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China
tangled up in industrial espionage
Hot-button issues under the headline "Chinese government engages in industrial
espionage to rip off US companies" are set to rattle relations in the run-up to
the US presidential election after alleged attempts by a state-run group to
grab a secret of chemical giant DuPont. The murky case has its origins in the
explosive growth in China of the pigment that makes things "whiter than white".
- Peter Lee (Feb 10, '12)
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 THE
ROVING EYE
The return of the
Keyboard
Warriors
For right-wing America, Iran in 2012 is the new Iraq circa 2002. Whatever their
route - real men go to Tehran via Damascus, or real men go to Tehran non-stop -
the Keyboard Warriors now populating the media with their fallacies and
imperial disdain don't just want neo-conservative revolt: they want a war, and
they want it now. - Pepe Escobar (Feb 10,
'12)
Okinawans see duplicity in US
withdrawal
The United States has agreed to shift 4,700 marines from Okinawa to Guam
without insisting on the construction of a fiercely opposed airbase on Okinawa.
However, despite the US's strategic realignment in the Asia-Pacific and planned
defense cuts, islanders know Washington is unwilling to completely scrap the
airbase plan.
- Kosuke Takahashi (Feb 10,
'12)
9/11 REVISITED
Was Saudi Arabia involved?
In one of the "most troubling aspects" of the circumstances surrounding the
attacks of September 11, 2001, the Central Intelligence Agency's Bin Laden unit
did not tell anyone that "muscle" hijackers, Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf
al-Hazmi, were in the country. Maybe Saudi Arabia has an explanation.
- Paul Church (Feb 10, '12)
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North Korean ordeal haunts US
activist
Korean-American activist Robert Park, held by North Korea for weeks in 2010
after smuggling himself in on a religious mission, is as furious at his
treatment by Seoul's media as he is with his captors. Denying media reports of
sexual abuse, Park is not revealing exactly what provoked a "false confession".
However, he plans to sue Pyongyang in the US courts over "torture".
- Donald Kirk (Feb 10, '12)
Abandoned on the Thai border
As international aid organizations working in refugee camps in Thailand weigh
up whether to cross into Myanmar to work directly with the reforming
government, funding for programs on the still volatile border is under threat.
Their premature departure will likely worsen conditions for more than 140,000
Thailand-based refugees.
- Roberto Tofani (Feb 10, '12) |
 BOOK
REVIEW
Decoding Obama's
Iran policy
A Single Roll of the Dice: Obama's Diplomacy with Iran by Trita
Parsi
An intricate study of how President Barack Obama's Iran policy evolved, this
book relates how campaign pledges to reach out crumbled under the weight of
Israeli and Saudi pressure, and from disillusionment following Iran's 2009
election crackdown. The book reveals top Israeli officials' doubts that a
nuclear strike would ever be launched, with Israel's aggressive stance based on
maintaining its Palestinian territories and aura of invincibility.
- Brian M Downing (Feb 10, '12)
SPEAKING FREELY
Nepal: law and order denied
Nepal witnessed very grave human rights violations during a decade of conflict,
and even after five years of peacemaking no attention has been paid to innocent
victims and their families. Cheap political compromises that block the route to
justice and a culture of impunity must give way to truth and reparation to end
a vicious cycle of lawlessness.
- Gyan Basnet (Feb 10, '12)
 To submit to
Speaking Freely click
here.
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The master plan for Myanmar
The reforms in Myanmar praised by Western diplomats were made public in 2003 as
the "Roadmap to Discipline-Flourishing Democracy". In private, a "master plan"
set out how the military would deal with the United States, break away from
China's grasp, and keep the generals in power. From ceasefires to the release
of Aung San Suu Kyi, the regime planned exactly which buttons to press to get
the West onside. - Bertil Lintner (Feb 9,
'12)
Muslim 'terror threat' belied
by numbers
A United States study on domestic terrorism has registered a sharp drop in
Muslim Americans implicated in plots in 2011, defying dire warnings that the US
last year faced its greatest threat since 2001. The report, which notes that
America's Muslim minority has a very low degree of radicalization, coincides
with official admissions that Washington exaggerated al-Qaeda's strength
following 9/11.
