|
|
|
US-Taliban talks set to begin
Nearly 12 years after the United States ousted the Taliban, the US will begin formal talks with the militant Islamist group this week as part of Afghanistan's national reconciliation process. Whether a major change in US policy, or more a reflection of shifting power inside Washington, the road ahead will be long, and negotiations between the Taliban and the Hamid Karzai government will also be of crucial importance. - Jim Lobe
(Jun 19, '13)
|
Militants torch NATO lifeline
Intensified attacks on supply convoys from Pakistan for international forces in Afghanistan may signal a turning point for US drone attacks on militants on the AfPak border. With observers pointing out that the Taliban is in a stronger position than at any time since the 9/11 attacks, the main exit route for the 2014 withdrawal of troops is looking vulnerable, unless the US stops its drone program. - Ashfaq Yusufzai
(Jun 19, '13)
Hawks, doves and pipeline politics in Syria
On Syria, the US is allowing policy to steer intelligence, rather than vice versa, with the hawks overcoming the doves in a pattern memorable to the Iraq war. This time the rebel's largest benefactor - Qatar - could benefit most from brute energy realities. Syria's status as the most obvious land route for pipelines from the Persian Gulf explains Doha's deep pockets.
- Peter Dale Scott
(Jun 19, '13)
Child labor jars with Islamic tradition
As World Day Against Child Labor passed on June 12, thousands of young Southeast Asians were toiling in Arab Gulf countries in menial roles ranging from domestic service to manual labor. While that trend bucks centuries-old Islamic doctrines emphasizing labor rights, the shame is shared far beyond the Middle East.
- Ramzy Baroud
(Jun 19, '13)
|
Cambodian opposition calls foul on election
Opposition coalition the Cambodia National Rescue Party says it will reject the result of next month's national election unless the ruling party ends the disruption of its campaign. The stand reflects a culture of harassment amid claims that local authorities and village chiefs have threatened opposition supporters and routinely prevent them from joining rallies.
(Jun 19, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Modernity makes a mark in Iran vote
The surprise victory of President-elect Hassan Rouhani in the Iranian elections represents the swing of the political pendulum by a voting public repulsed by eight years of hardline rule. In the battle between modernity and Islamic tradition, most moderates agree that revolutionary principles alone are too narrow a base to run a country where the middle class is in the ascendency. - Amin Shahriar
(Jun 19, '13)
 To submit to
Speaking Freely click
here |
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
The making of a global security state
PRISM underlines that the US has almost achieved what the USSR could only dream of: a global security state where every citizen's life is transparent and documented through data. But as this urge to control is taken forwards through state possession of DNA - a human's most basic code - resistance against Washington's rapidly expanding surveillance will also spread across the planet. - Tom Engelhardt
(Jun 18, '13)
SINOGRAPH
Common folk aren't
US's cyber-targets
Furor over US surveillance ignores that even second-rate powers have for decades been capable of recording every citizen's calls. The real target of monitoring is governments. For the the US, China is the biggest cyber-spying threat. Yet by simply selling secrets to Beijing, Washington could hook China into US technological development, minimize the risk of leapfrogging - and make some money.
- Francesco Sisci
(Jun 18, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Obama's weapons-for-peace program
The myth of US President Barack Obama as "reluctant warrior" in Syria is pure nonsense. Even his Russian counterpart, ex-KGB sickle Vladimir Putin, cannot convince him that expanding the proxy war would make the current - horrible - status quo look like a walk in the park. In its determination to arm "rebel" factions who would lose at the ballot box, the Obama administration has opted to play weapons-for-peace gambits rather than talk real democracy.
- Pepe Escobar
(Jun 18, '13)
Gore and fatwas show Syria's descent
Unprecedented calls by Saudi Arabian religious scholars for Sunni Muslims to support Syrian rebels against the Iran-backed, Shi'ite government of President Bashar al-Assad underline how the conflict is evolving into a increasingly internationalized sectarian war far removed from its peaceful, pro-democratic beginnings. Meanwhile, social media initially used to spread hope for the rebellion are now merely sharing atrocities.
- Emad Mekay
(Jun 18, '13)
Genocide as pre-poll politics in Cambodia
A strong showing by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party in the country's forthcoming national election will bring "chaos", and its proposed policies indicate a yearning to return to the days of the Khmer Rouge, warns President Hun Sen. Legislation that will allow prosecution of anyone who challenges the existence of crimes that took place during the Khmer Rouge era fits nicely into the government's anti-CNRP message.
