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Asia Times Online will next upload on December 8.
Iran versus the Islamic State
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps leader General Qasim Soleimani has been much photographed on the battlefields where Shi'ite coalitions, helped by Western airpower, have blunted the Islamic State offensive in Iraq. Ramifications of the increased and more open Iranian presence in Iraq will be felt in the region, in Iran's testy relationship with the rest of the world, and in the emergence of the general as a potential hero in Tehran's political scene. - Brian M Downing
(Dec 4, '14)
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The Hunger Games are real in Gaza
The latest movie from The Hunger Games franchise draws distressing parallels with the reality of systematic oppression in the Gaza Strip, where the deliberate Israeli policy of bringing its people to near-starvation is a matter of record. Gazans will remain attuned to calls of resistance, just like the rebels of District 13 followed the Mockingjay as a symbol of hope. They have no other option.
- Ramzy Baroud
(Dec 4, '14)
India lets China test regional comfort zone
India, as the largest member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, has been quite comfortable asserting its dominance in the eight-member club. That thinking needs to change. A short-sighted view on New Delhi's part has left the door wide open for the entry of a larger, well-heeled neighbor whose overtures have been welcomed in other capitals. - Narayani Basu
(Dec 3, '14)
A picture we've seen before
A three-year hiatus and even the appearance of a new Indian prime minister were not enough to change the well-worn script at the latest South Asian regional summit. Indian-Pakistani tensions held the SAARC process to ransom, other members lined up on an issue that isolates India, and there was a hint that New Delhi has no option but to shrink its vision of regional cooperation.
- M K Bhadrakumar
(Dec 3, '14)
COMMENT
End the war to stop North Korean excuses
The crucial influence of the Korean War on the current state of human rights in North Korea was missing from the recent UN debate that may bring North Korea before the International Criminal Court. Only a peace treaty putting a definitive end to the war will bring North Korea into the community of nations, and only then will Pyongyang have no excuse to delay addressing human rights.
- Christine Ahn and Suzy Kim
(Dec 3, '14)
UN report may turn Pyongyang
North Korea is on the brink of miniaturizing its nuclear weapons and perfecting an inter-continental delivery system while its citizens suffer at the hands of one of the world's harshest dictators. After decades of ineffectual bleating by the international community, the United Nations Committee of Inquiry report on the country's dire human rights may at last offer a tool to effect real change. - Robert E McCoy
(Dec 1, '14)
THE ROVING EYE
Will Russia, Germany
save Europe from war?
Are the United States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Russia on a mad spiral leading to yet another war in Europe - one in which the quality of armed power stands firmly against the West? Such a hair-raising Apocalypse Now scenario can be avoided - by returning to borders altered by the likes of Stalin, Hitler and Lenin. Everyone would win - except for the Empire of Chaos.
- Pepe Escobar
(Dec 1, '14)
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Modi faces day in US court
As the United States looks to a revitalized India to counter "Rising China", the State Department has declared that Indian Premier Narendra Modi enjoys sovereign immunity from US lawsuits, even if they allege he committed human rights violations before he became India's head of state. Attorneys for victims in Gujarat beg to differ, and a US Superior Court has charged the State Department to respond to their objections by December 10.
- Peter Lee
(Dec 1, '14)
SINOGRAPH
World War II
haunts Japan's future
There are obvious steps Japan could take to simultaneously recover its primacy in Asia and encircle China, but these would involve certain island sovereignty arrangements with Korea, Russia and Taiwan that would touch on the Japanese establishment's still simmering sense of injustice over World War II. Unless Tokyo can somehow move on from that conflict, the historical baggage will sink its future.
- Francesco Sisci
(Nov 26, '14)
SPEAKING FREELY
Myanmar regime in test of solidarity
With one year remaining before Myanmar's general election there is growing skepticism both internationally and domestically that the reform process is at best beginning to stagnate and at worst rolling back in some critical areas. This was highlighted earlier this month during the visit of President Barack Obama, when opposition leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi voiced concerns that the reform process had stalled over the past two years.
- Adam P MacDonald
(Nov 24, '14)
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Speaking Freely click here |
Ground troops in Iraq, yet again?
If put into Iraq again, US troops will face conventional forces against which they are well trained. Badly outnumbered, overstretched and vulnerable to airpower, Islamic State may quickly conclude that military operations there must be abandoned. However, a reintroduction of troops will also underscore prevalent opinions in the region - particularly the notion that the United States is trying to humiliate and subjugate the Islamic world. - Brian M Downing
(Nov 26, '14)
Indonesia takes a Melanesian turn
Jakarta's diplomacy has vigorously extended itself east into Melanesia in an attempt to maintain control over West Papua, its territorial bridge to the Pacific. But Indonesia is not only using West Papua to attain status as a member of the Pacific regional community, it is also seeking Pacific status to legitimize its hold over people who support independence from the Indonesian state. - Camellia Webb-Gannon and Jim Elmslie
(Nov 26, '14)
Hong Kong police clear protest with teargas
Riot police in Hong Kong used teargas and pepper spray to disperse hundreds of pro-democracy protesters on Tuesday as they stepped in to clear a section of highway in the Kowloon district of Mong Kok, one of three encampments of the Occupy Central democracy movement that has seen sporadic clashes and mob violence since they were set up over two months ago.
