Truce to Ashes

Eight straight nights of relentless US bombing have surely left the proposed ceasefire completely in tatters by Saturday. 

It looks like Donald Trump has been convinced that – oh my God – Iran is on the ropes and if he just keeps bombing them, they'll surrender. 

The ink had barely dried on the MoU before this continuous bombing campaign completely disintegrated the truce. [Read my post "Iran Wins, USA Loses" published June 21, 2026].

Whether Iran likes it or not, they should accept that diplomacy is dead. Iran's only correct move is an outright declaration of war against the United States.

Iran should just do it!

Air Cambodia have inked an agreement to buy twenty C909 aircraft from Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), making the Cambodian carrier the first foreign flag carrier to place a bulk order for the Chinese-made jet, according to a Saturday report by Chinese civil aviation industry portal CARNOC.com and cited by Global Times. 

The initial C909 aircraft are scheduled to be delivered to Air Cambodia in batches and enter service in the second half of 2026, CARNOC.com said.

Asia’s Biggest Food Staple is Under Threat

Harvest-ready rice fields are lying idle and farmers are deciding whether to skip planting for the coming season, as spiking fuel and fertiliser costs from the war in the Middle East hit one of the world’s biggest rice-growing regions. 

Across Southeast Asia, tens of millions of smallholders are struggling to find affordable crop nutrients as well as the diesel needed to run tractors, irrigation pumps and rice planters. In Thailand, some farmers are leaving the crop in the ground as it is too expensive to harvest. 

The scarcity of supplies underscores how the six-week war in Iran has upended global trade and raised concerns around food shortages. As well as driving oil prices higher, the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz – which remains largely blocked despite a temporary ceasefire – has choked a vital route for fertiliser and fuel deliveries, with Asia particularly affected. 

“There’s a lot of panicked farmers”, said Patrick Davenport, a director and co-founder of BRM Agro, an integrated rice farmer and miller in Cambodia, where roughly three-quarters of the population lives in rural areas. “Most are involved in agriculture – and they are all hurting”, he said. 

Rice is a staple for more than half of the world’s population, as well as a livelihood for rural communities across a region where agriculture still accounts for a large share of economic activity. Farmers struggling with input costs that have doubled or even tripled are also finding themselves squeezed by persistently low prices, at least for now. 

Weighed down by ample inventories, benchmark prices for Thai white rice 5% broken fell to a decade-low in late October and have recovered only a little since then, spending most of last month below $400 (RM1,586) a ton. 

“Margins are super tight, and that means they will plant less”, said Máximo Torero, the chief economist of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, noting that a further 20- to 30-day closure of Hormuz would affect the availability of food as soon as the second half of the year. The input shortages can only be resolved if vessels can begin moving through the strait again. “I don’t see any other solution”, he said. 

In Cambodia, some growers are reluctant to proceed this month without a guaranteed return, said Davenport, whose company works with about 2,000 farmers. Around a tenth have said they won’t plant unless they can secure a fixed price for the new crop. 

In the Philippines, the world’s top rice importer and also a major producer, paddy-rice output could fall by at least 10% this year, according to Raul Montemayor, the national manager for the Federation of Free Farmers Cooperatives Inc. That could amount to about two million tons of lost rice given projected national output of 20.3 million tons. 

“That’s a very big possibility, and the reduction will be felt during the next harvest season in September or October”, said Montemayor. 

The shortage of inputs couldn’t have come at a worse time for rice farmers in Southeast Asia, many of whom grow two or more crops a year and are currently straddling the seasons. Harvesting of dry-season fields is in progress, while planting is beginning for the main wet-season paddy crops in Thailand and the Philippines. 

“That’s when all these fuel costs start mattering a lot. Fertiliser costs will matter a lot. Availability will matter a lot”, said Alisher Mirzabaev, a senior scientist for policy analysis and climate change at the International Rice Research Institute. “On the food-security side, we are buffered by the existing stocks – but we should not get complacent”. 