- Joe Freeman
(Jun 18, '13)
|
Washington split on Rouhani victory in Iran
Hassan Rouhani's surprise election as Iranian president leaves US analysts cautiously optimistic about a possible Tehran-Washington detente, while pro-Israel forces reject any idea his presidency will produce substantive change. Some suspect Rouhani will push for a nuclear deal, and say Washington must be prepared to make concessions that convince Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to go along. - Jim Lobe
(Jun 18, '13)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
Colleges the next burst bubble
When a service's costs exceed its benefits and yet its price continues to increase faster than inflation, there can be only one outcome: a massive market correction, with widespread bankruptcies and industry capacity slashed by a large fraction. This fate lies ahead for the colleges of America.
- Martin Hutchinson
(Jun 18, '13)
IRANIAN ELECTION
Rouhani: a consensus on the past
Iranian voters have taken a look back with the election of Hassan Rouhani, a favorite disciple of revolutionary leader Imam Khomeini, as the country's next president. Their choice is also forward-looking in that it consigns to the past the reformist-conservative split in Iranian politics. As far as the world outside is concerned, the big question is whether Rouhani's ascendance will bring a wind of change in Iran's foreign policy.
- M K Bhadrakumar
(Jun 17, '13)
SPENGLER
Syria and Egypt can't be fixed
Syria and Egypt were dying before the Syrian civil war broke out and before the Muslim Brotherhood took power in Cairo. They are are dying because they chose not move people from rural backwardness to a modern urban economy. Whatever the Western motivations for trying to help mend them, the two countries are broken and cannot be fixed.
(Jun 17, '13)
Obama's Monica moment
The moral edifice of Barack Obama's presidency has been exposed today as a pack of lies amid desperate war moves to divert attention from the cesspool of the Edward Snowden secrecy leaks. Obama's ploy on military intervention in Syria is the death-knell to the “audacity of hope”, and much like Bill Clinton’s use of Afghanistan as flak for the Monica Lewinsky scandal could have unintended consequences.
- M K Bhadrakumar
(Jun 14, '13)
 THE ROVING EYE
See you on
the dark side
The Edward Snowden-leaked National Security Agency Power Point presentation PRISM, as expressed in its Dark Side of the Moon-ish logo, is a graphic expression of the ultimate Pentagon/neo-con wet dream; the Full Spectrum Dominance doctrine. In the age of Total Information Awareness, the lunatics are in all our heads - and they won't be leaving anytime soon. - Pepe Escobar
(Jun 13, '13) |
|
 |
Where is inflation?
The Federal Reserve's trillions of dollars in money injection and near-zero interest rates have not triggered the feared inflation - nor the hoped-for economic growth. Like the dog that did not bark, this can be disconcerting, until we consider who is measuring inflation, and how. - Noureddine Krichene
MICHAEL PETTIS
The real challenge
facing China's growth
Whether China has overinvested is contested by some analysts, who claim that with much less capital stock per capita than advanced countries it has a long way to go before hitting the productive limits of investment. But Beijing's real challenge is not about maintaining high growth rates, rather to raise China's levels of social capital.
CREDIT BUBBLE BULLETIN
Capital in flight
The recent emerging markets sell-off highlights the difficulty of managing capital flight, even for those countries, notably in Asia, that have built up strong foreign reserves. China's economic managers may still have things under control. The same cannot be said for many of their fellow "developing" policymakers.
Doug Noland looks at the previous week's events each Monday.
|
|
Obama feels his way
around Iran’s Rouhani
Following a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday the sidelines of the G8 summit in Belfast, President Barack Obama briefly commented on the victory of Hoj. Hassan Rouhani in Iran's presidential election. Earlier, within hours of the media reports signifying Rouhani’s victory, the White House swiftly reacted in manifestly positive terms.
- M K Bhadrakumar
|
|
[Re Obama's Monica moment, Jun 14, 2013] Further arming the rebels is not about helping them in their fight against President Bashar al-Assad. It is about sending a message to Iran by looking tough.
Fariborz S Fatemi
McLean, VA
USA
|
|
Go to Letters to the Editor |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
All material on this website is
copyright and may not be republished in any form without written permission.
Copyright 1999 - 2013 Asia Times Online (Holdings),
Ltd.
|
|
Head Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li
Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East, Central, Hong Kong
Thailand Bureau: 11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua
Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
|
|
|
