Featured in Defence Connect: Sanctions backfire, quite often

From Defence Connect: 

More recent opinion research from the Levada-Center has demonstrated that those in Russia who hold the US responsible for the war in Ukraine jumped from 50 per cent to 60 per cent in the three months leading to the invasion. 

Perhaps Simon Constable in Time put the sanctions dilemma most carefully under the microscope, noting that “sanctions often prompt a country’s population to rally around the flag”. 

“A siege mentality takes over with people banding together to weather the storm.” 

Beyond the growth of Russian nationalism, US-led sanctions have forced the Kremlin to build new shadow economic, military and political architectures outside of the US-led international order.

Read more here. 

Forbes: Bearish Sentiment Improves, But Remains Elevated

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

Investors remain bearish by a factor of two-to-one. That’s down from recent readings but still elevated, and is possibly a sign that the market is nearing a bottom.

According to a recent survey from the American Association of Individual Investors, 47% of investors were bearish, meaning they expected stocks to keep falling, for the week ending June 29. That’s more than twice the 23% portion of investors who were bullish. Read more here.

Forbes: Energy Crushes Tech In First Half

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Six months and what a difference.

After years of perpetually rallying the tech-heavy Nasdaq has slumped. Actually, it's worse than that.

Yet during the same period, the energy sector has soared. Read more here.

Forbes: Key Indicator Shows China’s Economy Set For Further Slump

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

Just when you thought China might be back on track, a key economic indicator suggests the opposite is coming down the pike. Read more here.

China's President Xi

U.S. Department of State from United States, 

Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Forbes: Boris Government Chips Away At Free Trade

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

It looks like Britain is about to resort to protectionism. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has proposed raising or extending tariffs on imported steel from a variety of countries including China, Turkey and India.

While the reasoning behind this plan may look sound, it sets a bad precedent for a government-run by the Conservative Party, usually a champion of free trade. Read more here.

Forbes: A Potential Solution To The Northern Ireland Protocol: Turn A Blind Eye

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

Much of the UK press is now sounding the alarm that the British government’s thoughts of pulling out of the Northern Ireland protocol will unleash economic hell on the UK.

The idea behind the Northern Ireland protocol is complicated. But the essence of it is to avoid a normal or ‘hard’ border between Northern Ireland and the Republic which is in the European Union. The second part of this involves there being some form of customs checks between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland.

It’s that latter bit that isn’t working and which Prime Minister Boris Johnson= seems to want to end. The British government says it can do this legally while the EU (and much of the press) is outraged by the idea.

The worry is that the EU also rips up its side of the trade agreement with the UK so effectively letting off an economic hand grenade.

Yet, there is a solution to this problem that many countries use. It works this way. An agreement is made and agreed to, but then the various parties simply do not enforce it. Read more here.

CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor: #Markets: Commodities cool; Scotland heats up

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

Listen here.

Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon 

Scottish Parliament, OSPL, via Wikimedia Commons