The Mexico Story.

Previously posted on my Facebook Page. 

MEXICO and the United States are not just border neighbors; they are connected by a sturdy umbilical cord that is emotionally cultural, significantly political, and beneficially economic. Forget that the United States gets its steady supply of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and other illicit narcotics from Mexican drug cartels. That is simply the dramatic side-story. This high and low “friendship” is tight.

       History: The relationship evolved quite uneasily from two agreements: [1] When Mexico ceded the modern-day southwestern United States to the U.S. via the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo at the end of Mexican-American War 1848, and [2] The Gadsden Purchase in 1854 when Washington agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for a portion of Mexico, which later became part of Arizona and New Mexico.

       And so since the late 19th century during the regime of President Porfirio Díaz (1876–1911), the two countries have fortified their ties. During Díaz's long presidency, U.S. businessmen acquired agricultural and mining interests in Mexico. Meantime, the U.S. played an important role in the course of the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920) with direct actions of the U.S. influencing the outcome. And so on and so forth.

       These days, the U.S. is Mexico's largest trading partner, accounting for close to half of all exports and more than half of all imports. For the U.S., Mexico is the 3rd largest trading partner after Canada and China. The two-way trade between both nations amounted to almost $600 billion. Of course, there’s the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed in 1994 with the goal of eliminating barriers to trade and investment.

       Mexico is also the United States’ 2nd top gross petroleum importer after Canada, and ahead of Saudi Arabia, Russia (pre-Ukraine war), and Colombia. With China showing signs of slowdown of business with the West and per obvious result of the current Ukraine drama, Washington’s trade relations with Beijing and Moscow are expected to plummet. It wouldn’t be surprising that the U.S./Mexico romance will even grow fonder. 🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽

Mexico is not a poor country as gauged by its economy, which is the 9th largest economy in the world. Although GDP growth rate plummeted to 2.11 percent, it is a decent rise from 2020 pandemic’s -18.70 percent but far from the all-time high of 19.90 percent in the second quarter of 2021. The country’s 3.4 percent unemployment isn’t so bad either.

       Major problem is Mexico's wealth is unevenly distributed among its 128 million people where 10 percent of nation's wealthiest have 42.2 percent of all income and 10 percent of the nation's poorest have 1.3 of the remaining income. The nonstop trek of migrants off the U.S. southern border though, I believe, isn’t because of poverty per se. It is a combination of several factors although I am not discussing that subject right now.

       Anyways.

       Mexico’s main industries are food and beverages, tobacco, chemicals, iron and steel, petroleum, clothing, motor vehicles, consumer durables, and tourism. It is a major exporter of silver, fruits, vegetables, coffee, cotton, oil and oil products.

       True, Mexico is loyally American but it doesn’t mean, like it’s BFF the U.S., that it is not vulnerable to anything Chinese. In 2020 amidst the pandemic, Mexico's imports from China exceeded its exports by more than $65 billion. But this trade exchange, although still significantly less massive than with the U.S., is not without roots. 🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽

China/Mexico links date back to the early days of the Spanish Colonial Empire in the Americas and the Philippines. In the 16th-17th century, people, goods, and news traveling between China and Spain usually did so through the Philippines (where there was a large Chinese settlement) and (via the Manila galleon trade) to Mexico. The first two galleons loaded with Chinese goods arrived from the Philippines to Acapulco in 1573.

       But Beijing/Mexico City trade relations are continually, basically a working project. American sanctions on China and tariffs on Chinese goods stunted the exchange, as well as rising wages in China and the difficulty of doing business there. The trend has accelerated recently. But the Chinese are not about to give up as exemplified by recent attempts.

       Same as it does in Latin America and Africa, China expands its FDIs in Mexico in recent years. China was set to construct a $200 million, 1,400-acre mega-mall, Dragon Mart, near the beach resort of Cancún. But it was shot down by environmentalists. In 2014, the Mexican government cancelled a contract for China to build a bullet train in Mexico.

