The outlook for maritime Asia appears increasingly desolate. Should China rule the skies while the United States commands the depths, surface fleets on both sides — not to mention the merchantmen that transport the raw materials and finished goods that sustain our globalized economy — will be caught in the no-man’s land between.
CIA director Leon Panetta is currently engaged in talks in Islamabad, arriving the day after the head of the Pakistani Army, attempted to win back some respect from the Pakistani population by urging the US to divert some of its $3 billion a year aid to ‘help the common man’ while also forcefully re-asserting Pakistan’s sovereignty. These concerns would be heartening if they were not so transparent.
Greece has been financially ill even before it joined the then EEC. The symptoms were chronic cronyism, high levels of nepotism, severe clientelism and acute individualistic mentalities. Why did banks continue lending to a country like Greece, especially since they knew the economic state of affairs the country has been in for decades?
The raising of the US national debt ceiling authorizing America to borrow money on global financial markets has become one of the most under-reported topics of our time. What was usually a minor issue has become a game of “Russian roulette”. The stakes could not be any higher. Forget American decline, global chaos would result.
The massive expansion and technological maturation of PLA land-based aerial and ballistic forces indicates the rise of a “Fortress China” doctrine in Beijing. China sees national defense and regional security as a function of its own ability to control its local periphery.
The self-immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi instilled enough courage in the Arab people to demand the democratic and human rights that they deserve. If the present protests on the Arab streets are sending tremors across the world, then in the near future, an unexpected political event in the region will be potent enough to hit globally with the force of a tsunami.
Hamas is currently treading a very risky line. For the Salafi-Jihadists, Hamas has de-legitimised itself as an Islamic group and as a leader of the resistance against Israel. Rather ironically, Hamas will be better off in the short term continuing to simultaneously straddle positions of moderation and extremism – basically maintaining the status quo.
Israel would be in a better position if it accepted the Arab Peace Plan put forward by Saudi Arabia and addressed the sixty years of UN resolutions that deal with the unilateral decision making of the Palestinian National Authority. That way Israel would benefit from normalised relations with Arab nations, which is more conducive to its national interest.
Al-Qaeda is knocked down for now, and may be grovelling in the dust for the present, relying on the deployment of children as suicide bombers. But there’s no room to dismiss the existence of the drive to pursue the campaign of jihad altogether, because the thirst to pursue a hegemonic campaign of jihad is nowhere near its end.
On April 25, the Gulf Cooperation Council proposed a settlement to resolve the political crisis in Yemen. The GCC initiative will not solve the Yemen crisis, only complicate and prolong it. The dogged American persistence in supporting it adds dangerous legitimacy to the agreement and the failing Saleh regime.
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