Pallavi Aiyar, recently lived for over five years in China, speaks Chinese and has written a charming and engaging book seeing China through young Indian eyes.  Smoke and Mirrors closes with her insights on China and India: • India is good at software, China has hardware. • India should learn from China to invest in infrastructure, while [...]

The causes of World War II are complex but certain facts are clear.  In 1939, the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact included a secret protocol dividing Northern and Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence. Germany and the Soviet Union then invaded their respective sides of Poland, dividing the country between them. But contrast what Angela [...]

The Swedish government’s reaction to the story recently published by the popular Swedish daily tabloid Aftonbladet, suggesting that Israeli had harvested the organs of Palestinian victims for their own purposes, is difficult to understand. The article was entitled “Our Sons’ Organs Were Plundered” and was based on interviews with Palestinian families – although no evidence [...]

The columnist, Gwynne Dyer, has drawn my attention to an article, written by Colonel Sergei Kovalev, Director of the scientific research department at the Institute of Military History.  It is entitled  “Fictions and Falsifications in Evaluating the USSR’s Role On the Eve of the Second World War.”      Kovalev asserts that the Poles, not [...]

Whether or not the Doha Development Round collapses, thought needs to be given to reforming the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the current trading system.  A starting point would be to dust down the Havana Charter of 1947.   The developing countries do not trust the developed world to dismantle its protectionist measures in the fields [...]

European Union countries hold:   ·              two of the four UN Security Council permanent seats ·              four out of seven G7 seats ·              four plus the EU in the G20 ·              31.7% of IMF voting ·              In practice the right to appoint the IMF president   However, the collective weight and influence of the EU [...]

The following interview in Chinese has appeared on over 250 Chinese websites. It is accurate except on the theme of the heading.  You will see that I say that US policy substance has not necessarily changed.    EU scholar says U.S. “policy substance” toward Europe remains unchanged   by Xinhua writers Wu Liming, Ban Wei [...]

The following will shortly be published in the College of Europe’s new e-journal, EU-China Observer:   Now that the dust has settled, the results of the much heralded G20 summit in London on 2 April can be reviewed.   There is consensus that there are grave, linked economic and financial crises. There is no consensus [...]

The following interview was published ytesterday by EurActif :     US President Barack Obama has already taken substantial steps to improve the United States’ relations with its Western partners, seek dialogue with the Muslim world and address hotbeds of tension, Stanley Crossick, the founding chairman of European Policy Centre, told EurActiv in an interview. European Policy Centre founder Stanley Crossick, [...]

This week’s meeting in London between Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev was very welcome.  They are to seek to agree a new arms control treaty this year.  Obama has ‘pressed the reset button’, as promised.  The atmosphere of the meeting was good.  With Barack Obama replacing George W Bush, hopefully western understanding of Russian [...]