Pyongyang cashes in on US row
Just how "welcome and wanted" US forces remain in South Korea will depend to some extent on whether Seoul is prepared to pick up the tab for an extra US$10 billion in connection with the relocation of a US base in the country. The issue goes to the core of the US military presence in South Korea, something North Korea has been quick to exploit. - Donald Kirk (Mar 20, '08)

Economic and strait-talk as Taiwan votes
A sluggish economy is of greatest concern as Taiwan heads for the weekend's presidential polls. The island's relationship with China, as always, is a key issue, while the ethnic backgrounds of the two candidates - the Kuomintang's Ma Ying-jeou and Frank Hsieh of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party - are a bitter debating point. - Cindy Sui (Mar 20, '08)

Politics of poverty in the Philippines
With the Philippine economy seemingly steaming along (7.3% growth last year), President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has some figures with which to deflect her mounting political troubles. But as long as she plays statistical tricks, such as with unemployment data, and the poor remain poor, she's fighting a losing battle. - Joel D Adriano (Mar 20, '08)

BOOK REVIEW
Larger than life
Tell Me a Story by Kevin Sinclair
Sinclair epitomized the swashbuckling, hard-drinking journalists of yesteryear, and his memoir is sure to stir nostalgia for the days of inebriated gatherings of close-knit China scribes in Hong Kong. Sinclair was the leader of the pack, and his descriptions of crazy stories and eccentric personalities are an important backdrop to the history of Hong Kong and China. - Kent Ewing (Mar 20, '08)

SEX IN DEPTH
My short time with Tito
It all started innocently enough: a simple research outing to uncover the underworld of Western sex workers in Asia. But then, at the unsubtle urging of an over-bulked Baltic bouncer named Tito, the venture became a tour of the sex trade "circuit". What came out was the naked truth about organized crime, immigration, sex and the story behind some of Asia's most notorious ports of call girls.
William Sparrow writes a weekly column looking at issues relating to sex in Asia. (Mar 20, '08)



Why Spitzer was Bushwhacked
Disgraced New York State governor Eliot Spitzer had cause to feel frisky when he visited Washington in February. As he was paying off a call girl, the press was preparing to run a Spitzer broadside against the world's biggest financial powers and President George W Bush, whom he described as a fugitive from justice and a partner in crime with predator lenders. It was a politically fatal coincidence. - F William Engdahl (Mar 19, '08)

Bernanke running out of bliss room
US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke and his pack of merry pranksters, having given Wall Street yet more interest rate cuts, now have only a few months before they must conjure up other tricks to end the rot in the US economy as rate levels head toward their floor and inflation concerns mount. - Julian Delasantellis (Mar 19, '08)

An inflation reality check
With US monetary policy setting the pace for inflation in as much as 60% of the global economy, unconcerned central bankers - and investors - should hold their next meeting in Zimbabwe; other destinations from Vietnam to Venezuela also offer evidence of the damage uncontrolled price rises can cause. And this is not going to stop in the near future, abroad or at home. (Mar 19, '08)

US aims high in Afghanistan
In remote northeastern Afghanistan close to the Pakistan border, US troops fight an elusive enemy they can seldom get their hands on. They're convinced al-Qaeda fighters are involved. But until the insurgents are rooted out from the high ground they occupy, it will remain a battle of hit and miss. - Philip Smucker (Mar 19, '08)

SUN WUKONG