| Posted: 29 Aug 2008 |
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CHAIRMAN ‘S REPORT A Mile High Convention; Reporters Won’t Listen to Their Own Interviewee; Rock Stars Could Hurt the Candidate; New Yorkers Warned on Booze
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 17 Jul 2008 |
CONGRESS: After FISA, Lawmakers Will Now Take a New Look at More Restrictions on the CIA, As They Move to Control the War on Terror
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 5 Jul 2008 |
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The GAO Rules that the "Tanker of the Future" Duel was Badly Handled by the Air Force. The Two Aerospace Giants will Face Off Again
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 18 Feb 2008 |
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A Full Year, and Asia’s Militaries Simmer
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 12 Feb 2008 |
The complex military challenges facing the U.S. will require all four military services to rethink the way their forces are manned, equipped and deployed. The assumption is that the Iraq-Afghanistan theaters are already the last war, and it is time to look to the future. That’s the conclusion of another new series of studies.
CHALLENGES: One new report, which emphasizes potential developments in Asia, was conducted by The Rand Corporation for the Air Force. It sees a new paradigm. “U.S. forces are being called upon to perform new missions far outside their normal repertoire, from confronting terrorism spawned by radical Islam to the possibility of fighting new nuclear powers,” it says.
The report outlines three key security challenges to the U.S., its interests, and its allies: terrorist and insurgent groups; regional powers with nuclear weapons, such as North Korea; and increasing security competition in Asia, which could result in a military confrontation with China. It outlines the threats this way:
• Terrorist and insurgent groups. By harnessing militant interpretations of Islam to new means of violence, Al Qaeda and related groups have created a virulent threat that all responsible states must act to defeat.
• Regional powers with nuclear weapons. North Korea and Iran appear determined to acquire nuclear weapons, and North Korea seems to have succeeded. The U.S. must posture its armed forces to deter and defeat aggression while it pursues political initiatives aimed at helping these societies evolve toward more democratic systems of government, stability, and integration into regional security structures.
• Security competition in Asia. With its burgeoning economy and growing military- technological sophistication, China is fielding an impressive set of capabilities that can be used to impede U.S. forces from coming to the support of their partners in the region. The challenge here, again, is to couple an appropriate military posture with long-term efforts to integrate China into the international system as a stable, responsible power.
The report then goes on to offer these solutions:
• Suppressing terrorists and insurgents by capturing and killing them, but more importantly, by training and advising the armed forces of other nations on how to protect against attacks by terrorists and insurgents.
• Assisting in bringing stability and security to those countries and regions which are attempting to implement new democratic reforms.
• Developing and fielding more effective means for locating and destroying nuclear weapons and their means of delivery.
• Ensuring that U.S. forces can overcome modern anti-access weapons and methods, particularly those involving theater ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. These weapons can create serious problems for military services that rely on traditional concepts for deploying forces and equipment to areas of conflict.
RESIZING: The report notes that previous U.S. strategy was centered on a “1-4-2-1” sizing criterion. This strategy directed U.S. forces to be able to: defend the United States; maintain a military presence in four key areas of the world; be prepared to fight in two conflicts not involving occupying enemy territory; and conduct one major conflict involving occupation.
“But today, U.S. forces also must be engaged in other remote areas including Afghanistan, Sudan, Central Asia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Currently, many of the U.S. fighting forces are forward-deployed in the places where the wars of the last century ended, such as Germany, Japan and South Korea,” it says.
“The era is gone when strategists could divide the planet into regions where the nation has important interests at stake, and where it does not,” the report adds. “In terms of classic geopolitics, Afghanistan and Sudan were beyond the strategic purview of the U.S., yet they were the breeding grounds of Al Qaeda.”
NEW ROLES: The conflicts themselves have changed as well. Having American forces “performing highly visible roles trying to solve other nations’ problems for them,” often causes local populations to resent the American presence, as well as their own governments for not being able to solve the problems. “The way you win the war on terror is to help other, friendly nations do a better job providing for their own security,” it says. “A much greater and sustained level of effort is called for here.”
“The most plausible regional wars that U.S. forces might be called on to fight, involving Iran, China (over Taiwan), and North Korea, call for heavy commitments of air and naval forces and, in the first two cases, fewer U.S. ground forces.”
The study says DOD should consider focusing a much larger proportion of U.S. ground forces on stability operations and accept the risk of shifting some from deterring large-scale aggression to air and naval forces. “This decision would permit the Army and Marine Corps to improve their stability-operations capabilities by relieving them of the requirement to fight one major conventional war. The Navy and Air Force would retain their primary focus on large-scale power-projection operations and continue to provide enabling capabilities for stability operations.”
STABILITY: Rand says that the new emphasis on stability will not come cheaply. It recommends that the Army develop stability, support and advisory capabilities, as well as conventional war-fighting elements, within its tactical structure to reflect these new missions. To compensate for these added responsibilities, the report assumes that the Army and Marine Corps will remain the same size, but will realign units and personnel to be ready to fight one rather than two conventional wars.
“This is not to suggest that the U.S. will conduct direct stability operations on the Iraqi model,” the study notes. “As a rule, U.S. stability operations should, (and of necessity, will) be indirect, focused on training, equipping and advising friendly indigenous forces as they seek to quell their own internal stability.” These operations will require important support from the Air Force and Navy, according to the report.
PROJECTION: The primary roles for the Air Force and the Navy, however, will be to conduct large-scale “power projection” operations, helping combat the forces of enemy nations far from U.S. shores. “In the event that the U.S. would have to defend Taiwan, for example, large numbers of ground forces probably would not be needed, but air and naval firepower and support would be required,” it says.
Both the Air Force and the Navy should explore ways to operate at longer ranges and with persistence, especially in conflicts involving foes with nuclear weapons and missiles, the study continues. “Both branches have invested in numerous shorter-range craft, which may not be effective if their operating bases are within range of large numbers of enemy missiles.”
CRUCIAL: “Finally, while striving to fix what is broken, the DOD should be careful not to break what is fixed,” the report notes. “The U.S. armed forces are the most powerful and successful in the world, perhaps in history. Their dominance of the conventional force-on-force battlefield is so overwhelming that it has, among other things, rendered a whole class of historically troubling scenarios, massed cross-border aggression by large, armored forces, largely obsolete.”
“America plays a crucial role in maintaining the global security system,” it adds. “This ability to come to the aid of key partners is unrivaled in the world, and that needs to be maintained.”
Rand says the military is now already working toward some of the goals recommended in the study, particularly now that the Defense Department has been implementing the results of its recent Quadrennial Defense Review of U.S. military strategy and policy. But it stresses that more can and should be done.
UNMANNED FLIGHT: In another new report looking to the future, Strategic Forecasting says that the reality of unmanned flight is putting the Air Force through an “existential” experience, as it realizes pilots may become obsolete. As the Defense Authorization bill nears completion, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley, and his cadre of legislative officers have been on Capitol Hill urging lawmakers to give the Air Force control of all medium- and high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), a move strongly opposed by the Army, Marine Corps and Navy.
In particular, the Air Force fought unsuccessfuly to have lawmakers reject a provision in the Senate version, added by Republican Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, that prohibits the transfer of R&D, acquisition or program authority from the Army of its tactical UAV, the Extended Range Multi-Purpose drone known as the Sky Warrior. The Air Force flies and favors the Predator UAV.
MISSION CONTROL: Both drones are built by General Atomics. While similar in capability, the Army contends the Sky Warrior is better suited for its mission. The Air Force says that as the executive agency, it would ensure all UAVs operate compatible command and control systems. The Air Force wants control over all drones flying above 3,500 feet. It is concerned that there are about 1,000 drones in the current war zones, and that most of them do not have compatible control and data systems.
Startfor says: “The Air Force attempt to consolidate control over UAVs has everything to do with its long-term future. While coordination and standardization is necessary across the services, each step in that direction will diminish innovation. No branch fully understands the true promise of UAV technology, which has only just gotten off the ground. But if the Air Force is allowed to consolidate control over UAV systems, especially based on altitude, then bureaucratic and organizational barriers will impede a broad generational leap in the technology for all the branches.”
