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Did China execute the wrong pirate?
Western coverage of the execution of Naw Kham focused on whether it would be broadcast - and if not, why not. All good hackwork over a macabre event in far-off China, and totally missing the point. There seems little doubt the Burmese pirate was a baddie on a considerable scale, but whether he had a hand in the massacre of 13 crew members of two ships on the Mekong River is quite another matter. - Peter Lee
(Mar 8, '13)
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Land grabbing as big business in Myanmar
Expectations that Myanmar's reforms will generate a foreign investment boom have led to rampant land grabbing by well-connected businessmen, exacerbating evictions in rural areas. Unless better legislation is implemented, already mounting protests in response to the displacements could spread wide enough to imperil the country's democratic steps and its economic potential. - Brian McCartan
(Mar 8, '13)
Reality of Fukushima cleanup hits Japan
The overturned cars still littering the coastline by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and scars there from the fight workers put up in failed attempts to prevent its post-tsunami meltdown underline that the task of decommissioning is just beginning. With isolating the remaining nuclear fuel alone expected to take 40 years, it's unlikely the tragedy has claimed its last victim.
- Daniel Leussink
(Mar 8, '13) |
India piles up old promises in Dhaka
Bangladesh keenly anticipated a visit by Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, only the second such visit in 40 years, with high hopes of key issues such as water sharing and border killings. On his departure after three days, Dhaka was left as he arrived, with only promises to show. Meanwhile, the killings of Bangladeshis by Indian border guards continue.
- Syed Tashfin Chowdhury
(Mar 8, '13)
The alchemy of transition in South Asia
The failure of Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal must not diminish attempts to create a robust transitional justice mechanism in Nepal. Blood on the streets in Dhaka may be used to undermine reparative measures in Nepal's transition to justice, but it is imperative that political classes are prevented from turning Bangladeshi "lead" into the pernicious "gold" of a general amnesty. -
Michael Van Es
(Mar 8, '13)
CHAN AKYA
Of mutton and lamb
Britain has been rocked by the scandal of liberal portions of horsemeat being found in what consumers thought was beef. It has been less shocked by a health scandal involving hundreds of negligent hospital deaths. The different levels of apparent concern could be down to a media conspiracy - or just a preference for juvenile jokes over grim facts of healthcare.
(Mar 8, '13)
UK's war on terror targets the vulnerable
The post-9/11 dragnet for Muslims in Great Britain has silently evolved into a hidden war of continual harassment against the largely helpless relatives of suspects or former detainees. Exploiting the stigma of "terrorism" and the specter of security threats, the British government has used experimental perversions of the legal system to dehumanize families and isolate them from the outside world.
- Victoria Brittain
(Mar 8, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
The strategy in Syria has failed
Saudi Arabia and Qatar must be urged to end their destabilization of Syria and find a non-violent political solution that ensures Sunni Islamic fundamentalists do not come to power. Syria is undeniably authoritarian, but its many sects are protected much better under the Arab nationalist al-Assad government than the Western-supported Free Syrian Army.
- Sean Fenley
(Mar 8, '13)
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Threats of a wider war in Sabah
Fighters from the Moro National Liberation Front rebel group who for decades battled the Philippines forces are now training their sights on Malaysia after its government launched an air and ground assault on a rag-tag militia from the Sultanate of Sulu that landed on Sabah to assert a centuries-old territorial claim. With atrocities in the conflict mounting - and the MNLF known for its armed prowess - the situation is rapidly becoming a regional threat. - Noel Tarrazona
(Mar 7, '13)
Kurdish peace process divides Turks
Since Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan ended a 67-day hunger strike by his minority people in Turkey last November, Ankara has been forced to recognize him and other Kurdistan Workers' Party leaders, and the two sides are now taking unprecedented moves towards peace. Ocalan has emerged as the best hope for an end to the violence, but many Turks still dismiss him as a murderer. - Caleb Lauer
(Mar 7, '13)
China's 'unrelenting strategy' targets US
Aggressive, self-confident maneuvers by China's military seemingly targeting the US suggest Beijing is following the ancient ''unrelenting strategy" written of in the I Ching, which calls for confusing an opponent before creating and deepening internal conflicts and launching an offensive assault. As the sun sets on US power, the method could offer a short-cut to usurping it as the sole superpower. - Jenny Lin
(Mar 7, '13)
What went right at Almaty
The whiff of a potential breakthrough in the decade-long standoff over Iran's nuclear program, will propel negotiators back to the table for another session after talks in Almaty reached (in Tehran's words) a "turning point". In effect, the P5+1 powers recognized Iran's basic enrichment rights and, perhaps most importantly, have allowed its leaders to save face.