       Yet it doesn’t mean Chinese companies are off-limits in Mexico. Several Chinese multinational companies operate in Mexico such as Hisense, Huawei, JAC Motors, Lenovo and ZTE. At the same time, several Mexican multinational companies operate in China such as Gruma, Grupo Bimbo, Nemak, and Softtek. 🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽

MY THOUGHTS About News and Stuff.

Previously posted on my Facebook Page.

New York Times: “I Went to China for the First Time in 3 Years, and I Saw Just How Formidable It Is.” And adds: “The country’s economic prospects are being underestimated.” Initially founded as a socialist state with a centrally planned economy, China’s current system is a mixed economy, with a lot of smart modifications of Western-styled capitalism. Result: An almost 30 boom years with GDP growing in double-digits, raising poverty out of mud. 

       The CCP calls it: “Socialism with Chinese characteristics.” Yet mostly it isn’t about ideological paradigm. China is moved by its religion and culture. Political fervor is Maoist Communism and Deng Xiaoping’s shrewd trade design via “Four Modernizations” of the 1970s. Yet it is all about the spiritual (Buddhist) discipline and focused work ethic of the intensely united Chinese. 🎎🇨🇳🎎

New York Times: “Arizona Limits Construction Around Phoenix as Its Water Supply Dwindles.” And adds: “Officials ruled there’s not enough groundwater for projects already approved.” This is a fact and old news. Forty million people rely on water from the Colorado River. Yet when it comes to frivolous consumption, no change or it gets worse each year. Sick and tired of this two-word “climate change” pitch. Most affected states: California, Utah, New Mexico, and Nevada. 🌬💨💦

Smithsonian: “Octopuses May Have Vivid Nightmares, Video Suggests.” And adds: “Costello, a male Brazilian reef octopus, had `bizarre’ defensive outbursts while sleeping in a lab.” We haven’t yet fully explored the intricacies of the human mind and physical body. We get sicker and sicker. Yet we over-focus (sic!) on animal research when they’re better off let alone. Or Big Tech prioritizes inventions of A.I. machines in place of human reflex/response. 🐙🐙🐙

New York Times: “All Americans Have the Right to Dress Exactly How They Want.” Trend watchers agree: Fashion is a sense of self-expression, but some particularly strange trends have emerged over the decades. The answer is probably as simple as the fact that people change. And then that change gets highly politicized. Discoursing skin-tight shorts as outdoor wear or "men lingerie" brings us to Left vs Right caterwaul. Clothes are political statements, beyond individual preference. 👚🩳🩱

Too much ado about PGA/LIV Merger (1). Why the drama? Is it because Riyadh hooked up with Moscow in re global oil pricing, regardless of the war? Or Saudi Arabia shook hands with Iran on China's intercession? Or MBS is a Trump buddy, as does Putin? Yet I do dig the word "friend" over "enemy." Sports bridge animosities. Ain't we in the United States disunited enough? At least the Saudis offer us money in golf and not "arms for oil" that ruled bilateral deals with the Arabs for years.

       We curse at the Saudis for merging with our golf, a sport of the rich, that eats up lots of geography. But then, what about the Arabs’ desert that we dug up since the 1940s to feed our insatiable thirst for fuel? We are still buying oil from them, as we speak. They are guilty of human rights dirt? Who isn’t? Washington tossed billions$ in taxpayer money to heighten war than negotiate for peace. What about support of dictatorships? 🏒🇸🇦🏒

Time: “Apple Strikes Multibillion-Dollar Deal to Use U.S.-Made Chips.” Sure, it can be done. Work things out and revert back to pre-2000 U.S./China trade pact. But it’s going to be a long road. Main material that contributes to the bulk of computer chip design is silicon. China is the world’s runaway #1 producer of this chemical element. Meanwhile, Apple’s longest-running manufacturing partner is Taiwan-owned Foxconn, with 16 factories in China, including the largest in Shenzen. 💾🍎📀

New York Times: “Tara Reade, Who Accused Biden of Assault, Says She Has Moved to Russia.” During the 2020 campaign, Tara Reade, then a Congressional aide, alleged that Joe Biden sexually assaulted her in 1993 in Capitol Hill. Same with Donald Trump's accuser, I ask why only now when the accused is a political spotlight? The “scandal” is trajectoried as campaign weapon. Next, comes $settlement to buy silence. So are we fixing the ills this way? 

