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October 2008
China Hand's piece: 'We're
not going to win this war' [Oct 29] ... starts off with the Taliban and
the bus massacres and nowhere mentions the countless acts of atrocities by US
forces on the population. With 40 nations in that country, you would think
someone would ask who gave them the right to be there. Let's dust off that old
word imperialism and for those with a weaker stomach let's call it the imperial
dream renewed. It's fast-forward to the 19th century. Much is made of the issue
of human rights and the Taliban, while the human and civil rights and free will
of the entire population are being violated. The problem with erudite,
well-researched articles from an elitist point of view is the cold heart at the
center of it all. It reads inhuman to me but in war it is the human element
that wins and that must rule out the West. Emotive words like Taliban and
al-Qaeda are meant to hide the true composition of the resistance forces. The
US, US lackeys and puppet president are not emotive words but rather the words
of reality for the Afghan population.
Wilson John Haire
London (Oct 31,'08)
I am a African-American and I am pleased to read the Asia Times Online. I like
to get my news without all the garbage we get from the US media. The only
problem I find with your newspaper is when I want to print an article, I also
have to print all the advertising. I don't have a lot of money like most of
your readers so I would appreciate if you can take the advertising out of the
print article form. But I love ATol and my friends and I discuss what you print
all the time.
Pierre Scott (Oct 31,'08)
Sad to say, our current technology is backward and we cannot disable ads for
print purposes. What you could do, though, is copy and paste an article's text
onto a Word file, for example, and print that. - ATol
[Re Ma goes too far, too
fast for Taiwan, Oct 30] While [Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou] can be
accused of overcorrecting for his predecessor’s animosity towards China, Ma
needs to build a greater sense of Taiwanese strength and independence so that
he does not negotiate with China from a weak stance. Taiwan deserves its
independence, and many of its people are understandably wary of new policies
and practices that could lead to the erosion of sovereignty over time,
especially since the Chinese government consistently views Taiwan as a renegade
province to be regained. The Chinese government has so fueled nationalistic
fervor among mainland people that it would be very difficult for the government
to swallow its pride and give up its claim to Taiwan. Yet China should do just
that, showing Taiwan and the world that it is not the avaricious bully some
Taiwanese fear, but wise and just. Political missteps in relations across the
Taiwan Strait have occurred periodically since the 1950s. Skirmishes have been
few, while debilitating fear remains high. Let’s hope China sees the wisdom of
magnanimity before luck runs out so that people on both sides of the Strait can
live in harmony.
William E Cooper
Distinguished University Professor
and President Emeritus
University of Richmond
Richmond, USA (Oct 31,'08)
In Cindy Sui's article, Ma
goes too far, too fast for Taiwan [Oct 30], one element is
missing. It is true the protesting crowd was big, whether the protesters' claim
of 600,000 or the official estimate of 160,000 is correct. A significant
portion of the protest was instigated and led by former president Chen
Sui-bien, who is now being investigated for a number of corruption cases. He,
his entire and extended family, his many top aides and confidantes, and many
very rich businessmen who "cooperated" with him before are now legally barred
from leaving Taiwan while the probe goes on at a feverish pace, exposing scores
of huge overseas accounts and complicated cross transactions associated with
the above mentioned group of people. Chen's party, the DPP [Democratic
Progressive Party], is thoroughly humiliated. So the "die-hards" of the party
are willing and eager to direct their anger at the KMT [Kuomintang], the ruling
party, which is now calling the shots. The people of Taiwan understand that its
economy is being sustained and nourished by China, which bares billions in
yearly trade deficits. So improved relations with China are an absolute
necessity, and more important than a shattered political party yelling and
screaming for survival.
Seung Li (Oct 31,'08)
China Hand's 'We're not
going to win this war' [Oct 29] needs careful reading. He cites chapter
and verse as to why the US (and NATO [the North Atlantic Treaty Organization])
are not going to win the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan. It is hardly a
startling conclusion, and one not limited to websites like Asia Times Online.
Furthermore, China Hand does not consider the argument that while we're not
going to win the war, we're also not going to lose it. The reality on the
ground in Afghanistan, albeit dramatic, is complex. Looking at the map, you
will notice that the Taliban "controlled" territory lies adjacent to Pakistan,
and is geographically therefore limited to that area. So let's us enquire
further into the matter. Even though feelers are out there from Kabul to
compromise with a fraction of the Taliban, you have to take the longer view
that with more US troops in Afghanistan; talks will drag out for some time to
come. And in the interim, many things may very well tilt the scales against a
resurgent Taliban. Afghans have tasted the fruits of freedoms long denied them
under the reign of Mullah Omar, and it is doubtful that they want to again
submit themselves to the extreme rule of Sharia law. And in politics, nothing
repeats itself in the same way. As for aid, Pakistan in one form or the other,
has furnished the Taliban and yes al-Qaeda. The survival of Pakistan as a state
is now directly challenged by its own Taliban. In spite of the work of [former
prime minister] Nawaz Sherif and President Asif Ali Zardari, the safeguard and
sanctity of Pakistan as Pakistan - corrupt as it is - has pushed its elites and
military to do as Asian Times Online's Syed Saleem Shazad puts it 'the
handiwork' of the US in combating the Taliban in the northern provinces. The
fighting in Afghanistan is messy and hardly a good war, but it is obvious that
the new American president will not stint from waging it, until the Taliban are
weakened before any compromise is ever worked out.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Oct 30,'08)
In 'We're not going to
win this war' [Oct 29], China Hand seems to discount an unlikely change
in American policy toward winning the minds and hearts of the Afghan populace,
and must feel that possible change could not overcome the Taliban's advantage
of having a safe haven in Pakistan. Certainly the US's use of airpower and
other aggressive tactics, with the resulting collateral damage, continue to
alienate the populace. One assumes that Mr Hand believes we will continue the
current failed policy in Afghanistan and thus have no hopes of winning the war.
Jim Hoover
California (Oct 30,'08)
The sole salient point that Sami Moubayed makes in
The strike that shattered US-Syria ties [Oct 28] is: " ... It is
certain that the attack, for which full details are yet to be known, will lead
to plenty of bad blood between Damascus and Washington ...". Mr Moubayad, along
with other area experts, is in all probability aware of a Europe-based
intelligence service website that along with one other has unconfirmed reports
of the assassination of both the head of the Jordanian government's
intelligence unit along with the head of Israel's Mossad in Amman, Jordan
within the past fortnight. Thereby making the US air strike a more palatable
tit-for-tat than an Israeli strike ...
Armand De Laurell (Oct 29,'08)
[Re The strike that
shattered US-Syria ties , Oct 28] Let's face it: it didn't take much to
tear apart the "budding US-Syria ties". Relations with Washington have been
lukewarm at best. America's sudden and swift attack inside Syria, not far from
the Iraqi border, set back any warming of the stone-cold diplomacy between the
two. Damascus has retaliated by ordering the closing of an American school and
cultural center, and has taken its case to the United Nations. On the other
hand, [US President George W] Bush's war machine has acted with seemingly
impunity, and Sami Moubayed misses the point. Bush's "war against terror" is
floundering, and to refurbish his warrior shield in acts of desperation, he has
resorted to violating the territorial integrity not only of a state that the
American president personally loathes like Syria, but also the boundaries of an
ally like Pakistan. Mr Bush has become like the US marshal in Hollywood
westerns having a showdown with the bad guys. In the present case, since
details are so lacking, no one really knows much but that eight Syrian farmers
are dead. Although Syria has a porous frontier with Iraq, there has been a
sharp reduction in the number of "terrorists" infiltrating Iraq in the past few
years. If American intelligence had wind of taking down a top al-Qaeda
operative, it has proved less than accurate, and joins the long list of
mistakes that intelligence has made, say, in Afghanistan. A cynic would say
that Mr Bush's transgression into Syria's sovereignty may have more to do with
tilting the US presidential election towards [Republican presidential candidate
John] McCain. But if that were true, it has had little effect on the last week
on the campaigning. It is more as though out of desperation that in his last
weeks in office, Mr Bush is enjoying a last hurrah!
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Oct 29,'08)
The Asian Times Online article,
US, Pakistan mission on target [Oct 28], makes very interesting
reading. Does the author think these drone/UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle]
attacks are really effective or will be so in the long run? I suppose to
operate them one still has to have HUMINT [human intelligence], and solid info
on the target's movements, otherwise "collateral damages" will pile up! So I am
somewhat skeptical of the effectiveness of the technology being used in the
irregular warfare that the US is waging ... Congratulations once again on a
fine and informative piece; I shall look forward to more.
Jyotirmoy Banerjee
Professor of International Relations
Jadavpur University
Kolkata, India (Oct 29,'08)
Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has a very strong human
intelligence network on the ground which compliment drone activity. Khalid
Habib's killing is the case in point, and he was killed while traveling in a
vehicle, not hiding in a particular sanctuary. Of course, his movement in that
particular vehicle was relayed. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Oct 29,'08)
[Re Pretenders all
of us, Oct 24] It's rather surprising that Chan Akya seems to grasp the
mechanics of global finance so little, considering that in earlier articles he
displayed rather good understanding of basic economics. When the author
(through "Paul V") suggests that in order to stem the flow of foreign capital
into the US, [former US Federal Reserve chairman Alan] Greenspan should have
hiked the Fed's Funds Rate (shortest-term interest rate and one of only two
subject to manipulation by the Fed), he gets it exactly backwards. As higher
interest rates actually attract capital rather than repel it, the only
achievement of such a step would be to invert a bond yield curve even further,
resulting in mortgage interest rates moving even lower than they did and
exacerbating the housing bubble. It's almost funny to see how people who
advocate unfettered markets (Chan Akya comes to mind as one of them), and
manage to solicit government intervention of the most damaging sort in the same
breath without skipping a beat. For those burning Alan Greenspan effigies (done
typically by his former worshippers these days) I can offer only one piece of
advice. Doing so is just as inappropriate as putting him on a pedestal and
calling him maestro was in the first place. The Federal Reserve doesn't
set relevant interest rates, markets do. Central banks simply follow the bond
market's guidance, nothing more. As the famous economist Milton Friedman said,
such work could be done by a computer. Friedman was wrong on many matters. Not
on this one. Oleg Beliakovich,
Seattle, WA (Oct 28,'08)
Errr ... no. The boom in US mortgages was driven by Adjustable Rate Mortgages
(ARMs) that were linked to front-end rates, not long-end (30-year) mortgage
rates: this is what the correspondent gets completely and utterly wrong: most
subprime borrowers (and Alt-A as well as many commercial mortgages that were
priced on front-end rates) squeezed through because their immediate mortgage
payments under the ARMs were noticeably lower than normal, providing an
illusion of affordability. In any event, there have historically never been
periods of sustained lending increases when the yield curve inverted, as this
signifies an impending recession. Higher interest rates in the US would have
made mortgages far too expensive there as well as hiked capital costs for
companies, including in the construction sector; if Oleg notices, there is also
something there about accounting changes that would have made off-balance sheet
vehicles like SIVs far too expensive for banks; the combination of these two
events thereby nipping the entire subprime market in its bud. This is not a
call for government intervention, far from it: it's a simple exercise of
existing government (central bank) responsibilities, namely to manage the
viability of the financial system. I also recommend he reads my previous
article Deaf
frogs and the Pied Piper [Sep 29] to gain additional insights into
the government intervention in foreign exchange markets that led to the excess
capital flows towards the US. The significant rise in commodity prices over the
past few years would have been avoided as the buildup in global demand would
not have been as significant; in turn this would have prevented billions from
flowing into hedge funds and other risk investors who pushed the trend a little
too high. As a last point, this author never did hold Alan Greenspan in high
regard, but does hold that Milton Friedman was correct in most respects, not
just some of them. Chan Akya (Oct 28,'08)
[Re Widespread fallout
from India-US pact , Oct 27] Brad Glosserman and Bates Gill have the
best of motives in critiquing the US-Indian nuclear agreement. They seek the
credibility of the [Non-Proliferation Treaty] NPT agreement and prevention of
proliferation on a large scale. But one cannot understand the naivete that they
bring into the article. One has to be totally ignorant of global geopolitics
and 20th century history to be unaware of the fact that every agreement, even
multilateral ones with lofty goals such as the NPT, were at the end of day
possible because they met the strategic objectives of great powers. The
exclusive nuclear club that the NPT created cannot be justified on any other
grounds; it was the forced acceptance of the nuclear status quo of five great
powers imposed on the rest of the world. Some countries like India felt that
such an arrangement was patently unfair, and rejected it on those grounds. Now
the Cold War is over, and the strategic objectives and the players of the great
game of international politics have changed. Thus, why the surprise, and the
indignation, at US and Indian attempts to create a new playing field in Asia?