- Richard Javad Heydarian
(Mar 7, '13)
China and India should stop fretting
While Beijing may welcome US Secretary of State John Kerry's concerns that Washington's Asian rebalancing strategy "creates a threat" where there wasn't one, past accusations from new Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel that India opened a "second front" in Afghanistan still stick in Delhi's craw. Instead of fretting over pitfalls in the Obama-era "course correction", India and China should instead focus on creating new traction in their bilateral engagement. - M K Bhadrakumar (Mar 6, '13)
SINOGRAPH
Devil in detail of
grand
urban plan
A grand plan announced by the National People’s Congress this week envisions spending of US$6.4 trillion over 10 years to bring 400 million people into China's smaller cities. As an economic initiative, the migration could lead to China becoming the largest contributor to global growth within a few decades. As a complex project of structural transformation, the devil is in the detail. - Francesco Sisci
(Mar 6, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
El Comandante has left the building
Unfortunately for turbo-capitalists in Washington and Brussels, the death of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez from cancer does not signal an end to the spirit of Chavism. With his "socialism of the 21st century" and defiance of centuries-old patterns of subjugation in Latin America, El Comandante struck a chord with the Global South that's now resonating in crumbling European structures.
- Pepe Escobar
(Mar 6, '13) |
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India squeezed by financial repression
India's recent budget showed the extent to which the government resorts to financial repression of its citizens, companies and financial corporations, distorting savings and investment and damaging growth. Yet its extortion and profligacy leaves health and education spending trailing that of many poorer countries. - Kunal Kumar Kundu
THE POST-CRASH AUTOPSY
Bank critics miss relative value
The financial crash is widely attributed to failures of international investment banks (with various other "culprits" also held up for castigation). Yet the problem might lie deeper, in the roots of outdated but still over-popular economic theory espoused by Adam Smith (and even Karl Marx). The way out of the mess is even deeper - and it is all relative. - Friedrich Hansen
Who saw the economic
crisis coming and why?
You have heard the widespread thesis that no one saw the current financial crisis coming. That thesis is simply wrong. However, it makes sure that those are not seen and heard, who a) did see it coming, who b) could have prevented it, and who c) have the knowledge of how we can get out of the schemozzle we're in. - Lars Schall
Android alarm bells in China
China is taking aim at the dominance of Google's Android in the country's smartphone market, urging local companies to prioritize development of a rival operating system. The real concern may not be commercial, but a desire to ratchet up censorship of phone users.
Martin J Young surveys the week's developments in computing, science, gaming and gizmos.
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CREDIT BUBBLE BULLETIN
Italy and "Ro, Ro"
The world's markets have enjoyed six months of powerful ''risk on'' gains, with a flood of ''money'' into equities and global risk markets. Yet currency market volatility especially points to an inflection point, Italian elections adding notably to the trepidation.
Doug Noland looks at the previous week's events each Monday.
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Let Male keep its
tryst with destiny
The arrest of the former president of Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed is an event that could easily have been foretold. Like in the Gabriel Garcia Marquez novella, where everyone except Santiago Nasar could foretell what the two Vicario brothers were up to, only Nasheed seemed unaware that the president and a former president would go to any extent to disqualify him from the forthcoming September election.
- M K Bhadrakumar
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