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The
black hole in financial markets
Americans are beginning to understand how much of their economy depended on the
housing bubble. The collapse of housing prices has led to a collapse of
consumer spending, which leads to a rise in unemployment, which in turn erodes
the value of commercial property - and so the destruction of wealth spreads.
Barack Obama will take office as the most powerful peacetime president in US
history - he will be the only man in town with a checkbook. - David P Goldman
(Nov 21,'08)
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Great game
of hunting pirates
Under the rubric of the fight against sea piracy, an entirely different
template of maritime activity is taking place by interventionist powers. The
United States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union
have stepped out of the European theater and entered the Indian Ocean, as has
India. Russia is seeking a reopening of its Soviet-era naval base in Aden.
There is a strong suspicion a great game is unfolding. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Nov 21,'08)
 ASIA
HAND
Judicial coup
murmurs in Thailand
If Thailand's Constitution Court rules next week to disband the ruling party, a
perceived loophole in the constitution could then be exploited to deepen the
"judicialization" of Thai politics. This could allow conservative forces to
gain power without resorting to an unpopular military putsch. - Shawn Crispin
(Nov 21,'08)
China's party hardliners want the last
word
In another sign of political tensions in the Chinese Communist Party, the
Ministry of Culture has told the publisher of a prominent political magazine to
quit after it praised Zhao Ziyang, a former party chief purged in 1989 for
refusing to condone the Tiananmen Square incident. The ministry politely told
Du Daozheng, 85, to go as he is "quite elderly, and quite tired", but he has
vowed to never water down his editorial line. - Verna Yu
(Nov 21,'08)
Faith in India's army shaken by
blasts
Following investigations into recent bomb blasts in India, the hand of Hindu
right-wing organizations in terrorist attacks has been laid bare. The probes
also reveal the involvement of a handful of serving and retired army officers,
indicating that the staunchly secular and apolitical military may be infected
by the communal virus. - Sudha Ramachandran (Nov
21,'08)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
Stuff happens in Iraq
The United States military has the ultimate argument against a reasonable
withdrawal from Iraq. Its strength lies in that it has nothing to do with the
vicissitudes of Iraqi politics, the relative power of Shi'ites or Sunnis, the
influence of Iran, or even the riptides of war. It is the simple fact that
logistically there is so much "stuff" in Iraq that withdrawal would take at
least three years. - Tom Engelhardt (Nov
21,'08)
COMMENT
Empty promises in Afghanistan
The exodus of Afghan refugees began 30 years ago when Soviet tanks rolled over
their villages. More Afghans fled the proxy conflicts that consumed their
homeland throughout the 1990s. Since the fall of the Taliban, more than 5
million Afghans have returned, only to find shortages of land, shelter, jobs
and food. As Afghan diplomat and former refugee M Ashraf Haidari explains,
many are at the breaking point. (Nov 21,'08)
BOOK REVIEW
Political whores go biblical
Diary of a Jetsetting Call Girl by Tracy Quan
This saucy diary rises like a French bedroom souffle, baked at a high heat,
Provence style. But it is often more perspicacious than sexy, using a galaxy of
well-drawn characters to passionately tease out the real human emotions and
politics of sex work. It also juxtaposes these realities with biblical
introspection on Mary Magdalene, the patron saint of all call girls, even ones
with $2,500 handbags and Manhattan banker husbands. - Muhammad Cohen
(Nov 21,'08)
SPEAKING FREELY
The evil of the US dollar
The failures of the Western economic model, based on a banking system tied to a
fiat currency, are now evident for all to see - and suffer. An alternative does
exist. - Asif Salahuddin (Nov
20,'08)
Tokyo itches to take on pirates
If pacifist Japan has thus far disappointed the global community by failing to
step into the fight against Somali pirates, it may be more to do with
legislative gridlock than any lack of political will. Japan, with the world's
second-most powerful navy, could play a lead role in resolving the
hijacking crisis, but only if Tokyo can keep this issue apart from refueling
the United States-led war in Afghanistan. - Kosuke Takahashi
(Nov 20,'08)
