Philip Bowring

5 days ago | asiasentinel.com | Philip Bowring

Making sense of the world becomes ever more difficult. A Pakistani delegation visits the White House and within a day, the Pakistan government announces it is nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, notwithstanding his support for Netanyahu’s allegedly genocidal bombing campaign against Gaza and continued land grabs in the West Bank. The very next day, Trump launches a new war, the US v Iran.

2 weeks ago | asiasentinel.com | Philip Bowring

By: Philip BowringOf the many crazy aspects of the world in mid-2025, the one that reflects all the others is the price of gold. As in previous such periods of political and economic instability, the gold price is eagerly followed in the media as central banks follow the herd and show their own lack of faith in currencies by building up gold reserves.

3 weeks ago | asiasentinel.com | Philip Bowring

Occasionally, US President Donald Trump’s instincts may be right. Last month, he declared victory in ending a bombing campaign against Yemen’s Houthis that originally had been planned as a six-month-or-more intensive bombing campaign, but was shut down after just one month. The Houthis were said to have agreed to stop firing at US vessels in the region which supposedly would allow shipping to venture back into the Red Sea rather than take the long and expensive Cape route between Asia and Europe.

2 months ago | asiasentinel.com | Philip Bowring

With all the talk of the Global South, of efforts to expand the so-called BRICS group, of finding ways to end the privilege and power of the US dollar, scant mention is being made of the 70th anniversary of where this all began in 1955: Bandung. It was here that a gathering of freedom fighters and post-colonial giants -- India’s Nehru, Egypt’s Nasser, Ghana’s Nkrumah, China’s Zhou Enlai, and more were hosted by Indonesia’s Sukarno, then at the height of his prestige.

2 months ago | asiasentinel.com | Philip Bowring

He may be 78 years old, but Donald Trump sounded like a self-pitying spoiled child when he unveiled his packet of tariffs which is supposed to raise money, cure the trade deficit and deliver punishments, almost the worst of which fall on the US’s major Asian friends – Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and India – as well as Europe. The underlying theme in Trump’s mind is that unfair practices by foreigners account for the trade deficit.