Asia Times Online

Letters

Please provide your name or a pen name, and your country of residence. Lengthy letters run the risk of being cut.

Please note: This Letters page is intended primarily for readers to comment on ATol articles or related issues. It should not be used as a forum for readers to debate with each other. The Edge is the place for that. The editors do not mind publishing one or two responses to a reader's letter, but will, at their discretion, direct debaters away from the Letters page.

August 2007

Re Trinkets and treasure: China tames the US [Aug 31]: The real reason behind the Opium Wars was [that the] British had nothing of interest to sell to China and China had a lot of produce the British wanted. So the British sold opium with the barrels of guns behind it. In the current time, the real reason behind the US trade imbalance in favor of China is [that the] US sees everything China wants to buy as being of security concern. Now, the US just wants to force China to up its currency exchange rate so that it can destroy China's economy just as it did to Japan. Japan has not recovered from the recession due to their [Japanese] currency mess.
Wendy Cai
USA (Aug 31, '07)

Julian Delasantellis has done a marvelous job shedding light on the subprime-mortgage mess as well as elucidating other complexities in the world of high finance. However, his latest article, Trinkets and treasure: China tames the US [Aug 31], is a long-winded piece pointing out the obvious: the United States is built on capitalism. As money is the oil that lubricates the capitalistic engine, the corporate elites will do anything (including selling their soul to the devil) to maximize profit. Globalization, while helping to fill the capitalists' coffers, makes the game much more competitive in the long run.
John Chen
USA (Aug 31, '07)

Re Armed and ready for Iran [Aug 31]: It's interesting that William Hawkins uses 1,772 words to support his claim that there is an "explicit setting of Israel and the Sunni Arabs together in a US-backed security alignment" against Iran and nowhere in the 1,772 words can one find a single, unequivocal (or even equivocal) statement from an Arab leader indicating support of such an alignment. Sure, his article includes statements of US officials, but they are similar to those statements made when one is in the throes of unrequited love. The statements of US officials and the absence of corresponding statements from Arab leaders reminds one of statements made by Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice in the run-up to the [Iraq] war. Ahead of visits to Russia and China, the aforementioned officials stated that those countries were certainly going to [commit] or had committed themselves to support the US's tough action at the UN. Within hours of the visits, the truth soon enough came out that they were adamantly opposed to giving the US United Nations Security Council cover to go to war ... Why doesn't Mr Hawkins list the [Persian] Gulf countries that have participated in "US-led joint exercises" that the US held recently to intimidate Iran? Could it be [that] the repeated refusal of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - which has a serious territorial dispute with Iran - to participate undermines his unrequited vision of an anti-Iran strategic alliance? Why doesn't Mr Hawkins mention that the US is the one that is trying to get the Gulf countries to purchase weapons, that they have been resisting making purchases from the US for some time, and that some of them have been evaluating Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers to replace their previously US-supplied equipment?
Abacus
USA (Aug 31, '07)

Re A hidden menace in Bush's words on Iran (Aug 31): Unfortunately, [US President George W] Bush is used to utilizing all of the propaganda tools in whipping up support, deflecting criticism, enhancing a very tarnished image, hyping up fear - you name it. One thing we know for sure, do not trust any of the words uttered by Bush. Deception and politics, not candor, are the linchpin of all Bush administration endeavors. Behind this mantra lies the ever present agenda of imperialism and subjugation of others.
Jim of Southern California
USA (Aug 31, '07)

There's more than meets the eye in Sarah Anderson's CEO pay debate spans the Atlantic [Aug 31]. In fact the discussion has been going on for years now. European CEOs [chief executive officers] have long envied the weighty pay packets of their American cousins, it goes without saying. The fat purses of annual earnings and perks are a symbol of privilege and right in the world of business, and for some European company chairmen or presidents it is a deep longing that has been fulfilled in less than transparent ways. Nonetheless, European firms employ clever tax lawyers and hire outside accounting firms who, like alchemists of old, know a thing or two about creating gold out of abstruse legalese in order pump up year-end CEO earnings ...
Jakob Cambria
USA (Aug 31, '07)

Re Gareth Porter's Israel urged US to attack Iran, not Iraq [Aug 30]: Mr Porter's expose of how several Israeli officials, including the [currently] comatose Ariel Sharon, repeatedly urged [US President George W] Bush and his advisers both privately and publicly to attack Iran rather than Iraq merits, and without any reservations whatsoever, that the present administration finally do the right thing and follow the original urgings of Israel. Complying with Israel's original urgings that Iran be the one that must be attacked will pacify and soothe many an American, including [neo-conservative commentator John] Podhoretz, [Senator Joe] Lieberman, [Republican presidential candidate Rudolph] Giuliani and probably Senator [Hillary] Clinton in addition to several lobbies in DC. It's up to Mr Bush to make things right for our [US] only ally in the Middle East.
Armand De Laurell (Aug 31, '07)

I am happy to see [so] much response to Eve Cary's The mist lifts over China's sky-high railway (Aug 29). Anyone who read her article to the end must have noticed that she has been a "coordinator" for China Balance Sheet, I could not help but invoke the words "balance sheet" at the end of my letter [Aug 29]. I made a mistake not to dwell on my meaning of balance sheet. What was the average per capita income, the availability of schools, medical services, employment, and means of transportation etc for Tibetans? What was the structure of government and its relation to the Dalai Lama then and now ? Surely Ms Cary has all the files of information at hand to make a fair comparison. By the way, a TV set in the home or a cell phone in hand should not present a picture of a mad drive for materials and energy-guzzling. As for another letter writer [Bianca, Aug 30] who laments over the sight of a poor boy [she] met during [her] trip in Tibet, let me say that [she] is a kind [person] and the boy deserves sympathy and help. Unfortunately, when one visits modern cities in any advanced country in the world, one still sees plenty of heart-aching conditions.
Seung Li (Aug 31, '07)

We were pleased by the response as well. The letters were without exception thoughtful and articulate, and free of abusive language even if critical. - ATol

After the recent horrific events and your articles on the [terrorist incident in Hyderabad] (India finds unity in terror [Aug 28]), I was hoping for some letters condemning the bombing, but was shocked by some of the tone of some letters. Innocent people were maimed and killed, some of them young children; is this the time to talk about discrimination to minorities? Does that condone their actions? Do these people have a heart? Do you or your loved ones have to be hurt before you feel the pain? Regarding discrimination, is there one country out there where a minority does not feel discriminated [against]? Take the blacks in the US, the [natives] in South America, the Kurds in Turkey, or the non-Japanese in Japan - each one of them can say the same thing. Living as an Indian in [the United States of] America, sure, I have faced my share of discrimination. I see discrimination against blacks almost daily ... Does that mean that we should take up guns and start killing innocent people, some of them children? How does that make things better? Hundreds of farmers in India are committing suicide. They are facing the same helplessness and hopelessness as any Palestinian, yet you don't see them taking innocent lives. They chose to end their lives, hurting no one but their immediate families. Only a madman would think that things would get better by killing innocents, and it should be condemned by all ...
Jayant Patel
Chicago, Illinois (Aug 31, '07)

For Chan Akya's analysis of the problem of terrorism in India, see his new article, India's Muslim 'problem' . - ATol

It is perhaps a tad late to comment now on [Spengler's articles on national/ethnic extinction], The lighter side of national extinction [Feb 13] being a recent one, but I have spent much time reflecting on them, and only now feel ready to meaningfully comment. Spengler's argument is that people are generally violent to the point of suicidal violence in reaction to the "death" of their cultures, and argues that the same is not true for Christian Europe, as Christianity provided a universality that served as replacement for ethnicity. His ingenious argument explains the relative lack of violence among the smaller (disappearing) ethnic groups of Europe; this does not mean that his argument is correct. A counter-example might suffice: an elderly !Kung (a language until recently believed to be extinct) speaker was found in a Nama settlement; she had raised her children [as] Nama [a linguistic group of Southern Africa]. Other ethnic !Kung then came forth from various ethnic groups - several of these people are of course animists. It seems that it is not so much love for one's ethnic group that drives the desperate people Spengler disparages to violence, as much as injustice and massive poverty and the frustration that arise from living under mukhabarat [Arab intelligence] states and all the life opportunities that implies. Is it America's impending extinction that drives it to genocide in Iraq? What of France/Canada/USA's pedophile and anti-democracy terrorism in Haiti? Or is it because they have left Christianity? Did the popes leave Christianity to commit their crimes?
Bin-Gahaba
Canada (Aug 31, '07)

You can't be serious about the kids' chat advertising regime you have on your website. I'd like to read your paper a lot more, but the ridiculous advertising surrounding serious articles are to their (articles') detriment.
Peter Clark (Aug 31, '07)

And how many of our "inoffensive" ads have you clicked on lately? As we have said many times, we are forced to rely on advertising networks and we have very little control over what kinds of ads they run, and they vary according to geographical area. For example, we have never seen the sort of ad you refer to in Thailand, where our main newsdesk is based. Asia Times Online has about 100,000 readers a day - that's readers, real people, not "hits". If even a small percentage of them clicked on a paying ad once in a while it would significantly help us to keep this a free site, and at the same time give us more power over what sort of advertising we accept. - ATol

It would seem that all democratic countries would benefit from the practice of posting neutral foreign observers at elections. Guidelines would have to be set to minimize intrusive observation practices that may interfere with the election process. As well, one would expect that bilateral agreements between nations to provide observers would work both ways, with each party sending delegates to observe the other party's elections. The one-way MoU [memorandum of understanding] offered to Thailand by the EU is demeaning and insulting, and it likely derives from a colonialism mentality.
Cha-am Jamal
Thailand (Aug 31, '07)

The European Union has been doing damage control on its offer to send observers for Thailand's general election set for December 23; while it was probably made in good faith, it appears that it was made in a ham-fisted manner that showed ignorance of Thai sensitivities. A two-way observer system such as you suggest might be helpful in avoiding cross-cultural misunderstandings between democracies in Asia and the West, and could well teach Western democrats, who do have an unfortunate history of self-righteousness, a thing or two. - ATol

Pepe Escobar's article on [French President Nicolas] Sarkozy (Bush's brand-new poodle [Aug 30]) made me shudder, but also shake my head in disbelief. At the time of the [2002] French presidential elections I was living in Paris and the French seemed to have truly surprised themselves when they eliminated Lionel Jospin, the only reasonable candidate for president, and ended up with a choice between the crook [Jacques] Chirac and the right-wing populist [Jean-Marie] Le Pen. They chose the crook. This current potato-head, Sarkozy, is not an unknown figure; his past antics have given the French an opportunity to see what an idiot he is. Unfortunately, France will now have to put up with this fool for the next several years. I know this is not an Asian issue, but I would be keen to get Mr Escobar's insight into what strange conjunction of the stars occurred in France this year to result in the election of Sarkozy. And by the way, thanks to Pepe Escobar for his many great articles in ATol.
Jonathan
UK (Aug 30, '07)

Pepe Escobar is straining at gnats in Bush's brand-new poodle [Aug 30]. He thinks that he knows the ways of France's new president, Nicholas Sarkozy. If in quoting from Graham Greene's The Quiet American he had in mind to produce a stunning, melodramatic effect in the opening paragraph of the latest Roving Eye, he has fallen far short of characterizing Mr Sarkozy as the American president's new poodle. Judging by his description of the faithful canine the French leader is supposed to be, why not simply [call] him [President George W] Bush's "pit bull"? In either case Escobar displays a high degree of ignorance about Nicholas Sarkozy and his foreign-policy goals. Had the Roving Eye deigned to read the transcript of "Sarko's" first and major speech on foreign policy, he would have quickly noted that the French president hardly marches in lockstep the way former prime minister Tony Blair did on Iraq. "Sarko" was and is against the failed American war in "Mesopotamia", and what's more, he is calling for a quick withdrawal, his desire to renew traditional Franco-American ties notwithstanding. Had Escobar read Nicolas Sarkozy's Temoignage or Testimony: France in the Twenty-first Century, he would have discovered the true depth and cut of the man's character, and even more that he has lead in his backbone and is his own man [rather] than in the quick, malign sketch that the Roving Eye has sought to convey to ATol readers. To me, it seems that Pepe Escobar is more in love with his own misconceptions about "Sarko" and, what's more, that he is exhibiting the condescending tone that most Americans cultivate when talking about France and the French. One has only to deplore his confusion and myopic vision.
Jakob Cambria
USA (Aug 30, '07)

The article Bush's brand-new poodle [Aug 30] by Pepe Escobar is very interesting and I agree with Escobar that President [George W] Bush has found a new French-speaking sycophant and a poodle. Indeed, little President Sarkozy, a foreigner, has become also a boot polisher, shoe-shining boy and fishing partner of G W Bush for his remaining days in the White House. Sarkozy is making so many stupid statements these days and one is surprised if they come from his mouth or President Bush's and who is dimmer than the other. From the Middle East to Russia, Sarkozy in his recent speech promised to break from the French traditionalist Gaullist position of "splendid isolation", in particular towards the USA. Sarkozy is enjoying [a] little extended honeymoon period with his supporters, and already there are many disgruntled voices openly accusing him of running away from domestic and economic policies. Many economists distrust his election pledges to meet economic growth of 2.5% this year following the collapse of global stock markets as a result of the crisis in the American mortgage industry. His fiscal policies have little impact on the growth; he has backtracked on failing to replace half of the retiring public-sector workers and has been accused of reacting too soon to headlines - the latest being his pledge to create closed hospitals for pedophiles leaving prison when the justice minister had passed a law on repeat offenders. I see a disaster facing the French on their foreign policy on Iran, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq as he keeps close company [with] pea-brained G W Bush ...
Saqib Khan
UK (Aug 30, '07)

"Bling-bling right" in [Pepe] Escobar's surgical take on Bush's brand-new poodle [Aug 30] almost says it all. Still, one cannot but be reminded of [William] Shakespeare's admonition in his play As You Like It that "all the world's a stage ... all the men and women merely players ... their exits and entrances ... ending ... sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans anything" as a lifeline of [French President Nicolas] Sarkozy ... Hence his views on the evilness of Iran acquiring any form of nuclear capability while pandering to some Muslim/Arab nations in the Middle East. There's a trite American expression that is applicable to the likes of Mr Sarkozy, and as best as one can recollect, it goes: "He's a day late and a dollar short" when referring to someone who is, as the French say, a parvenu. Pepe was certainly [circumspect] in not referring to Mr Sarkozy as "Bush's brand-new French poodle". Last, in line with the entertainment bent, one can hardly be blamed in noting that photos of "Sarkozy the First" remind one of the leading character in a TV sitcom of years past named Maxwell Smart.
Armand De Laurell (Aug 30, '07)

Re Bush loses another crony (Aug 29) by Jim Lobe: On January 4, 2005, over 225 religious leaders in the United States signed an open letter addressed to Alberto Gonzales expressing their "grave concern" over his then nomination to the position of US attorney general. They go on to say: "As a self-professed evangelical Christian, you surely know that all people are created in the image of God ... You understand that torture - the deliberate effort to undermine human dignity - is a grave sin and affront to God ... How could you have referred to the Geneva Conventions as 'quaint' and 'obsolete'? We fear that your legal judgments have paved the way to torture and abuse." And despite these religious leaders imploring Gonzales to "reject the use of torture, embrace and advance standards of international law, and honor the dignity of all of God's creation", Gonzales went on to deny that the systemic use of torture at Abu Ghraib was fundamentally immoral. Moreover, the departure of Gonzales signals the end of a long line of Texans hand-picked by US President George W Bush to help prop up his transition from governor of Texas to the presidency. The problem now, with a further 17 months to go, is that President Bush is showing no signs of changing course on Iraq. His power of veto over a Congress that has only a slim Democratic majority allows him to pursue, largely unhindered, one of the most immoral and faith-destroying episodes in US political history.
Reverend Dr Vincent Zankin
Canberra, Australia (Aug 30, '07)

Here is my response to the article by Eve Cary, The mists lift over China's sky-high railway [Aug 29]. It is indeed valid for Ms Cary to document great changes brought by the newly constructed railway. However, let us not forget, the process she wrote is also part of globalization. It seems it has always been too easy for people to point out the Han Chinese's cultural dominance in ethnic-minority areas, Tibet especially, and lament the loss of local culture and point fingers at the Chinese government. But has anyone ever realized and lamented the vast amount of people in China who are now studying English and starting to adopt more Western lifestyles? Should people like Ms Cary also criticize the cultural hegemony of the West? When Ms Cary sits in her skyscraper office in Beijing and sips Starbucks coffee, and starts to write about the cultural loss in Tibet, it seems too [hypocritical] to me.
Enze Han
Washington, DC/China (Aug 30, '07)

Re the letter by Seung Li (Aug 29), ATol opines, "Tibetans might think religious rights and genuine political autonomy should figure higher." I would like to ask who the "Tibetans" are. I believe a government is not obligated to cater only to the wishes of the present generation of minorities. In fact, a progressive government should anticipate the change in mentality of the future generations of minorities. I believe that this is the essence of the "gentle decline" in The gentle decline of the 'Third Korea' by Andrei Lankov (Aug 16). Since The mist lifts over China's sky-high railway, (Aug 29), alludes to "commitment to global norms", an elucidation of such norms may dispel unfounded idealism and is therefore quite appropriate in this section of ATol ... I believe any citizen, as an individual, without hindrance by ethnic tradition, can better choose to be or not to be a part of the "material-consumption-driven, energy-guzzling, military-power-backed 21st century".
Jeff Church
USA (Aug 30, '07)

I am getting misty-eyed over the comments on the Chinese intentions in building the challenging railroad to Tibet [The mist lifts over China's sky-high railway, Aug 29]. But never have I been compelled to comment on an article because of an ATol comment to a comment [under Seung Li's letter of Aug 29]. It all began with the mention of "balance sheets". Of course, we all value different things, and unless there is an agreement on values, balance sheets tend to be very unbalanced. Yet unless one is a hopeless lily-while hypocrite, one cannot help but smirk at the author's readiness to see everything sinister and evil coming out of the Iron Horse arriving to Tibet. But to top it off, ATol chimed in with my deepest-held belief that not everything on the planet must be destroyed in the name of progress, greed and mindless consumption. Once in Tibet, driving through the incredible landscape of mountains and riverbeds, the bus stopped at the edge of a road for lunch. Out of nowhere, a little boy crawled up the rocks from below. Where did he come from? There were no villages in sight or signs of life. Yet here he was. His little hands I still see. Rough from hard work, lying on his side. Everywhere in Tibet is grinding poverty. Begging is rampant. Is there any way that mankind can learn to support and enhance the way of life people would like to live, without shoving down their throats the joys of consumerism, modernism, and "civilization"? Yet I always think of the boy [who] crawled up the cliff with his bare hands and feet. What are his dreams? [They] would probably include having a car one day.
Bianca
USA (Aug 30, '07)

Probably, but wouldn't it be nice if we could know for sure - that he actually had a say in his own destiny? That too is a dream, and not just in China. - ATol

The treatise of Eve Cary, The mist lifts over China's sky-high railway (Aug 29), is impressive indeed with such extensive references. Let us say her implicit accusations are valid: the railway has been built just to plunder Tibetan natural resources, to assimilate the Tibetans, and to transfer Han there to dilute Tibetan religion and culture. The Han seem to learn from the Europeans who went to the Indian [subcontinent], Australia, and the New World. The only difference is: at present the Han have to do it in a more civil manner. We should also explore how the Tibetans lived under the Dalai Lama, to complete a balance sheet.
Seung Li (Aug 29, '07)

"Balance sheets" tend to be unbalanced unless they include all mutually agreed assets and liabilities. Tibetans might think religious rights and genuine political autonomy should figure higher in the "assets" column than "socialism with Chinese characteristics" and double-digit GDP growth. Would Beijing happily accommodate such assumptions in your balance sheet? Indeed, should it even pretend to, or should it simply encourage Tibetans to embrace the "modern values" of the material-consumption-driven, energy-guzzling, military-power-backed 21st century? - ATol

In The mist lifts over China's sky-high railway by Eve Cary (Aug 29), "to homogenize and to colonize" is a direct contradiction. To homogenize elicits the touted concept of the American identity without hyphenations. Outwardly observed homogenization, as in the American melting pot, means the promotion of individualism in thoughts and personal preferences, with the relegation of traditional culture to mere quaintness. To colonize means to exploit, historically based on ethnic or racial differences, and to maintain such differences by segregation. When there is no official tiered citizenship (as there was in the UK re Hong Kong), there is no colonialism. When there is no social exclusion based on race or ethnicity, there are no racial or ethnic strata - social twin to official tiered citizenship. Is Hawaii colonized? ... This article is a thought-provoking juxtaposition to The gentle decline of the 'Third Korea' by Andrei Lankov (Aug 16).
Jeff Church
USA (Aug 29, '07)

The fine sentiments expressed by the two Hong Kong tycoons - equally dubbed the "Chinese Warren Buffet" - articulate an opinion of the role and soundness of the Hong Kong stock market [One market, two views, Aug 29]. Lee Shau-kee and Li Ka-shing, seasoned capitalists, are taking a short-term view of the Hong Kong exchange. They speak as though they are hedging bets by putting money in for, say, six months in the hope that at maturity it will bear quick interest. Scratching the surface, we see that they are signaling the government in Beijing that they want an orderly and disciplined market and a form of capitalism that is not at odds with the mainland's central government. Hong Kong is a funnel for mainland stocks and money. It has a cachet in world markets that are still leery of the roller-coaster, cowboy, hot engine of a communist China on the road to capitalism; it is less volatile than the emerging bourse which is Shanghai, and as such assumes the role assigned to it since its retrocession to the mainland in 1996, as an old family retainer but not necessarily trusted. These two billionaires may feel comfortably superior, but they are slouching towards the Communist Party of China's favor. They are not blind to the reality of what the burgeoning economic forces on the mainland have produced, and where the practice of development encourages bribery, the disdain of self-serving officials, and the growing inequality and the restoration of a class system, against which the wily chairman Mao Zedong and Vladimir Lenin spoke of [and] acted against endlessly in building a communist society, may unhinge the mainland's economic and political moorings. Nonetheless, although looking at Hong Kong in the brief term, these two moguls cannot escape reality. China's impressive growth is built on the importing of foreign funds, and so it is just as dependent on the ups and downs of the global economy as anywhere else on the globe. News accounts already talk of the ripple effects of the subprime-mortgage downturn on Chinese banks and, silent as the Chinese can be on investments and politics, this red flag may hide other unpleasant truths. The artifice of optimism of the Hong Kong market by Messrs Lee and Li disappears quickly while its logic communicates the importance to Hong Kong's wealth and future [to] Beijing.
Jakob Cambria
USA (Aug 29, '07)

The article India finds unity in terror [Aug 28] is baffling. If terrorism is a factor that unites India, then it could be inferred that more terrorism will prolong India's existence and survival as a nation. It is always very comforting and easy for the Indians to blame jihadis, Kashmiri freedom fighters and Assam terrorists fighting to liberate their lands from Indian occupation, but the fact of the matter is that it is the Indian government's long-term policy to instigate and propagate terrorism on its own people through Indian intelligence services and Hindu fanatical religious mobs in saffron robes. India is a country of 39 different nationalities with their own written and spoken languages and they hate to live under one banner of united India. India's existence and survival as a Hindu state depend upon occasional premeditated, state-sponsored, manipulated communal violence and massacres of Muslims and other minorities to unite nearly 1 billion Hindus as Hindustanis. In India, if you are not a Hindu then you are not an Indian and should be treated as a second-class citizen. India is also involved in destabilizing Pakistan and funding many religious and terrorist groups in spreading violence, suicide bombing and clandestine operations.
Rumi Jalal (Aug 29, '07)

Re 'Cracks' in credit [Aug 25] ... The US financial market outside of [the] municipal debt market - which hasn't been prone to boom-and-bust cycles because of checks and balances implemented after three depressions in one century caused by overextension of debt - is prone to such cycles. The financial vehicles may be different over time, but the tendency is there. The foreigners who got busted had no understanding of US history, so they are learning the hard way.
May Sage
USA (Aug 29, '07)

Recently I described a multi-step method of copying ATol articles to avoid advertisements and format details. I didn't realize I had been using an even simpler method to strip these unwanted items to leave only the text. Highlight and copy the ATol page of interest. Paste it to a newsreader application that can display only text. My newsreader is the freeware version of Forte Agent. After the byline, type in for future reference the article's date and copy the URL link. Copy this newsreader text to a Word document and file.
Kelvin Mok
Canada (Aug 29, '07)

Why not simply highlight the wanted text by holding down the Shift key and dragging the mouse from the top to the bottom of the article (rather than using the Control-A technique)? Only the text will be picked up. This won't solve the problem of multiple pages - we are still waiting for our talented but financially challenged tech department to devise a proper "print" feature that will do that automatically - but we find it easier than messing around with multiple software applications. - ATol

I have just finished reading an article about the US security firm Blackwater buying Brazilian-built patrol bombers. This private army is now in the hundreds of thousands strong, with armed helicopters and now armed military aircraft. Am I the only person in this world uneasy about this? In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the memory of these jackbooted, psychotic nutcases armed with machine-guns, herding bewildered civilians as if we were prisoners of war, is still to vivid. This "New American Century" is one scary place.
Ken Moreau
New Orleans, Louisiana (Aug 29, '07)

Thank you for Sreeram Chaulia's India finds unity in terror [Aug 28]. As someone sympathetic to the plight of Indians who are struck with the plague of terrorism, I found Chaulia's quiet optimism very refreshing. We have to steel our nerves instead of throwing in the towel. The battle against jihad is going to be a long one unless we have more "hard societies", as Chaulia puts it. Kudos!
Janice
London, England (Aug 28, '07)

In apropos to Sreeram Chaulia's India finds unity in terror [Aug 28], I want to state that he has completely glossed over the problem of Indian Muslims feeling disaffected from the Indian state and some among them assisting in the unending spate of terror attacks. Chaulia makes it look like India is one big united family, while ignoring the discrimination that Muslims perceive in that country and the resultant involvement of some Muslim youth in al-Qaeda and Pakistani terrorist groups. Why do Indian writers fight shy of naming the demon? Why play around the bush like Chaulia does without taking the bull by the horn, which is a major problem with Islam and the Muslim community not only in India but in many other parts? Shame on such hypocritical intellectuals!
Ashley Funari
Madrid, Spain (Aug 28, '07)

