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SPEAKING FREELY
Mollah: a Bangladeshi travesty of justice
Veteran Bangladeshi politician Abdul Quader Mollah has been sentenced to death on appeal for committing crimes against humanity during the nation's 1971 independence war against Pakistan. The death sentence imposed without the possibility of appeal is incompatible with international human rights law and is logical only when seen as the result of a political vendetta. - Mohammad Hossain
(Sep 20, '13)
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World reacts to Rouhani's no nuclear pledge
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's comments that his government would never develop nuclear weapons were welcomed by US Secretary of State John Kerry with the caveat that "everything needs to be put to the test", and lauded by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. To Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the pledge was an attempt to deceive the world.
(Sep 20, '13)
Syria diplomacy helps shuffle global order
The United States has lost the respect and the belief of the international community as power gradually diffuses on a global scale. That is one lesson to be learned from US President Barack Obama's failure to gain followers to attack Syria. Another is the striking influence of grassroots opinion on international policy, not seen since the Vietnam War. - George Gao
(Sep 20, '13)
Southern inhospitality greets defectors
Framed by South Korea as spies and then thrown into detention, many North Korean defectors face some of the same mistreatment they sought to escape. As the South's media whips up more public paranoia about infiltrators, sentiment is increasingly veering away from a more transparent vetting process and towards the tightening of borders.
- Markus Bell and Sarah Chee
(Sep 20, '13)
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Killers roam free in Nepal
Not one case of extrajudicial killing, abduction, rape or torture in Nepal's decade-long civil war has been punished since the Maoists and other political parties signed a peace agreement in 2006 pledging to establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to punish war crimes, and a body to investigate the fate of the disappeared. Seven years later, the two commissions are yet to materialize.
- Sudeshna Sarkar
(Sep 20, '13)
 BOOK REVIEW
Military matters
in Myanmar
Soldiers and Diplomacy in Burma by Renaud Egreteau and Larry Jagan. Strong Soldiers, Failed Revolution by Yoshihiro Nakanishi
Outside focus on Myanmar's new civilian authorities and recent economic changes has helped the military, still the country's most powerful institution, to retreat into the shadows and to evade similar scrutiny. These two books help to shed light on that space, though both fall short of their objectives. - Bertil Lintner
(Sep 20, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Afghanistan, corruption and Karzai
While US nation-building funds have fueled Afghan's endemic graft, final responsibility for the problem's exponential growth rests with the Afghan leadership. That bribes are now double the country's domestic revenue attracts no condemnation from President Hamid Karzai or other influential Afghans - most likely because he and his government and officialdom are the main benefactors.
- Brian Cloughley
(Sep 20, '13)
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THE ROVING EYE
Obama-Rouhani: lights, camera, action
Though a meeting with Barack Obama at the UN next Tuesday is by no means certain, it's well-established that the stage is set for President Hassan Rouhani's administration to talk directly to Washington about Tehran's nuclear program. The question is whether Obama will have the "heroic flexibility" to face 34 years of history and stare down the spoilers. - Pepe Escobar
(Sep 19, '13)
Toxic agenda-setting in Washington
While the Obama administration beats the war drum and produces dubious proof that Bashar al-Assad gassed his own people, a potentially larger tragedy is brewing at the site of Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant. The 300 tonnes of radioactive water leaking every day from the destroyed plant into the Pacific could directly impact about a third of the world's population.
- Jonny Connor
(Sep 19, '13)
Post-election doldrums hit Malaysia
 Malaysia's long-ruling Barisan Nasional coalition is flexing its dominance over state institutions and plans to increase ethnic Malays' stake in the economy rather than tackle divisions that nearly saw it ousted. While half of those who voted against the BN in May elections bemoan an electoral loss, troubling economic signs worsened by Prime Minister Najib Razak's pre-election handouts face the whole country.
- Anil Netto
(Sep 19, '13)
US needs cultural weapons for North Korea
The United States' reliance on feeble sanctions and China to try to denuclearize North Korea have only seen Pyongyang accelerate profit-making enterprises from its nuclear weapons programs. A better chance of normalizing relations lies in encouraging educational and cultural exchanges; when North Korean elites start to see richer people in other countries, the jealousy spurred could lead a revolt with power behind it.
- Brian Min
(Sep 19, '13)
UN finds 'unspeakable atrocities'
 Michael Kirby, the head of a UN probe into human rights abuses has challenged the Kim Jong-eun regime to disprove "unspeakable atrocities" uncovered in North Korea after Pyongyang alleged stories of abductions, torture and prison camp punishments had been fabricated.
- Joshua Lipes
(Sep 19, '13) |
India's free lunches exact a high price
More than 24 million kilograms of food is cooked daily at Indian schools, mainly using wood fuel stoves that bring health and environmental costs. Yet the world's largest free-lunch program has no energy conservation or even a fuel policy in its workings. At least part of the answer to the problem is available, but slow to catch on.
- Keya Acharya
(Sep 19, '13)
Maersk makes waves in Russian market
Global Ports Investments, 25% owned by Denmark's Maersk, is set to secure a monopoly position in Russia's container transportation business with its takeover of National Container Co - if the deal passes takeover hurdles and the keen eye of President Vladimir Putin. - John Helmer
(Sep 19, '13)
New veg leaves bitter taste
The season of mellow fruitfulness is leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of Serbs and Croatians, as they eat the consequences of regulations that have brought in imported seeds for tomatoes, onions and other veg from the likes of Monsanto and reduced availability of local, more tasty products. - Vesna Peric Zimonjic
(Sep 19, '13)
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)
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
(Sep 18, '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) |
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CHAN AKYA
Bernanke and
the L-Word
The Federal Reserve has essentially admitted defeat in efforts to reverse quantitative easing. With that, instead of reducing longer-term financial risks and refocusing the economy on a sustainable path, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will leave as his legacy the US economy just as he found it - fragile and heading for a crash.
Shanghai to top Hong Kong
Shanghai's efforts to reclaim its 1920s' role as East Asia's center of trade and finance are moving forward fast, and the days of Hong Kong being the primary venue in China for financial transactions could be numbered.
- Dan Steinbock
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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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
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