Opinion

IF Arctic ice continues to melt, allowing global shippers to build an alternative shipping route across the top of the world, Singapore – which already faces the potential threat of a new deep-sea port in Burma – may find its historical role as a world maritime entrepot dwindling . . .

CAN a Brazilian ‘honest broker’ break the gridlock to bring new relevance to the World Trade Organisation? The global trade umpire seems currently adrift in a sea of regional and bilateral trade agreements . . .

AS the developed nations print money to crank up their economies, the growing economies of Southeast Asia are bearing the brunt of the fallout — in the form of appreciating currencies and tension between governments and their central banks. With the baht at a 16-year high, Thailand is a case in point . . .

DESPITE their best intentions, leaders of the 10 Southeast Asian countries making up ASEAN seem unlikely to be able to bring about that much-anticipated single trading market by 2015. Realpolitik – a mix of domestic pressures and immense diversity of economic development within the region – seems likely to win the day . . .

WHETHER the incumbent, Najib Razak, or his key Opposition number, Anwar Ibrahim, wins the crucial Malaysian general election on May 5, Malaysia could well see a fundamental change to its economic policy – an end to existing Bumiputra laws . . .

DOES Pyongyang’s bellicosity represent the politics of mass distraction – reflecting an ongoing shake-up in the upper circles of North Korea’s military establishment . . .

SHI ZHENGRONG is not alone in finding times tough in China’s huge solar industry.

Another industry leader, LDK Solar, almost collapsed in August last year after defaulting on debts of RMB60 million . . .

THERE is more than domestic politics to the decision by Malaysia to expel an Australian Senator. Nick Xenophon is seen as wanting to damage Malaysia’s palm oil market in Australia –an attack on a core sector of the Malaysian economy …