Can Europe afford to be the world’s last free-trader?
The European Union seems an unorthodox champion of free trade. Beyond a few purveyors of handbags and slimming drugs, few of ...
Can Georgia’s shadowy despot survive?
On November 28th, the day the Georgian government announced it was suspending talks on joining the EU, the Royal District The...
China is infiltrating Taiwan’s armed forces
In 2021 a retired Taiwanese general named Kao An-kuo made a video of himself dressed in camouflage, calling on Taiwan’s armed...
Cuts in American aid are crippling groups promoting rights in China
China Labour Watch (clw), an ngo based in New York City, has investigated labour abuses in Chinese supply chains for 20 years...
Donald Trump is turning payback into policy
During a debate last summer, when Donald Trump was asked what he meant by saying that as president he would have every right ...
Donald Trump and Japan’s Ishiba Shigeru make for an odd couple
IN HIGH SCHOOL, Ishiba Shigeru joined the golf club. But he abandoned the sport after entering politics. The elitist hobby di...
Donald Trump loves big oil. Does big oil love him back?
DONALD TRUMP likes oil—and oilmen. He gushes about “liquid gold” with as much ferocity as Spindletop, an oil well that spat o...
Ecuador chooses a leader amid murder, blackouts and stagnation
Running Ecuador seems an unenviable job. In recent years it has become the most violent state in mainland Latin America. Drou...
Fans are going crazy for Thai television shows and music
RECENTLY Siam Paragon, a ritzy shopping mall in Bangkok, transformed into an impromptu concert hall. Beneath palm trees wrapp...
Florida comes to Washington, DC
THE START of Donald Trump’s second term has been dizzying. But to Republicans in Tallahassee, a southern capital city draped ...