       Tara Reade worked for Biden as a Congressional aide in 1992 and 1993, and later attended Antioch University and Seattle University School of Law. She later worked as a domestic violence advocate. 😏😒🤨

Smithsonian: “New York City Is Sinking Under the Weight of Its Skyscrapers, Study Finds.” Coming from a far less wealthy archipelago, I get paranoid. The Philippines is a calamity bait and we'd probably drown in massive floods? Meanwhile, the Big Apple is sinking? Hurricane Sandy in 2012 wasted 43 lives in New York City; economic losses were roughly $19 billion. Worse could happen next. But this is America. How did that happen? NYC is the richest city in the world. Fix it. 🗽🏖🏢

New York Times: “As U.S. Races Ahead, Europe Frets About Battery Factory Subsidies.” And adds: “The European Union is trying to assemble the building blocks to produce electric cars, but subsidies are luring companies to the United States.” But the U.S. needs a steady supply of five critical minerals whose domestic supply is potentially at risk: lithium, cobalt, manganese, nickel, and graphite. And those are found mostly in China and Russia, and their economic allies. 🚕⛏🚗

New York Times: “My A.I. Lover.” And adds: “Three women reflect on the complexities of their relationships with their A.I. companions.” Damn. Complex? Relationship with robots? LOL! Did the A.I.s rant a lot of politics? Crack silly culturally insensitive jokes? Grilled salmon wrapped on aluminum foil? Watched lots of TV? Etc etcetera. Truth is, I know of friends whose reflex and logic were very AI. They were very right. No way to argue with them. They may conk out. 🤖💓🤖

The Brazil Story.

Previously posted on my Facebook Page.

HOWEVER way (or angle) we view, observe, or judge Brazil—it is still huge. Brazil has the world’s #5 largest population at 212.6 million and the 5th largest country by land area. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of 4,655 miles. It borders all other countries in South America except Ecuador and Chile and covers 47.3 percent of the continent's land area.

        Brazil boasts of its massive Amazon basin, which includes a vast tropical forest, home to diverse wildlife, a variety of ecological systems, and extensive natural resources spanning numerous protected habitats. This unique environmental heritage makes the giant geography one of 17 megadiverse countries, and is the subject of significant global interest per environmental facts, issues, and impacts.

       Moreover, Brazil is also the 10th largest consumer market. Brasília is only the world’s #26-ranked exporter and #29th in imports but the country has the largest share of global wealth in South America and it is one of the world's major breadbaskets, being the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years.

       Brazil also has the largest GDP in Latin America. In terms of regional and global decision-making, Brasilia is integral. It is a founding member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, Mercosul, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries. When a global shudder happens, Brazil’s position is perennially asked. 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷

BRAZIL’s chief industries are all global imperatives: Iron and steel production, automobile assembly, petroleum processing, chemicals production, and cement making; technologically based industries have been the most dynamic in recent years, but have not outpaced traditional industries—which make Brazil a trading powerhouse, globally.

       Brazil’s export crops are also among the world’s tops: Soybeans, sugarcane, coffee, beef, and orange juice. Brazil exported 86 million metric tons of soybeans in 2020, accounting for roughly 50 percent of the world's exports.

       As expected, Brazil’s top trading partner is China, which enjoys 28.11 percent of Brasilia’s export/import business. The U.S. is a distant second, 13.25 percent. Next: Netherlands and neighbor Argentina. Of the 15 most exported Brazilian commodities, China is the main importer of 11, while the U.S. is the main importer of only two.

       In fact, Brazil is the main destination for Chinese investments in South America, receiving $66.1 billion, equivalent to 47 percent of the total amount invested, in the decade up to 2020. Brazilian/Beijing business flourished, regardless of Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021 China bought over 30 percent of Brazil's physical exports, up from less than 20 percent five years earlier.