By the way, whatever Japan's concerns about the India-US deal, the Japanese are
also pushing hard for a realignment in Asia, one that includes India, Australia
and Singapore as a part of a strategy to ensure a balance of power in the
region. One is even more surprised by the assertion that smaller European
nations (since all the consequential players in the EU [European Union], for
example France, UK, and Germany, fully supported the deal) are annoyed that the
US prevented them from selling sensitive technology to China! So that is the
crux of the argument in favor of the NPT? Why poor Austria is not allowed to
sell weapons to the country (China) that flouted every rule in the NPT, despite
being a signatory, by selling nuclear and missile secrets to Pakistan! That is
grade-A European hypocrisy, possible only in small and increasingly
inconsequential states such as Austria and Norway. May one ask what were the
reasons for Chinese actions in arming Pakistan? The answer is geostrategy, as a
child can tell you. The sooner we destroy the myth that international
agreements are designed for some lofty purpose and not realpolitik, the better.
Until then we suffer juvenile, feel-good journalism from the likes of
Glosserman and Gill.
Pritam Banerjee
Washington DC
School of Public Policy
George Mason University (Oct 28,'08)
[Re Asia, EU
leaders united in lack of detail, Oct 28] How much could the leaders of
Asia and Europe agree on during a two day meeting recently held in Beijing?
Apparently not much, according to Antoaneta Bezlova. Other than agreeing that
the world has entered a deepening worldwide financial crisis, and that a new
Bretton Woods-like accord on international monetary and financial system is
needed, nothing other than a statement of high principles was obtained ...
Bezlova does not mention the formation of working committees to meet the global
financial challenges ... Additionally, no mention is made of China's call for a
replacement of the US dollar as the international medium of exchange. Which
seems a bit rash in the light of the strengthening of the US dollar, and the
rush of other currencies to the safety of a stronger dollar, on one hand. On
the other hand, China's holding of US debt makes its call seem off the pier. A
US in recession has an immediate echo in China's economy, which is geared to
feed on America's consumer appetite. Recent retail figures made trade with
China more problematic, and will leave Chinese factories with built up
inventories that have nowhere to go. China may favor the election of Senator
Barack Obama as the next occupant of the White House, but if they look at his
stance on China, there is much to be concerned about. Mr Obama is talking job
creation which means, if he lives up to his campaign promises, less outsourcing
to China, and even repatriation of outsourced work to the mainland US. And then
there is the matter of the undervalued yuan, which the new president will have
to call Beijing on. The senator from Illinois has his own ideas on trade and on
the economic crisis, and he plays his cards close to his chest. Beijing would
do better not to say nor propose anything which would challenge a very fruitful
relationship that China has had with the US. The global recession has changed
the ground rules and China has a weaker hand than she thinks she has.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Oct 28,'08)
In Spengler's article,
Hockey moms and capital markets [Oct 6], he writes: "Children who play
hockey will grow up to get coffee for children who study piano." I'm surprised
that Spengler misses the key insight about children's sports in America. Sports
is where American children learn about teamwork, goal-setting, competition,
channeling aggression, and personal excellence. Pianists learn to master a
subject in detail. A noble trait, but not sufficient for leadership. In other
words, while some hockey players will serve coffee to the pianists, other
hockey players will own the coffee shop, the coffee truck, and the coffee
plantations. The pianists will be writing research papers on coffee beans.
Perhaps it's not hockey, but you should know that the founder of Starbucks,
Howard Schultz, not only owns the Seattle SuperSonics basketball team, but also
plays basketball every week.
Andrew Berman
Tenafly, NJ, USA (Oct 28,'08)
In the article, Pakistan
wary of IMF demands [Oct 27], by Syed Fazl-e-Haider, he clearly states
that Pakistan's predicament is well justified, especially with the new-found
friendship between the US and India and the fact that the IMF [International
Monetary Fund] is part of the US government. If Pakistan is forced to ask the
IMF to save it from total economic collapse, India can use its new alliance
with the US to pressurize Pakistan's leadership into curtailing any military or
espionage adventures it plans for India. India can also now increase pressure
on China to solve their border disputes. The broad strategic alliance has given
India much-needed power for leverage.
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, USA (Oct 28,'08)
[Re The velocity of
worthless money , Oct 25] Once again in these horrific times, the great
Mogambo writes with humor about the tragedy of having fools at the helm of
government and finance. When things are so bad, we must laugh until we cry.
Ron Mepwith
USA (Oct 27,'08)
[Re Tokyo's nexus with India
deepens, Oct 25] The recently signed joint declaration between Tokyo
and New Delhi on security is significant, but hardly surprising. It is simply
an indication of geopolitical realities as an awakened and economically strong
China reasserts its traditional role in East and Southeast Asia. Japan
remembers the recent anti-Japanese demonstrations in the streets of China -
which had the government's hand behind them - and India has never gotten over
the bitter memories of its defeat at China's hands in the 1962 war. Sour
historical memories have, however, not hindered growing trade ties with
Beijing, but doubts do persist about China's inconsistent attitudes to its big
neighbors Japan and China. Beijing may see the Indo-Japanese security
declaration as a step towards encirclement, but such fears are mitigated by
Professor Jain's observations that the nexus of a Tokyo-New Delhi axis is
developing slowly, and that such growth is organic, not bold, in the light of
each country's turbulent history with China. On the other hand, it is true that
a strong China poses problems for the two countries, and in Asian-like fashion,
they prefer to deal with the matter sotto voce, and promote the tactic
of "making harmony" rather than confronting Beijing face to face.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Oct 27,'08)
The seemingly widespread Indian notion that somehow "India threw up its hands
and presented Tibet to China in 1950 …", as suggested by Sreeram Chaulia in
Graveyard of Indian idealism [Oct 25], his review of the book Tibet: The
Lost Frontier by Claude Arpi, is utterly ridiculous. Tibet was never
India's to give to China or anybody in the first place. Tibet, despite being
certainly influenced by Indian Buddhism, was never politically associated with
India or any Indian entity in any way. How can Tibet be a child of Indian
civilization? You could probably say the same about perhaps Thailand and
Cambodia. It doesn't make Tibet India's. By the logic of the French author,
which Chaulia apparently agrees with, Japan, Korea and Vietnam are all children
of Chinese civilization and somehow that makes these three countries China's?
Rubbish. Also, the reference to India describing it as a "paper tiger" (a term
exclusively reserved for the US) is nowhere to be found in Chairman Mao's
writings or official [People's Republic of China] PRC propaganda, so that is
just wild imagination. The shady account of Tibetan history presented by Arpi
and rehashed by Chaulia aside, what could India have done to not "… present
Tibet to China in 1950 …"? Was India prepared to go to war with China to
"defend" Tibet? It's mesmerizing to imagine what the outcome of the war would
have been had India decided to uphold the laughable "Indian idealism" it
allegedly had. Simply by refusing to recognize that Tibet is part of China does
not change the fact that it is so. India annexed Sikkim and the PRC did not
recognize it until several years ago. I believe the lack of Chinese recognition
did not change the fact that Sikkim is part of India, did it? ...
Juchechosunmanse
Beijing, PR China (Oct 27,'08)
The article China gets a
jump on US in space [Oct 25], by Peter J Brown, is quite revealing
about the attitude and thinking of US military experts. The US judges every
other country by its own actions. That puts all nations in a category of
aggressive warmongers who are out to destroy the "free world". The "free world"
being the definition of a US-controlled country. The history of China during
the existence of the US is far more trustworthy and peaceful than that of the
US. Sure China is space capable and there will be military applications, but if
the US minds its own business (revolutionary thought!), China could be a good
space neighbor.
Ken Moreau
New Orleans, Louisiana (Oct 27,'08)
Sun Tzu, ancient master of warfare, favored relatively bloodless wars of
conquest. Key to such a goal was the ability to psychologically unhinge the
opponent, through deception, false intelligence, feints and decoy maneuvers.
The resulting mental and emotional exhaustion would make the enemy prone to
capitulation, the benign approach to conquest that preserved lives, treasure
and property. Indecision, confusion, and fear would be Sun Tzu's weapons of
mass demoralization. One cannot help but consider the events of the last seven
or more years in these terms. The American public has been yanked and jerked
around like yo-yos on crack cocaine; the stolen election of 2000, followed by
the September 11, 2001 attacks, anthrax attacks, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, North
Korea, Abu Ghraib, CIA [US Central Intelligence Agency], black prisons,
Guantanamo, Gonzalezgate, Plovegate, the mortgage meltdown, Wall Street's
collapse, the nationalization of private banks and a [US President George W]
Bush one-for-the-road, swan-song surprise to be named later. One can only
speculate that Bush has a cartoon copy of Sun Tzu that has enabled him to
emulate the Chinese sage's wisdom. But there seems little doubt that the
ongoing, unremitting and relentless succession of crises, wars, debacles and
scandals is intentioned to do much more than simply immortalize this
administration as one of the most inept and corrupt in world history. No, I
contend here and now that it is not criminal incompetence at work here but a
very real agenda to destroy the fabric of American constitutional government.
Bush doesn't care whether [Republican presidential candidate John] McCain (whom
he despises) or [Democratic presidential candidate Barack] Obama succeeds him
in office (begging the question; can the words "Bush" and "succeed" appear in
the same sentence?) No one who has done any serious study of 9/11 can argue
that massive incompetence, on a scale that would stagger the imagination of
flatworms, could be responsible for this most egregious failure of security in
human history ... No one can seriously say that the tortures conducted in
Guantanamo and Iraq did not have the tacit blessings of [former US secretary of
defense Donald] Rumsfeld, Bush and [US Vice President Dick] Cheney. Who amongst
your readers will say that the manipulation of mortgage derivatives did not
immensely profit GOP campaign contributors? Please, someone, anyone, argue that
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have not been boons beyond the dreams of
sultans for Bush's cronies and buddies in the war contracting industry ... No,
indeed, there is much method to Bush's perceived madness. He intends to have
America break down into cultural, racial and class wars, a divisiveness unseen
since the blighted 1860s. With the subsequent demoralization will come the
surrender of all the values that Americans pretended made them unique and
special ... Bush will pave the way for this pretended savior, who will be
greeted with hosannas and praise. Then the arrests will begin.
Hardy (Oct 27,'08)
In China gets a jump on US
in space [Oct 25], the author reports that there is some concern, among
the "spooks" in America, that China's successes in space herald their
preparations to attack them. Well, I can understand their trepidation. What
other nation on the planet has more reason to be worried about payback for
death and destruction rendered? Though China has not been the object of any of
the attacks that Khomeini's "Great Satan" is so adept at handing out to the
little guys in the yard, this is only because Uncle Sam's predator instinct
tells him to walk around the big ones. However, China has been paying attention
and realizes that, should it show the right degree of weakness, (or foolish
trust), the US would be all over it - in the dark.
Keith E Leal
Canada (Oct 27,'08)
In China gets a jump on US
in space [Oct 25], Peter J Brown ... appears to be talking up the
dangers of the "Yellow Peril" to increase his budget. As the US gets ever
deeper into bankruptcy, competition for "defense" bucks will get ever more
fierce, and no tactic too low.
Lester Ness
Kunming,China (Oct 27,'08)
[Re US government
throws oil on fire, Oct 22] "The [US Federal Reserve] and the Treasury
appeared to be rushing from emergency to emergency without a strategic plan to
deal with the fundamental problem of a debt bubble collapse." This could be the
history of the [US President George W] Bush Administration in a single
sentence!
Lester Ness
Kunming
China (Oct 24,'08)
[Re Forget Bush's wars and
work with Asia, Oct 23] Professor Zhiqun Zhu's enthusiasm for the
"Asia-Pacific century" is hardly infectious. It is in the same vein as the
boast of China-born Henry Luce that the 20th century was "America's century". A
wish which had a will of the wisp quality to it. The US has long exercised its
military, economic, and cultural power in Asia. It has not stinted in its
cooperation with China, whose economy has been propped up and sustained by
massive infusions of private capital, runaway shops, and a seemingly insatiable
consumerism, and whose entrance to the global economy through the World Trade
Organization (WTO) was helped by former president Bill Clinton. Washington has
also not neglected its interests and allies and friends in South, Southeast,
and East Asia. Dr Zhu cast a disapproving eye at US president George W Bush's
unilateral foreign policy, yet, when push comes to shove - the six-year
melodrama with Pyongyang notwithstanding - Washington has defended its
longstanding interests in Asia, has mended fences with India, and extended Free
Trade Agreements (FTA) in East and Southeast Asia. Curiously enough, Dr Zhu
ignores the current turmoil in the world's stock markets. The great test lies
in the fallout of the growing and deep worldwide recession which will put to
the test Mr Zhu's "Asia-Pacific century", and judging by the volatility and
uncertainly in the markets, the economic well-being of the Asian tigers and
China and India will be sorely tried ...