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 7 Feb 2008 |
EVEN AS WORLD TRADE IS UNDER POLITICAL
EVEN AS WORLD TRADE IS UNDER POLITICAL
ATTACK, ITS VOLUME BOOMS NONETHELESS
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 6 Feb 2008 |
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FOREIGN POLICY POSITIONS REVIEWED by Dennis Mullin
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 1 Feb 2008 |
NUCLEAR POWER PRESSING AHEAD;
CONGRESS LOOKS AT LIABILITY
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 31 Jan 2008 |
POLITICIANS TAKE NOTICE AS
POVERTY BECOMES A MAJOR ISSUE
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 29 Jan 2008 |
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A Message from John Cleese - British comedian:
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 24 Jan 2008 |
IMPACT ON WATER OF ETHANOL SWITCH,
NEEDS TO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 21 Jan 2008 |
DOLLAR AND OIL PROBLEMS;
HOW SERIOUS ARE THEY?
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 20 Jan 2008 |
THREATS OF MARITIME TERRORISM
DRAW SPECIAL ATTENTION
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 13 Jan 2008 |
ARE CONCERNS OF OVER-EXTENDED U.S.
ARMED FORCES REAL OR EXAGGERATED?
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 12 Jan 2008 |
HAS THE NEW DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS CHANGED
POLICY PRIORITIES? ANALYSTS SAY, NOT MUCH
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 10 Jan 2008 |
LAWMAKERS AGAIN EYE GLOBALIZATION,
BUT OUTSOURCING ISN’T GOING TO BE SLOWED
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 9 Jan 2008 |
ARCANE ELECTION PROCEDURES UNDERWAY
FOR 2008; PRESIDENCY IS NOT THE ONLY PRIZE
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 8 Jan 2008 |
AN OPTIMIST’S VIEW OF THE U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
FUTURE; AMID THE WIDESPREAD DOUBTS
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 6 Jan 2008 |
NANOTECHNOLOGY TAKES CENTER STAGE,
WITH NATIONAL SECURITY A PRIORITY
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 5 Jan 2008 |
PATENT FIGHTS ARE CONTENTIOUS,
LUCRATIVE, AND CAN BE DANGEROUS
-- Read More >
|
| Posted: 4 Jan 2008 |
ARCHAIC PATENT LAWS ARE BEING REVAMPED,
AMID A SERIOUS DEBATE; THE PROS AND CONS
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 3 Jan 2008 |
GEOPOLITICAL STAKES RISING ALONG
WITH THE PRICE OF OIL AND GAS
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 1 Jan 2008 |
P. J. O'Rourke
It is better to spend money like there's no tomorrow than to spend tonight like there's no money.
Ogden Nash
Every New Year is the direct descendant, isn't it, of a long line of proven criminals?
George William Curtis
The New Year begins in a snow storm of white vows.
Ellen Goodman
We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives, not looking for flaws, but for potential.
Samuel Johnson
Surely, it is much easier to respect a man who has always had respect, than to respect a man who we know was last year no better than ourselves, and will be no better next year.
Friedrich Nietzsche
No, life has not disappointed me. On the contrary, I find it truer, more desirable and mysterious every year ever since the day when the great liberator came to me: the idea that life could be an experiment of the seeker for knowledge and not a duty, not a calamity, not trickery.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear, and with a manly heart.
Kersti Bergroth
It is difficult not to believe that the next year will be better than the old one! And this illusion is not wrong. Future is always good, no matter what happens. It will always give us what we need and what we want in secret. It will always bless us with right gifts. Thus in a deeper sense our belief in the New Year cannot deceive us.
Albert Einstein
I feel that you are justified in looking into the future with true assurance, because you have a mode of living in which we find the joy of life and the joy of work harmoniously combined. Added to this is the spirit of ambition which pervades your very being, and seems to make the day's work like a happy child at play.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 31 Dec 2007 |
IS THE U.S. SAVINGS RATE A CURSE OR
A BLESSING? A SURPRISING ASSESSMENT
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 30 Dec 2007 |
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POLITICAL FIELD STILL WIDE OPEN, AS BUSHS RATINGS INCREASE
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 26 Dec 2007 |
NEW PRESIDENT IS OFF TO A FAST START, MENDING
FENCES AND PLOTTING AMBITIOUS ECONOMIC PLANS
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 25 Dec 2007 |
Edna Ferber, Roast Beef Medium
Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 23 Dec 2007 |
EASING VISA HURDLES TO ATTRACT
TOP SCIENCE, HIGH-TECH TALENT
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 22 Dec 2007 |
AMID ISOLATIONIST TREND, FOREIGN
INVESTMENT COMES UNDER NEW SCRUTINY
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 21 Dec 2007 |
COMPUTER USE IN ASIA IS
CONSUMING MASSIVE ENERGY
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 20 Dec 2007 |
THE RIGHT TO GO TO WAR
COMES UNDER QUESTION
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 18 Dec 2007 |
THE U.S. AND CHINA; JOINED AT THE HIP,
OR HEADING FOR CONFRONTATION?
-- Read More >
|
| Posted: 14 Dec 2007 |
HOW TO ADDRESS TERRORIST
ACCESS TO HIGH TECHNOLOGY
-- Read More >
|
| Posted: 13 Dec 2007 |
ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE IS
THE MAIN TOPIC, YET AGAIN
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 11 Dec 2007 |
WHAT WILL INTELLIGENCE CONFUSION
ON IRAN, MEAN TO U.S. POLICY?
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 10 Dec 2007 |
NEW CONVENTIONAL SYSTEMS
CAUSE ANT-TERROR CONCERN
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 8 Dec 2007 |
ANTI-NUCLEAR VOICES RESURFACE,
AS ENERGY DEBATE INTENSIFIES
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 6 Dec 2007 |
PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS BECOME
MORE COMPLICATED, AND DANGEROUS
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 5 Dec 2007 |
INDUSTRY PRODS CHINA; NEW PROGRESS
AND TENSIONS BEFORE PAULSON VISIT
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 3 Dec 2007 |
SANCTIONS AGAINST BURMA MOVE
TO RESOURCES AND “BLOOD JEWELS”
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 28 Nov 2007 |
CONCERN OVER MIDEAST TURMOIL
INCLUDES PAKISTAN’S NUCLEAR BOMBS
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 21 Nov 2007 |
NATURAL RESOURCE BATTLE RAISES NEW ALARM ON SEVERAL COUNTS
NEW ALARM ON SEVERAL COUNTS
-- Read More >
|
| Posted: 19 Nov 2007 |
NASA NOT STANDING IDLE, AS ASIA
JOINS THE SPACE RACE IN EARNEST
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 13 Nov 2007 |
PANEL WANTS LESS FOR GNEP R&D,
MORE FOR NEW NUCLEAR PLANTS
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 10 Nov 2007 |
IMMIGRATION EMERGES AS KEY ISSUE,
IMMIGRATION EMERGES AS KEY ISSUE,
THAT COULD DEFINE THE ’08 RACE
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 2 Nov 2007 |
FOREIGN POLICY POSITIONS EMERGE
FOR 2008, BUT THEY LACK CONSENSUS
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 24 Oct 2007 |
TREASURY CHIEF PAULSON BETS
HIS LEGACY ON THE SUPER-CONDUIT
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 22 Oct 2007 |
ASSESSING THE “FORGOTTEN WAR” IN
AFGHANISTAN; WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE
-- Read More >
|
| Posted: 19 Oct 2007 |
OIL IS PLAYING A KEY ROLE IN THE
MOUNTING TURK-KURDISH TENSIONS
-- Read More >
|
| Posted: 11 Oct 2007 |
MAJOR ECONOMIC TROUBLES WILL
CONTINUE TO HAUNT BURMA
-- Read More >
|
| Posted: 8 Oct 2007 |
SOUTHEAST ASIAN OIL STATES BECOME
PLAYERS; EXPANSION BRINGS RISKS
-- Read More >
|
| Posted: 26 Sep 2007 |
BURMA IS MAKING NEWS AGAIN WITH TROUBLE
AT HOME, AND A BIG RESOURCES DEAL OFFSHORE
-- Read More >
|
| Posted: 9 Aug 2007 |
BRIDGE COLLAPSE HIGHLIGHTS THE NATION’S
INFRASTRUCTURE CRISIS; WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE
-- Read More >
|
| Posted: 1 Aug 2007 |
FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN THE U.S. TO
GET MORE SCRUTINY UNDER NEW BILL
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 17 Jul 2007 |
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Hillary Clinton is, regrettably, not going away. In the midst of thisPrimary Season, we felt it useful to regenerate some of last summer's late night observations on whom she sees a the Democrat front-runner.