       As expected, Chinese companies are also involved in the oil exploration in Brazil. The consortium which won the right to explore Brazil's largest pre-salt oil camp, Libra, has two Chinese companies -- CNOOC and CNPC, along with Total, Shell and Brazil's own state-controlled oil giant Petrobras. Some 23 Chinese companies are all over Brazil.

       Does Brazil rely on China? I think this is no brainer. Brazil and China are members of an economic organization called BRICS, also consisting of Russia, India, and South Africa. 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷

MAJOR reasons for the United States’ less aggressive business investing in Brazil: High-profile amounts of corruption, crime and social inequality. Add cumbersome and complex taxation, bureaucratic delays, and rigid labor legislation. Even so American FDIs are still funneled through manufacturing, finance and insurance, and mining.

       However, the complexity of Washington’s relationship with Brasilia always points to politics—because the U.S. is more concerned with its geopolitical persona from the latter part of the 20th century towards 21st century, as China and Russia moved to put ideological fire in the backburner over economic diversification and trade expansionism.

       Today’s political classes in South/Latin America are still scarred by the history of U.S. interventions, often involving the overthrow of democratically elected governments such as Salvador Allende in Chile and João Goulart in Brazil during the Cold War.

       Even among supposedly cordial partners in democracy, Washington’s record as a dependable, trustworthy power has been cast in the dark because of its history of betraying and abandoning its former allies in favor of policing based on what the U.S. believes as just, reasonable, and humane.

       Latin America’s largely snub of President Biden’s call for sanction against Russia on account of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine—is an example of the weakening of America’s clout in the region. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro declined to condemn Putin and said Brazil would remain neutral.

       Mr Bolsonaro added that he was against any sanctions that could bring negative repercussions for Brazil, citing Russian fertilizers which are crucial for the country's giant agribusiness sector. And, of course, Latin America—including Brazil—is a huge buyer of Russian military equipment. But that’d be another subject to discuss. 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷

Photo credits: Chimu Adventures. I Heart Brazil.

The NIGERIA Story.

NIGERIA is a regional power in Africa, a middle power in international affairs, and is an emerging global power. Well, should be. First off, Nigeria is a global power in terms of oil and natural gas, #14 and #7 in production, respectively. Abuja is also world’s #7th oil exporter and 10th natural gas exporter.

       Add major agricultural/fishery wealth of sesame seeds, cashew nuts, cocoa beans, ginger, frozen shrimp and cotton, and mining resources that include coal, lignite and coke, gold, iron ore, and uranium. However, Nigeria is the poorest nation on earth—40 percent or 87 million of the 206 million population live below the international poverty line of $1.90 per person per day.    

       Its GDP per capita of $2,175.67 is low compared with other developing countries. The country’s GDP growth rate is a measly 2.9 percent, from last year’s 1.5 percent.

       Why is that?

       Nigeria remains one of the most corrupt nations in the world. Since its independence from the British in 1960, it hasn’t really prospered. The civil war of 1967 to 1970 made things worse. Democratically elected civilian governments were punctuated by military dictatorships. Massive tribal animosities also stunt concerted efforts for development. More than 250 ethnic groups speaking 500 distinct languages, all identifying with a wide variety of cultures, make up Nigeria. 🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬

ECONOMIC inequality among the population is mostly gleaned on disparity between GDP growth and people’s life. No matter how high the economic progress, if (economic) wealth isn’t equally shared with the people, we still see a poor nation. India is another case in point. High GDP (currently 8+ percent) but low human development index, although not the lowest in the world.

       In the case of Nigeria, its major wealth of crude oil and natural gas don’t translate to quantifiable national economic gain since these companies that drill/profit from these resources are foreign corporations, and of course, in partnership with the country’s few rich or what we call 1 Percent.

       Shell Petroleum is the largest oil and gas company in Nigeria. The other majors are also universal titans: Chevron, ExxonMobil, Total, Agip, Texaco. Yet despite petroleum industry as its top moneymaker (supposedly) since the sector collars 98 percent of export trade, unemployment is perennial high, currently 33 percent.

