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AN ASIA TIMES ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
Taliban eat into Afghanistan's core
Even as several tracks of peace talks with the Taliban open up, Asia Times
Online has learned that senior members of the Western-trained and financed
Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police plan to defect with vast
numbers of their colleagues to the militants once foreign forces start to leave
the country.
- Hamza Ameer and Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud
(Feb 3, '12)
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Rants and raves for new US
pullout plan
The surprise decision to phrase out a combat role for US troops in Afghanistan
by mid-2013 has drawn mixed reaction in Washington, with critics of the 11-year
international occupation cheering and neo-cons and other hawks assessing that
the strategy will open the door to Kabul for the Taliban. - Jim Lobe
(Feb 3, '12)
THE ROVING EYE
Exposed: The Arab agenda in
Syria
Washington, London and Paris are falling over themselves to assure the real
international community that the "Arab-led drive to secure a peaceful end to
the 10-month crackdown" in Syria at the United Nations is not seeking another
mandate for bombing a la Libya. But BRICS members Russia and China see it for
what it is: no less than a crude drive for regime change.
- Pepe Escobar (Feb 3, '12)
Question time for North Korea
North Korea reportedly is producing middle-range missiles for export for Iran's
defense in the event of a Middle East war that would make the conflicts in Iraq
and Afghanistan look like brush fires. Closer to home, Pyongyang has fired off
a series of questions to South Korea that are not necessarily expected to be
answered.
- Donald Kirk (Feb 3, '12)
From sex to shame, a guru's
legacy
Squabbling among followers of late spiritual guru Acharya Rajneesh over a
US$7.1 million land deal has escalated in the Indian courts, while visitors to
the "sex to super-consciousness" guru's ashram are falling due to exorbitant
pricing. The materialism on display seems far removed from the days of "free
love" and transcendental meditation.
- Sudha Ramachandran (Feb 3, '12) |
Hidden hand, clean hand in
Russian politics
Over seven decades after Joseph Stalin's Great Purge, his star is rising,
particularly among younger Russians for whom the dictator is a symbol of strong
and clean hands. Most Russians suspect the hands of everyone contending for
political power to be hidden, weak and corrupt. Russians think they can grasp
what Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's hands can do - and are loathe to trust the
devils they don't know.
- John Helmer (Feb 3, '12)
Nightmare at Narita
The deportation and arrest of foreign journalists in Japan has raised
suspicions Tokyo is punishing foreigners critical of its response to the
Fukushima nuclear crisis, with the apparently harsh interrogation, detention
and deportation procedures at Narita Airport adding to the controversy.
First-hand experience suggests the airport's immigration agency is acting as a
law unto itself. - Christopher Johnson (Feb
3, '12)
 BOOK
REVIEW
LeT: Terror incorporated
The Caliphate's Soldiers: The Lashkar-e-Tayyeba's Long War by Wilson
John
With thousands of recruitment and training centers across Pakistan, funds
pouring in from the Gulf and links from Nepal to Sri Lanka, Lashkar-e-Toiba has
flourished since the Mumbai attacks of November 2008. Detailing LeT's growth
into "the world's most powerful and resourceful terror consultancy firm" -
including a Department of Martyrs - this book offers an excellent primer on
LeT's global ambitions.
- Surinder Kumar Sharma (Feb 3, '12)
SPEAKING FREELY
Lest we forget in Myanmar
Optimistic reports of positive change flow freely from Myanmar, as the
president portrays himself as a leader who sincerely wants to improve citizens'
livelihoods, alleviate poverty and include the oppressed opposition in the
political process. But the West blindly supports the shallow democratic
transition, and increasingly runs the rising risk of being on the wrong side of
history.
- Nancy Hudson-Rodd (Feb 3, '12)
 To submit to
Speaking Freely click
here.
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Egypt caught in spiral of disaster
The fairy tale of a new Egyptian order is spiraling from the dizzy heights of a
year ago and deeper into nightmare, with 74 senseless deaths in a clash between
rival soccer fans coming in the wake of a brawl between members of the secular
opposition and the Muslim Brotherhood. These and other odd and violent events
emphasize the unpredictability of the times, and stir suspicions of an
invisible hand behind the trouble. - Victor Kotsev
(Feb 2, '12)
TARGET IRAN
US tells Israelis it won't join
their fight
In an unexpectedly low-key visit, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
General Martin Dempsey has explicitly warned Israel's leadership that the US
won't defend Israel if it unilaterally strikes Iran. However, Israel knows it
can count on the US right-wing to pressurize Washington into falling in line
over an attack, particularly in an election year.
- Gareth Porter (Feb 2, '12)
 THE
ROVING EYE
Fear and loathing
in the
American Gulf
In roughly one month, no less than three US aircraft carriers and their strike
groups will be sloshing around the American Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the
Arabian Sea. The only good thing among all this weaponized orgy is that Tehran
and Washington are still talking - sort of - using the proverbial back
channels. - Pepe Escobar
Echoes of war across the South
Caucasus
As the drums of war against Iran grow ever louder, the beat echoes in the South
Caucasus, where Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia have compelling - albeit vastly
different - reasons for fearing conflict in the Persian Gulf; a confluence of
regional events could lead to "a potentially explosive situation".