I don't see what this sentence means in Sreeram Chaulia's article [India finds unity in terror] published [on Aug 28] in your paper: "The jihadist massacres of Hindu pilgrims on the way to Amarnath or while chanting hymns in Akshardham of Muslim worshippers in Malegaon or Hyderabad spans a divide in the mind of the Indian citizen watching, reading and hearing of the tragedies from a distance." What does Chaulia mean by this? Is [he] saying that Akshardham had Muslim worshippers? That is factually wrong. I think [he] has totally missed the point that jihadis are attacking both Hindus and Muslims these days. Muslims are paying a heavy price for this so-called jihad.
Gharib Nawaz
Bangalore, India (Aug 28, '07)

The sentence contained a typographical error (a missing "and"). It should read: "The jihadist massacres of Hindu pilgrims on the way to Amarnath or while chanting hymns in Akshardham and of Muslim worshippers in Malegaon or Hyderabad spans a divide in the mind of the Indian citizen watching, reading and hearing of the tragedies from a distance." Sorry for the confusion. - ATol

I fully agree with Michael G Gallagher's article Alternative energy: It's not for everybody [Aug 28] and I do share his dream. The solar- and wind-energy sectors are rapidly growing in both developed and developing nations. On the issue of biofuels, there is one crop that can go the way of the dinosaurs, and that is tobacco. This crop needs large amounts of fertilizer and pesticides and its end use only serves mankind for pleasure and the ultimate risk of cancer. Millions of hectares of land are devoted to this cash crop alone. If tobacco is replaced with food for man and/or biofuel plants, the farmer would most likely benefit in profits as he/she would not need the high input of fertilizers and pesticides to grow biofuel crops. Biofuel along with solar, wind, and thermal technologies would go far in making a dent in our dependence on non-renewable oil and gas.
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, Louisiana (Aug 28, '07)

Re Alternative energy: It's not for everybody [Aug 28] by Michael G Gallagher: Good thing that the author warns us readers about his dreaming propensities at the outset. Once that's in place, the rest of the article might be excused for using either outdated (like the [US]$800 billion figure for Russia's GDP [gross domestic product]) or altogether invented statistics (like 80% oil share in Russian exports) - because let's face it, dreams by definition mean detachment from often inconvenient reality. Actually as the dreams go, Mr Gallagher's could have been a noble one. It's what that dream is based upon - namely the desperate desire to remind everybody "who is the boss around here", which is of course [the United States of] America, or "my nation" in Mr Gallagher's parlance - that turns it from commendable to contemptible. The fact that the author limits his apocalyptic predictions only to the countries Americans dislike these days says a lot. Russia, Iran and Venezuela are slated for destruction. Norway - more oil-export-dependent than Russia, but with the redeemable quality of being a NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] member - should apparently escape unharmed. Saudi Arabia - transformed from a perpetrator of [the terror attacks of September 11, 2001] into an anti-Iranian ally and a recipient of a huge arms package - is not mentioned once, even though it would obviously be a poster child for any national crude-[oil]-linked collapse. I suspect that Mr Gallagher's dreams about whacking America's enemies via [the gasoline] pump are unfortunately accompanied by grand self-delusion about his writing and analytical acumen, as well as expanse of his knowledge (the first widely successful passenger jet was the Soviet Tu-104, not the Boeing 707). Here he's dreaming too. Just because almost anybody can write an article nowadays doesn't mean that everybody should.
Oleg Beliakovich
Seattle, Washington (Aug 28, '07)

The Tupolev Tu-104, called the Camel by NATO, entered regular service for Aeroflot in 1956 and was not retired until 1981. The B-707 was certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration in September 1958. The De Havilland Comet, the world's first commercial jetliner (though hardly "successful"), entered service in 1952. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank last year calculated Russia's nominal GDP at just under $1 billion. - ATol

Should the Pulitzer Committee decide to award a prize for understatement, I would like to nominate [Sami] Moubayed for characterizing the Iraqi Sunnis as being "disgruntled" (Playing politics with (and in) Iraq [Aug 28]).
Robert Tartell (Aug 28, '07)

Re Malaysia's axis mysteriously shifting [Aug 28]: Malaysia's axis of power may be shifting as Ioannis Gatsiounis suggests, but the change is hardly mysterious. The mystery, however, may lie in which direction Malaysia is setting its compass on. Under the stern stewardship of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, the foundation of Malaysia's prosperity as an Asian tiger was steadily laid. Dr Mahathir took a leaf out of his Singaporean neighbor Lee Kwong Yew's book for the economic well-being of his country and its rising expectations and its "lock[ing] political horns" with the United States and other Western countries during the 1998 Asian economic meltdown, which left Malaysia unscathed. The new wealth and so-called independent standpoint on one hand, and the reaffirmation of its Islamic vocation on the other hand, have exacerbated the political tensions within society and certainly within the UMNO [United Malays National Organization], the ruling party. These pulls and tugs show the lack of coherence within the Malaysian political elite which have ruled the country now for the last half-century since independence. UMNO is not a party in an organized sense of the term, but a coalition of blocs not unlike the ruling Japanese LDP [Liberal Democratic Party]; each faction is jockeying for the leading role for power, political control, and dominance in the country's economic life. Gatsiounis points his finger at Malaysia's culture of corruption and criminal scandal, including assassination in the highest instances of the country's elite. Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi is tainted by the brush of scandal involving his own sons. As the nation's leader, he seems more passive in his role as head of state, which is as though he were playing a canny and cynical game of moving pawns on the political chessboard. This lack of bold leadership has caused more divisions within Malaysia's ruling elite, and the strains have produced no shortage of ways in which corruption is exercised, nor has it [stopped it] from spilling into the ferment of Islamic fundamentalism. Gatsiounis has well described the role Kuala Lumpur is playing as a middleman funneling America's nuclear technology towards Iran, in the same way Pakistan provided such technology to North Korea and Iran. Washington may be diplomatically mum on this matter, the more especially since it is playing a game of brinkmanship with Tehran, yet it is certain that Badawi's Malaysia is giving it more gray hairs than perhaps Dr Mahathir. Malaysia is beholden to the US for its trade and for current negotiations of a free-trade deal. If the Bush administration takes serious umbrage, Malaysia may wake up to find out that the US has thrown its chips in with Kuala Lumpur's neighbor and nemesis, Singapore. And for that it only has itself to blame.
Jakob Cambria
USA (Aug 28, '07)

Re Bush: In the footsteps of Napoleon [Aug 25]: Comparing George W Bush to Napoleon [Bonaparte] was far-fetched. More appropriate would have been a drunken lout from the bowels of Paris during the French Revolution.
Ken Moreau
New Orleans, Louisiana (Aug 28, '07)

Letters are meant to comment on current affairs and let the writers express their personal opinion, which may draw praise, a nod, a smile, a shrug, a laugh, or even disdain from readers. A case in point is the recent meeting of the prime ministers of India and Japan. The former is a developing country while the latter has technology and capital. It is natural that their mutual cooperation can be fruitful for both. But someone would like to interpret this as "declawing" the Chinese dragon. This is a sarcastic comment but perfectly legitimate ([letter] Jakob Cambria, Aug 27). However, the suggestion that Japan should not "atone forever for the legacy of the past" deserves scrutiny. The mere utterance of apology by prime ministers is not consistent with accepting history textbooks containing distorted facts and whitewashing, nor the acquiescence to the denial by a prominent group of Japanese legislators that the Japanese army had never taken part in forcing women of invaded countries into sex labor during the last World War. Japan should look to Germany to learn.
Seung Li (Aug 28, '07)

Has Vincent Zankin [letter, Aug 23] forgotten that al-Qaeda was started off by the Americans? Their support of [Osama] bin Laden in Afghanistan helped to kill Russian troops. Stinger missiles in the hands of the mujahideen [were] given to them by America ... Greg Bacon of Ava, Missouri [letter, Aug 24], needs a course in geopolitics. [He wrote that Hillary Rodham Clinton, if elected US president, will use] "a time-honored American tradition: invading and blowing to hell and gone some innocent Second or Third World country. Like Iran." Iran is not a Third World country, as the United States is finding out. Iran may make the United States a Third World country if Greg's opinion of Iran is widespread in the USA. Iran is not a country that has had 12 years of embargo and no-fly zones forced on it. It has had four years to get ready for the Americans, while the Americans have been busy with Iraq. Iran is an up and coming country with a very young population - George Bush and his fellow Americans should take note of this. America could lose most of its fighting forces in a week in the Middle East if things get ugly. Those boys are far away from home, with one convoy supply route to Kuwait. Nukes are not an option. This American can read the writing on the wall: the American century is over.
Bob Van den Broeck
Kouchibouguac, New Brunswick (Aug 28, '07)

Re Bush: In the footsteps of Napoleon [Aug 25]: I suppose we all take liberties to draw comparisons from history, especially regarding our own research, but it seems that (so far) [Juan] Cole does tend to stretch the comparisons. The comparisons he makes seem all too superficial. Both Napoleon [Bonaparte] and [US President George W] Bush suffered from arrogance and overestimating the reception of their greatness by conquered countries, but otherwise, I'm sure Napoleon and his descendents would be highly insulted by comparisons made to a seemingly mediocre man. I don't pretend to be the Napoleon scholar that Mr Cole is, but I do recognize the tendency to force comparisons for the sake of a catchy piece. Napoleon was called an enlightened despot due to his interest in law, education, reform, and the arts. Bush could be called a would-be despot but certainly has no interest in learning, in law except to break them, in reform or in the arts. I have read that Napoleon took an interest in conquered states, granting constitutions, law codes and fostering education. I see no real interest in the Iraqi people on the part of George Bush - maybe in their oil, his embassy, and his bases there. Napoleon was an able general using an eclectic approach to military maneuvers. Bush is a failure as a leader of any kind, relying on an incompetent, equally arrogant [former defense secretary Donald] Rumsfeld and a deceptive and crafty Vice President [Richard] Cheney for strategy. Napoleon was known for his religious tolerance, making appointments on the basis of ability. Bush's religion is intolerant and self-deceiving. Bush's appointments are not based on competency, only on loyalty, contributing to many failures like [Hurricane] Katrina, the occupation of Iraq and domestic policies. I'm not sure where Mr Cole is going with his Part 2 and Part 3, but it seems he has already supplied all the similarities: arrogance, invasion of Arabs, bravado rhetoric ... In the past I have been sickened by all the [comparisons to] great presidents that Bush [makes for] himself. This has also preconditioned my repulsion to comparing Bush to anyone with greatness. Maybe my dislike for Bush is coloring my thinking, but in terms of greatness, there were elements of such with Napoleon and none that I can see with Bush. Am I wrong?
Jim of Southern California
USA (Aug 27, '07)

Re Bush: in the footsteps of Napoleon (Aug 25) by Juan Cole: "I hope the time is not far off when I shall be able to unite all the wise and educated men of all the countries and establish a uniform regime based on the principles of the Koran which alone are true and which alone can lead men to happiness." So wrote Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798 after his alleged conversion to Islam, and on the eve of his conquest of the Arabic-speaking Muslim country of Egypt. Napoleon's French revolutionaries had by 1798 largely succeeded in radically reordering French society; the Christian Church was persecuted and reactionaries were beheaded. But despite all the anti-religious zeal, it did not stop Napoleon from cynically endearing himself to the Egyptian populace by becoming a Muslim. And to further endear himself, his army of 36,000 fighting men was accompanied by an intellectual army of hundreds of leading and talented engineers, architects, biologists, chemists, writers and painters. The only problem was that no army - especially one originating from Europe - could overcome the most bitter objection these people held towards the invading forces: that this was yet another Christian-inspired Crusade to conquer the lands of the Muslims. Two centuries later, US President George W Bush's utopian-filled invasion of Muslim Iraq has fallen ever so perfectly into the next blood-filled chapter in this long line of Crusader-occupiers. There is one major difference, however, and that is by becoming a Muslim, Napoleon at least recognized that despite his own revolutionary ideology, the most fundamental requirement of human decency is to reach out to those whose religious and spiritual practices appreciably differ from our own.
Reverend Dr Vincent Zankin
Canberra, Australia (Aug 27, '07)

The article 'Confluence of the two seas' [Aug 25] by Purnendra Jain highlights Japan's ability to own personal interests while building a strong bridge with India. This can be seen in how Japan dealt with Buddhism when it arrived in the 6th century. To this day Japan has maintained its own faith, Shintoism, while at the same time practicing the teachings of Buddhism. Traditionally Japanese marry under the Shinto faith but carry out their funerals under the Buddhist faith. Such harmony between these two faiths cannot be seen in any other country. The ability of the Japanese culture to synchronize these two faiths in harmony will be reflected in its growing relationship with India and at the same time meet its own needs.
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, Louisiana (Aug 27, '07)

Symbolism is everything in politics. This is especially true for the visit of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to India. Mr Abe has lightened the burden of Japan's war guilt during his trip to the Indian subcontinent. No Western head of state would have dared to pay tribute to Subhas Chandra Bose, dubbed "Netaji" or "Respected Leader", India's most revered nationalist hero after [Mahatma] Gandhi. Chandra Bose was a revolutionary leader who opposed British rule but, unlike Gandhi, he took up arms against Great Britain by seeking help first from Nazi Germany and then Imperial Japan, which recognized him as the head of a provisional independent Indian government, and gave him the arms and wherewithal to raise the Azad Hind Fauj or Indian National Army to fight alongside Japan. The INA even succeeded in fighting in northern India at the Battle of Kohima in April 1944 before being repulsed. Chandra Bose reportedly died in a air crash fleeing to Taiwan after Japan's unconditional surrender in August 1945. A myth has grown up among those who believed that Netaji did not die. Mr Abe [also] met with relatives of Radhabinod Pal, the only judge who sat during the Allied trial of Japanese war criminals. He took exception to the death sentences of Japan's Class A wartime leaders as the verdict of the victors, not that of the law, even though he condemned the atrocities and crimes that the Japanese committed in Asia. He argued that the United States had provoked Japan to declare war. The Japanese prime minister's public act sets the stage for an economic partnership between Tokyo and New Delhi. That relationship is broader than the nuclear issue that Sudha Ramachandran raised in What are friends for ... ? [Aug 25]. Mr Abe has momentarily declawed the Chinese Dragon by stressing trade and friendship with India and mutual economic benefits. He has abided by his pledge not to visit the Yasukuni Shrine on August 15, the [anniversary] of Japan's unconditional surrender in 1945, as [the] former prime minister did. Yet as Mr Abe's visit to India has shown, he is announcing to the world that Japan is [not] going to atone forever for the legacy of the past.
Jakob Cambria
USA (Aug 27, '07)

[Kaveh L] Afrasiabi makes a valid point about the nuclear hypocrisy of France and other nuclear states [France knocks heads over its Iran diplomacy, Aug 25]. The connection between the absence of disarmament and proliferation keeps getting neglected in mainstream media and the expert analyses of major think-tanks. Your analyses often surpass the best think-tanks - or may I now say Asia Times [Online is a] think-tank?
Tim Bowen
Toronto, Ontario (Aug 27, '07)

Can you please [ask] Chan Akya to adopt a more cheerful air when writing about the markets and economics? He is perhaps the most dismal of the practitioners of this dark art that I have had the misfortune of encountering. Every time I read his articles, such as the latest one comparing borrowing with cocaine ['Cracks' in credit, Aug 25], the urge to slash my wrists or jump off the nearest building is only controlled by then reading one of your other correspondents such as Pepe Escobar or perusing adult advertisements that seem to proliferate on your site. Chan should perhaps spend some time with those young ladies you are advertising to enter a more joyful frame of mind before composing his articles. In any event, Chan must be told in no uncertain terms that speculators are people too; he must stop treating us like Karl Rove treats the Democrats or Donald Rumsfeld the French (the latter is richly deserved, though). Thanking you for your attention to this delicate matter.
Salt (Aug 27, '07)

Before certain readers, especially in uptight areas of Asia like Thailand, start frantically searching our website in vain for "adult" ads featuring "young ladies", we should remind that many of our advertisements are supplied by network services, and vary from region to region. Salt evidently lives in a part of the world where research indicates some interest in "racy" ads. - ATol

This is with reference to a small and insignificant error in [M K] Bhadrukumar's superb article [The new 'NATO of the East' takes shape, Aug 25]. Banquo's ghost was in Shakespeare's Macbeth, not in Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Moin Ansari, MBA, CME, Six Sigma Master Black Belt, PMP
Morris Plains, New Jersey (Aug 27, '07)

That's the trouble with ghosts, they turn up in the most unexpected places. The ATol bards have corrected the article. - ATol

Syed Saleem Shahzad, re Musharraf down but far from out [Aug 25]: Which American plan has gone right since March 20, 2003?
Farrukh (Aug 27, '07)

They are still experimenting. - Syed Saleem Shahzad

Syed Saleem Shahzad [Musharraf down but far from out, Aug 25]: Very well presented, I liked you article. Do you have any views on how Nawaz is going to do things in Pakistan?
Junaid Shahzeb
UK (Aug 27, '07)

Holding anti-Musharraf demonstrations in Punjab against President General Pervez Musharraf is the main strategy, but eventually he will be forced to have some dialogue with the military for his mainstream political role. - Syed Saleem Shahzad

[Re Talks with the Taliban gain ground, Aug 24] I read your article in Asia Times [Online] regarding [a] likely peace deal between the Taliban and coalition forces headed by the US. I believe the deal will be useful both for the Taliban and American allies. I hope the planned negotiation between the Taliban and American envoy in Peshawar will reach a [satisfactory] conclusion. As a result, the bloody war will end and all the resources can be used for the well-being of deprived people [on] both sides of the Durand Line. I hope the Americans choose [the] same approach with Hezb-e-Islami (Gulbuddin Hekmatyar), who [has been] a key player in Afghan politics since the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.
Abdul Wahab Zaheer (Aug 27, '07)

As far as success of the peace deal is concerned, it will never be an easy task or a tit-for-tat solution. There are at least 10 different commands on the side of the insurgents, and the same is the situation on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization side. The Afghan government has its own interests; Brussels, London, Washington and Paris have different approaches. Similarly, Mullah Omar has a different mindset, as does Ayman al-Zawahiri. Gulbuddin has an entirely different approach, and the Pakistani Taliban and takfiris within al-Qaeda have different agendas altogether. Therefore these negotiations need a lot of patience and continuity for success. - Syed Saleem Shahzad

Syed Saleem Shahzad: I am an American who is deeply interested in the culture and politics of Afghanistan. I just wanted to commend you for your reports from the Taliban heartland. Far too often, it seems that news outlets dehumanize their subjects, but your writing was very visceral and allowed somebody who has never been to Afghanistan to almost feel its soil under my feet. That was without a doubt some of the most objective and thorough coverage I have ever seen in a mainstream media outlet. You are truly a great reporter, and an asset to Asia Times [Online].
Stephen M Wynne (Aug 27, '07)

I refer to Ajai Sahni's article that appeared on Asia Times Online on August 23 [Sri Lanka hunt turns to Tigers in north]. The major part of the article has the flavor of the Sri Lankan government's perspective on the ethnic war in that country and on the LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam], the government's antagonists. Mr Sahni is said to be the "editor of the South Asia Intelligence Review and executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management" and the article is "published with permission from the South Asia Intelligence Review of the South Asia Terrorism Portal". This background information is relevant, as it gives one a peek into the mind and motives and prejudices and preconceptions and pretensions to expertise on South Asian conflicts of the writer. The least said about the Tigers' tactics and strategies the better it is, for the Tigers are not only quite good at these but also are masters at deception and dissimulation concerning their war preparations and plans. After all, their roots and antecedents are in guerrilla warfare, in which secrecy and surprise are 90% of strategy and tactics. That the writer's source of information is the government of Sri Lanka is quite apparent from the first sentence itself. He refers to "Thoppigala jungle area (Barron's Rock)", blithely ignorant that the centuries-old native Tamil [name] for it is Kudumpi Malai, meaning "bun (knotted hair) hill", whereas the Sinhala word Thoppigala is derived from topee, Hindi for "lightweight hat" (worn by the British colonial masters) and gala, a Sinhala word meaning "stone" or "rock" derived from kal, the Tamil word of the same meaning. Barron's Rock is the British term for the same hill. Until the topee was brought to the island by the Europeans, "Thoppigala" did not exist. This slant of the author runs all the way through the article, some parts of which are outstandingly so. For brevity's sake I will deal here with just one sentence. Mr Sahni says "the Northern Province has repeatedly undergone ethnic cleansing and is now exclusively Tamil - and principally 'Sri Lanka Tamil', the primary ethnic support base of the LTTE, with only small numbers of 'plantation Tamils' ... who are generally looked down on by the LTTE leadership". The above quote is loaded with biases and innuendo, perhaps because the author is ill-informed or is being used by the Sri Lankan government as a tool to disseminate disinformation. The facts are that during the early days of the insurgency by the LTTE, the Muslim residents of the Jaffna Peninsula, who did not associate themselves with the Tamil struggle for justice, were urged to relocate themselves away from Tamil areas for their own safety to prevent [their] getting caught in the crossfire between the government forces and the LTTE. Not a single Muslim Tamil was harmed in any way. Compare this to the damnable ethnic cleansing carried out by the Sinhala army by throwing out a quarter of the Tamil population from their homes and farms in Jaffna by declaring these High Security Zones; or the appropriating of thousands of square miles of Tamil land in the east and colonizing the land with the Sinhalese, in the process killing a few hundred Tamils. And how did Mr Sahni divine the alleged condescending attitude of the LTTE towards the plantation Tamils? Did he ever meet and talk to any of the LTTE leaders about the plantation Tamils? If he has done so, he should have quoted them; if he has not, it is an irresponsibly invidious allegation.
Kasan (Aug 27, '07)

I have been challenged by [Beverly] Darling's articles. They are also understandable, whereas some of your articles are difficult to read. Her last one about war toys [The US also has lethal toys, Aug 22] was a real eye opener. I wonder what kind of violent war toys other cultures have. It seems to be a very profitable and large business here in the US. As a mother I have noticed that some boys join the military and attribute it to playing with war toys. This may be the Pentagon's best recruitment strategy.
Nikisha
USA (Aug 27, '07)

Pepe Escobar's Welcome to Hillary's wars [Aug 24] should have just flat-out stated what will happen if and when Hillary [Rodham] Clinton (HRC) becomes president of the US. HRC will have to show the country and the world that she's got as big a pair as any of the boys. HRC will accomplish this by using a time-honored American tradition: invading and blowing to hell and gone some innocent Second or Third World country. Like Iran. That is, if President [George W] Bush hasn't already obeyed the voices he hears and bombed Tehran. As for Iraq, HRC will "stay the course". Of course, her spinmeisters will polish and shine up this illegal and immoral war, to keep selling it to the public, but the war against Iraq will still be illegal and immoral. As a person or a US senator from New York state, I have no feelings about HRC one way or the other. But HRC as president scares me, and I don't easily frighten.
Greg Bacon
Ava, Missouri (Aug 24, '07)

Re Pepe Escobar's Welcome to Hillary's wars [Aug 24]: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, as close as possible to being the equal of a Russian communist apparatchik, seems doomed to follow the McCain presidential goal scenario. Born in Illinois, a onetime Republican admirer; a decade-long resident of the Governor's Mansion in Arkansas as well as an eight-year occupant of the White House ending in a kismet-like segue into a residency in New York to become senator and at present aspiring to be the C-in-C [commander-in-chief] is already demanding that [Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri] al-Maliki (George [W Bush]'s good friend and soulmate) has to go. In essence George's and Pepe's quasi-prognostication of the goals of continuing to bringing freedom to Iraq under the guise of Hillary's War can best be described as the penultimate fantasy of American administrations, either by omission or commission, believing that their foreign wars are truly crusades for the benefit of the nations they bomb, sanction or invade. If Hillary becomes president and still is, as Pepe suggests, in 2015 in the White House, that house would have been occupied for a combined total of close to 30 years by the Bushes [and] Clintons. Whether it's the Clintons or Giulianis or any of the declared or undeclared candidates [who] eventually calls the White House home and puts their imprimatur on the ebbs and flows in Iraq, the belief/fantasy that our oil is for some darn twist of fate under Iraqi, Saudi Arabian, Somali, Sudanese, Kuwaiti as well as Iranian soil requires continuity, no matter who or how many get killed. Mr Escobar's "Welcome to Hillary's wars" is a subtle "forward to the future" read.
Armand De Laurell (Aug 24, '07)

[In the Aug 24 edition] ATol posted three outstanding articles on Iraq. In particular, Sami Moubayed's article [Maliki's options rapidly shrinking] typifies what makes ATol the place for understanding what's happening in the world. Within the US, the news media only talk about how America's leaders see things, which is based in a refined fantasyland of continued global supremacy. But global supremacy stems from economic strength. The US lost its economic edge in 1971 when Charles de Gaulle forced Richard Nixon to close the gold window and thus knocked the pins out from under the dollar, already made vulnerable by the war in Vietnam. It's no coincidence that soon afterwards the price of oil shot up and the American stock market took its worst fall since 1929-32. It's also no coincidence that China's march to economic supremacy started at that time. Unlike Japan, China will reach the top of the economic heap. Meanwhile, the US is playing into China's hands by throwing its armaments away in Iraq as well as deploying the bulk of its fighting forces there and nearby. Whether it's [Prime Minister Nuri al-]Maliki or anybody else who leads Iraq, the US will be lucky if its troops get out before time's up, to say nothing of attacking Iran.
Harald Hardrada
Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Aug 24, '07)

