September 10, 2017
The current North Korean threat highlights one of the most troubling shortcomings facing today’s Western governments : the almost total inability of diplomacy to help solve such crises. For thousands of years, various states in different periods of history have nurtured the development of a special class of bureaucrats, employed exclusively in the diplomatic service.… » read more
Posted by Spotlight on Geopolitics
October 12, 2013
Superficially at least, the ongoing civil war in Syria appears to highlight the West’s inability, unprecedented for decades, to put a stop to it. Adverse to direct military intervention, President Obama has even ruled out Kosovo-style punitive strikes without the endorsement of Congress. Premier David Cameron’s strident advocacy of military action against Syria has been… » read more
Posted by Spotlight on Geopolitics
April 20, 2013
For almost two years now I have avoided dealing on my blog with China’s spats with Japan, its tensions with ASEAN partners or its apparent inability to reign in the excesses of its obstreperous North Korean protégé. Although China is fast becoming an economic superpower, its foreign policy has remained far less successful than its… » read more
Posted by Spotlight on Geopolitics
December 8, 2012
The 2012 global economic results highlight the unique counterperformance of the European Union among its major trading partners. According to the end of year statistics published by The Economist, even countries like Japan and the United States have managed growth rates of 2 percent or above. The average growth rate for the ASEAN countries reaches… » read more
Posted by Spotlight on Geopolitics
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, ASEAN, E.U., geoeconomics, Latin America, neoliberalism, USA |
April 10, 2012
The 20th ASEAN summit took place last week in Cambodia. It ended after two days with a Phnom Penh Declaration, which basically reiterates the members’ commitment to establishing the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015. The summiteers were greeted in the capital’s Peace Palace by huge billboards depicting the smiling faces of the Chinese president Hu… » read more
Posted by Spotlight on Geopolitics
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, ASEAN, Asia, China, Japan, trade bloc |
November 2, 2010
Last week’s top-level political meetings which took place in Brussels and Hanoi ended up with similar calls on the US to avoid stimulating the American economy by printing more dollars. Trying to stimulate growth by flooding the American banking system with liquidity is only of marginal importance to the US economy’s woes. Yet this is… » read more
Posted by Spotlight on Geopolitics
October 27, 2010
Slowly but surely, EU leaders are waking up to the fact that they should take regional security into their own hands and promote a neighbourhood diplomacy which would eventually have to exclude NATO or the United States, but would be inclusive of Russia and Turkey. This is the new geostrategic context in which the Sarkozy-Merkel-Medvedev… » read more
Posted by Spotlight on Geopolitics
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Energy Supply, English, External Relations, Security , ASEAN, China, E.U., India, Latin America, NATO, oil, resources, Russia |
October 21, 2010
The US State Department’s summer diplomatic offensive in South-East Asia has been complemented in Japan by calls to strengthen the US-Japan alliance and to design new collective security structures aimed at containing China. Thus, in a recent article (“Keeping the US engaged in Asia”) published in East Asia Insights, Japanese former deputy foreign minister (LDP)… » read more
Posted by Spotlight on Geopolitics
September 30, 2010
On the 4th and 5th of October, Brussels will host the 8th ASEM summit, involving 45 countries from Asia and Europe. The 16 Asian nations attending and representatives of the 27 EU countries will be admitting Russia, Australia and New Zealand as full members of ASEM. The summit’s theme this year is “Quality of Life”,… » read more
Posted by Spotlight on Geopolitics
October 24, 2009
The 15th ASEAN summit kicked off in Thailand yesterday amid heavy security. For those in the know, the April summit could not be held because of heavy anti-government protests. The ten ASEAN countries have decided to establish a human rights watchdog, considered by observers as weak and ineffective, as it lacks powers to punish offenders… » read more
Posted by Spotlight on Geopolitics
