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Please provide your name or a
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Please note: This Letters page is intended primarily for
readers to comment on ATol articles or related issues. It should not be used as
a forum for readers to debate with each other.
The Edge is the place for that. The editors do not mind publishing one
or two responses to a reader's letter, but will, at their discretion, direct
debaters away from the Letters page.
SEPTEMBER 2010
[Re China wobbles in
diplomatic test, Sep 29] China is irrational when it comes to Japan.
The recent clash over Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands serves as a smokescreen for
historical hurts. Hurts that Chou En-lai had brushed aside when Japan
recognized Communist China as the sole representative of the Chinese people
almost 40 years ago. Since then China has benefited from Japan's technological
and financial superiority in order to modernize. Today, China is waxing
economically strong and is taking its "revenge" on Japan by denying it rare
metals its industries need. Beijing's blackmail should put its neighbors and
nations in Africa and Latin America on notice of China's colonial ambitions.
China will not deviate far from the trail blazed by European nations in its
appetite for primary materials, spheres of influence, and domination.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Sep 30, '10)
[Re Why the US doesn't
talk to Iran, Sep 29] As soon as I read a journalist using words such
as imperialist or Zionist, I realize where they are coming from. This article
is not only an astounding anti-America propaganda piece, but also an effort to
sanitize an evil and - why not - parasitic state such as Iran. The authors ask,
"The question is why? Why have successive US administrations been reluctant to
enter into a conflict-resolution dialogue with Iran, which could clearly be in
the national interests of the United States?"
The answer is that Iran cannot be treated the same way than - let's say -
Switzerland or Germany. President Obama cannot lower himself to the level of a
dictator by meeting Ahmadinejad. President Obama is the leader of the free
world, Ahmadinejad is the oppressor of millions of people and the leader of a
bunch of gangsters. The United States cannot bend over so easily and let an
obviously inferior enemy dictate conditions. If the United States of America
did not have such a naive, nice guy as president, all the mice who are running
wild around the world would have been squashed by US military might. I am so
sick and tired of journalists writing with orgasmic pleasure about North Korea
and Iran.
Who is interested in reading about those people? They have nothing, absolutely
nothing to teach the developed, democratic, free world. But welcome to the new
press where rogue states are sanitized while prosperous democracies are
demonized. What is next? Zimbabwe teaching economics to Hong Kong and Norway? I
cannot wait to read the next piece of insanity.
Ysais Martinez
United States (Sep 30, '10)
[Re China dives deep for
African roots, Sep 28] In the opening paragraph, Antoaneta Becker
states, "Chinese archaeologists have been sent to hunt for a long-lost
shipwreck off the Kenyan coast to support claims that China beat white
explorers in discovering Africa." This, of course, is nonsense, as Africa and
Europe share a close history going back to the dawn of civilization on the Nile
(in Africa). The Phoenicians (literally the "dark people") founded Carthage (in
Africa) across from Sicily. The Roman world (Europe's mother) was centered on
the Mediterranean, and Rome fed itself from the shores of Africa from Gibraltar
to Egypt... Europeans always knew the continent was there!
It was the last continent Europeans invaded primarily because of malaria and
fevers which felled them quickly whenever they ventured inland below the
Sahara. This was opposite to what happened in the Americas, where European
diseases wiped out 99% of the indigenous population. In Africa it was Europeans
who succumbed quickly to illnesses.
The real issue Africans have with their relationship with Europe is, not that
it doesn't go back far enough, but that it was one of unidirectional and often
unimaginably inhumane exploitation. Let's hope China does better. In fact, it
would be very hard for them to do worse. Francis Quebec, Canada
(Sep 29, '10)
[Re Kim the Younger steals
the show, Sep 28] Why the hyperbole? North Korean watchers have jabbed
endlessly on the "ascension" of Kim Jong-eun. And now that he has the grade of
four-star general does that call for saying he stole the show? What is more
interesting is the promotion of Kim Jong-il's sister Kyong-hi to the rank of
general. It was under her name that an article appeared in a North Korean
publication in September 2009 that few read, announcing currency reform.
The signs are there that Kim Jong-il has further strengthened his hold on
power. Kim Jong-eun has begun his apprentice in statecraft, and this is not
from today, but at least three years ago. The much-quoted professor Andrei
Lankov keeps saying that at best the younger Kim is going to be a "rubber
stamp" dictator. His remarks betray a poor understanding of the way things have
been done in North Korea since the 1930s. A newer and younger generation of
leadership is slowly emerging in North Korea. It would well behove us to deal
with such a development rationally and shun exaggeration.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Sep 29, '10)
[Re An Afghan bone
for Obama to chew on, Sep 18] Robert Blackwill’s plan sounds brilliant
on paper and actually has a good chance of succeeding, that is if Russia and
China acquiesced to indefinite US military presence in Afghanistan and also
assuming the Afghans themselves would allow long-term foreign occupation of
their homeland. In reality, a variety of ways would exist through which China
and Russia could undermine US efforts. In the long run, the success of any
American design would to a large extent depend on US willingness to share with
other major players Afghanistan’s mineral golconda.
John Chen
United States (Sep 29, '10)
[Re The donkey
in the China shop and
US stirs South China Sea waters, Sep 27] Tires, poultry parts, copper,
currency issues, naval maneuvers ... to paraphrase the famous British sleuth, a
great game of chicken is afoot. With the Smoot-Hawley and the Great Depression
serving as painful reminders and the outcome of a Sino-US trade war all too
predictable, cooler heads will likely prevail at the end (methinks) as there's
simply too much at stake. Rather than resort to juvenile and seldom-effective
chest-thumping, can't we all just get along and be merry!?
John Chen
United States (Sep 28, '10)
[Re Show and tell time
in North Korea, Sep 27] The US and South Korea are circling the wagons
of defense on the high seas. North Korea responds by maneuvers on land.
Displays of bravado, for sure. Stroking of egos, for sure. The gathering of the
faithful in Pyongyang after 44 years for a congress of the Korean Workers Party
(KWP) requires no fanciful analysis until it is all over. The script has been
written before hand. The KWP will "rubber stamp" decisions worked out after
long hours of hard discussions. The outcome will come only as a bolt out of the
blue if Kim Jong-eun is not designated his father's successor, as talking heads
outside North Korea keep betting on.
More importantly, it is clear that US and South Korean measures to pressure
North Korea have made long fire. Seoul will ship rice to the North soon. It is
negotiating with Pyongyang on the resumption of reunions of divided families.
The missing ingredient in relaxing tensions is what is Washington going to do?
It seems as though the Obama administration has come up with no new ideas.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Sep 28, '10)
[Letter to M K Bhadrakumar re
An Afghan bone for Obama to chew on, Sep 18] I read your article in
Asia Times Online on the idea of partitioning Afghanistan. I believe that the
partitioning of Afghanistan is the only outcome that will result in a permanent
peace in Afghanistan. However, while this issue has been discussed, I have not
yet seen an actual plan. I wish to present such a plan for your consideration.
Since you have extensive diplomatic experience in Asia as well as numerous
contacts you are in a position to actually influence the future of Afghanistan.
The essence of the my plan is to face up to the reality that Afghanistan is
comprised of multiple ethnic groups who have been in conflict among themselves
for over 30 years.
The Pashtuns, from whom the Taliban originate, are the largest ethnic group and
have always dominated Afghanistan. There are approximately 9 to 10 million
Pashtuns in Afghanistan and another 25 million in the adjoining areas of
Pakistan. It is a well known fact that the Taliban have been armed and
supported by the Pakistan military and especially the military intelligence
branch of the Pakistan military. As you have already pointed out, if all the
other ethnic regions of Afghanistan were to secede or be annexed by neighboring
regions, then only the Pashtun regions of Afghanistan would remain within the
current borders of Afghanistan.