Re Bush whips up a storm over 'surge' [Aug 24]: Flying in the face of reality, president George W Bush delivered a defiant, rousing speech on Iraq and his off-again-on-again support for distressed Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, before the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Missouri. The American president spoke before a group which represents a strong percentage of his waning supporters among Americans who believe in Mr Bush's ill-conceived and ill-timed war. As is his wont, Mr Bush cherry-picks his audience so that there is no dissent, only fulsome admiration for his self-image. And this was no less true than his appearance at the VFW gathering. The president's speech was piss and vinaigre to the core. His speechwriters used every trick in their trade to bolster the very image that Mr Bush sees of himself in the mirror of his mind. For those of us with longer memories, the groans of the ghosts of Lyndon Baines Johnson and Richard M Nixon rise up from the past in their passionate defense of the lost cause which was America's war in Vietnam. This said, Mr Bush has something which neither Mr Johnson nor Mr Nixon had - a quiescent American public. There is no groundswell of anti-war activity to challenge his Caesarian pretensions with an eye to his future in history textbooks; he has had a Republican-dominated Congress which has marched in lockstep to the beat of his war drums until the elections of November 2006. The Democrats who thereafter took control of the new houses of Congress have proved at loose ends to act as a firm opposition to Mr Bush's twisting and torturing of the US constitution, nor could they offer an exit to the mess that his administration created in Iraq. The American press corps has remained supine and has proved more cheerleader than critical of the Bush White House. The American electorate is demoralized, more and more against the war in Mesopotamia, and sees little hope in changing the course of the Bush ship of state as long as he sits in the White House. After President Bush's speech, the experts took to the airwaves to debunk his historicism and false analogies and easy play with facts and figures. But who is listening to them, one wonders? Americans have at best a faulty grasp on history and an easy tendency to forgetfulness. So when all is said and done, the magician who is Mr Bush will get away with pulling the wool over the [eyes of the] American people, for there is no one of stamina and stature to stand up to this bully in the White House.
Jakob Cambria
USA (Aug 24, '07)

There is no doubt in my mind that the Democrats should win the next [US] election without any difficulty, and even without Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as contenders. But both contenders have problems: one is a very chilly white woman whom 40% Americans view with hysterical dislike and being the wife of [former] president Bill Clinton carries a certain stigma of nepotism and dynastic oligarchy. The difference next time around if she should become the president of the United States would be a reversal of roles: ex-president Bill Clinton would have to open the bedroom door for her. The crucial enigma about Hillary is not her perfect punctuation but what she stands for, her domestic and foreign policies, what kind of president she would become and if she would be good enough. And, if she would have a single or double bed in her bedroom or lock the bedroom so that Mr Clinton stays indoors. So much is known about their lives that Bill Clinton could easily become an embarrassment to her. She is a very calculating stage-management perfectionist and with a chillingly cool demeanor to frighten many men. But despite all her flaws, anything will be [worth seeing] the dim and diminishing face of G W Bush kicked out from the White House. Personally, I lost faith in Barack Obama since he made that stupid statement of violating international borders and invading Pakistan's territory in pursuit of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. His middle name is Hussein but he is a Christian ... impossible and confusing biography of a person. Is he not sure of his roots [or does he wish] to remain undecided until the elections to [lure] votes from all sections of the population? He should not worry too much about his campaign funds, as Oprah Winfrey has decided to back him to the end. He is no Colin Powell or Jesse Jackson but is better than most of the Democratic candidates and should be an obedient assistant to his master, dodgy and crafty Hillary Clinton.
Saqib Khan
UK (Aug 24, '07)

It is unlikely that Obama chose his own middle name, which in this case simply means "handsome" - a perfectly good choice for the name of one's child. His father, the late Barack Obama Sr, was raised a Muslim, though he was an affirmed atheist by the time he met his wife, whom he in any case divorced when Barack Jr was very young. The senator has written that he "was not raised in a religious household" and converted to Christianity from de facto agnosticism in early adulthood. There is no evidence that his personal background makes him more, or less, prone to using religion to further his aims than any other American politician. - ATol

Re Sri Lanka hunt turns to Tigers in north [Aug 23]: in his article the author forgot to mention that in 1993 the Sri Lanka Army captured the east and Thoppigala, and then the [Tamil] Tigers freed these areas from the Sri Lankan government. All analysts agree the Tamil Tigers are 20 times stronger than 15 years ago, and it shouldn't be too difficult for them to recapture the east when the time is right. It was said all along it was a strategy of the Tigers to let the Sri Lankan military bog down in the east so it takes pressure from the north so that the Tigers can capture the north; once that is done they can concentrate on the east. By defending the east now the Tigers would have lost lots of [cadres] because Karuna fractions influence in the east, and the Tigers want to avoid Tamils killing Tamils in this confrontation. The Tigers know their strengths and weaknesses; therefore it was wise for them to withdraw in a weaker area. So far the Sri Lankan military has captured a jungle with some small weapons. The Tigers had moved [their cadres] and weapons to the north. The Sri Lankan government miscalculated the event, hoping for a cakewalk in the north ... Last time the Tigers did not use their air capability. If they had, surely the Sri Lanka Army would have lost badly. This time around things will be different, in my view.
Mathan (Aug 24, '07)

Wariss Shah in his letter of August 23 made an interesting comment on Saleem Shazad's intricate knowledge and microscopic vision when he writes about his adventures covering the Taliban's fight for freedom from infidels' occupation of their country. Is it his satellite imagery or his sixth sense or his third eye that can see things that we humans do not? Or is he is one of the Taliban or one of their spokesman in rags living in Pakistan? Often, he gives me the impression [that] he is roaming around Afghanistan as the "hidden one" seeing from above the red skies of Afghanistan every moment of the Taliban's struggle. I wish that Saleem Shahzad one day decided to write a children's storybook, which I would certainly buy.
Jalal Rumi (Aug 24, '07)

Working title: Maulana Potter and the Prisoner of Waziristan. Asia Times Online has first dibs on the movie rights. - ATol

The article 'Headless chickens' and the China threat by M K Bhadrakumar does not take into account the complexity of the India-US nuclear deal and how it pertains to China. Instead he summarizes his article by stating, "The result is, like headless chickens, ageless Indian politicians are 'running around'. Not a seemly sight for a great power in the making." This may well be true, so let us look at the world's greatest power, the US, and how its politicians are dealing with both internal and external issues. On the border issue, this has become so dangerous that the US public have reached a boiling point and the two parties (the Democrats and the Republicans) are acting exactly like "headless chickens" in dealing with this issue, while millions of illegal immigrants, including criminals and potential terrorists, are pouring into the US, altering our culture and endangering our safety. [The victims of] Hurricanes Katrina and Rita that struck a couple of years ago ... are still waiting for help, many in trailer parks, and the federal government has done little to solve this problem, and we are going into the next hurricane season. Even the issue of the war in Iraq is so divisive between the liberal Democrats and the conservative Republicans that it is costing the lives of our soldiers and even imprisonment of our soldiers for acts deemed normal in a war footing. This has not gone unnoticed by the US public, who are sick and tired of the Bush administration and the lack of leaders in the next election. I only point this out to state that India, as a rising power, has to debate the validity of the Indo-US nuclear deal and, yes, they like the US politicians may act like "headless chickens", but unlike the US, which has the power to solve many of the problems stated above, India is stepping into an area that it has never experienced before.
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, Louisiana (Aug 23, '07)

Once again M K Bhadrakumar has enlightened ATol readers in 'Headless chickens' and the China threat [Aug 23]. In so many words he has explained the seeming complexity of a relationship, to wit, the nuclear deal Washington is offering New Delhi as bait to align Indian foreign policy with US geopolitical strategy in Asia - which in other words means using India as a foil to an awakened Chinese dragon with growing economic clout, military ambitions and pretensions, and a political will to superpower status. Washington is willing to pour money into India and allow transfer of technology and encourage the private sector to open the generous dams of investments, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and other financial instruments, to fuel India's healthy economic growth. This [is] in spite of the Bush administration's strong prejudice in favor of China among his cabinet and advisers and his own family ties ... Of late, there is a bad odor to the China market; it arises out of the health scares related to pet food, toothpaste, farmed fish, tires, toys ... and ceramic heaters. Each and every product raises concerns of product safety and deleterious effects to health. The rub in relations is compounded on the ever-increasing trade balance in Beijing's favor and the interminable, running argument by Washington for the yuan float - which makes doing business with India good dollars and sense ... The US courting of India has its advantages ... [some politicians'] scrambling for the comfort of older reflexes betrays India's ill-ease at being a regional superpower and from the days when it was a leader of the Bandung non-aligned nations. The fear of strengthening India's so-called nemesis is diluted by recent positive steps taken by Islamabad and New Delhi. China is investing in Pakistan, it is true, but that investment is on a continuum of returns which favor Beijing's imports of energy and primary resources. Washington's offer of a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with India is a tacit recognition of the growing role of New Delhi on a global scale ... Yet India's attitude towards China has a deeper scar which is absent from Bhadrakumar's informative article. China brought defeat to proud India in 1962 over the Youngblood boundary in the Himalayas. Defeat brought down the Nehru government, the end of Jawaharlal Nehru as a national and international leader, and the retreat of his wily foreign minister V K Krishnamenon. This profound hurt has never healed, the more cordial relations between India and China notwithstanding.
Jakob Cambria
USA (Aug 23, '07)

Re Missile row magnifies Russia's concerns by Federico Bordonaro: I'm not sure Mr Bordonaro has too much credibility to stake on any subject involving Russia. The ideological bent which he demonstrated on more than few occasions previously makes his conclusions quite predictable and thus suspect. He's not the worst of the worst in the pantheon of professional Russophobes, but neither is he an impartial observer. As an opinion piece, this article has merit. As a strategic analysis, it's useless at best. Forget that by the author's own admission, "the tactical reasons for the action remain unclear", which, if adjusted for a writer's customary anti-Russian bias, should mean that Russia has no interest whatsoever in lobbing missiles into Georgia. At the same time, Georgian motives are pretty clear - to portray Russia as an aggressor and Georgia as a victim, and in doing so to inhibit Russian ability to interfere in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the future. That Georgia is becoming frantic as the Kosovo question nears its resolution is plain for everybody. Everybody who cares to see, that is. Forget also the fact that Russia's ambassador to the UN already went through the whole litany of Georgian charges, debunking them one by one, citing inconsistencies in [the] rocket's materials, Georgian radar records, Georgian behavior on the ground, early destruction of evidence by Georgia, and so on, and arriving at the inevitable conclusion that the sorry affair is a first-rate provocation executed by third-grade provocateurs ... This spectacle was badly conceived and badly directed, with the main actors forgetting their lines at crunch time. That's why the West's reaction was so muted and uninspiring. The defenders Georgia has counted on simply don't believe in what they were called on to defend. There is a silver lining, however, in all the mess. First, there is a growing realization that [the] historically short period of Russian weakness is over, and that the West terribly misjudged its duration. Second, there is an increasing understanding that sooner or later Russian interests will have to be accommodated. And third, there is a budding desire to see these interests accommodated in as painless a way as possible, because the confluence of worldwide events make another Western cold [war] victory all but impossible.
Oleg Beliakovich
Seattle, Washington (Aug 23, '07)

I'm not quite sure what is the point of Robert Neff's Hostage deals: Koreans look to the US [Aug 23], or is the current crisis just a chance for Mr Neff to engage in American-bashing? His recounting of the US actions in Lebanon to release hostages serves little purpose. All the US got for paying a ransom of weapons to the Iranians was more hostages taken, thus the more realistic view not to negotiate for hostages. His facts about Jill Carroll are wrong: the US released five female prisoners on January 27, 2006, as part of a normal prisoner release; Miss Carroll was not released until March 30, 2006. I'm sure the Korean government is willing to pay millions for the release of the hostages - the fact that the money will be used to buy weapons to kill Americans is of no concern of the Koreans. The only Koreans left in the hands of the Taliban are women - there is no reason to believe they will be harmed, as it would only make the Taliban look more savage then they already are. If governments continue to pay ransoms to the Taliban it will effectively destroy the ability of NGOs [non-governmental organizations] to operate in Afghanistan and play right into the hands of the Taliban.
Dennis O'Connell
USA (Aug 23, '07)

The US also has lethal toys [Aug 22] exposes the violent and militaristic nature of the US. For young children to learn warlike vocabulary at an early age and become accustomed to different types of weapons that harm others is unthinkable. I see nothing wrong with balancing violent toys with more pacifist toys such as a Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr figure. I would rather have my children be responsible and rational peacemakers instead of irresponsible and irrational warmongers. Children do learn by what they see and how they play.
Matthew (Aug 23, '07)

Beverly Darling (The US also has lethal toys, Aug 22) warns that American children's militaristic toys are creating malevolent minds of mayhem in our little Toms, Dicks, and Himmlers. So what toys does she imagine amuse little boys in other countries, I wonder? Tutus and paint-by-number sets? Banish everything from toy-store shelves that in real life shoots, stabs, bombs, or bludgeons, and you'll be depriving boys of just a small fraction of all the things that let loose the wild-eyed mini-maniac within. Things like snow, clods of dirt, stones, sticks, and bullfrogs. Boys from Bhutan to Brooklyn are born knowing these things are intended primarily as missiles for smashing or bloodying other, less worthy things, like little girls' umbrellas, each other's skulls, and anything else not steel-reinforced and set in concrete. Makeshift missiles are bestowed by a god who is clearly biased in favor of boys, and pities their temporary inability to purchase grenades and plastic explosives. Ms Darling is free to attempt to inflict her misbegotten beliefs on our boy beasts. But beware of blowback. Our own draft-dodging, make-believe-macho, angst-driven, fearmongering neo-cons strike me as a bunch of GI Joe wanna-bes who missed out on the joys of juvenile violence, and tried woefully to make up for it in adulthood. Ms Darling risks creating legions of these beastly late bloomers.
Geoffrey Sherwood
New Jersey, USA (Aug 23, '07)

Re The US also has lethal toys [Aug 22]: Beverly Darling suggests a couple of violence-free alternative action-figure toys for the marketplace, one being a Martin Luther King doll with a voice-over recording from one of his speeches. Maybe even a shorter monologue like "We shall overcome"? To teach the child what, that there was no violence in that slice of history? Consider this: if you're going to have an MLK doll, you're going to need a number of supportive mini-figures, like a fairly realistic band of marchers from all walks of life and all ages to animate the scene. Add also red-faced cops with billy clubs and snarling police dogs and hoses that spray water on marchers - more mini-children prototypes. And a line of taunting crowds, hate on their faces. Add a Southern belle type screaming, "Love it or leave it!" and other epithets rising from a tape in her belly. Doesn't sound too violence-free to me. Historic figures should present realism if any credible moral high ground is to be achieved, which means realistically you're not going to be free of violence; only a change of characters plus companion toy accessories - it comes in a kit and two can play. One kid takes MLK and the marchers. The other kid gets the cops, the crowds, the billy clubs, dogs, hoses thrown in too. Both children will enjoy the action game. Yet what is the moral lesson embedded here? MLK is now a game that two or more can play? The player who has the most figures standing at the end of the game wins? I would say such an MLK figure takes the dignity and respect out of historic events and the man himself - all he achieved - when sold retail as another animated toy. Teach the child the story, the facts both beautiful and ugly - the sacrifices made and goals achieved. Leave Martin Luther King out of the game room. Far more can be achieved by taking adult toys like depleted uranium warheads out of the hands of irresponsible adults as advocated by the Bush war-challenged administration. Get the lead out of Iraq. Fisher-Price [and] Mattel have no monopoly on deadly toys. We've been using a far deadlier toy on the children of Iraq and Afghanistan. The Mideast is not our playroom.
Beryl K
Minnesota, USA (Aug 23, '07)

Re Rising powers have the US in their sights by Dilip Hiro (Aug 22): The eulogies pouring in from around the world [after] the death of former Russian president Boris Yeltsin this year all contained one jarring note of criticism amid the many accolades of praise: president Yeltsin's overseeing of Russia's failed invasion of Afghanistan. This invasion proved seminal, not only for the growing confidence it gave al-Qaeda - especially in the way it led to the culminatory events of September 11, 2001. But it also proved seminal for Yeltsin's successor, President Vladimir Putin, who was in the business of rebuilding Russia after the ravages of Yeltsin's grand experiment in imperial overreach. Today, a case for the exact same autopsy can be made for the United States. In the words of Mr Hiro: "The George W Bush administration's debacle in Iraq is certainly a major factor in this transformation, a classic example of an imperialist power brimming with hubris, overextending itself." If, in the final analysis, the US does indeed learn this salutary lesson from its post-[September 11] revenge attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq, then [I hope] we will move a step closer to the global security framework of a multipolar world as envisaged by President Putin.
Reverend Dr Vincent Zankin
Canberra, Australia (Aug 23, '07)

After living through the tensions of the Cold War, from VE [Victory in Europe] Day to the fall of the Soviets, I was relieved and happy to see Russia join the rest of the world community. At the time I had no idea that the US would turn out to be this rogue, drunken, terrorist superpower. During the buildup to the first Gulf War, I was aware of the propaganda being put out by the US and that Russian satellites had confirmed that the supposed buildup of Iraqi forces on the Kuwaiti-Saudi border was false. Knowing the history of Kuwait, as a somewhat similar situation to the Falklands, I was disheartened to see the US build a case for war without ever mentioning this history publicly. In a situation as important as war and thousands of people's lives, it was cowardly and dishonest to the extreme. Turns out it was all for the excuse to intervene in a war to protect Kuwaiti oilfields from falling into less favorable control. Now, after the intervening 11 years of daily bombing and killing, and the second Iraqi war and the additional war in Afghanistan, I have opined the above-mentioned description of the US. As to the purpose of this long screed, I want to say that I admire the stance of Russian President [Vladimir] Putin over the US missile defense in Poland and [the Czech Republic] and the resumption of bomber patrols around Western airspace. Mr Putin's statement that Russia would henceforth rebuild its aircraft industries to counter Western advances was another indication that the world is finally drawing a line and is going to try to stop US aggression. I would have never dreamed that one day I would welcome another cold war, but that's better than a world-destroying continuous hot war [waged] by a bunch of uncontrolled fools.
Ken Moreau
New Orleans, Louisiana (Aug 23, '07)

US President George W Bush asked the American people for patience with the slow pace of the occupation of Iraq. He cited past military conflicts in East Asia as examples of a positive outcome of US interference in domestic policy. He neglected to mention the many examples of US intervention that have created and promoted endless terror and civil war. The USA aided and abetted in the assassinations of leaders, and the overthrow of elected governments, in the Congo, Peru, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Guatemala, Laos, Ecuador, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Bolivia, and the Philippines, where the US backed the installation of dictatorships. The US paved the way for Saddam [Hussein]'s Iraq, the Iran of the ayatollahs, and Afghanistan under the Taliban. In every instance, US interference has started a reign of murder, torture and corruption that persists to this day. Once again, President Bush seems to have a very selective memory. And we shouldn't forget that we have still never found those weapons of mass destruction, his reason for invading Iraq in the first place.
Rory E Morty
Giessen, Germany (Aug 23, '07)

I just want to ask Spengler, re It must be the end of secularism (Aug 21), how it is possible to end nothingness. American atheists, unless really pressed, do not view secularism as a palpable part of their lives. They need no ceremony or congregation to reinforce a non-belief arrived at individually, frequently against religious exposure in childhood. They also shun upsetting relations with religious family members and tend to be reticent about their non-belief. It is not difficult to appreciate their nonchalant attitude about their non-belief and their way of life based on logic and science, [and a] rational approach to impermanence on Earth. There is simply little psychological motive to take off, to trumpet a nonchalant way of life or to expand nothingness through conversion. Manifestation of American secularism is elusive or even imperceptible. It has been my experience that, even decades earlier, no less than half of the American students in the natural sciences and engineering professed secularism when religion was discussed. Saying grace was almost never observed at my dorm. After decades of mainstream living and marriage with more religious mates (many very nice girls are Christians), many of these classmates of mine profess some religiosity. I believe there are many more de facto secularists in the USA than many surveys indicate. The number of dedicated churchgoers in the USA has declined, even if most non-churchgoers profess some religiosity. Secularism is elusive and highly resistant to religious persecution.
Jeff Church
USA (Aug 23, '07)

Letter writer Harris [Aug 20] wrote nonsense when he accused Muhammad Ali Jinnah of bungled thinking in the creation of Pakistan. I admit that Jinnah was not a meticulous Muslim. He was educated in England, a brilliant barrister [and] a modernist, and nobody seemed to care about his unorthodox ways, but he spoke with undisputed authority for the Muslims of Indian to which the world listened, and that is all that mattered at that time. After securing independence in 1947, Jinnah wanted to create a democratic Pakistan in which all basic human rights would be assured to all citizen of the state but died soon after. The principles of democracy emphasize the importance, respect, dignity and veneration of human life of an individual in the context of government, as we see in the United Kingdom, where human life is venerated - and not as in India, where basic human rights are denied to hundreds of millions only because of their lower caste and they are trampled by the ignominy of inherent religious discrimination and Hindu polytheist ethos. Eight hundred million Indian poor struggle to eat one meal a day. So, Jayant Patel [letter, Aug 21], take off your blinkers and feel sorry for the poor of India, your Hindu untouchable brothers and sisters; do something for their miserable existence and stop preaching about democracy to me when you do not know its basics. Democracy is not only getting a poor man's vote by hook or crook into a tin box and then sending him to his funeral pyre, but to treat and respect him as a human being who needs a loaf and water to eat once a day. Indian democracy is of the corrupt, for the corrupt by the corrupt and of the rich, for the rich and by the rich. Mahatma Gandhi … wanted to eradicate the curse of the Hindu caste system but was murdered soon after by a fanatic fundamentalist Hindu. With regard to Pakistan, I would like to say to Chan Akya that the confusion since 1947 has been to establish whether it is a democratic or theocratic state. Its founder, Jinnah, was not an orthodox Muslim but was fiercely proud to be one who envisaged Pakistan to be a free country where people of different religions would be free to go to their mosques, temples and churches and other places to worship more on the footsteps of Islamic teaching of equality, justice and magnanimity to all its people. But in the 1970s, it took an about-turn when the military regime took over and allied itself with the religious groups to help the Afghans and the Americans fight and defeat the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan. Pakistan became an "ideological" Islamic state whose parameters were determined by the military rulers as well as giving moral support to the Muslims in Indian-occupied Kashmir fighting for their right for self-determination and freedom ...
Saqib Khan
UK (Aug 23, '07)

Re The US also has lethal toys by Beverly Darling (Aug 22): Though I suspect Ms Darling and I are on the same end of the political spectrum, I feel obliged to point out that toy soldiers do not a real soldier make. I spent countless hours as a child playing with my Airfix toy soldiers, reading war history, and watching war movies on television. I filed as a conscientious objector upon reaching my majority and am a pacifist, even going so far as to question the value of self-defense. As much as I admire [Mahatma] Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr, I would never inflict toy reproductions of them on my own child, who would swiftly adapt them to martial purposes anyway. Sometimes, a toy is just a toy - lead paint notwithstanding.
John Seal
Oakland, California (Aug 22, '07)

I wanted to thank [ATol] for the article The US also has lethal toys [Aug 22]. I am part of a peace group in the US and I would like to add that during Christmas and other times of the year we have passed out flyers warning about the violence that children take away from playing with war toys. We have been arrested, fined and banned from stores. Americans and the rest of the world need to reflect upon how these war toys can cause children to become violent warriors and aggressive.
John (Aug 22, '07)

Re The US also has lethal toys [Aug 22]: Hidden behind Beverly Darling's feminist, anti-male rhetoric is a more nefarious ideology, one that is revealed by the fact that it takes her a mere four paragraphs to link, in a roundabout way, the US armed forces to [Adolf] Hitler. There's nothing peaceful at all about her open ridicule for anything that she somehow connects in some remote way with the armed forces. GI Joe is an obvious target, but it takes an outlandish ideology to argue that Pirates of the Caribbean action figures are indoctrinating young people towards militarism. This article really isn't about toys, though. It's an argument for her anti-military ideology. This ideology may sound attractive within the ivory towers of some university campuses, but those of us residing in reality know what nonsense it really is. Sometimes wars are forced upon countries by outside forces; just ask the Polish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Iraqis, etc. Sometimes it is not other armies but Mother Nature that threatens the existence of a nation. In these dark circumstances, the survival of a nation often rests in the hands of a country's armed forces and those of its allies. The ability to defend against outside aggression and provide relief and keep order during natural disasters and emergencies are just two of the many laudable services provided by a professional military. In countries around the world, democratic and authoritarian, secular and religious, young men and women put their lives on the line to protect their homelands, countrymen and families. These people offer the ultimate sacrifice to preserve a way of life. These young people serving around the world deserve respect, not the mocking tone of Ms Darling's article. It is not the armed forces themselves but their misuse by those in power which is the threat. This notion is absent from Ms Darling's article, and is why she is not to be taken seriously. I note from Ms Darling's bio that she resided, at least for a time, in the United States. I wonder if she realizes the irony of being protected by a professional military while spewing out veiled, sophomoric attacks against it. This woman is an educator? Heaven help her students!
TaMu
China (Aug 22, '07)

Donald Kirk looks at Korea through fog-covered glasses. His argument in 'Third man' overshadows Korea's election [Aug 22] is meretricious. One, owing to disastrous floods, the August summit meeting is put off until October. What is so special about the month of October that it makes North Korea's chairman Kim Jong-il the arbitrator of South Korea's December elections? Kirk's logic is puzzling and not faultless. For if we follow his thinking, August would already make Kim Jong-il a spoiler of the South's presidential elections. Two, Kim Jong-il is holding [South Korean] President Roh Moo-hyun for great food aid to feed North Koreans, the more especially since the torrential rains have rendered unproductive a third of the North's arable [land]. Kirk has had Korea as his beat for 30 years, ATol tells us. In all that time has he not learned that in spite of a divided Korea, Koreans North and South [have] a feeling for helping one another when one is in dire straits? This is more true since former [South Korean] president Kim Dae-jung initiated his "Sunshine Policy", and his journey to Pyongyang for the first inter-Korean summit with chairman Kim Jong-il, which began a peninsula-wide warming of relations between Pyongyang and Seoul. Three, the Grand National Party (GNP) has chosen Seoul's former mayor Lee Myong-bak as its standard-bearer in the year-end elections. He nosed out Park Geun-hye, the daughter of the former strongman Park Chung-hee, whom his generals assassinated. Kirk paints Mr Lee as someone who is the object of North Korea's media barbs. Yet let's scratch the surface of this remark: he is a former "hot shot" (Kirk's own words) of Hyundai Engineering and Construction. Now any Korea watcher knows that the chairman of Hyundai broke the ice with Pyongyang years ago, and has put the company's money in building a tax-free zone north of the 38th Parallel. That Mr Lee is going to take a pro-business tack with Pyongyang is not in question; nor is he unwilling to take a hard-nose approach to the North. Lest we forget, Mme Park had already met Kim Jong-il, so the GNP is willing one way or the other to continue the South's Sunshine Policy. His chances remain good that he may be President Roh's successor despite a summit meeting in October. Kirk does not like Kim Jong-il. This is apparent from his articles which have appeared in ATol. That is his standpoint. However, when he tries to fudge things, it is necessary to challenge his assertions. Had he read the American, British and French press, he may be surprised to learn that for once North Korea is not an issue in the December presidential elections in the Republic of Korea.
Jakob Cambria
USA (Aug 22, '07)

