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Nikkei Asian Review ,   "Election risks reigniting Philippines inflation: Failure to fix economic bottlenecks leaves country vulnerable to price pressure" What might Milton Friedman make of the Philippines today? The Nobel economist popularized the theory that inflation is "always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon." Since the 1960s, his argument that demand for money controlled all prices won converts from London to Tokyo. Look no further than the Bank of Japan's deflation battle and you see the American's outsized influence 12 years after his death. But events in Manila show that even the great man was not always right. Last month, President Rodrigo Duterte's team demanded that the Manila central bank explain why the nation suffers the highest inflation in Southeast Asia. Though price pressures cooled in late 2018, the 5.2% annualized rate far exceeded the 2.9% gain in 2017. The response from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas was to say to Dutert...

Nikkei Asian Review ,   "Apple held hostage by its Chinese puzzle ": How iPhone maker's success manufactured the rise of Huawei TAIPEI/ HONG KONG -- Soon after Tim Cook was hired by Apple's founder Steve Jobs in 1998 to whip the company's U.S.-focused supply chain into shape, he made a bold decision. Within two years he began shutting Apple's U.S. factories and outsourcing production to China. His decision drove down costs and gave Apple the resources it needed to develop its next blockbuster products, the iPod and iPhone. It also created a competitive manufacturing base, capable of mobilizing hundreds of thousands of workers with just a phone call. But eight years after Cook became CEO, this strategy is being called into question. Not only has it left Apple dangerously exposed in the escalating trade war between Washington and Beijing, but the highly complex supply chain that Apple built in China over 20 years has given rise to one of its fiercest compe...

Degrees of Knowledge by Jacques Maritain Idealism and the Endgame Theory by F. W. J.  Schelling   The Merleau-Ponty Aesthetics Reader by Galen Johnson   A Student's Guide to Philosophy by Ralph McInerny   Harvard Classics (Pascal's Pensee) Perspective in Whitehead's Metaphysics by Stephen Ross   Classics of Analytic Philosophy by Robert Ammerman   Before Revelation by Kevin Reinhart   The Conspiracy of Life by Jason Wirth  

Looking at the Middle East with the help of  Oasis Journal [full text] [full text]

[full text] Related events: Riyadh breaks off diplomatic relations with Tehran by Paul Dakiki The announcement was made last night, after Iranian protesters stormed Riyadh’s Tehran embassy and consulate in Mashad. Khamenei calls it "divine vengeance"; Rouhani condemned the assault on the Saudi embassy as "illegal" and "unjustified". Anti-Saudi demonstrations in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Indian Kashmir. Saudi Arabia’s hardening political positions. [full text] Kuwait too recalls ambassador from Tehran by Paul Dakiki ​ Mauritania and Egypt criticise Iran. The UN Security Council slams embassy attack. Hassan Rouhani expresses regrets. UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura visits Riyadh and Tehran to save peace talks. Saudi football teams want to play Iranian counterpart on neutral grounds.  [full text] Qatar withdraws ambassador to Tehran Djibouti breaks off diplomatic relations with Iran; Jordan has summoned the am...

Classics of Analytic Philosophy by Robert Ammerman   Before Revelation by Kevin Reinhart   The Conspiracy of Life by Jason Wirth   The Puritan Smile by Robert Neville   Simone Weil: Thinking Poetically by Joan Dargan   Matter and Consciousness by Paul Churchland   The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker   Remembrance of the Future by Michael O'Brien