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The fight goes on, militants tell Pakistan
The Taliban have officially rejected a Saudi Arabian-British backdoor
initiative for Islamabad to strike peace deals with militants in Pakistan. The
Taliban realize the aim is to separate them from al-Qaeda, and are having none
of it. So the battle in the tribal areas continues apace, with the militants
now attracting vital support from across the border in Afghanistan, as well as
from previously pro-Pakistan tribal chiefs. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Sep 30, '08)
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Why the US is losing in Afghanistan
Most of the literature on the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the
"war on terror" focuses on the burden these conflicts place on the US federal
budget. This is a very real issue, but it deflects attention from another key
point: in Afghanistan, the US has consistently failed to provide the financial
and military resources necessary to win the war. - Anthony H Cordesman
(Sep 30, '08)
Bush had no plan to catch Bin Laden
The United States missed the opportunity to catch Osama bin Laden in
Afghanistan in 2001, new evidence reveals, because Washington was obsessed with
starting the Iraq War and failed to allocate enough troops to the task. The
blunder was allegedly compounded by a decision to turn down an offer of 60,000
Pakistani troops. - Gareth Porter (Sep 30,
'08)
Syria back on the terror map
The main suspects behind Monday's car bombing in the Lebanese city of Tripoli
and a similar attack at the weekend in Damascus are Sunni extremists bent on
destabilizing the region and seeking revenge for Syria's longstanding ties to
jihadi elements. For Syria, "Black Saturday" marks a return to the dark days of
its confrontation with the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1980s. - Sami Moubayed
(Sep 30, '08)
Myanmar on the cyber-offensive
As opposition activists and underground journalists become more tech savvy, the
Myanmar junta becomes more determined to counter the outflow of information and
silence its critics abroad. The regime's cyber warfare specialists are
receiving plenty of foreign assistance in upgrading their dissent-quashing
capabilities. - Brian McCartan (Sep 30, '08)
 SUN
WUKONG
Carrying the can for
China's tragedies
China's swift punishment of officials linked to the tainted-milk scandal and a
recent mining catastrophe may signal a new era of accountability for its
leadership. But with the system still vague, and disgraced officials often
swiftly re-appointed, the concept seems unlikely to fly. - Wu Zhong
(Sep 30, '08)
 KEBABBLE
Are Turkey's women
too posh to push?
Last year, only 59% of Turkey's new mothers gave birth naturally. The rest
chose the more costly but relatively more sanitized option of a Caesarean
section: Turkey's moms are allowing technology and terror to override an
intuitive experience. - Fazile Zahir (Sep 30,
'08)
 SPENGLER
US wealth in shrink mode
Leverage is the secret of American wealth, helping to triple over the past 40
years the proportion of wealth held by the average US family compared with its
annual income. With leveraging now broken, the bottom could be a long way down.
(Sep 29, '08)
 CHAN
AKYA
Deaf
frogs and the Pied Piper
The United States financial crisis is being hailed as the death of market
capitalism and has resurrected enthusiasm for socialism, notably as practiced
in various parts of Asia. Choose that route, and Asian governments can yet
manage to heap misery on their unsuspecting populations for years to come.
(Sep 29, '08)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
We have the money
Few blinked when a US$612 billion Pentagon budget sailed through the US
Congress, even as negotiators in Washington were scrambling to find a similar
sum to deal with financial meltdown. Congress has been corrupted by the
military-industrial complex into believing that, by voting for more defense
spending, they are supplying "jobs". In fact, they are diverting scarce
resources from the desperately needed rebuilding of the American
infrastructure. - Chalmers Johnson (Sep 29,
'08)
COMMENT
Earthly troubles cloud China's space walk
With so much to worry about on the ground, no wonder most Chinese were watching
the sky this weekend as three astronauts stirred up some Olympic-sized national
pride. The tainted-milk crisis and other ongoing issues contrast sharply with
the newly polished image of the Middle Kingdom. Which China is the world
supposed to believe in? - Kent Ewing (Sep 29,
'08)
Israel lobby loses on Iran
resolution
In a surprise defeat for pro-Israel lobby groups in the United States, the
House of Representatives has shelved a resolution aimed at curtailing Iran's
nuclear program by means of a naval blockade. The initiative, which critics had
decried as an "act of war", was defeated by a last-minute charge of lobby
groups calling for diplomatic engagement with Tehran. - Jim Lobe
(Sep 29, '08)
 CAMPAIGN
OUTSIDER
The wrong vice
In this week's vice presidential debate in the United States between Mr
Know-it-all and Miss Congeniality, don't assess which nominee would make the
best vice president, but which presidential nominee chose the best running mate
and the clues that selection provides about his would-be presidency. - Muhammad
Cohen (Sep 29, '08)
Red capitalism or market
communism?