       Nigeria’s top trading partners are Brazil, China, India, Japan, the U.S. and the European Union—with China, expectedly, the most aggressive in recent years.

       Apparently, Nigeria has got to play smart on the geopolitical game board to be able to gain trade traction. After a $40 billion pledge in Chinese investments last year, the government adjusted its diplomatic relationship with Taiwan and ordered Taipei’s trade mission out of Abuja. 🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬

NIGERIA isn’t the only African nation that thumbs up China (over Taiwan) as strategic political smarts vis a vis economic gain. In the U.N., 25 African countries backed Beijing during a recent vote about the Hong Kong national security law. Of course, China and Taiwan aren’t really fighting. In fact, Taipei’s top trading partner is Beijing. But you know geopolitics works, I guess.

       With the “Out you go!” call on Taiwan, Nigeria has since become an important source of oil and petroleum for China's rapidly growing economy. According to a 2019 report issued by the Chinese embassy, Nigeria hosts 70 construction, 40 investments and 30 trading Chinese companies.

       Meanwhile, U.S. foreign direct investment (FDI) in Nigeria was $5.5 billion in 2019, a 21.5 percent increase from 2018. Seemed like a token economic gesture? Yet Washington is the single largest donor for the humanitarian response in Nigeria, having provided nearly $505 million in Fiscal Years 2020 and 2021. But most of the aid go to funding the military pursuit of Boko Haram, an Islamic terrorist organization based in northeastern Nigeria, which is also active in Chad, Niger, and northern Cameroon.

       The United States is committed to supporting efforts by Nigeria and its neighbors to combat the threat of Boko Haram more effectively. From FY 2016-FY 2020, $1.8 million was obligated for Nigeria in Foreign Military Financing.

       Of course, Beijing doesn’t sink its foot on issues of this kind. The U.S. willingly takes care of terrorism and other political shudders; China hands over FDIs. 🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬

Photo credits: Britannica. Medium.

MY THOUGHTS About News and Stuff.

Previously posted on my Facebook Page.

New York Times: “More Than 230 Dead and 900 Injured in Train Crash in India.”  About 22 million people ride 14,000 trains across India every day. Take note: India has the second largest labor force in the world. Working class. Workers. Only in India where I saw passengers on the roof of trains. Inside, "packed like sardines" is an understatement. Meanwhile, India’s 7.2 percent economic growth in FY 2023 is the highest among large economies. 🚂🇮🇳🚂

New York Times: “The First 10 Words of the African American English Dictionary Are In.” And adds: “An exclusive look at a dictionary consisting entirely of words created or reinvented by Black people.” That's cool. I'd like to learn some. When I was living in New York City, I used to hang with friends in Harlem and I created buddies who play/ed pickup basketball on West 4th downtown. I understood probably 45 percent of the language. Same English but different definitions. 📜🗣📜

New York Times: “Spelling Bee: After three years of studying, it took Dev Shah about 45 seconds to reach the apotheosis of his craft and become the national champion this year.” Cute. Your 9 year old can spell staphylococci. I was obsessed with weird words and correct spellings as well when I was a kid. But my dad preferred that I learned how to use the tire jack, cook rice, or perform first aid. Makes sense. Knowing all words by spelling wouldn't make me eudaemonic, anyway. 📝👶📝

New York Times: “North Korean Rocket Triggers ‘False Alarm’ Evacuation Alert in South Korea.” The real security shudder in Asia is not China, but North Korea. But Pyongyang will not make a harsh move without thumbs-up from the CCP. But Beijing won’t do war, nope–apart from tit for tat “dare” with the U.S. hawkish slings in the region. And NK doesn’t need to launch a missile West bound to create damage. Think: 19 nuclear reactors in South Korea. Hit one, the entire East crumbles. 