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Oct 24,'08)
[Re In China, reporters
without orders, Oct 21] In a memorable editorial in the LA Times eons
ago, during the deepest-freeze days of the Cold War, someone, maybe William
Safire, wrote that competing civilizations over time tend to mimic one another.
Today, Russia struggles to become its version of a capitalist oligarchy, while
the US has to decide if it wants to continue mimicking the Soviet Union's
failed intrusion into Afghanistan. And while the US nationalizes its banks,
China capitalizes and democratizes. The pace of change is not the point. The
orientation of reasonable societies struggling to remain stable is worth
watching closely, for there may be a common, vitally important goal hidden
within all the adversarial rhetoric. That's the not-so-obvious nugget of a
message embedded in your editorial.
Joe Parker
Chengdu, China (Oct 23,'08)
[Re Gliding towards
nuclear war, Oct 22] This is one of the best articles ever published in
Asia Times Online. It is thoughtful, practical, and in the interests of the
survival of humanity. Do you suppose that ATol could persuade Martin Hellman to
write a similar article on the analysis of economic meltdowns?
Tom Gerber
USA (Oct 23,'08)
[Re Myanmar's
failed non-violent opposition, Oct 22] Norman Robespierre's frustration
with the way things are, one year after the non-violent protests against the
Myanmar military junta, is understandable. Nonetheless, his analysis of the
anti-junta forces' failure to bring down the Burmese dictatorship is not
reasonable. He seems to be blaming the victim ... The opposition inside the
country relies on the weapon of the weak, passive resistance, for what other
can it employ when it faces the violence of the Myanmar state? Robespierre is
very critical of passive resistance, but shies away quickly from proposing
alternatives such as armed conflict. Would he favor outside intervention like
the US invasion of Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein? ... It seems that Robespierre
exculpates the real culprits.
Melville Cooper
Singapore (Oct 23,'08)
The article by Asha Shahir
All abroad for Istanbul [Oct 22] fails to mention that the earlier 1906
Iranian constitutional monarchy's constitution, just like the current 1979
Islamic Republic constitution, also did not recognize the Baha’i faith,
therefore the Baha’i faith was always constitutionally illegal. Both Iranian
Constitutions, of 1906 and 1979, recognize only four religions: Islam,
Christianity, Judaism and the Zoroastrian. For this reason at no time in the
past 150 years of Iranian history have Baha’is been able to get a birth
certificate, therefore applying for a governmental job as a Baha’i was and is
similar to applying for a job in US government as a communist. Also the article
should have been mentioned that the most major crackdown against the Baha’is
was at its inception during the Ghajar Monarchy period of nearly 100 years ago.
The article misleads the reader to believe that the current Islamic Republic's
constitution eliminated a previously recognized legal right ...
Kooshy Afshar (Oct 23,'08)
[Re US government
throws oil on fire, Oct 22] Another excellent opus by Dr Liu that
leaves this reader betwixt and between the edge Dr Liu suspends one on, that is
between, "public" vs "private" capital. Without sounding facetious what would
be his take on "bionic capital"? One is almost tempted to exclaim along royal
lines, "The king is dead, God save the king".
Armand De Laurell (Oct 23,'08)
[Re Pakistan does some
US dirty work, Oct 17] Syed Saleem Shahzad's articles are often well
researched with an element of deductive reasoning. However, the writeup about
the Humvees reads like an Urdu daily. Heavy Industries Taxila may very well be
building the Humvees, but what the sources say amounts to little more than
hearsay. Additionally, why is it ironic that armaments built in Taxila may also
be used against miscreant nationals? Pakistan gets paid to build a
sophisticated piece of machinery and may very well use some of it for its own
defense needs. It's a no-brainer. The subject of the large American base in
Tarbela is another example of investigative journalism gone bad. Large American
bases have done Germany and Japan no harm, so Pakistan shouldn't come out too
shabby either. Such a base will create local employment in tens of thousands,
and pump millions into the local economy, if there is such a base, that is.
Moiz Ali
Oregon USA (Oct 22,'08)
The significance of these developments is that Pakistan is home to a high and
growing proportion of fiercely anti-American militant Islamists - unlike Japan
or Germany. These people do not take kindly to US bases or Humvee production
lines, and, indeed, it is they who are being targeted by the US and its allies
in Islamabad. - ATol
My article shows that Pakistan is now the vortex and this is the news. Humvees,
or a base at Tarbela, which has been confirmed by the Pakistani authorities,
are just few aspects of a broader picture. I have nothing to say about the good
or bad of all these developments; the issue is that these developments are
there. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
In the Cold War days, an old Hungarian joke said one may pick one's friends
(eg, Austria), but one has no choice about fraternal relations (eg, the Soviet
Union). Spengler, in Sharansky's
mistaken identity [Oct 21], goes one step further: he reserves the
right to pick the friends of the Jewish state - "... That is why the only true
friends of the Jewish state are American and some other evangelicals, and a few
leaders of the Catholic Church ..." - while he also claims the right to
conflate "Jews" with the Jewish state. There is something pathetic about
Christian theocons telling Jews who their friends should be. There is some
truth to the argument that ancient Jewish nationalism is the prototype for
modern European nationalism and the cause of modern European anti-Semitism. But
to argue that the future for Jews lies in soliciting the help of Christian
fundamentalists and more secular partisans of "Western civilization" - the
forces that claim to have superseded the Jews in their universal significance -
is essentially to claim that the future of this Western civilization lies in
upholding the ethnic purity of the state of Israel. Spengler can say what he
likes about demographics - he has not yet produced any proof of the link
between atheism and demographic decline, whereas the correlation between the
growth of secularism and the growth of population after 1500 CE is quite
strong. But to elicit the participation of Jews in a civilizational war against
Islam in order to give "the West" a reason to live - that is the sure path to
self-destruction. The Jews have been around a lot longer than Christianity, the
"West", or Israel. Their identity does not derive from any of them. The problem
for Jews lies in redefining Jewish identity for a world that is no longer
dominated by the West, rather than being sucked into half-baked crusades. More
Masadas for the sake of "civilization"? Danke, nein. Let Spengler dream his own
supersessionist dreams alone - in the post-US President George W Bush era.
Boris Stremlin
Kazakhstan (Oct 22,'08)
Herbert Bix’s Lessons
from the war in Georgia [Oct 21], is a comprehensive and balanced
post-mortem of the conflict and its consequences for international relations,
particularly US foreign policy ...
Sunthar
Chicago (Oct 22,'08)
[Re Lessons from the
war in Georgia, Oct 21] Everything was OK until I got to the point
where the author expresses his concern about "potential flashpoints like
Nagorno-Karabakh and Yakutia in the Far East". Anyone who ever visited Yakutia
knows it as the only place on Earth which has zero chance of becoming a
"flashpoint". My guess is that Herbert Bix simply wanted to infuse some drama
in an otherwise uninspiring - if well intentioned - piece, and out of sheer
ignorance chose the most unfortunate example ...
Oleg Beliakovich
Seattle, WA (Oct 22,'08)
[Re Pulses race in Pyongyang,
Oct 21] It would be easier to clean the Augean stables, it seems, than to stop
the rumor mill about the health of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il. Pyongyang
closed its borders the other day, and everyone expected an announcement of
"earth shattering" importance, but none came, and the sky did not fall. Seoul's
minister of unification, Kim Ho-nyeon, whose ministry monitors events in North
Korea, calmly stated that nothing out of the ordinary had happened there. To
tell the truth, no one really knows much of anything of Mr Kim's health or why
he was absent from North Korea's observance of milestone anniversaries in the
last two months. Patience obviously is not a virtue in the foreign ministries
of Tokyo, Seoul, and Washington. They had expected confirmation of their own
worst fears. And then Pyongyang kept mum. Whatever the truth is, North Korea
will in due time let it out. As far as fearing a palace coup or a collapse of
the North Korea state or a mass flow of refugees north towards China or south
to South Korea, braving the mined and heavily armed Demilitarized Zone, none of
these scenarios has played out. So, in the end, patience will out; North Korea
as a state will not implode no matter the state of Mr Kim's health. North Korea
watchers should go back to their books, and study better the very tight
organization that Kim Il-sung put into place, and which remains today, ensuring
the survival of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, with or without a
Kim as its leader.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Oct 22,'08)
Mr Hardy Campbell's letter [Oct 21] was a journey into reality. How refreshing
to read the truth for a change. The only reason there is not an insurrection in
the US is because the general public is fed propaganda to fuel their ignorance
and insular existence. Good letter, Mr Campbell.
Ken Moreau
New Orleans, Louisiana (Oct 22,'08)
[Re NATO reaches into
the Indian Ocean, Oct 21] In this article M K Bhadrakumar slights the
presence for many years of the US on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian
Ocean. The US's strategic base there has served as a tracking station which
gives a 360 degree radius view of happenings in Africa and in West and South
Asia. Washington has shared its data with its North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) allies, and India. America's ally of the moment, India, has
never really protested the US's and by extension NATO's presence on Diego
Garcia, which after all is its own backyard. So, New Delhi's welcome into
Washington's strategic club in the Indian Ocean is but a logical step in
enhancing its own interests.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Oct 21,'08)
After 55 years on this planet, after reading scores of books on history,
politics and current events, and after watching hours of TV broadcasts on this
and that hot topic of the day, I have reached a woeful conclusion. Everything
people in the US believes in is a lie. They believe their government is
interested in their welfare ... They believe their hard work will pay off in a
better life for their children. They believe their votes will matter. They
believe they live in a democratic society where their rights are sacrosanct.
They believe that turbaned mystics living in caves can plot sophisticated
attacks on the world's greatest superpower. They believe that destroying
countries can make them safer. They believe that accumulating massive debts
will ensure their prosperity ... They say they hate war and want peace while
militarizing the world. They say they want a free market society while they
bail out tycoons with taxpayer's money ... They say they hate torture while
they redefine it so it isn't. They cherry-pick their history so that America
looks like a beacon of hope and light, but it is all a big fat lie. Lies are
curious creatures. They are seductive because they make us feel good about
ourselves, but they accumulate over time to make that euphoria more like a
coma. One becomes zombie-like in response to a crisis, letting a vegetative
state protect a world view based on a cocoon of illusion. Such is the status of
the USA today. Americans are desperate to believe in yet more lies, whether
from Democratic Senator Barack Obama, or his Republican rival, Senator John
McCain. What else do we have? Our invincible all-conquering army is hopelessly
mired in two wars, our economy, long the cornerstone of American arrogance and
confidence, is strewn all over on Wall Street, waiting for trash collection.
Our politicians vie for venality of the week awards, our comedians show more
integrity than our media-puppet "serious" journalists, our laws are routinely
violated by those sworn to uphold them, our religious figures are sex
scandals-in-waiting, our schools have more security concerns than prison
lock-downs, our infrastructure is disintegrating, our energy needs are becoming
more crippling, our reputation around the world is worthless, and we have a
good share of the population counting the Second Coming of Jesus as the
solution to all our ills. Lies may be the one thing we do better than anyone
else. After all, Hollywood films are one of our prime export industries, and
isn't lying what that's all about?
Hardy Campbell
Houston TX (Oct 21,'08)
[Re Soulmates in
latte land, Oct 15] I don't know where Julian Delasantellis was at the
end of 1999 but most probably not in downtown Seattle. Well, I was working as a
reporter for a German newspaper there during the anti-World Trade Organization
protests, and I did not see any "liberated zones", or shooting at barricades
like in Paris in 1871 (by the way: the Paris commune was during spring 1871 not
1870), nor did I see 40,000 protesters looting shops. What I saw was a peaceful
manifestation of around 40,000 trade unionists, farmers and students, and
peaceful sit-ins in the streets near a convention center of around 10,000
youths. I also saw unprepared police officers using large amounts of pepper
spray, and firing gas grenades directly at people, sometimes from very short
distance, and hitting at them with long wooden sticks, sometimes deliberately
at the kidneys (!). After a climate of violence was created by the police and
the accompanying media hysteria two things happened: several dozen anarchist
youngsters broke a few shop windows, and former US president Bill Clinton sent
in the National Guard to enforce a curfew. Three years later the free market
"democrats" were wiser. Their next meeting was held in Doha, Qatar, a place
where no legal opposition exists, no protests are allowed and ordinary workers
do not have any citizen rights.
Wolfgang Pomrehn
Berlin, Germany (Oct 20,'08)
Managing a decline of "imperial" America is not a neat, clear-cut matter.