China's former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping cautioned that there is no
absolute demarcation between socialism and capitalism. That may comfort China's
present leaders, oft criticized in the United States for not hastening the
development of free markets, as they watch the US government buy up private
assets at an unprecedented rate - and as Chinese provincial governments demand
intervention in the property market. - Sally Wang (Sep
26, '08)
Financial crisis threatens US
influence
The added burden of a US$700 billion Wall Street bailout to the US$15 billion
the US is already spending every month on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will
almost certainly damage Washington's ability to get its way abroad. Apart from
the international loss of face incurred by the former champion of the free
market, cuts can be expected in foreign aid, which the US uses to
influence the behavior of countries. - Jim Lobe (Sep
26, '08)
Al-Qaeda's opportunity to hurt the
US
Al-Qaeda's self-appointed role as the inciter of jihad has contributed to a
world that is much more afflicted with jihadism than it was in 1996, when Osama
bin Laden declared war on the United States. From India, the Philippines and
Thailand to Pakistan, Afghanistan and North Africa and the North Caucasus,
jihadi movements flourish. Now al-Qaeda could accelerate the unraveling of the
US financial system with a September 11-like attack in the continental United
States. - Michael Scheuer (Sep 26, '08)
A little
taste of North Korea
Dear Leader Kim Jong-il is in excellent health, and the highlights on any
visitor's itinerary remain noodles, monuments and museums and the extravagant
display of national glory by thousands of flash-card-wielding youngsters, Don
Kirk discovers on his latest trip to North Korea. Foreigners can't find
out what's really going on in the Hermit Kingdom, but whatever they do, they
mustn't crumple the local newspaper. (Sep 26, '08)
THE ROVING EYE
A bailout and a new world
While the US is trying to implement its US$700 billion financial bail-out plan,
French President Nicolas Sarkozy talks of "rebuilding" capitalism. In the
corridors of the United Nations, there is talk of another kind of rebuilding,
of a new multipolar world that would get rid of imperialism and colonialism.
Call it the revenge of the developing world. - Pepe Escobar
(Sep 25, '08)
CHINA'S DOLLAR MILLSTONE
History
of monetary imperialism
Given US dollar hegenomy, China and Japan have little choice but to invest
their export earnings in US Treasuries or other dollar-denominated assets. In
consequence, China now lends to the US more than double the vast sums
Washington lent to war-torn Europe in 1947 under the Marshall Plan. And the US
is anything but war-torn. - Henry C K Liu (Sep 25,
'08)
This is the third part of a continuing series.
 Part 1:
Breaking free from dollar hegemony
Part 2:
Developing
China with sovereign credit
Militants shake off Pakistan's grip
Pakistan's tribal areas are steadily falling to a creeping Taliban-led
militancy. Military operations have proved ineffective, while the militants
have rejected offers of ceasefires. Islamabad and the United States are now
getting what they initially set in motion - "conflict escalation". - Syed Saleem
Shahzad (Sep 24, '08)
The
lonely death of Cycle Maung Maung
Being an ardent supporter of Myanmar's military regime brought its perks - and
a nickname - for Cycle Maung Maung; a mobile phone, permission to drive a
motorcycle in Yangon, things beyond the reach of his neighbors. It also put him
in the front lines when the junta and its supporters bloodily suppressed the
monk-led uprising of one year ago, and earned him a lot of bad karma. Those who
knew Maung Maung say it was karma that killed him. - Norman Robespierre
(Sep 24, '08)
SPENGLER
E pluribus hokum
Americans are taxing themselves, hugely,
to keep the US financial casino running, even though it will not profit them.
Why does the government not, instead, let the Chinese, or the Saudis, take
control of failed US banks? Where, in fact, is the leader who will drive out
the American oligarchs who have stolen the country's treasure?
(Sep 22, '08)
CHAN
AKYA
Terminal
velocity
Bailouts in the United States and elsewhere in the West fast forward the
decline of the Group of Eight industrialized countries, and mark another key
moment in the rise of Asia as the world's sole economically viable region.
