China has been developing closer ties with countries in Central Asia over recent years. Trade between China and the Central Asia region grew to US$89 billion in 2023, an increase of 27% on the previous year. Chinese trade rose with every country there except Turkmenistan. In my paper from June 2024, which is part of […]
Browsing Category: Block 3
Appia Institute / Block 3 / Catholicism / Catholicism in China / Christian Indians / News / Pope Francis / World
Choosing the next Pope Francis
He was a beacon, a lighthouse for the common people, the downtrodden, the have-nots and those discriminated against in one way or another—those who wanted to live in harmony, peace and love with other people and nature. Francis (Jorge Bergoglio) was not simply the head of the Catholic Church; he was a voice for eight […]
Anthony Albanese / Australia / Block 3 / DOGE / Donald Trump / Greenland Annexation / News / Peter Dutton / The Conversation / Trump Effect / Trump Liberation Day / Trump Tariffs / Ukraine war / US-Australia relations / World
Australians hate Trump’s policies and distrust US: poll
Australians strongly disagree with key policies of US President Donald Trump, and have overwhelmingly lost trust in the United States to act responsibly in the world, according to the Lowy Institute’s 2025 poll. Despite this, 80% of people say the alliance is “very” or “fairly” important for Australia’s security, only fractionally down on last year’s […]
Block 3 / Brad Thomas / DOGE / News / Porter Stansberry / Trump Tariffs / United States / US Economic Collapse / US Economy / US Stock Market Collapse
Trump’s in-the-know plan to demolish the US economy
The press daily reports ever louder shrieks of concern that Trump’s actions – tariffs, deportations, chainsaw destruction of federal agencies by people barely out of their teens – risk causing a worldwide economic crash. The naïve shriekers Bill Ackman, Larry Fink, Larry Summers and countless others don’t yet realize that there’s no risk: it’s the […]
Block 3 / Estonia / NATO Article 5 / News / Russia / Russia Shadow Fleet / Trump-Putin Negotiations / Ukraine war / United Kingdom / World
Russia plays it cool on Estonia’s ‘shadow fleet’ ship seizure
Estonia seized one of Russia’s “shadow fleet” vessels on Friday (April 11), just two days after approving a new law that allows it to use force to sink such ships if they pose a national security threat. RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan condemned the first as “state-sponsored piracy”, while Russian President Vladmir Putin’s senior aide Nikolai Patrushev speculated that Britain might be behind the […]
Block 3 / Canada / Chinese diaspora / News / South Asian diaspora / The Conversation / World
Why many 2nd-generation Asian Canadians plan to vote Conservative
After months of political decline, the Liberal Party of Canada is showing signs of recovery, buoyed, some suggest, by a surge of national pride in the face of Donald Trump’s tariff war and threats to Canadian sovereignty. But this apparent rebound obscures a more surprising political shift: the growing appeal of the Conservative Party of […]
Block 3 / Estonia / Estonian Nationalism / Europe / NATO / News / Russia / Russia-Europe War / Ukraine war / World
Estonia cribbing Ukraine’s script for provoking Russia
On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princeps, a Bosnian-Serb radical, shot and killed Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg. Princeps did not act alone. He was one of at least six principals in an organization called Young Bosnia, and his group and others were seeking independence from the Austro-Hungarian empire. He […]
Arctic Competition / Block 3 / China in Arctic / Donald Trump / Greenland / Greenland Annexation / NATO / News / Norway / Svalbard / The Arctic / The Conversation / US-Russia rivalry / World
Thawing Arctic heats up US-Russia imperialist instincts
“You cannot annex another country.” This was the clear message given by the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, at a recent press conference with the outgoing and incoming prime ministers of Greenland. It did not appear aimed at Russian president Vladimir Putin, but at Donald Trump, the president of one of her country’s closest allies, […]
Agriculture / Block 3 / Consumer Confidence / Housing / News / Trump Tariffs / Unemployment / United States / US recession
Recession talk is in the air
The Wall Street Journal’s Spencer Jakab pointed out something interesting the other day: There’s been a spike in Google searches on the word “recession.” It’s easy to understand why. Worries that tariffs will spur inflation have sent consumer confidence tumbling. The University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Expectations fell 18% in March from April and […]
Baltics / Block 3 / Germany / Lithuania / Military Schengen / NATO / NATO-Russia Founding Act / News / Russia / Suwalki Corridor / Ukraine war / World
Germany’s Lithuanian base complicates grand US-Russia deal
Germany just opened its first permanent military base abroad since World War II amidst the competition for leadership of post-conflict Europe between itself, France and Poland. Located in southeastern Lithuania near the Belarusian border and in proximity to Russia’s Kaliningrad Region, it’s strategically positioned to give Germany outsized influence in shaping Europe’s future security architecture. That’s because Germany is now a […]