Despite the distracting political drama over the UK’s outlier rejection at last week’s European Union agreement on fiscal and budgetary coordination, it’s now become clear that main objective of the collective effort–to ensure …
Business
Chasing the Dragon: In Burma, All Conversations Seem to Lead to China
I went to Burma to see whether the reforms I’d heard about were truly transforming one of the most isolated nations on earth. Yet what many of my Burmese friends wanted to talk instead about was my place of residence: …
Crunch Time for the Euro and Europe: Taking Note of the Elephant
Elephant, meet room.
Doubt and despair returned to Europe by Tuesday despite positive reaction a day earlier to the French-German proposals to save the teetering euro. The reason? The pachyderm in the room that markets see all …
Is Sarkozy and Merkel’s New Debt Proposal The Beginning of The End To The Euro Crisis?
The details of the campaign by France and Germany to save the euro became a little clearer Monday though substantial questions about it remain as the week winds toward a European Union summit on the euro crisis summit on Friday. …
Why India Should Stop Fearing Walmart
India’s Parliament is in the middle of a big political brawl over the issue of fully opening up its vast retail sector to foreign investors. It started last week, when the Cabinet approved a plan to open “multibrand retail” (i.e., supermarkets and stores that sell a variety of branded products) to 51% ownership, a move that has …
Amid Slowdown, Increasing Labor Strife in China’s Manufacturing Belt
China’s economic planners face several headaches: bursting credit bubbles, slumping housing sales and poor outlooks in exports markets such as the U.S. and Europe. To that list add another concern, the return of labor unrest in manufacturing regions in south China. Factory workers have launched a series of strikes in recent weeks. …
No New Action On Euro Crisis As Leaders Agree To Disagree
Observers weren’t expecting much from the mini-summit Thursday in Strasbourg, France, where French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Italian leader Mario Monti met to discuss Europe’s dire debt crisis. Such lowered expectations proved well-founded. Because even as the situation threatening the …
South Africa’s “Secrecy” Bill: A Blow to Post-Apartheid Democracy
If in any revolution, there is a moment after which it becomes unstoppable, that moment came for South Africa on Feb. 11, 1990, when Nelson Mandela walked free after 27 years in jail. But if there arrives another moment after which a revolutionary party — too long in power, too arrogant, too corrupt — can no longer claim to act …
The Euro Zone Crisis: Are the Merkozy Headed for Divorce?
The seamless partnership France and Germany forged in past weeks now shows signs of fraying as both countries spar over the role of the European Central Bank (ECB) and proposals to mutualize euro zone debt. By pooling financial liabilities and assets across the 17-nation euro zone, stronger nations like Germany and France could back …
Whither the European (Dis)Union?
Is significantly greater integration the surest way to prevent both the euro and even the entire European Union from blowing apart? Or is EU federation–and the basic powers national governments now wield being weakened in the process–exactly the kind of radical fusion certain to send countries jealous of their sovereignty fleeing …
Europe’s Debt Tragicomedy: Horror Show Turns Into Shambolic Farce
There are occasions when even the scariest of movies will push the atmosphere of dread, danger, and doom a bit too far, and leave the scenario of improbable horror and panic feeling just stupid. That moment has arrived in Nightmare On Euro Street, as people who watched Europe’s escalating crisis through their fingers in terror begin …
Made Your Millions in China? Now It’s Time to Move Overseas.
China is minting millionaires at an unprecedented rate, but many of the country’s new rich are keen to leave the country where they made their fortunes. A recent survey by the Bank of China and the Hurun Report, a wealth-monitoring project run out of Shanghai, found that more than half of the 980 millionaires (or more, accurately, …
James Murdoch Denies “Mafia Boss” Comparison, Blames Former Editor Over Phone Hacking
This morning, as James Murdoch faced bruising questions from parliamentarians investigating phone hacking at News International, he had no choice but to stare at a garish red painting. Before him hung a twenty-foot canvas splattered with deep reds and maroons; behind him, an equally brash work of art in crimson and scarlet. For a man …