FT's new China blog

Financial Times' new China blog appears to have some very spot-on and sharp outlooks of China, such as the inadequacy of China's reaction to the financial crisis which articulates some shortcomings of China's economy and its stimulus package. Other posts explain why the threat of social unrest from displaced workers is not so significant and warn against the alluring vision of a gigantic Chinese consumer market.

On the "torture" allegations of the U.S.
Good point and illustrates the rampant hypocrisy of the dressing up of American interrogation techniques.
Of course, I think that it's hard to believe that any intelligence agency or military never uses torture in conducting interrogations on prisoners.

Naval might rendered powerless by pirates

About the pirate menace off the coast of Somalia which has been a major issue in the past year, Vanity Fair carries a good piece on the ordeal of the capture of a French luxury sailboat. Despite the 'happy' ending, the story vividly shows how modern naval power is made impotent by these pirates.
Utilizing a range of vessels, helicopters, planes, commandoes, frogmen and "hundreds of amphibious assault troops", all the French navy could do was arrange for a US$2.15 million ransom in exchange for the successful release of the captured ship's crew, and the eventual capture of a handful of the pirate gang. The main reason for the impotence of the French navy was of course, the reluctance to risk the lives of the hostages, as well as financial factors for the ship's company.
Then the not-so-inconsequential matter of the status of Somalia as a failed nation state with no national sovereign control or rule of law hence, no need to adhere to or fear international laws or sanctions, and by extension Puntland, the pirate haven which was formerly a part of Somalia, also contribute to the pirates' ability to act with such impunity.

With the announcement this past week of a new U.S. strategy on Afghanistan which involves sending 21,000 more troops, there's a feeling among some observers that Afghanistan is looking more like a futile cause, no longer the just war that was in contrast to Iraq. Some feel that there is no real possibility of success in Afghanistan, that things are too messed up that it's even turning into a Vietnam, ironically a comparison that used to be made of the Iraq occupation.
This NATO advisor/ social worker in Afghanistan thinks otherwise, providing a good overview of why setting the goals lower will hurt Afghanistan as well as the success of the U.S. mission.

The fact that the situation there is not very good isn't surprising because it's been worsening for a while, as others including British officers have warned that it could take many years, even decades to make that country stable. What is surprising, and unreasonable is when some will use this set of problems to justify ending the Afghanistan campaign because of these problems, even likening Obama to Bush.
One of the main reasons that Afghanistan is the way it is now is because it was never the focus of the U.S., given how soon it went into Iraq after ousting the Afghan Taliban regime in 2001, and the vast manpower and effort it poured into occupying Iraq while leaving just a few tens of thousands of troops to search for Osama back in Afghanistan. NATO and Canada, due to deficient manpower, equipment, expertise and national support, certainly couldn't deal with Afghanistan adequately as the U.S. hoped for.
Unfortunately time can't be turned back and the rash, impulsive actions of the Bush administration in rushing to invade two countries and succeeding in neither can't be quickly solved. It will be tough for Obama but he would do well to stick with a set strategy and think long-term and for the good of Afghanistan and not be too influenced by the whims of critics on both ideological sides at home.

One of India's worst faults with its democracy is that a lot of its elected parliamentary representatives are literally criminals. About a quarter, according to this article, about a bunch of activists trying to create a solution to this problem, through bringing about laws to promote transparency in choosing candidates to highlighting to the public information on these crooked MPs and

Something about China on a topic that isn't well-known- Guangdong's "Little Africa," which is facing problems in these dire times, mostly from stricter immigration/visa enforcement.

GlobalPost is a new American website which showcases foreign news and issues, covered by its correspondents from all over the world. It's great to see a new media venture which believes that international news is still worthwhile enough to cover in such detail.

All of a sudden, America is who the world turns to now that the global crisis is getting really scary and shows no sign of ending soon, says Thomas Friedman.

And according to a senior South Korean official who he talked to, "The U.S. is still No. 1 in military, No. 1 in economy, No. 1 in promoting human rights and No. 1 in idealism. Only the U.S. can lead the world. No other country can. China can't. The EU is too divided, and Europe is militarily far behind the U.S."

Sri Lanka's long civil war seems to be in its last stages as government forces have now advanced into the last town held by the Tamil Tigers. Having lost their political capital and main military base, the Tigers are just hanging on as a viable military force and now can only fight from the jungles. The civil war may end soon but social and political tensions are sure to remain, so the government's reaction will be important in whether it will be magnanimous and genuine in trying to achieve reconciliation.

Meanwhile the current global economic crisis is having an adverse effect in an unlikely place, specifically the special court in Sierra Leone which is prosecuting war criminals responsible for committing atrocities during its civil war. Charles Taylor, former warlord and President of neighboring Liberia, may benefit from this with his freedom if the court has to be shut down. It is run entirely on voluntary donations from foreign countries, which the article says is the first international tribunal to be funded this way.

