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/Middle_East/KK07Ak01.html Fri, 6 Nov 2009 19:00:00 +0700 Israel has spared no effort in bringing the world's attention to its seizure of a ship carrying tonnes of apparently Iranian-supplied weapons bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon, via Egypt and Syria. If history is any guide, the incident could be used as a pretext for waging another war on Hezbollah, or even a strike against Iran. - Sami Moubayed (Nov 6, '09) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/KK07Ae03.html Fri, 6 Nov 2009 19:00:00 +0700 This week's landmark visit by senior United States officials to Myanmar featured meetings with military leaders, pro-democracy figure Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic groups, but none led to any diplomatic breakthrough. Critics claim Washington's engagement gambit, far from being aimed at achieving stability in Myanmar, is more designed to counter China's overtures to Southeast Asia. - Brian McCartan (Nov 6, '09) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KK07Df01.html Fri, 6 Nov 2009 19:00:00 +0700 The Pentagon well knows that AfPak is the key land bridge between Iran to the west and China and India to the east; and that Iran has all the energy that both China and India need. The balkanization of AfPak would neutralize China's drive for land access from Xinjiang across Pakistan to the Arabian Sea, via the port of Gwadar in Balochistan province. - Pepe Escobar (Nov 6, '09) This is the concluding article in a two-part report. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/KK07Ae04.html Fri, 6 Nov 2009 19:00:00 +0700 Allegations in a wiretapped conversation involving businessman Anggodo Widjojo, police and prosecutors, in which they appeared to plot against Indonesia's top anti-graft body, have also mentioned President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The shadow over Yudhoyono's hitherto squeaky clean image is darkened by his seeming indecisiveness in the complex case. - Patrick Guntensperger (Nov 6, '09) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/KK07Ae02.html Fri, 6 Nov 2009 19:00:00 +0700 In an echo of the protests that demanded the ouster of dictator Suharto more than a decade ago, Indonesians this month put pressure on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono over the arrest of two anti-corruption commissioners, subsequently released. This time around, though, the networking site Facebook rather than the streets was the place to protest. - Sara Schonhardt (Nov 6, '09) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/KK07Dg01.html Fri, 6 Nov 2009 19:00:00 +0700 Bilateral talks scheduled between Stephen Bosworth, the United States point man on North Korea, and the leadership in Pyongyang - purportedly over coaxing the North back into six-party talks on its nuclear weapons program - may just be a smokescreen to force China back into action. Even if Bosworth's mission is fruitless, Beijing could no longer accuse the US of not showing its hand. - Donald Kirk (Nov 6, '09) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/KK07Ae01.html Fri, 6 Nov 2009 19:00:00 +0700 If the Mohammedans won't come to the mountain, then the mountain - or at least a stone from it - can come to the Mohammedans - or their closest neighboring compatriots. The visit of a female Israeli tennis player to Bali, a resort island of Muslim-majority Indonesia, has echoes of the sports diplomacy trail famously blazed by American and Chinese ping-pong players. - Muhammad Cohen (Nov 6, '09) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/KK07Ad01.html Fri, 6 Nov 2009 19:00:00 +0700 The Origin, Process, and Outcome of China's Reforms in the Past One Hundred Years by Enbao Wang Much of the English-language discourse on China's unpredicted rise is divided between those who are fascinated and those who are frightened. The author makes a useful attempt to bridge a growing gap between what has happened in China in the past 30 years on the one hand, and persistent Western cultural-political solipsism on the other. - Yu Bin (Nov 6, '09) http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/KK07Dj02.html Fri, 6 Nov 2009 19:00:00 +0700 The picture is familiar - higher oil prices, a lower US dollar, and rising US stocks. Missing from the picture is the leverage taken in China and related to monetary expansion there - and what happens once that expansion is removed http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Asian_Economy/KK07Dk01.html Fri, 6 Nov 2009 19:00:00 +0700 A volatile week saw exchanges trimming their losses, but absent an upbeat Shanghai and a downbeat Tokyo the period is best described as nondescript, with no clear engine to drive markets stronger in the immediate future. R M Cutler runs his eye over the ups and downs in the week's markets. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/KK07Dj01.html Fri, 6 Nov 2009 19:00:00 +0700 Not quite the end of the world for Apple, but the introduction of the iPhone to China turned sour for the United States-based company and its mainland partner, China Unicom, with initial sales falling well short of forecasts. Doomsday, however, may be closer for the rest of the world, with the restart of Europe's Large Hadron Collider. Martin J Young surveys the week's developments in computing, science, gaming and gizmos.