, Self-driving
Wall Street Journal (July 11)
“The bitterness of Brexit pervades all aspects of British life and politics. It has divided friends and families, produced a Conservative cabinet with more leaks than an old sieve, split the diplomats of the U.S. and the U.K., and exposed a rift between Britain’s elected politicians and its unelected civil servants.”
Tags: Bitterness, Brexit, Cabinet, Conservative, Diplomats, Divides, Elected, Families, Friends, Life, Politicians, Politics, Rift, Split, U.S., UK, Unelected
