SPENGLER
CHAN AKYA
ASIA HAND 
SUN WUKONG 
THE 
THE 
HENRY C K 
SINOGRAPH Francesco Sisci
SEX IN DEPTH
Weird
BBC
Looking into the Syrian abyss
Syrian activists along the Turkish border describe a lopsided conflict bearing little resemblance to Libya, with Iraq lending Bashar al-Assad's regime American surveillance equipment and Iran supplying snipers, tear gas and riot gear. While Syria's complex ethnic and religious makeup and strategic position point to a long, smoldering conflict, this year's US and French elections all but rule out Western assistance.
- Derek Henry Flood
(Jan 27, '12)
Is Business
CHAN AKYA
The Pied Piper of Humbug
A gaggle of comic and self-righteous critiques of the evils of capitalism led us on a merry dance over the past week. We've heard the tune before, but the piper's credibility is at stake in the absence of viable institutions to police fast-changing markets.
(Jan 27, '12) Zimbabwe's yearn for yuan
China's influence in the Zimbabwean economy is ubiquitous after President Robert Mugabe opened the door. It may soon have a presence in every pocket if the African nation acts on plans to introduce the yuan as an official currency, though many are not happy about what this would represent.
(Jan 27, '12) IT WORLD
Big Brother wants more
Google, intoning that "This stuff matters", announced a change in its privacy policy this week that will soon mean the Internet search giant knows more about users' personal preferences than their mothers. While Google aims to better match users and advertisers, what really matters for the company is its bottom line.
(Jan 27, '12) Southern gas corridor grows more complex
Signals from Azerbaijan that the building of the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TAGP) will allow Baku to fill the Nabucco pipeline without the need for Turkmen supplies complicate the picture for southern Europe's energy corridor plans. TAGP gives Turkey the means to transit Azerbaijani gas to Europe without being bound by the rules of the larger project.
(Jan 26, '12) ATimes.net
THE ROVING EYE
The Iranian oil embargo blowback
European poodles will soon discover they have cocked their legs in high wind after playing fetch to the United States on the Iranian oil embargo. The blowback is high oil prices, and the strong possibility of a Greek government bond default sparking renewed catastrophe in the eurozone. The rest of the world is dismissing sanctions and all across Eurasia trade is fast moving away from the greenback.
- Pepe Escobar
(Jan 27, '12)
Growing elite opposition to strike on Iran
A number of influential members of the United States foreign policy establishment - including prominent liberal interventionists who had supported the Iraq war - are now warning against "letting a bunch of ignorant, sloppy-thinking politicians and politicized foreign-policy experts" further escalate tensions with Iran.
- Jim Lobe
(Jan 27, '12)
Will China help out the West in Sudan?
China is considered key to ending the crisis in the Horn of Africa as Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir in effect seeks US$15 billion for assuring the survival of his Western-backed, breakaway neighbor South Sudan. That is Bashir's price for keeping open the pipeline from the South that supplies 5% of China's oil imports. After doing the strategic math, Beijing will likely keep the book shut.
- Peter Lee
(Jan 27, '12)
Arms-wrestling in Indonesia
Military experts are questioning Jakarta's decision to purchase Leopard 2A6 battle tanks that seem unsuited to Southeast Asian conditions, arguing that - as in a $1.07 billion order for South Korean submarines - the army seems more focused on matching neighbors' arsenals than in meeting the country's strategic needs.
- John McBeth
(Jan 27, '12)
Victory for 'Sunshine' policy whistleblower
A South Korean spy who fled to America after revealing Seoul paid Pyongyang at least US$1.5 billion to facilitate the historic June 2000 intra-Korean summit that landed president Kim Dae-jung the Nobel Peace Prize has won US asylum. Kim Kisam faced imprisonment and potentially assassination if extradited. But this didn't stop Washington - under Seoul's pressure - fighting his bid tooth and nail.
- Donald Kirk
(Jan 27, '12)
Best of Before
CHAN AKYA
Draghi: Europe's master of illusion
Belief in the markets, and the breathtaking bravado of new European Central Bank president Mario Draghi, may already have saved the euro - just two months into the job - thanks to the impressive illusion of stability his handouts have created.
(Jan 20, '12)Prodigal son riles Pyongyang
Only Kim Jong-nam's status as the late Dear Leader's eldest son is likely staying Pyongyang's assassins after he predicted the regime's imminent demise from Macau while deriding the "third-generation succession" that put his half-brother, Kim Jong-eun, in charge. Despite the risks involved, Jong-nam's remarks will appeal to military leaders who also doubt Jong-eun can fill his father's shoes.
BOOK REVIEW
Obama, the Lone Ranger
Barack Obama in Hawaii and Indonesia: The Making of Global President by Dinesh Sharma
This book maps out how the cultural influences and global underpinnings of Barack Obama's diverse upbringing in Indonesia and Hawaii created the president America needed for the multipolar world of the 21st century. Written by a cultural psychologist, it uses anthropological, political and genealogical perspectives to argue that Obama's life journey has reflected the challenges America faces today.
(Jan 20, '12)This book maps out how the cultural influences and global underpinnings of Barack Obama's diverse upbringing in Indonesia and Hawaii created the president America needed for the multipolar world of the 21st century. Written by a cultural psychologist, it uses anthropological, political and genealogical perspectives to argue that Obama's life journey has reflected the challenges America faces today.
