Apr 22

AFP -
The United States scrambled on Wednesday to contain the fallout from the discovery of mad cow disease in California as the top beef exporter insisted the outbreak posed no threat to consumers.

The US Department of Agriculture on Tuesday reported the country's fourth-ever case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), but stressed the outbreak was contained and no contaminated meat had entered the food chain.

The infected dairy cow from central California, uncovered on Monday, "at no time presented a risk to the food supply or human health," officials insisted

• Two S. Korea retailers suspend US beef sales over mad cow
• Japan Has No Plan to Halt U.S. Beef Imports on Mad-Cow Case ~ the Japanese consumers might have different ideas

Zakaria al-Kamali | Taez, Yemen | March 25

alakhbar english - Taez - Yemenis these days feel they are in a real predicament, more so than ever before. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiative has been like a slap in the face, setting Yemen reeling and off-balance, more so by the day. One month after the election of a new consensus president the country continues heading downhill.

The prescriptions provided by the United States, Europe, and the GCC have failed to save the ailing country. Yemeni politicians in particular are tasting the bitterness of the GCC initiative that allowed former president Ali Abdallah Saleh, target of a popular revolution, not only to remain in the country but to enjoy full immunity.

“The youth of the squares are now concealing their anger at the performance of the new president and the national unity government after the recent terrorist attacks. They are not planning any major protests at this early stage. We don’t want to give the old regime the satisfaction,”says Maath.

“But the situation will blow up soon,” he warns. “The popular explosion is coming. It will stop at nothing. It will sweep away all the parasites and merchants of death fighting over Yemen’s body.”

Travis J. Tritten | Camp Foster, Okinawa | March 22

Stars & Stripes - U.S. Marines based on Okinawa would be spread out across the Pacific as part of a strategic realignment plan now being worked out with Japan, according to anonymous government sources quoted Thursday by the Yomiuri newspaper.

The plan pulls together an agreement made with Australia last year to rotate thousands of Marines through that country and an acknowledgement in February that the U.S. and Japan will relocate 4,700 Okinawa Marines to Guam to create the most comprehensive realignment of the service in the Pacific since World War II.

Top U.S. and Japan officials are still negotiating the relocation of Marine Corps forces here, and some details —such as the fate of the controversial Futenma air station — remain uncertain. The two countries are expected to finalize the realignment plan next month.

Sydney | Feb 18

AFP - School children in the West are up to three years behind those in China's Shanghai and success in Asian education is not just the product of pushy "tiger" parents, an Australian report released Friday said.

The study by independent think-tank The Grattan Institute said East Asia was the centre of high performance in schools with four of the world's top systems in the region -- Hong Kong, South Korea, Shanghai and Singapore.

"In Shanghai, the average 15-year-old mathematics student is performing at a level two to three years above his or her counterpart in Australia, the USA and Europe," Grattan's school education programme director Ben Jensen said.

"That has profound consequences. As economic power is shifting from West to East, high performance in education is too."

Students in South Korea were a year ahead of those in the US and European Union in reading and seven months ahead of Australian pupils, said the report, using data from the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

The PISA, pioneered by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, has become a standard tool for benchmarking international standards in education.

Whilst the Arab League schedules more talks; and the West tries to avoid military action:- Al Qaeda encourages insurgency.

Introducing Amnesia!

Er, Amasia...

As the years-long drought in Texas subsides, I feel this would be a good time to remind everyone that water is not only precious, but scarce.

Indeed, Africa is seeing some of the worst droughts in recorded history. Drought doesn't only affect humanity, afflicting us with thirst, famine, and war, but wildlife too. And while the famine in Somalia (not directly water-related, but...) has been declared "over", countries like Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone face dismal prospects for the near future.

Nov 17

AFP - US President Barack Obama on Thursday pledged he would not allow a budget crunch in Washington to compromise a modernised defence posture designed to cement America's destiny as a top Pacific power.

In a message aimed both at a dynamic region he sees as key to the US economic future and warring lawmakers at home, Obama told the Australian parliament the Asia-Pacific was too vital to fall prey to US penny pinching.

"Let me address this directly. As the United States puts our fiscal house in order, we are reducing our spending," Obama said, warning reductions in funding for the US military machine were inevitable after years of war spending.

But he added: "Here is what this region must know. As we end today's wars, I have directed my national security team to make our presence and missions in the Asia Pacific a top priority.

"As a result, reductions in US defence spending will not -- I repeat, will not -- come at the expense of the Asia Pacific."

"The United States is a Pacific power, and we are here to stay."

Tough shit seniors...

