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Raju brings down Satyam, shakes India
Ramalinga Raju's shock confession to conducting massive fraud at Satyam
Computer Services, which he founded and built into India's fourth-largest
software company, has done more than destroy its share price. The scandal has
shaken the foundations of the outsourcing industry and cast doubt over the
wisdom of investing in Indian companies as a whole. - Sudha Ramachandran
(Jan 8,'09)
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Russian arms to Iran: A mistimed
gambit?
Reports that the Kremlin has agreed to sell Iran powerful surface-to-air
missile systems have sent a strong and possibly miscalculated signal to
Washington. It's a diplomatic dance linked to Moscow's opposition to the US's
ballistic missile defense system, but in the context of the new confrontation
between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the timing of the sale could prove ill-fated.
- Roger N McDermott (Jan 8,'09)
China making leaps in space
As far as we know, no more Chinese "taikonauts" are heading into space in 2009.
However, China will place a small satellite bound for Mars atop a Russian
rocket later this year. And Beijing has other significant space activities
underway. - Peter J Brown (Jan 8,'09)
Iran painted as the demon
Israel's offensive in Gaza is widely framed in the context of containing
Islamist extremism by lumping together Hamas, Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah,
even as Tehran is engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activities aimed at
bringing about a ceasefire. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Jan 8,'09)
Shi'ites and Sunnis find common
cause
From Gaza to Kabul, signs are growing that common ground created by the Israeli
offensive in Gaza may yet bridge Islam's age-old divide between Sunnis and
Shi'ites. At the root of the unexpected new alliance is Shi'ite Iran's support
of Sunni militants like Hamas, and its status as the recognized champion in the
Muslim world for Palestine. (Jan 8,'09)
SPEAKING FREELY
Even Dirty Harry can't fix Hmong
mess
The new Clint Eastwood film Gran Torino is about an old American racist
who joins his Hmong immigrant neighbors in some bare-knuckled moral outrage.
The actual Hmong crisis is much bigger and messier. It cannot be solved
Hollywood-style by a white guy with a gun. But in real life, there is a son of
a tribesman - a Kenyan tribesman - who could bring justice to the Hmong, or at
least give it an honest try. - Roger Warner (Jan
8,'09)
Nepal's Maoist rulers rile Hindus
Prime Minister Prachanda has sparked outrage for involving his Maoist
government in the appointment of priests at Kathmandu's revered Pashupatinath
temple. He has called for homegrown Hindus to take over what has traditionally
been a south Indian honor, a move that has both Indians and Nepalis bent out of
shape. - Dhruba Adhikary (Jan 8,'09)
Army-rebel integration hangs fire
Two years have past since Maoist fighters put aside their arms, yet the matter
of integrating them into the regular army in Nepal is far from resolved. The
political parties still haven't been able to reach consensus, while the army is
certainly not welcoming its once bitter enemies with open arms.
(Jan 8,'09)
Surging towards stalemate in
Afghanistan
The United States plan to soon double the number of its troops in Afghanistan
from about 30,000 to 60,000 will entail at least as many problems as
advantages, notably the issues of increased supply lines in Pakistan and an
influx of foreign jihadis. And the surge may set the stage for a form of
conflict whose name will never be officially uttered but which might be coming
- a war of attrition that the US can ill afford. - Brian M Downing
(Jan 7,'09)
 SPENGLER
Suicide by Israel
What do you do when a group of people would rather die on their feet than live
on their knees? Hamas was formed to prevent a permanent Jewish presence in its
historic land, and now it has provoked war with Israel. As in any war, economic
pressure and military operations that kill civilians as collateral damage are
legitimate instruments. It is hypocrisy to pretend otherwise.
