Visual Capitalist has a beautiful visual graphic of international trade. The graphic shows trade flows between countries and color codes the content of those flows. If one clicks on a particular country, the graphic will show only the flows in and out of that country. One can also zoom in and out of particular regions of the world. Not surprisingly, the dominant flows are between countries in the northern hemisphere.
The Law and Justice Party in Poland has been slowly increasing the powers of the Polish state. Last year it passed laws restricting the powers of the constitutional court and limiting the ability of protesters to assemble freely. Protesters have surrounded the Parliament building to voice their concerns over the growing authoritarianism of the government. The European Union has voiced its concerns over the loss of freedoms in Poland, but the Law and Justice Party refuses to change the laws.
James Fallows has written a very well-informed short essay on the US-China relationship and how President-elect Trump’s cavalier tweets about China are compromising a very delicate relationship. His conclusion is somewhat encouraging, but the tone of resigned disappointment rings true:
“I do not believe the United States and China are likely to go to war. There are too many buffers on each side; too many many positive linkages; too much awareness on the Chinese side of U.S. relative military advantages—and on both sides of the potential risks.
“But if historians and citizens look back on our era as the transition point, when 40 years of relatively successful management of U.S.-China gave way to a reckless focus on grievances and differences, and a cavalier approach to a showdown, tweets like the one today will be part of their sad record.”
Let’s hope that President-elect Trump becomes a little more disciplined in this crucial relationship.
World Politics News 
As many occasions with the Chinese government already showed, China has a very delicate situation with Taiwan where China insists that politically speaking, China should be the parent of Taiwan. This situation has been essential to China privately and publicly and probably can be counted as a weakness in its management of its international relations. However I think, as long as the U.S. doesn’t exploit China’s concerns over its national interests, the US-China relationship wouldn’t become strange. But I guess Trump already caused some damage by doing the opposite.
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