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Bank of Thailand governor Tarisa Watanagase says she has never felt her job was at risk in a two-year tenure noted for several unorthodox decisions. Yet her days in office may soon be over amid concerns about the central bank's independence and the possibility of a run on the Thai currency. - Shawn W Crispin
If the spiffy new Olympic venues represent China's renaissance, the burned out Summer Palace remains a symbol of its past humiliation at the hands of the West. If anyone from the West wishes to criticize China about human rights, religious freedom and corruption, they should first appreciate Chinese history. - Richard L King (Jul 31, '08)
In the presidential elections in the United States, debates about cultural values are going to be played out fiercely on the symbolic terrain of war and national security issues. The all-too-real battlefields abroad will remain obscured by the cultural battlefields at home and by the those timeless "ordinary American values" embedded in the public's imagination. - Ira Chernus (Jul 31, '08)
Concerns that the former Soviet Union would access Iran's oil supply pushed Western powers, foremost the Untied States, to accelerate Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution by supporting religious revolutionary forces, a new book confirms. This role of the West has been largely ignored, particularly by the Iranian government. (Jul 31, '08)
A military strike against Iran would have negative consequences and do little to stop Iran's nuclear program, a major defense think-tank's study for the United States Air Force concludes. But even as the outcome of an attack is questioned, top US officials are assuring Israel that the military option is still "on the table". - Jim Lobe (Jul 31,'08)
Turkey has narrowly avoided a political crisis with the Constitutional Court decision that the ruling party will not be closed down over alleged infringements of the secularist constitution. Other problems still loom, though, notably fears over terror attacks and suspected coup plotters. - David Barchard (Jul 31, '08)
China is expanding its role in vastly smaller Kyrgyzstan, helped by a huge trade imbalance, a growing population of Chinese in its Central Asian neighbor, and construction of infrastructure projects. Some even complain the country is becoming a Chinese satellite. - Daniel Allen (Jul 31, '08)
From the outset in 2001, the United States-led invasion of Afghanistan has been the "good war", fought against the Taliban and their al-Qaeda guests. This belief prevailed, even as the war in Iraq turned "bad". Now, the weight of occupation and the rising number of civilian deaths is shifting the resistance toward a war of national liberation, and no foreign power has ever won that battle in Afghanistan. - Conn Hallinan (Jul 31, '08
Oozing confidence, al-Qaeda's operations commander in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu-al-Yazid, talks of the progress al-Qaeda is making in consolidating its position in Afghanistan and in attracting foreign jihadis to join the Taliban-led struggle against "infidel" invaders. Abu-Yazid's assessment is backed by Pakistan's eroding commitment to battle Afghan and Pakistani insurgents, to the extent that Islamabad is expected to redeploy troops to the Pakistan-India border. - Michael Scheuer (Jul 31, '08)
The Shanghai Urban Environment Project for China is intended to provide a sustainable environmental setting for the long term economic and social development in the Municipality of Shanghai while supporting the provision of urban infrastructure. The project environmental negative impacts are following: soil, waste water, pollution, air quality and noise, dust, and traffic. Mitigation measures include: (i) covering temporary soil stock piles, (ii) minimizing active excavation area during pipe trenches and (iv) installation of sediment fences where appropriate to minimize sediment runoff. Disturbed surfaces, such as re-compacted pipelines trenches, will be re-vegetated to minimize erosion. Soil contamination may be cased by inappropriate storage and disposal of hazardous construction materials. Especially for wastewater component Bailonggang Southern Collector Extension Project will spread across 17 local rivers, of which Pudong Channel and Cuanyang River have navigation function, other rivers perform flood protection function. In the project construction, the advanced technology - pipe jacking technology, will be used, no impact to the rivers function performance. Water sparing of transportation routes and material handing sites where dust is being generated. Particular attention will be paid to dust suppression adjacent to sensitive receptors such as schools or residential areas. Material will be stored in appropriate places and covered on sprayed to minimize fugitive dust. Material will be covered during transportation to avoid spillage or dust generation. Air pollution may be caused by emissions from vehicles and construction machinery. Vehicles and construction machinery will be properly maintained and will comply with emission standards. Appropriate storage of construction materials and waste in secure, covered areas with secondary containment. All waste will be removed form sites to approved waste disposal sites. There will be no on-site landfills at any of the construction sites. Constriction waste will be promptly removed from the sites. Burning of waste will be prohibited.
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