The Economist (January 10)
“North Korea’s strange juggling act is becoming ever more precarious. The hubbub over The Interview has attracted unwanted attention. “Just because Mr Kim runs a paranoid, delusional despotism, does not mean that the outside world is not out to get him.” In fact, it increasingly seems “the comforting calculation for North Korea’s regime—that, painful though its existence is to its people and the outside world, its collapse would be worse—may not hold for ever in Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo and Washington.”
Tags: Beijing, Collapse, Delusional, Despotism, Kim, North Korea, Paranoid, Regime, Seoul, The Interview, Tokyo, Washington
Bloomberg (December 18)
Early this year, Kremlin aids advised Vladimir Putin that “Russia was rich enough to withstand the financial repercussions from a possible incursion into Ukraine.” Their advice and the subsequent invasion “now looks like a grave miscalculation. Russia has driven interest rates to punishing levels and spent at least $87 billion, or 17 percent, of its foreign-exchange reserves trying to prevent a collapse in the ruble from spiraling into a panic.
Tags: Advice, Collapse, Foreign-exchange reserves, Interest rates, Kremlin, Miscalculation, Panic, Putin, Ruble, Russia, Ukraine
Washington Post (December 16)
“The drama playing out in Russia on Tuesday was not pretty. The ruble’s exchange rate has collapsed by some 50 percent against the dollar since mid-June, with an accelerating fall in recent days….Russia now faces a full-blown currency crisis.” The crisis, however, did not spring out of nowhere. “For President Vladimir Putin, the crisis is his own doing, a direct outgrowth of a meddlesome adventure into Ukraine.”
Tags: Collapse, Currency crisis, Dollar, Exchange rate, Putin, Ruble, Russia, Ukraine
The Economist (May 31)
It has been 25 years since China stepped back from the abyss that was Tiananmen. This led to China’s longest stretch of stability “since the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911.” Nonetheless, “it is still wise to be cautious about the cohesion of Chinese politics.” While there is no immediate cause for alarm, “political risk is as important to bear in mind as the wobbles that are causing growing numbers of observers to worry about China’s economy.”
Tags: Cautious, China, Cohesion, Collapse, Economy, Politics, Qing dynasty, Risk, Stability, Tiananmen
Washington Post (May 13)
“The collapse of the giant West Antarctica ice sheet is underway.” It will be massive, but it won’t be rapid. The apparently “unstoppable” melt could raise sea levels “up to 12 feet,” but it will take anywhere from two centuries to a millennium to fully transpire.
The Economist (May 10)
“Long in crisis, Thailand is close to the brink. Without compromises on both sides, it may well collapse.” Thailand has fallen hard. Not long ago, it was a “shining example” of democracy with its booming economy. Now “everything is broken.” The latest blow came when a court dismissed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and nine cabinet members in what is being viewed by many as a political intervention. The country remains split in two politically. “The irreconcilable differences between the two sides have swallowed up Thailand’s courts, its army and even the monarchy—and left Thailand at the abyss.”
Tags: Army, Brink, Broken, Cabinet, Collapse, Compromise, Courts, Crisis, Democracy, Economy, Monarchy, Politics, Prime minister, Thailand, Yingluck Shinawatra
Chicago Tribune (April 9)
The talks between Israel and Palestine “are on the verge of collapse.” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry should quit trying to prop them up. “The U.S can’t broker a peace deal absent strong motivation from both sides to surmount formidable, historic hurdles.”
Tags: Collapse, Historic, Hurdles, Israel, John Kerry, Motivation, Palestine, Peace deal, Talks, U.S.
New York Times (January 4, 2014)
“Five months into the latest American effort to nudge Israelis and Palestinians toward a peace agreement, the one party clearly committed to a deal is the United States.” Over 20 talks have been held, with the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry logging ten trips to the region. Despite these efforts to reach an agreement by the end of April, “there is no evidence of concrete progress, but there are increasing signs that both sides may be positioning themselves to blame the other if negotiations collapse.”
Tags: Agreement, Blame, Collapse, Evidence, Israel, John Kerry, Negotiations, Palestine, Positioning, Progress, U.S.
New York Times (June 27)
The outsourcing model is broken. “Most American and European brands and retailers use a rotating cast of hundreds of third-world suppliers, instead of establishing long-term relationships with fewer of them.” The result is a race to the bottom and horrid catastrophes like the building collapse in Bangladesh which killed more than 1,100 people. Things must change. Retailers should “contract with fewer factories and establish long-term relationships with them. If they did so, they would have to monitor fewer factories and would have greater influence over suppliers to demand upgrades and changes.”
Tags: Bangladesh, Brands, Collapse, Europe, Factories, Long-term relationships, Outsourcing, Retailers, Suppliers, Third world, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (March 27)
“Nothing is ever simple with a euro-bailout, and the Cyprus fiasco is proving that again. On Thursday the tiny island disaster will become the first euro-zone country to impose capital controls since the single currency was introduced. This will spare Cyprus from immediate economic collapse, but the curbs are a worrying precedent.”
