Why are a bunch of ex-diplomats talking about babies and birth rates? Sure, it’s like a mango sorbet palate-cleanser amid all the war and rumours of war. But natality is also one of those slow-moving forces that can completely transform our world. How? Last century, the dominant narrative was that populations were too big, with leaders in China, Vietnam […]

Sometimes, the shortest press releases generate the most headlines.   Take Thursday’s press release from China’s state broadcaster: “Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday held phone talks with U.S. President Donald Trump at the latter’s request.”  As you’d expect, given the feverish geopolitical climate of today, those 18 words were enough to trigger a visceral reaction in any US-China […]

It’s finally June, and you know what that means! Summer’s The Shangri-La Dialogue is finally back, bringing together generals, leaders, security folks, and academics from 47 countries.  Here are five of the most intriguing quotes from this year’s summit:   In keeping with the tone of Trump 2.0, Hegseth’s keynote speech was anything but low-key.  In this instance, […]

When Wall Street woke up to check its Bloomberg terminals yesterday, they’ll have seen a headline that JP Morgan Chase now has its own ‘Center for Geopolitics’. That’s America’s biggest bank launching something that sounds like a tweed-clad think-tank, led by Derek Chollet — a former Pentagon, State, and White House official. And for anyone who’s been […]

While you might’ve spent your Sunday night watching an epic finale of The White Lotus, traders were glued to something just as wild playing out on their terminals: S&P 500, Nasdaq, and commodity futures allplunged again while folks traded a record 100 million options contracts (a classic hedge), spooking markets across Asia and Europe. That’s all because whether […]

In a packed Rose Garden, Donald Trump has unveiled his long-awaited reciprocal tariffs, which the 47th president is dubbing “kind reciprocal”, because they work out at roughly half what he says the world is charging the US. Here’s a quick snapshot of the new tariffs, including: That “virtually” is doing some heavy lifting, as a few names are missing from Trump’s list: One […]

And so The Great Trade War™ is on. You’ve probably already heard endless hot takes from folks dressed in shirts with collars more rigid than your uncle Rob on the dance floor, so let’s keep this one short (and our collars in an effortless kind of linen ruffle). Here’s what you need to know. Trump’s […]

After China’s Deepseek AI bot rocked the world’s markets and capitals last month, China’s private sector is now throwing the kind of party you just can’t ignore. How big? A $1.3 trillion rally. Big enough to attract the VVVVVVVIP himself, China’s leader, Xi Jinping. Xi hosted China’s top business leaders at a forum in Beijing yesterday (Monday), and the […]

In the upper wings of the Taipei Music Center yesterday (Monday), two elderly locals watched as their son, Nvidia’s founder Jensen Huang, announced he’s doubling down on Taiwan.  And while folks were there for the Computex trade show, they saw something else: Huang emerging as the kind of 21st century CEO with more clout than many world leaders. […]

As markets stubbed their toe on Trump’s high-stakes tariff reveal this week, it was almost possible to forget about that pesky April 5 (tomorrow) deadline for TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell up or face a painful US ban. And while Trump extended that deadline on his first day back in office, it now looks […]

We’re not a finance newsletter (we don’t own enough Patagucci vests to qualify), but we do enjoy scrolling through stock tickers.  That’s how we noticed some recent movements around Eutelsat, a Franco-British Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite operator that’s in talks with the EU to ramp up its presence in Ukraine.  Over the past four days, the […]

Shrugging off some winter showers, France’s Emmanuel Macron (co-hosting with India’s Narendra Modi) has rolled out the red carpet for heads of state, executives (hi Jamie Dimon), and AI power players at the latest AI Action Summit, which wraps today (Tuesday). And a quick glance at the headlines might suggest that oh, Macron is announcing $110B in […]