2008
CHINA/US: Rivals, Partners in Asia
By John Feffer
WASHINGTON, Dec 17 (IPS) - With the Six-Party Talks to denuclearise North Korea once again on the ropes and the world reeling from a deepening financial crisis, the United States is looking to China for help.
Japan as Middle Power
By John Feffer
WASHINGTON, Nov 24 (IPS) - Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is nosediving in the polls, its gaffe-prone prime minister Taro Aso has acquired a reputation as his party’s funeral director, and a pivotal election may transform the Japanese political landscape before September.
BURMA: Asia-Europe Summit Can Help
By David Cronin
BRUSSELS, Oct 21 (IPS) - By the end of this week, Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will have spent 13 years under house arrest. By coincidence, the anniversary of her incarceration, Oct. 24), falls on the day the military junta will be represented in a summit between Asian and European leaders in Beijing.
Burma's New Charter: Radical Change or Fig Leaf?
By John Feffer
WASHINGTON, Oct 14 (IPS) - After a drafting process of more than 15 years, Burma unveiled its new constitution in February. The 194-page document has generated a widely disparate response. In May, just days after tropical cyclone Nargis hit Burma and killed tens of thousands of Burmese, the military government reported that 92 percent of the population supported the new constitution in a referendum vote.
Little Scope for Europe-Asia FTAs, Says Expert
By David Cronin
BRUSSELS, Oct 7 (IPS) - Plans to conclude free trade agreements (FTAs) between the European Union and several Asian economies are unlikely to be realised in the near future, a senior Brussels official has conceded.
SOUTH KOREA: Still Dreaming of Regionalism
Analysis - By John Feffer
WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (IPS) - North-east Asia is a critically important locus of geopolitics, but it lacks a regional security structure.
East Asia’s History Wars Rage On
By John Feffer
WASHINGTON, Sep 18 (IPS) – North-east Asia is a relatively peaceful place. Although the Cold War still divides the Korean peninsula and the Taiwan Straits, there are no hot conflicts in the region. Negotiators in the Six-Party Talks are attempting to solve the major security issues of the region through diplomatic means.
But at another level, wars are being waged in North-east Asia every day – over history.
Pakistan Needs More Dev't than Military Aid
By David Cronin
BRUSSELS, Jun 17 (IPS) - U.S. aid to Pakistan needs to put far greater emphasis on education and far less on the military than it has to date, a Brussels conference has been told.
POLITICS-ASIA: Talking Peace, Preparing for War
WASHINGTON, Apr 14 (IPS) - Northeast Asia heaved a sigh of relief at the latest news of a breakthrough in the nuclear negotiations with North Korea. The prospects of integrating North Korea into the international community and constructing a peace and security structure for the region have never been rosier.
Fergana Valley’s Violent Reputation ‘Inaccurate’ - Analysts
By John Feffer
WASHINGTON, Mar 29 (IPS) - The Fergana Valley in the centre of Central Asia has a reputation for instability, violent conflict, and Islamic fundamentalism. The three countries whose borders intersect in this densely populated mountainous region – Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan – have struggled to build modern states in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. This process has indeed been tumultuous.
