CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor: #Scotland: #UK PM Johnson exits slowly; & What is to be done about COLA?

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

Listen here.

Sergeant Tom Robinson RLC, OGL v1.0OGL v1.0,

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WSJ: Two Decades of Sarbanes-Oxley

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

Exclusively in Print

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, 

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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.