Re Rising powers have the US in their sights [Aug 22] by Dilip Hiro: This article brings out the importance of keeping control of the news. But such control can go so far that it flips over and becomes a danger. Right now, within the US, the mainstream news media monopolize the gathering of news and thus keep fanning the flames of war, but the upshot is that leading politicians from both major parties are living in a world of deluded American supremacy. As they make their decisions on foreign policy, these blinkered leaders are taking their country down the path of national suicide. The US ought to be wary, for instance, whenever China and Russia stand aside at the UN and let the US go ahead with its plans for Iran. On a related matter, former president Jimmy Carter stirred up hate-filled opposition by having the gall to hint that if looked at in a certain light, Palestinians might just possibly be human beings. It has reached the stage where people living outside the US have sources of information that are more open than what we have here.
Harald Hardrada
Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Aug 22, '07)

Of course, the Bush administration that began a global terror war to track the so-called "terrorists" across the globe [after] September 11 [2001], particularly in Afghanistan and Iraq, perhaps had not expected that their "democratic" drive would be fruitless and disastrous and that they would end up at crossroads with pathetically looking eyes. Armed with terrible strategies killing innocent Muslims on the advice offered by his neo-cons, President G W Bush has already not only burned both his hands (not just the fingers), he has also been left almost alone at the crossroads, helplessly looking at the passers-by with fresh offers of nuclear deals if only they could rescue him through some face-saving device and also help his Republican Party regain its lost image and win the upcoming presidential elections as well. His efforts to divert world attention from the failures in Afghanistan and Iraq [have] not yielded any fruit either. Now that he has no extra hands to be burned in Iran and elsewhere, his Iran venture seems to be put on hold. Bush seems to be very seriously considering the options for survival and image-building. The very thought of leaving the White House in disgrace obviously makes him and his neo-cons all the more depressed and confused. It seems the only option now before him is to conduct joint military maneuvers in different regions and somehow confuse the nations across the globe and thus alter the world mindset as far as possible. Will Bush succeed?
Dr Abdul Ruff Colachal
India (Aug 22, '07)

Being introverted and introspective is a human trait. I love reading ATimes but for a few of its contributors. Spengler is not introverted but extremely extroverted. He seems to have his hidden thoughts for other times to ventilate; currently he is perhaps on the payroll of a Zionist, neo-cons, CIA [the US Central Intelligence Agency], all the Western [and] American intelligence agencies for whom, like a devil, he cites every scripture to poison readers' minds against Islam. Another is Saleem Shahzad [see Taliban, US in new round of peace talks, Aug 21]. He seems to scan the Taliban [and] al-Qaeda through his satellite-imaging transmitters on their minute-to-minute, house-to-house, country-to-country movements, intimate discourses and secret plans. He looks to be smarter than the CIA on intelligence work. His job is not much dissimilar from Spengler's. Both should be banned from the golden pages of ATimes.
Wariss Shaw
Samundri, Pakistan (Aug 22, '07)

The article US steps closer to war with Iran [Aug 18] by Kaveh L Afrasiabi ... consistently points to the foolishness of the US in engaging Iran in a full-fledged war. But if memory serves me, Iran has been asking for this since it embarked on its nuclear program. Iran has been equally foolish. Its leaders have publicly acknowledged that they would use their nuclear technology to wipe out Israel. This statement alone demonstrates Iran's willingness to engage whatever power in the world in a war footing. The US and its coalitions have demanded and pleaded with Iran to stop its rhetoric and stop its nuclear ambitions to no [avail]. If Washington, DC, is hell-bent on taking on Iran, so is Iran hell-bent on taking on not just the US but the entire West. It has also blatantly threatened its Arab neighbors to toe the Iranian line or face the consequences. It is not the US that has laid the groundwork for a full-fledged military confrontation, but Tehran has laid this at the doorstep of the US. The US can easily prove that Iran has actively been engaged in fighting the US military in Iraq by supplying arms and laying mines to kill US soldiers. Israel has every right to feel threatened by a rising nuclear threat from Iran. Kaveh L Afrasiabi blames the US for the Iran/US conundrum. But he never mentions the threats that Tehran has been [espousing] for so long. Now it is time for the showdown. No doubt Iran can create hell on Earth both in the Middle East and in the West. So can the US do the same to Iran. No one can predict the outcome of such a war, but if statistics were taken into account, Iran cannot back its threats with victory. It does not have the monetary and military power that the US and its coalition have. When war breaks out between the US and Iran, Iran will have the power to create the chaos that it knows it has to cause worldwide instability. More the reason for the US to go to war with Iran and take out its nuclear capacities. As for the UN, Iran has ignored every protocol, so why should the US toe the UN line when the US, Israel and the West are directly threatened by Tehran?
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, Louisiana (Aug 22, '07)

Instead of political activism suggested by Chietigj Bajpaee in Hong Kong, Taiwan wilt in the Dragon's glare (Aug 16), Hong Kong should simply live as a pluralistic democracy, to parade its advanced social achievements. Particularly valuable and non-political is Hong Kong's ethnic pluralism. As a part of the city's colonial legacy, permanent residents of Hong Kong do not have to pledge allegiance to any country to vote or stand for election to most elected offices. This is freedom of political non-expression. Hong Kong should advertise this most cosmopolitan concept: the people of Hong Kong; the citizens of the world. In advertising Hong Kong as cosmopolitan, vestiges of colonial segregation should be eliminated to demonstrate an emergent culture of ethnic integration ... The course of ethnic pluralism is a circle, from mutual respect for cultures to love between a man and a woman that mutually dilutes cultures. Without enough representation by biracial people, broad-based inter-ethnic respect is questionable. Undoubtedly, most Hong Kong Chinese are reluctant to acknowledge that the low representation of biracial people is evidence of segregation, since the process of assimilation is multi-generational, mostly beyond the salient cognizance of earlier generations. Last, demonstrating elevated kindness to animals and inclusion of the handicapped contribute to Hong Kong's acclaim to leadership role, independent from political development.
Jeff Church
USA (Aug 22, '07)

Your [Aug 21] article It must be the end of secularism by Spengler gravely misrepresents the content and tone of the New York Times article by [Professor Mark] Lilla. Spengler has either failed to comprehend a well-written article or its content deeply threatens some of his most basic world assumptions. I feel it is the latter problem. The work is well beneath the usually high standard of intellectual analysis I have come to deeply appreciate from Asia Times [Online].
A Crisp (Aug 21, '07)

Spengler is entitled to his views as expressed in It must be the end of secularism [Aug 21], but facts are another matter and must be respected, not trampled: "Christian America confronted the atheistic Soviet Union during the 1980s, and without a shot fired in anger, the Soviet Union collapsed." Was the Christian-America-sponsored anti-Soviet "jihad" in Afghanistan a picnic party? "Except for Northern Ireland, the Europeans long have ceased to quarrel about religious issues." Is Bosnia not in Europe?
Khalid Iqbal (Aug 21, '07)

Re It must be the end of secularism (Aug 21): Spengler eagerly refutes, especially on behalf of "Christian America", the assertion put forward by Columbia University Professor Mark Lilla that "the idea of redemption is among the most powerful forces shaping human existence in all those societies touched by the biblical tradition". There are actually an estimated 200,000 evangelical Christian pastors in "Christian America" today who week after week urge the faithful that the redemption of their nation is nigh with the imminent return of Jesus Christ to the land of Israel. The hope of Christian redemption lies at the heart of the American dream. It was at the heart of Martin Luther King's black-civil-rights movement, and it is now at the heart of US President George W Bush's religious "war on terror" against the so-called "enemies of freedom". Redemption is a matter of utmost significance that is fundamental to all of the three monotheistic faiths that originated in the desert sands of the Middle East. While Jewish understanding of redemption is essentially (and doctrinally) confined to the biblical Exodus of the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land, Christianity and Islam are more focused on the after-life. It is in this fundamental clash of pathways to redemption - whether through Jehovah, the God and Father of Jesus Christ or Allah respectively - that the apocalyptic basis for inter-religious warfare reaches its ultimate high ground. Hence Professor Lilla legitimately finds in Professor Tariq Ramadan (who is one of the world's foremost Islamic intellectuals, based at the University of Oxford and who, interestingly, has been barred from entering the United States) a means by which the modern-day forces of redemption in "Christian America" can find a common meeting ground in the modern-day forces of redemption in Islam. This has nothing at all to do with Spengler's most unreasonable attack on Professor Lilla that "he does not love Reason; he simply hates Christianity with all his heart, and will make alliance with whichever of her enemies might be available". In fact, was it not Jesus Christ who taught his followers to "love your enemies"? And is this not the only path to a redemption in which humanity is spared as the prized sacrificial offering upon the altar of a prejudice-fueled Armageddon?
Reverend Dr Vincent Zankin
Canberra, Australia (Aug 21, '07)

Spengler appears to have lost his head [It must be the end of secularism, Aug 21]. Secularism has never thriven in the USA, while Islam and born-again-Christian-ism differ by the width of a spider's thread.
Lester Ness
Kunming, China (Aug 21, '07)

Spengler: Your metaphors are rather telling. In employing that most British of phrases "like a bad curry" in the latest comment [It must be the end of secularism, Aug 21], your English roots have become all too apparent. After all, Americans wouldn't know a hot curry if they sat in one, witness Iraq. English roots would also explain your seemingly unusual fascination with all things European, but admittedly not your didactic penchant for engendering civilizational wars. Then again, it could simply be that no English newspaper could risk publishing your commentaries on grounds of balance - decidedly a weakness in any war. Still, congratulations on misleading many people into imagining you to be an American conservative writer when you are actually British. Quite a masterstroke, that.
Salt (Aug 21, '07)

[Re Taliban, US in new round of peace talks, Aug 21] The BBC [British Broadcasting Corp] reported the Taliban in the US in 2000 being welcomed and given handshakes and expected to sign a deal to let Unocal build a pipeline. Then the Taliban changed their minds - hence the bombing and slaughter and invasion of their country in 2001, followed by Iraq and anyone else who asserts their own autonomy contrary to the diktat of the US as set out in [its] own "Project for the New American Century". The war on terror is surely just a fig leaf to justify US militarism and global domination in the name of corporate profits and the desperate need to satisfy the USA's gluttonous energy consumption - a quarter of the world's supply of oil daily. There is also the issue of vastly increasing concern and awareness across the planet, especially in the USA, that the official version of what happened on [September 11, 2001] was not the truth, [raising] the question: Who benefited most from September 11? Why the cover-up? The US is not interested remotely in the quality of life of the Afghan people, no more so than the Iraqi people whom it has slaughtered on an industrial scale. America goes to war for one reason only - corporate profits. I do wish you would tell the whole story and look beneath the "surface".
Maria Hasling
London, England (Aug 21, '07)

[Re Taliban, US in new round of peace talks, Aug 21] Syed Saleem [Shahzad] observes: "However, many commanders based in the southeast [of Afghanistan] are convinced that it would be a big blunder for the Taliban to slow down their activities for the sake of any deal. Instead, they want to seize this opportunity and drive for a bigger bargain, such as the withdrawal of all foreign forces." I totally agree with the instinct of the commanders in the southeast. The Anglo-Saxon caucus is badly brutalized and exhausted at present (the admitted casualty rate among British troops is 50% ie, 50% of British troops deployed in Afghanistan have been wounded or killed), and it would be a grave mistake of biblical proportions to give them time to rest. Typically in Afghan conflicts there is a lull in winter; even that holiday should be canceled this time unless by that time the last foreign soldier has exited Afghanistan, voluntarily or involuntarily. History tells us that every nation in conflict that was ever tempted to give breathing space to the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic caucus amid the heat of conflict rarely got a second chance to breathe. When [a] snake's head is underneath the heel, rub it really hard.
Rashid Hassan (Aug 21, '07)

Re Obama the realist ... or reckless [Aug 21]: Dmitry Shlapentokh distorts what Senator [Barack] Obama said with regard to nuclear weapons against civilians: no, plain and simple; no situation justifies using nuclear weapons to fight non-nuclear-nation enemies. Going into Pakistan to get al-Qaeda requires large ground special forces, not bombing. Bombing is the last resort of a poorly planned strategy when used against an enemy with few military weapons; it's a desperate last resort for not having enough ground troops, US or allies. There are no troops for the mountain border between Pakistan and Afghanistan because they're busy raiding homes and arming and training three future genocidal militias in Iraq. Senator Obama never said he'd use preemptive nuclear strikes; all the contrary. He said we [the US] have more than sufficient conventional weapons to flush out al-Qaeda and Taliban enemies, and will do so if [Pakistani President General Pervez] Musharraf cannot. Musharraf is on the brink of overthrow regardless of US support. His dictatorship is barely supported by a military infiltrated with his former partners, the Taliban. The best the US can do now is prepare [former prime minister Benazir] Bhutto to replace him immediately when he falls and avert the fall of Pakistan to another military junta by any name. The Pakistani people are fully capable of and willing to elect a woman president; they elected Bhutto freely in the past. This strategy requires no nuclear weapons, no installation of a military leader, and is the best outcome for Pakistan, Afghanistan and the international community. It beats doing nothing! Barack Obama is a realist, strategist, humanist and diplomat - he is not a mass murderer.
Virginia Velez (Aug 21, '07)

Re Obama the realist ... or reckless [Aug 21]: Charismatic [though] he may be, Illinois Senator Barack Obama is, as Dr Dmitry Shlapentokh suggests, when all is said and done, basically a conservative at heart. Obama speaks well. His delivery is almost letter-perfect, but take out the sound bites, [and] there is very little of substance to his message. In the American scheme of campaigning, which uses the tools of advertising, a simple message goes a long way. It is unembellished and more oft than not trivial yet catchy. Nonetheless, when the senator strays from the tried and true routine of national issues, he betrays a recklessness in foreign affairs. And this worries Shlapentokh, and it should raise a red flag for Obama's admirers. A willingness to use nuclear bombs to flush out Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda followers in Pakistan without the consent of President General [Pervez] Musharraf betrays not only rash and muddled thinking, but also an amateurishness which is almost equal to President George W Bush's rush to war in Iraq. Reading between Shlapentokh's lines, there is a similarity of approach in campaigning between Mr Bush and Mr Obama than meets the eye.
Jakob Cambria
USA (Aug 21, '07)

Re US learning hard Korean truths [Aug 21]: John Feffer has obviously researched American attitudes regarding North Korea and the world. This ethnocentric attitude explains a lot of the American diplomatic failures over the years. With imagination and real humanitarian interest, American diplomacy would have achieved a lot more global unity and cooperation, and this goes beyond the current clueless administration (North Korean could be an exception). Mr Feffer rightly recognizes the threat to continuing peace with North Korea, wrought by [US President George W] Bush's short attention span and the narcissistic focus of American foreign policy. Unfortunately this attitude of "Why should we care?" has been too prominent for too long. An approach with vision and with a minimum of politics would have the world in a much more unified and healthy position. But such dreams must wake to our reality!
Jim of Southern California
USA (Aug 21, '07)

Saqib Khan's tirade [letter, Aug 20] on Indian democracy (Re the article South Asian's schizophrenic twins, Aug 18) made me chuckle. Do we really have to learn lessons on democracy from a person from Pakistan (you know, that bastion of democracy?), now living in the UK? Where oh where is that ATol editor who admonished me for commenting on China while living in Chicago? I would love to educate Mr Khan on democracy, but I fear that an Abrahamic religious person simply won't get it. These faiths teach values that contradict democratic values - my way is the only way, you go to hell if you disagree, etc. Name one Islamic country that is democratic - you can't. The closest you get is Turkey (they had to do what the Europeans learned to do - keep religion at arm's length) and Indonesia (thanks to its Hindu heritage). Nevertheless let me try - have you heard of the expression "Democracy is messy," Mr Khan? Democracy is not a cure for poverty; you can have a communist country soon to become a rich country (China) or rich countries ruled by kings or strongmen like Saudi Arabia or the UAE. Democracy is simply a form of government, its best attribute being [that] its warts are seen by all. All of India's failings are in full view of the world to see, and that's what makes us a democracy. We can't simply hide our faults like China where vast swaths of the country live without electricity (visible via the website that showed satellite pictures of the dark interior of the country), where one cannot live in the city that one works in or where the poor get pushed out of a glittering city (can't have the Western eyes see this, can we?). Democracy is a place where all you get is a choice, a chance to vote for the government of your choice, and if you don't like these bums, then vote them out and vote in, unfortunately sometimes, new bums. It is a democracy where the bums that get voted out accept the wishes of the common man. Time and again the Indian voter has shown the door to the party in power, and time and again his wishes have been accepted. Never once in our history has the military shown any interest in ruling the country - that too is the hallmark of a democracy. A democracy nurtured by its Hindu heritage.
Jayant Patel
Chicago, Illinois (Aug 21, '07)

Your fudging on the subject of Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, as being democratic only because of "its Hindu heritage" - something that for most Indonesians outside Bali is a vestige of the dim and distant past - is highly dubious. For edification on other points, see Chan Akya's letter below. - ATol

In response to the letters by Jayant Patel and Saqib Khan (Aug 20), I must perhaps admit to having a number of reservations initially in even categorizing India and Pakistan as twins (South Asian's schizophrenic twins, Aug 18). On most objective criteria such as quality of life and subjective criteria such as freedom of speech and democracy, India is in a different league compared with its sibling across the border, thus making the "twins" analogy rather flattering to Pakistan. Mr Khan discusses the failures of artificial states, but it appears he may have typed the wrong country's name into the letter. At least under the guidance of Shaukat Aziz, though, Pakistan is trying to embark in a reformist economic direction, albeit without the legitimacy that is sorely needed to guarantee the success of such moves. It is perhaps some reflection on Pakistan's turbulent history that even tentative measures such as these are greeted with such aplomb by commentators such as myself. Jayant Patel is right, of course, in extolling the democratic achievement of India, but I am less sure that this gives the country a free pass with respect to improving the lot of its most wretched. The level of urbanization in India over the past 10 years is simply insufficient for the country as a whole, thus while economists can rightfully point to the millions lifted out of poverty in the past few years, more needs to be done to lift the other few hundred million. The Indian state wastes too much money on grandiose public-sector undertakings that make little or no profit, in the process denying any investments that could benefit the poor, including roads, water and power. Endemic corruption has brought about unnecessary inflation in an economy that is still growing below potential, and herein lies an entire chapter of missed opportunities. Indians appear to accept mediocrity at all levels of government; this more than anything else needs to change for the country to emerge as a true economic superpower over the next 60 years.
Chan Akya (Aug 21, '07)

Human beings, even grouped by kinship, do not live to provide drolleries to satisfy the curiosity of tourists or the vicarious thrill of Hollywood stars. They live for self: love, material riches, ambition, spiritual fulfillment, and creativity. Unless socially, politically, or geographically impeded, majority influence should naturally lead to assimilation in several generations; expanded limits for courtship and marriage and career opportunities should prevail. Should human beings live to preserve ancestral traditions? Avoiding self-denigration, most white Americans would instinctively say no. Crucially, is the parents' desire to isolate children from majority influence a basic human right; must a government preserve minority culture? Meaningful answers to these questions, worthy of study, may be found in The gentle decline of the 'Third Korea' by Andrei Lankov (Aug 16). Is "gentle decline" an oxymoron for the demise of a minority culture? Those who decry "cultural genocide" may be compelled to agree. Forthright and provocative would have been "beneficial assimilation", a redundancy rather than an oxymoron. Multiculturalism, partly alluded to as "Leninist principles", is rightly used as an artifice to display inter-ethnic respect, which then promotes assimilation. The multiculturalism facade is not "contradictory", but predictably constructive toward assimilation ... While willing European immigrants usurped land from unwilling [American] natives as the former homesteaded, the Chinese did not enslave people from thousands of miles [away] who do not look like them. Nearly all Chinese are "white"; their melting pot is called the Han.
Jeff Church
USA (Aug 21, '07)

Although there has been some thinning of coastal ice in Greenland, the total ice mass there is actually increasing because of a rapid increase in ice thickness at higher elevations. If we could cause all of Greenland's ice to melt into the sea, it would raise the sea level by 7 meters, as the scaremongers say, but that scenario does not appear likely given the data. One should also take note that during the last decade, Greenland has not become warmer. It has become colder. It is therefore not possible to ascribe changes in its ice mass to global warming or to greenhouse gases from fossil fuels. As a footnote, Greenland's coast was in fact green with vegetation in the 10th century when it was discovered by the Vikings. It was warmer then than it is now. It has not fully recovered from the Little Ice Age that occurred in the Middle Ages.
Cha-am Jamal
Thailand (Aug 21, '07)

Kaveh L Afrasiabi's article on how the George W Bush administration is planning to declare Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps a "terrorist" [US steps closer to war with Iran, Aug 18] force prompts me to counterpose this ominous turn in US foreign policy to how Washington has lately been dealing with North Korea. After years of directing unmitigated scorn and hostility toward the North Korean leadership and openly threatening its regime, someone finally let saner counsels prevail both in the White House and in the State Department. Thus Washington chose the path of patient and respectful diplomacy to resolve the perilous standoff with North Korea. The result of a tactful, nuanced, and sustained dialogue with Pyongyang, led on the American side by the professional and suave diplomat Christopher Hill, has been a remarkable lowering of tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the freezing of North Korea's nuclear program, and hopeful though still remote prospects of a peace treaty and diplomatic ties between North Korea and the US. Further progress toward reconciliation between Pyongyang and Seoul is of course also on the horizon. This month, for example, the two halves of Korea will conduct their second summit meeting in seven years with this goal in mind. It could not have come about without the fresh context created by the Washington-Pyongyang breakthrough, just as the first Korean summit took place amid the maturer and calmer approaches of the second [Bill] Clinton administration toward North Korea. While no one can claim that peace has suddenly broken out on the Korean Peninsula, all factors today are more conducive to it in the long run than they were six months ago. When every sensible voice is calling for a similarly comprehensive, civil and well-designed American dialogue with Iran, why are the neo-con jackhammers (or should one say, jackasses) of Washington still allowed to blast our ears with their shrill rhetoric of confrontation and war? We know that Washington is immune to learning from its failure in war, but is it also immune to learning from its success in diplomacy? It would seem so. The New York Times suggested in its report on the issue that the pressure on the Bush administration to get tougher on Iran emanated as much from Congress as from the hawks in [Vice President] Dick Cheney's office. Clearly, the neo-cons, while subdued on Iraq, have more than enough proxy muscle in Congress to bend it to their will on Iran. Thus we have a totally schizophrenic American government pursuing successful diplomacy with one member of George Bush's "axis of evil" while engaged in heightened levels of delusional jingoism on another.
Vipan Chandra
Norton, Massachusetts (Aug 20, '07)

Re US steps closer to war with Iran (Aug 18): In his response to the Bush administration's plan to brand the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, Kaveh L Afrasiabi is sounding overly alarmist by declaring that the US has "leaped toward war with Iran". While US military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities cannot be ruled out, it is important to step back and consider the broader context, which is that the US is not so much concerned with containing Iran as it is with containing Russia. The cold and hard strategic fact is that the US and Russia share an almost identical number of nuclear warheads and the associated number of land, sea and air based platforms for the immediate delivery of these warheads. This is why the vast majority of the US nuclear arsenal is not pointed at Tehran, but it is pointed squarely at Russia's main military installations and its major centers of population. It is of no coincidence, therefore, that the US plan to label the IRGC as a terrorist organization comes on the very eve of war games being staged between Russia and China under the aegis of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), at which Iran has duly been given observer status. Speaking at the recent SCO summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared unequivocally that "any attempts to solve global and regional problems unilaterally are hopeless", calling instead for "strengthening a multipolar international system that would ensure equal security and opportunities for all countries". To emphasize the point, Russia's latest resumption of long-range flights of strategic bombers capable of striking targets deep inside the US with nuclear weapons constitutes a flagrant abrogation of its 1991 trilateral agreement with both the US and Britain to suspend all such activity. Moreover, notwithstanding Russia having earlier succumbed to US pressure by delaying completion of Iran's nuclear reactor at Bushehr, these latest moves make perfectly clear that any US ambition to become the world's global nuclear hegemon of the 21st century - and beyond - will not go unchallenged.
Reverend Dr Vincent Zankin
Canberra, Australia (Aug 20, '07)

One wonders whether K L Afrasiabi had in mind any loftier intention than book promotion when writing US steps closer to war with Iran (Aug 18). We may not be privy to Iran's fundamental military philosophy, but we are quite familiar with that of the United States of America. Like its aggressively expansionist and abrasive Middle East rump, it confines its attacks to countries which it perceives as completely defenseless. While it may be true that no single nation can muster the visually spectacular military might of America, no nation can afford to conduct war with the politically driven tactical and strategic ineptitude which instructs the US military machine. President [George W] Bush put Iran on military alert in September 2001 [actually January 2002 - ATol] with his self-indulgent "axis of evil" speech. It is inconceivable that pragmatic Iran's military strategists would have spent their time engaging in premature self-congratulation.
Neil Maydom
Victoria, Australia (Aug 20, '07)

Re US steps closer to war with Iran [Aug 18]: Despite the seemingly quickening tempo of war drums for war with Tehran in the Bush White House, the branding of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has made a long fuse. On one hand, it is the "window of opportunity" for President [George W] Bush to give the green light for hastening plans for war, and on the other, it challenges the Bush doctrine of preemptive war, [to] which the American electorate will no longer give its tacit consent. The weakness in Dr Kaveh Afrasiabi's informative article is found in the footnote explaining the Algerian-brokered 1981 agreement between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Here he is referring to the operative paragraph in which Washington pledged not to interfere in the internal politics of Iran. Is Afrasiabi naive enough to believe that the Bush administration would live up to past treaty agreements? Has he little short-term memory? Think the Kyoto Treaty. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's tar-brushing the IRGC with the feathers of terrorism is equally an admission of the weak hand that Washington's top diplomat is holding to cower America's allies to march in lock step to impose harsh economic sanctions on Tehran, and thereby tacitly agree to her premise that war is the only issue to bring an intractable regime to heel. Which is problematic. This said, Afrasiabi's contribution has a strong point: he provides a short laundry list of areas in the world's hot spots where Washington and the IRGC have worked [hand in] glove to quench the fires of sectarian violence in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Afghanistan. This bit of news has been all too readily forgotten today, since Mr Bush's diplomacy works on the principle that yesterday's friends become today's enemies. Yet no matter how [much] closer to war the United States steps, today it seems more bark than bite.
Jakob Cambria
USA (Aug 20, '07)

