15 Tuesday Sep 2020
The Japan Chair is delighted to invite Rory Medcalf, Professor and Head of the National Security College at the Australian National University, to discuss his new book, Indo-Pacific Empire: China, America and the contest for the world’s pivotal region. Please join us virtually to learn about the Indo-Pacific region and the potential for great power conflict between the United States and China.
13 Sunday Sep 2020
The U.S. unemployment rate shot up faster than in any other developed country during the pandemic. WSJ explains how differences in government aid and labor-market structures can help predict how and where jobs might recover.
The covid-19 pandemic is set to increase public debt to levels last seen after the second world war. But is rising public debt a cause for concern? New economic thinking suggests perhaps not, at least for now.
08 Tuesday Sep 2020
In the Spring 2020 special issue of Orbis, nine articles assess political warfare in, and emanating from, East Asia. Authoritarian regimes in Asia, including China and North Korea, use the weapons of political warfare and the tools of sharp power to influence, and sometimes undermine, other polities. Political warfare includes overt and covert use of diplomatic, political, economic, and information means to affect policy-making or the political context affecting decision-making in another state. In East Asia, the techniques are deployed against immediate neighbors and far-away targets and rivals. Political warfare particularly exploits the characteristic vulnerabilities of open societies and liberal-democratic polities, including businesses that seek access, new and traditional media that are porous to foreign influence, publics that are receptive to divisive and bias-confirming messages, civil society structures and educational and cultural spaces that provide unguarded points of entry, and politicians eager for foreign and economic policy wins and campaign donations.
01 Tuesday Sep 2020
As the COVID-19 pandemic presents unprecedented challenges to every level of the global economy, the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations is bringing together leading American and Chinese experts on economics and trade to share analysis and projections on the issues. We invite you to join us for a series of virtual programs, Coronavirus Crisis: What it means for U.S.-China Economic & Trade Relations, over the next month.
19 Wednesday Aug 2020
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In 2010 I linked to a NYT article about the mineral riches in Afghanistan and how China had signed a deal to extract one of the riches (copper). The article is here: U.S. Identifies Vast Mineral Riches in Afghanistan
Every once in awhile I check to see if anyone has written about the mineral deals taken place in America’s longest war battle ground. The latest is from 2017 from one of the more often checked media sources South China Morning Post: Talks Aim to Jump Start China Afghanistan Mining Deal.
19 Wednesday Aug 2020
Posted in news
≈ Comments Off on Chinese officials mandate conservative architecture designs
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A Chinese police officer patrols a newly constructed office building in Beijing on July 12, 2016. China’s top officials have mandated that architecture designs for new buildings will not be approved if they do not reflect a more conservative style. Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI
18 Tuesday Aug 2020
Posted in news, Uncategorized
≈ Comments Off on The Impact of China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Lessons from Sri Lanka
Speakers draw on the findings from a recent Chatham House paper to discuss the lessons that may improve future BRI projects in Sri Lanka and elsewhere in the region. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is having profound impacts on recipient countries. Recently, Chinese outbound investment in Sri Lanka has come under scrutiny due to intensifying geopolitical rivalries in the Indian Ocean as well as Sri Lanka’s prime location and ports in the region. Much of the analysis on this topic so far has focused on how the economic relationship has informed Chinese geopolitical ambitions, via a so-called ‘debt-trap diplomacy’. Such a framing may be misleading, while also overlooking other dimensions of Chinese investment that warrant closer examination.
11 Tuesday Aug 2020
Posted in news
≈ Comments Off on Popular Nationalism in a Rising China
Is nationalism in China rising? If so, how does it influence Beijing’s external behavior? As tensions with the US increase, will nationalism become an important force shaping Chinese policymaking? Please join Freeman Chair in China Studies Jude Blanchette for a discussion on the role of Chinese nationalism in the 21st century with Jessica Chen Weiss, Associate Professor of Government at Cornell University and Senior Associate (Non-resident) at the Freeman Chair.