       Topmost pawns are the people in the region. And if South China Sea halts due to a (knock on wood!) Kim Jong-un mischief? The damage is unimaginable. Add info on South Korean nuclear reactors: Responding to widespread public concerns after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan, the high earthquake risk in South Korea, and the nuclear scandals, ex-President Moon Jae-in upon assumption of office in 2017, decided to gradually phase out nuclear power. The three reactors currently under construction will be completed, but the government decided these will be the last built, and as the existing plants close at a 40 years end-of-life they will be replaced with other modes of generation. 🇰🇷☮️🇨🇷

New York Times: “Companies Push Prices Higher, Protecting Profits but Adding to Inflation.” And adds: “Corporate profits have been bolstered by higher prices even as some of the costs of doing business have fallen in recent months.” Inflation is complex. People may have jobs, higher pay, and enough money to spend but prices of goods are higher and/or “hoarded.” Etcetera. Ideal U.S. inflation rate is 2 percent. On average, U.S. inflation is 3.3 percent. Today, it is 5 percent. 🏦💸🏦

New York Times: “What the Debt Ceiling Deal Means for Student Loan Payments.” And adds: “The legislation would prevent President Biden from issuing another last-minute extension on the payments beyond the end of the summer.” Last month, some $42 billion in Public Service Loan Forgiveness was approved, or so it seems. Last week, Senate voted to repeal the President's student loan debt relief. Similar to the huge U.S. debt: Cut spending, pay! Default is no good. 💵🖇💵

Time: “Maine Confirms a Fatal Case of Powassan Virus. What to Know About the Rare Disease.” Powassan virus, a tickborne flavivirus, is old. Related to mosquito borne viruses such as West Nile virus, Powassan was discovered in an Ontario town with the same name in 1958. More viruses coming? For each viral infection or disease, there’ll be multiple vaccines per competing individual drug companies. Covid effectively captured the consumer's fear quotient. And market. 🦟💉🦟

New York Times: “Surgeon General Warns That Social Media May Harm Children and Adolescents.” Dr. Vivek Murthy cited a “profound risk of harm” to adolescent mental health and “urged families to set limits and governments to set tougher standards for use.” A Univ of Utah study showed that young adults who use social media are three times as likely to suffer from depression, putting a large portion at risk for suicidal behaviors. Unarguable. Facts as well with adults. 

       Most kids are spending more than five to 8 hours a day on social media or playing video games, those violent video games. We are not even talking about AI’s misleading feeds. Social media, by the way, don't necessarily mean Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. There are so many that are specifically geared at the youth market. 👶📱📲

Time: “China's Aggressive Maneuver Against U.S. Spy Plane Highlights Escalating Tensions.” Let’s just say due to economic greed and geopolitical narcissism, Cold War is back so spy planes are back. The U.S. Lockheed U-2 spy plane is specifically designed for high-altitude reconnaissance flight. Russia’s Tupolev Tu-123 Yastreb was a recon drone developed in the 1960s. For sure, they got new ones. China? For sure, their airborne spy thingies are not weather balloons.

       Fact is, most modern air forces have them and many developing nations fly the planes. In East Asia, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, possibly Russia, and Australia, as well as Chinese and U.S. forces, are believed to have them. "There's a lot of people doing it around the world," says Andrew Brookes of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, based in London. 🇺🇸☮️🇨🇳

Thailand’s Economic Story.

Posted on Facebook years ago.

HISTORICALLY known as Siam, Thailand, located in Southeast Asia, is an old country that has never been colonized despite European conquests of most of the region in the past. European contact began in 1511 with a Portuguese diplomatic mission to Ayutthaya, which became a regional power by the end of the 15th century. Ayutthaya reached its peak during cosmopolitan Narai's reign, gradually declining thereafter until being ultimately destroyed in the Burmese–Siamese War.

       Yet Siam/Thailand, then and now, remains as one of a few countries that was never conquered by a foreign power. Not unless it is all about economics.

       The 1997–98 Asian financial crisis began in Thailand and then quickly spread to neighboring economies. It began as a currency crisis when Bangkok unpegged the Thai baht from the U.S. dollar, setting off a series of currency devaluations and massive flights of capital. Thai bhat, that time, reached almost 53.

