August, 2017

• 29 August

  Pakistan PM intends to work with India for peace

  

  Bloomberg Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has set himself a possibly insurmountable challenge. He intends to work with arch-rival India to achieve peace across South Asia. It’s likely to be a tall order for Abbasi considering the two nuclear-armed nations haven’t had high-level dialogue for almost two years and given the institutional opposition of Pakistan’s military against reconciliation …

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• 29 August

  Malaysian opp won’t cooperate with Islamic party

  Bloomberg Malaysia’s opposition alliance said it won’t cooperate with the country’s largest Islamic party at the next elections, raising the possibility of multiple-cornered fights that could benefit the ruling coalition. Pakatan Harapan is working on a strategy to avoid three-cornered contests, it said in a statement on Tuesday, without elaborating. The alliance is made up of four parties. The Islamic …

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• 29 August

  Trump doesn’t want stain of defeat in Afghanistan

  

  Will President Trump’s new Afghanistan strategy alter the dynamics of America’s longest and most frustrating war? Do commanders really have any better chance of succeeding now than when this conflict began 16 years ago? I put those questions by phone to Gen. John “Mick” Nicholson Jr., who for more than 18 months has commanded US forces in Kabul. This is …

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• 29 August

  Brazilian lawmakers dance around political reform

  

  “Two steps here, two steps there”: When storied singer Elis Regina purrs the honeyed Brazilian bolero, lovers tingle. When deft politicians take up their familiar two-step, voters know that democracy is in for a hit. So it has been in recent weeks as national lawmakers have finally begun to overhaul Brazil’s discredited political system. It’s about time. With 35 registered …

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• 29 August

  US Navy’s deadly collision course in the Pacific

  The circumstances of the crash of the USS John S. McCain near Singapore, which killed at least one US sailor and has left nine missing, remain unclear pending a Navy investigation. The bigger picture, however, is already in focus: Four major accidents this year involving ships of the Seventh Fleet highlight a systemic problem that imperils American dominance on the …

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• 29 August

  Can Congress constrain Trump in September ?

  Some Republican senators have begun to shed their reluctance to criticize the presidency of Donald Trump. When Congress returns from its August recess, they’ll have the chance to do something about it. Only Congress and the courts have the constitutional power to constrain an executive. The courts have been performing their assigned role, placing constitutional barriers in the way of …

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• 29 August

  Sanctions hurt N Korea but oil needed for knock out

  

  For North Korea’s fledgling economy, the latest round of sanctions will cut deep. The curbs on everything from lead and fish exports to shady North Korean companies coincide with a deadly drought that’s ruining crops, darkening an already dire humanitarian picture. An estimated 40 percent of the population is already under nourished and two-thirds are reliant on food aid, according …

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• 29 August

  Vietnam’s repression may threaten its growth

  

  Vietnam’s economy has been performing remarkably well in recent years. Unemployment is just 2.3 percent. Growth is expected to exceed 6 percent annually until 2019. Disbursed foreign direct investment is set to rise to more than $16 billion this year—a record—while manufacturing has been booming as companies shift production from China. Yet even as its economy thrives, Vietnam’s politics have …

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• 29 August

  What Confederate monument builders were thinking

  

  On the afternoon of May 27, 1901, the clerk of the Alabama Constitutional Convention read out a letter to the delegates written by educator Booker T. Washington and signed by 23 other state black leaders. A couple of the delegates had objected to hearing it, as it was already past adjournment time, but Thomas W. Coleman, a Princeton-educated lawyer from …

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• 29 August

  Stocks drop, havens rally on N Korea fears

  

  Bloomberg Stocks slumped across Europe and Asia and havens including gold jumped after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan, rattling markets from London to Sydney. Gasoline climbed as energy companies braced for another hit from Tropical Storm Harvey. As equities retreated, volatility rose and bonds gained in classic risk-off moves. US stock futures also tumbled, Treasuries jumped and …

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