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China's interest targeted on harmony
The Chinese central bank, confronted with falling though still enviable
economic growth, is expected to follow others in the region by cutting interest
rates. A liquidity crisis is not its problem. Keeping factories busy and
workers in line is its priority. One measure already taken to boost domestic
consumption is expansion of a pilot scheme to give financial
subsidies for farmers to buy home appliances. - Leanne Wang
(Oct 8, '08)
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'Play or no pay' warning for
Pakistan
The United States needs to rethink its entire approach to Pakistan, recommends
a bipartisan report whose authors include those with links to both US
presidential candidates. Washington has provided about US$11 billion in aid to
Pakistan since 2001, and this "era of the blank check is over", the report
suggests, given Islamabad's patchy record in the struggle against the Taliban
and al-Qaeda. - Jim Lobe (Oct 8, '08)
US, Pakistan torn apart over terror
The "war on terror" in South Asia consists primarily of two battles, the first
waged by United States-led forces against the Taliban inside Afghanistan and
the second by the Pakistani military against militants in its tribal areas.
Until these struggles are better coordinated, ties between Washington and
Islamabad can only get worse. - Tariq Mahmud Ashraf (Oct
8, '08)
S&P turns screw on Pakistan
The Pakistani economy, already beset on all sides as the country is riven by
violence and runaway inflation, took another dent this week with a further
downgrade of its foreign-currency rating. The government is now going
cap-in-hand to international agencies and Gulf neighbors to keep going. - R M
Cutler (Oct 8, '08)
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Taliban wake-up call for India
For the bulk of the Indian strategic community, the unthinkable is happening -
there is the prospect of an Afghan settlement involving the Taliban. The ground
is dramatically shifting in the neighborhood and Delhi can no longer afford to
entirely conflate the Taliban movement with al-Qaeda. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Oct 8, '08)
Cambodia's Muslims as
geopolitical pawns
An influx of free-spending foreign Islamic groups is revitalizing the culture
and identity of Cambodia's Cham Muslims - a minority decimated in the 1970s
under the Khmer Rouge regime. But cultural resurgence has come with certain
political costs, and has hardly gone unnoticed by the United States security
apparatus. - Geoffrey Cain (Oct 8, '08)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
Money, race and regional loyalty
There have been times in American history when the choice of a new president
has brought a period of reform and political realignment, and next month's
election may do exactly that. While failures of the incumbent party seem to
guarantee a realigning vote for the Democrats, race and regionalism may still
sway voters. - Chalmers Johnson (Oct 8, '08)
NATO split over Baltic defense
A serious rift is developing in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization over
contingency plans for Baltic states feeling exposed to a rising "Russian
threat". European allies fear the maneuver could provoke open confrontation,
while the United States wants to avoid another embarrassing strategic loss.
(Oct 8, '08)
The
fatal flaw in Afghan peace moves
While the parties involved are playing coy, it is beyond doubt that
Saudi Arabia-brokered Afghan peace talks have begun. Using a mix of the godly
and the worldly, which is useful for finessing a movement like the Taliban that
crisscrosses religion and politics, the United States aims to keep the process
within a tiny, exclusive circle of friends and allies. This means no role for
Iran and Russia. It also means failure. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Oct 7, '08)
Look who came to dinner ...
Former Taliban foreign minister Wakeel Ahmed Muttawakil was one of the special
guests at a dinner hosted by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at which a peace
process with the Taliban is said to have been discussed. Muttawakil tells Syed
Saleem Shahzad of the good relations the Taliban once enjoyed with the
Saudis, but won't be drawn further. If previous Saudi efforts are a guide, a
Muslim peacekeeping force for Afghanistan is on the menu.
