Events in the weeks since September have heightened anxieties over renewed great power rivalry, new waves of militarisation, fraying alliances and a resurgent arms race – all centred in the Asia-Pacific region.
Category: The Big Picture
Last month El Salvador, a small Central American nation, made history when it became the first country in the world to officially adopt Bitcoin as legal tender alongside the US dollar, its de-facto currency. In doing so it chose a monetary path diametrically opposed to the mainstream world that largely demonises cryptocurrency as an alternative… Continue reading Money and the Global Quest for Self-Determination
Nearly fifty years ago, in 1972, an obscure think-tank oddly named the Club of Rome commissioned a group of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to furnish answers to a rather fundamental question: is infinite growth possible on a finite planet? The team came up with a report titled “The Limits to Growth”.… Continue reading The Limits to Growth: Revival or Requiem?
Why Afghanistan will not be the last Years from now and possibly even decades later, the world will still be writing a post-mortem of America’s failed enterprise in Afghanistan. Military strategists, intelligence analysts, political pundits, diplomats and development gurus will still be grappling with questions like why did a 300,000-strong national security force – armed… Continue reading America’s Forever Wars
Two competing worldviews vied for public attention this July. While China celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the United States observed 245 years of independence from the British monarchy. Both occasions were carefully choreographed. Yet, both narratives masked some inconvenient truths. The celebrations in China, for example, were… Continue reading One World ; Two System
Two competing worldviews vied for public attention this July. While China celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the United States observed 245 years of independence from the British monarchy. Both occasions were carefully choreographed. Yet, both narratives masked some inconvenient truths. The celebrations in China, for example, were… Continue reading One World ; Two System