- Nicholas Clayton (Feb 2, '12)
Call for 'more credible' US
military threat
Iran is "two to six months" from a nuclear bomb and the Barack Obama
administration is failing to convince Tehran it will act militarily to prevent
this, a task force has complained. Recommending a surgical strike and the
deployment of US Special Forces if economic sanctions fail, the report comes
amid increasingly contradictory signals from Israel and Washington over the
likelihood of an attack. - Jim Lobe (Feb 2,
'12) |
Despair in the air at Davos
The absence of heavy hitters from China at Davos this year did not prevent the
West's movers and shakers clamoring for Chinese assistance in bailing out
capitalism - ignoring the point that capitalism is in fact stronger, freer and
more powerful than ever. - Peter Lee (Feb 2,
'12)
A dragon dance in the Negev
Bedouins of the Negev will soon witness a Chinese-built railway line snake its
way through the desert to the Mediterranean and Levant Basin oil and gas
reserves. The "Med-Red" plan is symbolic of China's bold Middle East advance on
three tracks: Iran, Gulf states and Israel. The geopolitical implications are
profound and pose unsolvable riddles for other outside powers. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Feb 1, '12)
No exit in the Persian Gulf
The Strait of Hormuz standoff is not just about oil, with the United States
viewing its Gulf dominance as a last expression of its superpower status and
Iran's influence in Iraq intensifying its thirst for regional power. Throw in
the domestic pressures of President Barack Obama's re-election bid and Tehran's
need to distract from economic conditions, and there seems little chance of
avoiding war. - Michael T Klare (Feb 1, '12)
PHOTO ESSAY
Inside free Syria
In northern Syria, close to the border with Turkey, Free Syrian Army fighters
slog through dense mud after days of rain and snowfall in a purely defensive
manner to assist defecting regime soldiers and the odd refugee who manages to
make it into their protection.
- Derek Henry Flood (Jan 31, '12)
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Iran well prepared for the worst
Iran has been preparing for a possible military confrontation with the United
States for decades and instead of engaging in a direct military competition,
which would be pitting its weaknesses against US strengths, it has developed an
asymmetric "hybrid" strategy that mixes advanced technology with guerilla
tactics to deny US forces access to bases and maritime freedom of maneuver. - David
Isenberg (Jan 30'12)
 SPENGLER
How America made
its children crazy
American children do not read; they surf. They do not write; they text. And
when they fail to concentrate, we prescribe drugs that only harm them - drugs
can't be found in pharmacies in China, where perseverance and classical music
are the order of the day. If China replaces the US as the pre-eminent world
power, America will only have itself to blame for handing kids over to quacks
and computers. (Jan 30'12)
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$1 bn
shale-gas deal sweetens Beijing trip by Canada's Harper
PetroChina's estimated US$1 billion purchase of a stake in a Canadian shale-gas
project sets the tone for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's visit to Beijing next
week. China's urgent desire to exploit its own vast unconventional gas reserves
dovetails nicely with Canada's technological know-how and willingness to do
business. - Robert M Cutler
Factory owners mourn
Mazar-e-Sharif
clean-up
Mazar-e-Sharif residents are increasingly able to breathe fresh air and walk
clean, tree-lined streets in the northern Afghan city as authorities force
factories out of the center and ban old, high-emission vehicles - to the
consternation of taxi drivers, factory owners and their workers. - Ahmad Ramin
Delasa
Facebook heads for IPO
Social networking giant Facebook has at last moved towards selling its shares
to the public, seeking to raise a possible US$5 billion. The sale would propel
27-year-old co-founder Mark Zuckerberg to the top ranks of rich folk, with a
$28 billion stake.
Martin J Young surveys the week's developments in computing, science,
gaming and gizmos.
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CREDIT BUBBLE BULLETIN
Bernanke merits a rant
The United States economy is expanding, financial markets are strong and
consumer price inflation is rather undeflationary - yet Federal Reserve
chairman Ben Bernanke is again signaling he is prepared for additional
monetization. If it looks like a bubble, smells like a bubble ...
Doug Noland looks at the previous week's events each Monday.
(Jan 30, '12)
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New
thinking in
India's Iran policy
Finally, India is getting its act together in its Iran policy. The "breaking
news" that India proposes to robustly explore expanding its trade with Iran
signals a new approach to stepping up oil imports from Iran while at the same
time rectifying the imbalance in trade, which heavily favors Iran traditionally
...
- M K Bhadrakumar
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[Re US tells
Israelis it won't join their fight, Feb 2] Iran must feel important
that we use them for propaganda purposes. One thing is clear though, the
enemies of America are not afraid of blood, death, and destruction while
America and its allies seem to be horrified by a couple drop of bloods and a
few dead terrorists.
Ysais Martinez
United States
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