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)...
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...
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...
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):...
Bloomberg title: China Has Started Making the Same Mistakes as the SovietsBloomberg subtitle: Fomenting a nuclear arms race, pursuing “wolf warrior” diplomacy and pushing your enemies together are all good ways to lose a cold war. By: Hal BrandsDate: 27 October 2021 "It’s boom time for historical analogies in America’s China policy. Beijing’s...
Recently, the Dutch Financial Times referred to an August 2021 key statistic of the Asian Development Bank: "COVID-19 Has Plunged around 75-80 million Asians into Extreme Poverty" (see diagram on page 30). Add the African continent and we are probably talking about 200 million of people, who are facing extreme poverty due to our handling of Covid-19. WHO (sic!)...
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