Re US steps closer to war with Iran (Aug 18): [Kaveh L Afrasiabi] calculatedly sidesteps the smoking gun of ceaseless Iranian interference in Iraq's internal everyday life with the strategic aims of dragging on the war of attrition against the US and its Arab allies plus stretching over to the abundant yet uncared-about oil and gas reserves. The world's public opinion may or may not reproach the US for such an appalling mess, which it surely does, but that does not authenticate the Iranian regime's manipulation of the deep-rooted sectarian contention by [indoctrinating] suicide bombers, training insurgents and supplying them with lethal weaponry to reach insecurity and instability. And we know that the killing pain in the neck is the IRGC with its sophisticated affiliates the Quds force and Basij militia. As a callous rival to the already frail national army, the IRGC has a horrendous black record of being used to intensify the political [strife] back home during the first decade after the 1979 revolution by suppressing the opposition and then metamorphosing into an economic monster upheld by its political sponsors while it had been headed all [along] by the very leadership of the regime. Now more than 75% of the economy and economic life in Iran is owned, run and controlled strictly by IRGC and its so-called bonyads, quasi-private entities founded to feed upon and go around the bumpy path of the country's business law with a well-defined target of purging the real private zone from any nominal independent competitor that [might] prove problematic. Kaveh may legally challenge the US right to blacklist the IRGC as a terrorist mafia, as it is according to its past record ... but he may not disregard or deny the latent threat "the beast" poses to the Middle East and Iranian national security and stability in the long run.
AJ (Aug 20, '07)

This isn't a comment on any particular ATol article, but rather on a host of them in which the Washington wanna-be hegemon is reported as blaming Tehran for all its woes in the Middle East. Such accusations probably go down well in the brainwashed American homeland, but it is an insult to the intelligence of most others of the human species on the planet. I could put a lot of words into a discussion of this matter but will simply look at it from the point of view of one who lived in Iran during the last two years of "the shah" and who has since spent hundreds of hours trying to absorb all that has gone on - and is going on - in the Middle East and Central Asia over the past century. The USA has been whacking the heads of the little guys of the world since it gained its "freedom" through - yes, a "revolutionary war". From 1801 to 2004, this self-styled icon of liberty, freedom, democracy and all that is righteous and beautiful has intervened in the affairs of smaller countries one hundred and sixty three (163) times and been responsible for the deaths of countless thousands [or] millions of people. It has become the least respected nation on the planet and has earned the title of "the Great Satan" many times over since the ayatollah [Ruhollah] Khomeini laid it on. It is now faced with diminishing (gun-barrel) control of the offshore hydrocarbon energy resources that have kept it cock-of-the-wall since the invention of the internal-combustion engine; and the Zionist cabal that really runs the USA is going for broke in an attempt at taking control of energy resources worldwide. In short, the American "administration" and Israel want war; and - to the everlasting shame of the American people - their handlers are using the same mindless ploys that were used for their Iraqi disaster, to lead them - once again, by the nose - into an attack on Iran. If ever there was a nation that needed a "regime change" (and a lobotomy), it is the United States of America. At this point, in light of breaking news confirming Uncle Sam's dementia - ie, Iran's Revolutionary Guards going on Bushie's "terrorist" list - and in spite of what I say in my first sentence, I must refer your readers to US steps closer to war with Iran by Kaveh Afrasiabi in your August 18 issue.
Keith E Leal
Pincher Creek, Alberta (Aug 20, '07)

Re Turkey revives presidential row by Jacques N Couvas (Aug 18): Interesting article. I am curious about a few things. Does democracy mean anything? Or is democracy is something that certain people want? The Turkish people elected the new government. The government can choose whoever it wants as the president. Already they have shown consideration for the Speaker of the Parliament. What else do certain people want? "We are not popular but the popular government has to listen to us." My viewpoint is, if you want that then declare martial law and stop democracy. Then nobody would have any problem. If you want democracy, then accept what the people want or keep your mouth shut. The Turkish ruling party has shown restraint; before winning the last election it faced million-man marches, it stayed calm, it didn't counter the action by calling its supporters; instead, it acted democratically, it called an election. Few governments in the world show this kind of attitude. Where certain sections of people should be applauding this, they end up criticizing it. In Palestine, we see the people's choice is neglected, in Iraq, the Sunnis are demanding a dominant role even though they are [the] minority. I guess like a certain military ruler said, a definite military role should be included in the constitution to avert a future coup. I think the military and interest groups would love that all over the world. "People don't support us but we get what we want." I guess that will be democracy in future - like what we are seeing in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey and Iraq.
Adnan N
Dhaka, Bangladesh (Aug 20, '07)

There are two issues that Americans will not stand for in Death of the 'toy king' [Aug 18], and they are the safety of our children and our pets. China has breached both. I believe this is only the tip of the iceberg when the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) looks closer at all Chinese-made products. In addition to Mattel, Wal-Mart will be the next big loser, as most of its products are from China. China is sending a delegation to meet with the US government to convince our government on the safety of China's products, but the US is a democracy, and the consumer makes the final decision (not the government) on what products to buy. Already radio talk shows have taken this issue to the public and, interestingly, American stores are seeing a surge in demand and are advertising that their products are "lead-free" and "American-made". They are already reaping the profits. Some American toy stores cannot even meet the demand. American consumers are dumping almost anything that is Chinese-made and are seeking an alternative in the domestic market.
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, Louisiana (Aug 20, '07)

Regarding Chan Akya's South Asia's schizophrenic twins (Aug 18), maybe he should leave the prognosticating to others. His "India's corrupt elite will probably demolish democratic institutions progressively over the next 60 years" is just pure bigoted speculation. On what basis does he make this assertion? This is just a continuation of Western bigotry that said that a poor country could not survive as a democracy, and Mr Akya is simply repeating that bigotry. We [India] were a poor country and have been a shining democracy for the past 60 years; why would we change now? The richer a country gets, the more democratic it becomes, so the logical assumption runs counter to Mr Akya's thinking. India will remain a democracy as long as it remains a Hindu nation. Hinduism is a democratic, liberal faith. God does not mind being called other names, he welcomes all good people into his heaven, even atheists. Hinduism teaches us to respect other faiths, we don't condemn others for being different - all democratic ideals. But then judging by the various comments from Chinese people here in the Letters section, it would come as a surprise if one of these people were to praise another country.
Jayant Patel (Aug 20, '07)

Re the article South Asian's schizophrenic twins (Aug 18), I would like to disagree with the author that the twins colloquially had different mothers and fathers and [were] born with uncommon genes. However, I agree with him that the majority of India's problems, as I wrote in my recent letter, propagated from its bad economic, education and health planning, Hindu ethos, insidious caste system and denying equal opportunities to its [hundreds of millions of] rural poor living a despicable existence. The Indian economy is a dilemma, paradox, paroxysm and parody of bad foreign ideas that has done nothing for its poor population who have been treated for generations as misfits of society, untouchables and sub-humans. But lofty claims are voiced by the Indian so-called secular politicians wearing religious-fanatical saffron robes after 60 years of glossy democracy of the rich for the rich by the rich when millions of its people die every year of starvation and disease. However, this country is making WMD [weapons of mass destruction] to starve its millions to cementation [sic] ... India remains an enigma, dilemma and a paradox of absurdities and frivolities that makes it enthrallingly amusing without an idea how to eradicate its abject poverty.
Saqib Khan
UK (Aug 20, '07)

Apropos to the letter Saqib Khan wrote in these columns last week regarding India and its failures, the letter [Aug 15] was interesting in that it did not mention the neighboring country that celebrated its 60th birthday a day earlier. That pretty much summarizes all that is wrong with [the] attitude prevalent with the Pakistani elite (search for a speck in others' eye when you have a log in yours). Pakistan set out itself to be an Islamic republic 60 years ago and [has] reached now a stage where it is neither Islamic nor a republic and has no idea where it wants to go (perhaps the think-tanks in [the United] States know better). Its present ruler wants the country to be modeled along [Mustafa Kemal] Ataturk's Turkey, with many opposing it. If Ataturk's secular republic was the model, then I think the very raison d'etre for the partition [of India/Pakistan] falls apart. If that had not happened, at least some of the common problems both countries face could have [been] solved and unwanted meddling both face from external powers avoided and dignity of its people preserved. It is worthwhile to note that while Deoband scholars (themselves perceived to be conservatives) opposed partition, and people like Abdul Kalam Azad (himself a theologian besides being a politician) continued in India, most Muslims went along the with rhetoric of [Muhammad Ali] Jinnah. The bungled thinking of Jinnah [did] and is still doing immense damage to Muslims in the subcontinent decades after colonial rule ended. The time now is very critical for Muslims to make sure that their political leadership think through their actions rather than go by emotional rhetoric. It is also time for people like Saqib to think what Pakistan achieved (and save some adjectives for [it] also).
Harris (Aug 20, '07)

This is my Asia Times [Online] dream team: From left to right at the round table: Ambassador Bhadrakumar, Dr Afrasiabi, Chief Spook Brot, and, to inject the requisite verve and wit, Senor Escobar. Myself, I'm the fly on the wall.
M Henri Day, PhD, MD
Stockholm, Sweden (Aug 20, '07)

Thailand's paranoia that resettlement of Hmong refugees to third countries will attract more Hmong to Thailand borders on mental illness. It is apparently the rationale for the cruel and inhumane way that the Hmong are treated in this country. As an example, consider that 149 Hmong, children among them, who have been granted refugee status by UNHCR [the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees] and who have been accepted for resettlement in a third country are being held in a prison by Thai authorities. They are not allowed to leave for their new host country, they have not been charged with a crime, and they have not been afforded due process. It is our own version of Guantanamo. Yes, there is a risk that their resettlement will encourage further migration, but this risk has been overblown, and the readiness of the UNHCR and the international community to assist Thailand in its management has been overlooked. The Thai people are known for their jai dee [good heart] Buddhist values, and yet these values go awry when it comes to the Hmong ...
Cha-am Jamal
Thailand (Aug 20, '07)

Re A stumble over the 'W' word in Afghanistan by Tarique Niazi (Aug 17): There is probably a lot of truth in this interesting and informative article. It's the stuff that all of us who seek awareness of what is going on over there should read. However, in our search for enlightenment, we should not forget that Afghanistan is still the Hope Diamond of big oil's "Pipelinestan" dream for Central Asia. Control of the country is key to getting the region's hydrocarbon resources out to some "friendly" seaport to the southwest (if and when the US's hegemonistic ambitions are ever realized). We should also keep in mind that [Afghan President Hamid] Karzai served as a "consultant" for Union Oil of California (Unocal) back in the '90s, when that company was dealing with Afghanistan's ruling Taliban for pipeline rights-of-way out of the oil/gas-rich former Russian republics to the north. He was later Washington-appointed to his current job, and it is my bet that he is still their man, right down the line.
Keith E Leal
Pincher Creek, Alberta (Aug 17, '07)

It takes no ingenious detective work to see a common thread in Panic attack: Asian markets take a tumble and Donald Kirk's US is stretched too thin, top general worries [both Aug 17]. Each in political terms reveals the consequences of President [George W] Bush's malign neglect in the [US] economy and of the military. By now everyone knows that the obvious answer to the sharp tumble in the world's stock exchanges is directly related to the subprime-mortgage debacle - those finely sliced instruments of debt which have been recycled and then recycled again to investment banks' wealthy clients ... And now they are hurting, and for once the small investor is out of harm's way. This seemingly seamless garment of debt has unraveled, and the Bush administration remains distant and cool to any immediate assistance to the market. President Bush imperially announced that there's enough liquidity in the market, and market forces will alone (for now) go into play. Truth be told, his government's non-intervention into the markets, the billions of dollars the Treasury pumped into the market notwithstanding, has the effect of beggaring cash-rich East and Southeast Asian countries, not to speak of the strong-euro countries and the mighty British pound sterling. And here the buck stops for the moment, until such time when it is advantageous for Washington to intervene to its advantage. General George W Casey Jr's talk at Washington's National Press Club proclaims that today's US Army "is out of balance". This remark is hardly startling news; the US Army under President Bush and his former secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld have so outrageously exceeded the resources of America's military that they had no other recourse but to send to Iraq the country's National Guard to cushion the lack of manpower. Not only that, President Bush has heavily relied on privatizing the war so that powerful multinational corporations closely allied to the Bush White House profited from his bogus excuses for war. And the pusillanimous generals like Casey went along with this scheme. The failed results of such policies are common coin in the media. And now there is talk of reinstituting the draft for fresh cannon fodder for Mr Bush's war. Will the American people go along, the more especially since a majority do not favor nor any longer support the war? In sum, the current administration in the White House has not the will for reconstructing the economy, seriously remedying the attrition in the country's military capabilities, nor, for that matter, stemming the seemingly uncontrollable and rapid weakening in the marketplace. But as is this administration's wont, present-day ruin is worth in the end the heavy pound of cure to pay.
Jakob Cambria
USA (Aug 17, '07)

Hong Kong, Taiwan wilt in the Dragon's glare by Chietigj Bajpaee (Aug 16) is thoughtful, but not incisive enough. The author made several presumptive statements. The author writes, "Hong Kong has so far remained a politically neutral, economically active entity on the world stage. However, this role is unsustainable." Whether this role is sustainable remains to be seen, but political activism is likely not the prescription. I believe Hong Kong's best strategy is simply to live and prosper as a pluralistic democracy. Those who assert that Hong Kong is not a democracy place too much emphasis on the structural components of democracy, overlooking the cultural components such as personal freedom and cultivated respect for differences in opinion. Hong Kong should simply display the coveted social fruits of democracy, civility, freedom of the press, rule of law, ethnic pluralism, etc, while language skills are singularly important. Philanthropy is great, but who should be the beneficiary? Perhaps cementing the best relations with the mainland populace is the most effective. The author expounds, "The facts that the central government has used Hong Kong as a model for Taiwan's reunification and that Taiwan uses the SAR [special administrative region] as a bridge for investment and trade with the mainland give Hong Kong a vested interest in cultivating cross-strait relations." There is a leap of faith. That Hong Kong is used as such a model should not elicit any response from Hong Kong, and Hong Kong has a vested economic interest to serve as such a bridge for as long as possible. The author also avoids the central question: Should Taiwan actively struggle against the mainland's design of the Hong Kong model (likely with the modification that Taiwan has the right to bear an agreed-upon level of arms), and, if so, how? I think Taiwan should consider the long-term feasibility of the struggle, and its lasting side-effect on the development of the island's democratic culture, to fill its democratic structure. With many mainland loyalists on the island, unyielding respect for differences of opinion will be difficult to cultivate and maintain, for example. Interesting, I believe, is that Beijing has been serving as a passive surrogate for the structural components of Hong Kong democracy, out of its design for Hong Kong to display the coveted social fruits of democracy on the world stage. Last, Taiwan has already firmly won "the recognition of the American, Japanese, and European Union's general populace" (letter, Han Fang, Aug 16), but it is of no comfort to Taiwan independence. It will not "tilt the decision-making of these countries' policymakers in the island's favor", as more of "the island's favor" may lead to war and its destruction. All that can be done for Taiwan at the governmental level has already been done, a fact that many dread accepting. How the Western populace, as consumers, would respond was the subject of my previous letter.
Jeff Church
USA (Aug 17, '07)

Democracy is a system of government in which the people rule, and it works as long as the people are willing to rule. Democratic institutions and processes imposed on a people who do not actively participate in self-rule and in protecting their democratic freedoms often produce perverse and unpredictable results. Democracy is not something that happens to you. It is something that you do. It requires unrelenting activism and vigilance by a critical mass of civil society, an activity that has been likened to swimming upstream. You have to keep swimming just to break even. There is no law, no constitution, and no social institution that can guarantee democracy. They are necessary but not sufficient. The failure of Thailand's continued efforts to fix [its] democracy by rewriting the constitution time and time again may mean that broken democracies cannot be fixed just by tweaking the constitution.
Cha-am Jamal
Thailand (Aug 17, '07)

The above letter was written in the context of a plebiscite being held this weekend by Thailand's military-appointed interim government on a new draft constitution. See the new article Showdown over Thai constitution. - ATol

Surveillance, monitoring this, monitoring that, TSA, HSA, FBI, CIA, ATF, camera networks photographing our daily routines, detention without trial, huge secret government bureaucracies, habeas corpus gone, curtailed right of assembly, freedom of speech intimidated to non-freedom, fellow citizens attacking you for an anti-Bush sticker on your car, police brutality over civil and public political activity, government secrecy, unlawful official acts done with impunity and supported by police, corruption and malfeasance throughout the government, the list could go on for pages. Now satellites and U-2s, the secret worldwide telephone listening network turned on civilians. Lies, damned lies, and statistics. Who would have envisioned this police-state scenario just 10 years ago? It would have been so simple to pull our [US] military bases out of the rest of the world. Bring them all home, close all foreign bases, and buy our resources at fair prices, and most of world's terror would have ceased. Instead, our elitists think that we can subdue the world by war, military intervention and economic arm-twisting. The results have been the above regimens imposed on the world and the loss of our freedom, our country, our sense of well-being, and this hideous calamity called the war on terror. The stench of our country can no longer be hidden by propaganda.
Ken Moreau
New Orleans, Louisiana (Aug 17, '07)

I want to first thank Chietigj Bajpaee for his article Hong Kong, Taiwan wilt in the Dragon's glare [Aug 16], and pray that somehow this article will be translated into Chinese for all Taiwanese statesmen and the general Taiwanese population to read. The message contained in it is too important to go unheeded ... Taiwan's political welfare depends on support from major international players such as the United States, Japan, and the European Union. Yet politicians in these countries are unwilling to lend support to Taiwan's cause for fear of angering Beijing. However, the democratic institutions that exist in these countries also imply that their politicians' strategic calculus is largely affected by their countrymen's opinions and perceptions. Therefore if Taiwan wins the recognition of the American, Japanese, and European Union's general populace, then it will tilt the decision-making of these countries' policymakers in the island's favor. The question then to be asked is how to achieve such a formidable goal. The answer lies in the economy. Specifically, the proper solution is for Taiwan to upgrade itself into a world-class economy, boasting the like of Japan's Sony and Toyota and Korea's Samsung. Taiwan's economic strategy to date has largely been to provide outsource services, such as manufacturing and designs, and sell its products under foreign brands. Such a strategy makes little economic sense because it allows for only low margins. More relevant to the subject at hand, it doesn't win recognition of the Japanese, American and European consumers. Without the recognition, Taiwan has little chance of influencing their politicians. The same is true in the intellectual and scientific arena. If Taiwan produces top-notch scientists, legal scholars, social scientists, economists, artists, musicians, movie directors (Lee Ang comes to mind), and talents of all endeavors, and integrates Taiwan's intellectual community with the rest of the world (a task that can be easily accomplished without the need for political recognition), it will only further positively contribute to Taiwan's recognition among the general population, which can then be transformed into political capital. Therefore what Taiwan has to do is to stop looking to gain on the diplomatic front. Instead, it must expend energy on integration of its [economy] and intellectual community with the rest of the world in order to engineer a perception change among the consumers of politically democratic and important countries. The task seems daunting at first, but it is certainly easier than achieving political independence, and success is limited only by a lack of vision and confidence. For the sake of Taiwan, this has to be done. Otherwise, Taiwan will only slide into oblivion on all fronts, and be swallowed up by mainland China in the near future, while the rest of the world get on with their lives without even knowing about it.
Han Fang
Los Angeles, California (Aug 16, '07)

Re Vietnam takes a new political direction [Aug 16]: Karl D John gives us a hopeful report from Vietnam. And why shouldn't he? He is the CEO [chief executive officer] of an investment company in Vietnam, and it is very much in his interest to give upbeat commentary. The climate for economic openness in Vietnam has steadily improved since 1986 when Vietnam's Communist Party announced doi moi reforms, thereby permitting and then encouraging free-market enterprises. [This] signaled that the party had [for] all intents and purposes abandoned the dead hand of socialist collectivization. Much grist economically has passed through Hanoi's mills of reform, the growing fungus of corruption and intra-regional jockeying for positions notwithstanding. John has given up a bird's-eye [view] of the technocratic hold that Vietnamese prime minister Nguyen Tan [Dung] has imposed since his appointment to that office a year ago. Rationalization in the economic sphere has made Vietnam an attractive place for investment capital, outsourcing of factories taking advantage of cheap labor, and as a comfortable alternative to China, among other considerations. Vietnam in 2006 acceded to membership in the WTO [World Trade Organization], and its markets are opened even wider. This said, John's article, terse and sober that it is, has effaced from memory the fact that Vietnam is run and ruled by ... a Leninist party. Despite [doi moi], which the party chaperoned, it did not for one minute allow glasnost. It has kept its steel grip on the levers of one-party-state power. Although things look brighter in Vietnam since the mid-1980s, especially since Hanoi withdrew from its long occupation of neighboring Cambodia and kissed and made up with the United States, the principles of the party of a new type which Lenin created remain supreme. Of course within the Politburo there are always tensions and factions which are held in check by competing pressure, yet once a decision is agreed upon, everyone falls into line like ducks in a row on the basis of democratic centralism. Thus the new sheep's clothing does hide the wolf's pelt, for politics, not economics, is in command.
Jakob Cambria
USA (Aug 16, '07)

Re the quote from Jerry Bowyer, FoxNews.com (Whom do you believe? ATol Front Page, Aug 16 edition): The subprime sector is not small. It represented 30% of US housing finance from 2004-06. Besides, the real problem here is not the subprime borrowers, it's the lenders using their subprime mortgage paper to over-leverage the rest of their portfolio. A US$1 loss on a $100 stock is insignificant - unless you're margined in that position at 100 times cash; in that case, you're wiped out. A better Ferris Bueller metaphor is the example of Ferris's friend, Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck). Rich boy Cameron took his father's Ferrari, drove it too fast, and wrecked it. Rich boy George W Bush took Bill Clinton's economy, drove it too fast, and now it looks like it's falling off a ledge as well.
Julian Delasantellis (Aug 16, '07)

Over the last few years, we have witnessed nothing but unequivocal support for General Pervez Musharraf's Pakistan government. Even until today, the trend seems to continue [despite] some damaging moves by his establishment. Despite sending mixed signals, the US continues to pat Musharraf's back behind the scenes and in front of them. His outright rejection of an inquiry into the May 12 killings in Karachi (widely felt by many observers as carried out by MQM [Muttahida Qaumi Movement], his coalition partners in Sindh), the chief-justice issue, missing persons after Lal Masjid operations, the temporary closure of certain television channels, the almost daily bombings in isolated areas, and last but not the least, his willingness to be re-elected by the sitting assemblies, have all further dented his popularity. What is worse, there is a widespread belief that elections will not be free and fair under his strict rule. Apart from these issues, Transparency International, Amnesty International, [and] others continue to produce damning reports regarding systemic corruption within the Pakistani establishment and human-rights violations ... Nevertheless, the US's and UK's support for Musharraf is only pushing Pakistan into crisis after crisis. It needs to be understood that a stable and self-sufficient Pakistan is not just in the interest of its neighbors, but also of the US, Europe and the world at large. The trust between the average Pakistani and the government [can] only be truly restored if that man is allowed to express his opinion on the voting ballot. It is imperative for Western powers to ensure free and fair elections under an independent election commission and judiciary, since that alone will steer Pakistan towards safety in this increasingly volatile period in its history.
Adeel Khan
Mississauga, Ontario (Aug 16, '07)

Re the resignation of [top White House aide] Karl Rove: President [George W] Bush is spending nearly [US]$100 billion a year on Iraq war, nearly 20% of total military spending. Iraq is not an unexpected cost like [Hurricane] Katrina, which reflected his abject incompetence like many others, but Iraq is his own preference and hand-made catastrophe and folly. The Bush administration [or] the little that remains of it has done a pathetic and dishonest job over Iraq, and has squandered its credibility miserably, as shown by the fast dwindling of popularity with the American electorate. They [Americans] have gone sour on them [the administration]. Poll after poll shows the president's support in a free fall, and no [US] president in modern times has suffered such a decline, and to make matters worse, a recent Survey USA poll found he has just 42% popularity in his home state, Texas, and [there is a] 15% drop in the Republicans' support for him ... Even his right-hand man, "Bush's brain" Karl Rove, has finally resigned, much to the delight and vilification from the Democrats. President Bush dubbed him a Texan wonder boy, "boy genius and the architect" for masterminding his two election victories, but many Republicans blamed him for last November's mid-term drubbing and his master's dumb performance. Karl Rove was part of an axis-of-evil triangle that surrounded President Bush and many have already abandoned his sinking ship like rats do before a storm rattles the ship. The only Texan friend that Mr Bush has around him now is the embattled and discredited Alberto Gonzales, the attorney general, and his dog Barney. President Bush has become a picture of utter hopelessness and ridicule. If ever a painter wished to draw a picture of "stupidity", he should ask the president to sit for him.
Saqib Khan
UK (Aug 16, '07)

