THE MOGAMBO GURU : A debtor’s dream
It is absolutely creepy how everyone from the Greek government to consumers in the United States believes that some magic trick will enable debtors to get rid of their debts without paying anybody anything, while allowing creditors to get all their money back without being paid anything by anybody. Creepy? Insane!!!
IT WORLD : Browser beaten
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser lost market share again last month, even before new flaws were discovered in versions 6 and 7 and a European Union ruling made rival products more easily available to consumers. That slide in user interest is going to be tough to halt. Martin J Young surveys the week’s developments in computing, science, gaming and gizmos
MARKET RAP : Buyers beware
A third week of gains in Asian stocks suggests an air of optimism is emerging in the region. Relatively low volume and short-term technical indicators also point to a degree of overbuying. Caution, it appears, remains the watchword. R M Cutler runs his eye over the ups and downs in the week’s markets.
Medvedev plays down power role
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev argues that economic growth driven by exports of fuel and other commodities is losing its relevance for the country. Yet as he watches gas monopoly Gazprom decline from its past glories and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin tout a doubtful pipeline, he knows that with the opening of the US$98 billion Yukos trial in Europe, the power game in Moscow is far from over. - Pavel K Baev
BOOK REVIEW : Healing invisible wounds
Noor by Sorayya Khan The scars of the 1971 civil war between East and West Pakistan, which led to the creation of Bangladesh, are still fresh in the minds of the thousands who fought or lost loved ones. This book based on a mysteriously artistic child vividly recreates those horrors, while reminding how little Bangladesh, Pakistan and India have learned from the war. - Reviewed by Tahir Rauf (Mar 12, ‘10)
South Korea reluctant to take command
United States forces in South Korea are wrestling to set a date to hand over control of military operations to their hosts. General Walter Sharp, commander of the American contingent, says with military precision that the top brass in Seoul will assume command “on 17 April, 2012″. The South Koreans seem none too sure they will be ready. - Donald Kirk (Mar 12, ‘10)
US, China struggle with mid-life crisis
The influence of a declining United States and the power of a rising China, coupled with how each meets domestic pressures, will continue to test already strained ties, putting the two countries on a collision path that neither seeks nor can gain from. This comes at a time when they have never needed each other more. - Jing-dong Yuan (Mar 12, ‘10)
When the Mekong runs dry
Thailand says dams in China are lowering the Mekong River to critical levels, while Beijing blames the water shortage on a severe drought. Millions of people in the lower Mekong nations depend on the river for fishing and irrigation, but this quarrel suggests their governments are powerless in the face of China’s water-management. - Brian McCartan (Mar 12, ‘10)
Israel puts US on notice
News of Israel’s plans to construct new housing in East Jerusalem shocked United States Vice President Joe Biden on his arrival in the country, not least for the explosive timing of the news. The Israeli government claims it was an unfortunate error; more likely it was a stern warning to Washington over Iran - hold Israel back from a strike and there will be consequences. - Victor Kotsev (Mar 12, ‘10)
A titanic power struggle in Kabul\
Battle lines are being drawn for a power struggle over determining the shape of a settlement to Afghanistan’s insurgency, with main players the United States and Britain, Pakistan, Iran and Afghan President Hamid Karzai jockeying for influence. The stakes are high for all protagonists up to and beyond the April 29 traditional Afghan tribal council that Karzai has called in a bid to be around to steer the transition to peace. - M K Bhadrakumar (Mar 12, ‘10)
The demise of a ‘good-for-nothing bandit’
Abdulmalik Rigi’s Jundallah militants are believed to have killed at least 150 civilians and police officers over the past four years. With Rigi now arrested, there is speculation his group will fall apart. For many people in Iran’s Sistan and Balochistan province where most of Jundallah’s operations took place, this would be a very welcome development. - Amineh Soghdi (Mar 12, ‘10)
AN ATOL SPECIAL REPORT : Iran’s spies show how it’s done
Iran’s capture of its most wanted man, Abdulmalik Rigi, is a setback for the subversion efforts of the United States in Iran’s southeast. The seamless apprehension of the Jundallah leader also sends an unmistakable message that in the intelligence wars of the Middle East, Tehran has once again seized the initiative, and that it can strike against American secret agents operating in Pakistan and Afghanistan. - Mahan Abedin (Mar 12, ‘10)
THE MOGAMBO GURU : Debt doom ahead
US Congressional Budget Office figures, showing how horrendously large the national debt will become, indicate that the United States economy will be 71% bigger within 10 years. If everything costs twice as much by then, why not? And the only people better off will be those who are buying gold now!!!
