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Turkey goes for Chinese take-away
 Turkey, a key NATO member, has gone for a US$3 billion Chinese take-away to ensure it has its own independent missile defense system. In ordering a version of the Hong Qi missile, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan may be telling Washington it no longer sees Turkey as Europe's front line state in the Middle East, and aims to manage his relationships with Iran and Syria on a more bilateral basis. - Peter Lee
(Sep 27, '13) |
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THE ROVING EYE
How the US is
enabling Syriastan
The big news from Syria is how demented jihadis of Jabhat al-Nusra and other nasties have ditched US-supported "moderates" to pledge allegiance to a Syria with Sharia law. Follow the money, not Washington's fairytale belief in its ability to control disparate hardcore jihadi gangs, to shatter the myth that a "democratic" Syria is still in the making.
- Pepe Escobar
(Sep 27, '13)
COMMENT
The US-Iran wrestling match
Current negotiations between Iran and the United States may be best described from Tehran's perspective as a wrestling match. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is willing to show "flexibility" in order to win the overall competition, but has also laid out clear red lines for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to show no weakness or humility to the United States.
- Alireza Nader
(Sep 27, '13)
Pakistan quake death-toll climbs
Tens of thousands of survivors of Pakistan's earthquake are waiting for help in soaring temperatures as the death toll rises to more than 350 and anger grows at the slow pace of government aid. More than 100,000 people made homeless have slept in the open or under makeshift shelters as response teams struggle to reach the remote region in southwestern province of Balochistan hit by the 7.7-magnitude quake on September 24.
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Twin crises test Aquino's mettle
Revelations of vast official corruption  during infrastructure projects hit Philippine President Benigno Aquino last week just days before rebels besieged a city on the conflict-ridden island of Mindanao. While Aquino has struck back by redirecting outrage over graft towards implicated opposition figures and by firmly crushing the rebellion, the double whammy illustrates the limits of his ambitious good governance agenda.
- Richard Javad Heydarian
(Sep 27, '13)
Dangers in North Korean dual-track strategy
North Korea appears to have softened its approach to the outside world. Yet as confrontation makes way to moves towards dialogue, Pyongyang plans to boost the economy while strengthening nuclear capacity. Such a combination will only bring more potential for an East Asian arms race - and kill hopes for achieving the security guarantees needed to denuclearize the peninsula.
- Niklas Swanstrom
(Sep 27, '13)
Tajik Islamists back secular ticket
In backing Oinihol Bobonazarova, a prominent female pro-democracy activist, as the opposition coalition's candidate for the November presidential election in Tajikistan, the Islamic Renaissance Party face the uncomfortable task of calling on their followers to back a secularist outsider. But Islamist leaders are looking to benefits beyond the unwinnable race.
- Farangis Najibullah
(Sep 27, '13)
India's Ladakh faces new scarcities
The hardy people of India's Ladakh region are coming under more pressure as climate change, tourism and modern practices exact a harsh toll on the high-altitude desert. While the replacement of traditional dry toilets sounds like progress, the impact of the borewells needed for flushing facilities is proving catastrophic for the fragile ecosystem. - Athar Parvaiz
(Sep 27, '13)
 BOOK REVIEW
How the West
denied China's law
Legal Orientalism: China, the US and Modern Law
by Teemu Ruskola
This important book traces the remarkable hold Orientalist views demonizing China as lawless still have on political and cultural narratives about China's laws and legal institutions. It argues that at a time the word needs more accurate knowledge of Chinese legal concepts, present-day reforms equating to a "self-Orientalism" make that unlikely.
- Dinesh Sharma
(Sep 27, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Abe flexes ugly military muscle
International comment on the choice of Tokyo to host the 2020 Olympic Games has been mildly supportive, but very little has been said about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's warmongering attempts to drop a constitutional pledge to "forever renounce" military force to settle international disputes. History demands more attention.
- Brian Cloughley
(Sep 27, '13)
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Obama: A hapless and wandering minstrel
Prospects for the Geneva process on Syria may be looking less dismal today than at dawn in New York on Tuesday. Yet, what lingers after President Barack Obama's United Nations speech is the sense of a lone superpower in a diminished role as a hapless regional power, unable or unwilling to assert itself. An era seems to be ending.
- M K Bhadrakumar
(Sep 26, '13)
Iran's liberalism shifts with oil price
 Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei's decision to allow moderates in Iran to participate and ultimately win an election reflects a sober realization of the economic situation on the ground, but also mirrors past liberal stints in Iran when diminished oil revenues provoked a jolt towards democracy. Disheartening for diplomacy, removing sanctions could simply reawaken cocksure, oppressive governance.
