Archivo categoría «Asia»
By Simon Tisdall (THE GUARDIAN, 24/03/06):
Singapore’s business-minded leaders say they want to be friends with everybody. That makes sense for a tiny island state of 4 million people trying to make a living in a volatile region increasingly dominated by China and India.But as protests in Thailand against the prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, have intensified, Singapore has found itself on the receiving end of a highly unamicable barrage of insults and threats from its large neighbour to the north.
Posters of Singapore’s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, have been burned in public; the Singaporean embassy in Bangkok has been … Seguir leyendo
Asia Briefing N°47 (CRISIS GROUP, 23/03/06):
he Papuan People’s Council, the key institution charged with easing tensions between Papuans and Indonesia’s central government, may be about to collapse, with grave consequences given the region’s current volatility. Created in late October 2005 as the centrepiece of the autonomy deal, the Council was almost immediately confronted with two major crises: stalled talks over the legal status of West Irian Jaya and riots over the giant Freeport mine. If the Council can now manoeuvre its way through the two crises, it may yet be able to take on other outstanding grievances and become what Papua has always lacked, a genuinely representative dialogue partner with Jakarta. If it fails, local resentment against the central government will almost certainly increase. The central government should realise it is in its own interest to help the Council succeed.
Leer artículo completo (PDF). Disponible también en Crisis Group.
By Jonathan Steele (THE GUARDIAN, 17/03/06):
The sleeper to Delhi had just left Calcutta when a mouse raced across the floor of our second-class compartment. We frantically lifted our feet and peered into the darkness under the seats to spot its next foray. Our Indian fellow passengers, who were already lying down or sitting cross-legged on their couchettes, roared with delight.
When the conductor came past, we asked if there were any places in an airconditioned carriage. It was not pure cowardice. We had always intended to try. On his return, with news that he had two vacancies, the man … Seguir leyendo
By Condoleezza Rice, secretary of the state of the EE.UU. (THE WASHINGTON POST, 13/03/06):
The week before last President Bush concluded a historic agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation with India, a rising democratic power in a dynamic Asia. This agreement is a strategic achievement: It will strengthen international security. It will enhance energy security and environmental protection. It will foster economic and technological development. And it will help transform the partnership between the world’s oldest and the world’s largest democracy.
First, our agreement with India will make our future more secure, by expanding the reach of the international nonproliferation … Seguir leyendo
By Robert Kagan, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund, writes a monthly column for The Post (THE WASHINGTON POST, 12/03/06):
Imagine a huge nation, a huge democracy, increasingly prosperous, increasingly powerful and increasingly sympathetic to the ideological and strategic objectives of the United States and its democratic allies around the world. Imagine that this powerful, prosperous, democratic nation sits on the same continent with Russia and China, two huge geopolitical problems waiting to happen. Imagine that this nation possesses a navy capable of helping patrol strategically vital … Seguir leyendo
By Jim Hoagland (THE WASHINGTON POST, 12/03/06):
Repression pays. Until that reality is acknowledged by American companies operating in China, they will have little influence over social and political change in the Middle Kingdom or even over their own operations there. That holds true for members of Congress who are abruptly chastising China’s Leninist rulers for cheating on trade and currency pegs, and for an ambivalent Bush White House, which will host China’s president next month with a mix of verbal bouquets and velvet brickbats — without ever mentioning the driving force in China’s astonishing 15-year economic rise.
That force … Seguir leyendo
By Madhur Jaffrey, an actress and the author of “From Curries to Kebabs: Recipes from the Indian Spice Trail” and the forthcoming memoir, “Climbing the Mango Trees.” (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 12/03/06):
Whatever anyone else might say, America’s new nuclear and trade pact with India is a win-win deal. India gets nuclear fuel for its energy needs and America, doing far better in what might be called a stealth victory, finally gets mangoes.
Not those pleasantly hued but lifeless rocks that pass as mangoes in most American grocery stores. Definitely not the fibrous, unyielding, supersized Florida creations that boast … Seguir leyendo
By Ivo H. Daalder and Michael A. Levi, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. and a fellow for science and technology at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, respectively (THE WASHINGTON POST, 10/03/06):
The nuclear deal with India that President Bush agreed to in New Delhi last week is a missed opportunity for American leadership on nonproliferation. But the deal is far from the disaster that its detractors claim.