       That crisis could be happening again. Economists predict that Thailand is expectedly to be one of the first to be impacted if the U.S. falls into a recession. Already, as we speak, as the U.S. struggles to get off decades-high inflation, Thai bhat is now at 38—down 22 percent compared with three years ago, before the pandemic. The record low was 22 in 1978. 🇹🇭🇹🇭🇹🇭

THAILAND relies heavily on tourism for its economic growth. Tourist spending accounted for approximately 11 percent of Thailand’s GDP in 2019, or before the pandemic. The country welcomed almost 40 million visitors that year and generated more than $60 billion in revenue, according to World Bank data. Most of tourism’s drivers are Chinese visitors but with Covid travel restrictions in place in Beijing these days, Bangkok only sees darkness.

       Economists who watched the 1997 currency crash say Thailand’s current downturn predictably follows, after Singapore. Thailand’s inflation rate is at a 14-year high of 7.86 percent. After Singapore and Thailand, next to go down in the region are the economies of Indonesia and the Philippines, due to their “domestic oriented economies.”

       Economics is complex and I don’t claim I know much. I just read. The rising strength of the U.S. dollar, which has been appreciating against other currencies since last year but began rising particularly rapidly this summer, is the result of multiple causes. Foremost of which is the decision by U.S. central bankers at the Federal Reserve to begin aggressively raising interest rates to fight inflation.

       The Federal Reserve’s determination to crush inflation at home by raising interest rates is inflicting pain in other countries — pushing up prices, ballooning the size of debt payments and increasing the risk of a deep recession.

       Interest rate increases are pumping up the value of the dollar — the go-to currency for much of the world’s trade and transactions — and causing economic turmoil in both rich and poor nations. In Britain and across much of the European continent, the dollar’s acceleration is helping feed stinging inflation. 🇹🇭🇹🇭🇹🇭

THAILAND’s chief industries are machinery, electronics, foods and wood, chemicals and plastics, automobiles and automotive parts, stone and glass, textiles and furniture. Investments by foreign businesses soared by nearly 75 percent during the first half of 2022 compared to the same period last year as companies.

       Investment is one of the three key pillars of the Thai economy, along with exports and consumption. The sharp rise in the value of foreign investments is a sign that global businesses still see Thailand as a competitive location for their operations. Until the U.S suffers its own economic problem/s.

       Top three trading partners: United States, China, Japan. As Bangkok’s top trade buddy, Washington has showered the former with attention in recent years. In June this year, Thailand joined 12 other countries in signing up to the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), a diverse trade platform that will now be negotiated among partners over the next 18 months.

       The dependency with U.S. investments, however, is majorly blamed for the current currency crash. For one, imports from the U.S. have grown costly etc etcetera. 🇹🇭🇹🇭🇹🇭

ANYHOW, the power struggle between the United States and China is a loud reality in Thailand as both superpowers escalate presence in the country. Although the U.S. is ahead in FDIs, China remains as an important ally to Thailand, partly because of its influence and prominence in the region.

       Trade between Beijing and Bangkok has rose fast in the last few decades. Bilateral trade in 1999 was worth $4.22 billion. Fast forward: China exports to Thailand last year was a whopping $69.36 billion against a mere $5.2 billion in Thai imports.

       China also has military relations with Thailand. Among other deals, in 2017, the Royal Thai Navy signed a contract with the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation for a S26T diesel-electric submarine, which is derived from the Type 039A submarine. The submarine is expected to be delivered in 2023.

       I can discuss this more and connect it with the 1997 currency crash (with accent on George Soros’ dubious “speculative investing”) but suffice to say that, in these days, foreign military subjugation doesn’t define invasion. It’s all economics.

       For the meantime, the bigger news in Thailand is this horror: “After Day Care Massacre, Thailand Is Roiled With Grief.” News adds: “Anguished families were coming to terms with the loss of their young children as the nation pondered issues like gun violence and the widespread availability of deadly weapons.” 🇹🇭🇹🇭🇹🇭

Photo credits: BBC. Nemo Guides. Savored Journeys.