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Asia Times

India slips Myanmar a nudge and a wink

Myanmar's Senior General Than Shwe rounded off a five-day visit to India on Thursday after securing pacts that will boost security and economic cooperation between the countries, while also receiving US$70 million in grants. The red carpet laid out for the junta's leader is a sign of Delhi's decision to ...

Posted on July 29, 2010 at 12:00 PM

Vietnam hedges its China risk

While Vietnam's Communist Party leadership is deeply ambivalent about getting too close to Washington, there is a growing realization that the United States is essential to counter-balancing China's rise. Vietnam is also using its influence as one of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to create ...

Posted on July 29, 2010 at 12:00 PM

China and Taiwan: In war we trust

Trade ties may deepen, visitor numbers may enlarge, and calls may grow for both sides across the Taiwan Strait to formally end six decades of war. All recent signs show however that amid the buildup of firepower trained at each other, China's and Taiwan's militaries are still light-years away from ...

Posted on July 29, 2010 at 12:00 PM

US accused of raising Afghan militias

Village chiefs in the Shindand district of Afghanistan's Herat province say the "Village Stability Program" run by the United States is creating private militias, while the US says the scheme only provides limited training to volunteers. For the Taliban it's simple, anyone "collaborating" with the enemy will pay the price. ...

Posted on July 29, 2010 at 12:00 PM

Lee's chance to steer a new course

Northeast Asia after the Cheonan affair is more volatile than it has been since the end of the Cold War. With North Korea off the hook, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has lost the most. A reversal of his policy toward Pyongyang would stem the loss and, more importantly, could ...

Posted on July 29, 2010 at 12:00 PM

Niqab debate unveils Syria's secular past

A possible ban on the niqab at Syrian universities has reawakened a long-running tussle between conservatives and moderates that began during the country's secular awakening early in the 20th century. Proponents of the ban point proudly to a modern history of female emancipation and say that the face veil is ...

Posted on July 29, 2010 at 12:00 PM

INTERVIEW : An ancient vision

Pakistan has taken a lot of heat since thousands of classified United States military documents were leaked to the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks, with some Pakistani officials even accusing Washington of trying to smear the country. Julian Assange, the site's founder, puts the record straight. (Jul 29, '10)

Posted on July 29, 2010 at 12:00 PM

SKS sale draws negative interest

George Soros-backed SKS Finance, which makes money by lending small sums to India's poorest businesses, is raising US$347 million through an initial public offering. That offends critics who baulk at the profits created by the 30% interest rates that go with such loans. - Raja Murthy

Posted on July 29, 2010 at 12:00 PM

Higher pay no deterrent in China

Chinese workers' demands for higher wages are not deterring Japanese companies from maintaining production facilities in China, although it was low labor costs that initially attracted them to the country. Now they see the increased spending power of consumers as an incentive to become more deeply involved in the economy. ...

Posted on July 29, 2010 at 12:00 PM

Moscow faces energy challenge

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is pressing for the country to improve its energy efficiency. Yet with US$92 billion needed merely to upgrade the aging power grid, the cost will be high - and private investment likely to be scarce. - Sergei Blagov

Posted on July 29, 2010 at 12:00 PM

The Volcker-Bernanke puzzle

As Federal Reserve chairman, Paul Volcker got the US economy out of 11-12% unemployment by pushing money market rates to 19%. Present chairman Ben Bernanke proposes to get people back to work by keeping interest rates at near zero. If Bernanke succeeds, then it implausibly means that both extreme methods ...

Posted on July 29, 2010 at 12:00 PM

THE MOGAMBO GURU : Oil is the future

If a rise in demand for oil and a rise in the inflation-driven price of oil do not provide enough reason to invest in oil then surely the increasing problem of supplying the stuff should persuade anyone to pour their money into the black stuff - unless it is already ...

Posted on July 29, 2010 at 12:00 PM

Deep undercurrents stir the Middle East

While the lack of loud threats and military maneuvers in the Middle East suggests that an Israeli strike on Iran is no longer imminent, the intrigue and chess moves taking place across Israel, Gaza, Lebanon and Egypt mean this is more likely a deceptive calm, intended to allow for some ...

Posted on July 28, 2010 at 12:00 PM

US goes fishing for trouble

China's ambiguous expression of the South China Sea as a "core interest" adds to evidence that it has been unable to summon the fortitude to pursue a reasonable resolution of conflicting claims. Once more into the diplomatic breach steps the United States. - Peter Lee (Jul 28, '10)

Posted on July 28, 2010 at 12:00 PM

SINOGRAPH : US toe-dipping muddies South China Sea

With its announcement last week that disputes over the highly sensitive South China Sea are a "leading diplomatic priority", Washington muddied already complex waters for Beijing. Yet a US presence is desirable for China as it could act as a neutral referee to ease territorial claims that have the potential ...

Posted on July 28, 2010 at 12:00 PM

Plan B for Afghanistan

The United States could carry on fighting an increasingly problematic war in Afghanistan against the Taliban, planning for a withdrawal that might be endlessly delayed, or it could consider another option. The US and its allies could pull out from the Pashtun regions in the south and east and concentrate ...

Posted on July 28, 2010 at 12:00 PM

Thousands of reasons to leave

The many thousands of leaked United States military documents concerning the war in Afghanistan support the view of insufficient American and allied forces fighting a capable enemy on its home ground and a Pakistan positioning itself for the inevitable outcome. While this reality is not shocking or new, the documents ...

Posted on July 28, 2010 at 12:00 PM

DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA : The opposites game

The Pentagon will buy some Russian, not American, helicopters so that special forces can "cloak" the fact they are American. No congressional representatives have gotten upset; no pundits have written editorials; and no reporters have yet followed it up. Historically, imperial powers consider every strange thing they do more or ...

Posted on July 28, 2010 at 12:00 PM

Ground Zero of Imperial Japan's germ war

Japan plans to excavate what is believed to be a mass grave in Tokyo thought to contain victims of biological warfare tests carried out by the Imperial Army's Unit 731. The gruesome discovery has re-awakened talk of a US cover up of war crimes after World War II, and the ...

Posted on July 28, 2010 at 12:00 PM

Nazarbaev faults Europe on Nabucco

Nursultan Nazarbaev, president of natural gas-rich Kazakhstan, has thrown his weight behind the Nabucco pipeline, and used a visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to question why Europe, eventual terminal of the proposed pipeline, is dragging its feet on the project. - Robert M Cutler

Posted on July 28, 2010 at 12:00 PM