The Tajik, Uzbek and Turkmen regions of Afghanistan should be annexed by the
nations of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Independent nations for the
Hazara, Nuristani and Aimaq peoples should also be created.
The nations of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan would have no common border with the
Pashtun regions of Afghanistan. The nation of Tajikistan would have a narrow
border with the Pashtun regions only in the area of Kabul. Topographical maps
show that there would only be two approaches to Kabul, from the east and the
south, which could be easily defended militarily.
I hope you will consider these plans. Perhaps you could meet with Robert
Blackwill and others to discuss them. Michael Moriarty
Editor's note: Michael Moriarty included maps and other detailed
plans which have been excluded here for the sake of brevity.
M K Bhadrakumar replies:
Dear Mr Moriarty
I appreciate your thoughtful letter apropos of my article on the Robert
Blackwill plan for Afghanistan. First, my considered opinion is that Blackwill,
not being an Afghan "expert" so to speak, may have perhaps offered this plan as
one for "partition" of Afghanistan. But that is a matter of packaging and any
discussion of his plan will suffer if we look through the prism of partition,
since it is a non-starter insofar as the Afghans will make mincemeat out of any
foreigner who even thinks of a vivisection of his country. Therefore, we should
ask: what does the plan entail? Vladimir Lenin would have asked, ''Who stands
to gain?'' In my assessment, it is politics, pure and simple.
The war is virtually lost in the south, and any settlement involves the handing
over to the Taliban its Pashtun strongholds in the south and east. And, any
perpetuation of the US military presence into the medium to long term
inevitably involves relocating US troops to the north and west (which are
quintessentially much closer to the actual theatre of the "great game" -
Central Asia - from where the containment strategy toward China, Russia and
Iran can be best pursued).
In short, it suits the US to relocate to the north and west with a credible
enough alibi of carrying on with the fight against al-Qaeda terrorism so that
Russian, Iranian and Chinese suspicions are not aroused.
It is a very smart approach by the Pentagon planners in the US, in my opinion,
as countries like India, Russia and China also do not want to see the US leave
with ''unfinished business'' in Afghanistan. As you know, the military bases
that the US are strengthening within Afghanistan - Bagram, Sjindand,
Mazar-i-Sharif, etc - all happen to be in the north and east close to the
borders with China and Iran! The virtue of this sort of a ''settlement'' is
also that the US makes Pakistan a ''stakeholder''. If the Haqqani groups etc
are brought in as the ruling class in the areas straddling the Durand Line,
Pakistan gets a high level of satisfaction as having ''strategic depth''.
In short, as per the Blackwill plan, the principal changes will be: a) Wali
Khan in Kandahar and his half-brother in Kabul will be forced out of their
present jobs; b) US military presence in the region is ensured on a long-term
footing without ruffling any hackles in the region or the Afghan nationalist
mind; c) as in Iraq, the US troops don't have to fight and die anymore and the
US domestic opinion learns to live with the idea of US involvement in
Afghanistan without merely linking it to homeland security concerns; d) the
next part of the game can begin, which is tapping the fabulous multi-trillion
dollar mineral wealth of the region, while keeping China out of the honeypot as
far as possible; e) disrupting the Chinese aspirations of gaining access routes
to the Gulf via Pakistan and Iran; and (f), getting ''embedded'' geopolitically
in the highly strategic Middle Asian region where the US could never be as long
as Soviet Union existed, at a vantage point that overlooks four nuclear - and
potentially five - nuclear powers and where three big ''emerging powers'' also
happen to be.
In sum, I feel Blackwill is speaking for someone else in the Pentagon, which is
full of cold warriors still. I agree with your logic of the ethnic map of
Afghanistan. But my point is that one distilled wisdom that I acquired after
dealing with Afghans (which first began in 1977 in my diplomatic career) is
that they have multiple identities - like Indians. It would be terribly wrong,
for instance, to spot me as a ''Malayali'' (our language in the south)
chauvinist (which I am without any doubt), but if someone tries to provoke my
''Indianness'', I flare up first and foremost as an Indian and not as a
Malayali.
Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen has a wonderful study, a recent book, on the
Indian's multiple identity. It holds good perfectly well for studying the
Afghan personality, too. I can claim, without any needless boasting or
immodesty, to have known Ahmed Shah Massoud from very close quarters. The world
always thought of him as an Afghan nationalist and as a Tajik, but I also had
many occasions to see him as a ''Panjshiri'' unfailingly. So, he fought off the
Pakistanis, Hekmatyar and the Taliban and al-Qaeda, but he also had constant
friction with his leader, Burhanuddin Rabbani, or the fellow Tajik from the
west, Ismail Khan, who too were nationalists and Tajiks - but not
''Panjshiri''! Some food for thought for Blackwill.
M K Bhadrakumar (Sep 28, '10)
[Re China plays by its
own currency rules, Sep 23] As the United States struggles to keep its
economic nose above water, it is realizing the folly of the way it has
"incorporated" China into the world capitalist system. American administrations
have played by free market rules; China hasn't. It adopted mercantilism to beat
the US at its won game. It looks as though it has won since Beijing is the
locomotive keeping the world's economy out of depression... but has it? Peter
Lee enumerates the alarming problems facing China, including potential real
estate and financial bubbles. The US particularly looked benignly as China
absorbed its debt. Now, it finds that its venture capitalist investment,
runaway industries and jobs, and pampering China have not moved Beijing to do
right by rules the Chinese reject.
China runs another risk in that the US is its biggest export market. And
impoverished America is not readily going to buy its cheap products.
Nonetheless, ignoring danger signs, China is not unlike the US in partying
while the money is rolling in.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Sep 27, '10)
[Re China plays by its
own currency rules, Sep 23] I find the psychology behind the clamor for
China to allow the yuan to appreciate interesting. In economic terms, letting
the yuan appreciate against the dollar is equivalent to paying American workers
lower wages and paying Chinese workers higher wages. Identical. Wolves will bay
at the moon all night for the yuan to appreciate, but if you propose to cut
United States wages and boost Chinese wages, all you will hear is the sound of
crickets. (I should also point out that cutting wages of US workers is
something the US can do immediately and without any cooperation from China).
If the world were on a single currency, it's wages and prices that would
adjust, not exchange rates. This is in fact happening: wages in the US are now
falling and wages in China are rising. So the standard of living in the US will
fall and the standard of living in China will rise - until an equilibrium is
reached.
As for the trade deficit: The direct and immediate outcome of a yuan
appreciation will be a worsening of the trade deficit. It's simple arithmetic
that if you pay more for imports, and get less for exports, the trade deficit
will increase - unless you can make up the difference, and more, on volume. But
how realistic is that? How realistic is it that export volumes to China will
increase if China is coerced into yuan appreciation? Isn't the more likely
outcome a tit-for-tat retaliatory trade war? History would suggest this is the
case.
Unfortunately there is no magic bullet for the US. Yes, the US can print money,
but as they do, the Chinese will simply print yuan, buying up the extra dollars
with the printed yuan. The exchange rate stays roughly the same, and the
Chinese end up holding even more dollars. The net result is a transfer of
wealth to China. The downside for China is inflation from the printed yuan.
Francis Chow
Quebec, Canada (Sep 27, '10)
[Re US and Iran
fire salvos at the UN, Sep 23] The departure of UN delegates, led by
their imperialist American masters, upon the Iranian president's harangue about
9-11, once again evinces that old aphorism about the heat intolerant and the
necessity of their leaving kitchens. The truth, despite its source, does make
the Usual Suspects uncomfortable under their starched collars.
