Last week’s Taliban assault on the U.S. embassy and other prominent ministerial buildings in Kabul brought into relief once more the brazen conviction of militants in war-blighted Afghanistan as well as their considerable tactical capabilities in pulling off the raid. U.S. diplomats quickly pointed the finger at the al-Qaeda-linked …
Borders
Pakistan’s Floods: Deja Vu, All Over Again
These days when it rains in South Asia, it doesn’t just pour — it floods. A month of monsoon squalls has deluged hundreds of towns and villages in northwest India and Pakistan. The latter has seen the most acute flooding, and, on all evidence, has been the least prepared for it. At least 233 people have already died and 300,000 …
Ten Years After 9/11, Is It Now Time to be Afraid of China?
As the commentaries, retrospectives and meditations pile up ten years after 9/11, expect quite a few in their closing paragraphs to look toward the next grand geo-political challenge facing the U.S. A decade of costly adventurism in the Middle East and Afghanistan, many will argue, distracted U.S. policy making from the new realities …
The Mysterious Raid on Eilat: Why No One Wants to Dig Deep
A month after an unusual terror attack killed eight Israelis along a desert highway approaching the Red Sea, the incident remains shrouded in mystery, especially in Gaza, where Israeli officials insist the complex, military-style attack was orchestrated but where no group has taken responsibility. “Usually the problem is more than …
Dagestan: As an Insurgency Rages, a Soccer Team Rises
The Washington Post ran a lengthy feature Tuesday on the violence in Dagestan, the restive Muslim-majority republic in Russia’s North Caucasus region whose troubles have long hovered under the radar as the world fretted over the Chechen insurgency and Moscow’s tensions with independent Georgia to the south. Yet, as this 2009 U.S. …
Looking to Invest? How About China’s New Frontier?
Looking for a place to invest in China? How about Xinjiang, or the “New Frontier,” as the northwestern autonomous region is known in Mandarin? Home to the Uighur people—a Turkic group that briefly helmed two self-proclaimed republics called East Turkestan in the 1930s and ‘40s—Xinjiang seethes with resentment toward the …
U.S. Drug Czar Responds to Global Spin: Legalization Is No “Silver Bullet”
In my Aug. 30 post, I posed two questions about the speech Mexican President Felipe Calderon gave on Aug. 26, a day after the massacre of 52 innocent people in a Monterrey casino set afire by drug-cartel gangsters. The first question: was Calderon, fed up with America’s “insatiable” demand for drugs, in effect telling the U.S. to …
Can Philippine President’s Visit to China Ease Tensions?
After months of tension over their rival claims in the South China Sea, the Philippines and China are trying to smooth over some of their differences this week, and the chief salve appears to be money. Philippine President Benigno Aquino III arrived in Beijing Tuesday for his first visit to China since taking office last year. He …
India and Bangladesh Erase a Bit of History
Of all the back-of-the-beyond places I’ve visited on the Subcontinent, the most unusual are the so-called “enclaves” along the India-Bangladesh border. They are little parcels of Indian or Bangladeshi territory that are wholly enclosed by the territory of the other country. A little bit of history on how they came into being:
The Raja
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What War Criminals? Japan’s New P.M. Raises Old Concerns in Asia
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao called Tuesday to congratulate Yoshihiko Noda, Japan’s newly elected prime minister, telling him that strong ties between Japan and China were good for both the two countries and the rest of the world. Apparently left unsaid were concerns in China and other Asian nations about Noda’s thoughts on …
China’s Security Chief Goes on Tour—How Is Asia Reacting?
Over the past week, as I’ve traveled across Asia, I’ve discovered an unlikely partner in my continental peregrinations: China’s security chief Zhou Yongkang. The senior Chinese envoy’s travels have taken him to Nepal, Laos, Cambodia and Tajikistan. The final stop is Mongolia, where Zhou is expected to head on Tuesday.
In …
What Will Happen When the Palestinians Go to the U.N.?
The Palestinian Authority has set the date: Sept. 20, a Tuesday, is the day it will ask the United Nations for membership. As for what comes the day after, well, that’s a good deal less clear, and efforts to read the murk betray only intentions.
An Israeli legal expert predicts chaos.
“There are huge legal consequences of …
As the World Protests, Syria’s Isolated Regime Sticks to Its Guns
The embattled regime of Bashar Assad is losing foreign friends fast, but not the will to punish its enemies at home. The Syrian government has been circling the wagons, making hollow promises for reform while keeping up a sustained, brutal campaign against the country’s opposition. According to some counts, over 2,000 people have …