We created this website because
The world is getting more difficult and more dangerous,
which is a result of the following:
The advanced countries are hobbled.
Unprecedented levels of debt, created by unsustainable economic policies, is the main problem. The impact includes slower global growth, political turmoil at home, and limits to what can be invested in defense and national security.
A potential new superpower is rising.
With a population 4.5 times the US, China’s potential impact is enormous. Its path—economically integrated but adversarial from a defense and national security perspective—is unprecedented. There are some advantages, along with some enormous challenges.
The rest of the world is faltering.
Only 15% of the world’s population lives in an advanced country. 40% live on less than $2 per day and another 30% live on $10 per day. The fact is, with the exception of the reemergence of the WWII powers (Japan and EU), the world has had little success rising from poverty. Furthermore, democracy has actually been in decline for more than a decade. From sectarian violence in the Middle East to astronomically high crime and murder rates in Latin America, most of the world isn’t getting more prosperous, freer, or safer.
The world is getting smaller.
Regardless the challenges the world faces, technology keeps rolling, making the world smaller, bringing all the world’s risks and challenges closer to home for everyone.
These trends create tensions which lead to the reemergence and intensification of old challenges (trade wars, migrant crises, nuclear proliferation, territorial disputes, regional conflicts) and the creation of new challenges (cyber espionage, cyber crime, election interference, etc.).
This website was created to help people better understand the new dynamics and challenges that are making the world more difficult and dangerous. On our site you’ll find some content that looks familiar—articles and blog posts with insights and analysis. But you’ll also find content that is fairly unique, including content geared toward the following objectives:
Make it easy for you to stay up to date
Other outlets provide the blow-by-blow of daily events. Our “dashboard” content is designed to help those who don’t have time to follow events on a daily basis stay up to date quickly and conveniently. We summarize events, implications, issues, and expectations is very user-friendly format.
Make it easy for you to gain a broader and deeper understanding
These are complex issues. Soundbites aren’t enough. Yet you don’t have time to read a textbook. We create content, including videos, which digs deeper and educates but in a concise, easy to digest manner.
Make it interesting
It’s not all doom and gloom out there. The world is an interesting place, fun to explore. We bring that dimension to our content as well.
Unique, practical experience leads to a unique, practical perspective
Observation, research and study are critical components of learning. But nothing beats direct, hands-on experience. More than twenty years doing business overseas, including ten years living, working, and managing in China, mostly in remote parts of the country that foreigners barely know, gives our founder a rare perspective. Hiring, firing, selling, buying, evaluating, negotiating, leading, collaborating, making decisions—business and management activities like these provide an opportunity to get to know the culture and people of other countries in a way that is often unavailable to the journalist, scholar, or diplomat. Watching Dan Joseph’s award-winning short documentary, Democracy Road, gives a sense as to how his unique experience has led to a unique perspective. You’ll also notice a more thorough and yet practical sense as to how the global economy really works, beyond just the statistics. Being different makes a difference. We hope that shows in our content.
Daniel R. Joseph (Founder)
Daniel R. Joseph has been doing business overseas for more than 20 years, including living in China there for 10 years. Dan has managed multiple foreign invested enterprises in China, has direct experience in general management, manufacturing, quality control, supply chain management, finance, banking, and business development in China, and has advised more than 200 foreign companies relative to their China strategy and operations. Dan speaks and reads Mandarin Chinese.