Pakistan holds key to Taliban
Confusion prevails around the world about the real affiliations, sponsors and motives of the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Some observers have even gone to the extent of claiming that they are puppets of the United States to be used against regional powers in Central and South Asia. But in reality, Pakistan is primarily responsible for this menace.
(Feb 9, '10)
no comments
China serves old wine on Tibet
The recently concluded Fifth Tibet Work Forum of the Chinese Communist Party reinforces Beijing's hardline policies of pumping in coercive modernization investment into Tibetan areas and cracking down on their besieged Buddhist culture. As with the previous four Work Forums of the last six decades, the outcomes of the Fifth Forum are destined to further alienate Tibetan people.
(Feb 9, '10)
Why Dalai Lama is 'son of India'
A rumor being circulated by the Chinese authorities is that the Dalai Lama might seek Indian citizenship, one of several conspiracy theories of an insecure Beijing. The Dalai Lama is a universal being with worldwide honorary citizenships. Exiled Tibetans owe India a spiritual debt and he is merely expressing gratitude to Delhi for saving them from the Chinese yoke.
(Feb 8, '10)
Saudis take internal war to Yemen
Saudi Arabia's intervention in the Yemen conflict is not just to aid the Saleh regime in combating an enemy far less threatening to its existence than al-Qaeda, but to send a warning to Saudi Arabia’s own citizens who suffer the same systemic and institutionalized discrimination as Yemen's Zaidis. The root of the problem lies inside Saudi Arabia itself.
(Feb 5, '10)
Cinema shakes up status quo
Despite the best attempts of corporate elites to keep a tight lid on the mass media, rebellious ideas for changing human pursuits and goals are creeping out from motion pictures like Hollywood's 'Avatar' and Bollywood's '3 Idiots'. Films like these are challenging conventional wisdom, which is based on manufactured consent to prolong injustices.
(Feb 4, '10)
Giving Afghan peace a real chance
The international community has backed the new Afghan peace process, which involves reconciliation with the moderate Taliban. Even India seems to be on board with the new strategy to negotiate with the insurgents. But there are many challenges to this approach, as all the stakeholders need to make concerted efforts to arrive at agreeable compromises.
(Feb 2, '10)
Lebanon's raw deal for Palestinians
Compared to Palestinian refugees in Jordan or Syria, their counterparts in Lebanon have fared far worse in protection of basic human rights. A new activist online petition urging Lebanon to accord humane and non-discriminatory treatment to its Palestinian refugees captures the essence of the problem and pressurizes Beirut to change its practices.
(Feb 2, '10)
An Af-Pak union to save the world
With intensifying insecurity, terrorism and war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the only long-term panacea is to unify the two countries and erase the historical anomaly which split Pushtuns into two different nation-states. Unless the artificial division between Afghanistan and Pakistan is not dissolved, the region will continue to pose global headaches.
(Feb 2, '10)
Iran's moderates fall into a trap
The current political churning in Iran bears striking resemblances to that which occurred during the Prime Ministership of Mohammad Mossadegh in the early 1950s, prior to a CIA-engineered coup d'etat. Like then, Iranian moderates and reformists are now playing into the hands of Western forces plotting to upstage the Islamic Republic.
(Feb 2, '10)
Changing Iran, from within
Complex historically derived motives underlie the cycles of protest against the Iranian regime since the disputed June 2009 presidential election. An Iranian American returns to her country of birth to live with and learn from youthful, frustrated and expectant people about dreams of secular and representative government.
(Feb 1, '10)
Silent financial reform inches ahead
The economic meltdown since 2008 has opened a window of opportunity for revamping the international financial architecture to make it fairer to developing countries. Alternative financial institutions and practices are shaping up in East Asia and Latin America, promising to upstage the Bretton Woods system that held sway since World War II.
(Jan 30, '10)
Turkey plays head scarf politics
The Turkish government's ban on women wearing Islamic head scarves in public places is part of the historical legacy that divides the country's body politics between secularists backed by the military and Islamist politicial parties. Oddly enough, many Islamic practices arose from Turkish traditions.
(Jan 29, '10)
US still leads Asia in creativity
The scarcity of creative thinking in many Asian education systems bodes well for American students, who may be trailing in math and science scores but are trained to think more imaginatively. The US must put in place policies that encourage even more creativity in order not to lose ground to the rising Asian giants, China and India.