Peter Lee | Oct 22 | Asia Times

In recent weeks, China and the United States have both issued white papers outlining their visions of the world and Asian order. The Chinese version - its "White Paper on Peaceful Development" - set out a rosy vision of peace and prosperity driven by economic development. [1]

However, aggressive state capitalism is not a panacea for China or the world, a fact that China’s leadership may be ignoring at their peril.

The US version - in the form of a lengthy piece, "America's Pacific Century," published in Foreign Policy magazine under Hillary Clinton's name - is a misguided exercise in agenda-setting that may have even more serious long-term consequences. [2]

Its true message, if anyone still had any doubts, is that the short-lived "G2" romance at the beginning of the Obama administration - the hopeful idea that China would serve as America's favored Class 1 interlocutor on matters of global importance, instead of a distrusted adversary - is dead and buried in the US diplomatic graveyard, next to Iranian rapprochement.

Instead, it looks like rivalry with China is meant to serve as the raison d'etre of US diplomacy in Asia.

The theme of the Clinton article is the "strategic pivot" from the Middle East to East Asia. In other words, as the United States government sheds the incubus of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it will devote the majority of its energy and focus to East Asia.

A less flattering alternative explanation is that the US has shot its geopolitical bolt in the Middle East, and increasingly assertive governments in Tel Aviv, Riyadh, and Cairo are less interested in following the US tune.

Asia on the other hand, offers a more welcoming environment: one big and rather menacing country, China, and a lot of smaller countries interested in a US counterweight.more at link

Rome | August 29

AP - The United Nations warned Monday of a possible resurgence of the deadly bird flu virus, saying wild bird migrations had brought it back to previously virus-free countries and that a mutant strain was spreading in Asia.

A mutant strain of H5N1, which can apparently sidestep defenses of existing vaccines, is spreading in China and Vietnam, Tthe U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said in a statement Monday. It urged greater surveillance to ensure that any outbreaks are contained.

Women are rejecting marriage in Asia. The social implications are serious.

The Economist, August 20

Twenty years ago a debate erupted about whether there were specific “Asian values”. Most attention focused on dubious claims by autocrats that democracy was not among them. But a more intriguing, if less noticed, argument was that traditional family values were stronger in Asia than in America and Europe, and that this partly accounted for Asia’s economic success. In the words of Lee Kuan Yew, former prime minister of Singapore and a keen advocate of Asian values, the Chinese family encouraged “scholarship and hard work and thrift and deferment of present enjoyment for future gain”.

Nusa Dua, Indonesia | July 22

AFP - China warned the United States on Friday not to interfere in territorial disputes with its Asian neighbours over the South China Sea, during talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Clinton said ahead of a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on the Indonesian island of Bali that Washington welcomed a deal between China and Southeast Asia on guidelines meant to reduce tension in the strategic sea.

"I want to commend China and ASEAN for working so closely together to include implementation guidelines for the declaration of conduct in the South China Sea," Clinton told reporters.

But during their meeting Yang reminded Clinton that China's territorial claims in the South China Sea or anywhere else were none of Washington's business.

"The Chinese side raised its own concerns, which is that it is important to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China," Chinese delegation spokesman Liu Weiming told reporters, summarising Yang's comments to Clinton.

Liu said Yang and Clinton specifically discussed the South China Sea, a potentially resource-rich waterway stretching from China's southern coast deep into Southeast Asia.

But in a note of conciliation, he said the United States seemed to understand the "sensitivity of these issues" and the two sides had "agreed to further promote dialogue and mutual understanding".

Well, so now China has so muddied the waters in its dispute with Vietnam that Sinapore has had to chime in:

Singapore has called on China to clarify its claims in the South China Sea following recent confrontations with Vietnam and the Philippines.

Singapore said China's "ambiguity" had caused international concern.

Singapore has no territorial claims in the area, but said it had an interest "in anything affecting freedom of navigation in international sea lanes".

Several Asian nations claim parts of the strategically important waters that may also contain oil and gas deposits.

China has ratcheted down the rhetoric in its dispute with Vietnam.

BEIJING — China on Tuesday pledged not to resort to the use of force in the tense South China Sea, as neighbours with rival border claims stepped up their complaints over Beijing's assertive maritime posture.

Beijing called for more dialogue to resolve the long-standing territorial disputes in the area after the Philippines sought help from the United States and Vietnam staged live-fire military exercises in a show of military strength.

Wong Maye-E | Singapore | Jun 4

AFP - In a parting pitch to Asian allies, retiring U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Pentagon is considering steps to widen its military presence across the Pacific Rim. He said budget woes won't interfere.

"America is, as the expression goes, putting 'our money where our mouth is' with respect to this part of the world — and will continue to do so," he told Asia's premier security conference, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, on Saturday.

guns over butter indeed

I'm sure this won't happen, at least in the US, anytime in the near future, but you have to admit there's an awful lot of sense here:

The Global Commission on Drug Policy report calls for the legalisation of some drugs and an end to the criminalisation of drug users.

