As a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the United States, the G7, and other international partners have imposed unprecedented global economic sanctions on the Russian Federation with the goal of degrading its defense sector, its ability to extract energy resources, and its access to the global financial system. The aim of the economic sanctions against the Russian Federation is to inhibit Russia’s ability to manufacture sophisticated weapons and generate revenue to fund its war in Ukraine. At present, only the United States, the European Union, and a limited number of allies have imposed sanctions. This means that only western companies need to be concerned with their…

In October of this year, the Marshall Islands, situated in the Central Pacific, was the last of three island nations to renew their Compact of Free Association (COFA) with the United States, inking a $2.3 billion deal that continues a nearly eighty-year relationship.  The agreement was a win for U.S. national defense strategy as the tug-of-war for influence in the region continues between the U.S. and China.  After World War II, the territories that were formerly claimed by Japan became a United Nations strategic-area trusteeship administered by the U.S., known as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. The Trust Territory included the over 2,100 islands of Micronesia divided between…

The Federal Reserve plays an essential role in balancing fiscal and monetary policies to shape the U.S. economy, through interest rate manipulation aimed at controlling inflation or stimulating it when necessary. Their most recent move – selling more government debt to increase interest rates at a time when U.S. national debt levels have skyrocketed to $33.17 trillion and major foreign creditors like China are selling down their holdings of U.S. bonds – highlights its influence. Adjusting interest rates is one of the Fed’s primary tools to combat inflation. By selling off more government securities and restricting money supply through selling off more securities to investors, they use funds that otherwise…

Twelve years after a major earthquake and tsunami led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster, effects of the catastrophe linger, most recently impacting the fishing industry of Japan. As part of the cleanup, radioactive wastewater has been stored at Fukushima since 2011, and now over 1,000 storage tanks have nearly reached their capacity. On August 24th of this year, Japan began its long-planned release of treated radioactive wastewater from the plant, which will take place slowly over several decades. One radioactive element in the wastewater, tritium, cannot be removed; however, the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that the release was consistent with IAEA Safety Standards and the discharges would…

Recent data from an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report last week has indicated that a financial crisis in China is no longer unthinkable. One of the world’s preeminent emerging economies is now bracing for cover as a deflating property bubble, local governments struggling to service their debts, and geopolitical tensions are prompting concern. In the report from the IMF, China’s economic growth stood strong at 4.9% this year through the third quarter. However, the IMF only sees Chinese economic growth averaging just 4% over the next four years, down 0.6% from last year’s projection. How does a 0.6% projection decrease make a difference? China has the world’s second-largest economy with…

Have you ever planned on going to bed at reasonable hour only to find yourself on TikTok until 3am? Yeah, me too… TikTok was first launched in 2018 by Chinese tech giant ByteDance. Soon after, TikTok began to take the world by storm becoming an increasingly popular social media platform amongst young Americans. However, as TikTok’s popularity grew, so did the concern about the Chinese government spying on us. Both Democrats and Republicans have spoken out against TikTok. In a country so divided, at least we could join hands and attempt to take down a social media platform. Some states, such as Florida, have passed or proposed legislation that would…

The European Union (“EU”) is in the process of rolling out new data privacy laws that target social media and tech giants, like Amazon, TikTok, Facebook, and Google, among others.  The Digital Services Act Package, made up of the Digital Services Act (“DSA”) and the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”), seeks to make the internet safer for European users by protecting user data. The DSA regulates the conduct of social media companies, internet marketplaces, and other content-sharing platforms. The DMA governs the behavior of online platforms that play a part in transactions and interactions between consumers and businesses. Amazon, along with 18 other tech platforms, have been classified as “Very Large…

With the fourth partial government shutdown in a decade on the horizon, many Americans are wondering what impact this will have on them, their benefits, and their day-to-day lives. For anyone who eats, the shutdown should raise serious alarms. Food assistance programs and food inspection procedures are at serious risk. US government operations depend upon the annual budget preparation cycles between the President, Senate, and House. They must agree on spending. After the President submits the annual budget to Congress, the House and Senate work separately to develop budget resolutions. They then come together to resolve differences. If Congress fails to pass the budget or the President disapproves a Congressional…

Those waking up in Ukraine do not greet the morning with the smell of coffee and beautiful blue skies. Rather, they are waking up to loud explosions, smoke-engulfed buildings collapsing, and missiles striking their homes and those of their loved ones. In this war with Russia, Ukrainians are waking up to the utter chaos resulting from pilotless vehicles known as drones. Both Russia and Ukraine are utilizing drones to locate targets and drop bombs. In late May 2023, Russia targeted residential buildings in Ukraine in a wave of drone attacks that killed numerous civilians. While Ukraine has stated that it is not “directly responsible,” eight drone strikes hit Moscow on…

Shadow banks are institutions that engage in the activity of banking, just like other banking institutions, but are not themselves regulated like those institutions. While traditional banking institutions are subject to intense regulation, they have backup protection in the form of the discount window of the Federal Reserve as well as insured deposits protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Examples of shadow banking institutions can include investment trusts, hedge funds, and other nonbank entities that engage in credit, maturity, and liquidity transformation without insured deposit protection. China, which is the second largest economy in the world, faces an economic dilemma that has been brewing for several years. Many assets…