Myanmar banks on edge of a coup-caused collapse

By Dominic Oo
Long snaking queues in front of bank ATMs are now a daily sight in the commercial capital of Yangon. Myanmar’s private banks are teetering as anxious depositors rush to withdraw funds amid coup-caused political instability, concerns about the country’s underlying finances and an emerging shortage of kyat currency notes.

UK, NATO in a hard pivot to Asia

By Andrew Salmon
The West’s eastward shift – or pivot or tilt, depending on which capital you are sitting in – is accelerating, with the United Kingdom beginning talks to enter the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) regional free-trade grouping, and NATO being urged by to take a more robust eastward-looking stance toward China.

UK carrier deployment tilts East but looks West

Subscribe to AT+ premium to read Andrew Salmon story on the strategic, diplomatic and trade imperatives intersecting as the UK’s Queen Elizabeth carrier strike group sails into the Indo-Pacific on its first operational deployment.

North Korea abandons South revolution plan: report

By Bradley K. Martin
North Korea’s ruling party has deleted from its supreme rulebook language that had committed it to encourage a revolution in South Korea, according to a report from the South’s left-leaning Hankyoreh newspaper. The report goes on to describe a number of other related changes in phraseology elsewhere in the rulebook.

Israeli politics break through a glass ceiling

By M K Bhadrakumar
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lost his last-minute legal challenge to stall the formation of a government by opposition right-wing politician Naftali Bennett and his potential coalition partner, centrist politician Yair Lapid. The new coalition's chances of taking power from Netanyahu hinge on the support of a conservative Arab party.

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It’s 1979 again but with quadruple the debt burden

By David P. Goldman
The Institute for Supply Management’s June survey of purchasing managers depressed the stock market in the month’s first trading session, with good reason. More businesses report higher prices paid and slower supplier deliveries than at any time since 1979, just before a bitter three-year recession.

Lockdowns put the brakes on India’s auto sector

By KS Kumar
Indian carmakers had a drastic fall in sales in May, compared with April, as more states imposed localized lockdowns during the month to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Maruti Suzuki, the country’s largest carmaker, reported a sequential decline of 71% in May, and authorities have remained cautious about easing lockdowns.

Russian spy ship looks on as US missile test fails

By Francesco Sisci
With a Russian surveillance ship lurking nearby, a crucial US missile defense test off the coast of Kauai went awry, when a salvo of SM-6 ship-fired missiles failing to intercept a medium-range ballistic missile target. An official previously said the test was delayed because the US did not want the Russian vessel to “collect on” the effort.

US-China blame game revived with new lab-leak probe

By Melissa Conley Tyler
Does it matter where the virus that causes Covid-19 came from? In terms of frontline medicine, perhaps not – patients still need to be treated and the public health crisis managed. But when it comes to geopolitics, it matters greatly, particularly to the United States and China.

Mach 30 ‘tunnel’ will put China decades ahead

By Dave Makichuk
Imagine a wind tunnel, capable of simulating flights at Mach 30 — that’s 23,000 mph, or, 30 times the speed of sound. It may sound like science fiction, but in fact, China has built a hypersonic wind tunnel in Beijing which could put the superpower decades ahead of the West. Of course, the technology is also hugely important when it comes to weapons.