(Nov 26, '14)
Obama keeps pivot credible, for now
The consistency of President Barack Obama's two Asian "pivot" speeches, delivered three years apart in Australia, makes the case that the rebalance is real and credible. Whether it is sustainable or sufficient is another matter, and will depend not only on his administration's continued commitment but on the ability of the next US president to navigate a regional and global environment that will pose increasingly difficult challenges. - Scott Snyder
(Nov 26, '14)
China reaps harvest from Russia sanctions
The latest energy accords announced in Beijing, including those for a second Siberian gas pipeline, suggest that China is taking full advantage of sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, and increasing its access to Russian resources while resisting demands for more favorable financial terms.
- Michael Lelyveld
(Nov 26, '14)
THE BEAR'S LAIR
Abe on road to disaster
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's moves to "boost" Japan's economy were similar to those taken elsewhere and were duly praised. Even so, the result will be highly unpleasant and Japan, for so long the glorious engine of the world economy, now looks likely to be first into disaster.
- Martin Hutchinson
(Nov 26, '14)
Hawks circle over Iran talks extension
Pro-Israel and Republican hawks are calling for Washington to ramp up economic pressure on Tehran even while talks over Iran's nuclear program continue, and to give Congress a veto on any final accord. New sanctions legislation will likely sabotage the talks, which Iran and international powers agreed to extend until July 1 after failing this week to seal a comprehensive agreement in Vienna. - Jim Lobe
(Nov 25, '14)
The rise and fall of Palestine's socialists
When news reports alleged that the two cousins behind the Jerusalem synagogue attack on November 18 were affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a level of confusion reigned. Why the PFLP? Why now?
- Ramzy Baroud
(Nov 24, '14)
Vast cache found at Chinese official's home
The Chinese Communist Party's anti-graft watchdog recently found 37 kilograms of gold, documents showing ownership of 68 properties and 120 million yuan (US$19.5 million) in cash at the home of an official in the northern province of Hebei who is facing a graft inquiry.
(Nov 24, '14)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
Washington's daydream believers
The ruling elite in the United States is lost in a world of its own concerning the threat of terrorism and interests that are vital to security. Yet its fantasies are so widely and deeply held that they are guaranteed to lead ever further into the mire of the Middle East. Thinking about the region has gone desperately astray because people in Washington refuse to embrace reality.
Andrew Bacevich (Nov 24, '14)
SPENGLER
Dumbing it away
Why We Lost: A General's Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars,
by Daniel P Bolger
A current of Russian and Chinese opinion, including some foreign-policy specialists, holds that the US chose to destabilize the Middle East intentionally. That is paranoid nonsense. How could the Americans be so stupid? We could, and were. Lieutenant-General Daniel Bolger's insider explanation of the blunders that led to the present situation in the region is convincing and should be circulated as an antidote to the paranoia.
(Nov 21, '14)
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THE ROVING EYE
US plays Russian roulette
Washington loaded the gun long before Vladimir Putin accused the United States of provoking him to pick it up - and long before most watching the game of Russian roulette could identify the weapon as caliber Cold War 2.0. With the bullet marked once for "Eurasian integration" and twice to target "regime change", Barack Obama is holding tensions high. When Hillary Clinton seizes the day, all bets will be off.
- Pepe Escobar
(Nov 21, '14)
Western bloodlust and a third intifada
Musings by US media on the nature of Palestinian uprisings, or intifadas, ignore that these are driven neither by a clear political agenda nor defined goals. Until intifadas are understood more aptly as the awakening of a divided society - rather than a call for violence targeting Israelis - outsiders will continue to misinterpret them. - Ramzy Baroud
(Nov 21, '14)
Iran takes center stage in East-West struggle
The Atlanticist camp is only now realizing Iran’s economic and geostrategic worth as momentum shifts towards the emerging Eurasian juggernaut. Tehran may covet the massive US energy market, but the decades when the West tried to Balkanize the country won’t be forgotten overnight. - Ramin Davoodi
(Nov 21, '14)
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Russia, Belarus
in new trade war
Just days after Belarus President Alyaksandr Lukashenka said there were no outstanding problems between his country and Russia, he leveled criticism at the Kremlin on a scale not seen since a 2010 oil-tariff dispute, this time over a ban on exports of agricultural products from Belarus.
- Grigory Ioffe
China climate pledge
leaves coal-cap doubt
China's pledge to halt the growth of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 has raised questions about when it will cut its consumption of coal and whether its continuing growth of emissions will swamp reductions in the rest of the world.
- Michael Lelyveld
THE BEAR'S LAIR
Negative 'peace dividend'
The US economy - and middle-class Americans - benefited from the "peace dividend" that followed the end of the Cold War. As the Americans and their allies confront new problems and conflicts, the reverse is now likely to happen.
- Martin Hutchinson
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Obama pushes, Putin pulls
Assuming your opponent has a strength of six and you have a strength of four, if both exert in pushing against each other, your four is sure to lose to his six. One of the basics of applying force in judo is that if you do not push but pull as he pushes, you add your four to his six so that with a strength of ten you can easily pull him down ...
- M K Bhadrakumar |
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[Re: Turning tables on North Korea, Nov 17, '14] Xi Jinping's haughty treatment of Barack Obama during the recent summit in Beijing should indicate that China is not interested in boxing in North Korea.
Junzo Nakamura
Guam
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