Elsewhere in Asia, the main plantings in India – a major grower – remain a couple of months away, while China has been more insulated from the energy and fertiliser shocks. 

But in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, where rice is grown three times a year, farmers are barely breaking even as they collect the main paddy crop. With production costs surging, some growers are considering scaling back to just two crops, said Pham Van Nhut, a 63-year-old farmer in the southern province of Vinh Long. 

Some farmers in Thailand, meanwhile, have chosen not to harvest the rice crop that’s ready now or are delaying collection, leading to a decline in quality. The dry-season crop in March-April could fall by around 19% from the same year-earlier period, according to a March 31 report by the Bangkok-based Kasikorn Research Center. 

Planting for this year’s main crop in Thailand is due to start in weeks, and while it is unlikely that growers will halt production entirely, output will be limited by how much fertilisers can be procured, said Pramote Charoensilp, the president of the Thai Agriculturist Association, which represents tens of thousands of farmers across much of the country. 

With the disruptions set to last, farmers are seeking creative ways to reduce their dependence on imported fertilisers and fuel. Some are switching from rice to corn, which needs less water from diesel-fed irrigation machines. BRM, the company in Cambodia, is accelerating plans to scale up bio-organic fertiliser production and seeking suppliers of electric tractors and solar-powered water pumps to reduce fuel use. 

But options are limited for many others who depend on rice for their livelihoods, leaving them little alternative but to continue planting – even if that means absorbing losses. 

“We have no choice”, said Ruel Bantugan, a rice farmer in the Philippines’ Bataan province. “We just need to gamble and plant again, rather than leave the land idle”.

Ancestral Spirits Help Save a Crocodile Species

When village conservation teams find a Siamese crocodile nest in the Xe Champhone wetlands of central Laos, they move fast, collecting eggs within 24 hours before poachers, predators or floods can reach them. 

But before they touch the eggs, there’s a ritual, and offerings are made to the spirits. With the spirits appeased, villagers carry the eggs to hatch in the village, where the baby crocs’ chances of hatching are nearly five times higher than in the wild. 

Oudomxay Thongsavath, program manager at Wildlife Conservation Society and a native of the region, has been involved with the program since its start. He told Mongabay that locals make an offering and explain to the spirits, “We collect the egg, we incubate it in the village, and we return your children back to your area… Please take care of them. Make sure they are safe in the future when they go back to their habitat”. 

Of the world’s 27 crocodilian species, the Siamese crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis) is among just four classified as critically endangered. Fewer than 1,000 are thought to survive on the planet. 

Locals say that to harm a Siamese crocodile is to risk illness, misfortune or death. Not because the crocodiles are particularly dangerous (as crocodiles go), but because these scaly beings are the living embodiment of their ancestors. That spiritual connection to crocodiles, upheld for generations in a landscape stripped of most large wildlife, may be the single most important reason this species still exists here. A decade-long conservation program built on the cultural bedrock of that belief is restoring a globally significant population of this critically endangered crocodile species to central Laos. 

The heart of the conservation initiative is its head-starting program, in which village conservation teams are paid what WCS calls a “modest stipend” to collect wild eggs, hatch them in village facilities, and raise the young crocs past their most vulnerable stage before releasing them back into the wetlands. 

On March 19, the conservation team released 56 juvenile Siamese crocodiles back to the Xe Champhone wetlands. The program has released 294 individuals since 2013. Another 191 are being reared for future release. 

“This species is very strong for the culture in the area,” Oudomxay said. “They believe it protects the wetland and protects the community. If you do bad behavior in the wetland or speak not nicely, something can happen to that person. Can get sick. In big cases, can die”. 

“The people there still believe and they take this very seriously”, said Steve Platt, associate conservation herpetologist with WCS, who has helped lead the project since 2011. “That’s why those crocodiles are still there”.

