Phil's Blog
Across Markets and Miles
Notes on finance, trade and culture — from Vienna to Singapore and beyond.
The Geography of Power and the Merchants of Flow
Today's global order is defined by the friction between the physical earth and the flow of money. While geography remains a permanent limit for nations, the movement of resources is fast and flexible. This analysis explores this dynamic by looking at Tim Marshall’s work on geography alongside Javier Blas and Jack Farchy’s reporting on the commodity markets. The central thesis is that although countries are still bound by mountains and rivers, a parallel power structure has emerged among commodity houses. These traders act as intermediaries who transform physical obstacles and political ri...
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The Great Payment Divide: Why Your Wallet Feels Obsolete in Asia
By the time you finish your Melange in a Vienna coffee house, you have participated in a financial ritual that hasn't fundamentally changed in fo...
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The Corporate Sovereign and the Roots of Global Commerce
The English East India Company was not just a merchant enterprise or a tool of empire. It was the precursor to our current global economic system. If ...
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The Wolf of Kuala Lumpur: How 1MDB Corruption Eroded ASEAN Economic Potential
1. Introduction: The Surreal Intersection of Hollywood and Kleptocracy It remains one of the most surreal moments in the history of Hollywood, a sequence of events so implausible that it would strain credibility were it not documented in federal court filings and broadcast live to millions. In January 2014, Leonardo DiCaprio ascended the stage at the Golden Globe Awards to accept the honor for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for his portrayal of Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street. In his acceptance speech, visibly moved, DiCaprio expressed profound gratitude to his collaborators, than...
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The PetroSaudi Mirage - Phantom Oil and the Architecture of Offshore Secrecy
1. The Architecture of Sovereign Fraud The release of the Paradise Papers in November 2017 was a landmark moment for the global understanding of offsh...
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Thailand’s Ten for Ten: The Strategic Shield in a Fragmented Global Economy
What began as a bureaucratic rankings exercise has evolved into Thailand's most critical economic defense mechanism against the trade tempests of...
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The Tokyo Trigger: Why Markets Are Defying the Death of Cheap Money
On December 19, 2025, the tectonic plates of the global financial system shifted. In a move that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) voted unanimously to raise its key interest rate to 0.75%, the highest level in three decades. For a generation of traders raised on the certainty of near-zero Japanese rates, this should have been the moment the music stopped. The "BoJ Put," that reliable fountain of cheap liquidity that has lubricated global risk assets since the 1990s, was officially closed.[1] The textbook response to such a move is clear: the Y...
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Bavaria in the Yellow Sea
Walk through the hilly streets of Qingdao on a misty morning, and you might briefly forget which continent you are standing on. To your left, a Bavari...
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Vietnam: The Dragon Ascendant
Stand on the corner of a busy intersection in District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City or the Old Quarter of Hanoi in late 2025, and the sensory overload tells ...
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Sinosure Trade Credit Insurance: A 2025 Strategy Guide for European SMEs
1. Executive Strategic Assessment: The 2025 Macro-Financial Environment The global trade architecture in 2025 is defined by a sharp divergence in econ...
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