That a growing number of Americans are joining the already substantial number
of non-Americans who have serious doubts about The "Official" Conspiracy Theory
of 9-11 matters not a whit to Obama, who wouldn't be president if he hadn't
signed on to the Don't Ask-Don't Know policy about the greatest fraud in human
history. Now, to be fair, there is no direct evidence linking the US government
to the doings of that fateful day, so I cannot say with certainty that Bush and
his gang of congenital pathological liars pushed the buttons. But as
Ahmadinejad suggested, there is more than ample evidence to show that the
conspiracy theory elicited by the Bush cabal is full of logic holes,
inconsistencies, suspicious coincidences, scientific and engineering anomalies,
outright contradictions and "incompetence" of such mind boggling proportions
that only an insane person with defective olfactory glands would not smell a
giant stinking fish carcass somewhere.
Of course, the Official Myth, already engraved permanently into the American
zeitgeist, profits so many plutocrats around the globe that there is less than
zero chance of any further investigations about this transparent false-flag
operation. It joins the many self-deluding myths that have convinced Americans
that they are the very image of purity, divine grace and iconic imaging that
all other should emulate. As they strip away all the essential elements of
American values, principles and laws in order to preserve that illusion, they
scarcely realize that the emperor is down to skeletal bones, ready for the
trash heap of history. By any measure, the "terrorists" have won a massive and
empire-ending victory.
Hardy Campbell
United States (Sep 27, '10)
[Re Thai colors
bleed a complicated mosaic, Sep 21] For the record, Shawn Crispin's
recent article on Asia time dated September 21, called ''Thai colors bleed a
complicated mosaic'', contains some factual errors and needs some corrections.
A week ago, we met by accident at Emporium where he asked me several questions
about the Reds. I asked him to have coffee for a more in depth conversation and
I told him that the UDD [United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship] did
not exist as an organization and therefore my official role as the spokesman
was officially finished.
Then, at the September 19 rally, I ran into him again and we had another
conversation in which I also re-informed him again of my non-spokesman status.
I thought we understood each other. To my dismay, when I saw the article whose
paragraph attributed me as the de facto spokesman. I was surprised since I have
a witness who heard what I had said originally at the Emporium.
First paragraph: "Sean Boonracong, the UDD's de facto spokesman, claimed
Sunday's protest was "purely spontaneous" and "in no way" relied on Thaksin's
cash or influence to organize. He estimated that the crowd was "almost
entirely" from Bangkok's middle classes, and not the rural masses its earlier
protest claimed to represent."
The second paragraph: “Boonracong also confessed that the UDD's deployment of
armed "black shirts" was a "big mistake" and undermined the group's claim to
non-violent struggle it is now bidding to re-establish."
This statement could give a wrong impression that UDD had actually deployed an
armed wing while in fact, none had ever existed. What I actually said was that
the "black shirts'" coming out was a mistake and that unknown people used
violence. When the "black shirts" came out, they did damage to the peaceful
cause that the UDD was trying to achieve at the rally. Again, I would like to
state that a third party was present and can verify what I said.
I attended UDD meetings for nine months and during this time a discussion of an
armed wing was mentioned but UDD Chairman Veera Musingkapong said at that
meeting, three months before the rally began, that we could never look at the
Reds in the eyes if we promised them peaceful methods but did things in secret.
I remember that conversation vividly. I want to state this fact for the record.
Blatant twisting of these facts does damage to the credibility of the writer of
this article, Shawn Crispin, and to Asia Time Online. This letter was written
in order for me to tell my side of the story. Also, it will be nice if he
spells my name correctly: it is Boonpracong, not Boonracong. Sean Boonpracong
Former UDD International Spokesman (Sep 27, '10)
(Note: The spelling of Sean Boonpracong's name has been amended in the
article.)
Shawn Crispin replies:
I spent over an hour walking and speaking with Sean Boonpracong during the
September 19 anti-government protest in Bangkok. The direct quotes attributed
to him in the story are accurate as reported. The prior discussion I shared
with Boonpracong at the Emporium shopping mall on September 10 was, as he
requested, treated as off-the-record and hence was not referenced in the story.
There were also parts of our conversation on September 19 that were
on-the-record and other parts off - which, as always, I respected. I witnessed
Boonpracong give interviews about the protest to several media members that
day, including journalists who took notes of his statements from Bloomberg,
Financial Times and the Washington Times.
Boonpracong was very much acting as a spokesman at the protest site, despite
his claims to the contrary. Boonpracong also said he had not yet formally
resigned his position with the UDD while we spoke in front of the
Intercontinental Hotel in transit to a nearby McDonald's, where he gave a more
formal interview with Bloomberg and Asia Times Online. This is why I choose to
qualify his position as ''de facto'' spokesman in the story.
In regard to the ''black shirt'' quote, Boonpracong made the statement while he
and I were sheltering from rain under a tent across the street from
CentralWorld at around 5 pm during the protest. I was visibly taking notes
during our discussion where he mentioned the debate inside the UDD between
moderates and hardliners and the use of violence alluded to in his letter. His
letter does not take issue with the ''big mistake'' quote, but rather seemingly
its contextualization as a ''confession''.
He also recognized in our wide-ranging discussions that the "black shirts" were
associated with the UDD, and not planted by the military, but also said that he
did not know who they were or who was behind their deployment. He estimated the
"black shirts'" emergence was a reflection of the struggle between moderates
and hardliners in the movement, with Boonpracong clearly in the former's camp.
In no way did the story insinuate that Boonpracong was responsible for or had
foreknowledge of the "black shirts'" emergence.
I recognize and empathize with the delicate situation UDD organizers now face
with the ongoing state of emergency and crackdown on their supporters and
sympathizers. I am grateful to Boonpracong for the time and insights he shared
with me on September 19, and many, many times before. That all said, I stand
firmly by the facts and quotes as reported in the story.
(Sep 27, '10)
Re China's soccer
lost in shame by Olivia Chung [Sep24]. Corruption grips every facet of
China. It is part and parcel of China's history: the potion of power is a good
mixture of money, coercion and blood ties or connections. Honesty becomes a
rare virtue. China "cheated" in falsifying its athletes ages during the Beijing
Summer Olympics, the better to harvest a bumper crop of gold medals. So, if the
government fudges good sports practices, it is a clear signal that deception is
good and bribery acceptable.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Sep 24, '10)
Regarding the excellent article (Why
the troops are coming home, September 24, 2010). The reality that
cannot be emphasized enough is the enormous challenge facing the US economy and
therefore, why America must come home. Last May, in a little-noticed exercise
to develop a national security strategy for maintaining US global influence,
restoring "fiscal responsibility" was the number one recommendation of a group
of logistic officers at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.
Also last May, speaking in Kansas, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates alluded to
this when he said, "Eisenhower was weary of seeing his beloved republic turned
into a muscle-bound garrison state - militarily strong, but economically
stagnant and strategically insolvent." After a decade of Bush/Cheney policies,
aided and abetted by a Republican Congress that doubled the national debt, two
wars not paid for, a tax cut not paid for and a Medicare drug fix not paid for,
the US is now facing not just a severe economic problem, but as most national
security experts would tell us, a national security problem.
Furthermore, the insatiable appetite for profits of the captains of industry
that manipulated markets and gave away American jobs only added to destroying
the health of the US economy - what no terrorist could have ever dreamed of
achieving. The Obama administration, much to its credit, has been trying to
repair this damage. But, going forward, it cannot do this unless it implements
badly needed reforms and reigns in the unsustainable expenditures of trillions
of dollars to fight wars and police the world.
