India seeks some light in the dark
The power failure that this week brought half of India to a standstill is the
result of energy shortfalls caused by an addiction to over-consumption, with
gadgets such as air-conditioners now seen as essential by the newly prosperous.
The answer isn't India sacrificing its chillers to swelter in ascetic
discomfort, or modern nuclear plants. An alternative to reliance on hydro-power
and imported electricity is needed, with the sun a glaringly obvious candidate.
- Raja Murthy (Aug 1, '12)
THE
ROVING EYE Where is Prince Bandar?
Saudi Arabia's Prince Bandar "Bush", the presumptive orchestrator of "Damascus
Volcano", the failed attempt to obliterate Bashar al-Assad's inner sanctum, has
dropped off the radar. Has Syrian intelligence bumped him off? Or did the
Iranians get their man in a tit-for-tat bombing in Riyadh, where the prince was
newly crowned head of Saudi intel? As the rumor mills hit overdrive in Syria,
the House of Saud is cloaked in silence. - Pepe Escobar
(Aug 1, '12)
Philippines arms itself with
new pacts
The Philippines, faced with renewed assertiveness by China in the South China
Sea and an ambiguous attitude by the United States to military defense ties,
has forged new pacts with Australia and Japan to hedge its bets. With those in
the bag, it will now auction three contested areas for oil and gas exploration.
- George Amurao (Aug 1, '12)
AN ATOL SPECIAL REPORT The myth of a free Hong
Kong economy
Hong Kong has been hailed as the world's freest economy for more than two
decades. Yet the main sectors of the economy are dominated by a few families,
with limited land availability at the heart of their vast wealth. - Eddie Leung
and Pepe Escobar (Aug 1, '12) This is the first article in a three-part report
Race to the bottom in
Malaysia
As the deadline for Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to call a general
election draws ever closer and the economy remains stubbornly sluggish, the
ruling Barisan Nasional coalition is turning to racial politics to secure the
ethnic Malay vote. Persuading well-educated Chinese not to migrate would serve
the country better.
- William Barnes (Aug 1, '12)
Misconceptions fuel Assam tribal
violence
Communal clashes which erupted last week between Bodo tribals and
Bengali-speaking Muslims in India's state of Assam have claimed more than 50
lives. The Bodo, the northeastern plains' oldest tribe, say "illegal migrants"
from Bangladesh are stealing their land, yet the group they target is mostly
Indian Muslims entitled to live in the area.
- Sudha Ramachandran (Aug 1, '12)
SPEAKING FREELY Syria and the end of populism
Before his country's uprising, President Bashar al-Assad predicted that Syria
would be immune to the Arab Spring because his policies were popular among the
Arab masses. Assad failed to understand that the opposition movement has been
motivated by a desire to end perpetual rule and is not a reaction to populism -
failed or otherwise.
- Ahmed E Souaiaia (Aug 1, '12) To submit to
Speaking Freely click
here
Software tycoon reboots Korean politics
A will-he-or-won't-he tale of whether the anti-virus software entrepreneur who
shook up this year's Seoul mayoral election will run for president has gripped
South Korean voters, with political enigma Ahn Cheol-soo emerging as a champion
for young voters disillusioned with old-style politics. Potentially pitted
against Park Geun-hye, daughter of a former military dictator and epitome of
the old guard, Ahn is playing his cards carefully as December approaches. - Steven
Borowiec (Jul 31, '12)
Iran diplomacy hits new
sanctions roadblock
Fresh from Mitt Romney's trip to Israel, Republicans are rushing to push more
sanctions against Iran through the United States Congress by the end of this
week. That clamor for punitive measures, and ongoing efforts to tie Iran to
international terrorism, leave peaceful resolution to the long-standing impasse
over Iran's nuclear program an increasingly dim prospect.
- Jasmin Ramsey (Jul 31, '12)
Indo-Saudi alliance takes on terror
The deportation in June by Saudi Arabia of a key figure in the 2008 Mumbai
attacks marked a major shift by Riyadh away from its long-standing alliance
with Pakistan and toward India. But more than that, it was an indication that
the kingdom has finally recognized its tacit support of Salafist terrorism is a
double-edged sword. Still, Delhi can't take Saudi cooperation for granted. - Animesh
Roul (Jul 31, '12)
Guns
are going
off everywhere
As Americans nationwide were transfixed with round-the-clock coverage of the
Batman shootings in Denver, yet another "documented gang member" was being shot
dead by police in California. This is daily life in less-white, less-suburban
America, yet neither the sensationalist media nor normally statistics-obsessed
authorities bother to track fatalities in police shootings. - Stephan Salisbury
(Jul 31, '12)
SPENGLER The Bush Institute bells the cat
The intractable nature of the US' economic problems are illustrated in the
George W Bush Institute's new collection of essays on restoring growth. Like
mice agreeing that the cat should wear a bell, the need to restore a high
growth rate is common ground. How to get there is represented by diametrically
opposed monetary policies. (Jul 31, '12)
SPEAKING FREELY China: Still lost in translation
In the Age of Knowledge, where the average American or European will draw a
blank if asked to name a single Chinese concept, late-20th and early-21st
century Western "China Studies" are the greatest intellectual property theft of
all time, and another impostor besides the evils of 17th-19th century missions
to Christianize China.
