Much of the criticism of artificial flowers is environmental: they are made in factories, use plastics and end up in landfills. But the cut-flower business also has poor green credentials.
Stock prices have been a powerful support for the Make America Great Again agenda because the US market is so big as to be the tail wagging the dog. Close attention must be paid to the recent market stumble and America’s slowing GDP growth – where US stock prices go, so goes the global economy.
Getting a good night’s sleep has become a lucrative business with a range of solutions from supplements to sleep tourism being touted. The industry is populated by serious academics and pharmacologists but, with so much we still do not know, snake-oil treatments also proliferate.
Prioritising ‘strategic autonomy’ will let Europe engage with China on its own terms and avoid being held hostage to fluctuations in American leadership. Internal divisions within Europe, budget constraints and geopolitical challenges must be overcome to realise a new path forward.
Globalisation didn’t hurt US jobs, contrary to what American politics would have you think. Still, in a fractious era of more trade barriers, economies like Hong Kong can contribute to seamless global trade by adopting digital documentation.
Rather than being out to undermine economies around the world, China’s economic policy is based on foresight, efficiency and commitment to scale. Decoupling would not only disrupt supply chains but increase the cost of the global energy transition amid our ongoing climate struggle.
While maintaining diplomacy and setting up guard rails, the US is also painting an “axis of evil” narrative and courting allies to isolate China on every front.
Student protests across more than 25 US universities over the Gaza war have turned violent with the police moving in. The situation presents significant challenges, with opinions polarised and deep divides among communities and families, like in 2019 Hong Kong, where the healing has yet to truly begin.
Given the prosperity and world-leading innovations of so-called emerging economies, from China and India to South Korea and Qatar, the ‘developing’ label is outmoded, outdated and patronising.
As distinctions blur between economic and security agendas, and Big Tech gets involved in geopolitics, a strategy of avoidance becomes unsustainable. Asean should realise the long game of international affairs is about setting rules and standards, not just the movement of goods, services and data.
The narrative around Chinese overcapacity sounds similar to that during the global financial crisis when, as a result of its massive stimulus package, China became the world’s largest exporter amid weak demand. Today, China’s green capacity should be viewed within the broader framework of climate change cooperation.
The US is far behind other countries like China when it comes to the race for critical minerals lying beneath international waters. By joining the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Washington can shape the rules for seabed mineral exploration.
No rational Argentinian politician would risk China’s substantial investments but US offers of free trade to Latin America and steelmaker complaints about cheap Chinese imports threaten to turn the tide.
If Western politicians are right, Beijing is behind the student protests in the US, responsible for preventing a British MP from visiting Djibouti and ‘fuelling the largest armed conflict in Europe since WWII’.
The Xi-Macron meeting will make a splash but Chinese EV and battery manufacturers’ plans in Hungary and Serbia are also shaping the China-EU dynamic in important ways.
American officials participated in the 19th Western Pacific Naval Symposium in Qingdao amid the resumption of military talks between the US and China. Geopolitical rivalry overshadows bilateral cooperation but managing differences and fostering trust are key to advancing maritime security
From “liberal” euthanasia to transgender treatment and prison policy, the country is experimenting with its citizens’ lives.
Allegations of fraud and cyberattacks in the 2016, 2020 elections have polarised voters and battered US democracy. The Biden-Trump showdown is a chance to shore up credibility in US elections and democracy.
EU and US manufacturers already complaining of Chinese competition in solar power and electric vehicles won’t like China’s hydrogen policy. As it moves to produce hydrogen using renewable energy, this could become an important part of the world’s low-carbon future.
That Washington can count on its allies in case of a war over Taiwan is a best-case scenario – and more likely, wishful thinking. For Washington, the biggest strategic ambiguity is whether a stronger China will become more confident about peaceful reunification or more impatient and resort to force.
If wisdom has a place at all, it should be within above-the-fray institutions such as the IMF and World Bank. Yet there is often scant sign of it.