It’s very hard to count crocodiles in the wild, but nest surveys from 2022 to 2024 suggest between 60 and 225 individuals inhabit the area, making this likely the largest remaining wild population in mainland Southeast Asia, according to a special report by the Crocodile Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. 

Once widespread across mainland Southeast Asia, the Siamese crocodile was driven to the brink of extinction by illegal hunting for its skin and meat, government extermination campaigns, habitat loss, and mass collection for commercial farms. Now, the species occurs in very small populations in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia.

From mid-May through early August, village conservation teams, each comprising five to 20 local recruits, search for crocodile eggs. They examine microsites used by nesting females in years past and search for other suitable nesting habitats. Many nests are also found by team members engaged in their day-to-day lives while fishing, harvesting snails, or cultivating rice fields. 

Drones, deployed since 2022, have made nest surveys much more effective. “We can see the whole landscape and identify if the grass starts to dry or if a mound has been made,” Oudomxay said. “The drone is very good because it doesn’t disturb the crocodile, the sound is not very loud, so we can identify the mother and the nest clearly”. 

Clutch sizes average around 27 eggs, and the village teams often leave a small number of eggs, up to five, in the nest mound to “avoid offending the attending female crocodile”, according to the report. In 2025, the teams collected half of each clutch from a total of seven nests.

Once they locate the eggs, workers alert the main office, which quickly sends out research techs. At the site, they mark each viable egg and pack them in Styrofoam boxes with sand and nest material, and transport them to incubation facilities in the villages of Tan Soum and Dongyanong. The eggs incubate in ambient conditions for about 75 days. An estimated 53% of collected eggs hatch — a much higher rate than the 13% in the wild, where flooding and predators are the main causes of eggs failing to hatch. 

In 2025, the teams collected eggs from nine nests, incubated 114 viable eggs, and hatched 61. After hatching, the juvenile crocs grow in village pens for roughly 30 months, where they’re hand-fed fish, eels, frogs, and crushed golden apple snails. Once they reach about 75 centimeters (2.5 feet) in length, big enough to avoid most predators, they’re ready for release into the water. Here, they stay in submerged acclimation pens to adjust to their surroundings and have a safe retreat as they explore their new home. Gradually, over the course of weeks, they disperse to live out their lives in the wetlands. 

Releasing the young crocodiles back into the wetland is a significant event for the community. They hold a ceremony attended by government officials and members of neighboring communities, during which Buddhist monks bless the small reptiles as they enter the water. 

This year, on March 19th, 56 crocodiles were moved into bamboo-and-netting acclimation pens and gradually released. Another 191 await release, once they are big enough. 

“[The ceremony] focuses government attention on this, and they realize the significance of what they’re doing”, Platt said. “For the communities that house the facilities, it lets them see that the work they’re doing is important”.

Parallel efforts, led by a mix of NGOs and government agencies, are also seeing promising results in Cambodia and Thailand. In 2025, conservationists released 10 captive-bred Siamese crocodiles into Cambodia’s Virachey National Park. And 15 crocodiles were released in Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary in eastern Thailand. 

“Reintroduction efforts in Vietnam and Thailand are greatly restricted by habitat availability, and the ability to establish large populations is also restricted”, Charlie Manolis, co-chair of the IUCN’s Crocodile Specialist Group, who isn’t involved with the Laos project, told Mongabay. “In Cambodia and Laos, where habitat is still available, these countries are thus very important in a regional context for conservation of the species”. 

In Laos, one of the program’s most significant milestones, Platt said, came in 2022. A female crocodile, hatched from an egg collected in 2013, head-started and released in 2015, was found defending her own nest. It was the first confirmed breeding by a known-age, captive-reared Siamese crocodile there. She returned to the same nesting site in 2024 and again in 2025. 

“We’ve gone full circle. Which is great!” Platt said. “It took 10 years for that to happen. But when you work with long-lived animals, you don’t expect immediate results”.

