http://www.atimes.com News and business analysis from Asia en-us http://www.atimes.com/atimes/images/rsslogo.gif http://www.atimes.com 144 32 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/NE17Df03.html Wed, 16 May 2012 11:00:00 GMT India has taken a decision to reduce oil imports from Iran, and the Barack Obama administration will be delighted that its sustained diplomatic and political pressure on India is finally bearing fruit. Yet, the big question remains: What is it that Delhi hopes to extract from the United States in return for its momentous decision to comply with the US's Iran sanctions? - M K Bhadrakumar (May 16, '12) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NE17Ak01.html Wed, 16 May 2012 11:00:00 GMT 1983 in Beirut: Islamic Jihad claims responsibility as 241 American servicemen are killed by a suicide bomber. 2007 in a United States federal court: a judge rules that Iran should pay $2.65 billion to families of the victims. With the Islamic Jihad lacking substantial amounts of money in US and European banks, nobody alive to sit in the dock, and 24 years after the event, Iran proved an easy target to exact retribution. - Ardeshir Ommani (May 16, '12) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/NE17Dj02.html Wed, 16 May 2012 11:00:00 GMT German Christian Democrat Chancellor Angela Merkel will say nein to French Socialist President Francois Hollande's vision of a Europe true to its construction - less technocratic, less hostage to the market and less constrained by the financial system. This would require a betrayal of the foundations of the German miracle, and an admission that Europe's economies are controlled by a cartel of bankers. - Pepe Escobar (May 16, '12) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/NE17Ad01.html Wed, 16 May 2012 11:00:00 GMT For 24 hours, China had its first female suicide bomber, with the story of her protest against illegal land grabs going viral as bloggers dismissed the carnage and hailed a modern-day "heroine" for the rights of common people. A day later, state media said the perpetrator was male and hell-bent against society. That facts can change so dramatically overnight underlines two disturbing truths about China. - Kent Ewing (May 16, '12) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/NE17Dg01.html Wed, 16 May 2012 11:00:00 GMT As Japan shuts down its last nuclear plants following last year's Fukushima disaster, South Korea is forging ahead with plans to build new reactors and extend the lifespan of existing facilities. Though leaders say the country has no viable alternatives, public pressure to follow Tokyo's lead has intensified following a series of safety scares. - Steven Borowiec (May 16, '12) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NE17Ak02.html Wed, 16 May 2012 11:00:00 GMT Arab regimes in Syria, Bahrain and elsewhere are contributing to a resurgence of terrorism by repressing popular revolts and cooperating in the fight against terror only to preserve their rule. Washington and other Western capitals should make it clear to the remaining Arab dictators, in word and in deed, that the game is up. - Emile Nakhleh (May 16, '12) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/NE17Df02.html Wed, 16 May 2012 11:00:00 GMT India's government has withdrawn a 63-year-old cartoon from a political science textbook that depicts chief architect of the Indian constitution, D Bhimrao Ambedkar, riding a snail and being urged on with a whip by India's first premier, Jawaharlal Nehru. Capitulating to concerns the image is too derogatory to ensure vote banks, many of today's leaders seem shadows of their tolerant, trailblazing predecessors. - Neeta Lal (May 16, '12) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/NE17Ae01.html Wed, 16 May 2012 11:00:00 GMT Myanmar is widely portrayed as an impoverished but resource rich country ripe with opportunity for outsiders. Yet new arrivals will discover home-grown business families well placed to provide the foundation of a future capitalist class - and stand as a bulwark against the privileges of the military-linked elite. - William Barnes http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/NE17Ag02.html Wed, 16 May 2012 11:00:00 GMT Kyrgyzstan's President Almazbek Atambaev is pushing to secure construction of a long-touted railway running through his country and linking China to Uzbekistan. He has little to offer Beijing, yet even that might be too much for local Sinophobic groups, whoever their paymasters might be. - Fozil Mashrab http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/NE17Ag01.html Wed, 16 May 2012 11:00:00 GMT The swift and peaceful end to a strike at Kazakhstan's largest copper mining company demonstrates that lessons were learned from last year's violent oil workers' clashes at Zhanaozen. Yet both disputes indicate the absence of a comprehensive development program for the country's key industries. - Margarita Assenova http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/NE17Df01.html Wed, 16 May 2012 11:00:00 GMT Sri Lanka's rice farmers and their harvests have recently struggled to survive floods, quickly followed by drought. Even amid prospects of improved harvests this year, they are being encouraged to adapt to new and extreme weather patterns. - Amantha Perera