Month: August 2017

Blood on the tracks of the New Silk Roads

By Pepe Escobar China’s cardinal foreign policy imperative is to refrain from interfering abroad while advancing the proverbial good relations with key political actors – even when they may be at each other’s throats. Still, it’s nothing but gut-wrenching for Beijing to watch the current, unpredictable, Saudi-Qatari standoff. There’s no endgame in sight, as plausible … Continue reading Blood on the tracks of the New Silk Roads

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Russia Claims To Have Invented Alternative To Fracking

By Tsvetana Paraskova - Aug 17, 2017 Russian scientists and local oil field services companies claim to have created a technology for thermochemical gas fracturing that could be an alternative to hydraulic fracturing and could increase oil production by between 1.7 and 6 times, Russia’s news agency RIA Novosti reports, citing the University of Tyumen’s press service. In … Continue reading Russia Claims To Have Invented Alternative To Fracking

By paying women less, is Japan deepening its own deflation?

By William Pesek Corporate Japan’s sexism is so internalized that even the good news on women in the workforce tends to be bad When he returned to office in 2012, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe doused his manifesto in pink, sensing the need to broaden his Liberal Democratic Party’s appeal, he made empowering women a central … Continue reading By paying women less, is Japan deepening its own deflation?

Vietnamese firm offers lessons in ‘competing with giants’

The family-owned Tan Hiep Phat Beverage Group hopes to increase its revenue to US$3 billion by 2027 – and its focus is almost entirely on targeting consumers in an increasingly sophisticated domestic market By Kenny Hodgart   We’re sitting by the ocean, a wayward thump of a beach volleyball from one of Danang’s swankier resorts, … Continue reading Vietnamese firm offers lessons in ‘competing with giants’

Why communist China’s first foreign military base? Location, Location, Location

By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Nearly six hundred years ago, huge Chinese fleets plied the Indian Ocean sailing as far as Arabia and the East African coast. The epic seaborne expeditions carried out between 1405 and 1432 under Adm. Cheng Ho and during the glorious Ming Dynasty were larger and far more encompassing than … Continue reading Why communist China’s first foreign military base? Location, Location, Location