In an appearance at the annual Asean summit, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described the Burmese junta’s plan for the gradual restoration of democracy to Burma as a “mockery which is going nowhere.” While this may have grated on some of the participants as not sufficiently diplomatic, it is the cold, hard, indisputable truth. Lest anyone forget, it has been 18 long years since Burma’s 1990 elections when the National League for Democracy and its allies won 82% of the parliamentary seats, and were never allowed to take office.
Posted July 25, 2008

This year’s G8 Summit at Toyako, Japan, was seen by most observers as a disappointment. The agreements that were reached lacked creativity and teeth, whether on climate change, Zimbabwe, development assistance, or the fuel and food crisis, the club seems to have run out of ideas. But amid these setbacks, one de facto great power emerged in a strengthened position -- even though it is not a member of the club.
Posted July 25, 2008

These days, challenges to Pakistan’s sovereignty and security come from friends and foes alike. Even as Pakistan faces escalating militant violence within its borders, U.S. policy makers have threatened “hot pursuit” of militants into the tribal belt. At this critical juncture, the U.S. approach should be to strengthen Pakistan’s capacity to combat violent extremism instead of engaging in words and actions that could further destabilize the country and region.
Posted July 24, 2008

On a recent night in Yarkand, a town in the southwest of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, I spied about a dozen members of the People's Liberation Army wielding clubs resembling baseball bats near my hotel. While the soldiers looked more bored than menacing, they served as a reminder that Xinjiang is, and will remain, part of China.
Posted July 23, 2008

In the summer of 2008, the global economy faces unprecedented challenges. Torn between the threat of asset deflation in America and rampant commodity price inflation in emerging markets, something will have to give. A global slowdown seems inevitable. For forward looking investors, the really interesting question is now which country and which market is likely to emerge as the winner once the downturn-dust settles. In my view, Japan is poised to be next star performer. Yes, that’s right, watch out for Japan to emerge as a great winner once the next global up-cycle starts.
Posted July 15, 2008.

They have been called the “Fifty Cent Party,” the “red vests” and the “red vanguard.” But China’s growing armies of Web commentators—instigated, trained and financed by party organizations—have just one mission: to safeguard the interests of the Communist Party by infiltrating and policing a rapidly growing Chinese Internet. They set out to neutralize undesirable public opinion by pushing pro-Party views through chat rooms and Web forums, reporting dangerous content to authorities.
Posted July 4, 2008

A bookshelf full of Indian authors will reveal certain similarities. The concerns of many novelists are similar, focused on the middle class and above (or, as the novelist Nayantara Sahgal called one of her works, Rich Like Us). Beyond the million stories India itself has to tell, there will be fiction by and about the Indian abroad. And those novels will be about Boston and Manhattan, London and the Home Counties.
Posted July 15, 2008

Beijing continues to shake off foreign residents like a dog sheds fleas. This stealthy, but effective campaign is hitting students, teachers and entrepreneurs, and those that have invested their futures in China’s are feeling the pinch.
Posted July 21, 2008

A suicide bomb attack earlier this month in Islamabad on the first anniversary of the storming of the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) complex by government troops indicates that the honeymoon period between militants and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani is over. The July 6 attack killed at least 19, most of those policemen, and wounded scores more.
Posted July 16, 2008

Americans must be baffled to see hundreds of thousands of protestors continuing to wave candles on the streets of Seoul even after the recent “Supplementary Agreement” between the U.S. and South Korea supposedly eliminated the potential for Koreans’ exposure to mad cow disease.
Posted July 11, 2008

The top political leaders in Tokyo, Seoul and Washington have each seen better days in their administrations when it comes to popularity and political influence, but it is quite rare for all three to suffer simultaneously a mere 25% (or lower) domestic approval rating. Such a chorus of political weakness is never welcome among allies, but it comes at a particularly inopportune time as the region launches another round of six-party talks aimed at implementing North Korean denuclearization agreements.
Posted July 12, 2008

In the years following the Korean War (1950-53), malaria-eradication campaigns successfully reduced the number of new cases of the disease on the Korean peninsula. In 1979, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared North and South Korea malaria-free. However, the disease unexpectedly re-emerged in the late 1990s and still persists today. The story of malaria in Korea is complex and has many facets, not only biological and environmental but also political. Could the disease bring the two Koreas closer together?
Posted July 9, 2008.

As G-8 leaders gather in Japan this week, one of the main points of discussion will be the extraordinary rise in the international prices of agricultural commodities. The rise in commodity prices has mirrored food price hikes throughout the developing world, including in China and India. Increased prices are impacting the lives of millions of poor, contributing to overall inflationary pressures and risking political unrest.
Posted July 7, 2008

Given the dramatic extent of the KMT’s current opening to China under Taiwan’s new President Ma Ying-jeou, you might expect the DPP, Taiwan’s scrappy pro-independence party, to take to the streets in protest. After all, the Ma government’s measures amount to a dramatic step toward normalization of economic and cultural relations. Many believe, of course, that’s also the first step toward Beijing’s long-term goal: political unification. But rather than strongly oppose all of this, the DPP is laying low and raising quibbles while agreeing in principle with the normalization process.
Posted July 6, 2008