(Jan 29, '10)
Bin Laden better alive than dead
The release of the latest audio message claimed to be from Osama bin Laden has got tongues wagging again as to his status, whereabouts and threat posed to the West. The failure of technologically peerless American intelligence to find any trace him for nine years leads to speculation that the United States is keeping him alive for strategic convenience.
(Jan 28, '10)
China's 'little dollar' spreads wings
The China-ASEAN free trade pact, which came into effect on New Year's Day, will be a vehicle for the widescale adoption of the renminbi as a de facto regional currency. Though official statistics are not available, numbers show this process is already well along. China is likely to use renminbi penetration in Southeast Asia as the first step to converting the yuan into a global currency.
(Jan 27, '10)
How to Submit
This section of ATol is for you, readers of atimes.com and atimes.net, to contribute your own articles or opinion pieces. This is how it works: Our moderator evaluates your submission and, if it passes muster, posts it here with minimal editing. The better submissions, as judged by the moderator, are also posted in the “You Report ... We Decide” section of atimes.net’s Front Page, and the very best are given a thorough edit and promoted to the main news sections of both atimes.net and atimes.com.
We welcome submissions from all parts of the political spectrum as long as the rules and guidelines are followed (see below). Readability, interest and relevance are the important criteria, not conformity to any particular line. But note that agenda-driven “journalism” (also known as propaganda), will disqualify your article from publication.
Please note: Anybody may submit an article, whether atimes.net member or not. However, apart from the articles selected for inclusion in our main news sections, the full text of these articles can only be read, and commented on, by atimes.net members.
The Rules
- Your article must not have been published elsewhere in whole or in part;
- No derogatory comments about religion;
- If you accuse an individual or company of anything illegal, or tarnish a reputation in any way, you must provide your evidence and/or sources to the editors (not necessarily for publication). Without such evidence, you and ATol can be successfully sued for defamation or libel. Note: the fact that other articles may have made the same accusations is not evidence that your allegations are true, and other articles and/or blogs do not qualify as sources;
- If you borrow or paraphrase someone else’s words, you must cite the source;
- No critiques of other articles (The Edge is the place for that);
- No politicking or sermonizing;
- No derogatory remarks about the Thai monarchy;
- ATol reserves the right to publish, edit, or reject any submission, and to translate, syndicate or sell any submission for which it holds copyright.
Guidelines
- Articles should have some relevance for Asia;
- Unless you are a leader in your field, your opinions are probably not of great interest to others;
- Submissions should be 800-2,000 words long and not previously published;
- Your headline and summary/teaser are vital for attracting readers. Try to make them as beguiling as possible;
- STYLE NOTES:
Paragraphs must be separated by a line space and not indented;
Use capitals only for proper nouns, honorifics/titles and
acronyms (and, of course, the first words of sentences).
Contents
Customize ATOL:
You may save an unlimited number of customized pages. Your pages will appear as menu items when you put your cursor on MY PAGES in the menu bar on the left side of all pages. Just click on the page you want.
Make your selections in the panels on the left, and delete unwanted selections in the panel below.
Your Customized Pages
- 1 . Go Delete
- 2 . Go Delete
- 3 . Go Delete
- 4 . Go Delete
- 5 . Go Delete
- 6 . Go Delete
- 7 . Go Delete
- 8 . Go Delete
- 9 . Go Delete
- 10 . Go Delete
Your News
The Coverage You Want
SELECT a WRITER and/or COUNTRY ..
SAVE THIS SELECTION for future visits 
Selection will appear in the "YOUR CUSTOMIZED PAGES" panel below right
Selection will appear in the "YOUR CUSTOMIZED PAGES" panel below right
Your Business
SELECT a SECTOR and/or COUNTRY ..
SAVE THIS SELECTION for future visits
Selection will appear in the "YOUR CUSTOMIZED PAGES" panel below right
Selection will appear in the "YOUR CUSTOMIZED PAGES" panel below right
SPENGLER
CHAN AKYA
ASIA HAND 
SUN WUKONG 
THE 
THE 
HENRY C K 
SINOGRAPH Francesco Sisci