According to multiple reports in Middle East regional sources, China plans to send elite military units to Syria to advise and assist the Syrian Army in an attempt to root out the country's terrorist insurgency, especially Chinese Islamist foreign fighters who have shown up in increasing numbers in Syria's north since the start of the conflict. If confirmed this won't be the first time China - one of the five veto-wielding powers of the UN Security Council - has sent assistance to the...
Read More »Michael Pettis — Why market liberalisation now may hurt China more
In the end, while standard macroeconomic reforms may work in theory -- albeit under an unrealistic set of assumptions -- they’ve never worked in practice. Rather than eliminating the controls that protect China from a financial crisis, leaders should confront their debt problem head-on and begin deleveraging. For that to happen, it would help if the decision-making process were more, not less centralised. Only forceful action from the top can overcome the tremendously powerful vested...
Read More »Andrew Sheng and Xiao Geng — The Next Battle in China’s War on Corruption
Good post. Cites David Graeber. This indicates that some Chinese are reading Western alternative viewpoints, learning from them, and integrating them with specifically Chinese conditions. But it is also about corruption in general and is not limited to China.Project SyndicateThe Next Battle in China’s War on Corruption Andrew Sheng, Distinguished Fellow of the Asia Global Institute at the University of Hong Kong, member of the UNEP Advisory Council on Sustainable Finance, former chairman...
Read More »Steve Bannon — If America Doesn’t Thwart These Five Things, China Will Be a Hegemonic Power
“It said that the mercantilist, Confucianist, authoritative system of China is the victor over the Judeo-Christian, liberal democratic free-market West; that their system is better, and they go over how it is better and how they’ve beaten us,” [Steve Bannon] argued.He warned that there are five things that China is going to achieve in the next few years, and if America does not thwart them, “China will in fact be a hegemonic power.” They are:The rollout of fifth generation mobile technology...
Read More »Arms race ratchets up
Sputnik InternationalAnalysts Explain How China May Respond to US Push to Militarize Asia-Pacific Deutsche WelleNATO to beef up in face of 'assertive' Russia The Cipher BriefSecuring Orbit: Countdown to a Space Corps? Russia FeedCrimea has a shipyard ready to build a new fleet of Russian aircraft carriers USNIUPDATED: 7 U.S. Aircraft Carriers Are Now Simultaneously UnderwaySam LaGrone
Read More »James Petras — China and the US: Rational Planning and ‘Lumpen’ Capitalism
James Petras explains how China has a vision and is actualizing it, while the US is trying to maintain position. Beijing's strategy is based on economic policy. Washington's strategy is based on military policy.The analysis contains some interesting observations on the Chinese economy and where it is headed.James Petras WebsiteChina and the US: Rational Planning and ‘Lumpen’ CapitalismJames Petras | Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York and...
Read More »IPA’s weekly links
IPA has an opening for a Country Director for our Sierra Leone and Liberia offices (above photo comes from the former). A lot of interesting projects are happening there and our offices there have historically worked very well with the governments. I’ll let Rachel Glennerster describe it: But the best reason is the amazing staff, here’s Jishnu Das talking about the Liberia office’s recent high profile RCT of public-private partnership schools there: Finding children who have left a school...
Read More »IPA’s weekly links
IPA has an opening for a Country Director for our Sierra Leone and Liberia offices (above photo comes from the former). A lot of interesting projects are happening there and our offices there have historically worked very well with the governments. I’ll let Rachel Glennerster describe it: But the best reason is the amazing staff, here’s Jishnu Das talking about the Liberia office’s recent high profile RCT of public-private partnership schools there: Finding children who have left a...
Read More »IPA’s weekly links
IPA has an opening for a Country Director for our Sierra Leone and Liberia offices (above photo comes from the former). A lot of interesting projects are happening there and our offices there have historically worked very well with the governments. I’ll let Rachel Glennerster describe it: But the best reason is the amazing staff, here’s Jishnu Das talking about the Liberia office’s recent high profile RCT of public-private partnership schools there: Finding children who have left a school...
Read More »Brad DeLong — Martin Wolf: THE CHALLENGE OF XI JINPING’S LENINIST AUTOCRACY
What Western liberals assume is that the natural state of human being is defined by liberalism. That is an unsubstantiated assumption. Liberalism developed in the UK and was exported to the US and later to Western Europe. It is a cultural phenomenon that is historically and geographically based. The Western view at present is that China under Xi Jinping has de-emphasized Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' focus on class struggle, while emphasizing Lenin's focus on the party as revolutionary...
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