Hillary Clinton said that her childhood dream was to be an Olympic
athlete. But she was not athletic enough. She said she wanted to be
an astronaut, but at the time they didn't take women. She said she
wanted to go into medicine, but hospitals made her woozy. Should
she be telling people this story? I mean she's basically saying she
wants to be president because she can't do anything else."
--Jay Leno
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 18 Jun 2007 |
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The delay with North Korea over the frozen funds in Macau may finally be ending, opening the way to a deal on its nuclear program, officials here say, thanks to help from, of all places, Russia. “The U.S. is working with Russian and Macanese authorities to facilitate the transfer of the funds previously frozen at Banco Delta Asia,” Molly Millerwise, a Treasury Department spokeswoman said.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 30 May 2007 |
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On May 28, the U.S. and Iran engaged in their first discussions in over 27 years, this time over the security of Iraq. Both sides described the event in Baghdad as positive, but the two nations did not accomplish much. What was clear however, is that the U.S. is leaving Iraq and Shiite Teheran will have the upper hand in the majority Shiite Iraqi nation in the near future at least.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 26 May 2007 |
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We've just passed the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe,and as Memorial Day 2005 approaches, we revisit a genunie HERO from "The Greatest Generation." Veteran Jimmy Thomas was in the thick of seven major battle campaigns, four major invasions, and has lived long enough to share that experience with us.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 16 May 2007 |
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The U.S. and Iran announced May 13 that they would meet in Baghdad in the next few weeks to discuss security in Iraq, one of the few face-to-face meetings for the two governments in more than two decades. On May 11, Iran and other developing nations forced a downgrading of the final statement on a review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty at a meeting chaired by Japan, objecting to what they called “imbalance.”
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 6 May 2007 |
Movie-goers in Japan are being warned that the Oscar-nominated Hollywood movie "Babel" could make them feel sick after several people complained of nausea.
A total of 16 people have complained of feeling ill while watching the movie since it was released across Japan on Saturday, distributor Gaga Communications Inc. said Wednesday.
Many of them felt sick during a scene in which Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi, playing a deaf high-school girl, dances in a club with flashing and swirling strobe lights for a couple of minutes.
The warning has been posted in newspapers and at 308 cinemas screening the movie as well as on the film's official website, Gaga spokeswoman Aimi Ichikawa said.
"We have yet to determine the cause of the sick feelings. The affected people were able to go home without help after taking a rest," Ichikawa said.
"There are various scenes which have affected viewers, including one which sways when Kikuchi and her friends get drunk," she said. "It may be a feeling similar to sea sickness. Some people have also reacted to scenes with loud sounds."
The film, directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, is a complex tale about cultural and emotional clashes in today's globalized world shot in several countries and five languages.
It has been given a big buildup in Japan since Kikuchi -- who was relatively unknown in her home country -- was nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar.
The cinema sickness recalled an incident in December, 1997, in which hundreds of children across Japan were taken to hospitals with convulsions after watching a television cartoon based on Nintendo's "Pocket Monsters."
The seizures were blamed on a scene depicting an explosion followed by five seconds of flashing red lights from the sparkling eyes of popular animated character "Pikachu."
At that time, some medical experts said bright flashes of light and color from a television screen could cause symptoms similar to epilepsy.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 27 Apr 2007 |
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China’s insatiable quest for natural resources has gained a good deal of media attention -- particularly involving oil. But now Greenpeace and many other groups are saying that the real issue is now timber; and that Chinese firms may be destroying many eco-systems around the world.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 18 Apr 2007 |
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China is pressing ahead with a program to commission up to half of the new People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officers from its finest universities, following the U.S. ROTC model. In the near-term, this initiative will take advantage of civilian institutions of higher education to train technologically proficient military leaders better able to function on the high-tech battlefields of the 21st century. Over the longer-term, while relying on civilian education may well increase the level of PLA officers’ professionalism, it could also help liberalize the military’s mindset.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 10 Apr 2007 |
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The environmental peril posed by carbon emissions receives unrelenting media coverage. Largely unheeded, however,is the "inconvenient truth" that runaway human proliferation coupled with the unmet need for family planning by the global community have greatly exacerbated the threat of climate change. William Johnson, Vice President of the Population Institute, warns, "... there has been far less focus on the role of population growth in climate change....The world’s population is projected to increase 40% by 2050. Thus, a 40% decrease in per capita carbon emissions in the industrialized world would be canceled out by global population growth and higher per capita emissions in the developing world."
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 10 Apr 2007 |
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Given the tensions surrounding North Korea and China’s military buildup, the ongoing wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and the brinkmanship with Iran, along with the precarious balance in the Persian Gulf oil routes, there is a good deal happening on the naval front. Pentagon officials point to a few developments in the last few weeks that signal a new naval arms race in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, especially involving submarine technology. On the eve of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to Tokyo, Prime Minister Abe urged transparency on China's defense spending in order to lessen the perception of Beijing as a threat. That was welcomed in Washington.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 5 Apr 2007 |
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Democrats in Congress, with present economy difficulties firmly in mind, are on the warpath on trade, arguing that outsourcing and globalization have contributed to the loss of jobs and increased income disparity. But others argue that it is not that simple, and that the U.S. could suffer badly by tilting toward protectionism, especially in the Information Technology area.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 4 Apr 2007 |
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In case anybody doubted that the trade issue is going to be huge a one with the new Democratic Congress in charge, despite the new Free Trade Agreement(FTA) with Seoul the Bush administration announced April 2 that it is formally accusing a full 63 trading partners with erecting unfair barriers to American exports. It has some suggestions for Japan, but particularly targets China.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 3 Apr 2007 |
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The latest round of six-party talks between the two Koreas, Japan, the U.S., China and Russia have ended again with no progress in Beijing, derailed by a dispute over $25 million in Pyongyang bank accounts frozen by the U.S. in 2005 on charges of counterfeiting and other illegal currency transactions. In exchange for closing its nuclear program the North would receive 50 million tons in emergency fuel. The talks also hinge on issues such as diplomatic recognition by the U.S., Japan’s concern over kidnapped citizens and other peripheral matters. But the really important issue has just come to a head -- the South Korean-U.S. free trade pact has finally been approved.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 26 Mar 2007 |
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Many here are questioning the surging role of China, which now claims it may put a man on the moon before the the U.S. can do it again. But others are cautioning that the real anchor in Asia is Japan, and that the administration should keep that very much in mind when it considers international strategy. Michael Green, an Associate Professor of International Relations at Georgetown University and Japan Chair at the CSIS draws attention to the renewed contention that the world may be making a mistake by -- “Japan Passing.”
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 23 Mar 2007 |
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Critics of American economic policy, particularly in the newly Democratic-controlled Congress, are hammering at the trade deficit as the ruin of the national economy, and a rationale for blocking free trade agreements. There is also an almost universal consensus that the record U.S. trade deficit for 2007 with China, Japan and other nations, is a drag on U.S. growth and a threat to global economic stability. But some have a different view.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 22 Mar 2007 |
|
On March 14, the Center for Strategic and International Studies in conjunction with the Stanley Foundation, issued a report on “Bulding an Open and Inclusive Regional Architecture for Asia.” CSIS Japan Chair Michael Green supported the reports basic conclusions that the U.S. must build on its alliances with Japan, Korea and Australia, and its new partnership with India, while dealing with China to set ambitious objectives for “a principled multilateral cooperation system in Asia to ensure development of an open and inclusive regional architecture.”
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 15 Mar 2007 |
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State Department officials are bemoaning the latest headache they don’t need -- Japanese Premier Abe’s attraction of international reproach for disputing that his country's military coerced young women into sexual enslavement during Japan's occupation of China and the Korean peninsula.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 11 Mar 2007 |
The Pentagon said last week that it will examine industry concerns about U.S. export controls and whether they are keeping non-traditional contractors out of the defense market. The move comes as a new group of firms announced the formation of the “Coalition for Security and Competitiveness” to address the joint issues of national security and international trade.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 10 Mar 2007 |
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President Bush’s arrival in Brazil today to discuss an ethonol deal, follows news of a project under consideration between the Brazilian state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA and Japan's Mitsui to supply Brazilian ethanol made from sugar cane to the Japanese market which could cost as much as $8 billion. With oil at $60 a barrel, the search for alternative energy sources is gaining new momentum. But the energy industry here also believes that there is plenty of more oil in the ground and that technolgical advances may significantly increase existing resources.