Lawyer Aziz Huq gives his readers much to mull over in
How to manage an imperial decline [Oct 16]. He lives up to his name as
a 'lover (aziz) of truth (huq)', and rightly directs our eye to
the many parallels between the descent of the British Empire and the glaring
financial and military weaknesses of today's Pax Americana. Counsel Huq pleads
a good case to we the jury, yet, while the parallel events are relative, the
differences are extreme. It is true that America's currency is weak, but it is
and will remain for the near future the global medium of exchange. The US
military in Iraq and Afghanistan may not yet have imposed its will, but
America's arsenal is so vast and powerful it can and will continue to visit
much death and destruction - without mentioning its stockpile of nuclear and
biological weapons. Mr Huq also loses sight of the number of military bases,
which under 8 years of the US President George W Bush administration have
expanded greatly, especially into Africa and west and central Asia. Association
of Southeast Asian Nations countries also prefer the presence of America there
and in East Asia as a check on a growing influence of mainland China. We should
also not lose sight of the ubiquitous global presence of US multinationals and
the wide avenues of investment that America's venture capitalists have
provided. On the other hand, America's "soft power" has gone into a lunar
eclipse under Bush's two terms in office, and this gnawing theme of restoring
America's reputation among friends and acquaintances abroad, has been crucial
in the 2008 US presidential race. And here Mr Huq is right to draw our
attention to the noticeable degree of the weakening of the American imperium.
Like the long decline of the Pax Romana, America's domineering world presence
in matters military, economic, and yes, the "soft power" of its popular
culture, when all is said and done, will wax or wane on whomever sits in the
Oval Office, in spite of the global recession which, like it or not, is
weakening any pretender to America's crown as world leader.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Oct 20,'08)
[Re Delinking options
on Iran Oct 16] It is refreshing to find such a well-informed analyst
and a prolific writer such as Mr Kaveh Afrasiabi, who walks readers through the
maze of misinformation and deception. I hope I speak for many readers when I
thank you for your selection of writers.
Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
California, USA (Oct 20,'08)
William Cooper's Farm
reform will force China to grow [Oct 15] prompts a specific way of
looking at things: that farm reform in China has resulted from its growth. The
rationale is that as economic growth has progressed for a number of years it is
now feasible, and high time, for China to attend to a large, underprivileged
segment of its population, the farmers. In fact reform has been happening for
the last two years including the abolition of all farm taxes. Many political
commentators have long preached the necessity of a multi-party system in China,
including Professor Cooper. That a "multi-party" country can retain control of
itself relies on one device: if a ruling party mismanages, another party can be
voted in within a certain time-frame. The voters thus have no one else but
themselves to blame. But is this the only practical system? It is obvious that
China is experimenting on an alternative, required by its own recent history
and prevailing world conditions. The fact is that there are "contending"
factions within the Chinese Communist Party with varied ideas and agendas, and
state management is "collective" in the Politburo Standing Committee, the
ultimate governing body. So how are the members of this Standing Committee
selected? So far there has not been a formal, standard process. It is
documented that Premier Wen Jiabao was selected based on the recommendation of
a few investigating committees which scoured rising, talented officials around
the country. He once remarked that there were many others equally qualified
like him and he was fortunate in being chosen. It will take a long time to
establish and mold a process of power transition, and the important question
is: can such a system survive? Control is certainly possible in the absence of
large-scale protests or even a revolution, which can only be bred by extreme
injustice. And injustice can be largely avoided if there is an independent,
effective judiciary. Therefore, theoretically, the paramount requirement is the
presence of independent judiciary. Take a small entity like Hong Kong. Its
chief executive and all high officials are appointed. In all fairness its
judiciary is independent and effective. The city has been promised free
elections by 2017. The ultimate evolution and its impact on the mainland will
shape the political process in years to come. One thing is sure. China is not
just copying Western-style democracy. Hopefully the final inherent
"imperfections" would still balance off the many flaws in Western elections. It
is unnecessary to discuss those flaws. It suffices to say: to each his own.
Seung Li (Oct 20,'08)
A coda to Jim Lobe's US
diplomacy tainted by militarization [Oct 16] is consideration that
the veteran diplomat Robert Murphy wrote A Diplomat Among Warriors a
half-century ago. In it, he wrote mainly of his loyal record of service under
the Eisenhower administration, a time of US military intervention in Central
America and the Middle East. The title of his memoir tells the curious reader
all. Thus the military, even in the mid-20th century, played the music and the
diplomats danced to its tune.
Nakamura Junzo Guam (Oct 17, '08)
In response to Kaveh Afrasiabi's article,
In the shadow of war and peace with Iran, I have to say the author
correctly points out how certain supposed Iran experts such as Vali Nasr
totally misrepresent and misstate the Iranian government's position and the
Iranian president's statements. The same goes for Mr Afrasiabi's correct
assessment of [American-Iranian Council President] Mr Amir Ahmadi.
Unfortunately, with the exception of a few experts such as Mr Afrasiabi, one
rarely gets to read and understand the realities of the Iranian political
system; no wonder there is such confusion. Thank you for publishing Mr
Afrasiabi's articles at Asia Times Online; at least I know where to go to find
the truth.
Massy Homayouni New York (Oct 17, '08)
In the article, The $55
trillion question [Oct 16], there was a statement at the end of the
article: "... [A]ll the conditions seem to be in place at least for [Democratic
presidential candidate Senator Barack] Obama to ditch the 'war on terror' - and
launch a war on poverty". In one of his campaign speeches Obama did address the
economic disaster. He stated that he would bail out the lenders, the very
crooks who got us in this predicament. A better solution is if the government
puts a moratorium on foreclosures for at least six months and simultaneously
gives direct payouts to homeowners who have defaulted under certain conditions
... Billions would immediately pour into the economy and the average American
would be given a second chance. To date I have not heard Mr Obama talk in this
manner and I fear due to his lack of experience the "war on poverty" will go
the same route as the "war on drugs".
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, USA (Oct 17, '08)
I must say I had a good laugh reading Hossein Askari's
US blowback in Iran's elections [Oct 16]. He writes "... The mastering
of the peaceful enrichment process affords Iran a credible deterrent against
foreign aggression ...". Something here does not make sense: either Iran is
trying to build a bomb or it is not. Mr Askari by writing "peaceful enrichment"
seems to want us to believe Iran is only interested in nuclear electric power.
But then he writes of a "credible deterrent" created by this program, meaning
the real goal of Iran's enrichment is nuclear weapons or the belief by others
that Iran has the bomb or can get it on short notice. The fact that Iran has
spent US$15 billion or a much larger sum on enrichment, when they could buy the
fuel from Russia at far less, leads any sensible person to realize their goal
is nuclear weapons. I for one can see no difference between the hardliners and
reformists in Iran. Iran is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American
soldiers in Iraq. The fact that different American presidents have allowed Iran
to kill hundreds of Americans in the last 30 years just points out the
treasonous stupidity of the US government. The collapse on Wall Street has put
this behavior on display for all the world to see. It appears both Iran and the
US need new governments and real reform but I am not hopeful in either case.
Dennis O'Connell
USA (Oct 17, '08)
[Re The $55 trillion
question, Oct 16] What is most disconcerting about the US elections is
that there is nearly no mention at all of foreign policy, our failing wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan, our covert military budget separate from the reported
percentage of GDP, and our appointed role of policing the world, while at the
same time doing a miserable job of it. As if those things (and over 700
military bases worldwide) are not draining our wealth at home? It is
understandable one mighty nation or another will try and step in to police (or
try to own or bully) the world, as it is said, power abhors a vacuum. But these
attempts fail because without world law, accountability and a world justice
system, all the policing in the world won't create lasting stability and
security. If the average American citizen (or Iranian, Israeli, Chinese,
Russian, Indian or Pakistani or whatever) doesn't make the connection between
an overly-militarized society and economic woes, than that society deserves to
fall. Even if one rationalizes that we can "afford" to spend our wealth on
warfare from a reductionist economic model, it is actually not affordable at
all, for when we factor the cost in lives, environmental costs, costs to
property, moral credibility and trust - the cost is unsustainable and
depressingly wasteful. There is little that is as great a threat to America as
its own "national security policy". It is not that terrorism isn't a real
concern, but rather how intelligently we deal with it. I am definitely more
uncomfortable with unbridled nationalism and unthinking patriotism than I am of
terrorism, and there is are rational, historically realistic reasons to feel
this way. If the new [Democratic presidential candidate Barack] Obama
administration doesn't get deeply serious about how to deal with threat in ways
that actually reduces threat rather than increase it, we won't see much
progress on the economic and cultural front and America will continue to
languish in its obsession with imperialism. America needs to re-think its use
of military power, other nations might too learn the lesson that unnecessary
military aggression always produces counter-aggression and many unintended
consequences. If Obama and his advisors understand that the only legitimate use
of military force is to stop and prevent another nation from attacking us,
(legitimate self-defense) the US may come out of this crisis a stronger, wiser
and better nation. If not, well, we'll leave that to history to decide ...
Jerry Gerber
San Francisco (Oct 17, '08)
[Re Farm reform will
force China to grow, Oct 15] The Chinese Communist Party's new plan to
allow farmers to capitalize their land marks such a shift from the tenets of
Mao that the party is becoming communist in name only. The plan could work well
if introduced with sensible regulations on sales and loans, plus an effective
anti-corruption campaign that dissuades local officials from seizing farms.
Meanwhile, an effort to improve rural education and health could help improve
the lives of over 700 million rural Chinese, increase the value of their
farmland, and provide an incentive for a sufficient number of farmers to
sustain their vital work. Replacing many small farms with larger, more
efficient farms will create a new set of benefits and burdens, as in other
countries where this trend has taken hold. The new plan should include
guidelines that prevent the kind of lopsided concentration of rural wealth that
led Mao and his followers to disavow China's feudal past. At the same time, the
plan needs to be accompanied by regulatory controls that bolster food safety
and quality. Beyond agricultural and economic gains, time will tell how long
the CCP can retain control of China as a single party unhinged from its core
tenets.
William E Cooper
Distinguished University Professor
and President Emeritus
University of Richmond (Oct 16, '08)
Events have gone beyond Hossein Askari and Noureddine Krichene's analysis in
Forget the silver bullet [Oct 15]. US Secretary of the Treasury Hank
Paulson has had to bite the dum-dum bullet of semi-nationalization for nine
major American banks including his own Goldman Sachs, which is now a holding
company-cum-commercial bank. US President George W Bush has agreed to slice off
US$250 billion from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) for this express
purpose. Paulson dryly commented that this solution is "unacceptable but
necessary", as he threw dirt on the coffin of free market capitalism. He had no
other choice; he had to follow the lead primarily of Britain's Prime Minister
Gordon Brown and five other members of the G7 group. The Bush administration
has tried every trick to allow itself to continue doing business the way that
it has done for the last 8 years, hoping that the subprime mortgage toxic
instruments that American investment banks devised and sold would by some
miracle cure the virus that has infected the global financial industry. It
hasn't. Furthermore, Washington is now a follower not a leader in trying to
solve a spreading, worldwide recession. Suddenly the theories of Lord John
Maynard Keynes are being applied to prevent a long-term imbalance in the world
market; ideas that Paulson finds distasteful but necessary. It is a sad day for
the US that such men who once held major sway in the American economy prove
inadequate, and unable to "think outside the box". It is also a sorry day when
it must be acknowledged that after eight years of the Bush presidency the US's
leadership in world markets has lost all luster.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Oct 16, '08)
It seems like only a week or so ago since,
Bush's final Iran blunder? [Oct 7], in which Kaveh L Afrasiabi was
postulating covert, malign influences as explanations for the demise of a US
"interests section" to be established in Iran. Yet, now in
In the shadow of war and peace with Iran [Oct 15] he concedes that not
only is this low-level inter-governmental initiative still in progress, but the
simultaneous effort to allow the American-Iranian Council to set up an office
in Iran is also alive. So, it seems that Mr Afrasiabi discontinued life support
on a presumably dead patient only to find out not only that the carcass was
still alive, but it actually wasn't moribund in the first place. With due
apologies for paraphrasing Mark Twain, "Rumors of these programs' death have
been greatly exaggerated." To his credit, however, Mr Afrasiabi is consistent
in expressing his bias ... He again invokes his favored bete noir in the form
of, "... complicating factors [such] as the continuing US and Israeli
saber-rattling against Iran and the prospect of military action against Iran by
the next US administration [and] the still fresh memory of the US hostage
crisis in Iran in 1980 must be taken into consideration". In fact, were it not
for these "complicating factors", the US and Iran would currently enjoy full
diplomatic relations and would not need to make tentative peripheral contacts
in the form of "interest sections" and the establishment of NGOs
[non-governmental organizations]. Mr Afrasiabi would do well to remember
Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately
explained by stupidity." Invoking stupidity, a common human trait, is much
easier than developing malicious international plots and it is quite often the
correct diagnosis.