- Amin Shahriar
(Sep 26, '13)
SPEAKING FREELY
Libya: Still Gaddafi's fault?
Western media decrying a lack of support for Libya's nascent democracy blame poorly run institutions created by former dictator Muammar Gaddafi rather than the chaos that has followed "Operation Odyssey Dawn". At the forefront of critics seeking deeper US engagement are lobbyists for energy firms bemoaning the fact that an anticipated rebuilding bonanza is yet to materialize.
- Dieter Neumann
(Sep 26, '13)
THE ROVING EYE
Rouhani surfs the new WAVE
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani came to the United Nations, listened "carefully" to US President Barack Obama officially recognize the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei's fatwa against nuclear weapons - and then called for a global coalition for peace to replace coalitions for war - in effect a call for a World Against Violence and Extremism. Now for the heavy lifting ... - Pepe Escobar
(Sep 25, '13)
US, Iran trade cautious overtures at UN
Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhani both put diplomatic cards on the table at the United Nations. The real action begins on Thursday in the nuclear arena, when US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif meet for the highest-level formal encounter of the two countries since 1979.
- Kitty Stapp
(Sep 25, '13)
Why Obama needs a pen pal in Tehran
US media say Hassan Rouhani offers a chance to break a cycle of successive US administrations trying their best to pull obstinate Iranian leaders towards democracy. The reality is that past approaches from Tehran were blocked because the Middle East balance of power was skewed in Washington's favor. Deft Russian diplomatic maneuvers have brought an end to that. - Ramzy Baroud
(Sep 25, '13)
The day Kim Il-sung died his first death
On a winter's day in 1986, loudspeakers on the North Korean side of the no-man's land that divides the Korean Peninsula began broadcasting news that Great Leader Kim Il-sung had been shot dead. The news died its death two days later when Kim appeared alive and well (he was to die eight years later). The mystery of the morbid propaganda lives on.
- Fyodor Tertitskiy
(Sep 25, '13)
Delusional reality of Pakistani peace
Pakistani political parties who blame the US's war on terror and drones attacks for the rise in militancy appear blind to factors such as the state's past support for sectarian outfits, the incapacity of law enforcement agencies to tackle terrorism and the impact of Islamization programs. Unless these root causes are recognized, militants will retain the strategic upper hand and peace talks will fail.
- Sameera Rashid
(Sep 25, '13)
RUSSIAN DIPLOMACY
Moscow issues Eurasia ultimatum
Russian President Vladimir Putin is drawing new battle lines to protect his Eurasian Union project, which aims at integrating the former Soviet republics under Moscow's leadership. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's "all or nothing" threat to Ukraine to cease flirtations with Europe and revert its eyes eastward is telling: Russia is concerned that the "defection" of its biggest neighbor will undermine ambitions to build more strategic depth.
- M K Bhadrakumar
(Sep 24, '13)
Putin wins the war on terror
Vladimir Putin's policy of combating jihadists wherever possible and his will to put Russia's full diplomatic and military weight behind his fight against terror are in stark contrast to the Obama administration's focus on dialogue and humanitarian actions. Russia's international prestige is growing as it outplays the US in a fight it started but seems unable to finish.
- Riccardo Dugulin
(Sep 24, '13) |
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Indian banks trip
on bad-loan hurdle
The Moody's downgrade of State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, is just one indication of the tough times facing the banking sector as the economy slows, inflation remains persistently high, and the government prepares for an election.
- Kunal Kumar Kundu
TPP a Trojan horse
The Trans-Pacific Partnership, planned to cover nearly 40% of the world's economy, is branded as a "free trade" agreement but has nothing to do with fair and equitable treatment. Its secretive commitments do, however, infringe mightily on the rights of individuals and sovereign states.
- Sachie Mizohata
CREDIT BUBBLE BULLETIN
The Fed goes too far
The Federal Reserve's decision to furlough QE "tapering" means that this time it has pushed the envelope too far. It is yet another blunder by chairman Ben Bernanke's team, and the likely price will be only greater market instability.
Doug Noland looks at the previous week's events each Monday.
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Time to think big
on India's Iran ties
The US president Barack Obama was pipped to the Tehran post by Moscow by a whisker. Clearly, Obama planned his big announcement of making the historic overture to Tehran for the big annual occasion on Tuesday at Turtle Bay. But the Kremlin got wind of it, for sure. On Monday, Iranian media reported that Russia and Iran have reached agreement to build a new nuclear power plant at Bushehr.
- M K Bhadrakumar
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[Re The real North Korean threat, Sep 26, '13]
Where is the reference to denying North Koreans food aid that in times of famine and bad weather would have stopped the need for them to strip trees of bark for food?
Nakamura Junzo
Guam
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