（乌克兰局势进一步升级，长长短短一共五篇文章，把政治策略，制裁利弊，经济影响，和军事实力一一做了个详述）
《Insatiable》
- Infiltration to Eastern Ukraine; not quite invasion;
- Reasons why Russia might want to destabilize Ukraine: stop presidential elections? justify overt Russian intervention? civil conflict that destroys the authority of Kiev;
There is nothing wrong with federalism in principle, but this would be a formula for Russian domination.
《Boys from the Blackstuff》
- The occupations have shown how little authority Ukraine’s government has in the east;
- Moving military against Ukraine is costly for Putin: salaries, pensions, subsidizing coal mines, would cost twice as much for Donetsk as in Crimea;
- (Alexander Dugin, Russia’s most vocal imperial nationalist and anti-American ideologue) Maidan revolution in Kiev was an American plot to drag Ukraine into the EU and NATO; having failed to make this happen, America is now trying to provoke violent clashes to justify NATO military bases in Ukraine;
《Turning off the Taps》
- Start with finance, because of the pre-eminence of the dollar;
- Such sanctions have been used increasingly since the 1990s: helping nudge Pyongyang back to the negotiating table; helped soften Tehran’s stance over its nuclear program;
- The Treasury has been deliberately vague about how strong such links have to be:
If one bank or company stops doing business with an entity, so does everyone else. No one wants to be an outlier.
- Sanctions also invite countermeasures: hit Rosneft and you hurt BP, ExxonMobil as well; Russia could 1) choose to investigate foreign investors for tax “irregularities”; 2) enlist hackers to destabilize American banks and exchanges, as it proposed to China back in 2008;
《From Bad to Worse》
- Sanctions are pretty limited on paper, but they have created a “scare factor” that is magnifying their effect;
- … could also create openings for competitors (Chinese firms);
- Russian firms are casting around Asia and elsewhere for new customers: Rosneft is seeking to treble its exports of oil to China;
- Losing access to foreign loans – what it will mean for investment, productivity, and growth;
- Weak currency will be an advantage for local brands? Not actually, many Russian manufacturers depend on imports for inputs and equipment;
（中国部分一共四篇文章，涵盖了城市化、独立记者、旅游和“屌丝”这个新兴词汇，中规中矩，但某种程度上还像是拿着万花筒在窥探这个神奇的国度）
《China’s Losers》
- (Analysys International) More than 90% of programmers and journalists and about 80% of food and service industry and marketing workers said they saw themselves as diaosi; civil servants least identified with being losers in the survey;
《Coming to a Beach near You》
- Next step: get visa easier; tailor language, products and services to the Chinese market – “They are very afraid of being treated as second-class”;
- “Authentic”, “limited edition” or “VIP” have always appealed to the Chinese;
- Getting noticed is the toughest step;
（亚太和新兴市场方面，主要文章有日本安倍首相在奥巴马即将访日之际开始采取温和的“中间”政策；印度大选，莫迪及其代表的反对党继续占据优势，还有的就是下面这篇关于巴西人如何效率低下的报道。一直觉得Economist的拉美部分总带着些不失严肃的小幽默，本篇的取材也不例外）
《The 50-Year Snooze》
- “The moment you land in Brazil you start wasting time.”
Few cultures offer a better recipe for enjoying life.
- TFP is lower now than it was in 1960; Brazil invests just 2.2% of its GDP in infrastructure; low quality education; badly managed companies; protectionism;
- Preferential tax treatment (for firms with turnovers of no more than $1.6m) discourages companies from growing;
- Two salutary examples: deregulated agriculture in 1990 and institutional reforms in financial services a few years later;
《Status Shift》
Social networks promised marketers a revolution, but what they have delivered is just boring traditional ads.
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