New York Times (September 4)
“What does Kim Jong-un want?” That is the question that still plagues intelligence officials. “Six years after Mr. Kim took power and began executing those who challenged his rule…there is no issue that confounds analysts more than the motives of a 33-year-old dictator whose every move seems one part canny strategy, one part self-preservation, and one part nuclear narcissism.”
Tags: Canny, Challenge, Dictator, Executions, Intelligence, Kim, Motives, Narcissism, Nuclear, Power, Self-preservation, Strategy
Der Spiegel (May 29)
“Merkel has positioned herself more clearly than ever before as Europe’s defender in the face of the Trump challenge — a role that her SPD challenger Martin Schulz had been hoping to play. The SPD can do little more than agree with the chancellor. On Monday, Schulz tweeted ‘the best response to Donald Trump is a strong Europe’ — which is essentially exactly what Merkel said.”
Reuters (March 30)
“The biggest challenge for the National Security Council isn’t North Korea or Russia. It’s Trump.”
Tags: Challenge, National Security Council, North Korea, Russia, Trump, U.S.
New York Times (March 11)
President Trump “may want to take credit for the 235,000 jobs created last month, but at this early stage of his administration, the tally reflects trends established under President Obama.” Trump has been dealt a very good hand. After adding an average of 200,000 jobs monthly during the last year, “the economy is steadily progressing toward full employment.” Mr. Trump’s challenge is whether “his policies foster the trend, or derail it?”
Wall Street Journal (December 8)
“Donald Trump is Lady Gaga.” He is also Andy Warhol. “He is a performance artist. He is challenging what we think is normal—first for a presidential campaign and now for the presidency.” Trump is no mere entertainer. “Performance artists challenge, subvert and alter. They may be slightly crazy, but they’re crazy serious, though usually a little unclear about where they’re going.”
Institutional Investor (May 6)
Unconventional monetary policy, demographic change, economic challenge and technological disruption are impacting debt markets. “Remarkably, the pool of positively yielding debt in the global fixed-income universe has shrunk by more than $5 trillion in less than two years, which clearly presents a tremendous challenge for investors seeking income and attempting to match assets to liabilities.”
Tags: ALM, Challenge, Debt markets, Demographic change, Economic challenge, Fixed income, Monetary policy, Technological disruption, Unconventional, Yields
Institutional Investor (January 18)
The “Taiwan election results present a challenge for Beijing.” Not only is Tsai Ing-wen the first female elected president, but the election brought her party, the Democratic Progressive Party, ”its first legislative majority.” Moreover, Tsai “is a strong supporter of independence for the island, presenting a challenge for leadership in Beijing who prefer to designate Taiwan as a breakaway faction of mainland China.”
Tags: Beijing, Challenge, DPP, Election, First female, Independence, Majority, President, Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen
Financial Times (October 18)
“The scandal engulfing” Volkswagen “is by no means the biggest German economic challenge. Demand from China is slowing sharply, a blow to one of the biggest suppliers of machine tools to that country’s vast manufacturing sector.” The broader challenge, however, remains Germany’s overdependence on a “narrow export-oriented model,” which leaves the country “vulnerable to longer-term underperformance.”
Tags: Challenge, China, Demand, Exports, Germany, Machine tools, Manufacturing, Overdependence, Scandal, Volkswagen
LA Times (December 10)
“The emerging sharing economy poses a challenge for government because it doesn’t fit neatly into existing regulatory structures. Individuals put their personal cars, homes and other assets to commercial use on an irregular basis, with the help of companies such as Uber and Airbnb that connect them to customers.”
Tags: Airbnb, Assets, Cars, Challenge, Government, Homes, Regulatory structures, Sharing economy, Uber
Washington Post (June 20)
Iraq’s unraveling poses a “confounding” challenge for the U.S. “Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has put sectarian interests above national goals, so to join him in beating back the terrorist challenge might only widen the country’s divide. But… an al-Qaeda-style ‘caliphate’ stretching from Syria into Iraq would be too dangerous for the United States and its allies.” By sending aid and military advisers, President Obama’s modest steps toward engagement “represent a judicious start.”
Tags: Advisors, Aid, Al-Qaeda, Challenge, Engagement, Iraq, Judicious, Maliki, Obama, Sectarian, Syria, Terrorists, U.S.