The jolly life of a pirate ring
Through guile, fearlessness and terror, a ragtag bunch of modern-day buccaneers
from impoverished Somalia is defying the world's great navies, pillaging
merchant ships at will, and tightening its grip on essential trade lines to
Europe and Asia. The world, despite its romantic notions of free-wheeling
pirate kings, has had enough. Is it time for a "Captain Jack Sparrow wing at
Guantanamo"? (Nov 20,'08)
China all at sea off Africa
Hijackings of Chinese vessels off the coast of Africa underline the mistakes
Beijing has made in taking on hazardous resource and arms deals in volatile
parts of the continent. The risky strategy has given China a competitive edge,
but now the vulnerability of these ventures is being laid bare. - Bright Simons
(Nov 20,'08)
The US strikes deeper in Pakistan
The missile attack on Wednesday by a United States Predator drone on a village
in North-West Frontier Province is of extreme importance, not so much because
it might have killed members of al-Qaeda's inner council, but because it is the
first such action outside of Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal areas. The US is
now taking the fight to the militants, wherever they might be. The next stop is
the cities. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Nov
20,'08)
THE MOGAMO GURU
Fed
up with Fed credit
It is beyond amazing that more than half the total Fed-supplied credit to banks
since 1913 was added in the past nine weeks alone. With president-elect Barack
Obama planning to add to this with increased infrastructure spending, sure-fire
investments for the next decade are obviously cement and inflation - and, of
course, gold!!! (Nov 20,'08)
Asia held hostage on the high seas
It has been centuries since armed robbery on the high seas has taken on the
dramatic geopolitical dimensions it has today. But piracy is back, and the
brazen recent successes of Somali buccaneers has shocked governments and
navies, and thrown oil companies and shipowners into panic. As this week's
hijacking of a Saudi oil supertanker shows, the risk of pillage and plunder is
getting worse, and leaders from Japan to South Korea to Hong Kong and India
want action to protect their trade routes. - Keith Wallis
(Nov 19,'08)
Chinese rocket fuel lands US scientist in
jail
China has big plans for space, and big plans require big rockets. To properly
handle an essential supply of liquefied hydrogen for its new launch facility on
Hainan Island, China needed help from abroad, and an American physicist from
Virginia was perhaps too eager to lend a hand. - Peter J Brown
(Nov 19,'08)
South Korea aims broadside at pirates
Seoul, stung by the repeated targeting of South Korean commercial ships, is set
to deploy a 4,500-ton stealth destroyer to battle pirates off the coast of
Somalia. This means South Korean troops will close down their operations in
Iraq to focus on protecting the trade routes to and from Asia. Other Asian
nations may not be far behind. - Donald Kirk (Nov
19,'08)
Iraq bids farewell to US arms
The security pact between the United States and Iraq closes the door to a
further US military presence beyond 2011 even more tightly than the previous
draft and locks in a swift end to Iraqi dependence on the US military that
appears to be irreversible. What was supposed to be a client regime was instead
waiting for the right moment to assert real control. - Gareth Porter
(Nov 19,'08)
Japan economists call for 'Obama
bonds'
The prospect of the United States seeking to repay its vast and fast-increasing
debt obligations in a devalued dollar is prompting Japanese economists to call
for the issue of US Treasuries in other currencies, such as the yen. If Jimmy
Carter could take a similar step, why not Barack Obama? - Kosuke Takahashi
(Nov 18,'08)
Plus and minus: How to win
in Afghanistan
Whether it is policymakers in the next United States administration or a
renegade veteran of the Afghan war with horror stories to tell, Operation
Enduring Freedom of 2001 has become an operation of enduring disaster. A
military-plus solution to the conflict - centered on a "surge" - cannot work,
while a military-minus solution, involving the mobilization of all the regional
actors, might. This would represent a true break from present US policy. -
Tariq Ali (Nov 18,'08)
Al-Qaeda 'awakens' in Iraq
The policy of al-Qaeda in Iraq in its fight against Awakening Councils in Sunni
tribal areas has been to assassinate the movement's leaders. Al-Qaeda has now
set its sights on recruiting council youths disenchanted by the Iraqi
government's attempts to integrate them into the regular security forces.
