| World |
Europe's unlikely couple -
Gavin Hewitt, BBC
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy hold their first meeting of the year in Berlin on Monday. They are Europe's indispensable couple. They see each other at least every ten days. Next week they are in Rome, then Davos and then Brussels by the end of the month. |
US is recasting its Asia policy -
B Raman, Pioneer
As US President Barack Obama nears the end of his first term and gets ready to seek a second, he has sought to give a new focus to America’s foreign policy towards Asia. This new focus is marked by two characteristics. One, an open and uninhibited expression of US concerns over China’s ever-increasing economic and military capabilities and Beijing’s far from transparent intentions. |
Krishna goes to Jerusalem -
PR Kumaraswamy, Pioneer
Though touted as a four-day tour of the Middle East, Israel is the principal focus of Minister for External Affairs SM Krishna’s visit. While there are no bilateral disputes, the visit offers an opportunity for both to smoothen some of the rough edges and fine tune their positions. There are a few issues that need attention and Mr Krishna might use the opportunity to harp on points of convergence and minimise disagreements. |
Revitalized Detroit makes bold bets on new models -
Jeff Bennett and Neal E Boudette, WSJ
Sergio Marchionne strode around the cavernous design studio at Chrysler Group LLC last month inspecting a soon-to-launch new compact car, the Dodge Dart, and offered a bold idea. "We are going to try to grab some share" in the small-car segment, he said, puffing on a Marlboro. Not so long ago, a Chrysler chief saying that might have been laughed out of the room. For a generation, the company and its two Detroit rivals, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co., all but conceded leadership of the passenger car business to Japanese rivals. While making pickups and sport-utility vehicles that Americans liked, Detroit produced cars that were often uninspiring and sometimes years behind on technology and quality. |
Who after Hu ... and Wen? -
Ajai Shukla, Business Standard
This year could end with a new president in Washington, but it will certainly see a brand new Chinese leadership. A fifth generation of Chinese leaders will take power this autumn at the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). China has moved beyond Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping; no single strongman controls all the levers of power. Instead, power is distributed between nine senior leaders who make up the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC). |
In praise of a second (or third) passport -
Economic Times
Seen from the state’s point of view, multiple citizenship is at best untidy and at worst a menace. Officials would prefer you to be born, live, work, pay taxes, draw benefits and die in the same place, travel on one passport only, and bequeath only one nationality to your offspring. In wartime the state has a unique call on your loyalty—and perhaps your life. Citizenship is the glue keeping individual and state together. Tamper with it, and the relationship comes unstuck. |
Green 'back': The dollar is on a comeback trail -
Ruchir Sharma, Economic Times
Portuguese-speaking concierges have of late been much in demand in New York hotels. A record number of Brazilians are floating around the city on shopping expeditions and could do with all the local help possible. The people of a country with one of the most expensive currencies in the world are flocking to a nation where the currency is about as cheap as it has ever been.
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Obama re-election odds may rise as unemployment falls -
Mike Dorning, Businessweek
President Barack Obama called yesterday’s jobs report a sign the U.S. economy is on the rebound. His prospects for re-election may depend on it. The drop in the unemployment rate in December to 8.5 percent, a three-year low, showed the job market gaining momentum heading into a presidential election campaign that will be shaped by the state of the economy.
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Occupied with domestic squabbles -
WPS Sidhu, Mint
In the long run the dominant economic and political actors will have to commit themselves to reforming or creating institutions relevant for the 21st century and consistently working together. |
Chinese media slams US 'look east' policy -
Times of India
SHANGHAI: China's state-run news media warned Washington on Friday not to "recklessly practice militarism" or engage in "war mongering," a day after the Obama administration outlined a new military strategy with an increased focus on China. |
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LensOnNews, Opinion
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