It can still be improved upon in ways that strengthen nonproliferation — not least by foreclosing the sale of uranium enrichment and reprocessing technology … Seguir leyendo
Por Pascal Boniface, director del Instituto de Relaciones Internacionales y Estratégicas de París (LA VANGUARDIA, 10/03/06):
La visita de George W. Bush a Nueva Delhi se ha presentado como un hito, un momento crucial, en las relaciones entre ambas potencias. También es verdad que no han menudeado las visitas de presidentes estadounidenses a India. Antes de Bush, Bill Clinton en el 2000 y Dwight Eisenhower en 1959 visitaron la capital india.
Durante la guerra fría, India fue líder de los países no alineados. Cultivaba, no obstante, una estrecha relación estratégica con la Unión Soviética, su principal proveedor militar, a … Seguir leyendo
By Simon Tisdall (THE GUARDIAN, 08/03/06):
A political morality play is being acted out on the streets of Bangkok as Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand’s prime minister, battles to keep his job in the teeth of escalating protests by an ad hoc alliance of opposition parties, students, trade unions and celibate Buddhist vegetarians pledged to the simple life.Mr Thaksin’s ethical troubles began in earnest in January when his family sold its 49% stake in Shin Corp, the telecoms and airline conglomerate he founded. The fact that his relatives avoided tax on the $1.8bn (£1.03bn) deal, coupled with claims of insider dealing and … Seguir leyendo
By Richard Cohen (THE WASHINGTON POST, 07/03/06):
Back behind my high school one day, we all assembled to watch a fistfight. To my immense pleasure, a bully was being bested by his victim. Then the bully’s friend stepped in and ended matters with a swift kick to the other guy’s midsection. It was an unfair ending to what was supposed to be a fair fight, but it taught me a valuable lesson: You treat your friends differently than you do your enemies.
This elemental principle of life, love and other matters seems utterly lost on so many critics of George … Seguir leyendo
Por Marco Vicenzino, analista de diversos diarios internacionales y director del Proyecto de Estrategia Global (EL MUNDO, 06/03/06):
En los últimos años, han pasado por la India la mayor parte de los principales jefes de Gobierno y los directivos de las grandes multinacionales, así como un gran número de delegaciones de alto nivel del sector público y el privado. Es obvio que esto constituye el reconocimiento del papel que está empezando a adquirir la India como protagonista político. La nueva amistad EEUU-India quedó sellada en julio de 2005 con el viaje histórico del primer ministro Singh a Washington. Para … Seguir leyendo
By Sebastian Mallaby (THE WASHINGTON POST, 06/03/06):
Globalization scares people. Security threats scare people. By fusing these fears during the Dubai ports flap, demagogues have had a field day. Now, having demonstrated this formula, the demagogues are poised to strike again. Their next target will be arriving soon, in the person of President Hu Jintao of China.
For a fear monger with a club, next month’s Chinese state visit is a self-teeing golf ball. China accounts for more than a quarter of America’s astonishing trade deficit, and the country has become a proxy for all globalization anxieties: It’s painted as … Seguir leyendo
By Simon Jenkins (THE TIMES 05/03/06):
George Bush’s visit to India was such good news that it is hard to know where to begin. No, he was not greeted with garlands, dancing girls and hippies chanting peace and love. There were no pictures of him and Laura by the Taj Mahal, though Bush did say “we pledge to be invited back”. This was India modern not exotic. The only chanting was from chief executives waving contracts and the only tigers were generals patrolling fast breeder reactors.
Bush came to Delhi as the nearest he gets to a supplicant. Despite its … Seguir leyendo
By Anit Mukherjee, a doctoral candidate at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins, served in the Indian Army for nine years (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 04/03/06):
During his trip to South Asia, President Bush has done his best to whistle past the diplomatic graveyard of Kashmir, issuing only bland encouragements to the leaders of India and Pakistan to resolve the status of the disputed territory. That’s a shame, because instead of ignoring Kashmir, Mr. Bush and his administration should be studying it as a case study in dealing with an insurgency.
“I joined the insurgents only … Seguir leyendo