Keith Comess (Oct 16, '08)
Sunny Lee's Pyongyang's
call for 'fair's fair' ignored, is filled with many mistaken
assumptions of the left about North Korea's nuclear plans. The first is that
North Korea will ever give up its nuclear weapons, and the second is that they
will allow real verification to prove they have. The plan the US agreed on, to
only allow inspections into sites other than Yongbyon through mutual agreement,
is like saying the police can only arrest criminals if they agree to be
arrested. Mr Lee seems to want to make the point that North Korea will give up
its nuclear weapons and allow inspections of all its nuclear sites if it can
inspect sites in South Korea, including US bases, but I have followed events in
North Korea on a daily basis for 10 years and I have never seen this claim ...
North Korea in the July 20, 2007 agreement agreed to a "complete declaration of
all nuclear programs", but has still not provided information about its uranium
enrichment program or its involvement with the Syrian nuclear site that was
bombed by Israel. These are both violations of the agreement. Under the foolish
South Korean "Sunshine Policy", which lasted for 10 years, North Korea received
500,000 tons of food and 300,000 tons of fertilizer on a yearly basis and South
Korea received nothing. In April South Korea cut off the aid. However, several
months ago George Bush agreed to provide 500,000 tons of food aid to the North.
North Korea is using its nuclear program as a blackmail device to get aid for
its collapsing economy. However I still don't think it was that bad a deal as
it will stop more plutonium from being produced, and being taken off the list
of state sponsors of terror will be of little real benefit to North Korea.
Also, with the health problems of Kim Jong-il this may not be the best time to
push the North up against the wall. North Korea is being hollowed out as the
economy collapses and its people are learning how evil and corrupt their
government is. One method of speeding up the collapse of this evil regime is to
stress that future aid to North Korea will only come if a general amnesty is
given to all members of the North Korean elite. When the North Korean elite
believes a better future awaits them after the collapse of the Kim family
regime, and not a gallows, the regime is doomed. When one engages in a charade
for short-term gains it is important not to fool yourself. Those who think
North Korea has any plans to give up its nuclear weapons are blinded by their
own foolish thoughts.
Dennis O'Connell
USA (Oct 16, '08)
It is said that those who fail to learn the lessons of history are bound to
repeat them. After the "Black Tuesday" stock market crash of 1929 the market
rebounded just as it is doing now but, very significantly, drought in 1930
coupled with a downturn in auto sales and falling commodity prices then led to
the Great Depression. What is happening now? Are not General Motors and
Chrysler in merger talks? Why? Are not commodity prices falling and expected to
fall further as China feels the effects of the economic slowdown? What is
happening with the weather? Will the US drought break? Is there any guarantee
that it will? In these matters the current California wildfires serve as a
warning for those with "eyes to see" and "ears to hear" - especially for those
with Republican leanings ... The forgotten ancient lessons of history are being
played out once again ...
Thomas (Oct 16, '08)
Andrew Symon may visit Vietnam often, but his article,
Hanoi's path to property crosses Catholics[Oct 15], reveals that he is
an absolute outsider. He is siding with a very small minority, and portrays the
other side as the government. This is a typical Western trick that hides the
true feelings of the tens of millions of the population. Here on the ground,
there is neither support nor sympathy for the Catholics. Even from the young,
who tend to be shy and non-confrontational, the most support the Catholics will
get is that this is a non-issue. The worst is outright contempt. The Catholic
Church has got to work a little harder in this part of the world if it wants
good relations any time soon. Historically, it sided with the French against
the Vietnamese people, then sided with the Japanese, then with the French
again. Then finally, the Americans ... The whole time, the Catholics were on
the side of foreign invaders. Anybody who loves these Catholics so much can
raise some money and buy them some land. That's how the rest of us have to do
it. Don't appeal to an oppressive and brutal past. Because if not for the
communist government of Vietnam, these Catholics may be facing the same fate
that Christians are facing in Iraq, India, and other places where the
population is very resentful of a minority of people supported by foreign
powers.
Bao Dinh Nguyen
Ho Chi Minh City
Vietnam (Oct 16, '08)
A surprising insight in the recent article,Europe's
death by guarantee, on Europe's preprogrammed demise, were the numbers
and debt ratios reported on Switzerland. They - and the interested reader - may
appreciate some further analysis ... questions coming to mind are:
1.) With international players like Jim Rogers recommending Switzerland as a
safe haven during an expected further unraveling of world financial conditions,
one wonders what they see in Switzerland that is not negated in the plain
numbers given by you?
2.) With bank assets at roughly 10 times GDP, what are the latest insights on
Swiss banks, and how do you see the potential for a Swiss banking crisis
similar to the European one? What will that mean for the safe haven status of
Switzerland?
3.) Can the Swiss property market continue with its history of price stability,
or is it heading for a downfall as most other property markets have
experienced? The local insurance companies seem to be mandated by law to hold a
big part of their investments in the local property market, in practice
insulating the market against wide price swings. Will that condition continue
or will it just leverage an inevitable market correction down the road? This
would pose another question about the health of the Swiss insurance industry
and its assets.
4.) With such questions possibly putting Switzerland's safe haven status in
doubt, where are the alternatives?
5.) Singapore has been described as a future possible safe haven with its
ultra-stable banks and sound currency. Does it stand up to your scrutiny or is
its stability too dependent on modern types of business (trade, finance,
banking, etc) which may shrink significantly in the near future due to the
crisis?
Answers to the above questions promise to be of great value in times like this,
when traditional concepts of asset safety are falling apart at record speed. I
am sure, if Chan Akya can provide a lucid view on them, the resulting article
is destined to become a modern classic of geopolitical financial analysis and a
hit with those in need of such information.
Michael Frey
San Remo (Oct 15, '08)
Very good questions, I promise to examine the subject matter at some length in
the next couple of weeks or so - provided of course nothing more urgent crops
up. Chan Akya
I was very impressed by the article,
Cambodia's Muslims as geopolitical pawns [Oct 8], as I am concerned
with the loss of religious freedoms for Cambodia's Muslims and the influence on
them of Islamic fundamentalism from the Middle East. In fact, religious freedom
is already here in Cambodia. Quite recently Prime Minister Hun Sen's government
allowed Muslim students to wear headscarves, and questioned the supposed links
between Cambodia's Muslims and fundamentalists. It is good to promote religious
freedom and pluralism in Cambodia, but this will not be possible without proper
religious education. Religious freedom and pluralism without proper education,
tolerance, and understanding will lead to conflict and the consequences are
unpredictable. As matter of fact, Cambodia's Chams already have their own way
of life and have lived together quite peacefully with Khmers for centuries.
Yet, at present there is growing tension between Khmers and Chams in some
communities after the coming of Islamic education from the Middle East.
Cambodia should learn from neighboring countries about Islamic fundamentalism
and its consequences in order to have a better plan for religious management,
and to avoid religious conflict in the future so people can live together
peacefully. I don't understand what the Cambodian government is doing as
promoting religious freedoms without proper education and understanding is a
blind act which is dangerous to the soul.
Chanroeun Pa
Ph D Research Scholar
Center for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE)
Australian National University (Oct 15, '08)
So US President [George W] Bush was finally forced to remove North Korea from
America's list of terrorist nations. He did so sluggishly, but did snatch from
the jaws of defeat one of the few foreign policy initiatives his lackluster
presidency can claim as its legacy. He had chose the wrong country to pick a
fight with, as he sees in Kim Jong-il not a leader of his country but an
abstract embodiment of living hell. And as such, he was moved to battle a devil
of his own creation. Reality finally settled in when North Korea exploded its
own atomic device, and suddenly, Mr Bush was ready by fits and starts, to
engage in meaningful negotiations with Mr Kim's government. So, by "unbranding"
North Korea as a sponsor of terror, Mr Bush achieved something on the nuclear
issue which he could have done years before. We have to thank Sunny Lee for
pointing out in Pyongyang's
call for 'fair's fair' ignored [Oct 14] that while in Pyongyang, the
United State's chief negotiator, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill,
had tried to push the envelope by adding new conditions to block the
reactivation of the Yongbyon nuclear reactor. It did not work, for Pyongyang
had a counter-proposal which would lead to inspection of all nuclear sites and
weapon silos north and south of the 38th parallel. But that wouldn't wash for
Mr Bush nor for his ally in Seoul, as Lee reports ... In the end, Mr Hill
settled for the agreement announced by Mr Bush on October 10. Nonetheless North
Korea's counter-proposal has now opened a can of worms about America's nuclear
weapons in South Korea and Seoul's own sub rosa nuclear program.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Oct 15, '08)
[Re A revisionist
death in Singapore, Oct 10] Many of us will miss seeing JBJ (Joshua
Benjamin Jeyaretnam) hawking his book of speeches at the City Hall MRT station.
To many of us, he was a man who stayed true to his principles, and spoke truth
to power. To many of us, too, JBJ will be the man from Anson who broke the
People's Action Party's (PAP) monolithic control of parliament. He suffered for
his victory; the PAP ultimately sent him to a bankruptcy court, and tried
having him disbarred, which Terence Chong's article tactfully omits. Recently,
he had paid off his bankruptcy charges, and re-emerged into the rough and
tumble of Singapore politics, even going as far as creating the Reform Party to
challenge the PAP in the next elections, before he died. Chong is right in
saying that death has elevated this man of principle, who was a steadfast
fighter for truth and justice, into the stratosphere. And so he has become an
icon, and thus, his legacy can be used by anyone who wishes to challenge the
ruling party (which never hid its intense dislike for the man). Yet, if proof
is needed that silently, his very Jeremiah-like presence found popular favor,
the candlelight memorial at Hong Lim Green on October 4 says it all.
Henceforth, it might not be surprising to see JBJ's face on t-shirts,
postcards, and baseball caps, as a constant reminder that he was not the
foolish, irrelevant old man the PAP, with its hold on the Singapore media, had
tried to portray. His very symbolic stand, no matter how reconstructed, will
serve as a constant reminder to the ruling elite, and perhaps as a fountain of
courage for others to follow his example.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Oct 14, '08)
Just a short note to let you know that Saleem Shahzad's article
A long, hot winter for Pakistan [Oct 10] was a brilliant analytical
piece and a timely one. The nature of the PPP's (Pakistan Peoples Party)
leadership and its oligarchic structure is a disastrous development in
Pakistan's political history. This "tola" must be confronted by all means. The
PPP clique is dangerously manipulative and must be exposed - though I wonder if
we have already reached a point of total disaster - a point of no return! For
now, let us ... in our own small way continue the work of national
consciousness building. It must not stop. It is very important work. We need to
give more "fury" to our rational sentiments - when such irrationality prevails
at the ruling elite level in Pakistan ...
Dr Haider Mehdi
Professors' Residence,
American University of Sharjah (Oct 14, '08)
The M K Bhadrakumar article,
US standing in Caspian drips away [Oct 10], was a splendid, splendid
thing and explains a lot of what has been going on lately ... I adore your web
site - if I only had the American Press to rely on I would be an
isolationist/creationist like the rest of the cretins of this once mighty
nation. Thank you and I will continue to tell everyone I know about your
excellent website.
Christina Kaye
Clarkston, WA/Chicago, IL (Oct 14, '08)
Chris Cook's article, A
new dawn for Iran [Oct 8], wisely points out that the sanctions imposed
by the US against Iran will shield her economy from the downward spiral of
Western economies. But he naively assumes that Iran's economy will be a beacon
in the 21st century purely due to the lopsided results of the sanctions. What
Mr Cook fails to see is that the sanctions are just a prelude to full-scale war
with the US and NATO if Iran continues her military nuclear program and
ambitions to "wipe out Israel". Even if such a scenario were not to occur, the
American electorate wants out of the war in Iraq, which coincidentally shows
signs of "victory". The truth is that the Sunni militia has willfully laid down
its arms to give the impression of a Western success, and all it wants is to
see the US and NATO powers leave Iraq as soon as possible. Then all hell will
break loose as Sunni fight Shia in a bloody civil war that is bound to drag
Iran into its melee. The US has no intention of departing the Middle East now
or in the near future. After September 11, 2001, the steep rise of world oil
costs and the nexus of the al-Qaeda/Taliban in the region will keep the US
there to exercise its influence. Iran's economy may have been saved by luck of
the sanctions but it is far from being immune to the global financial crisis
and is even more vulnerable to regional instabilities. Currently the US is not
the only world power wishing to play a role in the Middle East. Russia, China,
India the European Union and even Israel are now major players ...
