Ian Bremmer’s article in the March 2010 issue of Prospect is well worth reading.  The world’s two great powers are growing dangerously hostile to one another. Could this be worse than the cold war? Previous posts have raised the increasing conflict between China and the US.  President Hu Jintao’s attendance at the nuclear disarmament conference [...]

The US Treasury is expected to issue its semi-annual report on 15 April.  Will it declare China a “currency manipulator”?  This would be “for purposes of preventing effective balance of payments adjustments or gaining unfair competitive advantage in international trade.”  This could lead to the imposition of countervailing duties on Chinese imports.  The possibility of [...]

The British House of Commons all-party Foreign Affairs Committee has concluded that the phrase “the special relationship” no longer reflects the current Anglo-American relationship.  The MPs believe the link to be “profound and valuable” but the British government needs to be “less deferential” towards the US and more willing to say no to Washington.   [...]

In interpreting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s long speech of 22 March, the audience – the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) – has to be taken into account.  Her support for Israel was effusive: • The relationship between the US and Israel has never been more  important. • The US has long recognized that a [...]

There has been much talk in the past about China and the European Union having more in common in a number of policy areas than either has with the United States.  Thus Beijing saw the EU as a potential factor moderating US influence; Washington could see a world being led by a G2 of the [...]

Chas W. Freeman Jr spoke to the Global Strategy Forum on 20 January 2010 on the mounting speculation about China’s emergence as a global hegemon to rival and, perhaps in time, surpass the United States. This is the thrust of what he said: The US – which spends more on its military than the rest [...]

A casual reader of the European and American media might be forgiven for thinking that many people see the West losing out to China over trade. It is understandable that many, including of course those who have lost their jobs to China, see a rising trade deficit (EU €169 billion and US $268 billion in [...]

The loss by the US Democrats of Senator Kennedy’s seat in the home of liberalism, could be a wake-up call for the West to take time out from preaching democracy to others, in order to take a good look at how  democracy is faring in our own countries.  In most of them, the government and [...]

US Undersecretary of State, William Burns, said in April of the US and Russia that “more unites us than divides us”.  The same can be said of the US and China, and of Russia and China.  The way these three powers behave towards each other in the next decade will shape the future of the [...]

The United States has imposed a tariff on China-made tyres of 35 percent the first year, 30 percent the second year and 25 percent the third year. This is a clear victory for the complainant, the United Steelworkers Union, over tyre importers and some US tyre manufacturers with plants overseas. Under section 421 of the [...]