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
New York Times (April 11)
“Even though globalization has its problems, the current fad for re-shoring production is likely to run into some limits…. If cutting the Russian economy off from the rest of the world and forcing it to produce everything it needs at home is a punishment to Russia, why would it be a good thing for the United States to try to become self-sufficient?”
Tags: Economy, Fad, Globalization, Limits, Problems, Production, Punishment, Re-shoring, Russia, Self-sufficient, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (March 31)
“China’s support for Russia is the most serious but far from only reason Europe is losing patience. Beijing has launched an economic war on EU member Lithuania over its upgraded ties to Taiwan. The Chinese Communist Party’s human-rights record remains abysmal. Bullying behavior during the Covid-19 pandemic and stonewalling of the origins investigation hurt China’s credibility. The question is what Europe will do beyond condemnations, token sanctions and the occasional lawsuit.”
Tags: CCP, China, Condemnations, COVID-19, Credibility, Economic war, EU, Europe, Human rights, Lawsuits, Lithuania, Russia, Stonewalling, Taiwan, Token sanctions
Investment Week (March 28)
Global dealmaking has dropped “to its lowest level since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic…. Just over $1trn of deals were struck in the first quarter of 2022, nearly a quarter less than the same period last year.” Primary factors behind slowing M&A activity appear to be “tougher regulations on both sides of the Atlantic, soaring inflation and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
Tags: 2022, COVID-19, Dealmaking, Global, Inflation, M&A, Outbreak, Pandemic, Q1, Regulation, Russia, Slowing, Soaring, Tougher, Ukraine, War
Deutsche Welle (March 25)
Before the war in Ukraine, “Germany received 50% of its coal, 55% of its gas, and 35% of its oil from Moscow.” The country now plans “to almost completely end Russian energy imports by the end of the year.” Achieving the plan means “a considerable amount of progress would be made in a short space of time, as the West is rushing to wean itself off Russian energy amidst the invasion of Ukraine.”
Forbes (March 24)
In his latest letter to shareholders, BlackRock Chairman Larry Fink noted that “the war between Russia and Ukraine has heralded the end of globalization, as the conflict has upended the current world order that has been in place since the Cold War and will have lasting global economic consequences.”
Tags: BlackRock, Cold war, Conflict, Fink, Globalization, Russia, Shareholders, Ukraine, Upended, War
Fortune (March 20)
“More than 30 companies are ‘digging in,’ defying public demands to exit Russia or reduce their activities in the pariah state.” The list compiled by Yale’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld has been revised with five categories to better capture corporate presence in Russia: “withdrawal,” “suspension,” “scaling back,” “buying time,” and “digging in.” Included in the final category are “AstraZeneca, Credit Suisse, Emirates Airlines, Koch Industries, SC Johnson, and Subway, which has nearly 450 franchise locations in the country.”
Tags: 30 companies, AstraZeneca, Credit Suisse, Digging in, Emirates Airlines, Exit, Koch Industries, Pariah state, Public demands, Reduce, Russia, SC Johnson, Sonnenfeld, Subway, Yale
Washington Post (March 17)
In terms of seizing Ukraine, “the extent of Putin’s failure is breathtaking.” He has, however, successfully “unified the West, prompted NATO to beef up its military spending, kick-started a resurgence of pro-democratic sentiments… and made himself the poster boy for war crimes.… Meanwhile, Russia’s economy is in shambles, losing decades of progress and perhaps permanently damaging the country’s energy markets.”
Tags: Breathtaking, Economy, Failure, Military spending, Nato, Pro-democratic, Putin, Resurgence, Russia, Ukraine, War crimes, West
The Atlantic (March 10)
“Russia’s economic blackout will change the world. Like all novel experiments, the group punishment of Russia is a leap into the unknown.” In mere days, “the United States, Europe, and others have excommunicated Russia from the world stage, isolating the 11th-largest economy financially, commercially, and culturally.” The measures are largely unprecedented and, taken collectively, “amount to a radical worldwide experiment in moral retribution.”
Tags: Commercially, Culturally, Economic blackout, Europe, Excommunicated, Experiments, Financially, Leap, Punishment, Radical, Russia, U.S., Unknown, Unprecedented, World stage
New York Times (March 9)
“A week after a chorus of Western executives from Exxon Mobil, BP, Shell and other companies… pledged to pull their companies out of Russian ventures, it appears the turbulence for Russia’s energy industry has only begun.” The industry now looks poised to undergo a “wrenching reworking…. because Russian oil and gas have suddenly become toxic to many buyers.”
Tags: BP, Energy, Exxon Mobil, Gas, Oil, Pledged, Reworking, Russia, Shell, Toxic, Turbulence, Ventures, Western, Wrenching
