Moldova Elects a Pro-EU Parliament; Taiwan Rejects Its Pro-China Party
Two disquieting elections in the news. Two challenging election results. In Moldova, pro-European parties outpolled pro-Russian parties. In Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, the pro-independence candidate beat the pro-China candidate. The Republic of Moldova, formerly the Moldovian Soviet Socialist Republic, declared its independence at the collapse of the USSR. It comprises much of the former Russian and ... Read more
Europe’s Case Against Gazprom Will Damage Russian Influence
By Nick Cunningham: As Russian President Vladimir Putin tries to maintain its grip over Eastern Europe with its vast web of natural gas pipelines, one small European country gained a bit of leverage over Russia. Lithuania announced on May 8 that it has successfully pressured Russian gas giant Gazprom into lowering its price for natural ... Read more
Water Wars: The Next Clash Between India and China
By Amitava Mukherjee: A China watcher named Claude Arpi has drawn attention to a recently posted article on the website of the Yellow River Conservancy Commission under China’s Ministry of Water Resources. The article speaks of the necessity and feasibility of diverting the waters of some rivers, including the Brahmaputra (called Yarlung Tsangpo in China), to ... Read more
U.S. on Sidelines in South China Sea Standoff
By Nick Cunningham: Vietnam and China are engaged in a heated standoff in the South China Sea, with both sides thus far unwilling to back down. The problem started earlier this week when China sent an oil rig and other accompanying vessels into an area within the 200-mile exclusive economic zone of Vietnam. From there, ... Read more
Russia Claims Ukraine’s Black Sea Oil And Gas Bounty
Russia’s annexation of Crimea has totally upended Kiev’s plans for Black Sea and Sea of Azov offshore oil and natural gas production. Before the peninsula’s March 16 independence referendum, followed two days later by Russian annexation, Ukraine’s state-owned Chornomornaftogaz (“Chernomorneftegaz” in Russian) owned 17 hydrocarbon fields, including 11 natural gas fields, four gas condensate fields, and two ... Read more
Scottish Referendum Shows Governments Must Decentralize
Several years into the most serious structural crisis of modern history, it is apparent that there are still a number of flaws, in both the current national and global economic system, that need to be addressed if the West is to resume stable and meaningful economic growth. We have already stressed and analysed various aspects ... Read more
Who Needs Russia? Ukraine Will Destroy Itself With New Gas Tax
Ukraine doesn’t need Russia to take it down—Kiev is doing fine destroying itself, most recently with a new tax code that doubles taxes for private gas producers and promises to irreparably cripple new investment in the energy sector at a time when reform and outside investment were the country’s only hope. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ... Read more
Chinese Cyber Espionage: We Know Everything Except What to Do About it
Three documents that came out this week lay out the “who,” “how,” “why,” and “why it matters” of Chinese cyber espionage. Unfortunately, we still lack the “what to do.” The “who” and “how” was contained in a new report, Putter Panda, by the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike [Full disclosure: CrowdStrike helps fund a speaker series at CFR]. ... Read more
Who’s the Big Spender? Military Spending from Beijing to the Pentagon
According to the Pentagon, the rapid growth of China’s military spending reflects its increasing assertiveness in the region. According to Beijing, US military spending is the real issue. What are the facts? It has become an annual ritual. Recently, the US Department of Defense (DoD) usually released its report to Congress on China’s “military and ... Read more
The ISIS Caliphate: How Much Will it Cost the U.S., China and the Rest of the World?
In just a few weeks, Iraq has moved closer to a triangular disintegration. At the same time, the jihadists have advanced dramatically. Adverse scenarios cast a dark shadow over energy prices and growth prospects worldwide. In late March, the IMF mission met Iraq’s government leaders, central bankers, oil chiefs and senior executives. “Iraq maintained macroeconomic ... Read more