Fariborz S Fatemi Former professional staff member, House Foreign
Affairs Committee, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
McLean VA (Sep 24, '10)
Re Nepotism's a no-no in a
'fair society' [Sep 22], has nepotism increased under the South Korean
Lee Myung-bak government? Possibly. It, however, is an endemic malady no matter
who is in the Blue House. In a society like South Korea's, privileges go to the
wealthy and the well-connected. So, little wonder nepotism and favoritism
survive and thrive. What is interesting in Sunny Lee's account is the mention
of a "leak", a breaking of the Korean elite's "omerta". [Former] foreign
minister Yu Myung-hwan had rankled someone who did him a favor or he denied
someone one, it looks like. Justice has a way of leveling the playing field ...
sometimes.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Sep 22, '10)
Re Petraeus spin on
roadside bombs belied [Sep 11]. Congratulations for your success in
publishing JIEDDO statistics and exposing US lies about Afghanistan. If you now
try to go to jieddo.dod.mil you will find that it is subject to US censorship.
Donald A Thomson
47A River Rd, Biboohra, Qld, Australia (Sep 21, '10)
Re The specter of the
one-state solution by Victor Kotsev [Sep 21]. The late Anglo American
public intellectual Tony Judt envisaged a one-state solution as the only way
out of the Israeli Palestinian divide. His vision is possible. However, the
seeds of a one-state solution are in the radical Zionist ideology that Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the more extreme right-wing parties that
make up his Likud government preach. For them, the land from the Mediterranean
sea to the Jordan River is Israel's "divinely sanctified brithright". In plain
English, there is room for but one state: a Jewish state. Unless the US takes a
more neutral stance and imposes a two-state solution, Tony Judt's prediction
will become a reality.
Abraham Yiju
Palermo (Sep 21, '10)
Pepe Escobar in his
Don’t mess with my burqa, monsieur, refers to a "civic
education" course for offenders of the new anti-burqa law. That calls to
mind the infamous re-education courses used in China against dissidents. Burqa
dissidents might do well to invoke the Chinese example as an historic parallel
to shame the French state.
Brian Souter
Australia (Sep 21, '10)
Re Petraeus spin on
roadside bombs belied [Sep 11]. Congratulations for your success in
publishing JIEDDO statistics and exposing US lies about Afghanistan. If you now
try to go to jieddo.dod.mil you will find that it is subject to US censorship.
Donald A Thomson
47A River Rd, Biboohra, Qld, Australia Has anyone really picked up on the fact
that Kim Jong-il has "rehabilitated" a leading proponent of "economic reform"?
Articles in Asia Times Online stress that North Korea has its own way of
treating its affairs. Some scoff at juche (self-reliance). Others pooh
pooh anything Pyongyang does or says. No one really takes North Korea seriously
unless it tests rockets or sets off a nuclear device. Is it possible that "in
camera" and in small groups change in the Korean Workers Party (KWP) is taking
place? The German economist Rudiger Frank many years ago suggested that in its
own way North Korea was slowly "tinkering" with economic reform. The pace may
be slow but it is there.
In the New York Times, Jimmy Carter had an op-ed peace about his recent visit
to North Korea in which he described its willingness to seek peace with the US.
He already has made this known to President Barack Obama, who remains unmoved.
Surely, Bill Clinton came back with the same message in July, 2009. Does nobody
but former president Carter care about a new US policy toward North Korea?
Instead we are treated to tedious analysis of what will or what won't happen
there. Everyone sees a favorite tree while missing the forest.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Sep 20, '10)
[Re New light shed on
US's night raids, Sep 16] When I got to the part about neighbors
responding to nighttime commotion. by grabbing a gun before going outside, and
then being killed and reported as insurgents, I stopped reading.
The wars of the past were as brutal as anything now being done, or even more
so, but there was a great difference. Then, it was army against army, or
soldier against rebellious fighter, in essence, fighting men against fighting
men. Now, with the best high tech, total communication, super armed and backed
by air force and navy and space satellites and killer drones, the US fighting
man is killing men, women, and children, dressed in nightgowns with sleep
clouding their vision.
This is being done in my name as a US taxpayer, and I want this message to go
to all of the US commanders: I am utterly ashamed at your cowardice, and your
actions are despicable. I throw down my glove to any and every one of you.
Ken Moreau
United States (Sep 17, '10)
How fragile is Afghanistan’s import from America, government in a box, when a
rumor rips into a riot? A member of Afghanistan's parliament, Mir Ahmad
Joyenda, refers only to the Taliban-backed riot but unwittingly sums up the
state of Afghanistan's current government with this comment: ''the people are
being misused.'' Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai misuses Afghanis with his
iron-fist rule because he needs total control of the government to get total
control of US foreign aid. Living in fear under the US propped up Karzai, the
Afghanis see the bellicose, religiously fanatical, misogynist Taliban as their
heroes who will liberate them from this US-imposed tyrant. Karzai’s corruption
forces President Barack Obama and General David Petraeus to resort to
power-sharing and political inclusion of the Taliban into its government in a
box.
Why would Afghanis embrace President Obama's gift of democratic government when
it is wrapped in military gear, only delivering assault rifles and dollar bills
to ruthless Afghan warlords? Helen Logan Tackett
United States (Sep 17, '10)
The crazy-as-a-Fox-Network-executive, one Reverend Terry Jones, has decided
that discretion is the better part of not getting sued, shot at or fire-bombed.
Hurray for sanity! Three cheers for a week of non-stop stop-the-presses hoopla,
hype and hysteria! Jones needs to be applauded for making him and his
penny-ante, white trash congregation the focus of attention from a world that
otherwise wouldn't acknowledge their existence.
Which brings me to Kim Jong-il. That pudgy wanna-be Asian film director and his
daddy have been "Reverend Jonesing" the world for 40 plus years now. Their
version of Koran book burning, the periodic rattling of nuclear sabres, has had
much the same effect and for identical reasons.
Some may pooh-pooh the equivalence of book burnings versus country burnings,
but they both have essential elements in common; neither act was ever seriously
contemplated being enacted. Merely the well-publicized suggestion is enough to
make an indifferent world sit up and salivate with interest and enthrallment.
The fine art of the bluff, bringing one's target audience to the brink of
anticipation and then magnanimously backing off at the last second, has been
accomplished many times by the North Korean leadership. Jones is evidently a
student of Hermit Kingdom brinkmanship. He had his 15 minutes and has shown the
universe what a fine, tolerant Christian American he is. Doubtless his Sunday
flocks will be bigger, more enthusiastic and more generous come the passing
plate.
Of course, there is nothing to say that Jones will not have another
"revelation" instructing him to build literary bonfires again. Indeed, the
precedent has now been set for everyone with a need for publicity, fame or new
followers to resort to any number of media-grabbing hi jinks, from porn
cartoons of Mohammed to picketing stores that sell chadors to running swine
through Muslim neighborhoods. I hear Kim will start demanding royalties.
Hardy Campbell
United States (Sep 17, '10)
[Re The Iranian
Economy, Parts 1 and 2, Sep 14 and Sep 15] I would like to say how much
I appreciated Hossein Askari's two articles about the Iranian economy. Part 1
is essential reading for anyone trying to understand the Iranian government and
economy. I have read hundreds of articles about Iran and by far this is the
best piece I have ever read. I would love to know what Askari thinks will
happen in the future regarding Iran.
Dennis O'Connell
United States (Sep 16, '10)
Re Beijing ire at sea
chase signals wider reach, Sep 15] Let's recap my layman's view of the
situation in and around the Asian triangle of China, Korea, and Japan. About a
year ago, Japan was seriously talking about moving the US Marine base on
Okinawa to someplace offshore of Japan. In fact, a Japanese prime minister was
elected on this premise.
Then a series of incidents started. Under extreme pressure from the US and the
added "incidental" sinking of a South Korean frigate, the Japanese prime
minister relented and acquiesced to a move of the base, but still on the
Japanese island. Then the prime minister resigned in disgrace for having
reneged on his campaign promise. Next, to help elect a more sympathetic (to the
US) Japanese prime minister, the US instigated a whole series of saber rattling
activities in and around the Korean peninsular in hopes of getting a military
response of some kind from North Korea. The Japanese public had to be made
aware that the US was its "guardian" and what better way than to scare the
Japanese public.
