Asia
Myanmar's military government has allowed the
party of detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to reopen regional branch
offices that have been closed since May 2003, a party spokesman said on
Thursday. "So far as we have heard, about 100 branch offices have
been reopened across the country, effective Wednesday," said Nyan Win, a
spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD). The government closed
down NLD branch offices after an attack on Suu Kyi's convoy by pro-regime
elements on May 30, 2003. Scores of NLD followers were killed, according to her
supporters. Nyan Win gave a guarded welcome to the government's move.
"Yes, it's a positive step," he said. "I think they want us to
take part in the election, but we still haven't made up our mind about this. We
still need to talk it over among the top leaders, including Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi." - Reuters
Willy Lam writes: China's ongoing tussles with the United States over issues including Taiwan, Tibet and trade are in a sense nothing new. For more than two decades, Sino-US relations have periodically gone through rough patches over these and related causes of disagreement. What is new is China's much-enhanced global clout in the wake of the world financial crisis, which is coupled with a marked decline in America's hard and soft power. More importantly, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership is gunning for a paradigm shift in geopolitics, namely, new rules of the game whereby the fast-rising quasi-superpower will be playing a more forceful role. In particular, Beijing has served notice that it won't be shy about playing hardball to safeguard what it claims to be "core national interests". – Jamestown Foundation
David Ignatius writes: The rise of China is one of the blessed miracles of modern economic history. But Chinese leaders know they cannot repeal the economic laws of gravity. As the economist Herbert Stein observed decades ago, "If something is 'unsustainable,' that means it won't be sustained." That is surely true with the unbalanced, export-led growth that has powered China's ascent…For a country addicted to export-led growth, transitioning to a sustainable economy won't be easy. People who assume that an ever-expanding China will inexorably replace America as the world economic superpower should take a close look at the numbers. – Washington Post
The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, which may soon overtake its counterpart in Iraq as the world's biggest diplomatic mission, is overworked, underappreciated and struggling to meet the demands placed on it by President Obama's new strategy, according to the State Department's inspector general. A report released last week praised the embassy's leaders for "impressive progress implementing the Administration's plans for a massive civilian plus up to support the large increases in assistance programs." The embassy's work last year was particularly notable, the report said, because it took place amid an almost 100 percent turnover in staff, Afghanistan's troubled presidential election and the months-long White House strategy review in the fall. Nevertheless, it said, "Embassy Kabul faces serious challenges in meeting the Administration's deadline for 'success' in Afghanistan." - Washington Post
Pakistan’s spy chief has been granted an unusual one-year extension in his job, a move that may also pave the way for a longer term for the head of the army, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who is scheduled to step down this year. The announcement extending the tenure of Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha as director of the spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, was formally made Wednesday by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. But it had been clear for weeks that General Kayani planned to keep General Pasha at his side, and that the weak civilian government would have little choice but to go along with it. The two generals have driven Pakistan’s strategic decisions in the past two years. The likelihood that they would retain their posts represented continuity, at least, in one of Washington’s most complicated, mistrustful and high-stakes relationships with an ally…The two generals have not moved Pakistan from its traditional strategic priorities, retaining India as the archenemy and keeping the Afghan Taliban as proxies against Indian interests in Afghanistan – New York Times
In a strong bipartisan endorsement of the Obama administration’s policy in Afghanistan, the House of Representatives on Wednesday soundly rejected a call to withdraw American troops by the end of the year After a three-hour debate held to allow antiwar Democrats to air their dissent, the House voted 356 to 65 to reject the withdrawal proposal. Five Republicans joined 60 Democrats in support of pulling out; 189 Democrats and 167 Republicans were opposed. Although the outcome was never in doubt, debate on the resolution written by Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, Democrat of Ohio, offered a preview of Congressional consideration later this year of the administration’s request for money to pay for operations in Afghanistan. Under the proposal, Mr. Kucinich would have invoked the War Powers Act to force the withdrawal of American troops within 30 days, or by the end of the year if the president judged that a more rapid departure would be unsafe. – New York Times
A swarm of five US unmanned strike aircraft killed 15 Taliban fighters in Pakistan's lawless tribal agency of North Waziristan. The strike aircraft, likely the Predators or the newer, more deadly Reapers, conducted two strikes against Taliban fighters in the village of Mizar Madakhel near the Afghan border. A volley of four missiles were fired at a Taliban compound in the first strike, killing eight terrorists, AFPThe Kuwaiti News Agency reported that 15 Taliban fighters were killed in both strikes, and that more than a dozen fighters were wounded, some seriously. No senior Taliban or al Qaeda fighters have been reported killed in the attack. US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal would not disclose the target of the attack. Today's airstrike is the second recorded attack in three days, and also is the second this month. The last attack, on March 8, killed five terrorists operating in a compound at a bazaar in Miramshah, the main town in North Waziristan. – Long War Journal
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that Iranian support for the Taliban in Afghanistan is "pretty limited" — so far. Gates noted that he had a public exchange of barbs with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad this week over which country is doing harm in Afghanistan. He had accused Tehran of undermining U.S. and NATO efforts by helping the Taliban. "I have talked about Iran playing a double game in Afghanistan, wanting a good relationship with the Afghan government and wanting to make our lives harder," he said. "At this point the level of their effort I think is not a major problem for us," Gates said. "The level of their support for the Taliban, so far as best we can tell, has been pretty limited. I was just trying to express the hope that it wouldn't get any worse." – Associated Press
The ruling military junta in Myanmar announced a new election law Wednesday that will prevent Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s leading opposition figure, from participating in upcoming parliamentary elections. The new law, the Political Parties Registration Law, prohibits anyone convicted of a crime from being a member of an official party. Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the head of the National League for Democracy, has been under detention or house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years. The law also could force Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi out of her own party. The National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in 1990 in the last democratic election in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, although the junta ignored the results and has remained in power. The Supreme Court two weeks ago dismissed an appeal of her latest conviction, for breaching the terms of her house arrest by allowing an uninvited American man to stay overnight at her lakeside home in central Yangon. – New York Times
Indian lawmakers approved a historic bill
Tuesday that would set aside one-third of all legislative seats for women, a
move aimed at overturning six decades of male-dominated decision-making in this
country. The bill, which drew fierce opposition before its passage in the upper
house of parliament, would guarantee seats for women in the national
legislature and all state assemblies in the world's largest democracy, where
women have been largely kept on the sidelines of the legislative process. The
bill must be approved by the lower house of parliament. It is expected to pass,
although analysts say opponents could use political maneuvers to delay the
bill. "This is a momentous development in the long journey of empowering
our women. Women are facing discrimination at home. There is domestic violence,
unequal access to health and education. This has to end," India's prime
minister, Manmohan Singh, said after legislators approved the bill. The new
quotas, he said, will be "living proof that the heart of Indian democracy
is sound and is in the right place." – Washington
Post
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