The sinking of the Russian Black Sea flagship Moskva on Thursday last week was the first destruction of a major warship in combat since the Falklands war 40 years ago, when the UK and Argentina lost large surface ships in the cold waters of the South Atlantic. For the Russians, you would have to go back to World War II to find a comparable loss.
How will this dramatic event affect the war in Ukraine, and what are the lessons for navies worldwide?
I have toured Russian ships on several occasions (including in Sevastopol before the Russian invasion), and the surface ships
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) efforts to regain the trust of international investors face serious hurdles.
Xi’s government showed little regard for the same investors last year, when it unleashed a series of crackdowns on the nation’s most profitable companies, in a bid to curb “disorderly capital” and ensure the firms did not become more powerful than the Chinese Communist Party. The result was confusion and punishing losses for shareholders. Regulators have yet to follow through on promises made last month to ensure policies are more transparent and predictable.
Wariness toward Chinese assets has only increased since Russia attacked Ukraine just weeks
Moscow’s war on Ukraine and the ferocious financial backlash it has unleashed are not only inflicting an economic catastrophe on Russia, but the repercussions are also menacing the global economy, shaking financial markets and making life more perilous for everyone from Uzbek migrant workers to European consumers to hungry Yemeni families.
Even before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops invaded Ukraine, the global economy was straining under a range of burdens, among them surging inflation, tangled supply chains and tumbling stock prices.
The Ukraine crisis magnified each threat and complicated the potential solutions.
“We are actually in uncharted territory,” said Clay Lowery, executive vice
Much of the democratic world would like the US to remain the pre-eminent global power, but with the US apparently committed to strategic overreach, that outcome risks becoming unlikely.
The problem with the US’ global leadership begins at home. Hyperpartisan politics and profound polarization are eroding the US democracy and impeding the pursuit of long-term objectives. In foreign policy, the partisan divide can be seen in perceptions of potential challengers to the US.
According to a poll in March last year, Republicans are most concerned about China, while Democrats worry about Russia above all. This might explain why US President Joe Biden
Governments worldwide are easing quarantine rules, reviewing COVID-19 curbs and dialing back pandemic-era emergency support as they bid to launch their economies back into some version of normality.
The moves, motivated by the lower severity of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 and the need to keep workers employed and the global recovery on track, have generated a whiff of optimism that has lifted oil and stock prices.
Health experts say the variant’s rapid spread might yet herald a turning point in the pandemic.
Much depends on how authorities manage ongoing vaccination rollouts and balance other health measures still needed, while persuading their citizens