by Aseem Gupta | Jun 28, 2025 | Geopolitics, States & Global Power
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Western governments responded with one of the most ambitious sanctions campaigns ever imposed on a major economy. Russian banks were isolated, foreign reserves were frozen, technology exports were restricted, and Europe...
by Aseem Gupta | Jun 16, 2025 | Economics, Markets & Money
On December 5, 2014, a Korean Air flight preparing to leave New York for Seoul returned to the gate because an executive was angry about a packet of macadamia nuts. Cho Hyun-ah, then a Korean Air vice-president and the daughter of the airline group’s chairman, had...
by Aseem Gupta | May 31, 2025 | Society, Culture & Demographics
South Korea’s fertility rate is rising. In almost any other context, that would sound like unambiguously good news. After reaching a record low of 0.72 children per woman in 2023, the country’s total fertility rate increased to 0.75 in 2024 and then to 0.80 in 2025....
by Aseem Gupta | May 28, 2025 | Economics, Markets & Money
On Christmas Eve in 1969, Norwegian authorities announced that Phillips Petroleum had discovered oil beneath the North Sea. The field, later named Ekofisk, was enormous. Commercial production began in 1971, followed by a succession of discoveries that transformed...
by Aseem Gupta | May 21, 2025 | Narrative, Media & Storytelling
Disney live-action remakes are easy to mock. They look like the safest possible products: familiar titles, familiar songs, familiar characters, familiar marketing hooks, and a built-in audience of parents who grew up with the originals. From the outside, the strategy...