But both China and North Korea were not to be baited and the saber rattling was
of no avail. Then came a series of articles out of the Pentagon that the
Chinese had "Carrier killer" rockets and that China was a military giant hell
bent on conquering all of Asia and then perhaps Africa, North and South America
and, yes, even little Cuba. Not to mention Europe, Antarctica and, heaven
forbid, New Zealand!
But the foes of the Marine base on Okinawa were not to be deterred. They are
still clamoring for the base to be gone. Then comes a sudden toughening of the
Japanese patrols around disputed islands in the East China Sea. The Diaoyu
islands are contested territory by China and Japan. Simultaneously, with the
emergence of new US submarines in areas encircling China, Japan decides to
commandeer a Chinese fishing trawler and prosecute its captain under Japanese
law. Naturally, China responded strongly, as this would set a precedent of
Japanese control and China would have none of that. China has now sent a
fisheries control frigate to the area.
Lets hope no further escalation happens. But the Japanese and the Koreans (who
also want the US to leave) are still not scared enough to want the "Guardian"
to stick around. Just how much farther the US will try to frighten these people
in order to maintain its military encirclement of China is anybody's guess.
History is telling me that sanity is not a strong point in US foreign policy.
Ken Moreau
United States (Sep 16, '10)
[Re How North Korea was
lost to China, Sep 15] A question arises after reading Aidan
Foster-Carter's article. If North Korea was lost to China, how does he explain
China's willingness to counter two recent US South Korea joint military
exercises in the Yellow Sea? Surely, Beijing was sending a clear signal to
Washington and Seoul not to mess with North Korea. If as Foster-Carter contends
that "North Korea was lost to China", Beijing has little political profit to
gain from its show of air and naval prowess. He leaves unsaid the long history
of what binds China to North Korea, and it goes back almost 80 years, to the
days of common struggle against colonial Japan.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Sep 16, '10)
[Re When heads
rolled in Vietnam, Sept 15]. Wasn't it so nice America brought
civilization to Vietnam in the 1960's? Now we can't actually credit the USA for
terminating these barbaric practices. Of course not only during that time but
ever since has the good example been set? How many profitable American missiles
and bombs since 1960, have decapitated so many people across this planet? Even
today in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere. Where we now tragically have far
away children ensconced in some part of America, by remote control, hunkered
down in their bunkers playing real time video games, obliterating other
children elsewhere, half a planet away in the name of "Justice and the American
Way".
Deadly but these kids know not what they do. This is not mentioned in
mainstream American or western media. We don't want to upset the folks over
their breakfasts. The end of the beginning for the "American Dream". Just what
it always was, a mere fanciful dream. The rest of us compliant Western nations
are no better at all of course.
Ian C Purdie
Sydney, Australia (Sep 16, '10)
[Re Terry Jones,
asymmetrical warrior, Sep 13] This was a fun read. Spengler is dead-on
when he says that Muslim rage is almost entirely directed at other Muslims.
It's an unassailable fact and probably the result of a deep-seated self-hatred
among Islamists. On the geopolitical arena, proof of Spengler's observation is
not very hard to find. For example, the moment Saddam Hussein felt he had
enough military might he attacked Muslim Iran. And now Iran and Saudi Arabia
are frantically arming to almost certainly go to war against, well you guessed
it, each other.
Jose R Pardinas
San Diego, United States (Sep 16, '10)
It is nice to get an update on Nepal after a long gap ,
Nepal's army out of step with leaders by Dhruba Adhikary [Sep15]. It is
a surprising and stressful situation in Nepal right now where no one seems to
cooperate with others to solve the political deadlock we have seen for months
now. Should the situation continue, which seems to be the case as of now, it
will come as a relief to Nepalis in and outside Nepal to see a bold step taken
by the army rather than the infamous royal family or the neighboring nation. We
have seen a good example of a nation like Pakistan rising economically and
socially in our neighborhood under the leadership of a man from the army. Many
of us are optimistic that a similar government may work for Nepal too.
Nandita Upadhyaya
Amsterdam, Netherlands (Sep 15, '10)
Something is missing in Sun
sets on Indonesia's North Korea ties by Jeffrey Robertson [Sep15].
There is a strategic shift militarily toward the US. Read more money, more
military hardware, more military training, and more alignment of policy. There,
however, is a price to pay. Indonesia is willing to pay it. Pyongyang can never
compensate for the new cosiness Jakarta has with Washington.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Sep 15, '10)
I think Pepe Escobar [Dude,
you have no Koran Sep 15] really doesn't understand the constitution or
the issues involved in these events. I think the Koran-burners are idiots, but
idiots who are free to be idiots. I think the skateboarder is an idiot too. He
took someone else's property. "I took his Koran" he says, operative word being
"his". The constitution and good taste demand respect of someone's religion. I
don't care what people worship as long as they leave me alone, but it doesn't
require me to give them any respect beyond letting them be free to do as they
please. I don't have to "respect their religion" when it comes to saying, "I
think it's hooey."
Koran-burners are real Americans. I don't like anyone saying "Real Americans",
it's been the excuse of scoundrels on many different causes. I totally support
the right of people to burn flags, bibles, Korans, Kurt Vonnegut books, and
Spice Girl action figures as long as they own the articles to be burned and
follow fire regulations. Stealing a book from someone is not heroic, covering
up the fire as some protesters did, yeah, I like that much more. Have I ever
burned a book or will I? Nope. I had a Tolstoy book I bought in India that I
passed along to another traveler under the condition that they would pass it
along to another book-lover.
Talk of "inalienable rights", people are free to exercise their religion but
are not free from being offended. Don't like someone criticizing your religion,
tough. I think "patriots" who object to flags being burned, religious people
who don't like others saying mean things about their beliefs, and other
overly-sensitive people really need to grow a pair and ignore others who offend
them.
I really don't think this whole "Islamophobia" that the US is supposed to
suffer from is real on a large-scale basis. Do I think we need to pay attention
to the US government distracting people with bread and circuses and wars are
fought in a way to minimize civilian involvement and knowledge? Yep, that we
can agree on.
Michael Brown
St Paul, MN (Sep 15, '10)
[Re Kim's coming out is
prime-time drama, Sep 13] Kim Jong-il keeps frustrating North Korean
watchers. One, in spite of endless speculation, his youngest son Kim Jong-eun
is not officially wearing the laurel leaf crown of successor. What is more
telling, as the New York Times reporter in Seoul, Choe Sang-hoe, archly
observed, South Koreans got the date of the holding of the official ceremonies
of the 62 anniversary of the DPRK wrong. They misread the meaning of ''sangun''
(early in Korean) to mean that the date was fluid and could extend to September
15. What did those tricky, sly North Korean do? They held it on September 9,
the very founding date of the DPRK in 1948. Now, you have to pause to wonder:
if South Koreans who speak the same language as North Koreans misinterpret
North Korea's pronouncement, how much store can we have in reports on North
Korea? Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Sep 14, '10)
[Re Terry Jones,
asymmetrical warrior, Sep 13] Spengler would look at radicalism a
little differently if he read the book by Richard Labeviere, Dollars for Terror:
The US and Islam. (New York: Algora Publishing, 1999. On pages 5-6 this
is what was in the pipeline:
"In 1999, Graham Fuller, former Deputy Director of the CIA’s National Council
on Intelligence, advocated using Muslim forces to further US interests in
Central Asia. He stated that, 'The policy of guiding the evolution of Islam and
of helping them against our adversaries worked marvelously well in Afghanistan
against [the Russians]. The same doctrines can still be used to destabilize
what remains of Russian power, and especially to counter the Chinese influence
in Central Asia.'''