(Oct 7, '08)
Syria plays hardball with the
Saudis
Saudi Arabia's refusal to denounce the deadly September 27 attack in Syria has
enflamed relations between Damascus and Riyadh. The Syrians believe the Saudis,
furious over defeat in Beirut and Syria's diplomatic successes, are now
financing radicals in Lebanon to strike at both Hezbollah and Syria - a move
that could set the region ablaze. - Sami Moubayed
(Oct 7, '08)
US wars keep the money flowing
Doom and gloom merchants in the United States military/industrial complex have
got it all wrong. There is no chance of the Pentagon's massive budget being cut
any time soon, or the military in any way "transformed", no matter who takes
over the White House. The simple fact is, the United States is at war. - David
Isenberg (Oct 7, '08)
Thai government takes a tougher
tack
Thai police fired teargas at anti-government protestors on Tuesday, injuring
dozens who had moved to occupy parliament and lock out lawmakers. The violent
crackdown has led to the resignation of the deputy prime minister and a public
expression of concern by the Thai queen. A royally endorsed government may
be the only way out of the escalating crisis. - Shawn W Crispin
(Oct 7, '08)
 SUN
WUKONG
China takes stock in crisis
China's refusal to allow full convertability of its currency has left its
economy relatively isolated from the financial crisis sweeping the world. But
exporters will suffer, and market reforms that have been underway for three
decades are likely to proceed at an even more cautious pace. - Wu Zhong
(Oct 7, '08)
Tata
at a fork in the road
Ratan Tata is the philanthropic power house and septuagenarian driving force
behind the award-winning Nano "people's car". How he emerges from the forced
dismantling of Tata Motors' West Bengal Nano autoplant and other recent
corporate setbacks may reveal how well he is attuned to modern India. - Raja
Murthy (Oct 7, '08)
THE MOGAMBO GURU
Government spending spree
Banks are the focus of US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's vast bailout plan
but it is the government that needs the cash because it employs half the
workers in the country - and the Federal Reserve prints the money the
government wants. (Oct 7, '08)
 SPENGLER
Hockey moms
and capital markets
Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, derided outside
the United States as a mere country bumpkin unfit for higher office,
personifies why Asian investors continue to pour money into the US, even as its
financial sector nears breakdown. (Oct 6, '08)
Bush's final Iran blunder?
The George W Bush administration's decision to turn down the opportunity of a
diplomatic presence in Iran - despite Tehran's strong signals welcoming the
idea - can be seen as a move to avoid undermining Republican Senator John
McCain's presidential chances. More ominously, it could be tied to the
drumbeats of war sounded by Israel. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Oct 6, '08)
US cool to Israeli strike on Iran
Washington is sticking to its policy of sanctions on Iran, reports say, and
won't give Israel a green light to strike at its nuclear facilities - for now.
The US is worried that Israel won't knock out all Iran's nuclear sites and that
retaliation would target US troops. (Oct 6, '08)
Pakistan, US await militant showdown
Britain's commander in Afghanistan admits the war against the Taliban can't be
won, even as the Afghan government makes overtures to Taliban leader Mullah
Omar to join the political process. It's not going to happen, and Pakistan and
the United States are actively preparing for the inevitable - a clash with the
Taliban inside Pakistan. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Oct 6, '08)
The
mother of all golden parachutes
As US politicians reconsider Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's financial
bailout plan they should recognize it will do little to disperse the financial
and economic clouds hanging over the world. It will instead allow banks to make
huge riskless profits, while for others it is now impossible to make any sound
investment decision in an environment propitious only for speculation. - Hossein
Askari and Noureddine Krichene (Oct 3, '08)
 CHAN
AKYA
Dismal math
Simple math helps to debunk the mumbo-jumbo carelessly thrown around by central
banks and the media with respect to the present financial crisis. The exercise
proves among other things that the US Treasury will certainly buy assets above
fair value, while European efforts to save their banking systems are doomed.
(Oct 3, '08)
Nuclear
bond for North Korea, Myanmar
A recent flurry of high-level contacts between North Korea and
military officials from Myanmar raises the possibility that Myanmar is seeking
nuclear weapons procurements. Whether the visits are related to nuclear or
conventional arms, military industrial development or tunneling
technology, they set off security alarm bells in Southeast Asia. - Norman
Robespierre (Oct 3, '08)
India and the temples of
doom
Horrific temple stampedes have become an all too common occurrence at Hindu
festivals in India, with the trampling to death of 147 pilgrims in Jodhpur on
Tuesday the latest tragedy. Rudimentary or non-existent crowd management
measures exacerbate the problem, yet instead of dealing with the issue,
politicians tap the disasters for political capital. - Neeta Lal
(Oct 3, '08)
In
life, or death, Baitullah's fight endures
Reports of the death of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud may be
premature, but they do raise the issue of how his demise will affect the
struggle he has championed against foreign forces in Afghanistan and Pakistani
troops in the tribal areas. If history is any indication, another leader will
quickly emerge to replace the man described as "more dangerous than Osama bin
Laden", and the battle will go even more global. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Oct 2, '08)
Wolfowitz up to more mischief?