Donald Trump’s 75-country US Visa Suspension Challenged

A group of United States citizens and immigrant rights bodies have launched a lawsuit seeking to challenge the sweeping suspension of immigrant visa processing for 75 countries by the administration of President Donald Trump.

The lawsuit, filed on Monday, argues that the Trump administration has relied on a false narrative to justify the visa processing suspension, one of the most substantial restrictions on legal immigration in the country’s history. 

The lawsuit charges that the policy “constitutes an unlawful nationality-based ban on legal immigration and a new set of discriminatory, unlawful public charge rules that strips families and working people of the process guaranteed by law”, according to a case overview by the National Immigration Law Center, which are among the groups supporting the legal challenge. 

The sprawling 106-page complaint further alleges that the administration relies “on an unsupported and demonstrably false claim that nationals of the covered countries migrate to the United States to improperly rely on cash welfare and are likely to become ‘public charges'”. 

The State Department has described the action, announced in mid-January, as a “pause” on immigrant visa processing on “countries whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates”. 

The department have not revealed the criteria it used to determine which countries were added to the list, which comes amid a wider effort to constrict legal immigration pathways into the US and to deport undocumented citizens from the country. 

According to a January 14 state department cable obtained by the Guardian, the sweeping list cuts across every major region of the world, spanning countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and eastern Europe. 

Amongst the affected countries include Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, Colombia, Cuba, Dominica, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fiji, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Syria, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and Yemen.

China's CIPS Threatens USD

The Cross-Border Interbank Payments System (CIPS) has expanded across a hundred and eighty five countries, allowing international payments in Chinese yuan without using the US Dollar, according to data from the New Development Bank (NDB). 

CIPS was launched by China and managed by its central bank as “a real alternative for global trade settlements”. At the Shanghai Oil and Gas Exchange, liquefied natural gas contracts are now priced for and paid in yuan. Same thing with soybeans from the Shenzhen Qianhai Joint Trading Center. 

China has reportedly signed 40 settlement agreements with other countries, with total settlements through CIPS hitting 52 trillion yuan earlier this year, equal to 58% of China’s total cross-border transactions, a figure that tops the Dollar in some measures. And trade between China and Russia has been settled in local currencies for three straight years, covering 95% of their total trade volume. 

Still, not every country has joined the yuan system. Europe, North America, and Australia have kept their distance, while developing economies in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe are using CIPS more frequently, especially for Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) loan repayments. 

And BRICS nations are already developing their own proposed payment system, referred to as BRICS Pay – a prototype was demonstrated in Moscow in October 2024 but the operational target date is supposedly set to around 2030 – which would also facilitate local currency transactions and reduce dependence on the existing global financial system. 

Methinks, it's just a matter of time before we see the end of Dollar dominance. And it's about time too.

In the meantime, the NDB are diversifying their financing. Since 2015, the NDB have issued loans in yuan and rand. They now plan to roll out rupee-denominated bonds by 2026, targeting between $300 million and $500 million in three- to five-year tranches. This fits the bloc’s larger plan to reduce dependence on the Dollar and rely on member-state currencies instead.

The above graphic shows the countries with the most forest loss since 2015, based on data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. 

Since 2015, the world has lost an average of 10.9 million hectares (ha) of forest each year. 

Deforestation has been most severe in South America and Africa, largely driven by agricultural production. In Brazil, for example, cattle ranching and pasture expansion have played a major role in clearcutting across the Amazon. 

While deforestation rates have slowed, the scale of loss is more than the next nine countries combined. More promisingly, however, Brazil’s president Lula da Silva plans to bring deforestation to zero by 2030. The country is home to 486 million ha of forest, the second-highest in the world.

An Insult To The United States

Donald Trump has suggested that denying him the Nobel Peace Prize would amount to an insult to the United States. 😂😂😂

The US president complained on Tuesday that he has repeatedly been overlooked for the award, even though he believes his record qualifies him. The president pointed to his latest 20-point Gaza peace plan, claiming it was the eighth conflict he has helped resolve in as many months. 

