Objectif-Chine.com » Asia Times Online

IT WORLD : Facebook heads for IPO

Asia Times Online — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Social networking giant Facebook has at last moved towards selling its shares to the public, seeking to raise a possible US$5 billion. The sale would propel 27-year-old co-founder Mark Zuckerberg to the top ranks of rich folk, with a $28 billion stake. Martin J Young surveys the week’s developments in computing, science, gaming and gizmos.

Hidden hand, clean hand in Russian politics

Asia Times Online — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Over seven decades after Joseph Stalin’s Great Purge, his star is rising, particularly among younger Russians for whom the dictator is a symbol of strong and clean hands. Most Russians suspect the hands of everyone contending for political power to be hidden, weak and corrupt. Russians think they can grasp what Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s hands can do – and are loathe to trust the devils they don’t know. – John Helmer (Feb 3, ‘12)

$1 bn shale-gas deal sweetens Beijing trip by Canada’s Harper

Asia Times Online — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

PetroChina’s estimated US$1 billion purchase of a stake in a Canadian shale-gas project sets the tone for Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s visit to Beijing next week. China’s urgent desire to exploit its own vast unconventional gas reserves dovetails nicely with Canada’s technological know-how and willingness to do business. – Robert M Cutler

From sex to shame, a guru’s legacy

Asia Times Online — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Squabbling among followers of late spiritual guru Acharya Rajneesh over a US$7.1 million land deal has escalated in the Indian courts, while visitors to the « sex to super-consciousness » guru’s ashram are falling due to exorbitant pricing. The materialism on display seems far removed from the days of « free love » and transcendental meditation. – Sudha Ramachandran (Feb 3, ‘12)

BOOK REVIEW : LeT: Terror incorporated

Asia Times Online — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

The Caliphate’s Soldiers: The Lashkar-e-Tayyeba’s Long War by Wilson John
With thousands of recruitment and training centers across Pakistan, funds pouring in from the Gulf and links from Nepal to Sri Lanka, Lashkar-e-Toiba has flourished since the Mumbai attacks of November 2008. Detailing LeT’s growth into « the world’s most powerful and resourceful terror consultancy firm » – including a Department of Martyrs – this book offers an excellent primer on LeT’s global ambitions. – Surinder Kumar Sharma (Feb 3, ‘12)

Question time for North Korea

Asia Times Online — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

North Korea reportedly is producing middle-range missiles for export for Iran’s defense in the event of a Middle East war that would make the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan look like brush fires. Closer to home, Pyongyang has fired off a series of questions to South Korea that are not necessarily expected to be answered. – Donald Kirk (Feb 3, ‘12)

AN ASIA TIMES ONLINE EXCLUSIVE : Taliban eat into Afghanistan’s core

Asia Times Online — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Even as several tracks of peace talks with the Taliban open up, Asia Times Online has learned that senior members of the Western-trained and financed Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police plan to defect with vast numbers of their colleagues to the militants once foreign forces start to leave the country. – Hamza Ameer and Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud (Feb 3, ‘12)

THE ROVING EYE : Exposed: The Arab agenda in Syria

Asia Times Online — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Washington, London and Paris are falling over themselves to assure the real international community that the « Arab-led drive to secure a peaceful end to the 10-month crackdown » in Syria at the United Nations is not seeking another mandate for bombing a la Libya. But BRICS members Russia and China see it for what it is: no less than a crude drive for regime change. – Pepe Escobar (Feb 3, ‘12)

SPEAKING FREELY : Lest we forget in Myanmar

Asia Times Online — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Optimistic reports of positive change flow freely from Myanmar, as the president portrays himself as a leader who sincerely wants to improve citizens’ livelihoods, alleviate poverty and include the oppressed opposition in the political process. But the West blindly supports the shallow democratic transition, and increasingly runs the rising risk of being on the wrong side of history. – Nancy Hudson-Rodd (Feb 3, ‘12)

Rants and raves for new US pullout plan

Asia Times Online — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

The surprise decision to phrase out a combat role for US troops in Afghanistan by mid-2013 has drawn mixed reaction in Washington, with critics of the 11-year international occupation cheering and neo-cons and other hawks assessing that the strategy will open the door to Kabul for the Taliban. The announcement comes as a critical juncture on a number of fronts. – Jim Lobe (Feb 3, ‘12)

Factory owners mourn Mazar-e-Sharif clean-up

Asia Times Online — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Mazar-e-Sharif residents are increasingly able to breathe fresh air and walk clean, tree-lined streets in the northern Afghan city as authorities force factories out of the center and ban old, high-emission vehicles – to the consternation of taxi drivers, factory owners and their workers. – Ahmad Ramin Delasa

Nightmare at Narita

Asia Times Online — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

The deportation and arrest of foreign journalists in Japan has raised suspicions Tokyo is punishing foreigners critical of its response to the Fukushima nuclear crisis, with the apparently harsh interrogation, detention and deportation procedures at Narita Airport adding to the controversy. First-hand experience suggest the airport’s immigration agency is acting as a law unto itself. – Christopher Johnson (Feb 3, ‘12)

Apple’s sour core

Asia Times Online — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Apple’s iPad and iPhone are engineering masterpieces. They also incarnate the social relations of production, their profitable production depending on a brutally squeezed production supply chain and a country with unparalleled capacity to discipline labor – China. – Walden Bello

UN shenanigans on Syria

Asia Times Online — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

The United States and its allies in Europe and the Persian Gulf, under cover of the pretense that Syrian insurgents are gaining control, are trying to bulldoze a resolution through the United Nations Security Council that is intended to ratchet up the process towards regime change. The push for a resolution has been one of bullying, bribery, unprecedented procedural violations at the Arab League, and significant distortions of reality. – Aisling Byrne (Feb 2, ‘12)

Despair in the air at Davos

Asia Times Online — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

The absence of heavy hitters from China at Davos this year did not prevent the West’s movers and shakers who were present clamoring for Chinese assistance in bailing out capitalism – ignoring the point that capitalism is in fact stronger, freer and more powerful than ever. – Peter Lee

Call for ‘more credible’ US military threat

Asia Times Online — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Iran is « two to six months » from a nuclear bomb and the Barack Obama administration is failing to convince Tehran it will act militarily to prevent this, a task force has complained. Recommending a surgical strike and the deployment of US Special Forces if economic sanctions fail, the report comes amid increasingly contradictory signals from Israel and Washington over the likelihood of an attack. – Jim Lobe (Feb 2, ‘12)

Mainland chip on Hong Kong’s shoulder

Asia Times Online — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

An inflammatory newspaper advert in Hong Kong depicting mainland Chinese as « locusts » exploiting the island’s social welfare system has capped a month of cross-cultural tensions. While decrying mainlanders as uneducated bumpkins eating noodles on trains or as nouveau riche frequenting high fashion stores, Hong Kongers should perhaps remember the contribution visiting Chinese make to their economy. – Kent Ewing (Feb 2, ‘12)

Echoes of war across the South Caucasus

Asia Times Online — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

As the drums of war against Iran grow ever louder, the beat echoes in the South Caucasus, where Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia have compelling – albeit vastly different – reasons for fearing conflict in the Persian Gulf; a confluence of regional events could lead to « a potentially explosive situation ». – Nicholas Clayton (Feb 2, ‘12)