Asia
Asia
Fair Observer provides insightful and informed analysis of the important issues, events and trends in the unique nations of Asia.
-
China / Chomsky / Freud / Japan / Laos / North Korea / Politics / United States / Europe / Focus Article / BRIC / Arts & Culture / Middle East / Americas / Africa / Asia / OceaniaFair Observer's five best articles of February. By February, the new year loses its newness and 2013 is no exception. While all of us have settled into 2013, the world continues to be as eventful as ever. Italy has had yet another election. Kerry is off on his first foreign trip as Secretary of State. Karzai is asking the US to curtail its role, and the conflict in Syria shows no signs of resolution. The world economy is wobbly with the Eurozone in deepest distress. At Fair Observer, we try our best to make sense of the world and please find our best articles for February below. As always, we want to know what you think and please email us at info@fairobserver.com to tell us how we can...
-
360° Analysis / Bangladesh / India / Laws / New Delhi / Politics / Rape / Woman's health / BRIC / Arts & Culture / AsiaLaws on rape do not usually refer to the “moral character” of the victim, presumably because it is generally not relevant to the crime. Moreover, the phrase itself is an anachronism, besides being vague and hard to pin down. But it is time that rape laws did refer to a woman's moral character – specifically to prohibit references to it in court during prosecution of cases involving rape. On February 2, 2013, the Indian government passed an Ordinance tightening rape-related laws – hopefully, a first step towards their comprehensive reform. A key measure has been the amendment of the Indian Evidence Act (1972) to disallow evidence, or cross examination, on the...
-
Afghanistan / al qaeda / ISAF / ISI / Islamabad / Kabul / Karzai / NATO / obama / Pakistan / Politics / Taliban / terrorism / troops / US / Washington / White house / withdrawal / 360° Context / AsiaBy Will CalhounAs the US prepares to exit Afghanistan, what will be the consequences? Background As the conflict in Afghanistan enters its 12th year, the US is poised to withdraw 34,000 troops from the war-torn country by next year. The consequences of the withdrawal will be enormous. The Taliban remain a serious threat and, besides the danger that extremism would continue to grow, the U.S. would also lose a valuable foothold in a region that contains a neighboring nuclear state: Pakistan. There are currently 66,000 American troops in Afghanistan. In his State of the Union address, President Obama vowed that the war would be over by 2014. However, the plan is that a contingent of troops will remain. The...
-
360° Analysis / Afghanistan / al qaeda / Kabul / Karzai / NATO / Pakistan / Politics / regional security / Taliban / terrorism / United States / US troops / Western nations / withdrawal / AsiaSince 2002, a large amount of U.S. funds flowing into Afghanistan has been diverted to the Taliban by local strongmen, resulting in a continued presence of the militia. The challenge post-2014 will be to reverse the West’s top-down strategy, creating a grassroots-driven incentive for peace and development. “In Tora Bora a top CIA officer landed with several boxes of Oreo. CIA was paying warlords. Each box contained about a million US dollar bills,” tweeted Bilal Sarwary, a leading Afghan journalist, more than a year ago. A bit like that tweet, the subversive is the ordinary in Afghanistan. In GDP terms, the country has grown most prosperous during the bloodiest...
-
360° Analysis / Afghanistan / al qaeda / Kabul / Karzai / NATO / Pakistan / Politics / regional security / Taliban / terrorism / United States / US troops / Western nations / withdrawal / AsiaThe global threat landscape this year will be shaped by the impending withdrawal of US-led coalition forces from Afghanistan. Jihadists will seek to extend their activities compounded by the uprisings in the Middle East. A new global threat landscape is emerging with the impending withdrawal of US-led coalition forces from Afghanistan in 2014. This threat configuration will be shaped by the renewed activities of Taliban, al Qaeda al Jihad and a dozen like-minded groups located on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border who have survived a decade of global counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism measures. They are slowly but steadily returning to Afghanistan recreating the sanctuary they had pre-...
-
360° Analysis / 7th fleet / China / Isolation / Japan / Juche / Kim-Jong Un / Korean Peninsular / North Korea / Nuclear Missile / Park / Politics / Pyongyang / Sanctions / society / South Korea / United States / Global Security / AsiaNicholas A. Heras speaks to North Korea expert Michael Bassett about the country's internal society and its role in the international system. Read part one here. Nicholas A. Heras: Is the peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula under one state possible, and under what conditions? Michael Bassett: Peaceful unification is not only possible, but it is inevitable. North Korea has wanted unification, as a top desire, since 1948. Kim Jung Un's unification policy is geared through engagement with South Korea. South Korea wants to unify when North Koreans are more socially developed, because such a rapid economic migration from North to South would result in social and economic...
-
360° Analysis / Juche / Kim Jong-Un / Korean Peninsular / North Korea / Nuclear Missile / Park / Politics / Pyongyang / Rogue state / Seoul / South Korea / Totalitarian System / Global Security / AsiaThe international community should normalize relations with North Korea to raise mutual cultural understanding and trust between North Koreans and the outside world. Analyzing North Korea and its place in the international system strikes a personal chord. For me, it is frustrating that so many international actors, state and non-state, are seemingly in a state of perpetual war. The process of understanding North Korea’s society, and its conflict with the outside world, has been ongoing for a third of my life. I joined the military in 1997 and spent all ten years of my military career overseas. The majority of my career in the military was spent on or near the de-militarized zone (DMZ...
-
360° Analysis / Asia-Pacific / China / Japan / United States / Finance & Economics / BRIC / Global Security / AsiaBy Online MBATensions have been brewing in Asia. This video looks at the potential of a war between China and Japan, and what the economic impact could be. Global economists are keeping their eyes glued to the Asia-Pacific region, where a bitter feud is brewing between two of the world’s most powerful nations over a small collectivity of islands in the East China Sea. The Chinese government argues that a treaty signed during the first Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) conferred ownership of the islands to China. Japan has long disputed these claims, and today argues that the islands are integral to its national identity. The argument came to a head last September, when a boycott of Japanese products...
-
China / India / McMahon Line / Politics / Relations / trade / War / 360° Context / BRIC / AsiaBy Atul SinghIt is time for the two Asian giants to improve their relationship. Background China and India are home to two of the world’s oldest civilisations. They share a long land border but remain separated by the Himalayas. Yet, they have managed to interact with each other across the snowy ranges that separate them. Buddhism spread from India to China and merchants established trading posts in each other’s countries. Scholars like Xuanzang travelled from China to Indian universities such as Nalanda and much of Indian history has recently been rediscovered by using Chinese texts. For nearly the entirety of their history, India and China have lived in peace with each other. There...