(Jan 7,'09)
Ground realities in Gaza
One of the most important single aspects of the Israeli ground action in Gaza -
Operation Cast Lead - is the intensely difficult and probably lengthy process
of trying to deny the border areas to the highly mobile and easily hidden Hamas
missile-firing teams. - Richard M Bennett (Jan
7,'09)
THE MOGAMBO GURU
The smell of corruption
The US Federal Reserve's refusal to disclose details of how it handed out funds
from the US$700 billion financial rescue package merely underscores what
history has long taught - insanity, stupidity and corruption in things economic
all mean - buy gold. (Jan 7,'09)
Towards an inflationary twilight
zone
With the US federal funds rate zero-bound, the Federal Reserve has totally lost
control of monetary policy. If not prevented by the US Congress, the Fed is
inevitably moving on the path of inflating the dollar into the twilight zone - Hossein
Askari and Noureddine Krichene (Jan
7,'09)
A high cost for more feet on the
ground
The surge in Afghanistan is guaranteed to exacerbate the sufferings of Afghan
civilians and unlikely to succeed militarily in comparison to its Iraqi
counterpart. However, should alternative logistical routes to Pakistan open up
to bookend the increase in supplies, the United States could break free from
its dependence on Islamabad. - Sreeram Chaulia
(Jan 7,'09)
A return to De Gaulle's 'eternal China'
French president Charles de Gaulle's historic decision in 1964 that France
would brush aside protests from Washington and become the first Western power
to recognize China's embattled communist government was a powerful illustration
of his genuine empathy for Beijing's painful march to modernity. The current
French president could reflect on this to avoid more of the sterile Sino-French
tension which marked 2008. - David Gosset (Jan
7,'09)
A check sheet for Obama's Taiwan test
President-elect Barack Obama's policy on the crucial question of Taiwan will
only emerge gradually, but some of the objectives he is more likely to pursue
are the strengthening of US-Taiwan and cross-strait relations, a reduction of
China's military deployments opposite Taiwan, and firmer US support for
participation by Taiwan in international organizations.
(Jan 7,'09)
Japan gets a feel for Asian integration
Signs are emerging that Japanese foreign policy is due for an overhaul in 2009,
with Tokyo scrambling to tackle societal concerns and a sagging economy while
searching out a spot in the new world order. Single-track diplomacy with the
United States has become an albatross, and the answer to Japan's - and East
Asia's - woes may be a unified regional bloc. - Kosuke Takahashi
(Jan 7,'09)
Al-Qaeda sniffs opportunity in
Gaza
From Yemen, Somalia and Iraq to Pakistan and Afghanistan, al-Qaeda has
established links with local militants to assist them in their respective
struggles. Now, with the Israeli offensive in Gaza, al-Qaeda sees the
opportunity to activate jihadis in the region, especially those in Egypt. All
that it needs is for Hamas to hold out for a few more weeks. - Syed Saleem
Shahzad (Jan 6,'09)
Bush plan beat obstacle to Gaza
assault
The fact that Hamas won elections for the Palestinian parliament was a serious
political obstacle to a conventional war by Israel against Hamas in Gaza. But
the George W Bush administration helped Israel eliminate that barrier by
deliberately provoking Hamas to seize power in Gaza. - Gareth Porter
(Jan 6,'09)
Curtain raises again on Jacques
Verges
Even if he wasn't alongside the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, as some believe,
legendary French defense attorney Jacques Verges has never been shy about
his allegiance to the regime's former leaders. Now his legal maneuvers are
befuddling the United Nations-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal, and the jury's out
on whether he's a charlatan showman or the most important voice in the court. - Stephen
Kurczy (Jan 6,'09)
Tigers take to the jungle
With the fall of their de facto capital, Kilinochchi, the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam have lost their long-standing image of invincibility and are now
cornered in Sri Lanka's jungles. It's a severe blow to the rebel movement, but
the Tigers are far from finished as a fighting force. The battles ahead can be
expected to be far bloodier than any before. - Sudha Ramachandran
(Jan 6,'08)
When the pawnshop has it all
A contemporary Russian view that the financial crisis will rent asunder the
United States is more a reflection of movies of the 1980s than of reality. Yet
as US consumers wake up to the absence of credit, a remake of Red Dawn could
be appropriate. - Julian Delasantellis (Jan
6,'09)
In China, Bush nostalgia