I can tell you here and now that his Middle East proposal ain't gonna work. It calls for Israel to release 250 Palestinian prisoners with life sentences, as well as 1,700 Palestinians detained since the start of the war, in exchange for Hamas freeing 48 hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive. Hamas members can be granted amnesty after that if they “commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons”. 

Israel will gradually withdraw from Gaza as a temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF), led by Arab partners, takes over security in the battered territory, according to the arrangement. Meanwhile, a Palestinian committee, overseen by an international body dubbed the “Board of Peace”, will run Gaza until a reformed Palestinian Authority are ready to take over. 

The proposal claims to recognize the "aspiration" for a Palestinian state and tries to present a “credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood”.  

Straight away, we can see that the scheme swathed in hyperbolic language is both impractical and unrealistic. For sure, there won't be a buy-in. (Okay, except maybe the lackeys, lapdogs, and lickspittles!)

That aside, Trump's Nobel push received support from the leaders of Israel and Cambodia earlier this year. Pakistan also nominated Trump for the prize, crediting him with diffusing its conflict with India. However, New Delhi has refuted claims of outside involvement in brokering the ceasefire. 😲😲😲

According to Defence Security Asia on Tuesday, defense analysts are confirming through newly released satellite imagery that China has officially commenced construction of its fourth aircraft carrier, designated as the Type 004, at the Dalian shipyard in Liaoning province. 

The Type 004 is expected to be a nuclear-powered supercarrier displacing between 110,000 and 120,000 tons, making it not only the largest warship ever built in Asia but potentially the largest in the world. This signals a monumental leap in Beijing’s quest to rival US naval supremacy.

Defence experts note that the vessel’s sheer displacement would allow it to host not only a larger air wing but also expanded command-and-control facilities, enabling it to function as a floating joint operations hub for the PLA Navy. 

Its nuclear propulsion system is believed to draw heavily from China’s experience with the Type 093 and forthcoming Type 095 nuclear-powered attack submarines, giving Beijing a degree of technological confidence despite its lack of carrier-specific operational history.

Donald Trump Wants EU to Punish China and India

Tried as he may, Donald Trump couldn't fulfill his pledge to end the war in Ukraine on "day one" of becoming US president. 

(But then, he was just being disingenuous and always hyperbolic; he was never genuinely serious about wanting peace).

Now, he has called on the European Union to hit China and India with tariffs of up to 100% to force Russian president Vladimir Putin to cease and desist in Ukraine. 

(Another BS! Why won't the US cease and desist supplying weapons to Ukraine? That'll end the war soon enough!)

Trump made the demand during a meeting between US and EU officials on Tuesday discussing options to increase economic pressure on Russia, a source familiar with the discussions has told the BBC. 

However, as per my understanding, the EU treat tariffs in a different way to sanctions and only impose them after an investigation typically lasting months to establish a legally sound justification. 

The bloc have so far only imposed tariffs in the context of the Ukraine war on Russian and Belarusian fertilisers and farm products. The justification for the measures was to prevent creating a dependency that could be exploited and to avoid harm to EU fertiliser producers. 

"So far, there is no discussion on possible tariffs neither on India...nor with China", one EU diplomat said. 

It has been said such tariffs are risky and could be too broad; it is easier to sanction specific entities and open the door to delist them if they end their business with Russia.  

I guess Trump should know better. He may love tariffs but the Europeans are only enamoured with sanctions! 🤣🤣🤣

Chinese-made aircraft are set to spread their wings further in Southeast Asia after Air Cambodia announced an order for ten C909 passenger jets, with an option to purchase ten more from the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) on Tuesday. 

And Capital A, the investment holding company of AirAsia, on Wednesday, claimed to be in active discussions to buy the C919.

