Columns

ESG INSIGHTS

Issue 179: No longer the poorer cousin of mitigation?

This week in ESG: Growing momentum in adaptation financing

As global tensions rise, Greenland has become a geopolitical pressure gauge, revealing how the old international legal order is beginning to fray.
THE BROAD VIEW

Trump’s Greenland grab is part of a new space race

The old Thule Airbase on the island is a strategic gateway to orbit and a means to exert political and military power from above

The standard shipping container, a steel box 12.2 m by 2.4 m in size, was invented by Malcolm McLean, who turbocharged its global adoption by letting its design be distributed patent-free.
PERSPECTIVE

Tariffs aren’t the biggest drag on global trade. Standards are

Product-safety and environmental rules have multiplied like an invasive species

After a quiet removal from Chinese app stores, "Are You Dead" has been launched internationally as "Demumu".

Forget DeepSeek, dying alone is China’s latest tech obsession

The new breakout app that asks ‘Are you dead?’ says much about society

Recent Singapore data shows that manufacturing accounted for 31.58% of ransomware incidents in the first half of 2025.

Quantum security risk is coming for manufacturers too

Banks are moving – other IP-reliant industries should also start preparing for quantum threats

Trump has given the world a glimpse of a future in which the US joins the ranks of the revisionist powers seeking to redraw the map through threats and force.

The world is hedging its bets

We will enter an age of terrible instability if new security, economic and political structures don’t arise before the old ones are hollowed out

A consortium that includes Oracle, Silver Lake and Emirati investment firm MGX will acquire a 50% stake in a TikTok US joint venture, while the platform’s Chinese parent company ByteDance keeps a 19.9% stake.
THINKING ALOUD

The US’ American-ish TikTok awaits

Even as platforms splinter further for users, corporations remain bound by geopolitical ties

The 2026 Davos theme is “A Spirit of Dialogue”, addressing issues from responsible innovation to investing in people in the age of artificial intelligence.

World Economic Forum 2026: Hope for ‘multi-bilateralism’

As the world fragments towards multiple poles, Davos holds out for a possible yet fragile new global economic order

Acma and Sitra Holdings International are two of the best performers on the SGX in the year to date.
HOCK LOCK SIEW

A couple of micro-cap SGX companies are surging – but investors should think twice before biting

Acma and Sitra have not offered compelling growth stories, so their share price gains may not be sustainable

If territorial disputes and coercive diplomacy become normalised in Arctic waters, similar dynamics could emerge in the South China Sea and East China Sea.
THE BOTTOM LINE

The Greenland crisis is a warning for East Asia

Implications of Trump’s Atlantic ambitions extend towards the Pacific