China sent the diplomatic world into a spin on November 23 by declaring an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea. This is cause for some concern, given the state of Sino-Japanese relations. The concern has been boosted by some vague and rather provocative Chinese statements but also by the fact that […]
In a rare slap in the face to Beijing, last week the U.S. flew two of its unarmed B-52 bombers into China’s newly-established East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone. The air defense zone had been recently created in order to assert Beijing’s claim to disputed territorial waters of the East China Sea and to […]
Criticizing the conventional wisdom about the inevitability of China’s global ascendancy and American strategic decline is a regular preoccupation for this page. Indeed, a recent post took aim at the prevailing notion, subscribed to by a wide-ranging group that includes Barack Obama and Sarah Palin, that Beijing can translate its vast holdings of dollar-denominated assets into policy […]
If you thought U.S. President Barack Obama was suffering from a political crisis in the wake of his problematic healthcare rollout, you should see the situation in Thailand these days for beleaguered Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. A day after the World Court ruled in favor of Cambodia in a territorial dispute over an ancient temple […]
The right in Bangladesh in again ascendant in violence. Recent reports suggest that student groups are reacting strongly to the government’s arrest and remand of leaders of the opposition coalition. This, after a morbid spasmodic run of violence that abated not too long ago. As the days and nights wind up and down to the […]
photo: Associated Press Chinese president Xi Jinping and premier Li Keqiang’s diplomatic offensive in Southeast Asia reaped benefits last month, as Beijing reached agreement with Vietnam to form a working group to jointly explore the waters of the disputed South China Sea. Beijing seems to have copied Obama’s “pivot to Asia,” in the wake of […]
Every year, roughly between August and November, the monsoon season hits Southeast Asia as a matter of fact. Despite this constant and consistent phenomenon, the corrupt governments which proliferate throughout the region remain inept and incompetent to handle the inexorable flooding which the rainstorms leave behind. In the Philippines, an estimated 10,000 people are dead […]
Expect the number of nuclear weapons in Asia to increase over the short to medium term according the latest edition of Strategic Asia 2013-14, aptly titled Asia in the Second Nuclear Age. Nuclear states across the region are all looking to further develop or enhance their nuclear arsenals, namely Pakistan, India, China and North Korea. […]
Before the era of nation-states, Shakespeare had it easy. While humanists may agree labels matter little, geographers in the 21st century must keep up with country name changes, and the accompanying politics. Readers these days come across Myanmar (Burma), or Burma (Myanmar), depending on the writer’s point of view. Burma is the original name […]
There is an infamous line from a speech made by U.S. President Lyndon Johnson at Johns Hopkins University in 1965 during which he was attempting to rationalize American involvement in Southeast Asia to the skeptical public. “We want nothing for ourselves,” he said “only that the people of South Vietnam be allowed to guide their […]
I recently received an e-mail from a PR manager at Thomas Reuters about contractors in Fukushima exploiting workers involved in the decontamination of the areas around Tepco’s crippled nuclear reactor. Workers here are coerced into working for low wages for contractors six-times removed from Tepco, the utility responsible for the cleanup, some of which have […]
If democracy is to be understood, as articulated by John Stuart Mill, as the embodiment of “government by discussion,” then there is no doubt that recent initiative taken by the current Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina to mitigate the prospects of one-sided election is a step in the right direction. The bitterness and the […]
This is a drawing of a young opposition protester, badly beaten by the police in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. This is a drawing that pictures the days yet to come. This drawing is the first piece in a series that will picture and document the story of the upcoming general elections in Bangladesh […]
General Vo Nguyen Giap, anti-imperialist hero and commander of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) during the struggle against French colonialism and America’s decade long war against his country died on October 4. He was 102. Giap was a self-taught military strategist who masterminded the sensational victory over French forces at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. […]
The U.S.-India relationship is enveloped these days by grand rhetoric. But for a reality check on the state of bilateral affairs, look no further than the summit meeting between President Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh two weeks ago. The get-together was designed to inject new energy into a partnership that just a few […]