In fact, in July, Malaysia’s Transport Minister Anthony Loke disclosed that AirAsia and the soon-to-launch Air Borneo had both expressed interest in the Chinese jet, aligning with Kuala Lumpur’s ambition to diversify fleet sourcing and strengthen strategic links with Beijing. 

Even Irish low-cost giant Ryanair are flirting with the idea of adding the Chinese narrowbody twinjet to their fleet, which is currently dominated by aircraft from the Boeing 737 Next Generation (737NG) and 737 MAX families. 

Most notably, Ryanair Group CEO Michael O'Leary said in March that "if it was cheap enough, 10 or 20% cheaper than an Airbus aircraft, then we’d order it".

China’s 80th Anniversary's V-Day Military Parade

Japan, in spite of its best efforts – refer my post "Unapologetic Japan Wants Countries to Boycott September 03" published August 27 – failed to dissuade countries from skipping China's World War II commemorative events, officially the Conference to Commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. 

On Wednesday, leaders of 26 countries as well as other foreign dignitaries joined Chinese President Xi Jinping in what AP calls "a show of solidarity among nations friendly to Beijing". 

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who made a rare foreign trip to attend were clearly the VVIPs. The others included Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni, Vietnamese President Luong Cuong, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Myanmar’s military leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Nepali Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli, and Maldives’ President Mohamed Muizzu. From Central Asia came Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon, Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov, Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Turkmenistan’s President Serdar Berdimuhamedow, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and not forgeting Mongolia’s President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa. From Africa, Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the Republic of Congo’s President Denis Sassou Nguesso were present as well as Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, the only leader from the Americas to attend. And from Europe, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan graced the event. 

Also on the guest roster were former Romanian prime ministers Adrian Năstase and Viorica Dăncilă, former New Zealand prime ministers Helen Clark and John Key, as well as Daniel Andrews, the former premier of the Australian state of Victoria. 

Not surprisingly, leaders from the US, Western Europe, Japan (obviously) and India (probably in deference to Japan because in the present global scenario, India's closest strategic partner is said to be Japan; besides, being the largest bilateral donor to India) were absent but not missed. And pro-Western countries like South Korea and Singapore sent lower-level officials. 

Since Wednesday, images of China's V-Day military parade have been trending on the front pages of major global media outlets. According to Global Times, this solemn moment to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, China, being a potent force for peace, sent a clear message to the world: The Chinese people will always remember this great victory, which stands as a monument in the history of the Chinese nation and the cause of world peace. 

In his opening address, Xi said the world was facing “a choice between peace or war” and "dialogue or confrontation", warning that China was a great nation that “is never intimidated by any bullies”. [I read it as a reference to the US and its allies]. And he stressed that the past showed that Chinese people always rallied together “to defy the enemy” when faced with adversity. 💪💪💪

The mammoth military parade – the 70-minute spectacle displayed a huge amount of military hardware. From tanks and drones to long-range and nuclear-capable missiles, fighter jets and stealth aircraft, the parade also revealed advances in People’s Liberation Army (PLA) weapons and assets – drew an almost immediate reaction from US president Donald Trump (right). 

“Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-un, as you conspire against the United States of America”, he posted on his Truth Social account. 

A very ungracious and rude comment from an uncivil and disrespectful person. That's Trump alright!

Donald Trump Really Believes He is Peacemaker-in-Chief

US President Donald Trump really believes he is the “peacemaker-in-chief”, even boasting he has ended six wars since he became president. Of course lah, Trump is playing fast and loose with the truth. As he often does. 

Trump and his administration have claimed to have helped settle the conflicts between Israel and Iran, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, Cambodia and Thailand, India and Pakistan, Serbia and Kosovo, and Egypt and Ethiopia. 

Yet the claim to have settled those conflicts is egregiously embellished and in some cases contradicted by continued violence in countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where both its government and Rwanda-backed rebels, M23, failed to sign a final peace accord in Doha, Qatar scheduled for Monday. 