-- Read More >
|
| Posted: 6 Mar 2007 |
TREASURY CHIEF PAULSON TAKES AN
AMBITIOUS AGENDA TO ASIA THIS WEEK
-- Read More >
|
| Posted: 1 Mar 2007 |
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Wall Street’s sell-off on Feb. 27, and the global meltdown of markets has triggered a wave of commentary here and elesewhere on the integration of the world markets.Indexes from Tokyo to Turkey, to Chile dropped on the news driving home again the point that globalization is now a financial reality for everyone.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 28 Feb 2007 |
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That is the question many in Washington are now pondering. The similarities are striking. Both nations started from scratch, Japan after WW II, and China after the destructive decades of Mao’s communist rule. Both boomed on the basis of cheap labor and low cost goods, and now China appears to be on the verge of advancing to the type of high-tech economy that has made Japan a world model.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: 25 Feb 2007 |
U.S.-China relations are due for another rough spot. The deficit with China has almost tripled since President Bush took office, and many Democrats newly in power have China's government subsidies and currency practices in their sights -- major bilateral trade problems are likely ahead. They are demanding that the administration takes a tougher stance with all trading partners, but especially Beijing.
China passed Mexico as the second-largest U.S. trading partner in 2006, while the U.S. trade deficit soared to record $232.5 billion. The China deficit was 30 percent of the total U.S. trade deficit with all nations, which reached $763.6 billion last year, a record for the fifth straight year. The new Democratic “fair trade” Congress is steaming mad.
“There needs to be a fundamental shift in U.S. policy,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats wrote in a letter to the President last week. Democrats called on Bush to give them 90 days to come up with a “comprehensive plan” to end trade deficits with China, Japan and the European Union.
Few analysts here have an easy answer for accomplishing that objective. But what is clear is that trade relations with China are headed for a difficult period. The administration has already presented cases to the WTO on steel, paper and subsidies for other industries.
TRADE PROMOTION AUTHORITY
The Democrats' criticisms about the trade deficit underscore their differences with the administration over broader trade policy. USTR Susan Schwab is banging on doors on Capitol Hill to attempt to gain the extension of the administration’s trade promotion authority due to expire June 30. Labor unions, heavy Democratic contributors, are trying to stop her, in their general opposition to outsourcing and trade globalization.
That’s the so-called “fast track” authority that allows the administration to negotiate trade deals in bulk, with Congress getting an up-or-down vote. Without it, Congress would be able to micro-manage every aspect of U.S. trade policy.
Companies such as Boeing, Wal-Mart and New York Life Insurance have been paying lobbyist millions to get the trade authority renewed. “The initial reception has been cordial” in Congress, Schwab said last week. “I hope that we can reach an accommodation without sacrificing principle.”
“At stake are the 70 years of market-opening tariff cuts and global trade agreements that the U.S. has pursued since World War II, which had added a trillion dollars a year to the economy,” says Gary Hufbauer of the Peterson Institute.
TRADE IMPERATIVES
Schwab and other proponents of the free trade measures see them as imperative. She said that the deficit aside, they have led to a boom in U.S. exports this year, including a 25 percent jump in goods sent to Brazil and 32 percent in exports to China.
But Democrats, led by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel of New York, are leery of renewing trade promotion authority unless the administration insists on protections for workers, such as rights to join unions. This comes despite the fact that union membership in America has been sinking like a stone.
They also say the administration needs to take a tougher stance against overseas barriers to U.S. exports, especially in China, if the U.S. is going to reduce the deficit and develop a policy that benefits workers.
The administration has been “more passive than active, and that's true in so many areas whether it's China, Japan, currency or the negotiations with South Korea,” Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan, the Democratic chairman of the trade subcommittee said. The trade deficit “is one reflection of a trade policy that isn't working.”
SECOND ONLY TO CANADA
China is now second only to Canada as a U.S. trading partner. Democrats are matching their criticism with legislative proposals. Already this year there are half-a-dozen measures introduced in Congress aimed at Chinese trade or currency practices.
In the House, Democrat Tim Ryan of Ohio and Republican Duncan Hunter of California plan to reintroduce a measure that would allow companies to petition for duties on imports from China to compensate for the discount Chinese exporters get from their undervalued currency. “This issue is gathering steam, and a lot of people are looking for us to do something about it,” Ryan said. Some measure aimed at China's currency will pass Congress this year, he predicted.
Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota has proposed repealing permanent normal trade relations with China, a measure Congress approved before China joined the WTO in 2001. “Congress can -- and must -- send a clear message that China needs to stop cheating and start trading fairly,” Dorgan said.
Schwab, while trying to restrain the backlash, said that the administration isn't satisfied with the efforts by China to open its economy. “Where there are unfair trade practices, clearly we have to go after them,” Schwab said. “China has not done enough.”
Business lobbyists claim that most of the Democrats measures won't become law -- but still may disrupt commercial ties they credit with bringing low-priced imports to U.S. consumers and fostering growth in one of the fastest growing export markets.
PAULSON ON DECK
“What you will see out of Congress this year is an infinite number of wrong proposals aimed at China,” says William Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council. Still, the groups are optimistic that lawmakers will approve new trade agreements, and may even approve the negotiating authority. “We recognize that we may have a long campaign ahead of us,” said Nicole Venable, the chamber's top trade lobbyist.
Treasury Secretary Paulson remains the man in the middle, but still is also starting to talk tough. He announced that he is setting up a telephone hotline connecting him directly with the Vice-Premier of China and has named a new deputy to oversee high-level talks amid the agitation in congress.
Paulson said last week that he understands there is growing pressure on the administration to do something about the U.S.-China trade relationship, and concrete results are becoming more urgent .He has stuck by his guns that he believes the high-level strategic dialogue he has created is the best opportunity to achieve results, but concedes privately that time may be running out.
Alan Holmer, an executive of a pharmaceutical company and a former trade official during the Reagan administration has been tapped to be Paulson's deputy in charge of the strategic talks.
Meanwhile, the former U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow agreed with Paulson that America doesn’t have much leverage. The U.S. can't force China's government to allow faster gains in the yuan, he said. “It's in China's own interest to continue to allow the yuan to expand in terms of flexibility,” Snow, now chairman of Cerberus Capital Management said in Hong Kong. “I don't think we can force China to do anything.”
Snow's comments came after the Group of Seven nations urged China to allow the yuan to “move” more on a trade-weighted basis to narrow global imbalances. Snow said that a “big and efficient” market was setting the value of the yuan and the Japanese yen and exchange rates are best set by investors.
PENTAGON CONCERNED
The U.S. military isn’t very happy about bilateral relations either. The outgoing U.S. military commander in the Pacific,Navy Admiral William Fallon, a long a proponent of U.S.-China military cooperation, said says it's regrettable that China recently fired a missile into space to shoot down a satellite, noting Beijing has repeatedly vowed to follow a peaceful path to space development – and has taken a potentially offensive action there.
The Jan. 11 missile test, confirmed by Beijing after two weeks of silence, made China only the third country after Russia and the United States to shoot down anything in space. Fallon said the pursuit of such capabilities would seem to contradict statements from Chinese officials that the country wants to grow peacefully.
“China’s Leadership ought to consider carefully its actions and the actions of its subordinates and the messages that they send to others in the world,” Fallon said. “China has been very vocal, particularly in recent years, stating its absolute adherence to a peaceful future and to development of the security of itself as its priority. If that's the case, then what's with these kind of steps?”
The incident in which China destroyed one of its own defunct weather satellites last month, could hinder U.S. moves to expand military relations with Beiging. Pentagon analysts believe, rightly or wrongly, that the satellite test was likely part of a People's Liberation Army effort to develop the ability to counter U.S. military power if there is a face-off over Taiwan.
Fallon said Satellites have become increasingly important to U.S. forces in recent years. In Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. has used satellite technology to deliver precision-guided bombs directly to their targets. “It's regrettable that we see events like this because there are very few people in the world that have satellites relative to others, and it's pretty obvious why someone would be trying to acquire this capability,” Fallon added.
At the Pacific Command, Fallon has pushed to resume and increase U.S.-China military exchanges to reduce the risk of either side misinterpreting the other's actions. The steps warmed relations largely frozen when a U.S. spy plane and a Chinese jet fighter collided off the coast of China in 2001.