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, USA (Oct 10, '08)
[Re Bernanke
running out of ammo, Oct 9] The US Federal Reserve's rate cut worked no
instant magic. Wall Street had another red day. Chairman Ben Bernanke has
indeed run out of ammo. The economic meltdown is now forcing the US government
to look towards Europe for a way out of the crisis. The solution, it seems,
lies in a nationalization of the banks of sorts. And US Secretary of the
Treasury Hank Paulson, too, has run out of options, and out of extremis will
perforce have to "nationalize" some national banks. At the same time, he is
issuing storm warnings that other banks are going to fail. Not a bright
prospect! Both Bernanke and Paulson have been playing a game of blindman's
bluff in dealing with the subprime mortgage meltdown. They have reacted, not
proacted, to find a solution. Little did Paulson realize that his decision to
let Lehman Brothers fail would trigger global panic in the markets.
Furthermore, the public should worry that even with a $700 billion bailout,
Paulson is not buying up toxic loans nor pumping liquidity into the markets. He
is waiting until after the US elections. It is not clear why, but this will
further fuel volatility into the world markets. Is he out to radically destroy
the very free market capitalism that he as CEO of Goldman Sachs helped to build
and sustain and grow? As for Bernanke, the student of the Great Depression, he
certainly has learnt little from his years of study.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Oct 10, '08)
Mr Jim Lobe, in his article,
'Play or no pay' warning for Pakistan [Oct 9], has totally turned a
perfectly good report on its head. I read the entire report, and it portrays a
balanced point of view and is very sympathetic to and supportive of the
Pakistani positions. Mr Lobe has taken a comprehensive analysis that discusses
all aspect of the conflict in Afghanistan and turned it into a "transaction
relationship" - a policy statement which is diametrically in opposition to the
letter, spirit and essence of the report. I used to respect Mr Lobe but with
this biased, Paksitanphobic article he has lost all credibility. The report
clearly states that there is no military solution to the problems in
Afghanistan. Mr Lobe made Pakistan a villain in the report. The report does no
such thing. For example in the section on cost-benefit analysis for Pakistan,
the recommendation is to investigate which other countries are involved in
Afghanistan, a veiled reference to the activities of Iran and India in
Afghanistan which may run contrary to US and Afghan interest. The report
recommends that the Frontier Constabulary and the Frontier Corp be built into
anti-insurgency units and that the US fund and support them properly. The
report clearly understands the Pakistani point of view and supports the
tripling of aid to Pakistan as well as emphasis on the Reconstruction
Opportunity Zones (ROZ). The report also recommends that Pakistani exports be
given preferential treatment and be allowed into the US without tariffs. The
report is very appreciative of Pakistan's efforts in the war on terror. The
report also recommends that the Kashmir issue be resolved and emphasizes the
fact that troop intrusions create difficulty for the Pakistani government and
are counterproductive.
Moin Ansari (Oct 10, '08)
Jim Lobe's article, 'Play
or no pay' warning for Pakistan [Oct 8], states that military aid is
over for Pakistan as it has failed to deliver in the war against terror. It
also describes a "pending congressional package that would provide Pakistan
with US$1.5 billion a year in non-military aid", and goes on to explain,
"provided that Pakistan agrees to use it for projects devoted to basic
education". In Pakistan, "basic education" includes breeding grounds for
terrorism, like the madrassas that preach radical Islam, and recruiting centers
for young cadre for al-Qaeda. In other words the US will unwittingly be
supporting the training centers of Pakistan's terror groups. Chrysantha
Wijeyasingha
Clinton, USA (Oct 9, '08)
[Re NATO split over
Baltic defense, Oct 8] You'd have thought discussion of contingency
planning for the three Baltic states - Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia - would
take place behind thick, closed doors among NATO members. In the light of
Russia's forceful intervention in Georgia, it is reasonable to think that would
be so. Yet a reinvigorated Russia with its powerful military and large nuclear
arsenal, not to mention its tight control of oil and gas in demand by NATO
European states, has created dissension among NATO ranks. Fair enough as far as
this statement goes, but unnecessarily provoking Moscow, which once seized the
three Baltic states in a trade-off with Hitler's Germany on the eve of World
War II, is viewed by some treaty alliance members as dangerous. As a result, a
leak to London's Daily Telegraph splashed the story across the wires, and
brought the internal debate into the open. In sum, NATO has egg on its face
� One imagines that military theorists and strategists are shaking their
heads in disbelief and sorrow.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Oct 9, '08)
[Re Dismal math,
Oct 4] Chan Akya did some "dismal math" to show that European governments could
not afford to follow the example of the United States and bailout their own
banks. The math seems wrong. Take the second-worse case: Switzerland, where the
combined assets of the top three banks appear to be 10 times the country's GDP.
Mr Akya concluded that it would take Switzerland 100 years to pay for bailing
out those banks, if it were to spend 10% of its annual GDP on the project. This
analysis seems absurd. It assumes that the assets of the top three Swiss banks
are completely worthless. Assuming that the Swiss banks are "normal banks" as
defined in the article, then 5.26% of their assets are presently "dodgy". To
follow the example of the United States, the government needs to pay only for
those "dodgy" assets. To recapitalize the banks, [US Federal Reserve Chairman]
Ben Bernanke style, the government would overpay by 60% of current market
value. In the case of Switzerland, that would mean spending 84% of its GDP, to
buy assets with a present market value of 52% of its GDP. Net cost: 32% of its
GDP. If Switzerland were to spend 10% of its GDP annually to pay for this net
cost, that would take 3.2 years, not 100 years. Even better, the last time the
United States bailed out its banks, during the savings and loan crisis of the
1980s, it ultimately made a bit of money on the deal. Likewise, the ultimate
cost to the Swiss government might be lessened. Mr Akya wraps up, "Remember,
these are just figures for the bank losses, not counting all the other stuff
that will be lost as a result of the failure of the banking system; for example
the industrial base, trade and so on." But bailing out the banking system would
prevent its failure, thus avoiding those resulting losses. The math is indeed
"dismal".
David Morenus
USA (Oct 9, '08)
[David Morenus is] perhaps mixed up on two different things here; the 10% of
dodgy assets pertains to the other example (the Paulson plan). My point in the
article about the European banks is that they have the problem US assets have
in addition to domestic problem loans, we haven't seen the impact of the latter
yet because the European economy lags that of the US by a few quarters. He
could well be right in mentioning that final losses could be a lot less but the
point is that governments are trying to guarantee the entire banking system
without due regard to their own ability to repay such obligations - Chan Akya
(Oct 9, '08)
Chris Cook in A new
dawn for Iran [Oct 8], presents a seemingly informed and possibly
erudite analysis of the present economic situation. Unfortunately, it rests on
a couple of unproved and not provable predictions about the future. For
instance, how can Mr Cook so confidently and unequivocally predict "the
irreversible decline of the US dollar-based global financial system"?
Additionally, how exactly has he "made clear that the Western 'market economy'
is fundamentally unsustainable"? Didn't Karl Marx make the same mistaken
prediction about the demise of the capitalist system over a century ago? Mr
Cook also proposes a new economic system, one which advocates "the replacement
of the literally worthless (because deficit-based) dollar created by the US
Federal Reserve Bank with an asset-based energy dollar or 'carbon dollar' value
unit based on the intrinsic energy value of carbon-based fuels". Doesn't this
represent a singularly myopic perspective in that it posits petroleum-based
energy as the global standard into the indefinite future, this when known
reserves are already below predicted market demand? If the dollar in fact is so
"worthless" and the "market economy" so obviously doomed to failure, why are so
many economically sophisticated nations rushing to sustain these flawed
standards? I can only assume an element of irony was intended by the author
when he remarked, "I have been working for some seven years, with a background
in global financial services at the highest level [on the Iranian economy]". Ye
gads!! Despite Mr Cook's helpful guidance the Iranian economy is a mess,
complete with dramatically high unemployment and underemployment, lack of a
petroleum-independent infrastructure and, partially as a result of this,
increasingly disaffected youth. Thus, Mr Cook's success in this arena can
hardly be recommended as an accomplishment which might burnish his credentials
for devising a new global economic system. This is hubris that would be
equivalent to Dick Fuld citing his success at Lehman Brothers as an incentive
to hire him to run another firm! Keith Comess (Oct 9,
'08)
[Re The fatal flaw in
Afghan peace moves, Oct 7] We in the United States must never forget
that most of the terrorists who hit the Twin Towers were Saudi Arabians. [US
President George W] Bush and his gang would like us to forget their
responsibility and cozy up to the Saudis as he does. We must also remember that
[al-Qaeda leader] Osama bin-Laden is Saudi Arabian.
Tom Gerber
USA (Oct 8, '08)
[Re Market-place
gods had it right , Oct 7] In today's topsy-turvy financial world, the
purportedly awe-inspiring presence of star financiers, economists, and much
listened to talking heads is in question. The rose is off the bloom for finance
capitalism and free market flim-flamming. At such times, voices of reason
should be heard. One is Martin Hutchinson, who states simple truths others have
thrown to the wind in the exuberant pursuit of the "pot of gold" of speculation
�
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Oct 8, '08)
Ardeshir Ommani, in his "Speaking Freely" article
More US ears in Israel, [Oct 7] details the deployment of "X-Band"
radar to Israel and speculates on the reasons for the accelerated placement of
this system on Israeli soil. He correctly notes the formidable potential
capabilities of X-band but, in my estimation, is too hasty in drawing a "most
probable" conclusion pertaining to the basis for this decision. Mr Ommani
astutely observed the apparent change in the present US administration's
posture toward Iran, now apparently favoring a more diplomatic, as opposed to a
potential military solution to the presumptive Iranian nuclear enrichment
program. The author also commented on the pronounced lack of support, evidenced
by the [George W] Bush administration, for a potential Israeli attack on
Iranian nuclear facilities. Mr Ommani includes in his deliberations four
postulates for the early installation of the radar:
1). This radar is highly capable. As an aside I'll mention that it also allows
the US to keep exceptionally close track of any and all Israeli aircraft,
cruise missiles and naval forces.
2). X-Band radar enhances Israeli defensive military capabilities.
3). The presence of the radar "reassures" the Israelis.
However, he distinctly favors this fourth explanation: "The last and most
plausible scenario ... [is that] the US intends to add one more strategic
military base to the other 1,000 military bases that it operates around the
world for containing and intimidating independent countries in the region like
Iran, Syria and Lebanon." What is the basis for that assertion? Ommani offers
none whatsoever. Perhaps, by mentioning, but failing to factor in a key
observation, namely that the installation will be exclusively staffed by US
military personnel and that Israelis will be barred from the facility, this
might be a tenable conclusion. Instead, he abandons this potentially profitable
line of inquiry on restricted access with a dismissal: "For reasons not
explained ... ". Given US diplomatic overtures to Iran along with the US
recently giving the "nix" to a possible Israeli air strike, and now
accelerating delivery of the radar while maintaining complete control over it,
the darker explanation that Mr Ommani prefers seems far less likely. It seems
more reasonable to assume from all this that the US simply doesn't want the
Israelis to spoil the new courtship with Iran and the radar will help assure
that it does not.
Keith Comess (Oct 8, '08)
[Re Cornered Tigers
bare their teeth, Oct 7] The radical Tamil tigers lost their cause the
moment they decided to address their grievances through terrorism. Sri Lanka
like China is one of a few nations that have an unbroken written history and in
all her chronicles Sri Lanka was and is considered the homeland of the
Singhalese. The Tamil minority have true grievances that need to be addressed,
and they could have used the law of the land that was and is democratic to
address these. They could have used international media and bodies but instead
chose the least plausible path of reconciliation, the path of terrorism ...
History has proven that the use of wanton violence only hardens the hearts of
those in power and fails miserably in solving problems ... During the 1980s,
when the Sikhs took the path of terrorism to create a homeland just as the
Tamils have taken to split Sri Lanka, all they received was the might of the
central government ... The similarities between the Sikh movement and the Tamil
movement are eerily similar. The more violent methods the Tamil Tigers use the
more violence they will receive in kind from the Sri Lankan Government.
Contrast this with the higher ground of wisdom taken by the likes of Mahatma
Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela ... The Tamil Tigers will never
win as long as they use terrorism to solve their problems, all they will
receive is violence in kind and blindness to their legitimate cause.
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, USA (Oct 8, '08)
[Re Sinophobia
smolders in Malaysia , Oct 1] We in Malaysia owe a great deal to the
British and their 'divide and rule' policy before we were granted independence.