K Hasant (Sep 14, '10)
[Re Pakistan's great
deluge never happened, Sep 13, and
The 'tragi-terror' that is Pakistan, Sep 13] Apparently, Juan Cole and
Chan Akya choose to ignore Naomi Klein’s basic "Shock Doctrine" thesis. The two
analysts appear perplexed by the seeming disinterest of the United States
government in promoting "stability" by providing succor to Pakistan flood
victims. Spengler, the pro-imperialist, is more to the point when he speculates
that the US government might be better off ''destabilizing'' Pakistan, though
he falls short of realizing that is already the US policy.
How much does the US government actually wish to promote a strong, stable (and
hence independent) Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, or Iran? US strategists surely
realize that invasion, devastation of infrastructure, foreign occupation, drone
attacks, population displacement, alliances with drug lords, and fanning ethnic
conflicts under the guise of pacifying "insurgents", all hardly serves to
promote ''stability''.
Controlling resource extraction and marketing, and establishing military bases
to intimidate potential adversaries requires subservient ''reliable'' allies. A
dependent government cannot also be independent. Neither can it be strong
except insofar as that strength is derived from economic and military
dependency on the US. Nor need such a government be stable in the sense of
having popular domestic support.
The Pentagon pursues ''full-spectrum dominance''. They can hardly view the
prospect of the US-subsidized Pakistani military gaining greater control
because of flood generated turmoil to be unpleasant. That could even help
enlarge the war on ''insurgents'', and ensure the spread of more bases, such as
the military embassy base being constructed in Islamabad. Who knows, if
Pakistan becomes fractious enough, it may even be Balkanized to US advantage?
Nor would India, already a large growing US weapons market, likely be much
upset about Pakistan's discomfort. Again, it is all confusing only if one
presumes that US policy aims to promote stability in the region founded on
governments having popular support.
Ronald Billings
United States (Sep 14, '10)
[Re Israel joins
Russian ballet school, Sep 10] Judging by Russia's Prime Minister
[Vladimir] Putin's crash program to rapidly build housing units after
disastrous summer wild fires, Russia is marching triple time to modernize its
armed forces. If the US will not help it (and why should it?), Israel is a
willing and able surrogate.
Even though Russia is a net arms exporter, its weaponry is not state of art.
Realpolitik makes a deal with Israel, the arms industry of which benefits from
the generous aid and cooperation it receives from the US.
Israel does not care a fig about Russia's aiding Iran in building light-water
nuclear reactors, for example, for the prize of big roubles for arms it thinks
will allow it to have a bigger say and influence in Moscow. And let's not
forgot the present right wing government's ministers are born in the old Soviet
Union.
If as M K Bhadrakumar suggests, Russia's move shows the finesse of its dealings
with the US: by courting Israel, it has access to the undue influence of
America's Israeli-funded US lobby, and this counts in an election year. It may,
as the former Indian ambassador projects, hasten the steps towards a START
treaty. One way or the other, it's a double win for Russia and Israel.
Abraham bin Yiju
Italy (Sep 13, '10)
[Re Taliban and US get
down to talks, Sep 10] Syed Saleem Shahzad wants us to believe some
incredible things that are beyond the realm of political reality. In this
article he states that Pakistan is working with the Saudi's to "rehabilitate
bin Laden". This concept shows a political naivete that goes beyond the power
of words to convey to say the idea is insane is a vast understatement of fact.
If bin Laden was captured by US special forces and his legs were broken the
American public would allow physical rehabilitation of his legs so he could
stand on his own when he was hung. That is the only rehabilitation the American
public would ever allow, to dream that bin Laden will ever be allowed to join
normal society anywhere on earth is a fantasy. Al-Qaeda is now based in
Pakistan and has been since 2001. Any American official who thinks he can trust
the Taliban or their father, the Pakistani ISI, is a fool and should be hung
for stupidity, then revived and hung for treason.
Dennis O'Connell
United States (Sep 13, '10)
[China spells out its fears,
Sep 8] Alexander Cassella's article on He Yafei's EU entreaty reveals an
official refusal to confront a troubling trait inhering in Beijing's worldview,
an asymmetry of the concept of normal or default in which the way that some
product of statecraft, be it currency control, military exercise, or law
enforcement, should exist.
Take law enforcement. China, it is widely known, surveils and arrests its
residents for as little as assembling to discuss civic grievances, and this
July, China aggressively prosecuted American scientist Xue Feng for the act of
assembling commercial data that was never restricted or confidential at the
time that Dr Xue aggregated it. In contrast, China has this week demanded that
Japan not prosecute the Chinese fishermen detained in Japan's territory
disputed by China after a boat chase and collision.
China's aggressive law enforcement against the mild Dr Xue followed by China's
demands for leniency, clemency, and merciful probity for the arrested fishing
troupe is exactly the brand of same-issue unilateralism He Yafei claims to
reject. The result is a disconnect between Beijing's rhetoric and reality that
will, if unchecked, isolate China from a world community that is now too
connected to brook hypocrisy or straight-faced untruths from a sister state.
China should confront its internal contradictions on issues its own government
presses abroad and China should fix its mistakes. Freedom for Dr Xue would be a
first step, and a deed showing that China does in truth reject unilateralism.
Michael Cavendish
United States (Sep 13, '10)
It's Sept 11, 2010. Nine years ago I watched a crowd of about 200 to 300 middle
eastern looking people dance and celebrate outside our local Canadian police
station. I wondered why all these people were screaming, waving and dancing for
joy in front of the cop shop - of all places. When I arrived home I found out
the reason.
Your columnist Spengler may be able to enlighten me as to why they chose to
dance in front of the cop shop? I am not pro-US government. I am not religious
and I do not support greed. I believe that all humans have more things in
common than differences.
Acknowledging and celebrating our differences is fine but I don't think it
should be the end all be all of one's existence. The focus of your publication
seems to shed light only on the negative side of human life.
I'd hate to work for your paper amongst this negativity with only cynicism for
brevity. Everyone has a right - just like all creatures - to have an opinion
but murder is murder whatever the POV or motivation.
Your staff could be working on solving this sad outlook instead of picking
through the ruins and holding up the garbage for perusal by other proponents of
a bleak outlook.
Kit Martin
Canada (Sep 13, '10)
Since some ill-intended people dedicate so much time to slander the United
States of America with laughable letters, this letter intends to contribute
certain degree of truth to the most recent media frenzy in the world: the
pastor who was organizing the Koran burnings.
Anyone who watches the news for 5 minutes may think that 300 million Americans
are rallying behind burning the sacred book of Muslims. However, it is
extremely shameful to find out that it was a congregation with only 50 members
in a town that no one heard of before. Even I, an American citizen living in
America, never heard of this so called pastor before.
It is incomprehensible to me how the media - in a desperate attempt for ratings
- takes an unknown nobody and elevate him to the level of an important leader
such as Pope Benedict XVI, Tony Blair, Barack Obama, or Hu Jintao (or someone
who is actually relevant in the world). I am very pleased with Asia Times
Online because they did not dedicate an entire day to publish this rubbish
about an unknown pastor. A pastor who ignores Christianity and ignores anything
related to universal moral values.
What the media world-wide has not reported is the overwhelming support of the
American people with Muslim Americans. Politicians from both side of the aisle
have expressed condemnation of this barbaric act and strongly voiced their
support for Muslim Americans.
Those politicians who remained silent, did so because they have an agenda to
follow. Oh yes, in America we also have partisan hackery. This situation and
madness is indeed media malpractice. I also have some reservations with this
"sympathy" that the media has with Islam. I hope that they are not using an
entire faith as a tool to spread controversy to improve their ratings and cash
flow.