In Iran, the US carried out its own strikes using bunker-buster bombs against military and nuclear facilities before strong-arming Iran to accept a ceasefire in June. The border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia saw a ceasefire reached in July that was mediated by Malaysia. India has denied that Trump played any role in reaching a ceasefire deal with Pakistan to end days of strikes over the disputed Kashmir territory in May. Egypt and Ethiopia have no deal to settle the root of their quarrel – a Nile River dam constructed by Ethiopia that would divert water from Egypt. And Serbia has denied it had any plans to pursue a war with Kosovo, although Trump took credit for preventing one. 

I've no doubt he is seriously eyeing the Nobel Peace Prize. In fact, he covets it!

A Clash Over Colors

Cambodia's newly rebranded national carrier, Air Cambodia (formerly known as "Cambodia Angkor Air"), have inadvertently sparked a social media firestorm, with online users widely criticising their livery for their uncanny likeness to Thai Airways. 

The argument arose during Friday's launch of the airline's inaugural direct flight from Shenzhen, China, to Siem Reap, Cambodia, even as the airline defended their color choices as symbolic of Cambodian culture and royalty. 

The launch was a significant moment for the nation's tourism sector. A spokesperson for Cambodia's State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) confirmed to the Phnom Penh Post that this direct connection is a first for Siem Reap, home to the iconic UNESCO World Heritage site of Angkor Wat, a hugely popular destination for Chinese tourists. Shenzhen, one of China's four largest cities, previously required tourists to transit via Phnom Penh. 

This new route is expected to significantly boost visitor numbers from China's Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau region, injecting new life into the "China-Cambodia Tourism Year 2025". 

However, it's the airline's aesthetics that have truly captured attention. Observers quickly pointed out that the aircraft's visual elements (including cabin crew uniforms, and even the company logo) all feature a distinctive purple hue, strikingly similar to Thai Airways. 

Air Cambodia, 51% owned by the Cambodian government, and the remaining shares held by Chinese state-owned enterprise Henan Airport Investment Group and Vietnam Airlines, explained that their use of dark purple symbolises the combination of blue (representing stability and tranquility) and red (denoting strength and passion). The golden yellow, they add, is the royal colour and a traditional symbol of prosperity in Cambodia. 

Note: Thai Airways, established in 1960, significantly predate Air Cambodia, which were founded in 2009. 

A high-profile Malaysian corruption suspect is allegedly living in China under a Greek name with a forged Australian passport, according to the investigative media outlet Brazen. 

Jho Low, a financier accused of being the mastermind of Malaysia's 1MDB case, is reportedly living in an upscale Shanghai neighbourhood under the alias Constantinos Achilles Veis. The businessman, who has maintained his innocence, previously held citizenship in Cyprus and the Caribbean island country of St Kitts and Nevis – both of which have been revoked. 

The Australian Federal Police and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are yet to confirm whether they are aware of the case.

Donald Trump’s New Tariffs

We're seeing another TACO moment! 

United States President Donald Trump on Monday extended a pause on his sweeping reciprocal tariffs to August 01, while also sending “tariff letters” to fourteen countries, warning they would be subject to the new tariff rates if they failed to reach a trade deal with the US by the new deadline. 

As he spelt out in the letters, the rates could be modified "upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your country". I'm not even sure anymore what he actually means. 

[Note: The term TACO – Trump Always Chickens Out – was coined by Financial Times commentator Robert Armstrong to describe what he says is the president's tiresome pattern of announcing heavy tariffs on countries causing economic shock, panic and stock market hits and then later reversing course with pauses or reductions that create a market rebound]. 

For South Africa, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia, these tariff rates are identical to what Trump had announced on April 02. Malaysia and Japan saw a 1 percent increase and the other eight countries – Kazakhstan, Laos, Myanmar, Tunisia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bangladesh, Serbia and Cambodia – will now encounter lower tariffs than they did on "Liberation Day". 

FYI, during the 90-day pause, the US only managed to broker two "deals" (if you can call them deals!) with the United Kingdom and Vietnam. 

