The Guardian (July 9)
“The pound has come under fresh selling pressure amid rising fears over the strength of the British economy as no-deal Brexit looms,” tumbling to its lowest sustained level in over two years. “The latest sell-off comes at a time of a stalling UK economy, as the boost from stockpiling before the original Brexit deadline begins to fade” and fears grow that “the economy probably contracted in the three months to June, raising fears of a technical recession.”
Tags: Brexit, Economy, Fears, No-deal, Pound, Pressure, Recession, Sell-off, Stalling, Stockpiling, UK
Washington Post (June 14)
“Is the Iran-U.S. tinderbox about to ignite?” In one sense, it already has. Burning tankers provided “the dramatic imagery that sometimes precedes armed conflict.” Clearly fraught, the confrontation is partly due to “Iranian overconfidence” and frustration. “Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign has collided head on with Khamenei’s maximum resistance. Met by American economic warfare, Iran’s hard-liners are doubling down with their own forms of deniable warfare, with mines, drones and proxy attacks.”
Tags: Armed conflict, Confrontation, Deniable warfare, Drones, Economic warfare, Frustration, Hard-liners, Ignite, Iran, Khamenei, Mines, Overconfidence, Pressure, Proxy attacks, Resistance, Tankers, Tinderbox, Trump’s, U.S.
Reuters (February 1)
“Socialist President Nicolas Maduro is under intense pressure to step down, with Venezuela in deep economic crisis and the government facing widespread international condemnation for elections last year seen as fraudulent.” It appears he is making plans “to sell 29 tonnes of gold held in Caracas to the United Arab Emirates by February in order to provide liquidity for imports of basic goods.”
Tags: Basic goods, Condemnation, Crisis, Elections, Gold, Imports, Liquidity, Maduro, Pressure, Socialist, UAE, Venezuela
Washington Post (January 26)
President Trump now occupies “an extremely weak position.” Ending the shut down “only confirms what lawmakers have long suspected…. Trump repeatedly backs down from his public positions…. That’s a problem for the president going forward. The players expect that, with enough pressure, the president will again back down.”
The Diplomat (June 19)
“Comparisons–both fair and unfair–will likely be drawn between this government’s response to the Osaka earthquake and the 3.11 triple disaster or the 1995 Hanshin earthquake to score political points. Abe will be under pressure to centralize command without micromanaging, to foster cooperation at the municipal level without overreaching. Though this natural disaster is not on the scale of either the 3.11 or Hanshin earthquakes, given Abe’s grim political outlook, he cannot afford any misstep under this kind of scrutiny.”
Tags: 3.11, Abe, Centralize, Cooperation, Government, Hanshin earthquake, Micromanaging, Misstep, Natural disaster, Osaka earthquake, Overreaching, Pressure, Response, Scale, Scrutiny
Washington Post (April 1)
China “has always been the biggest trade target for Trump. It also appears to be the first country to retaliate to his trade threats, putting pressure on leaders in Washington and Beijing to anticipate each other’s next moves quickly.”
Financial Times (November 23)
“Mitsubishi Materials has admitted its subsidiaries falsified data about products used in crucial parts of aircraft and cars, dragging another of Japan’s largest manufacturers into the data falsification scandal at Kobe Steel…. The disclosure will raise the pressure on Japan’s manufacturing sector, which has been struck in the past two months by certification scandals at carmakers Nissan and Subaru, as well as Kobe Steel, Japan’s third-largest steelmaker.”
Tags: Aircraft, Cars, Certification, Disclosure, Falsified, Japan, Kobe Steel, Manufacturers, Mitsubishi Materials, Nissan, Pressure, Product data, Scandals, Steelmaker, Subaru
South China Morning Post (May 26)
“China will not support using more sanctions to further pressure North Korea into halting its nuclear weapons programme.” Amid North Korea’s “continuous testing of ballistic missiles,” China’s reluctance “is setting up a clash with US President Donald Trump over economic issues that the US cannot win.”
Tags: Ballistic missiles, China, Clash, North Korea, Nuclear weapons, Pressure, Sanctions, Testing, U.S.
Institutional Investor (September 12)
“Weak markets and worries about growth are putting pressure on fund managers across Asia. Chinese stocks barely began recovering from the summer 2015 meltdown before taking another hit earlier this year, while investors in Japan turned bearish on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic policies as growth slowed.”
Tags: Abe, Asia, Bearish, China, Fund managers, Growth, Investors, Japan, Markets, Meltdown, Pressure, Weak
Chicago Tribune (August 8)
“For Japan, where there’s such pressure to maintain things the way they are, the decision to retire is even bigger. This has the making of an unmistakably modern moment: trying something new, even if it feels uncomfortable. Japan should thank Emperor Akihito for his unexpected decision and wish him a long, happy retirement.”
Tags: Decision, Emperor Akihito, Japan, New, Pressure, Retire, Uncomfortable, Unexpected