(Nov 18,'08)
 SPENGLER
Scandal exposes
Islam's weakness
In an odd little byway of academia, Professor Muhammad Sven Kalisch, a German
convert to Islam who teaches Muslim theology, has laid a Gnostic egg in the
nest of Islam by declaring that the Prophet Mohammed never existed, at least
not as Islamic tradition claims he did. It is another crack in the edifice of
Islam, but a most dangerous one, because it came from the inside.
(Nov 17,'08)
THE ROVING EYE
A pact with the devil
Influential Shi'ite leader Muqtada al-Sadr is already threatening fire
and brimstone over the Iraqi cabinet's approval of a draft security agreement
with the United States. But Muqtada, currently studying in Iran, is in a
difficult position: he has to confront the problem that in strategic terms,
Tehran subscribes to not attacking US troops as the best way for the Americans
to eventually leave. - Pepe Escobar
(Nov 17,'08)
US's road to recovery runs
through Beijing
America's economic model is broken and no recovery is possible unless
households can save. To do this, Americans must sell goods and services to
someone else, ideally China. Such a grand partnership will help China's great
economic shift and may be the United States' only road to recovery. The two
countries have far more to gain from cooperation than from conflict. -
Francesco Sisci and David P Goldman (Nov 14,'08)
A CHANGE OF BALANCE, Part 2
The party's
beginning
Emerging countries, particularly those in Asia, have a brighter chance of
making government intervention work if only because of higher profit potential
and the low level of debt relative to potential gross domestic product. This is
the crux of the argument of turning the world around, not the well-worn ideas
of propping up the leading industrialized countries. - Chan Akya
(Nov 14,'08)
This concludes a two-part report.
 Part 1:
The party's
over
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India turns
up
energy diplomacy
Visits by senior Indian politicians to Moscow and Tehran underscore New Delhi's
determination to improve access to fuel resources. In both cases, the
discussions indicate more energy will have to be spent before sought-after
deals are secured. - Siddharth Srivastava
Morro's another
day for Microsoft
Microsoft is to introduce free security software for personal computers and
discontinue its subscription-based anti-bug service. The switch to Morro is due
next year - which is a little too late for the surge in virus attacks and
spyware intrusions expected in the US in the next few days in the run-up to
Thanksgiving.
Martin J Young surveys the week's developments in computing, gaming and
gizmos. |
 Corporate
earnings go
cliff-diving
Almost everything in the US economy is falling off a cliff, from retail sales
to electric power to factory shipments, or going up in smoke, from jobs to
companies. And now earnings of surviving corporations are down to almost half
of what they were a year ago. Which all proves the insanity of investing in
stocks for the long term!!
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CREDIT BUBBLE BULLETIN
The only cure for a bubble
We are now witnessing policymaking out of desperation and the global
abandonment of any semblance of monetary or fiscal discipline is a hallmark of
this extraordinary period of bursting bubbles. Stable "money" may be the key -
but it's also nowhere to be seen. (Nov 17,'08)
Doug Noland looks at the previous week's events each Monday.
THE WEEK AHEAD
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The article The US
strikes deeper into Pakistan [Nov 20] by Syed Saleem Shahzad
illustrates how Islamabad is reaping the duplicitous game that former president
General Pervez Musharraf played with the US. Maybe once this war reaches the
cities of Pakistan, Islamabad will consider taking sides with NATO to prevent
the US taking this war deeper into Pakistan at Pakistan's expense.
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, USA
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| Go
to Letters to the Editor |
On The Edge
[Re Asia held
hostage on the high seas [Nov 19] ... [S]uppression of piracy seems to
have played a big part in setting France on the path of empire building in
Africa ... Is it possible that the disaffected maritime nations who have most
to lose from Somali piracy might borrow a leaf from history and resort to the
tried and proven remedy that ended the career of the Barbary pirates?
pygmyPossum
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| Go
to the readers' forum topic,
"Avast me hearties, she flies the jolly roger!"
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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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