Nonetheless, he said he thought cooperation could continue despite China increasing space debris by 10 percent for no discernable reason. “Bilateral exchanges are needed in part to show Beijing that Americans have no plans to invade China but are committed to defending Taiwan as required by U.S. law,” he said. Expanded exchanges have led to the two militaries holding bilateral naval search-and-rescue exercises and communications drills last year. The two countries also increased port visits. More activities are being planned this year, despite the latest incident.
PROGRESS STILL POSSIBLE
The admiral spoke a few weeks before he is due to leave his Hawaii headquarters of the last two years to take over as the top commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East. He'll be based at the Tampa, Fla., offices of the U.S. Central Command. He predicted the U.S.-China relationship would improve over time but suffer setbacks along the way. “As with most things in the world, things move forward in fits and starts,” Fallon said. “I think we're moving forward. Again, no cloudburst of brilliant sunlight and everything is all different, but steady progress.”
The goal, the admiral said, is to bring China into the world community as a constructive, major player. He said the PRC has a ways to go in this regard, as exemplified by Beijing's denial and later acknowledgment it fired the missile.
“As the PRC develops, and changes from this inwardly focused, secretive state, to one in which they are engaged more with the outside world they have adjustments to make,” Fallon said. “This isn't going to happen on a one-way street. We have to engage, bring them along, encourage them by our actions and establish some amount of trust.”
ANAYLSIS CUTS BOTH WAYS
Here’s an analysis of what the current bilateral situation breaks down to, according to one Asian-policy analyst:
• The WTO complaint is superficial, since China already has planned to implement half of the requested reforms in the near future. The real reason behind the Bush administration's move is to keep peace on the domestic political front and buy more time for the Chinese to deal with internal reforms.
• The economic rationale behind Schwab's action is totally political -- given that comprehensive tax reform proposals that would address half of the current complaints already are sitting on Chinese President Hu Jintao's desk.
• The Chinese leadership understands the domestic reasons behind Washington's actions, and would rather the U.S. Congress be kept at bay with minimal disruption to U.S.-Chinese relations.
• The USTR's complaint seems to be a low-cost, very public hit at the Chinese to appease domestic U.S. pressure (at least temporarily), while reminding the Chinese that cooperation is necessary and to keep “China-bashers” in Congress appeased
• This is not the first time Washington has used WTO complaints for these purposes. It has been known to loudly and publicly decry the Chinese for their alleged misconducts. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's very public criticism of China's currency policies during the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue on Dec. 14, 2006, is an example. The dialogue was designed to keep both countries on the same page on key strategic economic issues. Despite receiving much U.S. media attention, Bernanke's comments were nothing new to the Chinese and had negligible impact on their currency policy.
• Under existing legislation, the U.S. Congress cannot implement retaliatory policies unless the Treasury Department classifies China as a “currency manipulator” in its biannual currency manipulation report. Given that the yuan already is at an all-time low to the dollar, and that past reports have not labeled China a “currency manipulator,” Paulson is unlikely to denounce China now. The Bush administration does not want to slap tariffs on China that would hurt vital business interests. But its ability to constrain Congress at home might shift if legislative changes remove that classification as a precondition for retaliatory action.
• Congress has not tried to act on its own to pressure China, such as bringing forward the Schumer-Graham tariff bill. This bill threatened to levy an extra 27.5 percent duty on all Chinese imports unless Beijing sped up revaluation. More recently, Congress has shown support for suggestions from a group of economists, policymakers and academics proposing that the USTR's trade enforcement authority be transferred to the Justice Department and out of the Bush administration's hands. The USTR has yet to take such threats seriously.
• Asian businesses invested in China -- not Chinese-owned firms -- will be the hardest hit by the implementation of the requested reforms, because most of the affected firms are not Chinese-owned. Instead, they are owned mainly by foreign firms that have outsourced their manufacturing and/or assembly operations to China (usually overseas Chinese from Taiwan or Hong Kong). More than half of China's exports are produced by foreign-invested enterprises.
• The real winners after the USTR's actions will be the Congress and the Bush administration. The members of Congress gain, because they now have more than just talk to take back to their constituents, while the Bush administration can demand more “give” from China on other economic and trade issues.
• The Chinese will benefit to an extent from the WTO case, since they get more time to focus on their own internal reforms while keeping Sino-U.S. relations stable. Key outcomes from this WTO complaint already are playing out on the stage of U.S. domestic politics, but may not end up disrupting international trade.
Finally, the more the Democrats tangle with international trade, analysts here believe the stronger Paulson’s hand will be within the process -- and he is known here as “Mr. China.” But there is serious trouble ahead.
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| Posted: 21 Feb 2007 |
The basis of the bilateral relationship between Japan and the U.S. on numerous issues is drawing increasing attention in diplomatic circles, especially as the resurgent Democrats in Washington alter the foreign policy landscape. Vice President Cheney’s visit this week is designed to ensure Asian leaders that the Bush administration remains committed to the region. Officials here have high expectations for the U.S.-Japan partnership and many nations and issues are involved in the equation.
DECISION MAKING: Following special national security adviser to the Prime Minister Yuriko Koize’s visit last week, State Department officials are pleased that Japan is strengthening its institutions and bureaucratic infrastructure to facilitate the most effective decision-making process possible on global matters.
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| Posted: 18 Feb 2007 |
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The new Democratic Congress is preparing to make the first significant legislative revisions to procedures for reviewing foreign investment rules in the U.S., since last year’s Dubai Ports World controversy. The bill, which was marked up by the House Financial Services Committee on Feb. 13, aims to establish a 12-agency panel to oversee the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), the body charged with reviewing foreign investments in U.S. firms.
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| Posted: 16 Feb 2007 |
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The new Democratic House began debate Feb. 13 on a non-binding resolution saying that it “disapproves of the decision” to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq. But it also says that Congress will, “continue to support and protect” U.S. forces and significantly, it doesn't address cutting war funds. This means that the President is likely to get his budget request for increased Pentagon spending passed.
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| Posted: 13 Feb 2007 |
There is a view that the U.S. dominates the UN and attempts at reform are designed to enhance American influence. But Washington’s power within the U.N. is limited, and often the UN is used as a multilateral vehicle to attack the U.S. -- especially by strategic competitors such as Russia, China, India and France. The administration and Congress back Japan’s call for Council expansion, to balance the equation, but officials say their efforts to spur changes are stalled.
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| Posted: 11 Feb 2007 |
In announcing President Bush’s budget request for the Department of Energy Feb. 5 of $24.3 billion for FY 2008, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said funding priorities include investments in affordable, clean and reliable energy; further scientific discovery; continued efforts at environmental cleanup and maintaining the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile while promoting civilian nuclear power.
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| Posted: 5 Feb 2007 |
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The U.S. filed a complaint against China before the WTO on Feb. 2, after months of negotiations between Washington and Beijing failed to meet Washington's demand that China end subsidies that U.S. officials say make Chinese exports artificially cheap. The Pentagon isn’t happy either over the recent satellite missle-test and anaylsts here predict major tension ahead.
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| Posted: 4 Feb 2007 |
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The U.S. energy problem has climbed to the top of the charts -- once again -- with the rising dependence on foreign oil and increasingly volatile prices. The failure of the administration to make Iraq’s energy production the top priority following the invasion has also drawn notice. Everyone has recognized the problem for years, but for commercial or environmental reasons little action has been taken. Sorting through the options, nuclear power seems the only logical answer. The debate:
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| Posted: 2 Feb 2007 |
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As the Democrats take over Congress, the debate over America’s competitive position in the world is heating up. Some argue that the nation has lost its long-term ability to lead in manufacturing and is losing the trade war to nations such as China and Japan – and nobody seems to have a clear answer how to address the problem.
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| Posted: 29 Jan 2007 |
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Iran has assembled a satellite launch vehicle that could lift off soon, according to a Jan. 26 Aviation Week & Space Technology report, citing the chairman of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission. Experts here say that it is not difficult to convert a space launcher to an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which would able to drop a payload weighing 300 km anywhere in the world including Washington, DC, or Tokyo for that matter.
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| Posted: 24 Jan 2007 |
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The Democratic takeover of the House and Senate has led to widespread speculation that many American taxpayers, particularly large U.S.-based corporations, especially oil firms, and their top managers, are in line for major increases in their 2007 tax bill. The Democratic platform was also based on the charge that the top 1 percent of U.S. earners are stretching the income inequality equation to the limit, and they and their corporate employers need to be brought to account.
