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A Secret Meeting in Jordan and China’s Signs of Economic Stress
DerekJohnson
Administrator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 60,065
in Tug Tavern
By Geopolitical Futures -July 9, 2021Open as PDF
Secret meeting? Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett traveled to Jordan last week to meet with Jordanian King Abdullah II, according to a report from Israel’s Walla News. The offices of both officials declined to comment. On Friday, Israel announced plans to sell 50 million cubic meters of water to Jordan this year, up from 30 million cubic meters last year. The two countries are also discussing increasing Jordanian exports to the West Bank.
Expanding the blacklist. The Biden administration added more than 30 additional Chinese companies to its economic blacklist over alleged links to human rights violations in Xinjiang. The targeted firms have not yet been identified. China’s crackdowns in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and elsewhere are making it easier for anti-China coalitions to coalesce across the West.
Signs of stress. China’s central bank said it would cut its reserve ratio requirement for the first time since the peak of the pandemic in February 2020. Regulators are trying to portray the move as routine, but there appears to be no shortage of economic signals for them to be worried about. Credit has already been expanding again in response to slowing growth – and will grow further following the RRR cut – possibly frustrating Beijing’s endless battle against financial risk. Corporate bond defaults are still setting new records.
Declining support for Navalny. A declining number of Russians support jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, according to a new poll by the Levada Center. The poll found that 14 percent of respondents approved of his activities, compared to 20 percent in September 2020, and 62 percent disapproved, compared to 50 percent last year. The poll also found that roughly a third of Russians supported the decision to designate the Anti-Corruption Foundation, a group founded by Navalny, an extremist group, while about 40 percent said they were indifferent.
Reward. The U.S. State Department said it’s offering a $5 million reward for credible information on those responsible for a 2017 ambush in Niger that led to the deaths of four American service members and five Nigerian soldiers. A group called the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara claimed responsibility for the attack.
Trade deal. A free trade agreement signed in 2019 between Serbia and the Eurasian Economic Union will take effect Saturday.
Taliban control. During consultations with Russia’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Taliban representatives said the group controlled 85 percent of Afghan territory. An official from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, an alliance consisting of former Soviet states, said the Taliban controlled all of Afghanistan’s border with Tajikistan.
Three Seas summit. Bulgaria is hosting a summit of the Three Seas Initiative, a forum involving 12 European countries located between the Baltic, Adriatic and Black seas. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at the summit on Thursday that the U.S.-sponsored initiative should be driven largely by European policies and investment.
New terms. Montenegro reached an agreement with three unnamed Western banks to convert the currency of a Chinese loan used to finance construction of a major highway from U.S. dollars to euros. The deal also reduces the interest rate on the loan from 2 percent to 0.8 percent.
More money for Africa. Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Ivory Coast and Nigeria called on the Group of 20 to allocate $30 billion in funds from the International Monetary Fund toward investment in Africa. The move comes after the IMF’s managing director warned that economic recoveries of advanced and developing nations are “dangerously uneven.”
GERD talks. The U.N. Security Council held a meeting Thursday to discuss the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. It issued a unanimous statement calling on Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to continue negotiating through the African Union and reach a resolution deemed acceptable by all parties.
Secret meeting? Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett traveled to Jordan last week to meet with Jordanian King Abdullah II, according to a report from Israel’s Walla News. The offices of both officials declined to comment. On Friday, Israel announced plans to sell 50 million cubic meters of water to Jordan this year, up from 30 million cubic meters last year. The two countries are also discussing increasing Jordanian exports to the West Bank.
Expanding the blacklist. The Biden administration added more than 30 additional Chinese companies to its economic blacklist over alleged links to human rights violations in Xinjiang. The targeted firms have not yet been identified. China’s crackdowns in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and elsewhere are making it easier for anti-China coalitions to coalesce across the West.
Signs of stress. China’s central bank said it would cut its reserve ratio requirement for the first time since the peak of the pandemic in February 2020. Regulators are trying to portray the move as routine, but there appears to be no shortage of economic signals for them to be worried about. Credit has already been expanding again in response to slowing growth – and will grow further following the RRR cut – possibly frustrating Beijing’s endless battle against financial risk. Corporate bond defaults are still setting new records.
Declining support for Navalny. A declining number of Russians support jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, according to a new poll by the Levada Center. The poll found that 14 percent of respondents approved of his activities, compared to 20 percent in September 2020, and 62 percent disapproved, compared to 50 percent last year. The poll also found that roughly a third of Russians supported the decision to designate the Anti-Corruption Foundation, a group founded by Navalny, an extremist group, while about 40 percent said they were indifferent.
Reward. The U.S. State Department said it’s offering a $5 million reward for credible information on those responsible for a 2017 ambush in Niger that led to the deaths of four American service members and five Nigerian soldiers. A group called the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara claimed responsibility for the attack.
Trade deal. A free trade agreement signed in 2019 between Serbia and the Eurasian Economic Union will take effect Saturday.
Taliban control. During consultations with Russia’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Taliban representatives said the group controlled 85 percent of Afghan territory. An official from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, an alliance consisting of former Soviet states, said the Taliban controlled all of Afghanistan’s border with Tajikistan.
Three Seas summit. Bulgaria is hosting a summit of the Three Seas Initiative, a forum involving 12 European countries located between the Baltic, Adriatic and Black seas. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at the summit on Thursday that the U.S.-sponsored initiative should be driven largely by European policies and investment.
New terms. Montenegro reached an agreement with three unnamed Western banks to convert the currency of a Chinese loan used to finance construction of a major highway from U.S. dollars to euros. The deal also reduces the interest rate on the loan from 2 percent to 0.8 percent.
More money for Africa. Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Ivory Coast and Nigeria called on the Group of 20 to allocate $30 billion in funds from the International Monetary Fund toward investment in Africa. The move comes after the IMF’s managing director warned that economic recoveries of advanced and developing nations are “dangerously uneven.”
GERD talks. The U.N. Security Council held a meeting Thursday to discuss the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. It issued a unanimous statement calling on Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to continue negotiating through the African Union and reach a resolution deemed acceptable by all parties.
Comments
Desperate is dangerous.
They are going all in on expanding their “empire”. This is an old story with a new player. The difference is that throughout the history of this country, we have did what had to be done to nip shit at the bud. Despite what the Liberals thought about it.
I don’t see this happening with the guysm charge now.
The rest of it is things can be overturned, should the Republic be saved.