Hawks still link Taliban to al-Qaeda
The relationship between Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and the Taliban has been a central issue in White House discussions on Afghanistan strategy that began last month, with security officials insisting that Afghan insurgent groups have "much closer ties to al-Qaeda now than they did before 9/11". - Gareth Porter (Oct 14, '09)

Obama beset by America's far right
Neo-conservative heavyweights are working overtime to paint United States President Barack Obama's foreign policy as designed to weaken and constrain American power by abandoning the more aggressive policies of his predecessor, George W Bush. The Nobel committee's decision to honor Obama, they say, only hastens America's decline. - Jim Lobe (Oct 14, '09)

SINOGRAPH

China's rockers too pampered for politics
Unlike trailblazers from the 1990s, who sung fiery political anthems and faced harsh censorship, young rock bands in today's China are indifferent to politics, with introspection, veganism and day jobs more common than angst. These children of the urban elite know they should be rebelling against something, but their lifestyles are just too comfortable to risk. - Alice Liu (Oct 13, '09)

CREDIT BUBBLE BULLETIN
Dollar dilemma
Continued weakness in the US dollar is being met by calls for Washington to implement a true strong-dollar policy, such as by increasing interest rates or trimming the country's federal deficit. Yet, such restraint is just not going to happen. Rather, central banks will be pressured to buy a lot more dollars. (Oct 13, '09)
Doug Noland looks at the previous week's events each Monday.

THE BEAR'S LAIR
When money is worthless
The increasing attraction to hedge funds of physical commodities as an investment rather than commodity futures raises the specter of supply shortages, severe disruptions to industries, and worse. - Martin Hutchinson

Pakistan warns India to 'back off'
New Delhi has the capacity to play a decisive role in crushing the Taliban insurgency, which is what makes the Pakistani military establishment extremely anxious in the developing political scenario on the Afghan chessboard. When the Taliban struck the Indian embassy in Kabul on Thursday, killing 17 people, the timing may have been coincidence, maybe not. - M K Bhadrakumar (Oct 9, '09)

Gaza report seals Abbas' political fate
The United Nations report on the 2008-2009 Gaza
War wasn't well received by the United States or Israel, which call it one-sided. What was more unexpected was an about-face by President Mahmud Abbas' Palestinian National Authority to seek deferral of a UN debate on the findings. The news has ripped through the Arab world, destroying any remaining credibility he had. - Sami Moubayed (Oct 9, '09)

INTERVIEW
Hizbut Tahrir's view on Lebanese politics
The trans-national and pan-Islamic party Hizbut Tahrir was founded in 1953 in Palestine to re-establish the Islamic Caliphate that collapsed in 1924. Since then the party has spread all over the Muslim world and is now estimated to have hundreds of thousands of members. Osman Bakhach, deputy chairman of Hizbut Tahrir's Executive Committee, explains why the idea of Muslim unity may be unstoppable. - Mahan Abedin (Oct 9, '09)

IAEA's not-so-secret satellite game
Iran's decision to reject a protocol enabling the International Atomic Energy Agency to conduct spot inspections of its nuclear sites means enforcing safeguard agreements will become more risky and more satellite-driven. Israel's desire to engage India's space-based surveillance assets is also likely to intensify. - Peter J Brown (Oct 9, '09)

Beijing hires a media guru
As part of its modernization efforts, the Chinese Communist Party has recruited a once-famed news anchor as its top media advisor. A lot has changed since the crisis was met with silence and falsehoods. The party has perhaps realized that being an international player involves demonstrating some transparency. - Cristian Segura (Oct 9, '09)

Kabul 2009: War of the Worlds redux
Sometimes it takes 66 pages to tell the story of a foreign invasion - as in the case of Afghan War commander General Stanley McChrystal's recent report to the United States Congress. Sometimes a century old novel can do the trick. H G Wells' 1898 sci-fi classic The War of the Worlds, old as it is, offers a rare example of how Afghans may see the high-tech American war machine. - Tom Engelhardt (Oct 9, '09)

BOOK REVIEW
Short-changing China's century
The Empire of Lies by Guy Sorman
This book penetrates the interior of China, touching on areas too-often overlooked, such as poverty, human rights, and archaic governance. But it fails to note how far the nation has come this century, its pulse of progress in developing regions and subtle changes in leadership, and the analysis suffers as a result. - Benjamin Shobert (Oct 9, '09)

Dollar exit for oil trade?
A further shadow has been cast over the future of the US dollar on reports that Arab oil producers and customers including China and Japan may
soon use other means of settling their huge fuel accounts. - F William Engdahl (Oct 8, '09)

Heads or tails, Obama loses
Proponents in the United States of an increased counter-insurgency (COIN) in Afghanistan want more troops. Those favoring a focus on counter-terrorism want to maintain force levels while stepping up special operations. President Barack Obama will be damned whichever option he chooses; perhaps he'd best flip a coin. - Jim Lobe (Oct 8, '09)

INTERVIEW
The 'perfect' quake this way comes
The 7.9-magnitude earthquake that struck the west coast of Sumatra island on September 30 and killed more than 1,000 people was nothing compared to the mammoth quake scientists predict for the area in the relatively near future. The geological deck is stacked against the region, explains Sumatran tectonics expert Richard Briggs, and local government apathy isn't helping. - Charles McDermid (Oct 8, '09)

THE ROVING EYE
Stuck in Kabul, with Saigon blues again
What is now being performed for Washington galleries is the dance of the generals by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, National Security Adviser retired General Jim Jones and top man in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal. The Pentagon and its experts argue the US should "Afghanize" the war - but the staggering financial black hole is just getting bigger as the US slouches towards "Chaos-istan". - Pepe Escobar (Oct 7, '09)