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| Posted: 23 Jan 2007 |
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A strong earthquake on Jan. 21 in Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island, 1,365 miles northeast of Jakarta, focused attention again on the danger that the frequency of quakes in Asia pose to vital international communications links, the Internet and to crucial financial markets.
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| Posted: 18 Jan 2007 |
President Bush’s phone call on his new plan for Iraq to Japanese Prime Minister Abe during the PM’s trip to Germany, even before his national TV address Jan. 11, was a clear illustration of the common concerns over the situation in Iraq, diplomatic observers say. While Abe was making the first visit by a Japanese leader to NATO headquarters, Japanese ministers were all over Washington, another sign of the strengthening relationship -- even as the administration was remaking itself.
BUSY WEEK: This was a busy week in Washington as the President said that he would add 21,500 more troops to the 132,000 military personnel already in Iraq, in the so-called “surge” strategy advised by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, to specifically target the security situation in Baghdad.
The additional U.S. forces will be combined with greater pressure on the Iraqi government to suppress sectarian militias and begin delivering basic government services, Bush said in his speech at the White House. The administration, under extreme pressure following the Democratic takeover of Congress, has also been playing musical chairs in personnel -- reassigning people across the board.
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| Posted: 4 Jan 2007 |
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Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promises big things for the first 100 legislative hours of the new 110th Congress starting Jan. 4. Former President Ford’s funeral Jan. 2, serves as a reminder of the constant changes in the political process in Washington. Foreign policy aside; here’s a brief preview on the new U.S. domestic congressional agenda that will dominate the debates in coming weeks and months.
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| Posted: 4 Jan 2007 |
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Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promises big things for the first 100 legislative hours of the new 110th Congress starting Jan. 4. Former President Ford’s funeral Jan. 2, serves as a reminder of the constant changes in the political process in Washington. Foreign policy aside; here’s a brief preview on the new U.S. domestic congressional agenda that will dominate the debates in coming weeks and months.
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| Posted: 26 Dec 2006 |
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The results of the first U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue last week were decidedly mixed by all accounts. The Treasury Department’s own statement on Secretary Henry Paulson’s mission said that the discussions reaffirmed commitments, “to pursuing macroeconomic policies, such as China's exchange rate regime reform and increasing the U.S. savings rate, to promote balanced and strong growth and prosperity in our two nations.” That was about the size of it. But officials say that the real progress made during Paulson’s visit pushed American interests at energy talks.
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| Posted: 19 Dec 2006 |
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It has not escaped the attention of intelligence officials in Washington that the conventional tone now in vogue in media and academic circles, is that the age of the Pax Americana may be waning. Foes of the U.S., of multiple political and ideological stripes may be lining up in an Islamic-led global coalition against the West. A new phenomenon appears to be at work that warrants close attention -- one which could soon increase the dangers of terrorism for the U.S., Japan and their allies.
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| Posted: 17 Dec 2006 |
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Chairman of the House Committee on International Relations for the past six years, Illinois Republican Henry Hyde is stepping down after 32 years in Congress. He recently told the Council on Foreign Relations he bemoans the bitter partisanship that has badly complicated the debate over Iraq, the utter failure of efforts to reform the UN, but is very comfortable that the Committee will be in good hands under the leadership of his successor, California Democrat Tom Lantos.
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| Posted: 13 Dec 2006 |
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As the Bush administration prepares to send half of its cabinet to Beijing next week for trade and currency talks, trade officials admit that China has come a long way in opening its economy. They still say it needs to do much more to avoid facing a stiff American response. That is especially likely as the Democrats take over Congress
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| Posted: 8 Dec 2006 |
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The long awaited report by the bipartisan 10-member Iraq Study Group has hit the President’s desk, without something of a thud. The hope has been that its recommendations would provide a guideline toward a solution. Instead, it rehashed alternatives that have already been endlessly debated, and at most laid out a probably unrealistic glide path to a dangerous and ignominious exit.
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| Posted: 4 Dec 2006 |
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Even the most bizarre of Hollywood spy thrillers pale in comparison to the latest turn of events which started unfolding when a former Russian FSB agent turned up mortally ill at a London hospital only later to die from what is now believed to be poisoning from a lethal dose of polonium 210.
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| Posted: 4 Dec 2006 |
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Pundits have suggested that Democratic control of the Congress after the recent elections spells doom for free trade. But some experts offer an alternative view, arguing that the Democrats actually have a tradition of economic internationalism and may prove to be a positive force in global commerce.
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| Posted: 28 Nov 2006 |
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President Bush visits Jordan Nov. 29, to meet with King Abdullah of Jordan and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. The King has warned that the region is at risk of dealing with three civil wars at the same time; in Iraq, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories, and says he supports a regional peace process. For all nations with interests in the Mideast as well as international energy markets, analysts in Washington are saying that the reality should be sinking in that the U.S. is getting ready to pull out.
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| Posted: 23 Nov 2006 |
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Democratic lawmakers believe they have a mandate for fundamental changes in both the policies and the approach to American foreign policy; starting with Iraq. In a wide-ranging discussion with the Council on Foreign Relations Nov. 20, California Democrat Tom Lantos, set to take over as chair of the House International Relations Committee, says he plans to focus on North Korea, Iran and the Midddle East. Interestingly, the well-known China basher never mentioned Beijing once.
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| Posted: 19 Nov 2006 |
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Much attention has been given to the political implications of the U.S. elections on U.S.-Japan relations, but after the dust settles there are countless other issues and industry sectors that will be affected. On energy production, the election results may turn out to be positive.
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| Posted: 13 Nov 2006 |
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President Bush’s decision to replace Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld with former CIA officer and current President of Texas A&M University Robert M. Gates has raised more than a few eyebrows in Washington. He has no known strong positions or working experience on Japan, Noprth Korea or Asia in general and little on the Mideast for that matter, and comes from a Sovietologist background.
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| Posted: 9 Nov 2006 |
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The Republicans have lost the House and probably also the Senate, pending recounts, because of the war in Iraq and allegations of corruption. But it shouldn’t affect Japan-U.S. relations in any meaningful way. Still, it may have an impact on American trade policy over the near-term.
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| Posted: 3 Nov 2006 |
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Unlike in Japan, the U.S. Congress grants enormous discretionary power to Committee Chairmen to set the legislative agenda, often beyond the control of their party’s leadership. Come next Tuesday, if the Democrats take back control of either house, the national debate will be changing significantly; but policy probably won’t.
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| Posted: 29 Oct 2006 |
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Japan’s decision to scale back its role in the development of the Azadegan oil field from the 75 percent stake agreed upon when the $2 billion deal was struck in 2004 is looking increasingly like a wise move, according to senior U.S. officials.
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| Posted: 22 Oct 2006 |
TREASURY SEES A STRONG ECONOMY
GETTING STRONGER; MOST EXPERTS AGREE
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| Posted: 18 Oct 2006 |
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The reported detonation of a nuclear device by North Korea on Oct. 9 raises the question of potential military action against North Korea. Most experts in Washington don’t believe a realistic military campaign is doable.
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| Posted: 13 Oct 2006 |
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Political experts anticipate big Democratic gains in congress in the elections now just weeks away, with them possibly regaining control of one or both chambers. The question is, what impact would that have on U.S. foreign policy?
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| Posted: 10 Oct 2006 |
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While Japan considered further sanctions and Prime Minister Abe reassured his countrymen that Tokyo has no intention of developing nuclear weapons, the reaction elsewhere to Pyongyang’s declaration that it had tested a nuclear warhead was swift, and tainted with more than a little alarm.
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| Posted: 7 Oct 2006 |
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China’s relentless move into Africa has set off alarm bells in Washington and Tokyo, but Japan may be at a major disadvantage as it attempts to compete with Beijing on the continent.
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| Posted: 2 Oct 2006 |
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97 Reasons Democrats Are Weak On Defense And Can't Be Trusted To Govern In Wartime
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| Posted: 24 Sep 2006 |
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The massive increase in global trade, and the advent of new technology, along with cross-national investment, has fundamentally changed the way huge commercial ports operate. This is an issue you will be hearing more of
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| Posted: 24 Sep 2006 |
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The U.S. Senate could vote next month on rival bills fundamentally affecting trade and currency relations with China. The USTR’s Schwab’s trip didn’t help, but election politics may dictate the results.
