The real threat from China lies elsewhere. It is that China will destabilize the world economy. It will distort trade, foster huge financial imbalances and trigger a contentious competition for scarce raw materials. Symptoms of instability have already surfaced, and if they grow worse, everyone — including the Chinese — might suffer.
China is now “challenging [...]

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The often repeated refrain “we don’t want to be in another cold war” is nonsense - we are in one. And Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is a much more dangerous opponent than dozy old former head of state Leonid Brezhnev. However, the latest demonstration of this truth in Georgia is only a week old, [...]

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What would happen to the world economy?
Quite simply the economic consequences of such a raid would be cataclysmic.
It isn’t just that Iran is the world’s second largest oil producer, with the third largest global reserves of oil and the second largest of natural gas. The truly significant part is where Iran actually is. Even assuming [...]

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So far so good, but it still takes two to tango and the EU is not making the right moves, Bingran Dai of the Centre for European Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai tells ISN Security Watch.
“The problem is that the atmosphere has changed drastically since 2006 and the Chinese public and the government feel [...]

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CHALEUNSOUK, Laos: The rice fields that blanketed this remote mountain village for generations are gone. In their place rise neat rows of young rubber trees — their sap destined for China.
All 60 families in this dirt-poor, mud-caked village of gaunt men and hunched women are now growing rubber, like thousands of others across the rugged [...]

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Russia’s brutally high levels of mortality, along with anemic fertility levels, fashion a second “exceptional” demographic trend for the country: depopulation. In the 16-plus years since the end of the U.S.S.R., Russia has recorded over 12 million more deaths than births. Net immigration has only partially compensated for this deficit. Consequently, Russia’s population dropped from [...]

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