|
|
|
Israel, eying Iran, comes off Syria fence
 A statement by Israel's ambassador to the US, Michael Oran, makes clear Tel Aviv's preference for the "bad guys" fighting Bashar al-Assad (rather than the "bad guys" who now run Syria). The timing of the pronouncement of support for US-backed forces signals further twists in the Syrian civil war, and focuses minds on the possibility of a grand bargain between Washington and Tehran.
- Victor Kotsev
(Sep 18, '13) |
|
Ma draws blood in KMT heavyweight bout
 Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou has denied that intra-party rivalries were behind his decision last week to revoke the party membership of popular legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng, insisting that Wang's abuse of power in a legal case - not a personality clash - was his motivation. This hasn't stopped his maneuver reawakening ethnic and geographic fault-lines in the ruling Kuomintang party.
- Jens Kastner
(Sep 18, '13)
'Fear of Taliban' stops executions
The execution of three Taliban men  has been kept on hold because the Pakistan government fears reprisals by the militant group, according to political leaders, including Awami National Party leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain. Hussain, whose party has been a target of attacks, says the Taliban kills innocent people, but now want to stop legal executions.
- Ashfaq Yusufzai
(Sep 18, '13)
HIDDEN HANDS
Arab society fails to grasp its destiny
Oil wealth has blinded Arab populations to how Western nations have manipulated them into decades of subservience to authoritarian rule. As obsolete rulers are overthrown by their own people, the dismantling of social, economic and institutional infrastructure will open the path to a complete take-over by foreign masters.
- Mahboob A Khawaja
(Sep 18, '13)
Collaborators open door to the devil
The willingness of lackeys to pander to the West has undermined the global South from colonial until present times, with ministers from Iraq to Libya turning to "the winning side" only to usher in chaos and oppression. Syria is the latest stage for collaborationists who have such contempt for their own people that they cannot imagine local solutions to local problems.
- Hafsa Kara-Mustapha
(Sep 18, '13)
|
Uyghurs shot dead in 'munitions center' raid
Details are emerging of an incident in which up to 12 Uyghurs were shot dead near Kashgar, in China's western Xinjiang region, with local people saying it involved an attack by the authorities on an alleged training camp and munitions center. Days earlier, 22 were killed in another "anti-terrorism" operation in the Kashgar region.
- Shohret Hoshur and Qiao Long
(Sep 18, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
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)
 To submit to
Speaking Freely click
here |
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)
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)
|
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
(Sep 17, '13)
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
(Sep 17, '13)
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)
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) |
|
 |
Tashkent permits
child labor check
The government of Uzbekistan, after years of outside pressure to curb child labor in cotton fields, is to allow the International Labor Organization to monitor this year's harvest. Concern remains that fear of authorities will still prevent workers from speaking out.
- Joanna Lillis
Armageddon looting machine
Five years on from the financial collapse precipitated by the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy the risk of another full-blown financial panic is looming large, thanks to the amount of risk being driven to unregulated lenders in the "shadow banking" sector.
- Ellen Brown
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. |
|
US, Iran on tiptoe,
seeking contact
The White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a carefully worded remark on Monday, “As of now, the president [Barack Obama] is not expected to meet his Iranian counterpart at the UN Assembly.” The Iranians also maintain there is no “plan” at the moment.
- M K Bhadrakumar
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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. Plesk.
|
|
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
|
|
|
