Intro LO: I'm surprised that I did not consider this simple explanation before. Moreover, it feels like Occam's razor: "In philosophy, Occam's razor (also spelled Ockham's razor or Ocham's razor; Latin: novacula Occami) is the problem-solving principle that recommends searching for explanations constructed with the...
Asia
‘Deep integration to beat weakness’
Mid October 2025, I noticed an intriguing SCMP article: China’s military mouthpiece calls for ‘deep integration’ to beat joint operation weakness. In my view, the opposite is true: deep integration will increase vulnerability. Moreover, Russia will require its Max messenger app pre-installed on all smartphones sold in Russia (eg, CNN), similar to the mandatory...
Demographic extinction versus nationalism
Intro LO: This recent Times article highlights a demographic topic in (very) many countries: declining birth rates that are announcing a declining population (eg, China-FT-2021). South Korea claims it “faces extinction”. That claim makes sense given the numbers in the 3rd paragraph of the article below. The 5th paragraph explains why this demographic issue is (much)...
From Hanseatic League to ‘Friend-Shoring’
On 13 July 2022, the FT published this opinion article: No, the global economy is not breaking into geopolitical blocs. Since 2015, I have been arguing that the world is heading for global city-states and a new Hanseatic League. Terms like 'Friend-Shoring' and 'geopolitical blocs' are - essentially - similar. "US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has proposed...
Collective vs individual behaviour
When we look at ants, we tend to see a colony and group behaviour. When we look at ourselves, we tend to see individual behaviour. Is this an example of macro versus micro? In the view of aliens (if any), we must look like ants, including collective behaviour. Why do we view ourselves as individuals? Although I live rather solitary, I'm still part of a local...
What’s next after globalization?
Several articles express that the Western sanctions, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, mark the end of globalization (eg, Axios). I tend to agree with that. Hence, my blog's title: what's next after globalization? See Wikipedia for illustration. To a large extent, these changes are like swing of a pendulum. This results in swings between (amongst others):...

Recent Comments