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| Posted: 24 Sep 2006 |
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The “clash of civilizations” just got nastier with the Pope weighing in on Islam’s relations with most of the rest of the world. Experts in Washington are trying to sort out what it all means and ironically, many think it will help Bush and the Republicans just seven weeks before closely contested elections for control of Congress.
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| Posted: 24 Sep 2006 |
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One of the most important U.S. issues this political year is immigration. The Democrats are courting the Latino vote and not pressing it. Republicans are seeking conservative support and pushing for tough border measures. Congress this week will end up somewhere in the middle.
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| Posted: 11 Sep 2006 |
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EU leaders hosted China’s Premier Wen Jiabao this weekend, with trade, energy and climate issues and the EU arms embargo at the top of the agenda. Beijing wants the embargo lifted; EU businessmen echo their American counterparts in demanding a fair shake in the China market
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| Posted: 11 Sep 2006 |
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To illustrate the depth of the acrimony on both sides, the anniversary has been marked by a bitter dispute over a TV movie which claims that the Clinton administration was so preoccupied with its domestic problems that it allowed Osama Bin Laden to escape reprisals multiple times. Former President Clinton and his top aides have loudly attacked the project as non-factual and politically biased.
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| Posted: 9 Sep 2006 |
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Political analysts in Washington are pondering everything from an outright attack on Iran to sanctions, to security guarantees to get Teheran to give up its nuclear ambitions. But few see any of the alternatives as truly realistic ones.
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| Posted: 6 Sep 2006 |
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One the most glaring aspects of driving around the country today, is the overwhelming predominance of foreign-made automobiles. Given the latest merger talks involving GM, the real issue is if Detroit can ever compete again.
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| Posted: 28 Aug 2006 |
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Chinese engineers of the state-controlled oil company Sinopec and Cubans of the government-owned CubaPetroleo, are currently drilling for oil less than 50 miles from the U.S. coast. Congress is not happy.
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| Posted: 18 Aug 2006 |
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The ceasefire in Lebanon doesn’t change the fact that the Middle East is never a peaceful place. But even by regional standards, the U.S. faces major problems in virtually every area, and at least one prognosis is an extremely dismal one.
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| Posted: 14 Aug 2006 |
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The first important results are in from the primaries leading up to the off-year Congressional elections in November, and what is clear is that Iraq and President Bush will be the key factors in determining which party controls the legislature.
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| Posted: 12 Aug 2006 |
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The U.S. could be drawn into the dispute between Japan and China over offshore drilling, which is currently heating up, if the testimony of a senior Energy Department official before a Congressionally-created panel is any indication, and as China becomes a bigger energy player.
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| Posted: 5 Aug 2006 |
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The war between Israel and Islamic forces in Lebanon brings back into focus once again the issue of international trafficking in weaponry. In play are U.S., Chinese and Russian arms, Japanese trucks and multiple variations of weapons configured together by other nations. Hezbollah is now using technology to attack Israel, which Washington gave Tel Aviv, which sold it to Beijing, which sold it to Tehran, which shipped it via Syria to Lebanon.
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| Posted: 1 Aug 2006 |
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● “Nano-technology,” is not so far-off, says Jack Uldrich, a Minnesota businessman. “It is being used now." People should be aware of how the new technologies will affect their businesses during what he said will be “an opportunity and disruption" phase. Nano-technology will prompt "more changes in our civilization in the next 25 years than in all of the 20th century," he says.
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| Posted: 30 Jul 2006 |
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It may have been pushed off the front pages for the time being by the violence in Israel and Lebanon, but as far as U.S. interests are concerned, the quagmire in Iraq remains foreign policy issue No.1. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki visited Washington last week to confer with President Bush. U.S. Ambassador to Baghdad Zalmay Khalilzad recently provided an overview and status report on the situation in Iraq from his perspective.
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| Posted: 22 Jul 2006 |
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As the G-8 has met in Russia to discuss potentially world shattering events, many high-tech firms are wondering if it is worth doing business in Europe, or if governments such as France, are just trying to steal technology on the cheap.
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| Posted: 18 Jul 2006 |
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Stock markets worldwide have reacted with extreme anxiety over the recent uproar in the Middle East, as a combination of factors have come together to raise real concerns over the global international outlook.
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| Posted: 16 Jul 2006 |
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The Group of Eight will meet in St. Petersburg this weekend, for what had become an annual photo-shoot. The summit has been so unproductive in recent years, that Ronald Reagan suggested canceling it 20 years ago. The agenda was to include Avian Flu, global education and third world debt relief. Guess what? This time around, the issues are deadly serious and Putin will be playing the Czar.
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| Posted: 12 Jul 2006 |
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The President’s poll ratings have come back to the 40 percent level, from the low 30s. That indicates that he and the Republicans may be able to turn things around before the November elections. The Democrats clearly don’t have a coherent alternative, in a world that has seemingly gone mad.
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| Posted: 9 Jul 2006 |
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The Korean missile tests highlight the precarious military balance in Asia today, as nations try to adapt by modernizing their forces as the threats escalate. Japan could be in a particularly difficult position as the arms race heats up.
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| Posted: 6 Jul 2006 |
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North Korea has finally made it good on its threat to carry out missile tests, firing a total of seven so far. The worldwide uproar was predictable, but there was a silver lining as well, as an international consensus emerged that something has to be done about the rogue regime in Pyongyang and the technology demonstrated was far below expectations.
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| Posted: 2 Jul 2006 |
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Japan has long cooperated closely with the U.S. in the war on terror. Despite having troops in Iraq, it has been inclined to consider itself relatively safe from a terrorist attack on its own soil. But it may be time to reconsider the dimension of the threat to the region.
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| Posted: 22 Jun 2006 |
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The new head of the CIA, Michael Hayden, is hitting the ground running and his first order of business is to boost the agency’s clandestine services, which have been plagued in recent years by political infighting and dissension that have resulted in widespread resignations of key operatives.
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| Posted: 16 Jun 2006 |
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The mood in the White House has taken a decided upward turn in recent weeks, as the changes brought about by new Chief of Staff Joshua Bolton seem to have shaken the West Wing out of the six-year doldrums
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| Posted: 4 Jun 2006 |
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On June 1, the major countries involved in trying to resolve the dispute with Iran over its nuclear activities, agreed to yet another approach to persuade Teheran to comply with international demands to halt uranium enrichment and its suspected search for a nuclear bomb.
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| Posted: 29 Apr 2006 |
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Tyson’s Foods shut its plants to “support comprehensive immigration reform.” Organizers say it was “a celebration of Hispanic culture,” and that non-Hispanic immigrants were not supposed to be involved. Mexican President Vincente Fox announced on April 28 (although he since backed off) that he would sign a bill legalizing the possession of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and ecstasy. That’s what is has come down to. We need immediate regime change in Mexico City.
On May 1, International Labor Day, and the annual day of celebration of the late Commintern – the international Soviet communist organization, dedicated to overthrowing democracies worldwide -- millions of illegal immigrants, who technically are not here, are threatening to walk off their jobs. Tyson’s Foods is shutting its plants to “support comprehensive immigration reform.” Organizers say it is “a celebration of Hispanic culture,” and that non-Hispanic immigrants are not supposed to be involved. Mexican President Vincente Fox announced on April 28 that he would sign a bill legalizing the possession of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and ecstasy.
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| Posted: 1 Apr 2006 |
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George Bush only recently visited Mexico. The topic was immigration. Did he ask Vincente Fox why (showing him a video of) hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants were waving Mexican flags in Los Angeles, for the supposed right to be here?
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| Posted: 20 Mar 2006 |
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*Senator Debbie Stabenow, Democrat, Michigan, gratuitously lambasting the President, the failed Ports deal, and telling our best friends in the Arab World to go to hell.
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| Posted: 19 Mar 2006 |
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* The world greeted the third anniversary of the American invasion of Iraq and its controversial occupation with less than “Shock and Awe.” The headline on AOL news of activity around the world said: “Iraq War Protests Attract Few People.” The AP reported that, “Many of the demonstrations in Australia, Asia and Europe drew smaller than anticipated crowds. In London, police said 15,000 people joined a march from Parliament and Big Ben to a rally in Trafalgar Square. The anniversary last year attracted 45,000 protesters.” It reported that 800 showed up in Tokyo, presumably the rest were watching their national team playing the World Baseball Classic.
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| Posted: 10 Mar 2006 |
.“Golf” is derived from a Scottish description of the game at the time of its invention: “Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden.”