Job creation squeezed
Private-sector jobs are the lifeblood of a sound economy, yet the Barack Obama administration is raising taxes on business owners, monopolizing credit and increasing business regulations. If this continues, the giant sucking sound of jobs heading overseas will only grow louder. - Peter Schiff
China lassoes its neighbors
The China-ASEAN Free-Trade Area, which came into effect in January, should boost China’s trade with its neighbors. It will also likely erode Southeast Asia’s industry and agriculture. Smaller economies in the region are already paying what will be a big price for a bad deal. - Walden Bello
Locks turn in Nabucco door
Agreement by the Turkish parliament to taxation and transit terms for gas coming into the country from Azerbaijan mark a significant step forward in plans for the Nabucco pipeline serving Europe. Suggestions that Iranian gas will be a necessary part of the project are also being shown as smoke and mirrors. - Robert M Cutler
Reqo Diq mine at melting point
The Pakistan government is seeking to attach copper-smelting to the US$3 billion Reko Diq copper and gold mine project in Pakistan’s impoverished Balochistan province. The finances don’t make sense, according to would-be miner Tethyn Copper. - Syed Fazl-e-Haider
Sri Lanka locks horns with UN
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon have had a “frank exchange” over the UN’s plan to set up a panel to examine Colombo’s human-rights record in defeating the Tamil Tigers. Domestically, this plays into the hands of Rajapaksa as he is adept at whipping up nationalistic groups that do not take lightly to what they see as foreign interference. - Amantha Perera (Mar 11, ‘10)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA : Premature withdrawal in Iraq
A chorus of the usual Washington suspects is singing even louder for the Barack Obama administration to alter its plans to get all American troops out of Iraq by the end of 2011. Basing their arguments on their ability to divine the future, what they forget is that after the US invasion, Iraq descended into a monumental bloodbath - in Washington’s presence. - Tom Engelhardt (Mar 11, ‘10)
India’s cyber-defenses full of holes
Despite being a software superpower, India lags behind nations such as China in the security needed to protect critical networks from a cyber-warfare strike. An attack could cripple government offices and disable India’s electrical and communications grids, while dealing a blow to a myriad of internationally outsourced operations and a corporate sector that has yet to wake up to the threat. - Indrajit Basu (Mar 11, ‘10)
US, Indonesia in a tentative embrace
Indonesia is weighing the benefits of a new strategic partnership with the United States ahead of President Barack Obama’s visit later this month to his childhood home. While deepening economic and security ties could put Jakarta at the forefront of the US’s re-engagement with Southeast Asia, many Indonesians fear the US has a “predatory” agenda. - Sara Schonhardt (Mar 11, ‘10)
China-US ties strained like never before
This week’s United States House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing over the Google incident in China has shed much light on the conventional logic that has kept Washington and Beijing engaged in recent decades. The issues now facing the US and China are straining relations like never before, leading many Americans to wrestle with whether it makes sense to even be in a relationship with Beijing at all. - Benjamin A Shobert (Mar 11, ‘10)
Iran wants help from a friend
During his flying visit to Kabul, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad trumpeted the fact that Afghan and Pakistani intelligence had cooperated with Iran in the capture of militant leader Abdulmalik Rigi. Iran wants to extend this multilateral cooperation to the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking. This would involve closer cooperation with the United States and foreign troops in Afghanistan, and therein lies the problem. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (Mar 11, ‘10)
ALL ROADS LEAD TO KABUL : India seeks a new direction
India’s regional foreign policy, largely underscored by confidence in a relationship with the United States that has now been usurped by Pakistan, is at a crossroads. A high-level visit by Indians to Afghan President Hamid Karzai is recognition that new thinking has become necessary, though it might be too late as Karzai looks to forge an alliance with Islamabad. - M K Bhadrakumar (Mar 11, ‘10)
THE MOGAMBO GURU : Inflation insurance
Savers in the United States worried that the outfit supposed to insure their bank deposits is now US$21 billion in the red, and terrified as the number of “problem banks” heads towards 1,000, should be utterly panicking at the prospect of the inflation that will “save” those deposits. Panicking - and buying gold now.
