A superpower’s final act?
After Donald Trump's multiple efforts to unravel US primacy in the world, a decision to join Israel in attacking Iran could become his administration's final decisive act.
Trade war’s peak anxiety
The Trump White House is now realising that ending a trade war, like any other war, is harder than starting it.
Malaysian centrality in Asean 2025
Malaysia is organising not only an Asean Summit this week, but a series of summits around the 46th Asean Summit while retaining Asean centrality.
Boosting Asean centrality
Unfriendly US policies on other countries have not only failed but backfired, with indiscriminate tariffs being just the latest.
It’s mostly words
Even as foreign governments are humiliated in appealing to lift punishing US tariffs, those tariffs themselves are becoming humiliatingly hollow.
When tariffs are suicidal
The best defence against Trump 2.0's worldwide tariffs is the administration's sense of national interest, if it kicks in soon enough.
Getting it right
US-China trade needs to improve as much as their bilateral relationship deserves much better, but not at the present rate.
An expected blow-up
Ukraine thought it had endless Western money and weapons to help it fight Russia, until Trump's White House expressed a desire to make peace.
Showdown over tariffs?
New US tariffs worry Asean as a third party – unless they are meant only for bargaining with the principals.
Positive change more likely
US-China relations have sunk so low in recent years that change for the better can now be expected, for everyone’s sake.
Asean comes of age
A common implicit understanding within Asean is that national interests derive from shared regional interests, which means not siding with one big power over another.
