Foxconn hedges its bets (again)

As clickbaity as it sounds, we’re not making the above title up.  On Wednesday, China’s policymakers announced they’ve added all sorts of small electronic appliances — microwaves, rice cookers, water purifiers — to a list of consumer products eligible for a subsidised trade-in. We’re not here to dunk on that idea — the US and others have […]

When a quiet and distant land suddenly starts popping up on the front pages of international newspapers, it’s often one of three things: i) it’s won a sporting tournament, ii) there’s been some sort of disaster, or iii) someone important is talking about it. Greenland now falls into category three, though Trump critics might suggest […]

Germany’s geopolitics Germany has two great geopolitical nemeses – France to the west and Russia to the east. That strategy helped Germany thrive during history’s fleeting moment of US unipolar power, using the intoxicating cocktail of Russian gas, Eastern European labour, US security, and EU economic heft to export German products to China and beyond. But […]

Nobody likes end-of-year deadlines: yes, diplomats also get mandatory annual online HR training, and yes, we absolutely phone it in. But it’s not every year your deadline also gets sprinkled with a bit of energy insecurity and war. We’re talking about the Russia-Ukraine gas transit deal that’s set to expire on January 1 — just […]