Every person that reads my letters knows my biases and the topics that awaken
my passion. I am guilty of having my own biases. I also enjoy sparkling
discussions and provoking people to get some reactions. But the media madness
that we are experiencing today divides, uses billions as useful idiots, and is
so far beyond the letters of unknowns such as myself. This media war is
actually more dangerous than any ideology. I am as ashamed of the Western media
as I am ashamed of the Western politicians who fueled this unnecessary, insane,
viral campaign.
Ysais Martinez
United States (Sep 13, '10)
The havoc wreaked by the floods has also obliterated most of the natural as
well as man-made features and land markings demarcating the land holdings of
the individuals in the rural areas.
During the resettlement phase of the flood affectees and reconstruction of
their houses plus demarcating their agricultural fields, there is bound to be
lots of confusion which could even lead to ugly law and order situations.
It is imperative therefore that the government starts saving the images of the
terrain and areas of all flood-affected areas through Google Map on the
Internet, which is still displaying the pre-flood era images. Google Mapping
technology not only give extremely clear images of the area but one can also
measure the distances and individual perimeters of any given area to an amazing
accuracy.
Is there someone in the government listening, please?
Colonel Riaz Jafri (Retd)
Rawalpindi, Pakistan (Sep 10, '10)
Futureman called me today, anxious for help. "Our records on Afghanistan and
the superpowers are pretty vague and confused. Seems like a lot of documents
were destroyed, deleted or excised back in your time. Let me tell you what
we've got and you tell me where we're off base." OK, I said, annoyed he woke me
in the middle of a dream about capitalism on Pluto. "The Soviet Union was
attacked by suicide Chechnyans who crashed jets into the Kremlin. These Muslim
terrorists had trained in Afghanistan, so the Warsaw Pact countries invaded
that country in 1979. Right so far?" I sighed, "Close enough. Go on."
"The USA hired a member of the Saudi Secret police, Osama bin Laden, to fight
the Russians." "That part is right but..." Futureman cut me off. "Then the
Russians spent the next 30 years fighting the US-Saudi-Pakistan supported
insurrection until the USSR dissolved after a catastrophic economic crisis
caused by bad loans to Siberian home buyers. How'd I do?" I was sleepy and
yearning to find out what happened next with those Free Enterprisers opening a
string of Walmarts on the icy landscape of Pluto. "More accurate than you'll
ever know, Futuredude."
Hardy Campbell
Pluto, Texas (Sep 10, '10)
[Re US religious
leaders condemn Islamophobia, Sep 8] Most Americans do not give a rat's
ass about the construction of an Islamic Cultural Center in New York City. Most
people know that it's more than two blocks from where Islamists murdered 3,000
people. Some media outlets are the ones keeping this "controversy" alive. There
was not one single prominent religious leader among those who released the
statements accusing America of bigotry.
Can a group of Hindus or Buddhists create a temple in Saudi Arabia? You should
delight us about the wonderful religious freedoms in Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia
and fellow travelers. Maybe the entire world should learn something from such
"enlightened" places.
At this point, this "controversy" is so irrelevant that writing about it is
just a waste of keystrokes. The reality is that there are thousands of Mosques
across America and ask those prosperous American Muslims if they want to leave
and move to Iran. Ask them if they are harassed in this country. Unlike people
from some gutters, Muslim Americans have a passport that allows them to travel
freely in most of the world - except the rats' holes where no one wants go - so
they are free to leave if they were harassed...
If these people need something to debate about, I will give you something: Why
don't you write about the Muslim minority in China and how "easy" things are
for them? Or maybe we can write about how Turkey treats Cyprus or its Kurdish
minority? Or even better, why don't you write about how wonderful the life of
Christian missionaries is in Egypt and Saudi Arabia? C'mon, delight the world
writing about such wonderful places full of prosperity, tolerance, religious
diversity and human rights...
Ysais Martinez
United States (Sep 9, '10)
[Re US religious
leaders condemn Islamophobia, Sep 8] Mainstream US leaders, religious
or secular, have been slow to condemn Islamophobia. Consider Archbishop of New
York Timothy Dolan, who backed out of a deal to sell a convent on Staten Island
to Muslims wishing to build a mosque. The benighted Florida pastor who is
threatening to burn a stack of Korans has provoked a stampede of "courageous"
politicians and clergy to condemn him and the rise of Islamophobia. Yet
Republican party pooh-bahs and Tea Party "patriots" do not miss the opportunity
to bash Muslims. However the Praetorian voice of General David Petreaus has
quieted this chorus. The burning of Korans will put in harm's way US and NATO
troops in Afghanistan and derail US foreign policy in the Middle East and
Central Asia. Suddenly the US elite are exercising political muscle. It may be
too late for these summer soldiers.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Sep 9, '10)
[Re Geomancers embrace
earthly intervention, Sep 8] They sound a lot like crooked preachers in
the United States!
Lester Ness
China (Sep 9, '10)
The call I made to Futureman over a year ago was just returned. Turns out
clocks, watches and punctuality are very old hat in The Future. Futureman says
the latest gossip where he works, the Department of Historical BoosBoos, is
that the Crash of 2008 was not the ludicrous bleepup of incompetent
mismanagement as was thought for centuries. "How do you figure that?" I
protested. "It wrecked the economy of the United States beyond repair."
Futureman chuckled. "Yeah, well, the average citizen was irreparably wrecked,
no argument there. But our records show that the wealthiest 1% made out quite
well, acquiring something like 50% of the total GDP."
"So what are you saying?" I shot back, smelling a week-old mackerel. "I'm
saying that way back in the 1970s these richest one-percenters decided that the
clock was ticking on the game of Superpower Good Times Musical Chairs the US
was playing. When the music stopped, they didn't want to be the ones left
standing. So they made long range plans to transfer Average Joe-Taxpayer wealth
through the federal government to their Swiss bank accounts."
I have to admit I was intrigued. He continued, "The e-mails, memos and videos
that we've studied show clearly how it worked; they 'threatened' politicians
that, unless they were given massive tax cuts, corporate subsidies, sheltered
tax havens, preferential lending rates, juicy defense contracts, royalty-free
mineral rights and reckless government policies that promoted titanic economic
bubbles, they would simply move their money, businesses and American jobs
overseas. Which, of course, they did anyway."
I'd heard enough. "Futureman, tell me this. Does the US still have an economy
in your time?" Futureman didn't hesitate. "Absolutely. Why, just yesterday I
bought a cup of coffee for a year's salary. It was worth every gold ingot!" I
felt so much better.
Hardy Campbell
United States (Sep 9, '10)
[Re North Korea blows off
the cobwebs, Sep 7] Andrei Lankov provides background to the holding of
the conference of the KWP (Korean Worker's Party). The information is good and
welcome. One of its merits is the absence of speculation of the investiture of
Kim Jong-eun as his father's heir apparent. He may well think so but refrains
from saying so. He is leaving that task to the global media which is rife with
reading the tea leaves with the diligence of scholars of whom Thomas Aquinas
would be proud.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Sep 8, '10)
[Re Doubts over China's
'wonder weapon' , Sep 7] This is all curiously familiar. The Western
and Taiwanese presumption on mainland China's military objectives seems usually
and erroneously focused on Taiwan. The authors state, ''If assessments of
observers prove correct, China's wonder weapon (DF-21D) is to make its way into
history books - with it, China would be able to take on the US Navy's aircraft
carriers'' and ''Taiwan has reason to be concerned about China's apparent
potential to deter US carriers from entering the Yellow Sea and the East China
Sea''.
No, Taiwan has no reason to be concerned about the DF-21D. War between China
and the US over Taiwan is quite remote, as its peaceful and gradual
reunification with the Chinese mainland is inevitable anyway. Fundamentally,
DF-21D is a general strategic military development of an incipient superpower,
if eventually one of two, and may not even be targeted at the other.