04 Tuesday Aug 2020
A deteriorating bilateral relationship and growing regulatory scrutiny have changed the trajectory of capital flows between the United States and China over the past three years. The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to further disrupt two-way investment, as weak Chinese consumption and supply chain risks make U.S. companies re-think their China footprint, and Chinese investors face continued headwinds from domestic restrictions on outbound capital flows and U.S. regulators wary of opportunistic foreign buyers. The National Committee held a virtual event with report authors Thilo Hanemann and Daniel Rosen, both of Rhodium Group; Ker Gibbs, president, AmCham Shanghai; Rebecca Fannin, founder/editor, Silicon Dragon Ventures; and National Committee President Stephen Orlins to launch our new Two-Way Street: 2020 Update report and discuss the latest two-way investment data and analysis on May 11, 2020.
31 Friday Jul 2020
28 Tuesday Jul 2020
19 Sunday Jul 2020
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23 Thursday Apr 2020
A family of eight outside Boston is struggling with their second-oldest son’s heroin addiction. Recently, he overdosed, and paramedics revived him with Narcan. Click for NBC clip (requires flash player).
12 Tuesday Nov 2019
A deal among oil-producing countries to curb production and balance an oversupplied market will achieve its objective in the first quarter of next year, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said, after prices tumbled on news of a build-up in U.S. inventories.
His Saudi counterpart, Khalid Al-Falih, said at a joint news briefing in Astana, Kazakhstan, that inventories were declining worldwide and reductions would accelerate in the next three to four months. Inventories will settle to their five-year historical average — OPEC’s target — before the end of the year, though Saudi Arabia, the group’s biggest producer, may modify its policy if output cuts don’t have the desired effect, he said. June 11, 2017 Read More HERE
25 Thursday Jul 2019
Posted in america, Economics, Environment
≈ Comments Off on Oil-Well Bolts Are #Failing
Failed bolts on a connector unit from a subsea oil well. U.S. regulators and oil-field service companies have said the bolts are breaking, prompting equipment shutdowns and raising safety concerns about gear used on Gulf of Mexico rigs. PHOTO: BUREAU OF SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT
11 Thursday Jul 2019
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Fri., July 12, 2019 8:20 p.m. Eastern time
Sat., July 13, 2019 8:21 p.m. Eastern time
People gather and take pictures on 42nd Street in Manhattan to see a Manhattanhenge event in New York City on July 11, 2016. The Manhattanhenge sunset comes twice a year when the setting sun aligns precisely with Manhattan’s street grid. Photo by John Angelillo/UP
18 Saturday May 2019
Posted in Economics, Environment, History, news, Research
≈ Comments Off on Afghanistan:the Saudi Arabia of lithium
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The New York Times has reported that U.S. officials and American geologists have found an estimated $1 trillion worth of mineral deposits that have yet to be exploited in the country. The paper said a Pentagon report called Afghanistan potentially “the Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key component in batteries for cellphones, laptop computers and eventually, a plug-in fleet of electric cars.
In December, 2007, China’s state-owned China Metallurgical Group Corp. (MCC) signed a $2.9 billion agreement with the Kabul government to extract copper from the Aynak deposit, one of the world’s largest unexploited copper deposits with an estimated 240 million tons of ore. When MCC entered into negotiations with the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, it offered substantial aid for resource development as part of the package.
Of course in order to move the ore Afghanistan needs a rail system. Afghanistan ‘s mining 
minister appointed China Metallurgical Group Corp. to carry out technical studies for two proposed rail lines in the country from Kabul to Turkam in the east, and Kabul to Mazar-e-Sharif in the north. The rail lines are seen as essential to help Afghanistan develop a mining industry that could bring in billions of sorely needed dollars to the impoverished nation.