- Thorsten Pattberg (Jul 31, '12) This concludes a two-part report. Part 1:China:
Lost in translation
Syrian wheel of fortune spins China's way
The longer Bashar al-Assad clings to power in an ever more fractious Syria, the
more the United States will have to shrink a super-sized dream for regime
change and the less the Gulf states can count on Syria as a proxy in the battle
with Shi'ite Iraq and Iran. From looking like it misplayed its hand, China is
seeing events spin fortune its way. - Peter Lee
(Jul 27, '12)
THE
ROVING EYE Welcome to the Kurdish
Spring
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has come out all guns blazing after
Assad quietly concluded a deal that handed the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Party
control of key areas in the northeast. This raises prospects for Ankara's worst
nightmare - a semiautonomous region coalescing with Kurds in Iraq - and turns
the Turkish maxim of "zero problems with our neighbors" on its head.
- Pepe Escobar (Jul 27, '12)
Wounded Syrian regime fights
back
As heavy urban fighting in Damascus and Aleppo erodes the cohesion of President
Bashar al-Assad's military and security apparatus and prospects for him
retreating to a "rump state" harboring his Alawite faith fade, the regime
appears fatally damaged. However, neither rebel unity nor a foreign
intervention in Syria seems imminent, and the regime's tactic of offering
greater Kurdish autonomy is unsettling its opponents. - Victor Kotsev
(Jul 27, '12)
SPENGLER Bill
Gross
is half right
on equities
There was some truth in PIMCO managing director Bill Gross's pronouncement that
"stocks are dead". What has changed is not just returns, as Gross observed, but
also the risk adjustment on the returns. The move to risk aversion in equity
valuations has sobering implications.
Oil rulers blind to the future
The rulers of the Middle East oil states have quite clearly failed their
citizens by supporting an incredible inequality of benefits from the depletion
of the capital locked up in oil, while also failing to diversify their
economies to provide for the future.
This is the 11th article in a special series on oil and the Persian Gulf.
THE BEAR'S LAIR Confidence drains away
Investor confidence in several European countries is draining away to an extent
that insolvency events may occur to produce a global depression of 1930s
magnitude. It is also clear the authorities have little idea of what to do when
it happens. - Martin Hutchinson
CREDIT BUBBLE BULLETIN Monetary madness
European Central Bank president Mario Draghi and European policymakers last
week hit the panic button, burning once more those with bearish hedges and
bets. Global monetary injections are ensuring only that more "money" flows to
the global leveraged speculating community. Doug Noland looks at the previous week's events each Monday.
TONY ALLISON (1953-2012)
Asia Times Online's Editor-in-Chief Anthony Allison died on June 20 after a
short illness. We extend our sympathy to Tony's family for their tragic and
premature loss. Obituary Tributes
China
fishes in Russian waters
Friendship between China and Russia is determined by the overall strategic
situation instead of some individual incidents...
- M K Bhadrakumar
[Re Small peninsula
shapes global history, Jul 26, '12] The Korean War began as a civil
conflict but soon became dominated by a US-led UN coalition and China sent in
volunteers to prevent any hostile US-dominated presence on its borders. Today,
China's backing of North Korea is still based on that strategic goal.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam
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THE
ROVING EYE
To submit to
Speaking Freely 
A will-he-or-won't-he tale of whether the anti-virus software entrepreneur who
shook up this year's Seoul mayoral election will run for president has gripped
South Korean voters, with political enigma Ahn Cheol-soo emerging as a champion
for young voters disillusioned with old-style politics. Potentially pitted
against Park Geun-hye, daughter of a former military dictator and epitome of
the old guard, Ahn is playing his cards carefully as December approaches. - Steven
Borowiec (Jul 31, '12)
SPENGLER
The rulers of the Middle East oil states have quite clearly failed their
citizens by supporting an incredible inequality of benefits from the depletion
of the capital locked up in oil, while also failing to diversify their
economies to provide for the future.
