Sunday, January 6th, 2008...12:09 am
For the George W Bush administration, the best it can hope for in the wake of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination is to pin blame for it on al-Qaeda and get on with old business. The dynamics of the region have changed, though. Overnight, Pakistan has replaced Iran on the US’s radar screen. Moscow’s cooperation in the “war on terror” could be conditional on Washington rolling back its containment policy toward Russia. And the US’s ability to retain its trans-Atlantic leadership role is itself in the firing line. - M K Bhadrakumar (Jan 4, ‘08)
President Pervez Musharraf’s government was quick to blame al-Qaeda for the murder of Benazir Bhutto. Musharraf, however, is the chief beneficiary now that a political opposition vacuum has been created. Washington, too, can press its claims for a US military presence inside Pakistan. - F William Engdahl (Jan 4, ‘08)
The United States’ Iran policy has become virtually a non-policy in the last year of George W Bush’s presidency. Efforts to isolate, curb and punish Tehran have foundered, while Iran forges closer bonds with China and Russia. The test is whether the US’s containment policy can be recast along the lines of China or Russia containment and, in turn, lead to normal relations with Tehran. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (Jan 4, ‘08)
Divergent views on Iran’s role in Iraq add another layer of contradictions to the George W Bush administration’s increasingly murky policy on the issue. Just as the State Department is softening its approach, the military command is insisting that “Shi’ite extremists and rogue elements” are “Iranian-backed”. As for Iran’s so-called destabilizing role, Defense Secretary Robert Gates says “the jury is out”. - Gareth Porter (Jan 4, ‘08)
By officially ending the “joke” of a ceasefire with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the Sri Lankan government believes it can “fight to the finish” in the country’s decades-old conflict. The Tigers don’t for a minute buy into this, and are more than up for what many say will be a bloodbath. - Sudha Ramachandran (Jan 4, ‘08)
North Korea missing the deadline for “full disclosure” of its nuclear stockpile comes as no shock to any observers, though the US State Department seems officially sanguine. But while the Bush administration is no longer playing hardball, South Korean voters and their president-elect, Lee Myung-bak, are increasingly sounding like US conservatives in their ire over Pyongyang’s trademark stalling. - Donald Kirk (Jan 4, ‘08)
Returning from a year of self-imposed hiatus, the acclaimed Japanese actor is back to save the world. As narrator of the new film Planet Earth, he spent a month in the Arctic to inform his plea against environmental destruction. It’s all in a day’s work for the leukemia survivor, stereotype exploder and reluctant sex symbol who may well be the most respected Asian actor on the planet. (Jan 4, ‘08)
The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran by Yossi Melman and Meir Javedanfar
Much fury and folderol has been spent over Iran’s nuclear program and President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, most driven by fear or near-paranoia. This is an in-depth, level-headed and enlightening analysis. It points out that at one time Tehran’s nuclear ambitions were assisted by the US government, and covers the circumstances that brought Ahmadinejad to power. - David Isenberg (Jan 4, ‘08)
Two books stand out from last year’s motley publications covering the subjects that matter - economics and markets. Both will in time be misused, but for now they present important learning opportunities for Asian policymakers.
President-elect Lee Myung-bak appears to breaking with Korea’s past by looking to small and medium-sized businesses to reenergize an economy long-dominated by conglomerates such as Samsung and Hyundai. Yet the change in emphasis, which carries political risks and the prospect of considerable rewards, shows Lee standing by the country’s tradition of government interference in business. - Van Jackson
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