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Pragmatists
prevail
With
the emergence of Ibrahim Jaafari as Iraq's
likely next prime minister, pragmatists in the
US State Department and the military have scored
an important victory over the
neo-conservatives. - Jim
Lobe | Enter a unifier and a
healer
 The
key questions for the United States regarding the
future government of Iraq relate to the possibility
of it being too Islamic, too close to Iran and too
hostile to US forces in the country. On all
counts, Ibrahim Jaafari, the man most likely to be
the next premier, scores well. On paper at least.
- Ehsan Ahrari
 IRAQ:
SPEAKING
FREELY:
The real
decision-making and political jostling has
only just begun. - Bashdar
Ismaeel
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Japan
as the new US 'lap dog'
The
US wants Tokyo to scrap the irksome
pacifism provisions of its constitution, enabling
actual combat and turning Japan into an Eastern
military ally on a par with Britain in the West:
just another US lap dog. - Kosuke
Takahashi
CHINA:
China
fumes as Japan and the US discuss security:
Beijing feels left out. - Jing-dong
Yuan
THE ROVING EYE
Commentary by Pepe
Escobar
Bush
does
Brussels
President
George W Bush's visit to Brussels was carefully
coordinated to convey the impression that he
needs Europe to fulfill his mission for the
world. But the European Union was not falling
for that sucker
punch. |
Jihad, from Iraq to Kuwait
Calls from Osama bin Laden for the spread
of jihad to states in the Middle
East cooperating with the US are being
answered: just look at Kuwait. - B
Raman
SOUTH
ASIA:
India freezes military
aid to Nepal, and the US proposes action
too. - Siddharth Srivastava
CHINA:
Beijing forces
the closure of a money-spinning North
Korea casino. - Michael
Rank
SOUTHEAST ASIA:
War-crime
prosecutions in East Timor hit a brick wall.
- Jill
Jolliffe
The peace pipe's on the
table
 Iran, under its
accord with the European Union, has agreed to
"objective guarantees" that would ensure the
peaceful nature of its nuclear activities. The US,
in persisting to point accusatory fingers at
Tehran, chooses to ignore this. At the peril of
peace. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (Feb 22, '05)
SPENGLER
The
unmaking of the neo-con mind
 The neo-conservatives are not
malign but irrelevant. They play at faith rather
than live it, and a world dominated by faith
politics has passed them by. Professor Gertrude
Himmelfarb's fascination with the High Modernist
apostle T S Eliot sheds light on the
neo-conservative state of mind.
Transforming 'one soul at a
time'
George W Bush's
faith-based initiatives are destroying the strict
separation between religious activities and social
service programs. - Don Monkerud (Feb 22,
'05)
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THE
ROVING EYE
Hunter S: The trip goes on
forever
Even
in his final days,
when he described himself as "an elderly dope fiend
living out in the wilderness", Hunter S Thompson
kept his extreme conceptual coherence, and his
certitude that power cannot, could never be
trusted. His trip goes on. - Pepe Escobar (Feb 22,
'05)
The Dragon roars over US-Japan
accord
Just when it
seemed Japan-China ties couldn't get much worse,
they've worsened over a US-Japan agreement
fortifying military cooperation and recognizing
Taiwan as "a mutual security concern". -
J
Sean Curtin (Feb 22,
'05)
Lebanon, through the past
darkly
 With the death of
former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, the
country's volatile ethnic and religious mix is
primed to explode once again. For Syria, widely
accused, especially in the US, of playing a part
in the murder, the vise tightens, especially as
Moscow has confirmed that it will sell a new air
missile defense system to Damascus. - K
Gajendra Singh (Feb 18,
'05)
The
anatomy of a Thai porn scandal
 Technically,
Thai porn starlet Natt Chanapa could be facing
time in jail for her illegal, hardcore video. But
such is the nature of things in Thailand, where
mai ben rai - never
mind - holds sway, that she is now busily
cashing in on her new-found notoriety and
popularity. (Feb 18,
'05)
Psywar keeps Tehran on
tenterhooks
In its efforts to prevent Iran
from acquiring any capability to develop a nuclear
weapon, the US has several options, the most
practical of which - at present - is psychological
warfare. This has already begun, regardless of who
was behind the mysterious blast at Dailam, in
Bushehr province, where one of Iran's nuclear
facilities is under construction. - B
Raman (Feb 17, '05)
The plunder of Iraq's
treasures
 One million
books, 10 million documents and 14,000
archeological artifacts have been lost in the
US-led occupation of Iraq - the biggest cultural
disaster since the descendants of Genghis Khan
destroyed Baghdad in 1258. (Feb 16, '05)
KIM COMES
OUT
Why Kim hates George W
President
George
W Bush has attained a special place in the pantheon of North Korea's villains.
Why the obsession? Could it be that Kim Jong-il's fear and hatred of
Bush are tied to the ongoing nuclear saga? It's probably simpler than
that, writes Sung-Yoon Lee.
(Feb 16, '05)
THE
ROVING EYE
Commentary by Pepe Escobar
From Baghdad to Beirut
What many had feared - the "Lebanonization" of Iraq, bringing back the tragic
memories of the Lebanese civil war of 1975-90 - might be forced, with the
assassination of Rafik Hariri, to happen in reverse: the Iraqification of
Lebanon. (Feb 16, '05)
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A letter to America
In what Noam Chomsky described as "a shameful chapter in American history",
academic Kaveh L Afrasiabi fought a decade-long losing battle with
Harvard University that went all the way to the US Supreme Court. Afrasiabi
recounts this harrowing chapter in his life and offers the hope
that, while he was the "loser", others will learn from his bitter
experience. (Feb 16, '05)
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ATol Specials
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Kim Comes Out
North Korea's nukes and what they mean (ongoing).
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An ongoing series
by Henry CK Liu
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Sinoroving
Pepe Escobar in China
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Money, Power
and
Modern Art
A series by Henry C K Liu
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Andre Gunder Frank on Uncle Sam and his
shrinking dollar
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By Pepe Escobar with
photographs by Kevin Nortz
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Nir Rosen goes inside the Iraqi
resistance
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Islamism, fascism
and terrorism
By Marc Erikson
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Nir Rosen rides with the US 3rd
Armored Cavalry in western Iraq
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