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War trumps peace in Myanmar
Myanmar President Thein Sein this month claimed that ''there's no more fighting in the country'' - in complete denial of the harsh facts on the ground, facts Western nongovernmental organizations and think tanks scrabble together for cash and influence in seeking peace, just as China takes the lead in the process. Despite all the effort and rhetoric, lasting peace in Myanmar's war-torn frontier areas is as elusive as ever.
- Bertil Lintner
(Mar 19, '13)
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New China leader Li warns world
In his first meeting with foreign media as premier, Li Keqiang has served notice to the world: Any militarized threats to China's territorial claims are threats not only to regional stability, but also to world peace. As Beijing wades into the "deep waters" of internal reforms, relevant powers must also be careful of their footing in the turbulent seas of East Asia.
- Brendan O'Reilly
(Mar 19, '13)
Xi unmoved by Tibetan self-immolation
Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to remain as unmoved as his predecessors to frustration over Beijing's attitude to Tibet that has seen the toll of deaths by self-immolation in the autonomous region reach 108 in the past three years. While Tibetan exiles debate the hardline policies, Xi's sight is fixed on growth and stability.
- Saransh Sehgal
(Mar 19, '13) |
Low expectations color Obama's Israel trip
With President Barack Obama set to travel on his first trip to Israel as president, expectations for a breakthrough on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process are low to nonexistent. The priority will be to make sure that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gets the message: "We are committed to the security of Israel, but we're not interested in having a war with Iran to prove it."
- Mitchell Plitnick
(Mar 19, '13)
IRANIAN FIRE POWER
Diverse missile inventory is indecisive
Iran's stock of long-range artillery rockets and ballistic missiles, the largest and most diverse such inventory in the Middle East, is not accurate enough to be decisive militarily. The Islamic Republic's air force and ground-based air defense systems offer limited protection of its air space and are no match for the combined capacity of the United States and its allies in the Persian Gulf.
- Michael Elleman
(Mar 19, '13)
Pakistani Taliban declare war on judiciary
The Pakistani Taliban has declared a war on Pakistan's judiciary and announced it will suspend peace talks with Islamabad. In the build-up to elections as an elected government completes its full term for the first time, the country is also witnessing a power shift from the military to the judiciary, reflected in the latest attacks on it. - Syed Fazl-e-Haider
(Mar 19, '13)
Is enough enough for China, North Korea?
Subtle evolutions in the language with which China officially condemns North Korean nuclear tests suggest that Beijing is becoming less forceful, while the public outcry over the most recent detonation was nothing new. While Western analysts see Beijing writing a harsh new playbook on Pyongyang, the latest test will actually have little impact on its ''dual-track" strategic approach. - A Greer Meisels
(Mar 19, '13)
US global leadership slumps, again
In countries facing social upheaval and conflict in Africa, South Asia and Central Asia, approval of the US's "global leadership" role has slipped, while in those enjoying stability it has recovered. The trend reflects a growing disillusionment with the ability of President Barack Obama to enact real global change, with ratings plunging to their lowest right before his re-election.
- Dinesh Sharma
(Mar 19, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
India blots out Israeli issues
Israel has used wide-ranging outreach in India to overcome public opposition to burgeoning bilateral ties in defense, trade and people-to-people contacts. That some surveys now rank India as the world's most "pro-Israel country" suggests the latter's image molding has persuaded many Indians to forget points of difference like Iran and the Palestinian issues.
- S Samuel C Rajiv
(Mar 18, '13)
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SPENGLER
Speaking truth to impotence
President Barack Obama's advisers who anguish over blood spilt in Syria's civil war have good cause: they helped the US (with European assistance) set going a regional Sunni-Shi'ite war, with minorities involved in a fight to the death. The do-gooders may not want to see the consequences of their mistakes, while the response from Republican hawks is to switch off the world news for a generation.
(Mar 18, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Crisis? What crisis?
Let's hit Syria
Members of the European Council just got together to tie themselves up, autocratically, in the red-tape that passes for democracy and screams "no exit" in the crisis-hit region. Luckily, the men in tights, David Cameron and Francois Hollande, were on hand to raise pulses with an Anglo-French offensive to weaponize Syrian "rebels". As with all matters EU, if it can get more pathetic, it will.
- Pepe Escobar
(Mar 18, '13)
Obama's dangerous Iran nuclear gambit
US President Barack Obama's categorical allegation that Iran is "over a year or so" from developing nuclear weapons has thrown a grenade at progress in nuclear negotiations and flies in the face of assertions from his own advisers. His comments were clearly aimed at good PR for Israel on the eve of his official visit there, but Obama may yet see the imposition of a fake timetable as a blunder.
- Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Mar 18, '13)
China counter-pivots on Myanmar
A beefed up Beijing diplomatic interest in Asia, with particular focus on Myanmar, is an apparent response to the United States' renewed focus on the region and its warming relations, at China's expense, with Myanmar's government. Washington should be wary of overreacting to this Chinese "pivot", or, in turn, fall out of favor in Naypyidaw.
- David I Steinberg
(Mar 18, '13) |
Beijing underlines 'stability' beats reforms
China's new leaders, Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, have dealt an early blow to hopes that they would introduce a series of liberalizing reforms, instead underlining the paramount importance of "stability", Party dominance and the failures of Western democracy, backed up with arrests and warnings to intellectuals who want things otherwise. - Willy Lam
(Mar 18, '13)
India's foreign funds flood not guaranteed
Indian stock market gains over the past few months coincided with strong inflows of foreign funds, in turn attributable to quantitative easing by the US Federal Reserve. Hopes that further easing will be a boon for Indian stocks might, however, prove ephemeral.
- Kunal Kumar Kundu (Mar 18, '13)
China cyber-war: Don't believe the hype
Anyone hoping for a reset in US-China relations might feel a twinge of disappointment at Washington's decision to hype Chinese cyber-intrusions. If a measured escalation was its aim, the Obama administration was hijacked by the sequestered US military and security industry's desire for more power and profit. Besides, occupants of the White House throw cyber-stones too. - Peter Lee
(Mar 15, '13)
Beijing's pit bull alliance
China not only benefits from North Korea stealing its limelight as one of Asia's biggest human-rights violators, Pyongyang also serves a key political weapon against the strangulation strategy being visited on Beijing by the US and its allies. Diplomatic efforts to paint China as "renegotiating" terms of bilateral cooperation with the North are a "dog-and-pony" show.
- Brett Daniel Shehadey
(Mar 15, '13)
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Cambodian sugar lacking spice riches
Farmers in the Cambodia's Kampot province earn high reward for supplying European gourmets high-quality pepper, grown under rigorous "Geographical Indication'' rules. Sugar-growers under similar rules struggle to compete with mass-market produce.
- Michelle Tolson
THE BEAR'S LAIR
The non-existent contradiction
Keynesians argue the need to cut government spending is contradicted by ill-effects from declines in government employment. This is nonsense. There is no contradiction. Government employment cuts are good, not bad for the economy.
- Martin Hutchinson
CREDIT BUBBLE BULLETIN
Ex-Fed chiefs run to form
Recent comments by former Federal Reserve chairman revealed at least two key points. Paul Volcker is as much on the ball as ever with welcome pertinent insights, while Alan Greenspan, touting an equities valuation model and market undervaluation, is just spouting more nonsense.
Doug Noland looks at the previous week's events each Monday.
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How India's Italian
wound turned gangrene
The sense of gratification for any writer peaks when it transpires that he was prescient. But this is not an instance of vanity fair. India's traditionally close and friendly ties with Italy - a major power in the western alliance - are in tatters today. How did it happen?
- M K Bhadrakumar
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