Britannia Radio

Front Page      Dec 7, 2009

Obama treads Soviet road out of Kabul As world capitals react to United States President Barack Obama's Afghan strategy, Moscow will find parts of the US strategy reminiscent of the Soviet approach during its own 1980s Afghanistan end game. The Russians may also realize that if the US can abandon its "lone ranger" approach, Washington may succeed where the Kremlin failed. -M K Bhadrakumar (Dec 7, '09) War pitch belied by Taliban-al-Qaeda strife  One of the main justifications for President Barack Obama's surge of 30,000 troops into Afghanistan was that they were necessary to prevent the Taliban from giving new safe havens to al-Qaeda. Yet according to analysts specializing in Afghanistan, there is evidence of fundamental conflicts between the interests of the Taliban and those of al-Qaeda. - Gareth Porter (Dec 7, '09) Calculated ambiguity in the South China Sea China's end goal for the South China Sea may not just be a vast exclusive economic zone. Rather, Beijing appears to be expanding into the disputed waters to project naval power, including through a fleet of nuclear ballistic missile submarines. - Peter J Brown (Dec 7, '09) Nepal rhetoric warms to violence  The rhetoric of violence is become louder in Nepalese politics amid Indian unwillingness to see hostile Maoists take over the government in Kathmandu and tilt foreign policy in favor of Beijing. For their part, the Maoists, by threatening to declare autonomous regions, are hastening the downward spiral. - Peter Lee (Dec 7, '09) Maoists plan unity in diversity  The plan of Nepal's Maoists to establish 13 autonomous states based on ethnicity is part of their ongoing program to oust the present administration and replace it with a government of national unity headed by the main Maoist party. - Dhruba Adhikary (Dec 7, '09) Taiwan elections a warning to Ma  The performance of Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang party at the weekend's local elections indicates discontent with President Ma Ying-jeou's handling of the economy, a deadly typhoon and relations with China. Ma may need to fine-tune his approach to the mainland. - Cindy Sui (Dec 7, '09) COMMENT The hypocrisy of al-Demoqratia In the latest incident of Muslimsbeing negatively targeted in Western countries, Switzerland's ban on the construction of minarets was carried out through "democratic" channels and justified in the name of democracy on the basis of upholding the principles of secularism and Western values. - Ramzy Baroud (Dec 7, '09) US takes hunt for al-Qaeda to Pakistan The real focus of the United States' new Afghanistan policy - despite the 30,000 troop surge - is not that country, it is across the border in Pakistan, an intermediary familiar with dialogue between the US and Afghan militants says. The US aims to concentrate on al-Qaeda. Once that group is fatally weakened, Washington believes, the way will open to a negotiated settlement in Afghanistan. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Dec 4, '09) DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA Meet the commanded-in-chief  United States President Barack Obama chose as advisors a crew who had never seen a significant change and still can't. This stale crew has ensured that Afghanistan, the first of George W Bush's wars, is now truly Obama's war; and the news came directly from West Point, where the president surrendered to his militarized fate. - Tom Engelhardt (Dec 4, '09) Seoul has its own fears over US surge  South Korea has bristled at the notion that United States troops stationed in the Asian country could be moved to bolster the 30,000-strong force ordered to Afghanistan. Seoul will also closely watch next week's visit by a US envoy to Pyongyang. His trip may have a grim backdrop, as a redenomination of the North Korean won has reportedly sparked suicides, killings and even protests. - Donald Kirk (Dec 4, '09) Google clicks on compromise A compromise by Google allows Internet news-content publishers to charge readers after first giving limited free access. That still leaves a delicate balancing act for publishers wishing to attract readers and related advertising, while hanging on to paid subscribers. Free sites might be the ultimate beneficiaries. (Dec 4, '09) Martin J Young surveys the week's developments in computing, science, gaming and gizmos.  Baghdad struggles over banned books Iraq's illegal book publishers are thriving. Police estimate at least 13 printing presses publish illegal materials in the western province of al-Anbar, a former stronghold of insurgents influenced by al-Qaeda. It's a market Baghdad wants to stamp out, as the illicit books often promote militant ideology. - Uthman al-Mukhtar(Dec 4, '09) BOOK REVIEW  'Dialogue of the duff'  US Foreign Policy and Iran byDonette Murray Talking past each other - "dialogue of the duff" - has been a salient feature of United States-Iran relations over the past 30 years, this intimately detailed account of how the US has handled Tehran argues. The book makes essential reading, even though it lacks an in-depth investigation of the Iranian side. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (Dec 4, '09) Dubai adds to the Philippines' woes  The debt crisis in Dubai, home to hundreds of thousands of Philippine workers, is adding to concerns about the Philippines' economic recovery from the recent downturn, which is proving less strong than expected. - Joel D Adriano (Dec 4, '09) Repo time-bomb redux  The US House Financial Services Committee proposes that creditors caught in the failure of a large bank should lose up to one-fifth of the value of the debt. Such a measure threatens directly the working and value of the repo, or repurchase, market. The Lehman Brothers collapse and subsequent global financial crisis should demonstrate only too vividly the risks of messing with that. - Henry CK Liu (Dec 4, '09)