Re Israeli soldiers express pain of war by Colin Hinshelwood (Aug 15): Well, a timely article. Thank you for writing this. I just want to say, "Wow, and they call the Muslims barbarians!" My viewpoint is a bit different; I think Israel should not be hated. It won the war, so Middle East countries shouldn't hate it. The US backed Israel in the war and still is supporting it. So the US should be hated. As nobody can hate the US, we should forgive it. Middle East countries love the US and hate Israel. Israel is nothing without US backing, so why should we hate Israel? The Muslim superpowers (Saudi Arabia, Egypt) love and are dependent on the US. We Muslims should forgive Israel. If we see the Chinese people, they haven't forgiven Japan, they hate Japan. The hatred is pure and fruitful. In China, if anybody works in a Japanese company, [he or she hides] it ... I think Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain [and] Qatar are the main criminals - mainly Saudi Arabia, as the two Holy Mosques are there. They are giving the blessing and nod for the killing and destruction of Muslims everywhere. We Muslims should hate Saudi Arabia, not the US or Israel. The US is a superpower, it will do whatever it takes to secure resources or supremacy. Israel is fighting for its survival - who would in their right mind give up their land which they won in battle? These two countries have a logical, strategic mission, but Saudi Arabia? What excuse does it have? The pictures painted by the soldiers, we heard them before in Iraq. What happened? Nothing, some crocodile tears! We Muslims should not blame others except the betrayers among us for our fate. We should come to terms with reality.
Adnan N
Bangkok, Thailand (Aug 15, '07)

ATol again deserves praise. It brings to our attention news which usually is hidden in inside pages of newspapers if at that. Look at Sergei Blagov's Thorns in the rosy China-Russia relationship and Kaveh L Afrasiabi's Iran plays the Central Asia card [both Aug 15]. To the Western eye, this information is either found in specialized publications or in accounts in other languages which remain unfamiliar. The information which these two writers bring to us makes the world less mysterious and more intelligible. Blagov and Afrasiabi are attempting to explain the nature of power and economic relations on one hand, and to classify the world of Central Asia as a foil to the Machtpolitik of the United States. Blagov describes the upcoming military exercises under the umbrella of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, of which Moscow and Beijing are the anchors, [and] stresses the martial side of the SCO, yet he goes on to put into his frame of reference the strong economic [relationship] which firms up the growing Russo-Chinese friendship. His is a rosy picture despite the pricks of what others might see as the normal tensions in a family. Where are the bitter difficulties or the hidden controversies? China and Russia have created a cordon sanitaire in the vast Eurasian and Central Asian space in order to thwart the rise of fundamentalism and its handmaiden terror, and on the other to attempt a balance of power in the wake of President [George W] Bush's irresponsible foreign policy in the region. And left understated are the claims of history of the Russian and Chinese footprint in this wide inner sea of Central Asia. Although Moscow and Beijing have stated that Iran has no place within the SCO framework, they do not hold a tight rein on Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. This atmosphere permits Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad flexibility in his attempt to break out of Washington's moves to bring him forcefully to a negotiating position solely on America's terms. As he wends his way to the SCO meeting in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, he is buying friendship and respectability by lavishing money and aid to his Central Asian neighbors, as much as he is reaffirming age-old ties with them. Tehran may not become a full-fledged member of this club, but it will certainly receive a friendly hearing. Blagov and Afrasiabi have spotted common themes beyond the narrow sense of what we normally read about Central Asia, and they help us break out of a suffocating world which is dismissed by a "stuff happens".
Jakob Cambria
USA (Aug 15, '07)

Re Tom Engelhardt's Escalation in Iraq by the numbers [Aug 15]: Engelhardt writes with pithiness, thoroughness and precision. Now that Karl Rove's gone, we know who will ghost-write General [David] Petraeus' report: the new war czar [Lieutenant-General Douglas Lute]. The individual qualities of the war czar don't matter: he's only there because the White House learned from the congressional elections last year that the bombast of chicken-hawks no longer flies unless it has to do with Iran, Pakistan, Syria or any other Middle Eastern predominantly Muslim country, but not Iraq. Although Petraeus is capable of writing his own report, he lacks the war czar's continual and easy access to all the leading political players. Democrats as well as Republicans want the US to keep a foothold in Iraq, but Democrats are confused about how to say it, so the war czar is checking with them as he goes along. Petraeus himself gave the game away this week in telling a reporter from the New York Times that he might have been better off taking the war czar's job.
Harald Hardrada
Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Aug 15, '07)

Karl Rove, a top adviser to the Bush administration, [has] announced his resignation. After John Bolton, Donald Rumsfeld and Andrew Card, he was the next in a long line of failed politicians making an exit from the Bush administration. Mr Rove commented that he was "deeply proud" to have served [President George W] Bush and the US. I just wonder what he was deeply proud of. If Rove has been Bush's chief adviser, he has given a lot of very, very bad advice. The Bush administration has been a monumental disaster for the American people. It has started multiple wars, at least one on totally false pretenses that killed thousands of US soldiers, and hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. It has plunged the Middle East into crisis. It has undermined democracy in Palestine. It has rejected international law, repeatedly and horrendously violated human rights, and repeatedly breached the Geneva and Vienna conventions. It has significantly increased the threat of terrorism in the world today. Thanks to the Bush administration (and Karl Rove), we are all a lot less safe. The image of the USA, which used to be our beacon of freedom, democracy and human rights, has been tarnished irreparably. Mr Rove, together with President Bush, has failed the good American people. Is that what Karl Rove is proud of?
Rory E Morty
Giessen, Germany (Aug 15, '07)

It is often said that economic integration promotes peace. Re China seeks to become brand power (Aug 11), I believe that brands further accentuate the influence of economic integration in maintaining peace. As brands heighten awareness, they also increase vulnerability. As much as good products produce positive commercial reputation on brands, bad political reputation places disrepute on brands irrespective of product value. Brands are thus double-edged, particularly for China. While it takes extraordinary political motivation for a US production manager to refuse to place Chinese-made ball bearings into US-brand power tools, it takes only personal political beliefs for a US homeowner to prefer a non-Chinese-brand power tool. (Product category saturation is another factor; it is now nearly impossible to refuse to buy Chinese-made athletic shoes, irrespective of brand.) Thus, for China, acceptance and promotion of Chinese brands mean also commitment to maintaining acceptable political reputation. Nowhere is this commitment more relevant than across the Taiwan Strait. Frontal attack on Taiwan with sensational casualties means that most effort in promoting and maintaining Chinese brand prestige will vanish. So does Chinese acceptance of the need for brands indicate resignation or confidence pertaining to the design on recovering Taiwan? The latter, I believe. Taiwan as an island without energy will not be able to withstand the mounting pressure on its economy from the mainland for the decades to come. The mainland side will just target the island's energy vulnerability to cast an atmosphere of energy insecurity on the island with nearly no force applied, behind the backdrop of enormous power certainly. In time, Taiwan, not mainland China, will have to decide whether to launch the first major offensive to break away from perpetual abrasion from the mainland. Mainland China's gradual abrasion on Taiwan will not be newsworthy enough to damage the Chinese brands significantly. Besides, in the decades to come, many non-Western countries, with ... understanding and acceptance of China's history-driven motivation on Taiwan, will develop economically, and China's economic ties with these countries will expand. Mainland China's domestic consumption as a percentage of GNP [gross national product] will also increase; domestically, brands can be maintained [without an] excellent international reputation. Peace and the Chinese brands will likely be maintained, but not Taiwan's de facto independence.
Jeff Church
USA (Aug 15, '07)

Very recently Spiegel Online (Spiegel being one of the most trusted and serious German journalist institutions) published an interview with Islam critic Ibn Warraq. This single interview demonstrates that the mechanisms which Axel Brot described in Germany, the Re-engineered Ally: Readiness for endless war (Aug 8), Everything is broken (Aug 9) [and] Hail to the chief, or else (Aug 10) are real. And they scare me. In the interview, Ibn Warraq states: "We cannot win a hot war against Islam, so we need a cold war ... this cold war can last 100 years but it must be fought." Asked [about] distinguishing "between Islam and Islamism, as usually done in Europe", Ibn Warraq answers, "No, this is misleading ... Islam is not a peaceful religion." So the question is, why does (or can) a trusted, most serious newspaper publish an interview which almost certainly is a criminal act? Instigation of religious hate is a crime, and the demand for a cold war against another religion - implying that a hot war would be better if it could be won - what else is this than the instigation of religious hate?
Jens Paulsen
German citizen living in Korea (Aug 15, '07)

I want to congratulate you for the brilliant and enlightening series of articles of Axel Brot [Germany, the Re-engineered Ally, Aug 8-10]. I, somehow by intuition, have had the feeling that there is something going on different from what the mainstream media want us to believe. I only wonder who are the ones to benefit from keeping this [warfare] and chaos going on. Not us for sure, common simple citizens. Then, [for] some reason, most of the targets (except for China) of the Western media's rage happen to be natural-resource-rich countries, like Russia, Venezuela, Sudan, Iran (Iraq previously) etc, that refuse to accept the US directives. So I suppose these attacks are efforts to destabilize these countries and somehow try to get steal their resources.
Manuel de la Torre, PhD (Aug 15, '07)

After reading the letter from Chrysantha Wijeyasingha (Aug 14), I feel that some people do not hesitate to provoke conflicts between what they perceive to be rival nations in the minds of ordinary people. China and India already have large real estates to take care of and huge populations to feed and govern. Unless their leaders are nuts, they want to become and remain peaceful neighbors. So they both want to strengthen their navies to safeguard their seafaring interests. Taiwan, on the other hand, is a different story, a [case] of a still-unsettled civil war with outside meddling. There will come a day when a settlement will be dictated by future conditions of economics and military power.
S P Li (Aug 15, '07)

I want to congratulate the Indians on their 60th independence anniversary. But 60 years of independence has achieved kuch nahi - nothing - for the 600 million Indian rural poor who live in abject poverty and cannot afford one meal a day, and are trapped in a miserable world without any prospects. They were poor 60 years ago and are even poorer now after 60 years despite India's rapid and steady economic growth of 8% for the last 10 years. Last week the Asian Development Bank released a report confirming that despite the boom, the gap between the Indian rich and poor has widened beyond belief. One of the reasons for this gap is bad planning, failure to invest in health, education and social welfare, which has left hundreds of millions of poor Indians without any hope and dangerously low on survival prospects in their iniquitous society riddled with the Hindu caste system. The majority of these rural poor living in grinding poverty earn as little as 40 pence [80 US cents] a day doing every menial job available when they migrate to towns and cities looking for work, and have to live in the worst slumps seen in the world. This poverty trap will never be broken in India as long as its poor are treated as untouchables and sub-humans. Economists blame this demographic division because 49% of the Indian children under the age of six are malnourished, as evident from their skinny limbs, pale faces, empty stares and the plight of the miserable environment in which they live and grow. As the Indian rich grow fatter and fatter at the expense of the poor, it is alarming many pundits that this inequality and disparity could easily backfire and jeopardize the Indian claim to be the largest democracy. Increasingly the rural poor are getting agitated, and in October 100,000 villagers from 25 villages across India will march to the capital to protest and demonstrate against their neglect by their corrupt government of the rich for the rich.
Saqib Khan
UK (Aug 15, '07)

Re Contradictory histories plague Vietnam [Aug 14]: It's no surprise that the Vietnamese communist government decided to build a giant statue of Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc. In their propaganda, those who opposed South Vietnamese regimes (from that of Ngo Dinh Diem to that of Nguyen Van Thieu) are, of course, supportive of communist North Vietnam and its war against Americans. The truth is [that] Venerable Thich Quang Duc, like many other South Vietnamese, while opposing the anti-Buddhist regime of president Ngo Dinh Diem, did not support the communist regime of North Vietnam either. The enemy of our enemy is not necessarily our friend, in this case. The communist government just continues its twist of the truth for propaganda purposes and to gain some sympathy from Vietnamese Buddhists.
Tim Hoang (Aug 14, '07)

The article India promotes 'goodwill' naval exercises [Aug 14] by Sudha Ramachandran can only be seen as a test of nerves between India/US and China. Ramachandran quotes [Lawrence] Prabhakar (referring to China) "that its future presence will not go unchallenged in the Indian Ocean". The article also points to China's determination to have its presence in the Indian Ocean: "Although China is not a Bay of Bengal littoral, it has systematically cultivated naval ties with Bangladesh and Myanmar to attain access to these waters ... a matter of grave concern to such countries as India." No matter how much political posturing is done by Indian and Chinese diplomats, it is clear that these nations see each other as a military threat, and the upcoming naval exercise only demonstrates that. It is Beijing more than New Delhi that should be concerned, for long before India embarked on these naval exercises, nations like Japan and Taiwan have witnessed China's aggressive naval expansion and political threats, especially towards Taiwan's sovereignty. Now the tables have been turned. India has developed a credible military force that, along with its allies the US, Japan or even Taiwan, [is] posing sufficient military strength for Beijing to be concerned.
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, Louisiana (Aug 14, '07)

Dr Andrei Lankov is a strident critic of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). In Two countries, two systems, one porous border [Aug 14] he naughtily scapegoats Pyongyang, contrasting a rich China with a failed North Korea. Yet his article should be of interest both to the Korea hand and to the layman. Lankov interestingly points out that at one time the DPRK had a good economic edge on the People's Republic of China. (The Danish couple Ellen Brun and Jacques Hersch's Socialist Korea: A Case Study in the Strategy of Economic Development, published by Monthly Review Press, is based on their visits to the DPRK in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and gives a good overview of North Korea's economy, which then was even more impressive than the slow economic takeoff in South Korea.) But that was then, and today China has outrun North Korea by giant steps economically speaking and is firmly on the road to capitalism with massive infusion of American and European investments. Nonetheless, the alert Korea watcher has simply to scratch the surface to find a false note in Lankov's account. He gladly contrasts the differences between the Chinese border city of Dandong on the Yalu and the North Korean city of Sinuiju on the opposite shore. They are ... unlike as day and night. Saying this, Lankov neglects to point out that a few years ago Kim Jong-il's government had floated the idea of opening a free port in Sinuiju, which got Beijing's veto. Perhaps he knows more of the furious political battles China and the DPRK fought out in the shadowlands and out of Westerners' and scholars' eyes. Sinuiju, it goes without saying, would have lifted the veil on a very guarded society that is North Korea; it would have begun an economic reform or sorts which would bring in strong currency - especially the hard yuan - to Pyongyang's coffers and the wherewithal to buy food for starving North Koreans. China saw a thriving Sinuiju as a threat to its own plans and possibly a political slap in [the face of] its own people. In consequence China's will prevailed and Sinuiju remained the backwater that Lankov describes. Which all goes to prove that the DPRK is not closed to economic experimentation but is subject to vagaries and the strong-arm tactics of its powerful neighbor.
Jakob Cambria
USA (Aug 14, '07)

The outright loathing Axel Brot's outspoken articles [Germany, the Re-engineered Ally, Aug 8-10] have earned from US readers [see letters below] is the best proof for his brilliance. "Mind-numbing, paranoid, and insane" or "most left-wing and outrageous conspiratorial nonsense" is what most US citizens think when they are faced with reality: a European public opinion which denies them unconditional obedience. As a European, I am proud to see such bold and self-critical writings published in ATimes, and I hope more is to follow soon.
Alfonso Borrelli
Italy (Aug 14, '07)

A UK parliamentary committee [has] announced that the good reputation of the UK was damaged when the government hesitated in calling for an immediate end to the Lebanon war last year. That was a very welcome and long-overdue acknowledgment of a terrible wrong perpetrated by then prime minister Tony Blair and his incompetent foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett. I feel utterly ashamed that the international community idly stood by and allowed Israel a free reign of terror on the Lebanese people. The tacit support offered by the UK and other governments of such a flagrant violation of Lebanese sovereignty is indeed a disgrace that will be long remembered.
Rory E Morty
Giessen, Germany (Aug 14, '07)

Donald Kirk has turned a sidebar discussion on the upcoming August 28 Koreas' summit at the New York-based Korea Society into his latest article for ATol [Koreas' summit: Handshakes and handouts, Aug 11]. His effort is low-cost in content and relatively risk-free, for he buries in his report the real reason a crowded room of Korea Society members, members of the diplomatic community, investment bankers, journalists, and curious onlookers, came together in the late afternoon of August 9. They came to hear former State Department [representative] and now president of the Korea Economic Institute Charles "Jack" Pritchard talk about his new book Failed Diplomacy: The Tragic Story of How North Korea Got the Bomb (Brookings Institution, 2007). Pritchard negotiated for the United States with North Koreans during the [Bill] Clinton and [George W] Bush administrations. His important book tells the "inside" diplomatic tugs and pulls of his days at the negotiating table and private meetings with his North Koreans counterparts. It is a gloomy, yet fascinating, tale of missed opportunities, malign neglect, passivity, and failure which he lays at the doorstep of George W Bush. Kirk ignores the significance of Pritchard's book for the sterile musings of what [South Korean] President Roh Moo-hyun might give away to [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-il at this month's [inter-]Korea summit meeting in Pyongyang. This is a tricky question which the usual suspects at the Korea Society are always willing to become absorbed in thought on. No one really knows much about the meeting's agenda. The Korea Society's new president and old East Asian State Department hand Evan Revere hopes that President Roh will "engage in serious North-South diplomacy", which is not saying much, since Seoul and Pyongyang are coming together to talk seriously. It is obvious that Washington has failed to engage the North and to alienate the South, that both presidents think that this is the moment for them to pick up the ball and run with it to reduce tensions on the divided peninsula, and further Pyongyang's stated intention to denuclearize the peninsula, among other matters. Will Seoul encourage a rush of South Korean gold to the North? This reported remark in Kirk's article is arch, the more especially [as there] has often been openly talked about in Korea Society meetings a desire to open a North Korea fund with friends from Wall Street similar, say, to a Templeton Fund. And finally Kirk ends his column with quotes from Moody's man in East Asia, Thomas Byrne, who has been repeating his remarks for the last number of years. He is looking for a Deng Xiaoping in North Korea, which is simply saying that he has little understanding of North Korean history. Kim Jong-il's regime will evolve in a way that it finds suitable to its own ideas of juche and for its own stability and survival and in a wider interest of a Korean Peninsula without a threat of war hanging over its head. And that is where Washington comes in, with Seoul, Beijing and Pyongyang signing a peace treaty which once and for all puts an end to the 1950s Korean War.
Jakob Cambria
USA (Aug 13, '07)

The mysterious author who writes under the pen-name "Axel Brot" (Germany, the Re-engineered Ally: Readiness for endless war [Aug 8], Everything is broken [Aug 9], and Hail to the chief, or else [Aug 10]) reveals a very nasty side to modern Germany's covert operations that I personally was unaware of. I wrote the first version of this note before Part 3 was posted, and so I was struck initially by what I thought was a defeatist tone. I commented that I thought his analysis was saying this is how it is and nothing can be done about it. After the first two parts, I couldn't help but think of H G Wells' War of the Worlds. Yes, the imperialist designs of the USA and its sycophantic allies appear unstoppable now, but I thought it was much too early to throw up our hands in despair. There will be a modern "bacterium" for the USA's war machine. However, in Part 3 of his essay, "Axel" surprised me. It appears that the German public is closely in step with the European public that I'm familiar with in Spain, France, and England, as well as the public in many other developing countries - all dislike the warmongering foreign policy lead of the USA. So, thank you "Axel" for the insights into modern Germany. At the end of your essay, I feel rather pleased to hear that the German public is not swallowing the massive doses of propaganda currently produced by the Western media. All of the Western imperialist powers taken together are just a small fraction of the global population, and in reality, the imperialist ambitions spring from the warped minds of just a relative handful of deranged politicians and their cabal of fawning sycophants. Even if the USA plunges the world into chaos today, the USA is rapidly declining and will be gone in a relatively short historical time, and the world will continue. The only regrettable and despicable part about the chaos is that the USA, like Nazi Germany, will be criminally responsible for millions of unpleasant deaths. We can only hope that the "bacterium" appears quickly and works rapidly - although it may already be at work.
Jonathan
UK (Aug 13, '07)

Reading "Axel Brot's" mind-numbing, paranoid, and insane essay [Germany, the Re-engineered Ally, Aug 8-10] was like being gang-raped by a combination of the Socialist Workers Party and the followers of Lyndon LaRouche. His Teutonic bloviations are an admixture of unsubstantiated or discredited assertions, outright distortion, and pure unmitigated balderdash. His nauseating fixation upon and paranoid conspiratorial delusions about the survivors of his kinsmen's bloodlust are a transparent attempt to justify the murderous rampage and barbarism of his father's generation. It is most disappointing how many online journals chose to reproduce such a rambling crypto-racist screed.
Mel Sherwood (Aug 13, '07)

Thank you for publishing Axel Brot's series Germany, the Re-engineered Ally [Aug 8-10]. While one cannot claim to have enjoyed it in the conventional sense, his insights and observations are refreshingly frank and serve to illuminate the confusing deluge of eerily inept and counter-intuitive claptrap masquerading as fact in the clumsily stage-managed "global war on terror" environment. His knowledge of, and familiarity with, various behind-the-scenes machinations on far-flung fronts beyond America offer a wealth of new vantage points from which "war on terror" skeptics will be better able to cross-check each new chapter of disinformation. The series deserves equal ranking with [Stephen] Walt's and [John] Mearsheimer's landmark study of [the United States of] America's pro-Israel lobby. Judging by the negative comment it is accumulating, it would seem that others share this view, if for entirely different reasons.
Neil Maydom
Victoria, Australia (Aug 13, '07)

Re Germany, the Re-engineered Ally [Aug 8-10]: This is an exceptional and magisterial set of articles by Axel Brot. However, at least to me, the current US course in the world resembles that of Spain during the hundred years that straddle the 16th and the 17th centuries. Briefly, Spain, the pre-eminent world power of that time, became fatally entangled in a long series of ill-conceived and debilitating wars to maintain its suzerainty over countries such as the Netherlands as well as to frustrate the rise of a multitude of new Protestant powers across Europe. In the end, Spain merely burned through the enormous treasure it had accumulated over centuries of plunder in Latin America. It withered to the mediocre shell of its former self that it has since remained. Considering the rate at which the US is squandering its patrimony in places like Iraq and Afghanistan (to mention only the two principal black holes into which America's wealth is being dumped), it may not take a hundred years for our society to achieve this same sad end. It is all the more remarkable that such waste is countenanced while our cities drown, our bridges collapse and medical and educational allotments lag far behind those of other modern industrialized countries. Attempts by the US to thwart the rise of China and Russia seem as certain to fail as were those of Spain to suppress the Protestants. Moreover, it is impossible for me to comprehend how the political elites in the US would seriously consider, the historical record notwithstanding, the occupation and colonization of the Arabs as at all feasible. It is fascinating to ponder how and why societies opt for suicide - the ancient Greeks during the Peloponnesian War and the Europeans during World Wars I and II come to mind. Why, for example, does a free and prosperous people overwhelmingly and repeatedly choose an idiot for a leader? It is very difficult to construct rational explanations for these things - and perhaps there are none to be found.
Jose R Pardinas, PhD
San Diego, California (Aug 13, '07)

"Axel Brot's" three-part series Germany, the Re-engineered Ally [Aug 8-10] is one of the best I have read on ATimes. I only wish Mr Brot had answered the burning question: Why? Why, beyond the offhand remark "it agreed, be it out of conviction, opportunism or fear, with the views of the American political class" have the elites of Europe chosen the lovely roles of sycophants? In Canada too something similar happened, although those now in power simply came out of the wilderness, and not from the existing political elite. I cannot believe the political elites of Canada are so schizophrenic as to support liberalism, multiculturalism and humanitarianism for decades, and then simply wake up one morning and decide to support imperialism, militarism, and race war. And while I am less familiar with the European situation, my guess is it is the same over there. You simply cannot change your core values, your raison d'etre, overnight like a suit of clothes. No, something else is at work. Spain and Italy moved in the opposite direction, their ruling parties aligning themselves with the sentiments of their electorates. But in Germany, Canada and France, the ruling parties are embarking in a direction (race war, killing, killing and more killing) at odds with the wishes of the overwhelming majority of their citizens. Why? I fear the answer to all this is quite sinister: Germany, Canada and France have truly and intentionally been "re-engineered", much as Russia was in the 1990s. Whether those in power are simply in the pay of Lord Voldemort [Harry Potter antagonist] or, more likely, have been cultivated over many years by career advancement and monetary assistance (and now supported by the unholy media, [themselves] re-engineered), makes little difference: they are men and women of suspect loyalties. Ultimately, their choice of direction undermines their power. Just as the Kaiser was ousted after World War I, World War IV will cut their infinitely more fragile legs from under them, albeit only after millions of lives have been destroyed. And it will get that bad too, if not worse, should Russian and China be attacked for dismemberment. Or maybe some of us will get "lucky" and it will go no further than attacking and dismembering Israel's enemies in the Middle East. But even so it will be awful, horrible. It will also unleash huge systemic shocks. Furthermore, these deeds dehumanize us all, spectators as well as participants. We do live in interesting times, but I do not enjoy them.
Francis
Quebec, Canada (Aug 13, '07)

Re Chrysantha Wijeyasingha's letter on Axel Brot's Hail to the chief, or else (May 10): The last sentences left me in shock. "To date there has not been a [consistent] protest by the moderate Muslim that his/her religion is being hijacked for purposes of evil and not good. The silence from the majority Muslims is deafening to the point of retaliation." Every time I glance at the Western news (that's almost every day), I see the same headlines repeated over and over again: another arrest of a Muslim on suspicion of terrorism, another Muslim convicted of conspiring to commit acts of terror, another Muslim charity busted for ties to terrorism, another nomination of a new al-Qaeda chief, imminent terrorist attacks against the West, yet another planned attack on the peace-loving, freedom-loving West is foiled, "why they hate our freedom" and on and on. The message is extremely clear: Muslims in the West and everywhere are involved in unprovoked attacks and Westerners are victims of violence. The vast majority of Western readers, even the most level-headed, independent thinkers, will come to the same conclusion: Muslims and Islam [are] the enemy. However, the only hijack of the Muslim religion is by the West and Western press, and the purpose is virulent hatred of anything Muslim. The so-called Muslim moderates do not miss this daily dose of degrading and humiliating onslaught ... I doubt that there are Muslim moderates left - they were victims of the "war on terror" along with any hopes of real democracy, the other victim of Western foreign policy. In the end this is a war on Islam, and it will turn into a defeat that the US will wear as a mask of shame for a long time to come.
Noureddine
Algeria (Aug 13, '07)

The above letter was cut for length, and the excised portion included numerous examples of how, from the writer's perspective, "the West" has victimized Muslims, including through the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Letter writers are reminded to keep their submissions short; we have been receiving quite a few unwieldy tomes of late, some of them very badly written and too difficult to edit, with the result that they have had to be discarded. - ATol

