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An electronic display shows the US national debt in Washington on August 19. The US national debt exceeded a record US$40 trillion. The uptick in borrowing comes as longer term US obligations linked to social security and health care have been growing, while interest payments have climbed as well. Photo: AFP
Banking & finance

Opinion | The end of history? No, the world’s thermodynamic bill is coming due

When energy, technology, money and power are linked, governments can’t escape the laws of nature.

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Asean

Opinion | Why Southeast Asia isn’t buying the US’ offer of ‘flexible realism’

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United States

Macroscope | US markets are paying the price for Trump’s reckless policies

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US-China relations

Opinion | The security-obsessed global economy needs its own Helsinki process

Cold War rivals used ground rules to make competition more transparent, bounded and predictable. Today’s weaponised trade needs the same ambition.

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Illustration: Henry Wong
Illustration: Henry Wong
Books and literature

Opinion | Why Asimov’s Foundation series still resonates in the AI era

Social engineering: why Elon Musk, Nobel Prize winners and cult leaders are all obsessed with Asimov’s Foundation.

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Diplomacy

Opinion | For states, being part of everything doesn’t mean being part of nothing

The opposite of commitment is breach, not multiplicity. A nation’s reliability isn’t measured by how many treaties it signs.

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Education

Just Saying | Reflections of a reformed grammar Nazi

The evolution of English is an unstoppable force and resisting its ‘dumbing down’ may be futile.

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When it comes to the English language, does form really matter as much as function? Photo: Shutterstock
When it comes to the English language, does form really matter as much as function? Photo: Shutterstock
US-China relations

Opinion | China’s view of Trump’s America has changed from alarm to a shrug

Erratic and transactional, the US leader’s approach exposes domestic governance flaws and the limits of Washington’s containment strategy.

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United States

As I see it | The US is telling its trading partners – do as I say, not as I do

While Washington says it is monitoring certain countries, including Japan, for foreign exchange interventions, it also coordinated with Tokyo to prop up the yen.

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University of Cambridge

Opinion | Why the Jason Arday case resonates with me

While stories emphasising the personal background of academics can inspire, they can also turn those scholars into a symbol too early.

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Members of the public walk past floral tributes to remember academic Jason Arday, attached to the railings outside Senate House at the University of Cambridge on August 15. Cambridge’s vice-chancellor said on August 14 that the UK university was “desperately saddened” by the death of Arday, who quit the prestigious institution last week amid a plagiarism scandal. Photo: AFP
Diplomacy

Opinion | Trump’s blunt remarks offer South Korea an opportunity

Reduced US-South Korea drills complicate Seoul’s security dilemma but are also a low-cost goodwill signal to Pyongyang that could create room for dialogue.

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US Army armoured vehicles gather to cross a river at a training field in Yeoncheon, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, on August 17. Photo: AP
US Army armoured vehicles gather to cross a river at a training field in Yeoncheon, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, on August 17. Photo: AP
United States

As I see it | Why China’s political and industrial systems work better than the US

An Indian writer and an American businessman explain how de-industrialisation and the rise of oligarchs handicapped the US ability to compete.

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United States

Opinion | America is arguing over the wrong AI obstacle

Sluggish adoption can’t be blamed on overregulation, and restricting access to US frontier models is no defence against open-source Chinese rivals.

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War and conflict

Opinion | Chokepoints and the cost of cutting off access

The most dangerous chokepoint may not be the narrowest strait or rarest tech but where the final decision rests with the fewest people.

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Illustration: Huy Truong
US-China tech war

Opinion | A US ban on Chinese optical transceivers would highlight tech war direction

The possible ripple effects of an FCC ban on Chinese optical transceivers show any US-China tech decoupling will be slow and costly.

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Workers at Cloud Light’s factory in Dongguan, Guangdong province. Cloud Light manufactures fibre optic transceivers, a device used in data centres to send data over fibre optic cables. Photo: Handout
Workers at Cloud Light’s factory in Dongguan, Guangdong province. Cloud Light manufactures fibre optic transceivers, a device used in data centres to send data over fibre optic cables. Photo: Handout
Artificial intelligence

Macroscope | Why are global leaders asleep to risks of uncritical AI adoption?

Much like their drowsiness on climate change, world leaders have been lulled to sleep by promises of AI’s benefits to efficiency and profits.

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Banking & finance

Opinion | The AI-driven candyfloss economy can’t last forever

Wishful thinking and irresponsible levels of debt are driving a global economy that looks sweet from the outside but is utterly hollow.

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Banking & finance

Opinion | Just like with the yen, America cannot save the AI bubble

The Japanese currency and US tech stocks share the same fatal problem: momentum can’t survive broken fundamentals.

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An electronic board showing the US dollar and Japanese yen exchange rate at a securities firm in Tokyo on August 3. Photo: AP
An electronic board showing the US dollar and Japanese yen exchange rate at a securities firm in Tokyo on August 3. Photo: AP
Books and literature

Opinion | What Nolan’s Odysseus tells us about Western elite’s existential angst

The film’s reinterpreted Homeric hero represents a contemporary reckoning with the West’s ruthless pursuit of power and disregard for boundaries.

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Middle East

Opinion | How Mecca defence pact changes China’s calculations in the Middle East

Defence pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan presents a complex strategic calculus for Beijing, demanding a masterclass in balance.

Artificial intelligence

Macroscope | Could China be a hedge against risk of AI investment boom going bust?

The more ‘DeepSeek moments’ there are in China, the likelier markets are to doubt the AI-related revenues and financing of US hyperscalers.

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A customer looks at a board with the menu at AGI Bar in Beijing’s Zhongguancun district on August 9. AI users are shopping around as US giants face fierce competition from Chinese rivals -- and in Beijing’s tech district, customers at an AI-themed bar can even plug into DeepSeek for free. Photo: AFP
Environment

Opinion | The race for critical minerals is clearing the path for deep-sea mining

Corporate pressure and US-China competition are stalling global efforts to set environmental safeguards for seabed mining.

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An aerial view of the coastline in Port Vila, Vanuatu, in December 2019. The Vanuatu government has called for a mechanism to assess gaps in scientific knowledge about deep-sea mining and progress towards filling them. Photo: Getty Images
An aerial view of the coastline in Port Vila, Vanuatu, in December 2019. The Vanuatu government has called for a mechanism to assess gaps in scientific knowledge about deep-sea mining and progress towards filling them. Photo: Getty Images
Technology

Opinion | US does its robotics industry no favours by fencing it off from China

By banning Chinese humanoid robots, Washington is trying to buy its industry time, but the lack of competition is not a strength.

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Artificial intelligence

Outside In | Why Asia need not match West’s fear over data centre buildout

The spread of data centres in Asia does not seem to have sparked the kind of protests it has in the West, but good policies are needed to ensure that remains the case.

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Chinese history

As I see it | The world that made Confucius – and the China he made

China’s most enduring philosophical tradition didn’t merely revere the past; it drew upon history to construct the future.

A statue of Confucius dominates the landscape in Qufu, his birthplace, in today’s Shandong province. Photo: Xinhua
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