The panel includes former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the former leaders of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, and the entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson.

The US and Mexican governments have rejected the findings as misguided.

The Global Commission's 24-page report argues that anti-drug policy has failed by fuelling organised crime, costing taxpayers millions of dollars and causing thousands of deaths.

So, what did he say? Anything new?

Here are some reactions: Emptywheel, here.

Stephen M. Walt here.

The Arabist, here.

Justin Elliot on Obama's big bust of a speech.

More as I find them.

April 7

BBC - A tsunami warning has been issued for north-eastern Japan after an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4.

The tsunami is predicted to have a wave 1m (3ft) high. Those in the warning zone should move to high ground, Japanese TV said.

The area was ravaged by an earthquake and tsunami last month which severely damaged the Fukushima nuclear plant.

The quake struck 40km (28 miles) offshore, the AFP news agency said.

Now, I'm not suggesting that this is anything but the ravings of a delusional tyrant trying to put on a brave face for his people and the rest of the Arab world, but what if Assad's charges are true?

"There is a plot to break Syria apart," Assad claimed. "It began with incitement on the internet and on Facebook, and moved on to the media and the street. We were able to stop the American-Israeli plot."

"Whoever is part of the Syrian nation always stands tall," Assad added. "Our enemies act every day in an organized and public matter in order to harm Syria."

(Pun intended)

So here's President Obama, talking about America's role in the world last night:

"For generations, the United States of America has played a unique role as an anchor of global security and advocate for human freedom," Obama said. To allow a slaughter in Benghazi would have been to "brush aside America's responsibility as a leader and... would have been a betrayal of who we are."
For ten years, we've been endlessly reminded of America's "special" place in world affairs. America is the world's biggest economy, has the world's biggest armed forces, is the policeman to the world...yet can't hunt down one skinny sick Saudi in a small region that straddles the border of two of the most desolate regions in the world.

Item: Anxiety Over Radiation Drives a Sales Surge for a Drug Against Thyroid Cancer

Really? It's come down to this?

Americans are rushing to grab medicine against a threat that, if it even exists, is so miniscule as to be laughable?

Think about it: Chernobyl occured some 25 years ago and spread radiation as far south as Spain. No noticeable uptick in radiation disease was ever reported. Cancer rates remained reasonably stable.

That radiation cloud was immediately over densely populated areas.

Any Japanese radiation cloud that gets released would have to cross an entire ocean. An entire storm-laden, wind-driven, rainy-season ocean.

One of my passions in life is connections. I like to grasp how an event both occured and the consequences of that event by studying the ripples from and to other events.

For example, when Bush got elected, 9/11 happened. It probably would not have happened had Gore been confirmed as the duly elected President, because he would have continued Clinton's policies against Al Qaeda instead of taking his eye off the ball.

Bush being elected also created the biggest single national debt in human history, turning from a surplus that would pay off what was then a troubling debt (and imagine if we had those five trillion in the bank when the housing crisis hit) into a debt that not only consumed any possible budget residual but created a scenario where Bush was forced to encourage Americans to go deeply into debt, running up credit card balances and mortgages, whereby the nation is at the edge of the cliff of destruction.

The headline you won't be reading: "Millions saved in Japan by good engineering and government building codes". But it's the truth.

Get government out of my government! And Michael Moore is fat!

Steve Connor | Jan 27

The Independent - A genetically modified mosquito carrying an artificial fragment of DNA designed to curb the insect's fertility has been released for the first time in south-east Asia as part of an ambitious attempt to combat deadly dengue fever that affects up to 100 million people worldwide.

The GM mosquito has been developed by scientists at Oxford biotechnology company Oxitec to pass on a gene that kills the insect at the larval stage of its lifecycle. Officials in Malaysia said that the field experiment involved the release of about 6,000 male GM mosquitoes into an area of uninhabited forest to monitor their dispersal.

If successful, scientists hope to conduct bigger trials to test the idea that the GM males will mate with wild female mosquitoes that will produce unviable larvae that die before adulthood. On a big enough scale this should significantly reduce mosquito numbers and limit the spread of the dengue virus, which is transmitted in the bite of females.

Last year Oxitec carried out a much larger field trial in the Cayman Islands involving the release of about 3 million GM male mosquitoes – the first release of a GM mosquito into the wild. The company said that the local population of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the species that carries the Dengue virus, fell by 80 per cent.

The researchers believe that releasing GM male mosquitoes into the wild should be safe because, unlike females that need to feed on blood to produce their eggs, males cannot spread dengue or other mosquito-borne diseases such as yellow fever and malaria as they lack the piercing mouth parts necessary to enable them to consume blood from a human victim.