In his article Giving peace a chance in Afghanistan [Aug 9], Saleem Shahzad incorrectly states that "the Pakistani delegation includes no women". As far as I know my aunt Meena Leghari, a member of Pakistan's National Assembly, is among several women included in the Pakistani delegation: Minister of State for Education Anisa Zeb Tahirkhel, MNA [member of the National Assembly] Dr Noor Jehan Panezai, Dr Hajra Tariq and Meena Leghari.
Ali Leghari
Karachi, Pakistan (Aug 13, '07)

The article was submitted a few days before the jirga and at that time there was not a single name of any women mentioned in the proposed list (released to the press and published in national newspapers). The names of women were included at the eleventh hour. - Syed Saleem Shahzad

I can say briefly about [Pakistani President] General [Pervez] Musharraf that the hunter is being hunted and haunted by his victims whom he exiled, suspended from duty illegally and sent to prison on concocted charges. Even his friends are abandoning him like rats flee a sinking ship. His days in uniform are numbered and a prison cell should await him for a life of solitary confinement.
Jalal Rumi (Aug 13, '07)

Thanks for the great effort and care you take to give a good perspective to global affairs, especially in Asia. But I have a problem with semantics (though not fully that). I feel editors should avoid the term "Middle East" and use the term "West Asia" in contributors' text and the link in ATimes.com, since that gives the correct geographical description for that part of the world. "Middle East" signifies nothing (middle of what? Where is the right/left, top/bottom - whatever?) and also because it is a little colonial in intent. Since you take pride in presenting an Asian perspective, I think you will correct in future and also rename the link in the website.
Kappa
Bangalore, India (Aug 13, '07)

The term "Middle East" certainly is and always has been vague; it was popularized by US naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914). In the early 20th century, it referred roughly to the area between the "Near East" and the "Far East", ie, extending from Mesopotamia to Burma. But in a sense, the term's very vagueness may be an asset: at Asia Times Online, it is a convenient term for all Asian nations west of Afghanistan and more or less southwest of another roughly (albeit less Eurocentrically) defined region, Central Asia. - ATol

I have a few observations to make on the article by Ajit Kumar Singh captioned Sri Lankan economy grows despite conflict in your business section on August 9. It seems implausible to me that the Sri Lankan economy is doing well, as Mr Singh says, when all I read about Sri Lanka apart from the destructive war is pervasive economic discontent, [and] demonstrations against exorbitant prices of even the necessities that make lives even for the middle class unsustainable. Foreign remittances are largely from maids, including children, working in the Middle East under deplorable conditions. Foreign exchange through exports, similarly, are earned through the toils of women tea pluckers who earn less than US$1 a day and women garment workers laboring verily under sweatshop conditions. I believe, therefore, that the old jibe about statistics being worse than a damn lie is probably true about Sri Lanka's figures about its GDP [gross domestic product] growth. While Mr Singh is right about the unacceptable economic conditions in the North/East of the island, [many] of the woes are deliberately inflicted by the government of Sri Lanka over a long period, not only pre-dating the war but indeed the cause of the war. The website of Ministry of Defense of the Sri Lankan government has not been known to have any respect for truth. One hardly expects the website to say nice things about the LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam], its bete noire. Of all the self-serving calumnious accusations made by the Sri Lankan government of the LTTE, the most vicious, calculated to influence the international community, is the one about drug smuggling, which is repeated by Mr Singh also, which perhaps he cannot substantiate. The LTTE is a highly disciplined organization, the members of which are sworn to teetotalism. Besides, it knows that almost every movement of it is closely monitored. So far there has not been a single case of the LTTE having been caught smuggling drugs. I hope Mr Singh has the good sense not to repeat this allegation ... It appears that Mr Singh has not been keeping in touch with the news about Sri Lanka, in particular the reports of human-rights organizations about the government's complicity in extortions, abductions and other serious crimes. It is pertinent to say here that the LTTE considers its administration of the territory under its control legitimate and therefore the collection of taxes is a necessary part of the financial administration.
Kasan (Aug 13, '07)

Indeed Dialogue is not a dirty word [Aug 10], it goes without saying. The United States has never backed away from "dialogue", but on one condition, according to the gospel of George W Bush, that the other party sitting at the other end of the negotiating table submits to America's conditions. This is as plain as the nose on President George W Bush's face. His administration's record in discussions is dismal, and it has let slide by any number of opportunities as the world's only "superpower" to press its advantages for a felicitous resolution which would neither paint the US into a corner nor box in its interlocutor. There are any number of examples ready at hand to support this assertion. Ryan Carr mentions Iraq and Iran, and then there are the hot-and-cold dealings with North Korea. Mr Bush will go down in the history books as a failed leader. He has lit too many fires diplomatically and militarily which he is not in a position to put out. He is not a pragmatist but an ideologically driven chief of state. He is a living example of what former president Richard M Nixon proclaimed he never wanted the US to become: "a crippled giant".
Jakob Cambria
USA (Aug 10, '07)

Re The American path to jihad (Aug 10): Chris Heffelfinger, in this disturbing account of American jihadists, reaches the conclusion that the Saudi-originated Salafist movement and its aims to purify Islam [are] the foundation upon which Osama bin Laden has built al-Qaeda's global jihadist empire. Even a cursory reading of Salafism reveals that the Salaf (or the original first and best three generations of Muslims, and the scholars [who] later followed their beliefs and practices) had in their unique form of religious methodology this one and ultimate goal: the purification of the soul from sin. All prohibitions against such practices as polytheism and endless theological disputation are held as being totally subordinate to a purified soul, which is most pleasing in the sight of Allah. Purifying the soul from sin actually compares to the Christian Holiness Movement that began in the early part of last century in the United States. Its modern-day equivalent, the Pentecostal movement, seeks a form of purification through the infilling of the Holy Spirit, with the recipient testifying to such divine action by the so-called speaking in tongues. This harks back to the time of the Christian Pentecost, when the first believers had praised God in tongues that were completely understood by a diverse racial gathering of hundreds of witnesses. Similarly, Judaism has its own long history of purification with regard to the intricate rituals involved in temple worship. Once every year a specially appointed priest would enter the Holy of Holies inside the deepest precinct of the temple and offer the ritualistic sacrifice for the sins of the people. What all these three Abrahamic faiths have largely in common, therefore, in their most elemental form, is to bring the human soul into a state of divine union with God (or Allah) through some specified means of purification. Clearly then, the challenge ahead in the "war on terror" is not to define such purification in terms of a deathly militantism, but to define it in terms of what actually encompasses our common understanding of deity.
Reverend Dr Vincent Zankin
Canberra, Australia (Aug 10, '07)

Hail to the chief, or else [Aug 10) is an article quite innovative in how to twist the truth. After World War I, at the Versailles Treaty, the victors demanded a prize from a defeated Germany that its economy could not sustain. It was routine to see people with huge bundles of Germany currency just to buy groceries; and they were the lucky ones. When the Nazi Party came into power they were able to turn this helpless economy into a thriving one. [Adolf] Hitler's main fault was to scapegoat the Jews for everything that was wrong in Germany. If the "Jewish solution" [had not taken] place, there is a good chance we would be speaking German. Another [glaring] error is to compare post-World War I Germany with its current relationship with Islam. Unlike the Jews of Europe (or elsewhere), Muslims did not push the issue of eradicating all other faiths in the name of Islam. The 21st-century warfare is indeed a civilizational and sectarian warfare. Not just Germany but [all of] the Nordic nations [have been] seeing for a long time a real enemy to their faith and culture. Recently it was announced in the Netherlands that the Koran is no better than Mein Kampf in the area of genocidal murder and should be banned. The Nordic nations are beginning to awaken to the real threat to their culture and religion and have no shame in calling a spade a spade. Soon the Mediterranean nations, especially Italy, will join the ranks. Islam to them amounts to nothing more than a cult that worships death over life and its holy book is the way to that objective. It is overdue for the average Muslim to take to the streets in mass protest that the above ideology is not what they believe and they are not part of the "terrorist movement". To date there has not been a [consistent] protest by the moderate Muslim that his/her religion is being hijacked for purposes of evil and not good. The silence from the majority Muslims is deafening to the point of retaliation.
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, Louisiana (Aug 10, '07)

Re Germany: The Re-engineered Ally [Aug 8-10]: First of all, I would like to compliment ATol on publishing this remarkable series of articles, even though Germany hardly fits the definition of an Asian country. But since words like "Russia" and "China" appear frequently, this apparent frivolity merits not only quick forgiveness, but also further encouragement. Although the author's command of historical facts is enviable, his reflections on the realities of an incipient West-East conflict seem to be somewhat divorced from reality. Maybe I misunderstood something, but when I stumbled upon Axel Brot's descriptions of [an] omnipotent West poised to destroy weaklings like Russia and China, I simply could not recognize the planet we all live on. On the one side we have the West, [led] into the battle by a country saddled with a crumbling infrastructure, the largest prison population in the world, a Gini index approaching Latin American levels, wobbly financial markets, a debased currency, uncompetitive industry, current account and budget deficits, the world's highest prevalence of mental disease, an overstretched military, poorly functioning health-care and education systems, surging crime, astronomic debt levels, endemic official corruption and [US]$50 [trillion] to $60 trillion in future uncovered liabilities, as well as [being] utterly unable to achieve anything resembling victory while fighting two disjointed insurgencies in two of the world's poorest countries. On the other - Eastern - side we have two of the world's most powerful countries that seem content to mind their own business, with two of the world's fastest-growing economies (one of which is world's second-largest and the other ninth), in possession of practically unlimited natural and human wealth, with sterling balance sheets, an installed capacity to inflict unacceptable losses on any transgressor, both in the process of rapid military buildup. Now, even though all of the facts listed above are true, in the end I'm just as guilty of oversimplification as Mr Brot. Still, I decided to give it a try for the sake of some balance restoration. I admit that apart from this single point of disagreement, I wholly sympathize with the author in the rest of the article. Contemporary geopolitics are unmistakably acquiring frighteningly malignant undertones, and Axel Brot would probably like nothing more than to see his own country disentangle itself from the sinking ship of American adventurism. Judging by his description of modern German discourse, that will only happen if Germans learn how to filter out their own propaganda before they "learn how to kill and to die".
Oleg Beliakovich
Seattle, Washington (Aug 10, '07)

There is a saying in the Turkish language, "Tears are good for the eyes, it helps to see the world better." In and around Afghanistan we are seeing nothing but people shedding tears, just because we see nothing but killing all around. Most unfortunately, so many tears in so many eyes, it appears, have failed to make people see better. Do people ever realize what they are fighting for, and for what they are killing each other? Have all the killings for so many years solved any of their problems? There is utterly no doubt that behind all the conflicts in the world, there is only one element which is the source of the trouble. That source is injustice. The best way to do justice is to look at another person as a human being like oneself. Most of the time people bring trouble upon themselves by accepting an unjust system of "ruler and the ruled". I am sure that after so many killings and after losing so many men (with men lost, women will outnumber men), people must be coming to the conclusion that it is much, much better to do things through mutual consultation and consent. Jirga or shura [council], I am sure, is the best way to resolve injustices. The Lord Almighty (swt), I understand, loves to see people coming together to resolve their problems through mutual consultation, ie, shura [see Giving peace a chance in Afghanistan, Aug 9]. Jirga or shura is the best way to run the affairs of a country instead of the unjust system of "ruler and the ruled". To achieve peaceful living, the unjust system must be replaced by establishing a People's Shura. To evolve a People's Shura is the sole responsibility of the people at large and the intellectuals among them. A People's Shura would help make everyone, a responsible citizen, as everyone would become a partner in deciding their fate and to ensure that the laws of the land are being observed by one and by all. This will help in making people responsible and proud of being participants in the affairs of their country. I can only remind the people of their obligation to obey the Lord (swt) [and] run the affairs of their country through mutual consultations of all, while upholding justice. Doing such a thing is obedience of the Lord Almighty, and this is the only way to achieving peace.
S H Wasty (Aug 10, '07)

Congratulations go to D Busse for sending you the funniest letter [Aug 9] I've ever seen on ATol. I'm still chuckling: the world we live in will be all right if D Busse's outlook prevails.
Harald Hardrada
Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Aug 10, '07)

To copy, file and print ATol articles (re letter by Sam Armand, Aug 9), I find it easiest to highlight the text only from the bottom of the page up to the line below the advertisement panel graphic. This avoids including the format lines and the accompanying advertisements in your copying. Copy and paste to an MS Word document. Repeat-highlight the remaining text from the top body of the article. Copy and paste. Do the same - highlight, copy and paste - the title and byline. Below the byline, type in the date of the article and the URL link. The date and URL [are] obligatory for attribution. Repeat the process for the subsequent pages of a multi-page ATol article.
Kelvin Mok
Canada (Aug 10, '07)

I've been reading your online paper for a few months. Suffice it to say, it is really nothing more than an anti-Israeli (meaning anti-Semitic) rag, with anti-Americanism thrown in to complete the picture.
Ron Lev (Aug 10, '07)

You do us a grave disservice. Our scope is much wider than you allege. We are, according to various readers, not merely anti-Israel and anti-American, but anti- (or pro-) China, anti- (or pro-) Taiwan, anti- (or pro-) Islam, anti- (or pro-) Arab and/or Persian ... the list of ATol antis (and pros) is nearly endless. - ATol

ATol is going from peak to peak: Axel Brot's articles are outstanding [Germany, the Re-engineered Ally Part 2: Everything is broken, Aug 9]. Although the US seems to be riding high, what will trip it up is the economy, which depends on financing from China. That China's aware of this is brought home by its threat to sell American Treasury paper if unwelcome barriers to trade appear. Maybe the neo-cons are feeling cornered, knowing that the US is wasting its armaments in fighting costly losing wars. They also know that American troops are stretched to the utmost, short of Washington's introducing conscription, which would incite further anti-war activity and other social unrest. But Brot's right in saying America's leaders have no other plan than to keep going down the neo-con path. [French historian] Fernand Braudel said that as each world power first arrives on the scene, it soon undergoes a wrenching economic slump. This happened to the US in the 1930s, for instance. Now it may happen to China when its stock market corrects, but that may lead to greater suffering in the US than in China, since the US is lumbered with a far higher proportion of military spending that has starved the private sector of capital.
Harald Hardrada
Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Aug 9, '07)

I read Axel Brot's first article [Readiness for endless war, Aug 8] with much interest and waited with anticipation for the second article in the series [Everything is broken, Aug 9]. It might interest him and his readers to know that while I was a law student in the early '90s, my neighbor, a Polish diplomat on a Fulbright scholarship, told me that Poland [would] enter NATO [the North Atlantic Treaty Organization] at the insistence of the US, not to defend Europe from Russia but because the US needs Poland in order to threaten Germany, mainly, and France so that they would act in the US's interest. Before the war, I made sure every prominent European and Turkish journalist and some European ambassadors were aware of what I had been told. I don't know if this little tidbit had anything to do with [Jacques] Chirac's or [Gerhardt] Schroeder's opposition to the Iraq war and their refusal to participate (something which the US was counting on, at least in the "peacekeeping" phase). However, the refusal to help the US subdue Iraq has done fatal damage to US designs on global domination, and the recent realliance of France and Germany with the US is a case of "too little too late" and downright bad timing ... Germany is an economy in decline and is doing very well relative to the US because it is well positioned to sell China machines that make machines, the very machines that it is selling China. This is, unfortunately for Germany, a one-time credit on its accounts. Now that China has these machines and the needed know-how, it is not going back to Germany to get more when it can build them more cheaply itself. Germany is like a dying star that fuses heavy metals in order to shine, briefly, after the hydrogen has run out ... Had the US, Germany and France locked up the Middle East in their pocket 10 years ago, their "realliance" would have some hopes of succeeding in containing Russia and China. Given that they are still trying at this late date to tame a Middle East that will not and cannot be tamed and obtain the allegiance of a fickle and demanding bride like the eastern European states, they are suffering from a bad, terminal case of "too little too late" and bad, bad timing. If there is one lesson to be learned from history, it is that Baghdad is to be sacked by an empire early in its ascent and not late in its decline. This is something China or some future empire may want to keep in mind if they ever decide to conquer Baghdad.
Abacus
Fairfax, Virginia (Aug 9, '07)

["Axel] Brot" is amazing; the second part [Everything is broken, Aug 9] of his article on the fall of the "European alternative" (and therewith, perhaps, our hopes that humanity will make it through this century) is no less convincing and well written than the first part [Readiness for endless war, Aug 8]. But the truly amazing thing is that one need not, as Herr Brot so obviously does, possess special knowledge to understand these matters; all that is required is the common sense so often disparaged by our spin doctors (hasbara, indeed!) and the ability to read the newspapers, deficient as they are. Perhaps this is why, in polls throughout the world (with notable exceptions, like Poland and Albania), the United States and Israel are consistently identified as the greatest threats to world peace. The world as a whole seems to have come to the point Europe reached, if not in 1914, at least in 1905; will we make it to 2016?
M Henri Day, PhD, MD
Stockholm, Sweden (Aug 9, '07)

Amusingly, the informative [Axel] Brot (in Part 2 of his excellent tour d'horizon [Everything is broken, Aug 9]) confuses erstwhile Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamir with contemporary Russian-Israeli writer Israel Shamir.
Rowan Berkeley (Aug 9, '07)

The confusion was an editor's, not Herr Brot's. The article has been corrected. - ATol

The article Germany, the Re-engineered Ally Part 1 [Readiness for endless war, Aug 8] by the pseudonymous Axel Brot is the most left-wing and outrageous conspiratorial nonsense I have ever read, and I read a lot. It makes Noam Chomsky seem like a right-wing Republican. Mr Brot claims to be a former intelligence officer; let's hope for the sake of Germany and the West he was employed by East Germany. There is too much insanity to comment upon so I guess I will just have to pick the worst, no easy task. Perhaps that might be his tale of Israelis and Turks running around the Mediterranean performing "organ harvesting" and "black medical research"; however, I believe I will leave that one alone because I don't want anyone stealing my kidney while I'm asleep. He mentions the Swedish submarine incidents of the early 1980s (submarines intruding into Swedish waters); although his story has a grain of truth, he fails to mention the Soviet Sub 137 that ran aground on Swedish territory on October 6, 1980, 9 miles from the Swedish naval base of Karlshrona - I'm sure it was caused by a faulty compass. It might interest Mr "Brot" [that] while I was checking out his submarine story, I ran across two other pieces of information ... In 1991 the Soviets apologized for shooting down a Swedish plane over international waters in 1952. Also the former Soviet spy Pavel Sudoplatov confirmed the Russians killing Raoul Wallenberg in July of 1947. [Brot also writes] about the "strangely exhibitionist glorying of many American politicians at the ability to inflict unrestrained violence". "Many" in my mind would have to be a least seven, but I will [accept] one example from Mr Brot; however, none [will] be forthcoming because I believe it emanates from Mr Brot's fetid imagination. He also mentions the looting of the Baghdad museum as a great crime against humanity but fails to mention the Iraqis did this to themselves with the collusion of top museum officials. He also writes about the "thousands of maimed or dead Arab, Asian and African immigrant victims of racist violence in western Europe": I guess this has all been hidden by the evil capitalist press. Perhaps in one of Mr Brot's follow-up pieces he will explain how the 100 million people killed by the communists in the last century were killed for their own good.
Dennis O'Connell
USA (Aug 9, '07)

I hope that ATimes is aware that there are at least two types of former intelligence officers (s)trolling around in Germany today: the former East German ones (known as Stasi) and indeed more a sort of KGB poodles; the former West German ones (aka BND [Federal Intelligence Service]) and more a sort of CIA [US Central Intelligence Agency] poodles (just a small and tiny little poodle, of course, not a real big one).
D Busse
Germany (Aug 9, '07)

This may appear to be a petty query but it has been bugging me for two years now: what is the point of having a "print this article" tab when all it does is to regenerate only one page of that article, with all of the graphic bars and tabs and your advertisement taking up most of the one page? In the case of a five-page article, I must repeat this process five times. Computer glare affects people like me: I tend to print long articles such as Axel Brot's five-page-long segments and read them on paper. Is there a benefit to you in having this unique approach to "print this article" feature?
Sam Armand (Aug 9, '07)

We are working on setting up a new system that should enable us to deal with a number of technical irritants, including this one. We would appreciate your patience. - ATol

The article Giving peace a chance in Afghanistan [Aug 9] is very timely. The coming together of President [General Pervez] Musharraf and Benazir [Bhutto] is a good sign for stability in that country. one hopes Nawaz Sharif also comes forward and returns to Pakistan. However, much depends, even if they all join hands together, on how best they can handle the Pashtuns, the Balochs and the Sindhis internally and jihadi extremism on the borders with India and Afghanistan.
Arif Samma
Shimla, India (Aug 9, '07)

It is heartening to read about Sri Lanka and its economy in Sri Lankan economy grows despite conflict [Aug 9] by Ajit Singh. Due to this civil war, Sri Lanka has basically lost one of its cherished economic indicators, tourism. The darker side of this article points to the Tamil Tigers' decision to strike at Sri Lanka's economy and bring it to its knees. What an absolute waste of time, resources and lost opportunities if this is the Tamil Tigers' goal. It would be prudent that the cadres of the Tamil Tigers join in the economic growth rather than focusing their time to destroy Sri Lanka's economy and military. If this takes place, the Sri Lankan government will have no choice but to be more draconian towards the rebels and those [who] support them. If the international world decides to scream "human-rights abuse", so be it. Sri Lanka's so-called "human-rights abuse" is already in shambles and it is the citizen of Sri Lanka [who] is bearing the brunt of this civil war and not those who have no direct consequence of the war and are free to point fingers. If the Tamil Tigers' decision is to ruin Sri Lanka's economy, then they will reap the rewards of their actions. Regardless, the news of a booming economy amid a civil war is encouraging.
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, Louisiana (Aug 9, '07)

Re The Koreas talk of talking again [Aug 9]: For those who thought that South Korea's Sunshine Policy was dead in the water, the announcement [on August 8] from Pyongyang confirming a summit meeting between the leaders of the North and South from August 28-30 in North Korea's capital, should dash any such hopes. It has been seven years since former [South Korean] president Kim Dae-jung met Kim Jong-il. This historic meeting paved the way for a string of economic, social, and cultural cooperation, so much so that even the leader of the opposition Grand Old Party, Park Geun-hye, daughter of South Korea's [late] strongman Park Chung-hee, wended her way to Pyongyang to talk to Mr Kim. Expectations are being played down about the outcome of this second summit. Yet what is certain is that both Seoul and Pyongyang have deemed the timing worthy of enlarging inter-Korean discussions leading someday to the co-prosperity of a divided Korean Peninsula, and advancing another step towards reunification. Optimism reigns supreme though, for President Roh Moo-hyun's visit will firm up his sagging image and may prove a shot in the arm for his party's being returned to government in the forthcoming elections. Washington may not put on a happy face at this news given the current tensions arising from President [George W] Bush's intractable stance on hastening the release of the 21 South Korean Christians in Taliban hands in Afghanistan. The summit might even go as far as removing obstacles preventing an eventual peace treaty, thereby ending a 57 [year] state of war. Of course a unilaterally declared peace treaty would face an American veto, but if Beijing, Pyongyang and Seoul press for one, they may force President Bush's hand. Events are moving fast on the Korean Peninsula; North Korea seems intent on denuclearizing, and embracing South Korea more warmly for the aid and comfort this First World economy can provide. Washington should seize the initiative too, but it seems mired in its own games of trying to bell the North Korean cat. A signification signpost to watch for: Will President Roh Moo-hyun go by train to Pyongyang, thereby crossing that almost impenetrable barrier which is the 38th Parallel?
Jakob Cambria
USA (Aug 9, '07)

Re The Saudi arms deal: Why now? by Dan Smith (Aug 8): After reading it I would like to say, "Bravo, well put." These things everybody has in their minds but never speak out. I guess the timing is important because the US is getting ready for another war, a war against Iran. In the article, the writer mentioned [that] the king of Saudi Arabia termed the US an aggressor and asked for the withdrawal [from Iraq]. Everybody including the US knows the speech was a fake approach to save some face. The [Americans] know if they want to kill Muslims they need the blessing of Saudi Arabia. As the king of Saudi Arabia is the custodian of the Holy Mosque, he has the power to give the US the moral blessings ... People will see the US is vocal against human rights for dictators and countries they don't like. When we see Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel, we can understand the picture. The US needs them, so the US has no comments there. [The Americans] are selling weapons to the Middle East - why? Because it is a good business deal. We remember the UK deal; the UK could overcharge them, why should the US miss out? The Middle East countries are too dumb to negotiate. Another reason may be [that the] US wants the weapons falling in the hands of Sunni extremists in Iraq so they can bomb and destroy the whole of Iraq to save face. I would request the writer to give us more articles like this one.
Adnan N
Bangkok, Thailand (Aug 9, '07)

I am regularly offended by Spengler's rants almost as much as I am offended by his audaciously ignorant declarations [Christianity finds a fulcrum in Asia, Aug 7]. Has Spengler visited China to ascertain whether the Chinese Christian masses are staging a march down the Silk Road? Did he examine the population of Muslims in Beijing alone, let alone in the rest of China besides the Gobi Desert? If he did, he would have seen scores of halal food markets throughout Beijing. The population of Muslims in China has been estimated by Chinese Muslims to be between 100 [million] and 250 million (Han as well as Hui) throughout the nation, not just the Gobi Desert. Muslims have been an integral part of China's history since the first mosque built by the Chinese emperor 1,400 years ago. Why does Asia Times [Online] provide Spengler a pulpit to antagonize and spout ignorant statements? His calling for holy wars and invasions is the very terroristic rhetoric the world is trying to suppress, yet Asia Times [Online] gives him license to foment hatred, fear, and anger. Shame on you.
Mustafa Abdullah (Aug 9, '07)

Every so often I am able to check your site and I have read and read again the articles by Beverly Darling. I especially liked the one titled The politics of regret [Jul 26]. It was very reflective and made me look at my own life. Once again, thanks.
Alyssa Chagrin (Aug 9, '07)