Just this week, notorious warlord Nkunda was arrested in Rwanda by authorities, in a surprising act of seeming cooperation between Rwanda and the DRC. This article wonders about the potential cost to the DRC of this, especially its relations with Rwanda and what it might gain from this. This also describes the unease felt by some in eastern Congo over the collaboration with Rwanda.

Finally, a NY Times article looks into whether Nkunda is really going to be punished or if he's just being kept under wraps in Rwanda temporarily. The warlord, whose close ties to Rwanda are clearly mentioned, may be too close an ally to be disposed of by handing him over to Congo or international authorities.

One of world's longest conflicts possibly coming to end

By the above title, I am referring to the ongoing civil war in Sri Lanka which is possibly coming to a close soon as the government's army has won a series of crucial victories over the rebel Tamil Tigers to push them into only a single remaining stronghold. Having been going on for over two decades, with intermittent periods of peace in between, the recent fighting should be really important news, as it seems the government is close to defeating one of the most feared, well-organised and enduring rebel organizations worldwide.

Of course, with much focus on the fighting in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, there hasn't been much mention of the Sri Lankan conflict though there are regular news reports recently. This Toronto Star commentary focuses on the fighting there, describing and alleging significant abuses in place such as the banning of media from war zones by the government.

While military defeat in this conflict will not necessarily mean the total destruction of the Tamil Tiger organization, it will deal a serious blow to them, forcing them into operating almost entirely as a guerilla force and not having any more territory or strongholds to control as they did with parts of the north and the east. The Tigers' defeat also won't erase their cause which is ostensibly that of protecting the rights and safety of the Tamils and fighting for a separate homeland separate of majority Sinhalese dominance.

Rwanda and Nkunda

A commentator asks Britain to cease its one-sided support for Rwanda, whose government is largely perceived to be directly involved with the conflict in East Congo, through its support of rebel warlord Nkunda. This report also claims evidence that Rwanda soldiers are fighting under Nkunda.
This paragraph sums up the falsity of Nkunda's constant reiteration of waging war to protect Tutsis within the Congo.
"The argument that this is about protecting Congo's Tutsi minority is undermined by Nkunda's grab for the region's wealth. Local people have been forced to mine gold, diamonds, casserite and other minerals that abound in Kivu and export them through Kigali, the Rwandan capital. What had begun as an apparently defensive military operation to protect Rwanda and Uganda from genocidal gangs in Congo seemed to be turning into a violent imperialism aimed more at looting the area than bringing peace."

Africa in distress

The Toronto Star has a fine article on Africa, this time detailing the deep problems in DRCongo, Somalia and Sudan's Darfur. The writer gives a good brief overview of each conflict, as well as mentioning other major problems like Zimbabwe. Simple but erroneous assumptions about Africa's crises are that European colonisation and exploitation or African greed and savagery are responsible, but neither is true, by itself. The main reasons are a mix of Western colonial exploitation and political manipulation, which still lingers, local corruption, inefficient economic policies and the weakness of existing local civil and social structures, based in large part on the artificial constructs of most of these nations.

Following the supposed conclusion of the stunning attacks in India's premier city Mumbai, the Toronto Star has this interesting piece written by an Indian commentator. He mentions the large poverty and the significant lawlessness in Indian cities, of which Maximum City by Suketu Mehra touched on in Mumbai, and this underworld's alleged relations with Pakistan.
One important point he makes is how unprepared India was for this despite the amount of time and preparation involved in planning attacks of this order.
While India has captured a few of the attackers, one hopes that it doesn't lead to larger cross-border reparations, not that this is the first significant terrorist attack in India blamed on Pakistan.

While fighting in East Congo heats up with rebel warlord Nkunda's forces gaining territory and forcing increased government reaction, the situation involving another even more notorious warlord in nearby Uganda is worsening as well. Joseph Kony and his LRA have transferred their terror campaign into northern Congo, looting, killing and taking children and women as slaves. Formerly thought to be waning to the point of almost signing a peace agreement with the Ugandan government, the LRA have reemerged and continued into regions of neighboring countries like Congo and Sudan.

A BBC investigation has confirmed that the Russia-Georgia conflict which occurred during the Olympics in August, and which raised fears of a new Cold War, was actually started by Georgian military aggression against South Ossetia. As well, war crimes were committed by Georgian forces on Ossetian civilians. The first part is quite clear to me as I remember seeing it in news reports at that time but for some reason, this fact seemed to be conveniently ignored or overlooked as a bunch of news reports, articles and commentators sounded alarms and cast direct blame on Russia. The above article's writer mentions this:
"At the start of the August conflict, western media reporting was relatively even-handed, but rapidly switched into full-blown cold war revival mode as Russia turned the tables on the US's Georgian client regime and Nato expansion in the region. Clear initial evidence of who started the war and Georgian troops' killing spree in Tskhinvali was buried or even denied in a highly effective PR operation from Tbilisi."