Many will celebrate the departure of US President George W Bush, the world's
favorite scapegoat, from the White House. But in Beijing there will be
nostalgia for an administration that helped China's rise as a world power by
turning a blind eye to its currency manipulation, human-rights abuses,
questionable forays into Africa and significant military expansion. - Kent Ewing
(Jan 5,'09)
SPENGLER
Overcoming ethnicity
The decisive divide in today's world lies between nations that have a future,
and nations that do not. Samuel Huntington, who died last December 27,
reintroduced this radically tragic dimension into geopolitics, but statesmen
have yet to embrace it. The great question that Huntington left open is why
some civilizations are condemned to clash. (Jan
5,'09)
Monetarism enters bankruptcy
The US Federal Reserve era under Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke, with their
belief that central bank monetarist measures can indefinitely perpetuate the
business-cycle boom phase, proved only that mainstream monetary economists read
the same books. As the world is discovering, Milton Friedman's mantra that
"only money matters" turned out to be a very dangerous slogan. - Henry C K Liu
This is the first article in a two-part report.
(Jan 5,'09)
South Asia gets a makeover
Within the space of a week, three comforting prospects appeared in the midst of
the darkening South Asian security scenario. Taken together, the elections in
Jammu and Kashmir and Bangladesh and the Sri Lankan government's capture of the
rebel stronghold of Kilinochi dealt a severe blow to the growing threats of
terror and religious fundamentalism. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Jan 5,'09)
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David P Goldman
(Jan 7, '09)
The Fed can get any one thing it wants ...This may be atrocious ... but that’s
the way to bet.
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Vietnam
tested on reform resolve
The resolve of Vietnam's leadership under Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to
press ahead with reforms will be tested severely as the global downturn hits
exports, undermines the tourism sector and increases protectionist pressures
from within the government. - Karl D John
Panic could herald dollar rout
When governments rush to engineer solutions to pressing problems, unintended
difficulties arise. One possible consequence to the US government's panic
response to the economic crisis is a run on the US dollar that could develop
rapidly into cascading devaluation. - John Browne
FROM THE BLOG
Only one place to be
There simply isn’t any way for the world economy to generate much in the way of
profits, and there is no particular reason to own equities. Credit is the place
to be. - David Goldman
Fed churns on
Are US Treasuries safe? Of course they are. But are they worth anything? Not so
much when the Federal Reserve is happy to keep on churning out so much money.
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CREDIT BUBBLE BULLETIN
Just the facts
A late spurt in equities did little to mask a year that was disastrous by most
every financial and economic measure, possibly tarnishing the US economic model
to an extent that may undermine Washington's ability to influence global
events. (Jan 5,'09)
Doug Noland looks at the previous week's events each Monday.
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[Re Suicide by Israel,
Jan 7] Spengler claims that "[f]or Hamas, to live on one's knees would be to
accept a permanent Jewish presence in the historic land of Israel" - and that
Hamas refuses to live on its knees. Wrong. Hamas has consistently offered peace
and neighborly treatment to an Israel withdrawn to its 1967 borders. Of course,
to Spengler and other denizens of Israeli apparatchik la-la land, assurances
given by Hamas cannot be trusted.
JP Franks
New York, NY
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 Go
to Letters to the Editor |
On The Edge
The future of auto makers is a separation of design and manufacturing; with the
use of standardized parts and modules (eg engine, gearbox, axle) being offset
by superior software and body design. In effect, what happened to the computer
industry will soon happen to the car industry.
Chan Akya
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| Go
to the readers' forum topic,
"why some nations remain poor"
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ATol Specials
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VIDEO
Taliban's new breed of leader
(May '08) |
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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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