China a Natural Ally

Thomas Barnett argues that a little strategic vision is all that's needed to turn China from a potential adversary to a key ally in spreading globalism. Loaded with excess bodies willing to scour the world for economic opportunity, China is America's natural ally in extending globalization's reach and absorbing those off-grid regions where rogue regimes, failed states, and transnational terrorism ...

Failed States Index 2007

Foreign Policy has published the latest edition of The Failed States Index 2007. It is not a cause for celebration: Few encouraging signs emerged in 2006 to suggest the world is on a path to greater peace and stability. The year began with violent protests that erupted from Indonesia to Nigeria over the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet ...

Chinese Products Unsafe

I sent my wife this Reuters article about a recall on some wooden "Thomas and Friends" toys this morning because the children of some friends of our plays with them. Steven Taylor, though, noted something more within the rubric of the blog, though, deeper into the piece: The recall of toys made in China follows a series of health ...

Japan’s Agriculture Minister Commits Suicide

Cross-posted from PoliBlog: Via the AP: Cops: Japanese minister commits suicideJapan's agriculture minister died Monday after hanging himself just hours before he was to face questioning in a political scandal, officials said, dealing a powerful blow to the increasingly beleaguered government ahead of July elections. Toshikatsu Matsuoka, 62, was found in his apartment Monday unconscious and declared dead hours later. [...] Matsuoka had ...

Pakistan Suicide Bombing Kills At Least 12

A suicide bombing has occurred during a speech by Pakistan's interior minister.A suicide attacker detonated a bomb as Pakistan's interior minister finished speaking at a meeting in the country's northwest on Saturday, killing at least 12 people and wounding the official. Security guards blocked the attacker as he tried to approach Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao at the public meeting in ...

North Korea May Shut Down Its Reactor

South Korean news sources are reporting that North Korea may go ahead and shut down its nuclear reactor.North Korea may be preparing to shut down its main nuclear reactor, news reports said Tuesday, renewing hopes that Pyongyang will comply with a disarmament agreement days after it missed a deadline to shutter the facility. The Yongbyon reactor was still in operation, but ...

Yangtze is Almost Irreversibly Polluted

According to state-run media reports, China's Yangtze River is so polluted that the damage may be irreversible.China's massive Yangtze river, a lifeline for tens of millions of people, is seriously polluted and the damage is almost irreversible, a state-run newspaper said Monday. More than 370 miles of the river are in critical condition and almost 30 percent of its major tributaries ...

Studying China’s Economy

Carsten Holz, an economist at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, has a fascinating essay in the current Far Eastern Economic Review arguing that most scholarship about and data about China is skewed by tight governmental controls. Academics who study China, which includes the author, habitually please the Chinese Communist Party, sometimes consciously, and often unconsciously. Our incentives are to ...

Iranian Diplomat Alleges Torture by Americans

Jalal Sharafi, an Iranian diplomat, has alleged that he has been held by the CIA and been tortured for the past two months.An Iranian diplomat freed two months after being abducted in Iraq accused the CIA of torturing him during his detention, state television reported Saturday. The United States immediately denied any involvement in the Iranian’s disappearance or release. Jalal Sharafi, ...

China and Russia Announce Joint Mars Mission

China has announced that it will be entering a joint venture with Russia to send a satellite to survey Mars.China and Russia will mount a joint effort to explore Mars and one of its moons in 2009, Chinese state media reported on Wednesday following an agreement to boost cooperation between the two ambitious space powers. A Russian rocket will lift a ...

Is Hillary Playing the Yellow Menace Card?

I don't know, but it sort of looks that way to me. Markets to a certain degree will always be volatile, and to a great extent we are fortunate that our domestic markets are deep enough to absorb certain shocks. But what happened yesterday underscores the exposure of our economy to economic developments in countries like China. As we have been ...

Suicide Bomber Targets Vice-President Cheney

A suicide bomber killed 14 people outside a U.S. air base in Afghanistan, in what appears to have been an attack targeting Vice-President Cheney.A suicide bomber attacked the entrance to the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan Tuesday during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney, killing at least 14 people and wounding a dozen more. The Taliban claimed responsibility ...

Thoughts on the Chinese Anti-Satellite Test

The graphic at left is a map of the debris field left by the destruction of a Chinese satellite in an apparent test of anti-satellite weaponry by the Chinese last week (hat tip: MIT's Geoff Forden via ArmsControlWonk). The debris will be up there, essentially, forever, threatening other satellites and other space traffic. If you haven't been ...

Fiji Military Coup

There has been a bloodless coup in Fiji. Fiji's military commander said Tuesday that he had seized control of the country and dismissed the elected prime minister after a weeks-long standoff between the two leaders rooted in tension between the South Pacific nation's indigenous people and its ethnic Indian minority. Commodore Frank Bainimarama told a news conference that he was using special ...

China Bans Anonymous Blogs

The government of China is requiring bloggers to register sites using their real name and contact information. The Internet Society of China has recommended to the government that bloggers be required to use their real names when they register blogs, state media said on Monday, in the latest attempt to regulate free-wheeling Web content. [...] Bloggers anonymously disseminating untrue information on the Internet ...