Furthermore, the writer says that the investigation was barely reported in mainstream news which is quite true because I didn't see any articles about it over the weekend.

Our role in the Congo

The Congo crisis continues with renewed fighting and mass civilian displacement in Kivu, as rebel warlord Laurence Nkunda's forces have managed to seize government army bases. Lack of food, sanitary conditions and violence will possibly cause serious casualties, adding on to the worst conflict toll since World War 2.
This conflict, which mostly is in the Eastern parts of the DRCongo, is not merely ethnic or tribal battles, but rather about rival factions, supported by foreign countries as well as the DRC itself fighting over natural resources.
This article from the UK's Independent goes over the current fighting and directly blames the violence on the wider world's appetite for resources found in DRCongo and Rwandan attempts to maintain control over lucrative resource-rich areas.

Congo situation still dire

Serious fighting, displacement, and rapes are again flaring up in the DR Congo as rebel troops under Rebel commander Nkunda, government troops and other militias have clashed repeatedly since August in the eastern parts of the country. The situation worries the UN which released a statement earlier this week (whatever good that may do).
However amidst this grim state of affairs, is a particularly dark humanitarian disaster taking place, specifically sexual violence and rape on women and girls. Canadian journalist Stephanie Nolen writes about this here and here. While rape has declined in the rest of the country, nominally at peace, it has continued, and possible worsened in the East, described as a "weapon of war" by a Congolese social worker in the 2nd article.
The rapes and sexual violence are able to be committed in such high numbers because of the tremendous lawlessness and chaos in that region, including the DRC's border with Rwanda, where there is a mix of ethnic and natural resource competition at play.

The thing about China that some people don't seem to get, especially those in the media or academia, is that much as China's economic and geopolitical progress during this past decade is extremely impressive, so too is the extent of its problems. So while having the world's largest foreign reserves or the most internet-users in the world seem impressive, China also has serious problems that are characteristic of poorer developing countries and often in larger quantity. One such problem is that of child kidnapping and trafficking, which this Toronto Star article describes a sad case.
From the article:
"A 2007 U.S. State Department report said there may be 20,000 victims of human trafficking in China annually. Others claim as many as 70,000 children are kidnapped each year. State media say one of the key factors driving the stolen child market is the deeply rooted Chinese tradition of having a male heir in the family."
Besides children, women are also kidnapped and trafficked for prostitution or for marriage. I'm not saying this is the fault of the government, though their actions mentioned in the Star article are certainly heartless, and it is definitely a main responsibility for them to deal effectively with problems like these. This post is mainly to describe a serious problem, one of many, that China still faces and which precludes it from becoming a real superpower.

This fine article from the WaPost gives a great overview of China's geopolitical status in the world, one which is rarely stated or believed by many in the media. Although my reading of it is a bit belated- the article having been printed this July- this is a minor issue because the main gist of the article is still as relevant and effective now.
Basically the writer states that despite the tremendous frenzy over China from the media, the government, economists and others in society, the country is a long way from becoming a true superpower, especially one like the United States. Although this might be kind of obvious to some, one would never know it based on the amount of attention (hype) given to China such as nonfiction books and media stories proclaiming China to be the next superpower or the next big threat to the US or think-tanks releasing reports saying that China's economy will become the largest sometime by 2020 or 2050 and so on.
He gives 4 main points for his contrary opinion: "dire demographics, an overrated economy, an environment under siege and an ideology that doesn't travel well -- China is more likely to remain the muscle-bound adolescent of the international system than to become the master
of the world."

Using a combination of facts and personal experience, the writer effectively makes his case and states things that usually aren't said or explained in many articles about China, for instance its looming senior population explosion.

So earlier this week, the U.S. Congress failed to pass a federal bailout plan that would provide US$ 700 billion to help the economy cope with the current crisis. There were mixed reactions with many not surprised or glad that most Congressmen and women would reject it, as many of the U.S. public feel revulsion for what seems like a giant and costly bailout of the financial sector or even socialism for the rich, as I saw it described in one article. Others were disappointed because they believe that this bailout is necessary, not only for the Wall Street firms and financial institutions, but for the broader public who have borrowed any kind of loans from banks and such. Whatever the real situation is, there is a strong sentiment that the plan was presented badly and that the general public has a legitimate reason to feel disgust and apprehension over this plan being passed. There is also a lot of effort being made by U.S. federal officials like the President, the Treasury Secretary and the two main presidential candidates to convince the public that the bailout plan is absolutely essential for the nation. I think that this is true but not because the wellbeing of the financial institutions and banks are themselves intrinsically vital for the nation's wellbeing. The second article I linked to above, from Time, claims that the majority of the bailout plan is not going to help common people but financial assets held by the firms themselves. I do think what the writer says is largely true and I don't care much about the financial firms themselves. What I also think though is that these financial assets, much of them virtual garbage, comprise so much of the economy that if these firms go down, they will take America down with them.