Former United States deputy defense secretary and World Bank
chief Paul Wolfowitz is embroiled in a geostrategic conflict of interests
through his chairmanship of a US arms-control advisory panel as well as the
US-Taiwan Business Council. At the heart of the matter is a pending US$11
billion arms package for Taiwan. - Jim Lobe (Oct 2,
'08)
Crisis
control fit for the TV age
As the world awaits the next vote on the US bank bailout plan, and fantasy
numbers become an important balance-sheet entry, the real crisis remains
untouched - that Americans think they can adjust economic policies simply on
the basis of what they like. They face a rude awakening. - Julian Delasantellis
(Oct 2, '08)
 ASIA
HAND
SE Asian memo to Wall Street
Southeast Asia is no disinterested bystander as US politicians and bankers slug
out details of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's rescue bill. Strong and
bitter memories remain of the bailout terms imposed from the West during the
Asian financial crisis a decade ago, terms now mocked by actions in Wall St and
Washington. - Shawn W Crispin (Oct 2, '08)
Yen a winner from financial woes
The Japanese currency looks set to strengthen further as investors become
increasingly wary of risky investments amid a global economic slowdown. That
means a reduced willingness to take advantage of the country's low interest
rates. - Kosuke Takahashi (Oct 2, '08)
SPENGLER
Truth,
lies and ticker tape
The world will not end if the US Congress refuses to pass a redrawn financial
sector bailout plan. Unfortunately, nor will it be the end of America's
financier caste, which will live to fleece another day. But when you hear that
there is no choice but a bailout, remember: it just ain't so.
(Oct 1, '08)
CHINA'S DOLLAR MILLSTONE
Gold, manipulation and
domination
For China, the world's biggest creditor nation, to allow successful national
development it must cease having its currency a derivative of the US dollar and
stop relying on a US-dollar denominated trade surplus to finance domestic
development. The historic role of gold and its manipulation tells it as much. - Henry
C K Liu (Oct 1, '08)
This is the fourth part of a continuing series.
 Part 1:
Breaking free from dollar hegemony
Part 2:
Developing China with sovereign credit
Part 3:
History of monetary imperialism
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
How forgotten Iraq may
elect the president
The centerpiece of the United States presidential race may turn on an almost
forgotten war in a forgotten country - Iraq, a tinderbox that could explode at
any moment. The war is causing two powerful riptides just below the surface of
American politics. There is Democrat Senator Barack Obama's war, the realistic
disaster that most Americans have now accepted, and Republican Senator John
McCain's war, the symbolic success story that so many Americans still wish was
the reality. - Ira Chernus (Oct 1, '08)
Sinophobia smolders in Malaysia
A ruling party official in Malaysia has been suspended after an anti-Chinese
tirade in which he described ethnic Chinese Malaysians as devious "squatters"
undeserving of equal rights. Such racism has a long and tragic history in
Southeast Asia, but Malaysia's punitive reaction to the remarks may signal a
new era of multiculturalism. - Hui Yew-Foong (Oct
1, '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)
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)
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)
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Oil,
war, lies
and 'bulls**t'
Claims that oil was a cause of the US invasion and continued military presence
in Iraq arise from a profound failure to understand oil's underlying pricing
mechanism and distracts from a proper insight into the goals of the George W
Bush administration. - Cyrus Bina
SPEAKING FREELY
A new dawn for Iran
The irreversible decline of the US dollar-based global financial system
highlights the need for a currency based on the intrinsic energy value of
carbon-based fuels. Iran, protected from the "Anglo disease" by the very
sanctions aimed at damaging it, is placed to lead the way. - Chris Cook
New role for an
old Indian road
India believes the reconstruction of the World War II-era Stilwell Road, which
links its northeast regions to China and Southeast Asia, will create a land of
economic opportunity in its troubled Assam region - if only militants in
Myanmar's lawless Kachin province and Indian insurgents would play along.
The Russians
get on message
The impossibility of the US ever paying off its vast debt obligations and the
prospect of a continually devalued US dollar have the Russians wondering just
how to bill others for their gas and oil sales. The logic of gold shines
through.
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CREDIT BUBBLE BULLETIN
The Wall Street bust
The over-indebted US household, corporate and state sectors face a devastating
liquidity crisis amid frozen lending markets, broken securitization markets and
a panic of de-leveraging. It's an absolute debacle, and US policymakers can do
little about it other than try to slow the collapse.
(Oct 6, '08)
Doug Noland looks at the previous week's events each Monday.
THE WEEK AHEAD
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[Re Cornered Tigers
bare their teeth, Oct 7] ... 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 … But instead they chose the least
plausible path of reconciliation, the path of terrorism ...
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, USA |
| Go
to Letters to the Editor |
On The Edge
[O]ur international institutions are in chaos, due to a combination of
unilateral action by some states, while others are given state privileges that
they have not earned ... Giving a vote in the UN to the likes of Zimbabwe,
Nigeria, North Korea etc, makes these institutions a joke ... Hopefully one of
the benefits of the current financial mess will be to put the various
ideologues in their place at the end of the food line.
Michael |
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Go to the readers' forum topic,
Bye, bye European Union also NATO?
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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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