Another letter from America for Iran
The White House has leaked very little about the contents of a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and its warning to Tehran to keep the strategic Strait of Hormuz open or suffer dire consequences. With debate ongoing in the Islamic Republic about an appropriate response, including a cold shoulder, it's time again to delineate the nuances of Iran's policy towards America.
(Jan 20, '12)New battlelines drawn in cyber-space
The Internet piracy bills in the United States Congress that prompted Wikipedia's blackout this week are only a taster of the cyber-controls powerful governments are mulling. While unleashing hacker agencies armed with real-world viruses like Stuxnet against rival states, leaders need a grip on the decentralized human networks stealing their secrets and challenging notions of sovereignty. The looming backlash could "fragment the Internet into so many islands".
Latest Posts
Inside the minds of our senior financial analysts.
Most Recent Posts
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It's not often that a country of 80 million people goes belly up, but that's what I've been predicting in Asia TImes for the past year. Today the New York Times ...
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The Financial Times' "Beyond Brics" blog quotes a Price Waterhouse report on China's move into Europe: The old adage of China using the same word for crisis ...
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(Jan 18, '12)
Roaring Good Start for Our Miners' Trade
Our main 2012 recommendation was to take profits on utilities and dive into basic materials, especially the mining issues that got beaten up so badly last year. ... -
(Jan 17, '12)
Is Egypt Running Out of Money? Ask Cairo Drivers
Al-Ahram's English-language edition reports enormous queues at Egyptian gas stations due to cutbacks in fuel deliveries: he fuel crisis that has swept Cairo an ... -
(Jan 13, '12)
Doubts on oil
I took profits on most of my CVX position today and bought emerging market miners on the dip; a lot of number-crunching on the integrated oil producers tells me ...
Notes and Quotes
Power to the People
The Chinese people are increasingly frustrated with the Chinese Communist Party and the political situation in China is "very, very delicate," US Ambassador to China Gary Locke said on Wednesday.
"I do believe that there is a power of the people, and there is a growing frustration among the people over the operations of government, corruption, lack of transparency, and issues that affect the Chinese people on a daily basis that they feel are being neglected," Locke told NPR's Steve Inskeep during a Wednesday interview, part of a media blitz Locke is conducting during his visit to Washington.
"Do you think that the situation is fundamentally stable in China right now?" Inskeep asked Locke.
"I think, very delicate - very, very delicate," Locke responded. "But there were calls earlier this year for a Jasmine Revolution and nothing came of it. I think it would take something very significant, internal to China, to cause any type of major upheaval." (Foreign Policy)
For a government that must manage a population of over a billion, people power would be quite a daunting prospect. (tjohn)
The Chinese people are increasingly frustrated with the Chinese Communist Party and the political situation in China is "very, very delicate," US Ambassador to China Gary Locke said on Wednesday.
"I do believe that there is a power of the people, and there is a growing frustration among the people over the operations of government, corruption, lack of transparency, and issues that affect the Chinese people on a daily basis that they feel are being neglected," Locke told NPR's Steve Inskeep during a Wednesday interview, part of a media blitz Locke is conducting during his visit to Washington.
"Do you think that the situation is fundamentally stable in China right now?" Inskeep asked Locke.
"I think, very delicate - very, very delicate," Locke responded. "But there were calls earlier this year for a Jasmine Revolution and nothing came of it. I think it would take something very significant, internal to China, to cause any type of major upheaval." (Foreign Policy)
For a government that must manage a population of over a billion, people power would be quite a daunting prospect. (tjohn)
Tipping Points
Out of the fire
US is framing Israel. Those smart guys from the White House are pulling us right into the hell of Iranian war. Just in September this year Americans delivered to Israel 55 bombs for striking underground bunkers. They say that main aims of them will become Iranian nuclear facilities. And our President Szymon Peres has been announced about possibility of strike upon Iranian nuclear facilities either.
What does it mean? Americans are laying all man-power and financial expenses of their long-expected Iranian operation on the Jewish shoulders. They’ve started announcing aloud about ISRAELI future aggression against Iran without notification of USA. How cynical! It turns out that all toils of war, and catastrophic consequences, and all mistakes would be Israeli guilt. And Americans will come clean, and white and fluffy on the ruins of Iranian Islam Republic carrying peace and democracy. Is Peres blind and dumb? Or Yanks have bribed him, or blackmailed? - Herzog
Interesting, Herzog.
Yours is a complete opposite take on the usual analysis of Israel/US interaction we get on Atol and elsewhere. Those other folks like to tell us how the Israelis are prodding the US to take this or that military action in the ME. But you see the reverse in all of it.
And it's true that most of the world will blame Israel for whatever transpires. Israelis, who wish only to be allowed to live in peace, are left holding the bag. - Jim the Moron
Be a part of the thread here.
Reviews
Family traumas span US-Iran divide
A Separation written, produced and directed by Asghar Farhadi
A window into family and class structures in today's Iran, this simple tale of a husband and wife agonizing over leaving an elderly parent only gently reflects on the country's present "circumstance". By sacrificing political symbolism for cinematic realism, the filmmaker has created a work moving enough to win an Oscar nomination.
- Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Jan 27, '12)
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Speaking Freely
Refugees blur Bhutan's image
Bhutan has a carefully cultivated image of mountain vistas and peaceful Buddhist temples with a content people whose state of mind is measured by a Gross National Happiness. This fine picture makes no account of the forced expulsion of a significant portion of the population.
(Jan 24 '12)
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