- Jim Lobe (Feb 9, '12)
China's liberals keep the flame alive
The influence in China of reformist intellectuals has been on the wane ever
since the Tiananmen Square crackdown. Yet it is significant that remnant
liberals both in and out of the party have in the past several months staged a
vigorous campaign to hold aloft the flickering flame of reform. Nationally
known figures are patrons of their debates. - Willy Lam
(Feb 9, '12)
Turmoil deepens bleak Tehran
winter
As the winter mercury slumps and pollution hovers over Tehran, it's not the
smog but deteriorating standards of living and the feeling that the world is
conspiring against them that has Iranians most vexed. A currency crisis
continues to grip the city and hope is absent - not so the supply of kidneys
from financially stricken donors. - Jason Rezaian
(Feb 9, '12)
Hiatus in European debate on
Iran
The conspicuous absence of debate over Persian Gulf tensions at last week's
Munich Security Conference underlines Europe's acquiescence to America on Iran.
While failing to consider the mutual benefits of a European-Iranian security
dialogue, leaders also seem blind to a reorientation in US defense policy that
could cost the continent dearly in blood and treasure. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Feb 9, '12)
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The Russian winter of
discontent
With Moscow's faith in Washington's "reset" shattered by the Libyan bombing
campaign, Russia is strengthening its pivot towards Northeast Asia. China is
the important partner in economic and foreign affairs, while regional allies
are needed to help extract vital gas supplies from the East Siberian
permafrost. However, the key piece to the Eurasian puzzle is North Korea.
- Yong Kwon (Feb 9, '12)
SPEAKING FREELY
Syria: another US stepping
stone
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shies from Bush-era talk of a
"coalition of the willing", but the rallying call to promote a political
transition in Syria cannot be clearer. The fates of Libya and Syria could not
be more similar. Deep in economic crisis, the US and Europe are looking to
regenerate capitalism through widespread war with the developing countries
before being ready for war with Russia and China.
- Ardeshir Ommani (Feb 9, '12)
India pivots, and pivots again
India is in a political bind. While its ruling class favors a close assignation
with the United States of the kind that fostered India's development as a
nuclear power, the US demands too much. Close relations with China and healthy
communication to build trust in South Asia and Iran are the imperative, yet
India is under pressure to turn once again as American pushes for it to take
imports of Iranian oil off the energy menu.
- Vijay Prashad (Feb 8, '12)
Hong Kong clash stirs the pot for
Taiwan
As relations between people in Hong Kong and mainlanders in the city plummet,
Taiwanese have reason for concern that the same social frictions could mar
developing ties. Yet as Beijing and Taipei close ranks, the conditions that
have stirred intense feelings among Hongkongers towards their mainland brethren
are far from being present to embitter the strengthening cross-strait brew. - Jens
Kastner (Feb 8, '12)
THE ROVING EYE
Syria and those
'disgusting'
BRICS
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the double veto on
Syria by Russia and China a "travesty", while US ambassador to the UN Susan
Rice says it was "disgusting". Now it's time to get on with Plan B - to plunge
Syria into civil war.
- Pepe Escobar (Feb 6, '12)
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 CHAN
AKYA
Debt,
cash and bonfires
As a deal on Greek's debt is reached - or perhaps not - debt frenzy has caught
on in Europe, with a billion in bail-out money available for every outstretched
hand. No one wants to listen to the Germans speaking sense, but the Hungarians,
demonstrating the likely consequences, have found a new way to keep warm.
China-Canada boost ties
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, whose country runs a huge trade deficit
with China, has signed a foreign investment agreement in Beijing that may
encourage smaller Canadian firms to set up shop in China. A US$1 billion fund
will facilitate Chinese investment in Canadian resource companies. - Robert M
Cutler
Microsoft in burnish mode
Software giant Microsoft is preparing to present a burnished version of its
operating system, with changes for the forthcoming Windows 8 OS representing
the largest overhaul of the platform since Windows 95.
Martin J Young surveys the week's developments in computing, science,
gaming and gizmos.
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CREDIT BUBBLE BULLETIN
Price instability
The US economic recovery and a pledge to keep interest rates low provide great
incentive for believers and non-believers to jump into the market.
Policymakers' efforts to avoid a system blowup have created a backdrop
conducive to a speculative blow-off. (Feb 6, '12)
Doug Noland looks at the previous week's events each Monday.
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India
signals long-term partnership with Iran
India figured as Iran’s number one crude oil customer in January. That may be
difficult to believe but it is indeed a statement of fact. Actually, India
stepped up its imports of Iranian oil by 37.5 percent, which helped Iran offset
a 50 percent cut in Chinese purchases...
- M K Bhadrakumar
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