The New Encyclical arrives in a void. There is no opposition to the Church, nor does anyone care about the common people. The Pope chose to speak for individual men and women, cast aside in a world of machines and superheroes. A century ago, the task of Rerum Novarum was extremely difficult — almost impossible […]
Blowing up the World China, Trump, the Straits, and migration are tearing the world apart. We need a different way of looking at things. China is developing its own ‘independent’ view. The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is not an isolated episode but the latest in a series of blows to the global trade […]
China and Russia are irritated with each other, but a divorce would certainly be worse for either. The two seem destined to navigate their uneasy ties, hoping for a turnaround. Russia today wants to intensify its relationship with China and complains that China is not equally warm in return, treating Russia as a junior partner. […]
In a few short decades, Italy moved from the “sorpasso” boom to a suicidal loop. Bright Italians move out, and young migrants move in. Both are desperate. Things can spin out of control, crashing the nation and the continent. Can the Church save Europe as it did after the fall of Rome? Chauvinism in America […]
It was a masterpiece of diplomacy in a very difficult moment. The summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping was above all an exercise in damage limitation — an attempt to prevent a further deterioration of bilateral relations rather than a serious effort to improve them. Little room for the latter was in evidence. The […]
In the USA and Europe, immigration is the root cause of the new identity crisis. In China and Asia, it’s about politics and Taiwan. There seems to be a new global quest for identity similar to the one that shaped nation-states two centuries ago, moving away from old royal identities. America was a nation of […]
In the Trump-Xi meeting, the long-term issues are the backdrop the two won’t discuss. They strain bilateral ties, but are too thorny to touch. Both will wait for the midterm elections. (based on a conversation with Marco Mayer) The May 13-15 Beijing summit between US and Chinese presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping takes place […]
