Author: Nacuntos

The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once (nearly) said: “The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single dash line”. Recent Chinese activities in the South China Sea and Beijing’s claims of “indisputable sovereignty” inside the nine-dash line of China’s unilateral making show every sign of them taking this mantra seriously. The latest Chinese stunt was to place a buoyed net around the Scarborough shoal to prevent Filipino fishing there. Almost immediately the Philippine coast guard dismantled it but the minute their fishing boats returned they were aggressively intercepted by the Chinese Coast Guard. In terms of violating internationally recognised…

BUENOS AIRES, Oct 12 (Reuters) – Argentina’s central bank raised the country’s benchmark interest rate to 133% from 118% on Thursday as inflation data came in worse than forecast, 10 days before voters go to the polls to choose a new president amid a deepening economic crisis. The hike came shortly after September inflation figures were released, landing above expectations at 12.7% monthly and 138% annually, worsening surging prices that have sapped wages and savings and pushed two out of every five people in Argentina below the poverty line. Argentina’s central bank is struggling to keep the benchmark interest rate…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday failed to yield a breakthrough in the revival of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, according to experts. Following the meeting, Erdogan expressed optimism about the initiative, but concrete evidence of a breakthrough remains elusive. Meanwhile, Putin reiterated accusations against the West for failing to meet its obligations under the agreement. Analysts are concerned that the absence of the grain deal will threaten food security in low-income nations in the Middle East and Africa, urging the West to offer Russia the necessary guarantees to maintain a crucial…

China has been seeking to finance or build large infrastructure projects in Argentina to expand its influence in South America. A port, a nuclear power plant, a power station, and a radio telescope are among the projects announced. For experts, however, these works are cause for concern. “Being ‘partners’ with China is a dangerous game,” Juan Belikow, professor of International Relations at the University of Buenos Aires, told Diálogo. According to the expert, the risk is that China lends money to countries with economic difficulties knowing that they will not be able to pay. Thus, projects often have non-transparent contracts that can lead…

Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Wednesday sealed a much-anticipated pact with two main opposition parties, in a development set to reshape the country’s political arena and strengthen the government’s hand in passing legislation. The deal, which comes after months of wrangling and backroom negotiations, exchanges two cabinet posts in the leftwing leader’s government for political support in Congress from the rightwing Progressistas (Progressives) and Republicanos (Republicans). Both parties were important allies of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, who left office in January. For Lula, the pact should help in getting government legislation through a broadly conservative Congress, which…

A Russian warship entered and docked at the seaport of the occupied Mariupol, for the first time since the beginning of Moscow’s invasion, Ukrainian authorities reported on Monday. “Mariupol port has become a military base. Yesterday, for the first time since the occupation, a Russian warship entered the waters of the Mariupol seaport and docked. An hour before its mooring, four combat helicopters of different classes landed on the port territory and stayed there until the evening,” Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, said on Telegram. He added that it is not yet possible to say whether this is a systematic…

Argentina’s government has reportedly reached an agreement with supermarkets to limit monthly food price increases to a maximum of 5% for 90 days in an attempt to tame inflation. Government officials settled on a deal with 31 representatives of local supermarket chains to “stabilise” prices until Argentina’s national elections in October, Reuters quoted economy minister Sergio Massa as saying last week. Massa is running for president as the candidate of the ruling Peronist coalition after winning the nomination to run more than a week ago. Reuters said his two opponents are the ‘radical libertarian Javier Milei, the top vote getter in the nationwide primary,…

Across the northern and western edges of the Black Sea merchant shipping faces the vagaries of war, with vessels increasingly avoiding the region. Russia has been attacking Ukrainian ports and grain export sites along the Black Sea and the Danube hard in the two and a half weeks since it quit a United Nations-brokered grain shipping pact. Aware of pressing security issues towards its annexed Crimea region, Russia’s defence ministry said yesterday that it had imposed restrictions on the movement of ships and aircraft in the Kerch Strait, which links the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov. “Navigation of all…

An unprecedented winter heatwave is sweeping across a large chunk of South America, with temperatures forecast to exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in southwestern Brazil in the coming days. It comes as part of a recent trend of extreme heat stretching across the globe, with the month of July poised to be recognized as the world’s hottest in history. Unlike the extraordinary temperatures recently recorded during the northern hemisphere’s summer season, however, countries including Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Brazil are supposed to be experiencing temperatures associated with the middle of winter. Scientists say the winter heat is being fueled by the climate…

BEIJING (Bloomberg): China’s defence minister Li Shangfu (pic) blamed the actions of “some people” in the US for the breakdown of friendly bilateral ties in a meeting with former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. “Some people in the United States have not met China halfway,” Li said Tuesday in Beijing, according to a Chinese government read out. “The atmosphere of friendly communication has been destroyed.” Kissinger, long viewed as an “old friend” of Beijing, told Li that “neither the US or China can afford to treat one another as an enemy,” according to the Chinese defence ministry read out.…