It was these policies that led to the formation of race-based political parties
like UMNO (United Malays National Organization), MCA (Malaysian Chinese
Association) and the MIC (Malaysian Indian Party). From such racist beginnings
our nation was born and especially over the last 35 years or so the ruling
coalition of the three main parties, plus some other smaller parties, have
not bothered to foster any real efforts for interracial bonding. Racial harmony
had been replaced with racial tolerance, but even this fell apart during racial
clashes in 1969. Since our last election the silent majority have spoken and
this led at the election to the smallest margin of victory for the ruling
coalition that the country has ever witnessed. The smaller victory margin was
due mainly to the peoples' disappointment over a spectrum of misdeeds over the
years and their votes went to [opposition figure] Anwar Ibrahim's loose
coalition. Going back into racist mode the ruling government has again used the
race card to scare the silent majority into subservience, hence the many
outbursts by politicians that lost out during the general elections. Ahmad
Ismail is just one of such provocateurs. The use of the ISA (Internal Security
Act - again a legacy law left behind by the British) to silence dissenters is
now the order of the day. The backlash in popular resentment is well
documented, but will the government take heed that it might not be able to pull
wool over the eyes of the populace? The political scene is now set for a major
shake-up as the government continues to use the tested ways of old, but will it
still work and be effective today as it was before the last general election?
As a Malaysian I hold my breath while awaiting the outcome and all I can hope
is that sense will prevail.
Richard Leong (Oct 7, '08)
[Re Hockey moms
and capital markets, Oct 6] This article was good stuff as usual, but
unfortunately the ethos that may be found in small towns, such as volunteer
fire departments and close attention to fraud, is no longer significant on a
national basis, as the vast majority now live in large urban areas where there
is little or no concern for the public good. And few if any of the small
towners ever achieve high public office. In the unlikely event that [Republican
vice presidential candidate] Sarah Palin is actually honest she will be
corrupted by the system soon.
Austin Atwell
Hangzhou, China (Oct 7, '08)
[Re SE Asian
memo to Wall Street , Oct 2] I enjoyed this piece and agreed with it.
Having lived in Singapore for 14 years and worked for Japanese brokerage Nomura
Holdings for 11, it is amusing to see the shoe on the other foot now. When the
Asian crisis began, the Japanese investment banking industry consisted largely
of four brokers. After it, only Nomura remained. Yamaichi Securities Co
went broke, Daiwa Bank got swallowed up by Sumitomo Bank and Nikko Securities
Co got taken over and then closed down by Citibank. So far Nomura and
Mitsubishi have picked up opportunities in Wall Street but it will be
interesting to see what Temasek Holdings decides to do with all of its long
list of equity stakes in banks around the world. I can't believe that they will
just be passively responding to investment opportunities. Given their big stake
in Standard Chartered, I wonder if Temsaek is now hoping to consolidate all
those investments in a huge new international Singapore-based super bank to
rival HSBC and JP Morgan. GIC, CIC, Abu Dhabi and the other SWFs (sovereign
wealth funds) would no doubt be happy to help that process as well, somehow. It
will be interesting to see what they can pull off now that "cash is king" and
those with all the cash are "in the driving seat".
Imran Price (Oct 7, '08)
[Re SE Asian
memo to Wall Street , Oct 2] Thank you for the article. It's utterly
refreshing to read something that calls a spade a spade! It is timely that
someone like you has the wisdom, guts and honesty to remind Western media and
US policy makers of their hypocrisy in dealing with the current financial
crisis. ML Sun (Oct 7, '08)
[Re SE Asian
memo to Wall Street , Oct 2] Just want to say, this is a great article!
There's definitely not enough 'hard questions' by media - there's no reason why
the US dollar should remain strong, yet it is. It's time Asia stopped propping
up the dollar, and start investing in its own domestic growth and future.
Danny Cheung (Oct 7, '08)
The collapse of that defining American institution, Wall Street, raises
interesting scenarios. An opportunity like this arose during the Great
Depression, when the old order stood on the brink of the proverbial abyss. The
alternatives to predatory, speculative capitalism, and socialism in its myriad
guises, failed for various reasons to be America's Plan B, primarily because
there were plenty of industrialists who stood to profit from the prevailing
misery. Although the same conditions exist today, the nationalization of the
capital-raising industry robs the neo-consevative ideologues of their
long-standing opposition to other nationalized institutions, such as their
favorite bogeyman, universal health care. If Republicans are willing to spend
trillions on tycoons, why can't they do the same for the single soccer mom
working two shifts for poverty wages with two sick kids and aging parents? Such
questions always provoked the tired cliche responses of "class warfare!" and
"socialized medicine," but those shrill hysterics may be living beneath a
highway overpass next week, and perhaps not so prone to dogmatic knee jerk
reactions. I don't think revolution is in the air (yet), but when Americans
realize that their grandkids' grandkids' futures have been subprime mortgaged
into oblivion, maybe a barricade or two will be raised, along with a red banner
here and there. As it took a losing war to instigate a successful revolution in
impoverished Tsarist Russia, the similarity with a bankrupt USA flailing
helplessly away in two overt wars and numerous covert ones cannot be dismissed
out of hand. The plutocratic class in the US need not fear the mob quite yet,
but one must ask, just how many Katrinas, 9/11s, Iraqs, Afghanistans, Wall
Streets and housing debacles will the quiescent American populace stand?
Hardy Campbell
Houston, Texas, USA (Oct 7, '08)
In reading Kent Ewing's
Lehman burns HK's low-risk investors [Oct 7], one is tempted to compare
the cases of "tainted" milk products from China and the "tainted" financial
products from Wall Street of America. The tainted-milk scandal originated from
greed, starting with a crudely conceived small-scale scheme that grew with time
and affected children mostly, but not exclusively, in China. The other case
started with a well-planned scheme to profit a few but has now spread
tremendous untold misery across the globe. The stark difference is this: in
China a number of people have been arrested and a few high officials sacked in
the continuing investigations. It would be most disappointing if in the end
some responsible criminals are not severely punished. In America all the
taxpayers are now summoned to a "bail-out" plan which most economists believe
is to delay and prolong the agony while trying to avert a possible quick,
severe meltdown. But many CEOs have made off with hundreds of millions to enjoy
their life in retirement. In both cases laxity of government oversight has
definitely made a critical contribution.
Seung Li (Oct 7, '08)
[Re Bush's final
Iran blunder?, Oct 7] It must be a great source of comfort to Kaveh
Afrasiabi to know that, amidst the tumultuous uncertainties of the
international political and economic situation, both current and past, a beam
of truth exists in the form of a straight and unswerving axis that links
Iranian "misfortunes" to insidious anti-Iranian machinations, generally
exercised by the US and Israel along with their various agents and acolytes.
Whether it be the International Atomic Energy Agency's assessments of Iranian
nuclear weapons intentions, failure of the United States to act on a tentative
plan to establish an "interests" section in Iran, and even various United
Nations resolutions, Dr Afrasiabi can readily discern occult and malevolent
agendas which are responsible for steering the Iranian ship's course to obscure
but perilous shores. Of course, in spite of these postulated "hidden
motivations", in not a single one of Dr Afrasiabi's recent articles on Iran has
he offered even the slightest morsel of documentary evidence (let alone proof)
for his conjectures; evidently, by his lights, it appears that a simple
syllogism alone suffices. Perhaps this would be an opportune time for Dr
Afrasiabi to begin work on an extension of his theory of hidden anti-Iranian
motivations, one that will account for the most recent maladroit move by Iran's
government attempting on October 6 to convince OPEC that curtailing oil
production in order to increase prices to $100/barrel is an economically smart
idea. Given the vortex of collapsing economies worldwide, only a genuinely
innovative twist of logic can pin this desperate blunder on another country's
malign influence. Still, I'm sure Dr Afrasiabi will rise to the occasion.
Keith Comess (Oct 7, '08)
[Re Hockey moms
and capital markets, Oct 6] Spengler gives a mixed message that reeks
of elitism - "ordinary people" as defined by the likes of Sarah Palin as an
everyman prototype? And as to, "Asian markets [which] have never lost their
baby teeth", chew on that one a little more Spengler and remember, this
nation's molars are rotting at the roots.
Beryl K
Minnesota, USA (Oct 7, '08)
India and the temples
of doom [Oct 3] by Neeta Lal is a good article, but it fails to explain
that almost all these tragedies occurred in temples that are small in
comparison to south Indian temples. By and large the north Indian temples were
not built in ancient times for huge throngs of pilgrims, whereas the enormous
temples of south India such as the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, and Tamil Nadu
are considered "city temples" for their size and can handle tens of thousands
of pilgrims at any given time. One never reads of such tragedies occurring in
these temples.
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, USA (Oct 6, '08)
The headline of Norman Robespierre's
Nuclear bond for North Korea and Myanmar [Oct 3], makes the reader
pause to wonder, but mightn't it better to convey the thrust of Robespierre's
argument if it was simply entitled "military bond"? The Myanmar junta feels
threatened and under sustained attack from the international community, but
this fear is misplaced as its steely hold on power appears complete. This fear
has led to rapprochement with North Korea, itself feeling encircled by the US,
as this presents advantages, militarily speaking. Pyongyang has expertise, as
Robespierre wrote, in advanced rocket technology, tunnel technology, nuclear
technology, and is a purveyor in the sales of military materiel. The
advantages, politically and diplomatically, to North Korea are an extension of
its presence to another ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) country,
as it tries to erase the George W Bush administration's branding of it as a
"terrorist state". Although Robespierre does mention that Myanmar "reportedly"
sent hundreds of troops for nuclear training in Russia in 2003, owing to
financial difficulties Yangon has never really begun a nuclear program, nor is
it certain that its soldiers received adequate training in Russia. Robespierre
does stress Myanmar's angst at the spread of US military bases and wars and
sanctions which feed on the junta's fear of "regime change", which seems
distant if not unlikely. The Bush administration's inability to reach an
agreement with North Korea on the nuclear question simply pushes Pyongyang into
a panicky mood of self preservation, and closer, friendlier military
cooperation with the Myanmar military junta to the top of its agenda.
Robespierre's accusation that relationships between Yangon and Pyongyang will
lead to a jump start for Myanmar's nuclear program remains problematic, and is
but a stab in the dark.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Oct 6, '08)
Henry C K Liu's article on gold and its manipulation,
Gold, manipulation and domination [Oct 1], was simply outstanding. He
deserves a couple of complimentary cocktails. But really, levity aside, such a
great job.
Todd W (Oct 6, '08)
[Re SE Asian
memo to Wall Street , Oct 2] The collapse of the United States now
seems to be getting very close, as measured by the rate of deficit spending
incurred by the US federal government, which has reached the astounding level
of $3.08 billion per day, 365 days a year! Problematically, deficit spending of
$3.08 billion per day amounts to more than $1.1 trillion each year - which is
even worse when you take a look at how rapidly deficit spending has accelerated
in recent weeks. Hopefully, [Democratic presidential hopefuls] Barack Obama and
Joe Biden will be able to reverse this impulse toward self-destruction in the
US, roll back [US Vice President] Dick Cheney's police state apparatus, and
restore American democracy, freedom, and liberty. The challenges will be many
for the new administration ... but overall, I personally believe that all of
what is currently happening is deep into its end cycle - which means that it's
"all good", no matter how bad some of it might seem. Have faith! In relation to
what is happening in Myanmar as written in
Nuclear bond for North Korea, Myanmar [Oct 3], I feel that China-backed
North Korea is attempting to replicate itself and its bad behavior in Myanmar.
If this is allowed to go forward, China-backed Myanmar will predictably become
as troublesome and problematic for its neighbors in Southeast Asia as North
Korea has become in East Asia. Wait and see ...
Gary Sampson (Oct 6, '08)
[Re Wolfowitz up to more
mischief?, Oct 2] ... [Former World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz]
reels from one fiasco to another. Has it ever occurred to him that there is a
lovefest going on between Taiwan and the mainland? The question is no longer if
but when Taiwan will reunite with the mainland. So any advanced US weapons
systems sold to Taiwan will eventually fall into the hands of China.
Kelvin Mok (Oct 3, '08)
[Re Wolfowitz up to more
mischief?, Oct 2] Hawkish Paul Wolfowitz [former US deputy secretary of
defense] is a man to hate. He may be guilty of many sins of omission and
commission. He, however, is simply following the [George W] Bush
administration's policy of militarily boosting America's strategic presence in
hot points across the globe. Jim Lobe puts his finger on the matter when it
comes to Taiwan. "Taiwan is seen by China as a way to deny the United States a
key ally in 'a highly strategic location' of the western Pacific", he quotes
the International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) report as saying ... Taiwan
has been a useful ally for the last 60 years, although former president Nixon
in his famous visit to communist China in 1972 almost overturned US obligations
with Taipei. Taiwan has since become a matter to be handled gingerly. Improved
and financially lucrative ties with the Chinese mainland have drawn Beijing and
Washington together, and the White House sees this as proof that it is bringing
a communist China into the global fold of capitalism. On some levels, it has
succeeded; on others, prickly problems remain. And we see the sharpest
divergences in matters of defense. China's own military views the US as its
number one "enemy", whereas as Pentagon military planners view the mainland as
a bully who wants to push the US out of its traditional role as military
arbiter of power the Asia-Pacific region. In such a setting, the strategic
value of Taiwan enters Paul Wolfowitz's thinking as chairman of ISAB.
