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Siege exposes holes in Aquino peace plan
Philippine government forces are regaining control of areas captured by rebels who laid siege to southern Zamboanga City, but the daring action by hundreds of Moro National Liberation Front fighter exposes deep flaws in President Benigno Aquino's once highly touted peace process for the region. The risk of a return to full-blown civil war is also rising - Richard Javad Heydarian
(Sep 17, '13)
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UN confirms Syria gas attack, not culpability
UN arms inspectors have reached a predictable conclusion about the military attack on civilians in Syria last month: the deadly strike had all the trappings of the widespread use of chemical weapons. While Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rebel groups point the finger at each other and the West and Russia squabble, the UN remit was not to apportion blame.
- Thalif Deen
(Sep 17, '13)
Putin does Americans a Middle East favor
Many Americans were enraged when Vladimir Putin blamed US exceptionalism and interventionism for the US's long-term decline. Yet by helping to avert another costly strike in the Middle East that would only ensure Israel's military and political supremacy, the Russian president has likely done the American people a huge favor. - Ramzy Baroud
(Sep 17, '13)
SINOGRAPH
'Confusionists', Mao
and urban morality
Behind the evolving case of Bo Xilai and new Maoist nostalgia, a bigger issue looms in China: the failure of traditional values and the fraying of the social fabric brought about by fast-paced urbanization. Things may be patched up, but a new social and ethical equilibrium will emerge only once cities stop growing.
- Francesco Sisci
(Sep 17, '13)
The real Bo Xilai story
Bo Xilai is presented in the West as a "princeling" who nearly reached the summit of China's party structure thanks to popular social and economic policies, only to succumb to greed. The reality is that Bo rose through the ranks by exploiting fortunate promotions and other people's policy successes, in a case that reflects failures typical to countries experiencing rapid development.
- Dan Steinbock
(Sep 17, '13)
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The Middle East and its elemental descent
While America's military complex dreams of ethnic bio-weapons, a larger evil looming for the Middle East is the shepherding and tactical withholding of water as a weapon of mass destruction. As game-changing, elemental realities take over, the rationals of statehood, religion and politics will quickly succumb to more natural inclinations. - Norman Ball
(Sep 17, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Politics worsen Turkey's faultlines
Instead of responding with compromise to the national divisions made clear by a summer of anti-government protests, Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party continues to excuse all by pointing to its strong electoral mandate. Such a strategy will likely alienate all but pro-government supporters, yet the opposition can seemingly reply only with belligerent rhetoric.
- Ozan Serdaroglu
(Sep 16, '13)
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SYRIA IN CRISIS
Obama invites Rouhani to join great game
Direct US-Iranian talks are on after a three-decade freeze,  with US President Barack Obama's disclosure of personal contact with Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, to bring Tehran into the matrix on Syria. Obama sees a major role for Iran in peace talks, while pushing Russia to the periphery on all but the destruction of its Damascus ally's chemical weapons cache. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Sep 16, '13)
SPENGLER
US plays Monopoly,
Russia plays chess
As Russia's president carefully gauges how each Syria maneuver impacts on Moscow's spheres of interest, the US administration continues to view geopolitical real estate in isolation. The big prize is a restoration of Russia's great power status, and as American popular revulsion over foreign intervention intensifies, Vladimir Putin can simply wait as the clock runs down. - Spengler
(Sep 16, '13)
Bitter memories stir Tehran
Iran's bitter experience with chemical weapons in the 1980s highlights a common concern with Western powers over their alleged deployment by the Assad regime. Tehran likely views the Assad government - its closest ally in the regional "resistance front" against Israel - as a liability. Ultimately, neither it nor Washington want to see Sunni extremists grasp power.
- Alireza Nader
(Sep 16, '13)
SCO glimpses a new Eurasia in Bishkek
 Defiant sounds from a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit last week in Kyrgyzstan over Syria's crisis and Iran's nuclear program underlined how the organization has evolved from an anti-terrorist coalition into a powerful counterpoint to Western international influence. If it can now forge energy links between South and Central Asia, the SCO can seriously threaten plans for a new American century.
- Brendan P O'Reilly
(Sep 16, '13)
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New role for India in Myanmar
A history of volatile relations, an ongoing border dispute and the mighty shadow of China - these loom large as India pursues a policy of full engagement with Myanmar. But as New Delhi pushes to expand its interests by putting private businesses at the forefront, India is uniquely positioned to benefit and help Myanmar overcome challenges amid the political transition now underway. - Sonu Trivedi
(Sep 16, '13)
Dark days in Pakistan's city of lights
Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city and port, was once a peaceful melting pot, but is now dangerously divided along ethnic, political and sectarian lines. Missteps in a security sweep of criminal cartels and terrorist cells provoked rioting last week, with critics saying that disconnect between civilian leaders and the security establishment doomed the clean-up attempt.
- Abubakar Siddique
(Sep 16, '13)
Syria's looming economic disaster
Syria's civil war has devastated the country's economy, wrecked its infrastructure and sent the local currency into freefall. No matter the war's outcome, absent funds, professionals and political will to do what is necessary for recovery, the outlook is bleak. - Artem Perminov
(Sep 16, '13)
Putin eyes up Obama's Iran file
As even Fox News says Vladimir Putin  deserves a Nobel prize for the "deft diplomatic maneuvers" that handed his struggling American counterpart a Kremlin-embossed way out of the Syrian crisis, the Russian president has set his sights on a move that would up the ante for a gong: taking another dog-eared file out of Barack Obama's hands and turning it into a Moscow-backed peace plan for Iran.
- M K Bhadrakumar
(Sep 13, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
China stitches up
the (SCO) Silk Rd
Oh, to eavesrop at the weekend meeting of presidents Xi, Putin, and Rouhani as they craft a new multipolar international order. Before the private meeting at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, China's Xi Jinping's lyrical praise has highlighted the strategic importance to the new order of Central Asian silk roads. Beneath the shine, Beijing is busy building a multifaceted network that is the stuff of threadbare American dreams.
- Pepe Escobar
(Sep 13, '13)
JOHN PILGER
Enemy whose name we dare not speak
Regardless of diplomatic attempts to delay  an attack on Syria, the United States' objective has nothing to do with chemical weapons and everything to do with wiping out the last independent states in the Middle East. Barack Obama accepted the war crimes of the Pentagon of his predecessor, George W Bush, and militarism camouflaged as democracy.
(Sep 12, '13) |
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DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
Our black future
A US report predicts that renewables will still be an afterthought in the world's energy mix in 2040. This would be great for the energy industry - not for the rest of us. - Michael T Klare
THE BEAR'S LAIR
We're coming up on 1937
The 1930s saw three stand-out policy failures as the United States tried to come to grips with the Wall Street Crash. Not all were avoided in dealing with the most recent crisis. That will have long-term costs. - Martin Hutchinson
CREDIT BUBBLE BULLETIN
Myth-making at the Fed
Larry Summers' decision to withdraw from the race to head the Federal Reserve opens the door to a range of candidates, all primed to control inflation (and deflation) via the "money supply". That they believe they can do so is just one of the myths Ben Bernanke's successor will inherit.
Doug Noland looks at the previous week's events each Monday. |
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Obama- Rouhani meet
can't be ruled out
September 24 is the date to watch. The General Debate of the UN general assembly begins on that day. Among the speakers listed on the first day are President Barack Obama and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani - Obama in the forenoon and Rpuhani in the afternoon. Is there chance of a meeting between the two statesmen?
- M K Bhadrakumar
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