The Taiwan conundrum will be resolved through mainland Chinese firm power -
soft power upon hard threat. The hard threat is the general and gradual
military development toward superpower status, with DF-21D being just a
miscellaneous component. Mainland China is never going to attack Taiwan
militarily; Taiwan is simply too feeble and irresolute to resist the continual
abrasion from the mainland for decades to come.
Taiwan will never gain diplomatic recognition, deviation from the established
status quo that Taiwan is a part of China, as long as the threat of war exists
but has not occurred. Every responsible major country will toe the diplomatic
line for the coming decades as the Chinese mainland increases its superiority
in all fields. Eventually, it is Taiwan, not the mainland, that will, in
theory, have to initiate the first major military offensive that will have
merely a chance of breaking the stranglehold on Taiwan independence.
Only through a devastated Taiwan, and hence the world losing hope on China,
would Taiwan independence occur. This is true due to Taiwan's geography as an
island so close to the Chinese mainland. If Taiwan were a part of a peninsula
abutting recognized state(s) that would aid Taiwan, an eventual war of
reunification would be inevitable, as abrasion and attrition would not
otherwise be decisive. Conversely, the DF-21D would not erase the bad publicity
resulting from a direct attack on Taiwan that would cost the mainland colossal
losses in export revenues. The Chinese mainland diversifies it export markets
to include the less ideological countries, but the ideological West will remain
important markets for decades to come; moreover, bloodshed is very visceral
across the ideological spectrum while ever increasing pressure on Taiwan is
not.
Finally, the Chinese mainland really shuns bloodshed, especially when it can
control Taiwan's economy effectively without it, and recover Taiwan eventually.
Result begets patience.
Jeff Church
United States (Sep 8, '10)
[Re Doubts over China's
'wonder weapon' , Sep 7] Taiwanese missile expert Arthur Ding says
"when the missile re-enters the atmosphere, its speed would be somewhere around
Mach 7 [2,382.03 meters/second]. That is so fast that there would not be
sufficient time to re-direct the warhead to hit an US aircraft carrier
precisely."
But the Chinese satellite kill of a couple of years back required missile
course corrections while closing on its target at greater than 5 kilometers per
second, more than twice the speed given by Ding. Course corrections buffeted by
the atmosphere may be quite a bit more difficult than course corrections in the
near vacuum of space, but Ding hasn't made any case at all against the DF-21D.
Francis
Quebec, Canada (Sep 8, '10)
[Re Taiwan in a rice wine
stew, Sep 3] This is the most ridiculous complaint against the cooking
wine brewed in Taiwan. Unless one has a liking of drinking salted liquor, there
is no way one would drink cooking wine straight.
A tip for the cooking-wine makers in Taiwan is that it is time for them to
produce rice wine for drinking. I am sure they will beat all Western wine
single handedly. All one has to do is to eliminated salt and put some
attractive labels and shapely bottles into the packaging and advertise with
attractive models taking the drinks.
Wendy Cai
United States (Sep 7, '10)
Old Korea hand points new
finger of blame, Sep 3] Former CIA officer, United States ambassador to
South Korea, and past president and CEO of the Korea Society, Donald Gregg's
reputation and knowledge of things Korean needs no defense. Gregg has served on
many commissions - notably on the US troop massacre at No Gun Ri - which
absolved the US army of blame.
He does know his North Korea. For a man of his stature to go against the grain
of received wisdom of the sunken Cheonan corvette is a matter not to be
taken lightly, nor an occasion to tar him with the brush of naivete. He is
right to challenge the US propaganda war against North Korea; the US and South
Korea have begun another round of naval exercise near North Korean waters
following US President Barack Obama's signing of new and tougher sanctions
against Pyongyang.
Nowhere in the article is reference made to challenges to the official South
Korean report blaming the North for the torpedoing of the Cheonan from
South Korean naval analysts. They doubt the way reported events happened. In
fact, we do know that the Lee Myung-bak government tampered with the evidence,
refused to immediately issue the full investigative report in late May/early
June, and furthermore tried to cover up the fact of the high incidence of heavy
drinking of the ship's officers at the time of the sinking. Ambassador Gregg is
merely bringing to our attention findings which show the holes in the United
States and South Korean brief.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Sep 7, '10)
[Re China makes its North
Korea move, Sep 2, '10] Hardly anyone in the US Obama administration
took to heart the Southern Sung adage "like teeth to lips" that Deng Xiaoping
uttered during his visit to North Korea. In telegraphic terseness, it sums up
the tight relationship between China and North Korea.
Americans are notoriously short on historical memory: had they a longer view,
American experts on North Korea would know of the important role the Korean
Communist and anti-Japanese fighters played in the war against Japan, thereby
rescuing the Chinese Communist Party in northern China before the Long March.
At that time 80% of the Party membership were Koreans. And of course China
intervened in the Korea War and helped roll back US led UN forces to the 38
parallel.
During US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's trip to Beijing in November
2009, she failed to grasp the importance of the analysis of a senior PLA
officer on China's purchase in the survival of North Korea. She neglected the
hand writing on the wall. Little wonder the US policy of using China to tame
Kim Jong-il failed miserably. Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Sep 3, '10)
Re: Jobs
deficit lays bare failure of Obamanomics, Aug 31] If Peter Morici was
serious about moving jobs back to America, he would exhort US companies to stop
sending them overseas to cut costs. Problem is, jobs will go where labor (both
mental and physical) is the cheapest, and the United States does not currently
represent such a locale. From another practical standpoint, corporations such
as General Motors and McDonald's are profiting handsomely in China; somehow I
suspect their CEOs are more interested in making money than in listening to a
hackneyed academic's sciolistic and politically-motivated rant.
John Chen
United States (Sep 3, '10)
[Re Jobs deficit
lays bare failure of Obamanomics, Sep 1] It is funny Peter Morici never
cried foul about unfair trade and currency practices when America openly robbed
and stole from other countries for decades. Many economists in the world don't
think the yuan is undervalued. America is having huge military exercises right
next to China. President Barack Obama is not appeasing China.
Yun Tang (Sep 2, '10)
[Re Karzai wagers on
Obama's audacity, Aug 27] Kudos to M K Bhadrakumar for another astute
reading of the insanely immoral and pervasively corrupt attitude of the US
towards Afghanistan and of course towards Iraq, Kuwait, Somalia and Yemen.
Bankrupt American values of throat-slitting politics and Madoff-like financial
shenanigans have been forced upon these hapless peoples under the guise of
exporting democracy and ''providing stability''. All this so the Americans can
continue to live well at the expense of others. Normally this would be called
theft but in Orwellian America it is called ''providing infrastructure''.
Having killed and maimed in the millions and laid wide regions waste, they have
the temerity also to hate their victims, or at least that is what your resident
sage, Spengler, states. Idi Xamin
CAR (Sep 1, '10)
In foreign policy, it is fair to say that US President Barack Obama is like the
little Dutch boy trying to stop the leaks in the dyke. Fresh direct talks
between Israel and the Palestinian Authority will soon begin in Washington with
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presiding. Endless op-eds in the major media
sparkle with optimism and a hope of a breakthrough at long last. A dubious
consideration. Internally, Israeli society is in flux and and the fault-lines
are tilting towards the radical and religious right who do not favor dealing
with Arabs. In Iraq the US has made a Faustian deal. And in Afghanistan it is
losing.
As for China, US policy makers have taken the wrong road. It took the path of
"bribing" China with capital investment, runaway shops, and turning a blind eye
to China's plans for challenging the US abroad while Washington has become its
debtor. And if that is not enough, the flaming of the fans of an anti-Muslim
campaign in America itself, motivated by cynical politicians in a play for
power, endangers the US, Middle East and Central Asia. In a sense these "super
patriots" are stabbing America in the back.
Abraham Bin Yiju
Palermo (Sep 1, '10)
August Letters
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