Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine showed the world that a resurgent Russia means, of necessity, an imperialist Russia. And it revived discussions about whether Russia needs to be “decolonised,” or perhaps “defederalised,” to bury its imperialist ambitions and subdue its military threat. A breakup of today’s Russia, similar to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, is seen as a possible, ...

For activist investors, the quick route to big profits is often plotted through demands to break up a company. The idea is simple: The parts would be worth more alone than together. HSBC Holdings Plc is facing such a call right now from its biggest shareholder, Chinese insurer Ping An Insurance Group of China Ltd. The pitch is that its ...

  Singapore’s small and highly open economy won’t escape the combined weight of the Ukraine war, supply-chain snarls, China’s Covid-19 lockdowns and a pickup in global inflation. But institutional landlords in the Asian city-state have reasons to be optimistic. Even if GDP grows this year at the lower end of the 3% to 5% official forecast, real estate investment trusts ...