Re Germany the Re-Engineered Ally, Part 1: Readiness for endless war, by "Axel Brot" (Aug 8): I wish to draw readers' attention to the fact that here, Asia Times Online has begun an article series much more globally significant and earth-shaking than even the title suggests. This first installment alone is extremely powerful and devastating, one of those watershed articles for which ATol is now famous. This article is the most illuminating critique I have read in a long time of the current European political crisis, and how old western Europe is now in the gravest danger of following the US on an ugly road, a road to the disastrous end of Europe's own freedoms and well-being ... This article, written by a retired German intelligence officer using a pseudonym, effectively pictures today's continental western Europe as being steadily dragged into neo-con style fascism. Most devastatingly, the article describes a Europe that is already losing the reality of democracy, much against the will and knowledge of its own (and often good) people. It presents a fascinating and frightening picture, of a Europe in which the previous French president Jacques Chirac, for all his imperfections, was actually the last major voice of a Europe which was independent of the American and neo-con gang - the last major European leader who could and would make a stand against the US and corporate multinational powers. The article paints a picture of European corporate elite and leadership, already exercising an iron media control, steadily seeking to drag Europeans not just into a more brutal capitalist era, but even into the full range of evils associated with the US "war on terror" - militarism, racism, xenophobia, and manufactured conflict against the Muslim nations ... This article is a gem of global political journalism, all by itself. By all means let's hear more from Herr "Axel Brot".
Dr L Sachs
Brussels, Belgium (Aug 8, '07)

I want to ask if it does not disturb you having former intelligence officers and analysts on your site?
BrightStarVision
Aarhus, Denmark (Aug 8, '07)

Spooks are people too. - ATol

Re Taliban in no hurry over Korean hostages [Aug 8]: The Afghan captivity of 21 South Korean Christians kidnapped on July 19 by the Taliban continues. South Korean diplomats are trying to gain their release. Yet the picture looks bleak. Aghan President Hamid Karzai is in Washington. The joint press conference at the White House with US President George W Bush offered a glimpse of the varying degrees of appreciation of waging war against the Taliban and the role of Iran aid to the Karzai government. Nary a word was said about how to gain the freedom of the South Korean captives. Donald Kirk's account gives us a bird's-eye view of the shadow play on the curtain of silence that Bush-Karzai sitcom never lifted. The situation in Seoul is tense and the usual suspects of anti-American demonstration are on the scene, as are many of South Korea's Christian church leaders and their parishioners calling on Washington to put pressure on Kabul for the release of the South Korean captives. This, as Kirk reports, adds a layer to the love-hate tango between Seoul and Washington, but it is safe to say that it will not impact seriously their military and political alliance. The drama continues. Yet no one has pointed [out] that the Taliban [have] committed a big error in brutally killing two male South Korean Christians. Acts of bravura, for sure, but empty in substance but for two cadavers. Such a rash act reaffirmed the Karzai government in [its] resolve not to give in to them (in spite of President Hamid Karzai's not-so-sophisticated signal in Washington that the Taliban pose no danger to the Kabul government and its institutions). Had the Taliban not assassinated these two men, the shadow play behind the scenes to gain their release would have gone according to the script of other captives' releases. The 21 Christians are the ping-pong ball in a longish game between the Taliban and the US and Afghanistan and South Korea. Suddenly time is on the captors' side, as the 21 surviving Christians languish as Taliban prisoners. They at least, in the sturm und drang, have the bedrock of their faith that they will gain freedom one way or the other. They have their Savior to rely on but not on President Bush who speaks directly to Him.
Jakob Cambria
USA (Aug 8, '07)

Re Taliban in no hurry over Korean hostages by Donald Kirk (Aug 8): This was an interesting article. The different dimensions of the crisis are explained. South Koreans should know they are pawns for the US in a wider chess game - they [Americans] will ditch them for greater interest. South Korea has to resolve the situation by itself. They [Koreans] have to decide what needs to be done, sacrifice the hostages to appease the US or listen to the people. It sounds insensitive, but the Koreans created the mess: Afghanistan is a hostile zone where the brutal and ruthless Taliban roam. They are a menace - though I am a Muslim, I think they are a disgrace to Islam. You can't negotiate with them, they have to be rooted out. You have to remember, it is the US that created [them] and it is Saudi Arabia that still finds them through private financing and a fresh supply of Saudi nationals. South Korea can't force the Afghan government to compromise [its] fight. It was the South Korean Christian missionaries' decision to go into Afghanistan, they were ready to face the consequences, so I guess South Korea should face the music alone. How they (Koreans) handle it should be their own battle.
Adnan N
Bangkok, Thailand (Aug 8, '07)

Re The Saudi arms deal: Why now? [Aug 8]: It's bracing to read Dan Smith's comments. Normally all one hears in the US is how Iran is evil and Saudi Arabia stands for goodness. The sinister part of Washington's myths about who's a friend and who's an enemy is that Washington sees the resulting sales by the armaments industry as propping up the weakening domestic economy. Instead, the long-term effects are disastrous because not only do the armaments create further warmongering, so much capital gets misallocated that productive businesses are hobbled.
Harald Hardrada
Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Aug 8, '07)

Re Spengler's latest, Christianity finds a fulcrum in Asia [Aug 7]: Spengler does great harm to the reputation of Germanic scholarship for carefulness and attention to detail. He apparently knows as little of Chinese and Christian history as he does of the history of Islam, the Middle East [and] Europe. Protestant Christianity has already given China the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the largest civil war in history. It was not a democratic regime, either. As for Protestantism replacing Islam, there is little reason for anyone to switch. They are practically identical twins, as it is.
Lester Ness
Kunming, China (Aug 8, '07)

Re Spengler's article Christianity finds a fulcrum in Asia [Aug 7]: Your readers may also be interested to observe the growth of Christianity in India. Gospel for Asia is basically an indigenous evangelical movement for India. It might be interesting to compare the movements in China and India in a future article.
Jason (Aug 8, '07)

A respected military leader in Thailand has said that coups can be eliminated from the nation's political history forever if the military is given a sufficient and well-defined role in government. He cited Burma as an example of a country that does not have coups because the military has a role in government. In other words, the reason we have coups is that a pesky little thing called democracy keeps interrupting military rule. As a corollary, one may conclude that the way to end crime is to give the robbers your money first so that they will not be forced to commit robbery to get it.
Cha-am Jamal
Thailand (Aug 8, '07)

In Christianity finds a fulcrum in Asia by Spengler (Aug 7), I find the following suggestive of a basic phenomenon, which is that the most essential and intimately personal parts of a religion are resistant to repression. "While the Catholic Church has worked patiently for independence from the Chinese government, which sponsors a 'Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association' with government-appointed bishops, the evangelicals have no infrastructure to suppress and no hierarchy to protect," Spengler writes. The parts of a religion most vulnerable to repression are hierarchy to impose uniformity, grandiosity to awe, and structure to maintain tradition per se, mostly ceremonial; in contrast, relations with a deity and observance of covenants in the form of social conduct, personal and interpersonal, are resistant to repression. I believe frequently the so-called "religious repression" actually promotes true faith, as it suppresses the ceremonial trappings of a religion. As an illustration, how does a church's requirement to register with a state interfere with intrinsic faith? Why doesn't Bible study in small groups salubriously sustain the Christian faith? Perhaps a religion that can exist only with hierarchy, grandiosity, and structure to maintain tradition per se should be repressed and induced to reform or to become extinct. I tend to think that the so-called "religious repression", when it exists, is merely incidental of egregious persecution, if it exists.
Jeff Church
USA (Aug 7, '07)

Re Christianity finds a fulcrum in Asia (Aug 7): There appears to be far too much wishful thinking coupled with some basic misunderstanding in Spengler's latest contention that the greatest danger to Islam is the prospect of a Chinese army of Pentecostal Christians marching west. The spread of US-style Christian Pentecostalism around the world in places like South America, Africa, North and South Asia and China has brought with it neither a political thirst for democracy nor an apocalyptic thirst to join American Pentecostalism's crusader war in confronting Islam. Pentecostalism in America has always belonged, and always will belong, to America's national story of being the New Israel. When its founding fathers first crossed the Atlantic on their voyage from Europe, they saw themselves as the Israelites of old, crossing the Red Sea and being led by Moses to the Promised Land. They named the many towns and cities across the nation with names straight out of the Old Testament, and thus the dream of American exceptionalism was born. After the ravages of World War II, this dream was reborn when American Pentecostalism saw the providential hand of the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the founding of the State of Israel. But it was not until Israel's near-miraculous victory in the Six-Day War that the dream of a glorious future finally emerged from the shadows: that the eternal destiny of America and of the whole world hinges on the victorious return of Jesus Christ to the blessed land of the Jews. This now is not only what drives the American dream in all its countless manifestations, but it is what fundamentally drives the entire US military-industrial complex in its ongoing engagement in the "war on terror" against the "demonic" forces of Islamic radicalism. This is why the "war on terror" is, and always will be, America's war. It is not China's war or anyone else's war. It is a war to end all wars, and the only army that will be marching west all the way to Mecca will be the foot soldiers of a born-again US president.
Reverend Dr Vincent Zankin
Canberra, Australia (Aug 7, '07)

The article Christianity finds a fulcrum in Asia [Aug 7] by Spengler might be renamed "Religion finds a future in China". The statistics [with which] Spengler backs his argument are impressive, and strangely is juxtaposed the "Christian rise" with Islam's spread. But not a word was given about the fact that Buddhism too is experiencing an "awakening" in China. Until the arrival of Buddhism to China, its traditional philosophies of Confucianism and Taoism sufficed the Chinese population. After the arrival of Buddhism, mainly the Mahayana school, China received a bona fide religion and stayed that way until the arrival of chairman Mao Zedong when communism was imposed. The evangelical movement in China sounds spectacular. But in a nation of 1.3 billion, there is plenty of room for the resurrection of Buddhism and Christianity. Recently the Chinese government has supported the renovation of Buddhist sites within its nation as well as in India and Tibet. If communism were to fall in China, I disagree with Spengler that an "evangelized Christian" China will emerge. Most likely a more religious-tolerant society in which traditional Buddhism may equal if not eclipse the spread of Christianity in China.
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, Louisiana (Aug 7, '07)

Re Christianity finds a fulcrum in Asia [Aug 7], I wish to comment. During the first half of 20th-century colonialism, Western missionaries swarmed all over China, yet they converted fewer than a million Chinese and left no religious impression. They were considered the bogeymen of Christian faith, carrying Bibles in the right hand and bombs in the left to spread the evil of colonialism and Western imperialism for their greedy governments to loot, plunder, destabilize and propagate anarchy in the host country. Their mission is the same and [as] ignoble now as it was in the last century. Chinese have for centuries lived as godless and faithless people who were never interested in having a religion and worshipped anything from the sublime to the downright disgusting - the Red Bible. Their newly found search for a Chinese divinity and Christ and the boom in spiritual yearning is imperious and baffling. May I tell Spengler that it is not only the Christian faith that interests them these days, but millions have converted to Bahai faith. [Members of the] Chinese middle class these days have wealth and power and they want to copy everything Western and want to adopt their immoral, degrading and lewd way of life; naturally the Christian faith attracts them ... I intend to disagree with John Allen's giddy estimate that there are 200 million Chinese converted to Christianity but would agree that about 40 million Chinese openly practice the Christian faith. The Chinese government bars foreign missionaries and often harasses and imprisons Christians for their subversive activities. Though China has an official Catholic Church and an official non-denominational Protestant church, the fastest-growing churches are the underground ones - usually evangelical without any denomination - and are involved in clandestine conversion. It is one of the reasons that the Chinese authorities are getting weary of their activities, which point towards their political and economic motives. China is experiencing turbulent social and economic change including alarm at the eclipse of traditional values, which is leading the giddy middle-class Chinese towards Christianity and its Western degrading immorality. The fact is that Maoism wiped out the traditional values and opportunist Christians are at hand to fill the vacuum. But the rise of Christianity constitutes a challenge to the Communist Party ... Chinese are a very suspecting lot who disdain foreigners with white skin for their unquenched lust of greed to rob non-European nations. It is a shameful reflection and wretched demonstration of double standards followed by the Western governments when it concerns their monetary interests and gains, and their disgraceful readiness to abandon all the high talk of supporting human rights, freedom of speech, liberty and democracy for the greed of getting a few trade favors from the morally deprived and oppressive Chinese government. Greed was the West's only motivating force in invading Iraq and Afghanistan and dealing with undemocratic, repressive regimes. Western politicians and their governments are these days busy polishing Chinese official boots and do not wish to miss out on the bandwagon of treasures on offer. Their morality is only pocket-deep.
Saqib Khan
UK (Aug 7, '07)

Re Unconventional wisdom on exchange rates [Aug 7]: There is something of value in Joergen Oerstroem Moeller's argument for more flexibility in thinking of currency depreciation and deficits, and currency appreciation and trade (im)balances. He is representative of a school of thought which views these sacrosanct distinctions with a jaundiced eye. He will find [himself] in the company of the late US ambassador to the United Nations under president Ronald Reagan's watch, who took a stand on President George W Bush's false reasons for going to war in Iraq, and on the nature of waging war in a global economy and global village. The sacred cows of classical and Keynesian economics have met a stern critic in Professor Oerstroem. The reasons [for] doing business as usual for him are less compelling today, for they are being questioned by a minority who see little reason to believe in their efficacy of making necessary corrections to market forces. He looks beyond the shibboleths of accepted wisdom, as he sees them, to a warning to state economies to examine seriously the non-competitive advantage which should and can rev the engines of economic change and strength. This is more than an idea, yet will it overcome the inertia in the tried and true formulas of the past? That remains to be seen. As for At 80 years young, PLA still going strong [Aug 7], why shouldn't it, I ask you? Has Jing-dong Yuan forgotten the old Maoist dictum, "Power comes from the barrel of the gun"? In spite of modernization, China's military has rarely been used for external threats [except] the Chinese volunteers who pushed General [Douglas] MacArthur's troops back from the Yalu River to below the 38th Parallel during the Korean War, and the failure of the army to punish the Vietnamese for overthrowing Beijing's allies the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Today China's army has at least three main fire points to quell: (1) Tibet, (2) the restive Uighur Muslims who want to throw off the Han yoke, (3) the ever imminent invasion of Taiwan. Internally, the army, modern or of old, is ready to quash any popular uprising, as it did in Tiananmen in 1989.
Jakob Cambria
USA (Aug 7, '07)

Congratulations to Asia Times Online for Sudha Ramachandran's article In India, justice for some (Aug 4). It is very hard to see such an article these days. I am happy to see that Sudha is so courageous in highlighting the disparity in how the Indian government treats Muslims as compared with Hindus. It is interesting to see the facts mentioned in this article like "Those investigating the blasts filed a 10,000-page charge-sheet in eight months; in contrast, riot cases filed in police stations across Mumbai were hastily closed or not brought to trial."
Sam
USA (Aug 7, '07)

"Your gloomy analysis, while not inaccurate, ignores the many positive achievements of the US over the years. Americans may have much to answer for because of the jingoism and aggression that seem endemic in their society, but they have much to be proud of as well." - ATol [note under Ken Moreau's letter, Aug 3] Unfortunately, there's more truth to Ken Moreau's analysis [than] certain people are willingly able to accept. "Gloomy" [is] perhaps too strong a wording to react to Mr Moreau's letter. Do I detect a protection mechanism being triggered by ATol on top of it? The question lingers in the background: "Such as?" But I'll refrain from asking. The scale of justice might just tip the wrong way.
Leo Berger (Aug 7, '07)

Re SCO is primed and ready to fire [Aug 4]: Since miscalculations are the most prevalent feature of US foreign policy, it's no wonder that with regard to SCO [the Shanghai Cooperation Organization] Washington appears to have succeeded once more in achieving the least desired result. Hounded by the US, Russia and China are undertaking a genuine rapprochement. The intensity of that embrace is still tempered by a multitude of factors, but the trend towards a closer relationship, maybe even friendship - repeatedly dismissed by US strategists as too much of a long shot - is undeniable. With the Chinese and Russian economies growing strongly, the West will most likely find its forays into Central Asia costly and unsustainable. As of now, neither Russia nor China has any interest in pushing hard for US or NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] withdrawal from the region. With Western soldiers dying and Western treasure being wasted in two unwinnable wars, Beijing and Moscow can sit back and let their enemies hang themselves all by themselves. For Chinese and Russians, it's the show of a lifetime. The longer it lasts, the better.
Oleg Beliakovich
Seattle, Washington (Aug 6, '07)

M K Bhadrakumar has written an important article. SCO is primed and ready to fire [Aug 4] deserves our close attention. The forthcoming Sino-Russian military exercises, under the aegis of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) shift the center of Moscow's and Beijing's center of gravity to Central Asia. Although Bhadrakumar does not say so in so many words, the choice of Chelyabinsk in Russia's Volga Ural military district and in Urumqi, capital of China's Xinjiang autonomous region, underscores the nature of concern of Russian and Chinese leaders as to antagonistic internal Muslim challenges to the central authority respectively in Chechnya and Xinjiang. Thus the show of muscle which so far [has] not proved effective against enemies who fight a different kind of war, is an effort for the consolidation of Sino-Russian [word missing in original - ATol]. More broadly speaking, as though the landscape has been cleared for an improved regional relationship, the SCO summit meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Bhadrakumar suggests, will witness the signing by Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, etc of a formal protocol between the SCO and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which in a reach into time he likens to the defunct Warsaw Pact. Skipping to the end of Bhadrakumar's article, the former ambassador's conclusion is very telling: Moscow and Beijing are girding their loins in order to consolidate influence in Central Asia, the more especially because [US President George W Bush's] military unilateralist strategy has hemmed them in to this space. Saying this, the CSTO is not antithetical to NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] or Washington's Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Southeast Asian pacts and diplomacy. (Here it is worth noting that President Vladimir Putin has not forestalled President Bush's plan to erect a missile shield in the Czech Republic and Poland, within Moscow's traditional sphere of influence. He simply has fallen back to Russia's hinterland in the Russian east and in the former Soviet Central Asian republics.) Subjectively speaking, CSTO and NATO are potential rivals, but in today's world the compelling needs of the moment demand the quashing of Muslim terrorism, which coincides with the goals of the USA, NATO and their allies. In brief, we are witnessing reordering of regional and global alliances which at present are non-antagonistic.
Jakob Cambria
USA (Aug 6, '07)

I want to thank Asia Times [Online] for Sudha Ramachandran's article In India, justice for some (Aug 4). She is absolutely right, courageously so, in highlighting the disparity in how the law is applied to Muslims as compared [with] Hindus. It's an absolute shame for a nation that claims to be the largest democracy in the world and desperately seeks to enter the 21st century as a regional power. Time and again Indian governments, both at the state and federal level, have been quick to apprehend, prosecute and bring to justice (as they should) Muslim perpetrators of communal violence (case in point, the recent Mumbai bombing trials) but have conveniently let politically well-connected Hindus get away with murder, nay, crimes against humanity. As Sudha points out, hundreds of Muslims were slaughtered in Mumbai and Gujarat, but not a single person has stood trial. Perhaps it's time the World Court steps in and brings charges against the scum who head the Shiv Sena (or the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party], Bajrang Dal, VHP [World Hindu Council], and the RSS [National Volunteers Union]; take your pick, it's a veritable gallery of goons). It's time the international community tells India (as it did the Serbs in Bosnia) that it will be treated as a pariah unless it ends this reprehensible double standard.
Fareed Zahid
USA (Aug 6, '07)

Re In India, justice for some by Sudha Ramachandran (Aug 4): I was very intrigued after reading it. Wasn't it obvious that Sanjay Dutt would be punished? After all, he has a Muslim mother. I guess we have to remember that courts are powerful but they have limitations too. I doubt any court in India has the power or girth to go after the Shiv Sena or BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party]. They will make examples out of ordinary people. One funny thing the court always says, "Everybody is same in the eyes of law." The understatement of the century. If a reputed politician is arrested, will he be kept with the ordinary criminals or will he get a special cell? If he is not kept with the ordinary criminals, then the law does not view him [as] equal ...
Adnan
Bangkok, Thailand (Aug 6, '07)

Re Maliki out on his feet (Aug 4): Lately Sami Moubayed's articles are becoming more and more biased. Here is one example of his bias: he mentioned in this article, "Some believe that Iraq needs a strongman - not a Saddam, but a strong leader who has the ability and the will to crush militias like Muqtada [al-Sadr]'s Mahdi Army, the Badr Organization, the armed wing of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), and the Kurdish peshmerga." There is no mention of [the] Sunni insurgency and al-Qaeda in Iraq. The Sunni insurgency and al-Qaeda are the ones scoring more than the other militias.
Sam
USA (Aug 6, '07)

Re Nothing is scarier than the China scare [Aug 4]: Sorry, but this is how power works. I would love to live in a more equitable world where everybody tries to help everyone else, but it has never happened, and it will never happen. China should get its own house, history, and unhealthy capitalism and nationalism in order if it wishes to lead. Until then, the US is doing what it must to protect its power and privilege. "Reality is the recognition of necessity" - [Friedrich] Engels. China knows this, as does the US.
Joseph (Aug 6, '07)

Re Obama talks tough on terror [Aug 3], I have two words to describe [US] Senator Barack Obama's remarks: "utterly idiotic". [They] reflected his inexperience, immaturity, impetuosity and inherent declivity in reaching intelligent decisions. He must have disappointed many of his supporters by playing a war-fatigued and universally hated filthy card to win cheap credence and hawkish votes. I should imagine that he has irredeemably damaged his nomination prospects and would be shunned by many Democrats for his belligerent and bellicose exposure. He [would do better to stick to] his own origin and roots and concentrate on getting their votes. It is always advisable to keep one's mouth shut on something unfamiliar rather than making a fool of oneself with primitive proclivity. Did he ever study international law and if the Americans should trust him with his fingers on the red button?
Saqib Khan
UK (Aug 6, '07)

I refer to Paul Mooney's letter [about] A fake story about fake buns [Aug 1] in defense of journalists in China. This is laudable but in doing so, he derisively [implied] that China, with its "history of lying", is a despicable nation that lies through its teeth. But what other nations do not lie when it concerns their integrity and interest? If history is any indication, China pales in comparison to the two greatest lying nations the world has ever produced, the USA and the UK - especially with their phony "Iraqi WMD [weapons of mass destruction]" story, which has also made me "disappointed to see so many people in the media accepting the government line". However, unlike the fake-buns story, this fabricated pretext for the Iraqi invasion has killed and is still killing hundreds of thousands and still displacing/affecting millions of others. It will affect Paul too (with such an Anglo name), if their Iraqi debacle follows the path of the Soviets' Afghan folly.
Walter Tseng
Hong Kong (Aug 6, '07)

Korean hostage crisis pressures US, Karzai (Jul 31) was precipitated by naive adults. It was impossible for both the Korean and the Afghan government authorities to ban their [Korean volunteers subsequently taken hostage] travels, activities and subsequent misfortunes. Perhaps one measure to prevent future incidents will be to require similar well-meaning but idiotic feel-good groups to buy personal danger insurance, payable to the government that has to spend money and effort to secure their release or to send their bodies home. The insurance industry will be the best authority to evaluate risk.
Kelvin Mok (Aug 6, '07)

Re reply by ATol to my letter (Jul 30) and your subsequent reply [Aug 2]: So you are saying you have one rule for your readers and another for your article writers? Wrong is wrong: if it is wrong for your readers to mock other faiths while praising their own, it should apply to your writers also. In fact, as a general rule it should apply to everyone. Saying that Spengler is popular is like inviting a KKK [Ku Klux Klan] member to write some articles, I am sure he or she will be very "popular". If you still persist in this, why not invite writers of other faiths to do the same? I am sure the Hindus will decline; we are taught to respect other faiths.
Jayant Patel (Aug 6, '07)

There is a line over which no one, reader or writer (including Spengler) is permitted to tread. It's impossible to define this line clearly, as it is not possible to know what various readers consider to be insulting. Thus the line is a subjective one. Nevertheless, it exists, and the editors know where it is. - The Editor

Have missed Chan Akya's commentaries. Is he on assignment or vacation?
Armand De Laurell (Aug 6, '07)

The latter. He'll be back soon. - ATol

ASEAN [the Association of Southeast Asian Nations] has a new charter that contains a brave new deal on human rights along with a new human rights committee. Much has been made of these developments in the media, although it seems pretty obvious that they are just so much window-dressing whose only purpose is to appease the West. In reality, these changes are neutralized by ASEAN's overriding and sacrosanct article of non-interference in the internal affairs of the member states. As such, the human rights committee is just so much more bureaucratic mass and the human-rights declaration just so much more alphabet soup, because these articles are not enforceable to any degree whatsoever. ASEAN can bark but it can't bite. If it could, it would have found a solution by now to the annual haze problem that plagues the region.
Cha-am Jamal
Thailand (Aug 6, '07)

In Sung-Yoon Lee's article Peace or appeasement with Pyongyang? [Aug 2], Mr Lee seems to want the US to not sign a peace treaty with the North Koreans and to end its policies of appeasement with the North. First, any peace treaty with the North is still years away and depends on North Koreans' good behavior that they probably won't be able to continue. The US is not offering "unbridled appeasement", nor are the six-party talks a "formal process for accepting North Korea as a nuclear power" as Mr Lee claims. So far, for the price of 50,000 [tonnes] of heavy oil (not the good stuff), North Korea has sealed its reactor at Yongbyon and is thus not making any more plutonium for bombs; that is a good deal, not a "token gesture" as Mr Lee claims. The problem is not the US but China and, far more important, South Korea. South Korea has given billions [of US dollars] in aid to the North and gotten next to nothing in return. The main reason that the South gives this aid is not nuclear blackmail, but the South's fear of the North's collapse. The South Koreans know they will go bankrupt for 30-50 years, spending hundreds of billions of dollars trying to fix the mess that is North Korea and possibly fail in the process. Much easier to spend a few billion propping up North Korea; if millions of North Koreans suffer horribly in the coming years that's their problem, the people of the South need to maintain their lifestyle. North Korea does not need nuclear weapons and they do not make the North more safe; if anything, they add greatly to the danger of a nuclear attack on the North. North Korea cannot be compared to the other nuclear powers that Mr Lee mentions. The Soviet Union got nukes because the US had them. Britain and France got them to try and hang on to their status as great powers. China for the same reason, and also to protect themselves against the Soviet Union. During the border skirmish between China and Russia in 1969, Russia planned to nuke China's nuclear-weapons sites and was stopped when a US general sent out in a coded message the Russian cities that would be nuked in return; the general used a code he knew the Russians had broken. This was a bluff, but it got the Russians to reconsider their actions. India got nukes because China h