Strategically and even tactically, the Wolfowitz panel is continuing in the
footsteps of its predecessors, with traditional views on Taiwan and the role
the US has played in the Asia-Pacific theater since World War II. Perhaps it is
time to remind ourselves that not everything that Wolfowitz presents is in
itself bad. To think that way has one looking at the sky from the bottom of a
well.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Oct 3, '08)
[Re In life, or
death, Baitullah's fight endures, Oct 2] Some people allege that
Baitullah Mehsud is a US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent, for how could
someone who does not have a long record of jihad against foreign forces become
the leader of the largest jihadi alliance in Pakistan? Not only that, but it is
also alleged that the CIA is protecting him, as they haven't tried to kill him
with one of their Hellfire missiles, especially when he gave an interview to
journalists in the tribal areas this year. How come the journalists knew where
he was and the Americans did not? Some people are saying that the Americans are
keeping him alive because they know he keeps creating trouble for Pakistan,
which is exactly what the US wants.
Zaid Rahman (Oct 3, '08)
Certainly, Baitullah Mehsud is not a priority for Americans. He is a problem
for Pakistan, not NATO troops in Afghanistan, but this does not make him a CIA
agent. This is Pakistani establishment propaganda which it cannot substantiate.
Secondly, if you look at the Taliban commanders, most are in their mid-30s or
younger; contribution to resistance is proportional to age. - Syed Saleem
Shahzad (Oct 3, '08)
ATol wonders how being a CIA agent helps someone become the leader of the
largest jihadi alliance in Pakistan, but compliments "some people" for their
startlingly original conspiracy theories. - ATol
During Thursday's US vice presidential debate between Republican hopeful Sarah
Palin and Democrat hopeful Joe Biden ... the distortion arrived with the
nonsensical argument about whether or not the president of the United States
should sit down with Iranian leaders "without preconditions". Neither side has
yet clarified what this language means - of course there will be preconditions
... But Palin did some fancy side-stepping by suggesting that yes, she and her
running partner (presidential hopeful John McCain) are absolutely interested in
diplomacy, though not at the expense of sitting down with Iranian President
Mahmud Ahmadinejad - who isn't the real power in Iran anyway. Slickness,
side-stepping and over-preparedness vied against authenticity, plain-speaking,
and passion - and lost. We also had more malarkey over how successful the
"surge" in Iraq has been ... The essential success has been a reduction of
violence, which proponents of the "surge" want to claim is due to an increase
in American troops. But the reduction in violence has actually been caused by
the influence of Iran, including its elimination of the threat posed by Shi'ite
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Iran and the powerful Shia of the Iraqi government are
allied, with deep roots extending centuries back prior to the reign of Saddam
Hussein. The alliance is religious, amongst ayatollahs, in a culture we have
little understanding of or tolerance for. With Saddam gone the Iraqi-Iranian
cultural-spiritual ties are reasserting themselves. Sunni influence, including
al-Qaeda, has waned significantly. McCain-Palin are over-simplifying the
conflict with al-Qaeda and both sides are not sufficiently informed about
Iran's influence or its intentions ...
Peter Bollington
USA (Oct 3, '08)
Julian Delasantellis' article
Crisis control fit for the TV age [Oct 2] reads as if he is lifting the
lid of hell and showing us the terrible things happening inside. What is more
shocking is that his premise is correct and his conclusions most probably true
...
Fisseha Abebe
Atlanta, Georgia
USA (Oct 3, '08)
When reading Kent Ewing's article
Earthly troubles cloud China's space walk [Sep 29], one can feel a
tinge of malice in his commentary. It links two unrelated incidents to kill two
birds with one stone. It blames China for what clearly are individual criminal
acts and at the same time takes the shine off an otherwise great
accomplishment. It seems that like all other Western journalists, Ewing harbors
a strong anti-China bias. When it comes to the US or Europe, or even India or
Russia doing something similarly great, the commentaries are usually all
straightforward and congratulatory or adulatory. No derogatory links to tarnish
the achievement. Following Ewing's logic, if the US can put a man on the moon
it should have the ability to prevent the financial meltdown that has affected
the world - which is worse than any milk powder scam. What Ewing asks of China
is impossible. How can he expect China to completely stop or control a couple
of millions of criminals or criminally minded individuals out to make a quick
buck? Even in his beloved native America, with its much more sophisticated
system of checks and balances, law and order, and with only a third of China's
population, is still not crime free. He should have let all the individuals
responsible for the great Olympics and the flawless Shenzhou VII have their
day. They deserve it.
Walter Tseng Kin-Wah (Oct 3, '08)
[Re Sinophobia
smolders in Malaysia, Oct 1] The political scene in Malaysia is very
fluid. After the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN)'s leading party, the United
Malays National Organization (UMNO) - which has ruled the country since
independence in 1957 - was defeated in the snap elections of March 2008, it
became obvious that business could not continue as usual. As Anwar Ibrahim
steps once more into the limelight as the next potential prime minister, racial
tensions remain ever present near the surface of Malaysian politics, and have
recently raised their ugly head not only against the Chinese but also the
Indian minorities ... The March 2008 election has revealed the disquiet among
some segments of the Malay middle classes and their Chinese and Indian
counterparts, who want a relaxation of political control and the fruits of a
civil society. It remains unclear that this will happen, however, and racism
can only harm the modern economic structure of today's Malaysia.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Oct 2, '08)
[Re The tip of
India's terror iceberg, Sep 39] The Indian Mujahideen is indeed just
the tip of the terrorism iceberg in India. However, while the writer goes to
great pains to explain this issue from the minority viewpoint, it must be
understood that there is actually no problem. If the Muslim minority are
unhappy, then they have the right to move to Pakistan to live with their
brothers. That is the purpose of partition.
Rita
Sweden (Oct 2, '08)
[Re Iran fears
nuclear witchhunt, Oct 1] It appears as if Kaveh Afrasiabi cut himself
on Occam's razor when confronted with the fact that the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) has expressed uncertainty regarding the potential
existence of a covert Iranian nuclear arms program. Rather than picking the
simplest, easiest and most logical explanation for IAEA's hesitancy on the
matter, one which requires the fewest assumptions, and postulates the fewest
entities (like, for example, the IAEA simply does not know if the program
exists and has changed its assessment over time), Afrasiabi instead variously
invokes:
1). Economic necessity, by asserting that the IAEA is nearly broke and the
equivocation we see is a form of pandering to the US and its allies for cash.
2). [IAEA chief] Mohamad ElBaradei's lack of integrity when he speculates that
there is, "... a discrete quid pro quo ... ", existing between the IAEA under
ElBaradei and the US.
He then stumbles on the "fallacy of the general rule", when he argues the broad
generalization (" ... only a fraction of the IAEA's 145 member states have so
far received a complete clean bill of health ... ") on the specific issue of
the possible Iranian nuclear program. What does the former have to do with the
latter, especially as "only a fraction" of these states are attempting to
develop a nuclear program anyway? Afrasiabi falls flat on the logical fallacy
of ignoratio elenchi (advancing something as an argument when it has
nothing to do with the point at issue) when he writes, "...even short of a
military confrontation, the effect of perpetuating the economic warfare of UN
(and US) sanctions on Iran warrants a serious examination of the real sources
for ElBaradei's suspicion". How does the allegation of "economic warfare" waged
against Iran by the US and it's manipulative minions lead to the conclusion
that there are occult motives for "ElBaradei's suspicion"? The paralogical
gumbo presented as an explanation for IAEA's equivocation on the Iranian
nuclear program seems to reveal another problem: Afrasiabi doesn't know about
Iranian intentions either; he just believes a covert weapons effort doesn't
exist and can't figure out why others fail to share his sense of certainty.
Keith Comess (Oct 2, '08)
Chan [Akya], thanks for your reply [Oct 1]. Your article [Deaf
frogs and the Pied Piper, Sep 30] contends that massive capital from
Asia corrupted the Fed (US Federal Reserve) and US banks, causing them to
behave recklessly and ultimately leading to the current crisis. My argument
simply is that the Fed's and the banks' ability to fulfill their respective
professional duties/responsibilities should never have been influenced by the
quantity and source of their funding, regardless of whether the funds came from
the sale of fancy financial products in exchange for "unnatural Asian
surpluses" or from routine deposits by American citizens. The fact that foreign
investors didn't fully understand the financial products they purchased also is
beside the point, because few financial professionals even in this country
understood those convoluted instruments; but in the end, both the American
people and foreign investors were scammed. A more vigilant and responsible US
government would/should have stepped in at an early stage to prevent the con
game from spiraling out of control and ruining the lives of millions. Assigning
the blame for the unfolding fiasco to Asians for accumulating their savings
surplus, however "unnaturally", is not conducive to identifying and hopefully
addressing the real underlying cause of this disaster. Finally, your
juxtaposition of the China milk scandal and the US financial turmoil is rather
instructive. The last I heard, scores of culprits from the milk scandal have
been arrested by the authorities and currently await their punishment. The
crooks that brought us the financial debacle, on the other hand, received tens
of millions of dollars in severance pay. Now what does that say about the
capitalist system we have here in the US?
John Chen
USA (Oct 2, '08)
[Re US wealth in
shrink mode, Sep 29] Mr Spengler is absolutely right to home in on
leverage. Leverage magnifies gains when asset prices are exhibiting a rising
trend (the investment banks rode this tsunami), and the situation is equally
magnified when asset prices decline. It is entirely binary. The other key point
to note is that when you deploy leverage, you are deploying someone else's
money. You are ultimately dependent on the kindness of strangers (OK they are
not strangers) a la Blanche Dubois. Just as credit was the oxygen for this orgy
of speculation, its removal results in asphyxiation. The bailout is a game of
smoke and mirrors (way too little) and the lenders have taken serious fright.
The atrocious attack of September 11, 2001 keeps replaying in my mind, the
attack on the World Trade Center, the symbol of American economic power. I am
left wondering who really was the winner? President Bush with his invasion of
Iraq or Osama Bin Laden free as a bird and watching the American economy
teetering on the edge?
Aly-Khan Satchu
Nairobi (Oct 1, '08)
[Re Creating a
great depression , Oct 1] Markets are responding hopefully and
positively today [Tuesday], after the New York Stock Exchange took fright and
drooped almost 780 points following the US House of Representatives' failure to
accept a bailout plan for the current subprime mortgage meltdown ... Everyone
in Congress is pointing a finger of blame at someone else, yet the rejection of
the bill was actually down to the voice of the people on the street, who were
angry with an emergency funding plan which did not take into account their
pain, and its possible effects on their livelihoods. Martin
Hutchinson offers us a good primer on the levers which might throw the US and
the world economy into a "depression". It is a useful cautionary tale.
Nonetheless, the denial of a more or less free hand to US Secretary of the
Treasury Hank Paulson offers an opportunity for Congress to revamp the bill,
which in the end will discipline the irrational exuberance of Wall Street.
Mechanisms from the FDR [former US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt] New
Deal are there and in place and can be dusted off and applied without too much
effort, if there is the will to tame the feral beast that free market
capitalism had become. A British economist, when asked to comment on whether US
Fed chairman Ben Bernanke is the right man to deal with the current economic
crisis, as he deeply studied the fallout from the Great Depression of 1929,
quipped: Ah yes, but those lessons do not apply today. And that may very well
say it all.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Oct 1, '08)
[Re Deaf frogs and
the Pied Piper, Sep 30] John [Chen], the analogy in your letter [Sep
30] is perhaps a little misplaced as in the most recent crisis money wasn't
deposited at the American banks (at very low interest rates as set by the Fed)
but rather used to purchase higher yielding financial products from them; these
products provided an illusion of safety by being rated at triple-A, while
carrying a higher interest rate: the mechanics of a supposed arbitrage that
many investors simply did not have the experience to fully comprehend. The
"mistake" here was as much in the selection process/criteria for investments,
ie, on the demand side, as much as it was on the supply side, pertaining to the
method of creating and marketing these securities. Secondly, the money being
circulated into US investments was generated by the unnatural surpluses
occurring from the lack of currency flexibility in Asia and thus cannot be
readily compared to the hard-earned savings of individuals. Better quality
regulation is certainly needed, but that cannot be conflated with the decline
of market capitalism as is being suggested by a number of mainstream
columnists. If anything, the need for regulators to sharpen their skill set has
been brought out profoundly by events such as the collapse of various American
banks as well as unrelated happenings such as the tainted-milk scandal in
China.
Chan Akya (Oct 1, '08)
September Letters
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