Новости за 18.05.2024

Amid heightened maritime dispute between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea, India has huge stake in securing its maritime commerce in this critical maritime space. Major stakeholders such as the US, Japan, Australia and now India are extending support to bolster Philippines’ capability to deter the threat from China. 

By Cherian Samuel

With sundry agreements signed between India and the United States (US) in the recent past, to facilitate defence cooperation, the next ones on the anvil are the Security of Supply Arrangement (SOSA) agreement and the Reciprocal Defense Procurement Agreement (RDPA). Described by a Korean analyst as a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in defence, getting RDPA through might be a challenge for the two countries. 

Defence agreements serve a number of purposes, going beyond the specifics... Читать дальше...

By Alec Greven

Despite the US constitution’s guarantee of free speech, free press and peaceable assembly, public officials habitually retaliate against individuals nationwide for their expression. Officials often decide whether or not to punish based on their political preferences, a practice known as selective enforcement. Unfortunately, examples of it are everywhere.

In 2020, using COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, local governments like the City of New York severely limited... Читать дальше...

By Jon Miltimore

In August 1920 in Munich, a young Adolf Hitler delivered one of his first public speeches before a crowd of some 2,000 people.

During his speech, which lasted nearly two hours and was interrupted nearly 60 times by cheers, Hitler touched on a theme he’d repeat in future speeches, stating he did not believe that “ever on earth could a state survive with continuing inner health, if it were not based on inner social justice.”

This was one of the first... Читать дальше...

By Aaron Magunna

News reporting frequently portrays piracy and armed robbery (PAR) at sea in Southeast Asia as an escalating concern. The supposedly growing presence of pirates is then linked to broader analyses of regional cooperation. Southeast Asian states, it is suggested, are not cooperatingsufficiently on regional security nor adequately involving private sector actors in broader security governance processes.

But this coverage overstates the threat of regional PAR. Data... Читать дальше...

The United States Constitution specifies that gold and silver are money. “No State shall … make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts,” declares the Constitution. Further, one of the enumerated powers the Constitution lists for the US Congress is the power to “coin Money” (not print money) and “regulate the Value thereof.” Indeed, coining money containing gold and silver was ordered by the new US Congress via the Coinage Act of 1792. Lower value coins such as pennies... Читать дальше...

By Paul Mueller

Sometimes smart people make remarkably naïve or deeply problematic comments because their view of the world has been molded by narrow ideology, reinforced by significant consensus in their social circles. Recently Esther Duflo, a Nobel prize winning economist, revealed herself to be such a person. In a Financial Times interview with Simon Mundy, she said the West owed a “moral debt” of about $500 billion annually to the global south due to its contribution to climate change and the resulting harm. Читать дальше...

A recent newspaper article reports that GEICO, one of the largest auto insurers in the U.S., has amassed a staggering $189 billion in cash, apart from the reserves required by law to insure the volume of potential claims by its policyholders. Angry consumers have cried out about auto insurance premiums going up as the prices of new and used cars have risen sharply. Yet the company still has not joined other insurance companies like State Farm, Nationwide and Allstate as a funder of the 35-year-old... Читать дальше...

Management at Amfuel tried to bully Jo Tucker and her 200 co-workers—most of them Black women, a number of them single moms—into accepting dozens of unnecessary concessions in a new contract.

By Rodney Reynolds

A United Nations report expects a sustained rebound in tourism to improve the economic prospects for small island developing States (SIDS), leading to GDP growth from 2.4 per cent in 2023 to 3.3 per cent in 2024. However, SIDS remain vulnerable to spikes in international commodity prices due to their high import dependency on essential goods. Frequent extreme weather events and high public debt also pose significant challenges.

“The SIDS outlook for 2024 is promising... Читать дальше...

In the face of an increasingly terrible conflict, political leaders, academic scholars, engaged officials, and media experts tend to explain how the conflict arose and is escalating badly. This has the effect of making the conflict appear inevitable and insurmountable short of totally defeating the adversary. Such thinking is evident in many of the current disorders in the United States and in many other countries. Such tendencies unfortunately fuel the intensity and gravity of the Israeli-Hamas war. Читать дальше...

By Madhusudan Raj

The Guardian reported,

"A new report claims “resounding evidence” shows that high corporate profits are a main driver of ongoing inflation, and companies continue to keep prices high even as their inflationary costs drop.

"The report, compiled by the progressive Groundwork Collaborative think tank, found corporate profits accounted for about 53% of inflation during last year’s second and third quarters. Profits drove just 11% of price growth in the 40 years prior to the pandemic... Читать дальше...

By Kung Chan and Xia Ri

The International Energy Agency (IEA) released a report predicting that the surging demand for electric vehicles (EVs) in the next decade will reshape the global automotive industry and significantly reduce oil consumption in road transportation. If charging infrastructure keeps pace, it is estimated that by 2035, EVs will represent 50% of global car sales, surpassing this year's figure by over one-fifth, reaching 17 million units. IEA Executive Director Fatih... Читать дальше...

For the last quarter century, those of us hoping we could slow global warming were anxious to see a quick conversion to electric vehicles (EVs). If we could get most people using electric vehicles, and have the energy coming from clean sources, we could radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.