Myanmar (or Burma, as many still call it) has long been an economic laggard in Asia. Over the past few decades, virtually every other Asian state has boomed or emerged on investors’ radars in some way – but not Myanmar. The reason is, of course, Myanmar’s pariah status, economic isolationism, and chronic mismanagement. However, recent… [Read more]

Russia has arguably emerged as a key beneficiary of the current political crises in the Middle East and North Africa, mainly because events there have undermined the United States’ geopolitical position, sown divisions with NATO, and driven up oil prices. At the same time, the Japanese earthquake will probably increase Japan’s dependence on Russian energy… [Read more]

It is now just over one month since Japan was struck by a devastating earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis. On Tuesday, the government raised the severity rating of the Fukushima reactor disaster to level seven, matching that of Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986. Perhaps the biggest question is, how will its worst since World War II… [Read more]

The future movements of the Chinese yuan have been one of the most hotly debated issues in the global economy for many years. The initial 2.1% revaluation of July 21, 2005, after a decade at CNY8.28/US$, was almost as eagerly awaited as the release of the first Star Wars prequel, and like the latter, it… [Read more]

There are two key aspects to President Obama’s banking reform: 1) It attempts to address the ‘too big to fail’ debate: Obama wants to place size limits on banks (although it is still unclear what these are). This should create a wave of divestments and carve-outs in the banking industry. 2) To break up the… [Read more]

‘Change’ is a powerful message. Barack Obama made this his main slogan in his 2008 campaign. Rocky Balboa proclaimed this to the Soviet Politburo at the end of Rocky IV. UK girl band Sugababes called their fifth album Change. Now, even Japan has opted for change, after 54 years of rule by the Liberal Democratic… [Read more]

When a friend of mine asked me what was happening with the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)’s leadership race on Saturday May 16, I replied ‘the frontrunner is a 40-something Afro-Japanese woman, daughter of a US marine, who is a self-made nanotechnology business guru’. That was a joke, obviously, but it does underscore the… [Read more]