Washington Post (April 15)
“The world has been understandably transfixed by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s horrific invasion of Ukraine,” but we must still stay alert to threats elsewhere. “President Xi Jinping has been quietly taking advantage of the West’s distraction by expanding China’s sphere of influence in the South Pacific. If Washington doesn’t wake up to this threat, China’s efforts to dominate the region will gain dangerous and perhaps irreversible momentum.”
Tags: China, Dangerous, Distraction, Dominate, Horrific, Influence, Invasion, Irreversible, Putin, Russia, South Pacific, Threats, Transfixed, U.S., Ukraine, World, Xi
Wall Street Journal (June 11)
A report on Toshiba “harked back to the days when Japan Inc. was a popular term to describe the perceived tight linkage between big business and government in blocking foreign influence in Japan.” The company-commissioned report found that Toshiba Corp. “worked closely with Japanese government officials to block foreign-based shareholders from exercising their rights, using inappropriate threats and language such as ‘beat them up.’”
Tags: Big business, Foreign, Government, Inappropriate, Influence, Japan Inc., Linkage, Report, Rights, Shareholders, Threats, Toshiba
Financial Times (June 10)
“The depth of collusion between Toshiba, the Japanese government and the former investment head of the world’s biggest pension fund to influence board nominations last year has been laid bare by an independent probe” and “represented an attempt to unfairly restrict the exercise of shareholder rights.”
Tags: Board, Collusion, Depth, Exercise, Fund, Government, Independent, Influence, Investment, Japan, Nominations, Pension, Probe, Restrict, Shareholder rights, Toshiba, Unfairly
Reuters (March 14)
“Boeing’s belatedly grounded jets” serve as “an apt symbol of the erosion of U.S. soft power. After saying there was no problem in the wake of two crashes,” the FAA followed the lead of other governments and banned the 737 MAX.” These days, “even allies are increasingly skeptical of Washington’s leadership.” It is challenging to measure “the influence a country wields though its cultural, technological and economic strength,” but the U.S. fell “to fourth in the Soft Power 30 ranking last summer, from top of the list just two years earlier.”
Tags: 737 MAX, Allies, Belated, Boeing, Crashes, FAA, Grounded, Influence, Leadership, Skeptical, Soft power, U.S.
New Yorker (December 23)
As “more established environmental organizations” have adopted “defensive positions, Sunrise has established itself as the dominant influence on the environmental policy of the Democratic Party’s young, progressive wing. Just as the March for Our Lives has changed gun-control activism from a movement of grieving parents to one led by students, Sunrise is part of a generational shift in the environmental movement” as they push for a “Green New Deal.”
Tags: Defensive, Dominant, Environmental, Established, Generational shift, Green New Deal, Gun-control activism, Influence, March for Our Lives, Parents, Students, Sunrise
Bloomberg (November 2)
China’s belt and road master plan “to project Chinese power, influence and trade across much of the world could well undermine all three.” The trillion-dollar global infrastructure scheme has gotten out of control. “A scaled-down, better-managed Belt and Road—guided more by economics and less by politics—should, as intended, promote growth and trade across the region and beyond. That would serve everybody’s interests.”
Tags: Belt and road, China, Economics, Growth, Influence, Infrastructure, Politics, Power, Trade
Bloomberg (September 14)
“A government campaign to slash the influence of China’s celebrities” will also hinder the industry’s ability to compete with Hollywood. “China’s filmmakers, already struggling, will have trouble competing at home, let alone abroad, if they’re forced to use dull, ideologically pure actors and storylines. If China really wants to challenge Hollywood on a global stage, it’s going to have to let its biggest stars shine.”
Tags: Actors, Celebrities, China, Dull, Filmmakers, Government, Hollywood, Ideologically pure, Influence, Storylines, Struggling
WARC (December 11)
“While China’s slowdown will continue to influence the economic landscape for other Asian markets – many marketers have seen budgets cut – bright spots are emerging, particular as India’s ‘mainstream’ consumer demographic continues to grow at pace.” Now expected to outpace China, India looks poised to add more mainstream consumers than China over the coming decade.
Institutional Investor (October 5)
In a recent survey “of 101 investors managing more than $1 trillion combined, 87 percent said they would support the activist campaign of a well-regarded investor if they believed change was necessary at the company in question…. Many of the investors view themselves as change makers, with roughly half saying their firms can meaningfully influence a company’s corporate governance.”
Reuters (September 28)
“Along with the ongoing decimation of Iraq’s Sunni population,” the Kurdish referendum “means that in practice ‘Iraq’ no longer exists. In its place is a Shiite state dominated by Iran, the de facto new nation of Kurdistan, and a shrinking population of Sunnis tottering between annihilation or reservation-like existence, depending on whether the United States uses the last of its influence to sketch out red lines or abandons the people to fate.”00
Tags: Annihilation, Decimation, Influence, Iran, Iraq, Kurdistan, Kurds, Referendum, Shiite, Sunni, U.S.
