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Iran makes its mark in Iraq
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad is making the most of his red-carpet
treatment in Iraq, handing out platitudes as well as the offer of a US$1
billion loan. Baghdad's government needs all the support it can get, and plenty
comes from Tehran. What it does not need is Iran's backing of the
al-Qaeda-backed insurgency. But for Iran, this is a separate issue that has
everything to do with Afghanistan. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Mar 3, '08)
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The 'laptop of mass destruction'
The "laptop documents" - 1,000 pages of data allegedly stolen from an Iranian
computer - have been the US's hardest evidence of Iran's supposed intentions to
build a nuclear weapon and an obstacle to the International Atomic Energy
Agency declaring that Iran has resolved all questions about its nuclear
program. Now there are indications the documents were obtained from Israel's
Mossad via a terrorist organization. - Gareth Porter
(Mar 3, '08)
INTERVIEW
Let's talk about bombs
Matthew Bunn, non-proliferation expert
Given Iran's extended period of violating its nuclear safeguards agreement,
says US award-winning Bunn, many countries will probably not accept Tehran's
claim that all of the information that suggests weaponization activities is
fabricated and baseless. Nevertheless, there is still room to negotiate, he
tells Kaveh Afrasiabi. (Mar 3, '08)
Why Arroyo won't go
Besieged with mass protests and allegations of mismanagement and moral
impropriety, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is standing her
ground. Former presidents Corazon Aquino and Joseph Estrada have joined the
calls for her resignation, but with the political, business and religious
forces still aligned behind Arroyo, her downfall will likely need to come
through the courts rather than the streets. - Shawn W Crispin
(Mar 3, '08)
 SPENGLER
Sing, o muse, the
wrath of Michelle
The release of Michelle Obama's undergraduate thesis from Princeton has
revealed more about the woman who could be America's First Lady. Complete with
rage and guilt, it is, among many things, a poignant cry from the heart of a
young black woman from a working-class Chicago home. It also furthers the
supposition that her wrath could keep her husband from the White House.
(Mar 3, '08)
China's cartoon police not amused
The superheroes and cuddly critters of the animated universe face a formidable
foe in China's censors. From Superman to Digimon, the state's media watchdog
has extended a ban on all foreign cartoons from prime time television. It's
Beijing's effort to spur growth in the lagging animation industry, but young
consumers find domestic cartoons dull and childish. - Olivia Chung
(Mar 3, '08) |
China, India play it again for Uncle
Sam
With US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Beijing and Secretary of Defense
Robert Gates in New Delhi, the US's evolving Asian strategy is on display.
Washington is out to convince China and India that each is a privileged partner
of the US's global strategies, a part of which is containing a resurgent
Russia. Beijing has welcomed the US "invitation", but Delhi is convinced the US
is building up Indian capabilities just to make it a counterweight to China. - M
K Bhadrakumar (Feb 29, '08)
Pakistan, US raise militant tempo
Thursday's missile attack by a US Predator drone in the Pakistan tribal areas
has a significance far beyond the dozen or so militants killed. The pilotless
craft was launched from a Pakistani airbase - a first - and the targets were
hit in an Islamic seminary. In the border regions, these madrassas are
widely used by militants to transfer weapons and for meetings - and until now
they have fallen under the intelligence radar. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Feb 29, '08)
Mouth-to-mouth will fail
economies
The US government might yet pull the economy out of the jaws of recession
through the short-term fix of raising spending on the military or the related
disaster capitalism complex. But one way or another, the forces making for
long-term global stagnation are now too heavy to be shaken off by the
equivalent of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. - Walden Bello
(Feb 29, '08)
Medvedev ready for his Russian
moment
 Judging
by his record, the presumptive next president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, can
be expected to pursue a concerted liberalization of politics as the next
logical stage in the country's evolution. He aims to make business in Russia
the most profitable in the world. And in foreign policy, the likely leitmotif
is that security will be enhanced when countries share risk - that is, the West
and Russia should cooperate. - Nicolai N Petro
(Feb 29, '08)
 SEX
IN DEPTH
Cell swingers in Cambodia
From university sweethearts married in Paris to kingpins in the brutal Khmer
Rouge regime in Cambodia, 82-year-old Ieng Sary and his wife Khieu Thirith, 75,
now bide their time in detention awaiting trial for crimes against humanity.
They're in separate cells, and Sary has requested conjugal visits. While the
two await an answer, they could reflect on one of the Khmer Rouge's practices -
separation of man and wife. - William Sparrow
(Feb 29, '08)
THE ROVING EYE
A long road from Kosovo to
Kurdistan
The embrace by Washington of Kosovo's declaration of independence has less to
do with democracy than with hard-nosed pragmatism. The US's biggest foreign
military base since the Vietnam War - Camp Bondsteel - is in Kosovo, and the
region will be home to a US$1.1 billion pipeline that will get oil from the
Caspian Sea ultimately to refineries in the US. Kurds in Iraq, believing Kosovo
to be a precedent for an independent Kurdistan, will be disappointed: the
US-sanctioned Turkish invasion of northern Iraq has seen to that. - Pepe Escobar
(Feb 28, '08)
Ambac bailout may cause crisis
There are solutions to the US financial crisis - the proposed injection of US$3
billion into bond insurer Ambac is not one of them. Prices have to come down,
banks have to be recapitalized, risk premiums have to go up. But with little
interest in tough medicine, we face higher inflation and a substantially weaker
dollar. - Axel Merk (Feb 28, '08)
A sour note in Pyongyang
The music was great, but the New York Philharmonic Orchestra's performance in
the North Korean capital this week was overshadowed by those who did not
attend. Dear Leader Kim Jong-il and his chief nuclear negotiator were
conspicuously absent, sending a message that is reverberating in the echo
chamber of negotiations over Pyongyang's nuclear program and the future of US
relations on the Korean Peninsula. - Donald Kirk
(Feb 28, '08)
IN THE DRAGON'S LAIR
US prowls for China in the
Philippines
With China fast becoming the US's greatest competitor, Washington
needs the Philippines more than ever. Not only is it ideally located, its
government has been far more willing than other Southeast Asian countries to
align itself with the demands of the US. Thus Washington is steadily
transforming and deepening its military presence and intervention in the
Philippines in preparation for any face-off with China. In return, Beijing is
aggressively courting Manila. - Herbert Docena
(Feb 27, '08)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
'The world' according to Washington
According to Anglo-American rules of discourse, "the world" is the political
class of Washington, London and their allies of the moment. For an example,
take the recent killing of Hezbollah doyen Imad Moughniyeh, one of "the most
wanted militants in the world". But, if "the world" adopted the perspective of
the real world, other criminals would be worthy of the epithet "wanted the
world over". - Noam Chomsky (Feb 27, '08)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
Booby-trapping the economy
If George W Bush left office next week, he could regard himself among the best
of those outgoing presidents whose successors have to take the rap for the
economic mess they inherit. But the 2009 president may just attack Bush's
legacy head on. - Martin Hutchinson (Feb 27, '08)
 CAMPAIGN
OUTSIDER
Ding-dong, the witch is
... no, wait ...
Hillary Clinton's team says it faces do or die tests in Ohio and Texas next
week, but it will carry on whatever the outcome. The real question is how did
things get so grave in Hillaryland? - Muhammad Cohen
(Feb 26, '08)
Turkey offers oil pipe lifeline
 Turkey
is offering India access to its network of pipelines running from oil-rich
Central Asia - with Israel serving as a key link in the chain. A deal would be
attractive to New Delhi, if it could secure the oil to course through the
pipes. - Sudha Ramachandran (Feb 26, '08)
 SUN
WUKONG
Shares drive may
drown a golden goose
The Chinese government, keen to reduce the amount of cash in the economy, is
encouraging more companies to raise money in the stock markets rather than
through bank loans. The result is a plethora of proposals for new share issues
by listed companies such as insurance giant Ping An, whose need for the cash is
open to question. - Wu Zhong (Feb 25, '08)
Turkey's offensive comes at a price
Turkey is clearly acting in concert with the United States and Israel over its
incursion into northern Iraq to attack Kurdish rebels. As a result, Ankara can
shrug off international - including Iraqi - condemnation of its actions. But
there will be a cost: Turkey will be expected to play a major role as the
guardian of the stability of northern Iraq, and as important, to play a bigger
role in Afghanistan. - M K Bhadrakumar (Feb
25, '08)
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Something
for all in ballot-box budget
Farmers, not industry, were the main beneficiaries of what is likely to be
Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram's last budget before India faces a
general election. Yet a lower income tax threshold and other minor measures may
boost consumption and help factories keep ticking over. - Indrajit Basu
 CHAN
AKYA
Dead dollar sketch
The demise of the world's reserve currency reads like a financial version of
the infamous Monty Python Dead Parrot sketch. The arguments of US dollar
supporters appear increasingly hollow. The implications are much more
geopolitical than merely economic.
CREDIT BUBBLE BULLETIN
No simple repeat
of LTCM fiasco
The crisis at award-winning Peloton Partners highlights that this is no repeat
of the LTCM meltdown of 1998. The American economic rot goes far, far deeper.
Meanwhile, the Fed, blind to its impotence regarding risk asset prices, should
start attending to currency markets, where it might at least have some impact.
Doug Noland reviews the previous week's events each Monday.
China business
looks homewards
An appreciating currency and government policies that add to the expense of
selling products overseas are encouraging China's exporters to look to domestic
markets to maintain sales momentum.
Food for thought in price
claim
It doesn't take a food hawker, least of all one from the summit of his
profession, to tell us food prices are going up. But at rates "never seen
before"? Food for thought indeed, unless like The Mogambo you have digested the
risks of compounded inflation and stocked the larder with gold.
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MARKET RAP
Beware the wings
of the butterfly
The fear that an American downturn will significantly hurt Asian corporate
earnings seems to have been at least temporarily overcome. Yet the future of
structured investment vehicles remains a threatening shadow that can engender
yet another crisis with incalculable effects far from the US.
(Feb 29, '08)
R M Cutler runs his eye over the ups and downs in the week's markets.
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[Re
Hoops and Hurdles for Olympic Media,
Feb 28] ... So what if Steven Spielberg opts out of the Olympics in Beijing? Is
he being critical of his country's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Israeli
treatment of the Palestinian people? It seems that China must bring democracy
to the Sudan as Britain and the US are bringing it to the Middle East.
Wilson John Haire
London (Mar 3, '08)
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 Go
to Letters to the Editor |
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Pakistan site swipe
exposes web fragility
Pakistan's efforts to prevent its citizens from viewing a YouTube video
affected the Internet far beyond its borders. No less worrying, the country's
censors indicate they have no inclination to prevent a repeat of the global
blackout.
Martin J Young
surveys the week's developments in computing,
gaming and gizmos.
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ATol Specials
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The
Gates
Inheritance
By
Roger Morris
(June '07) |
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Syed Saleem Shahzad reports on
the Afghan war from the Taliban side
(Dec '06)
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How
Hezbollah defeated Israel
By
Mark Perry and
Alastair Crooke
(Oct '06)
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Mark
Perry and
Alastair Crooke
talk to the 'terrorists'
(Mar '06)
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China:
The
Impossible
Revolution
By
Francesco Sisci
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The Coming
Trade War
By Henry C K Liu
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A series
by Henry C K Liu
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Sinoroving
Pepe Escobar in China
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Money, Power
and
Modern Art
A series by Henry C K Liu
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Andre Gunder Frank on Uncle Sam and his
shrinking dollar
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By Pepe Escobar with
photographs by Kevin Nortz
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Nir Rosen goes inside the Iraqi
resistance
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Nir Rosen rides with the US 3rd
Armored Cavalry in western Iraq
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