Sydney’s week-long military extravaganza foreshadows new wars In November 2011, the former Labor Party Prime Minister Julia Gillard stood beside US President Barack Obama to align Australia with Washington’s military and diplomatic “pivot” to…
Tag: Asia
Following a major victory for his party in Japan’s legislative elections, most American pundits and the Obama administration would like Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to concentrate on fixing the economy and stay away from raising…
‘ ‘The American wall goes up as the Chinese original goes down’, published in Puck, 1882. China opens up to trade, while America uses ethnic workers to curb immigration. Library of Congress Some commentators…
Are we about to be vaporized by North Korea’s nuclear weapons? Given all the hysteria this week over its third underground nuclear test, one would certainly think so. In reality, we are not about to…
To quote the immortal line in Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, as filmed by John Huston, “Let’s talk about the black bird” – let’s talk about a mysterious bird made out of gold. Oh yes,…
Harnessing Asia’s growth and dynamism is central to American economic and strategic interests. Hillary Clinton France’s military intervention into Mali may at first glance appear to have little to do with the U.S. “pivot” to Asia. But as a French mission supposedly meant to bolster a U.N. sanctioned and African-led intervention has gone from “a question of weeks” to“the total re-conquest of Mali,” what may have begun as a French affair has now become a Western intervention. And this in turn has drawn wider strategic interests into the conflict. Strategic interests, it is becoming clearer, shaped by the imperatives of the U.S. Asia pivot.
With the Asia Pivot, the US wants to encircle China, and supplies old and new allies with missiles aimed at its main rival. An amped up arms race means cash flow for the world’s biggest death dealer. If all these Asian nations buy as many American fighter planes as Taiwan, US armament workers can knock down a few more Bud Lites, and take their wives and kiddies to Ruby Tuesday twice a week even. So far, Japan is going along with this plan. The Sensaku/Diaoyu Islands dispute was dormant until stirred up recently by Tokyo. As tension heated up, the US then shipped missiles to Japan, with the lame explanation that they were meant to deter North Korea. Newly elected Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe lost no time declaring that Japan will increase defense spending, that China is “wrong” in this dispute and there’s nothing to negotiate.
The Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard released a long awaited white paper Australia in the Asian Century yesterday, which has been “wowed” by the Australian media. The white paper basically affirms that Australia’s future lies with Asia and consequently immense economic opportunities exist for Australia to grab. The paper hinges the nation’s strategy of becoming a competitive force within the region through skills development, innovation, infrastructure, the tax system, regulatory reform, and environmental sustainability. However before a nation can become a competitive force, it must have an accepted place in the region. On this key strategy the White paper does little more than make a “rally call” to Australians to come out and make it happen.
As the recent maritime contests in both the South and the East China Sea has shown, Beijing underestimated an emotional charge that the territorial disputes carry along, as well as the convenience given to the…
Subject: Re: [GA general] Wall Street Journal articles on Diaoyu Tai To: Editor, The Wall Street Journal, Date: 9/17/12 wsj.ltrs@wsj.com From: Peter Stanek, PhD., President (2008-2012) Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WW II in Asia Subject:…