Crisis looms for Myanmar's riven junta With top junta members under investigation for corruption and the health of senior general Than Shwe deteriorating, Myanmar's leadership is in a state of paralysis. But all the while, tension between rival junta factions is building and something will likely give soon, in the form of a mutiny, purge, or palace coup. - Larry Jagan (Mar 26, '08) Unreal Rambo finds an army of fans Rambo averages a record 2.59 killings per minute in his latest cinematic orgy of violence, this time against Myanmar's military regime. As a window into what is really happening inside the conflict-torn country, the film is a failure. All the same, it has struck a chord with the Karen people, whose real war against the regime continues. - Brian McCartan (Mar 26, '08)

The fateful Battle of Baghdad In its five years under American occupation, Baghdad has been transformed from a metropolis into an urban desert, and various American "surges" have proven, in the end, disastrous. For the residents of the battered city, it's an endless wait for the Americans to leave. - Michael Schwartz (Mar 26, '08) Very sick, and not getting better Thousands of doctors have fled Iraq or been killed in the five years since the US invasion. There is a woeful shortage of hospital beds and equipment, and even when patients can dodge the bullets and militias to get to a hospital, most can't afford to pay. The humanitarian situation is one of the world's most critical, a report by the International Committee of the Red Cross concludes. - Alexander Casella (Mar 26, '08)

Will the real Ma please stand up
For years, the Kuomintang's Ma Ying-jeou has been considered an heir to the presidency of Taiwan. Now that he has taken the mantle, with a trail of contradictory campaign promises in his wake, the nation is left to decipher what kind of leader he will become. Ma already has some telling nicknames, among them "Mr Clean", "Mr Teflon" and "Mr Promises, Platitudes and Pablum". - Stephen A Nelson (Mar 26, '08)

India all at sea over US defense ties
A report by an independent watchdog has shot holes through a US$50-million deal the Indian navy inked to acquire the US battleship USS Trenton. The findings run from the ship's toxic leaks to fine print that prohibits it from any offensive action. The controversy has the potential to sink possible big-dollar India-US defense deals. - Siddharth Srivastava (Mar 26, '08)

KEBABBLE
Turkey seeks a
more modern Islam
Turkish highest religious authority has instructed top theologians to re-evaluate the oral traditions relating to the Prophet Mohammad. It's an ambitious attempt at a fundamental revision of the holy texts and Turkey has the capacity to do nothing less than recreate Islam, changing it from a religion whose rules must be obeyed, to one designed to serve the needs of people in a modern secular democracy. - Fazile Zahir (Mar 26, '08)



Tibet, the 'great game' and the CIA
The main beneficiary of the death and destruction in Tibet could be the United States. For Washington and the Central Intelligence Agency, with its deep involvement in the Free Tibet Movement, this is a heaven-sent opportunity to create significant leverage against Beijing, with little risk to American interests. For China, the seriousness with which it is treating the unrest is illustrated by the deployment of a large number of important army units. - Richard M Bennett (Mar 25, '08)

SPENGLER
The mustard seed
in global strategy
With Pope Benedict's baptism of Magdi Allam, a prominent Muslim-born journalist who converted to Catholicism during Easter services, the global agenda is changed through the soul of a single man. Since September 2001, the would-be wizards of Western strategy have tried to conjure variations of Islamic "reform" or "democracy". None of this matters now, as Magdi Allam's case confirms.
(Mar 25, '08)

CAMPAIGN OUTSIDER
Black and white and
barely read at all
US presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama gave an intelligent speech on race relations to the wrong country. America doesn't want to think about much, least of all about a topic on which everyone's already an expert. - Muhammad Cohen (Mar 25, '08)

   What Obama's pastor really said (video)

DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
Bonfire of puppy-tossers, and the beer test
A widely viewed Internet video of a US Marine throwing a cute puppy to its death in a ditch in Iraq has Americans gnashing their teeth at the appalling actions of a native son. It's disturbing stuff, but where's America's all-consuming concern for the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqi humans? It's this dicshotomy that exposes the real reasons for the war, and the real risks that those who advocate its quick conclusion are taking. - Julian Delasantellis (Mar 25, '08)

Pakistan's new leaders target militants
Freshly installed Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani has already made his mark by freeing judges detained last year on President Pervez Musharraf's orders. In dealing with militancy, many expect the government to similarly unravel Musharraf's policies by treading softly. This will not mean an easy ride for al-Qaeda and radical jihadis, however. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 25, '08)

SPEAKING FREELY
China risks caution overkill
CITIC Group's decision to cancel its US$2 billion cross-shareholding deal with Bear Stearns highlights China's new mood of caution on investing in Western banks and may coincide with a rethink regarding its own financial organizations. Yet a return by China to the world of rigid financial sector compartmentalization would be in neither its own nor the global financial system's interests. - Sebastian F Bruck (Mar 25, '08)

THE MOGAMBO GURU
Economic stupidity is no solution
The International Monetary Fund surprises nobody with its call for taxpayers to bail out everybody caught in the subprime crisis. But it's another matter when a Financial Times editorial urges inflation. Don't folk understand that keeping the existing structure intact requires the same degree of economic stupidity all over again? (Mar 25, '08)

Promises and pandas for Taiwan's Ma
Saturday's decisive presidential victory by Kuomintang candidate Ma Ying-jeou was a clear mandate to rule the island and a humbling end for the era of President Chen Shui-bian. But with a sluggish economy, internal party divisions and complex relationships with Beijing and Washington, Ma faces an enormous balancing act. - Ting-I Tsai (Mar 25, '08)

Same game, new rules in Afghanistan
Obituaries for the Taliban's spring offensive are premature, though instead of trying to engage opposition forces head-on, the Taliban will open up new fronts in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. In return, North Atlantic Treaty Organization and United States-led troops will target the Taliban's safe havens straddling the border with Pakistan. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 20, '08)

CHAN AKYA
Why markets love dictators
This week's developments once again highlight the reasons for markets to prefer dictatorships over freewheeling democracies. Clarity in decision-making is more important than preserving the rights of individuals, for the benefit of society at large, as seen by the market reactions to recent political changes in India, Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia and China. (Mar 20, '08)

SEX IN DEPTH
My short time with Tito
It all started innocently enough: a simple research outing to uncover the underworld of Western sex workers in Asia. But then, at the unsubtle urging of an over-bulked Baltic bouncer named Tito, the venture became a tour of the sex trade "circuit". What came out was the naked truth about organized crime, immigration, sex and the story behind some of Asia's most notorious ports of call girls.
William Sparrow writes a weekly column looking at issues relating to sex in Asia. (Mar 20, '08)

Why Spitzer was Bushwhacked
Disgraced New York State governor Eliot Spitzer had cause to feel frisky when he visited Washington in February. As he was paying off a call girl, the press was preparing to run a Spitzer broadside against the world's biggest financial powers and President George W Bush, whom he described as a fugitive from justice and a partner in crime with predator lenders. It was a politically fatal coincidence. - F William Engdahl (Mar 19, '08)

Bernanke running out of bliss room
US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke and his pack of merry pranksters, having given Wall Street yet more interest rate cuts, now have only a few months before they must conjure up other tricks to end the rot in the US economy as rate levels head toward their floor and inflation concerns mount. - Julian Delasantellis (Mar 19, '08)

SUN WUKONG