These trends will only accelerate if existing G-8 governments are voted back to
power - and if Asia's central bankers display intelligence.
(Sep 22, '08)
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Danger
- Ben and Henry at work
United States Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
have failed to cope with the US's financial crisis, and their bailout plan was
inequitable, morally unacceptable, in total contradiction to sound banking
principles, dangerously inflationary and potentially highly disruptive for the
long-term health of the economy. - Hossein Askari and Noureddine Krichene
The cost of 'no government'
Americans for six successive congressional elections voted into power the
anti-government Republican Party. The bills for "getting the government off our
backs" - including its crucial regulatory function - are now coming in. - Julian
Delasantellis
THE BEAR'S LAIR
Creating a great depression
A re-run of the Great Depression, with or without hyperinflation, is still by
no means inevitable. Yet we are a lot closer than we were a month ago, and the
outlook only looks bleaker when considering the likely actions of the next
White House occupant. - Martin Hutchinson
Oligarchs on opposite
sides of cash crisis
The gap between fantasy money and financial reality is weighing on Russia's
oligarchs as commodity prices and share values tumble. Not least are those with
interests in mineral giants Norilsk Nickel and United Company Rusal, which is
currently testing whether Asian investors are willing to buy up a share issue.
- John Helmer
The world's
most powerful currency
Consumers who thought they could get a perpetual free lunch by borrowing money
to pay for it are discovering that the bill comes sooner or later. But the
golden lining to this dark cloud is visible in the East.
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CREDIT BUBBLE BULLETIN
A
changed financial landscape
US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's bailout of the financial sector may haul
the economy back from the precipice. Either way, less finance will now go
towards entrepreneurial activities, productive endeavors and the asset markets
- and ample government-directed purchasing power will ensure stubborn consumer
price inflation. (Sep 29, '08)
Doug Noland looks at the previous week's events each Monday.
THE WEEK AHEAD
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Charm 'offensive'
"You are more gorgeous than you are on [television]."
- Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari, on meeting US vice presidential
candidate Sarah Palin. He's had a fatwa issued against him for his troubles.
"If that's what we have to do to stop the terrorists from coming any further in,
absolutely, we should."
- Sarah Palin, supporting US bombing raids inside Pakistan and contradicting
her running mate.
"Well, critics can go on and on but I feel His Excellency Honourable President
of Pakistan should marry Sarah Palin for the greater good of humanity and this
matrimony will stop the incursion of US forces in Pakistan."
- Creator of a bloggers' group called "Zardari should marry Sarah Palin
for the sake of world peace!" |
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I really enjoyed Muhammad Cohen's column about our vice presidential choices
here in the US, The wrong
vice [Sep 30]. I know some people from Alaska and they say [Republican
vice presidential candidate] Sarah Palin is actually pretty tough ... Maybe
[Democratic vice presidential candidate] Joe Biden will put the last nails in
the coffin at the debate on Thursday, but I know he is not underestimating her,
at least not in public!
Bob Snyder |
| Go
to Letters to the Editor |
On The Edge
As for America going socialist, worry not. What's happening is only a
move to allow the rich to get rid of the "bad" parts of the investments they
recently made. They get to keep the profitable ones. And even the few who lose
their jobs are walking away with tens of millions in severance paid and
projected bonuses ... There is nothing socialist about this ...
chenliyen |
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Go to the readers' forum topic, The
Two Koreas - Part II - Text by Fidel Castro
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ATol Specials
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VIDEO
Taliban's new breed of leader
(May '08) |
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The
Gates
Inheritance
By
Roger Morris
(June '07) |
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Syed Saleem Shahzad reports on
the Afghan war from the Taliban side
(Dec '06)
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How
Hezbollah defeated Israel
By
Mark Perry and
Alastair Crooke
(Oct '06)
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Mark
Perry and
Alastair Crooke
talk to the 'terrorists'
(Mar '06)
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China:
The
Impossible
Revolution
By
Francesco Sisci
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The Coming
Trade War
By Henry C K Liu
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A series
by Henry C K Liu
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Sinoroving
Pepe Escobar in China
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Money, Power
and
Modern Art
A series by Henry C K Liu
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Andre Gunder Frank on Uncle Sam and his
shrinking dollar
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By Pepe Escobar with
photographs by Kevin Nortz
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Nir Rosen goes inside the Iraqi
resistance
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Nir Rosen rides with the US 3rd
Armored Cavalry in western Iraq
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