My recent extracurricular reading has focused on understanding more about the luxury industry. That includes the history and sociology of how we, as human beings, interact with and develop desires for luxury goods and experiences, and how large corporations like LVMH have fueled and monetized that desire through marketing, particularly to larger middle-class audiences in … Read more
March 7, 2022 29% of global wheat production comes from Russia and Ukraine. A large proportion of the Middle East and North Africa import over half of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine. Then we have fertilizer. Potash is a huge input, with Russia and Belarus as the number 2 and 3 producers globally. With … Read more
March 5, 2022 Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has done more to unite Europe and reinvigorate NATO than I could have imagined. Between getting the Swiss to abandon their financial neutrality in support of financial sanctions, Germany rapidly scaling its military spending, and now even rumblings about Finland joining the fold, NATO seems to have a … Read more
01/29/2021 Xi Jinping gave an interesting speech at the Davos World Economic Forum. Foreign Policy magazine published a good synopsis that’s worth the time to read, as it highlights the inconsistencies between Xi’s portrayal of China versus his government’s actions. Political posturing aside, Xi’s speech is worth understanding because he signals his country’s policy objectives. … Read more