Naturally China really wants gas and oil and once again Afghanistan’s government signed a deal with China’s state-owned National Petroleum Corporation, allowing it to become the first foreign company to exploit the country’s oil and natural gas reserves.The ministry listed the initial value of the project with CNPC as $700 million. But the total could be ten times greater if more reserves are found and developed.
The government of Afghanistan also granted key gold and cooper licenses to a consortium backed by City of London banker Ian Hannam, former BHP Billiton CEO Chip Goodyear and Poland’s multibillionaire Jan Kulczyk. In addiation Afghan Gold and Minerals, Afghan Minerals Group, and Turkish-Afghan Mining Co. had been picked from a shortlist of 25 bidders to explore and start developing the Balkhab, Shaida and Badakhshan projects respectively. Afghan Gold and Minerals (owned by Sadat Mansoor Naderi) will have copper explorations rights over the Balkhab, northwest of the capital Kabul. Not sure who owns the Turkish-Afghan Mining Co. Also, Afghan Minerals Group was granted Thursday a license to explore the Shaida copper deposit, in the province of Herat, in western Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Turkish-Afghan Mining obtained the license for the Badakhshan gold and copper deposit, in the Badakhshan province, in north-eastern Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s government granted an Indian steel company the right to exploit the Hajigak iron ore deposit which is considered one of the largest iron deposits in the world at 1.8 billion tonnes. The Indian company wants to ship the ore through Pakistan to India, which might seem a bit of a problem but the amount of money to be make by trucking firm and Government fee’s means that the green light will be given.
They are a lot of other businesses (and NGO’s) looking to profit from the Afganie war as well.
China, Not U.S., Likely to Benefit from Afghanistan’s Mineral Riches
China mining giant tapped for Afghan rail project
23 Saturday Feb 2019
Posted in Environment, news, Organizations, water
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Haphazard urbanization and political wrangling are seriously affecting people’s ability to realize their right to water in Nepal’s capital city. According to the Nepalese government’s Central Bureau of Statistics, one in every five Kathmandu households has no access to a domestic water source and two-thirds of its urban households live with an inadequate water supply. 
Estimates show that the city of 4 million has a severe water deficit. The demand is triple the current supply of 106m liters a day , which further reduces to 75m liters a day during the dry season [PDF] . Despite growing demand, little has been done to increase supply. Read the full article at the Guardian.
16 Saturday Feb 2019
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A presentation at the United Nations North Lawn building presented statistics gathered by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) about spending on armaments and militarism. The report declared that in 2013 over 1,747 billion dollars were spent on armaments. SIPRI Director Sam Perlo Freeman pointed out that the overwhelming majority of military spending was being done by the US and its allies.
While military spending by the United States has slightly decreased, spending by strategic US aligned regimes around the world is dramatically rising. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is a key US ally in the Middle East and a backer of insurgent groups in Syria, has increased its military spending by 14.8%, the largest increase of any country on earth. John Feffer of Institute for Policy Studies, one of the presenters, told Press TV, that the build-up of military spending by US aligned regimes around the world has dangerous implications and could lead to war. Presenters pointed out that military spending is rising most rapidly in the Middle East and the Pacific, and that despite recent cuts, the United States remains the main exporter of weapons and supplier of military aid. See video here.
Information from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
26 Saturday Jan 2019
The economy grew at an annual rate of 2.3 percent in the first quarter, the government reported Friday, offering a preliminary glance at how last year’s sweeping package of tax cuts is affecting consumers and businesses this year.
During the first three months of 2018, the economy was whacked around like a pinball. The stock market took investors on a giddy ride. President Trump imposed tariffs on allies and rivals alike, stoking fears of a trade war. And the revamped tax code shifted business incentives and started to put more money in workers’ paychecks.
Still, the economy ended up puttering along just a bit above the average yearly growth rate that it had registered since the recession ended nearly nine years ago.
Read More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/27/business/economy/gdp-economy.html
https://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/gdp/gdpnewsrelease.htm
RichardbBrunner 