The first deal was secured on May 08, between the US and the UK, setting a 10 percent tariff on UK exports to the US. The deal states that the first 100,000 vehicles imported into the US from the UK each year will face a 10 percent tariff, down from the 27.5 percent imposed earlier. Additional vehicles imported each year will face a 25 percent tariff. 

On July 02, Trump announced that he had secured a deal with Vietnam, which now faces a minimum 20 percent tariff in exchange for opening its market up to the US. Transshipments from third countries through Vietnam will face a 40 percent levy, while US products will not face any tariff in Vietnam. Specific details for this deal are unclear. On April 02, Trump had announced a 46 percent tariff on Vietnam. 

Meanwhile, US stocks, based on the three major indices, fell on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 0.94 percent; S&P 500, which tracks the stock performance of 500 leading US companies, fell by 0.79 percent; and the Nasdaq Composite saw a 0.92 percent drop.

MAGA's Make America Wealthy Again

Yesterday, Donald Trump announced plans for sweeping new import taxes on all goods entering the US, in a watershed moment for global trade. 

Declaring a national emergency, the US president said the US had for more than five decades been "looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike". 

The plan sets a baseline tariff on all imports of at least 10%, with Trump claiming that this will create a hard reset on the country’s industry, eventually leading to a stronger economy and lower prices for US consumers. Items from countries that the White House described as the "worst offenders", including the European Union and China would face higher rates for what Trump said was payback for unfair trade policies. 

Trump's move breaks with decades of American policy embracing free trade, and analysts said it was likely to lead to higher prices in the US and slower growth in the US and around the world. 

The 10% tariffs start on April 05, with the higher duties beginning April 09. 

The White House affirmed the latest changes would not change anything for Mexico and Canada, two of America's closest trading partners. Other allies will also face tariffs, including 10% for the UK and 20% for the European Union. And tariffs on goods from China will jump a further 34%, adding to an existing 20% levy, while it will be 24% for Japan, and 26% on India. [Note: Malaysia's tariff rate is 24%].

Some of the highest rates will be levied on smaller countries, with goods from the southern African nation of Lesotho facing 50%, while Vietnam and Cambodia will be hit with 46% and 49% respectively. The latter two have both seen a rush of investment in recent years, as firms shifted supply chains away from China following Trump's first term. 

The baseline tariffs will apply to more than 100 countries, according to a White House fact sheet, of which some 60 will face a higher "reciprocal" rate. 

Gustavo Flores-Macias, professor of government and public policy at Cornell University, called it a "dramatic transformation" of the international trade order, which the US had helped to create after World War Two. "We're seeing that system unravelling", he said. 

The stock market was closed for trading when Trump made his announcement. But in after-market trading shares in major American companies sank sharply. Apple, which rely heavily on China and on Taiwan, which is facing tariffs of 32%, sank more than 7%. Amazon was down more than 6%, while shares in Walmart dropped more than 4%.

P.S. It's worth pointing out that Trump's tariffs used a simplistic formula to calculate the rate for each of them. The formula’s central value is the trade deficit, the difference between imports and exports between each country and the United States, for the year 2024. Trump has said these tariffs will reduce trade imbalances and level the international playing field. But his one-size-fits-all formula is blunt: It applies the exact same (arbitrary) math to countries whether they have hefty trade barriers or wide-open markets. It considers only the size of a trade deficit, not why the deficit exists. Moreover, the Trump administration calculated the trade deficit using only goods − physical items that can be shipped − and not services, such as technology, media, banking and tourism. (E.g., A DVD counts; a Netflix subscription doesn’t).

Ne Zha 2 Travels The World

China's animated juggernaut "Ne Zha 2" travels all over the world! More than 40 countries and maybe even more!

Cambodia:

Canada:

Germany:

Indonesia:

Malaysia:

Netherlands:

Thailand:

UK & Ireland: