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Push comes to shove in Afghanistan
In his latest assessment, US President George W Bush admits it's going to be a
"long struggle" in Afghanistan (this after seven years of fighting the
Taliban). US Marines, fresh in the country, are venturing into uncharted
territory, while more coalition troops are being deployed. For the Taliban,
having made space for themselves in their strategic backyard in Pakistan
through dubious peace deals, a new battle has now begun. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Apr 30, '08)
 Britain's Prince William in Afghan troop
visit (AFP)
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US's
Pakistan policy under fire
Appeals are growing in the United States for the George W Bush administration
to reassess its "war on terror" and Pakistan's place in it. In particular, US
policymakers are being asked to place more confidence in Islamabad's plans to
make deals with tribal leaders, even though these play into the hands of the
Taliban. - Jim Lobe (Apr 30, '08)
Iran-US talks await
new leadership era
It
is unlikely that either the George W Bush administration or hardliners in Tehran
will initiate serious bilateral talks prior to the US presidential elections in
November. The prospect of dialogue with Iran seems plausible after the vote,
but only if the next US president is willing to risk strengthening President
Mahmud Ahmadinejad's hand before Iran's 2009 presidential polls.
(Apr 30, '08)
Myanmar's spoiled vote for democracy
For
the first time since 1990, voters in Myanmar will go to the polls for a national
referendum on a new constitution. The ruling military junta has promised
that the vote will be transparent, fair and systematic. Political
opposition groups and diplomats are concerned the results could easily be
rigged in the military's favor. - Larry Jagan (Apr
30, '08)
Growing pains for India's milk
banks
Despite
the vital service human milk banks provide in India, their popularity has
been soured by the rise of formulas and concerns about virus transmission. Nor
is India's over-stretched health sector doing much to promote or sustain new
milk banks, despite their proven lifesaving qualities. - Neeta Lal
(Apr 30, '08)
Silvio
il Magnifico?
A man
at the pinnacle of wealth and power, yet a politician almost by accident.
Cosimo de Medici, billionaire banker and lord of quattrocento Florence? No.
Thaksin Shinawatra, billionaire owner of Manchester City soccer club and former
prime minister of Thailand? No. Silvio Berlusconi, billionaire owner of AC
Milan soccer club and prime minister of Italy? Yes. Cosimo proved that wealth
combined with power can achieve great things - in his case, nothing less than
the Italian Renaissance. Berlusconi has a hard act to follow. - Francesco
Sisci (Apr 30, '08)
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Iran
holds key to India's energy insecurity
In terms of its energy needs, India has woken to the simple fact that nearly
all roads lead to Tehran, both as a source of energy as well as an outlet for
other countries' energy exports to India. This could be the first step in a
whole gamut of economic, trade, cultural, political and even security
cooperation. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (Apr 29,
'08)
The race is on for India's mega
fighter deal
Six contenders, from the United States, Russia, Sweden, France and a European
consortium, this week threw their bids into the ring for a US$11 billion deal
with India for 126 multi-role combat aircraft. The number of bidders makes
India's negotiating position strong, while well-oiled networks will count. - Siddharth
Srivastava (Apr 29, '08)
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THE BEAR'S LAIR
Oil in 2012: $200 or $50?
The US broad money supply by one measure has increased at an annual rate above
30% for most of this year. Maintained, that could triple prices within four
years and oil would look moderate at US$200 a barrel, with gold hitting $2,000.
Good sense by the US Fed and politicians might save the day, or a full-scale
revolt by bond dealers. - Martin Hutchinson (Apr
29, '08)
India shows space muscle with a
10-pack
India has demonstrated its increasing prowess in space by releasing into orbit
10 satellites from a single rocket. That should be enough to keep launch orders
and dollars flowing in from broadcasting and other interests. It will also add
to the growing amount of space flotsam. - Raja M (Apr
29, '08)
THE MOGAMBO GURU
Fried in the financial sun
Any thoughts that the decline in bank holdings of derivatives means all is now
well can be thrown out the window when you consider just who exactly bankers
are, and if you didn't already know who they are the latest interbank lending
claims will tell you. Yet you still want to hold stocks? At a price-to-earnings
ratio of 57 and climbing? Hahaha! Suckers. (Apr 29,
'08)
US embroiled in
de-basing deal
The George W Bush administration is in crucial negotiations with the government
of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki over the future relationship between Iraq and
the United States. The core issue relates to permanent military bases, but no
one is saying so, even as a year-end deadline looms. - Daniel Smith
(Apr 29, '08)
China intensifies war against splittism
The Hu Jintao administration has intensified its efforts to suppress and
contain "splittists" in Tibet and Xinjiang allegedly in cahoots with
"anti-China elements overseas" - and it is using nationalistic sentiments to
help achieve its goal. Significantly, Communist Party and state authorities
have called for a people's-war-style crusade to round up "conspirators" and
"traitors". - Willy Lam (Apr 29, '08)
 SUN
WUKONG
Moving
markets and mountains
The new overseer of China's financial affairs was barely in
office before polishing his "Mr Fix It" reputation by turning around the
plummeting stock markets. Curbs on refinancing by listed companies are expected
to be Wang Qishan's next mountain-moving stroke. All very impressive - but his
is still a visible hand that would be better not seen. - Wu Zhong
(Apr 29, '08)
 CAMPAIGN
OUTSIDER
Doubting Obama
Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign keeps raising questions about rival
Senator Barack Obama. Rather than complain about Clinton's tactics or the tone
for the contest, it's time for the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential
nomination to rediscover his mojo. - Muhammad Cohen (Apr
28, '08)
Iran steps into enemy's territory
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's swing though Sri Lanka, Pakistan and
India this week takes him to capitals firmly in the United States camp. Tehran
needs a counter to the regime of sanctions and limitations imposed by the West.
The South Asian countries need Iran's business, so much so they will risk
backlashes in defying Washington's will on isolating Iran. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Apr 28, '08)
Brains, not brawn, in Afghanistan
The audacious attack in Kabul on Sunday on Afghan President Hamid Karzai and
other dignitaries is another salvo in the Taliban's new phase of targeted
missions, rather than direct confrontation with the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization's war machine. In return, NATO, as evidenced by two important
recent successes against the insurgency, is becoming smarter, rather than
relying on "smart" bombs. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Apr
28, '08)
Syria bristles at US
charges
Washington's accusations that Syria and North Korea cooperated on a nuclear
site that was allegedly destroyed by an Israeli air strike last September, are
being laughed off in Damascus as another "convenient inaccuracy". The charge
would be downright funny if it didn't come with the dangerous potential of
mushrooming into war, as happened when Iraq was accused of developing weapons
of mass destruction. - Sami Moubayed (Apr 28,
'08)
India, China hold
G8 options
European leaders such as British Premier Gordon Brown and President Nikolas
Sarkozy of France are pushing for India and China to sign up for full
membership of the rich nations' club known as the Group of Eight. But their
counterparts in New Delhi and Beijing have good reason to hold back. - Sreeram
Chaulia (Apr 28, '08)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
Selling the president's general
Just as President George W Bush's favorite general, David Petraeus, was given
another promotion by being nominated as head of US Central Command, revelations
broke of the Pentagon's extensive propaganda operation to embed retired
military officers in the mainstream US media. The two events - and the "surge"
in Iraq - are inextricably linked. - Tom Engelhardt (Apr
28, '08)
Taliban bitten by a snake in the
grass
Over the past few months, attacks in Khyber Agency in Pakistan by the Taliban
and their al-Qaeda associates on supplies destined for the Western coalition in
Afghanistan have proved highly successful. Despite operating in unfamiliar and
unfriendly territory, the Taliban managed to obtain a foothold through a tribal
leader, seemingly outwitting US intelligence. Then things went horribly wrong,
and the Khyber operation is in tatters. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Apr 25, '08)
 CHAN
AKYA
Western excess is
the Earth killer
The problem with people trying to save the world, as intended by this
week's Earth Day, is that everyone has different living standards and
objectives. What will benefit the environment is a reduction in excessive
consumption by Europe and the US, not a reversal of Asian progress.
(Apr 25, '08)
 THE
ROVING EYE
Hillary, the war chick
It was
a silly question to begin with, but Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton jumped
in boots and all, saying if she were US president and Iran attacked Israel with
nuclear weapons, she would "obliterate" Iran. Clinton's positioning spells
Imperial Washington in all its glory - and hubris. - Pepe Escobar
(Apr 25, '08)
 SPENGLER
Rice, death and the
dollar
For developing countries whose currencies track the US dollar and whose
purchasing power declines along with the American unit, catastrophe looms. So
China, for example, is exchanging its depreciating reserves of the greenback
for things of value, notably rice, with frightening consequences for dependent
countries and deadly consequences for American foreign policy.
(Apr 21, '08)
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China's
inflation has long-term risks
Concern in China over rising inflation is justified, given the potential it can
have for creating social unrest. Yet failure to recognize the core causes of
higher prices, and whether these are imported from the global economy, may lead
to the wrong decisions being made and unsought consequences.
Bernanke's personal
crossroads
US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, following a series of interest rate
cuts to head off the credit crisis, stands at a critical career juncture.
Should he now pursue genuine and widespread reforms or mere reappointment? Put
another way, does he want a place in history alongside predecessor Paul Volcker
or cheek by jowl with the unlamented Arthur Burns? - Peter Morici
Mumbai slum nears
its end -
perhaps
Lehman Brothers, Dubai
World, Reliance Engineering and others wanting a
stake in a US$2.3 billion Mumbai redevelopment
project have an extra month to make their final
bids. Not long, given the 13 years since the
idea was conceived. Yet it gives the million or
so slum-dwellers to be cleared for the project
more time to win political support for a
rethink, and drive up costs. - Sudha
Ramachandran
IMF spreads power
a
little wider
The poorer members of the International Monetary Fund, many still bridling from
the terms of bailouts, including those imposed in the Asian financial crisis a
decade ago, have secured themselves marginally stronger voting rights in the
organization, against the wishes of Russia and Saudi Arabia.
 At the center of
a flood of debt
Look out any US window and the view is nothing but a sea of unpaid bills, with
all that subprime mortgage panic a drop in the ocean of woes facing a low-IQ
nation that thinks it can painlessly borrow and inflate its way out of any
debt. It can't. And if you want to survive the threat of drowning like your
neighbors, sell everything and buy that golden lifeboat
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CREDIT BUBBLE BULLETIN
The meaning of
stage II
The return of confidence and greed to the financial markets is persuading even
seasoned strategists that the worst of the financial crisis is behind us. Yet
distortions in the US and global economies remain and will continue as
authorities risk global financial and economic catastrophe to sustain the
unsustainable. The countdown to stage II of the crisis has started.
(Apr 28, '08)
Doug Noland reviews the previous week's events each Monday.
MARKET RAP
The calm before the storm?
China's reduction of a stock transaction tax energized a local market that was
edging closer to a decline as precipitous as the 50% slide seen over the past
six months. Survival of the optimism in Shanghai and elsewhere in Asia may
depend on the US Federal Reserve's thoughts, to be aired next week.
(Apr 25, '08)
R M Cutler runs his eye over the ups and downs in the week's markets
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[Re Oil in
2012: $200 or $50?, April 30] ... The last word remains with [OPEC
president] Chakib Khelil. He simply stated that "high prices are due to the
recession in the US" and the weakness in the American dollar. Moreover, he
noted that "each time the dollar falls a percent, the price of a barrel rises
by $4", and if the dollar rises, the reverse happens ...
Jakob Cambria
USA
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| Go
to Letters to the Editor |
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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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