.It is impossible to lick your elbow.
.Coca Cola was originally green.
.The average number of people airborne in the US at any time is 61,000.
.Half of Americans live within 50 miles of their birth.
.The most looked up word online at Webster’s Dictionary website last year was “integrity.”
More boat owners chose “obsession” over any other name.
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| Posted: 10 Oct 2005 |
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One Picture is worth a thousand words.
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| Posted: 2 Oct 2005 |
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The night (very late) of the Redskins victory over Denver in the 1988 Super Bowl in San Diego, with the “Miracle Quarter” of Doug Williams, the Hogs and Timmy Smith breaking scoring records, I had the occasion to share the celebration with some of the Redskin linemen.
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| Posted: 26 Sep 2005 |
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The Justice Department reported Sept. 25 that violent crime in the United States in 2004 stayed at the lowest level since the government began compiling statistics 32 years ago, with males and youths victimized at higher rates than others, as if that should be a surprise. There were 24 million violent crimes and property crimes in 2004, about the same rate as the previous year, according to an annual study by the government's Bureau of Justice Statistics.
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| Posted: 26 Aug 2005 |
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After NASA’s Discovery touched down from its low-earth orbit flight to the International Space station on Aug. 9, one of the astronauts was interviewed on TV. He was asked if the Columbia’s dissolving on reentry in the last shuttle adventure was on his mind during the landing. The question was particularly important as Discovery had many of the same problems -- foam falling from the external fuel tank occurred in both liftoffs, forcing the Discovery crew to make an unscheduled space walk to check out the heat tiles which protect the craft on reentry. Clearly anyone would be worried that perhaps Discovery had experienced wing damage similar to that which caused the Columbia to breakup. He responded that he was so busy on reentry checking multiple dials, that it only crossed his mind fleetingly when he viewed the gauges that would indicate a similar crisis.<
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| Posted: 24 Aug 2005 |
As the battle over Supreme Court nominees continues on a blatantly partisan level, it would behoove us all well to consider what Big Brother is already doing to us, as precedents are being set every day which make a joke of our individual rights and the constitution itself, which the court has already abandoned make, not interpret laws…
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| Posted: 23 Jul 2005 |
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We recently read Edward Klein’s book “The Truth About Hillary,” more out of curiosity about how it was received than anything to do with the near-certain presidential candidate. The release of the book was controversial, not for its subject matter but for the fact that it was widely panned by both the left and a large part of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
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| Posted: 10 May 2005 |
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If the earth's population were reduced to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like this:
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| Posted: 28 Apr 2005 |
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Some of the artists of the '60s are revising their hits with new lyrics to accommodate aging baby boomers:
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| Posted: 22 Apr 2005 |
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As Bill Hartley writes in “Eye on Asia” (April 12), Chinese diplomacy is “fumbling around the world” as the heirs to the Mandarins attempt to live up to their new-found growing economic and military might. He notes that the diplomatic disputes over Taiwan even spilled over onto the Pope’s funeral over Italy granting a visa to Taiwan’s President to attend the late Pontiff’s funeral – even though the Vatican is one of only 25 countries around the world that recognizes Taipei as the government of China and is the only one in Europe to do so.
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| Posted: 11 Mar 2005 |
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We are pleased to announce the launch of a new exciting site, GlobalOpEd.us. It is our hope that this will serve as a one-stop forum for worldwide opinion on the issues of the day that affect us all. We intend to make this site as non-partisan and diversified in opinion as possible.
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| Posted: 30 Jan 2005 |
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The tsunami has taken a horrendous toll, with well over 100,000 casualties and still counting. With it comes many questions: What could have been done to provide early warning systems? How much would that cost, and the terrible human price aside, does the expenditure make sense to deal with a calamity that might come only once a century? More to the point, are our priorities
for dealing with disasters adequate, and is a new international system needed to deal with them? We don’t have a correspondent on the scene, but hope that nce the dust clears some of those directly affected will offer their thoughts n Guest Columns. Some comments from our staff:
writers:
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| Posted: 1 Jan 2005 |
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WHY RUSSIANS PLACE THEIR BETS ON JOHN KERRY…AND ONLY 7% ARE FOR BUSH STAYING IN THE WHITE HOUSE
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| Posted: |
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That’s the question raised by several reports out last week. On April 5, the World Bank said that the export-dependent “Asian Tiger” economies are facing the “worrying” prospect of weaker growth in sales to China, which is also squeezing its neighbors out of key overseas markets. As China follows the Japanese post-WW II model and ratchets up its economy from cheap exports to producing more high-tech, valued-added goods it is importing less and less component parts.
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| Posted: |
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China’s economic growth in the past 25 years has been averaging more than 9 percent a year. While there have been comparable growth rates in countries such as Japan and South Korea, there is no precedent for such rapid growth in a country the size of China, whose population of 1.3 billion is thirteen times that of Japan. If China continues its rapid growth (11.1 percent in the first quarter), it will take the global economy into uncharted terrain. A new study released here April 17 by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace examines implications of “China’s Economic Prospects 2006-2020.” The highlights:
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| Posted: |
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All of the other participants in the Six Party Talks are awaiting a resolution of the pending settlement of the Bank of Macau financial question, over the $25 million in North Korean money frozen in connection with counterfeiting and money-laundering allegations. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said last week that more sanctions against North Korea may be needed if Pyongyang does not soon meet its initial obligations under the accord reached in February in Beijing.
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| Posted: |
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Data from the last five years reveals a remarkable increase in “outsourcing,” as Japan the U.S. and others move more parts of their manufacturing and data processing to China and India and other natons abroad. According to the consulting firm McKinsey, offshore business operations tallied between $32 billion and $35 billion as a global industry in 2002. By 2008, McKinsey says they will be worth over $100 billion. There is now even an Outsourcing Insitute, a professional association providing outsourcing information, consulting and networking opportunities.
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| Posted: |
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Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, who trails New York Senator Clinton by 36.2 percent to 25.3 percent in the latest polls (On the Democratic side: former VP candidate John Edwards is at 13.7 percent, and former Presidential contender Al Gore is at 13 percent without even suggesting he will run) had some strong words for the automobile industry in a recent speech to the Detroit Economic Club. In one of the first indications of where he stands on policy, (he’s said little on Asia so far) he addressed the fuel economy issue by praising Japanese and foreign automakers and castigating Detroit.
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| Posted: |
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A report released May 17 by the non-profit research RAND Corporation says that complex military challenges facing the U.S. and its allies, will require all four arms of the military services need to rethink the way their forces are manned, equipped and deployed. It also expresses particular concern over the security balance in East Asia and recommends major force adjustments.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
• STRATEGIC DIALOGUE YIELDS MIXED RESULTS
• CHINA ON THE DEFENSIVE
• CONGRESS NOT MOLLIFIED
• WALL STREET UNEASY
• PENTAGON SPLITS THE DIFFERENCE
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| Posted: |
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Former South Carolina Senator and Democratic Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards is trailing Hillary Clinton by 34.5 percent to 12.2 percent in national polls, but is running strongly in the early Iowa caucuses surveys -- which are usually the launching pads for the nomination. His campaign has been dominated by reports that his wife is suffering from breast cancer. Mrs. Edwards grew up between the U.S. and Japan where her father served as a Navy pilot, and is familiar with issue related to Asia, aides say. She has also served as her husband’s closest political adviser in his previous campaigns. Recently he has been speaking out on foreign policy, addressing the Council on Foreign Relations last week.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
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The increasing demand by the world’s largest energy consumers such as the U.S., Japan, China, India and others has driven the search for alternatives to Mideast oil to biofuels, especially ethanol. President Bush called in his State of the Union Address for a “Renewable Fuel Standard” based on, “the increased use of biofuels, renewable energy, clean coal and advanced nuclear energy.”
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| Posted: |
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The Committee on Foreign Investment (CIFIUS), an inter-agency group, chaired by the Department of Treasury, that includes USTR, and the Departments of Commerce, State, Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security has been getting renewed attention lately, a year after the Dubai Ports World uproar.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
Around July 4, former Tennessee Senator, TV and movie actor (Law and Order, The Hunt for Red October) Fred Dalton Thompson is expected to formally announce his candidacy for the Oval Office, with hopes to duplicate Ronald Reagan’s appeal and success. He is in the process of creating an organizing and campaign apparatus, and even though he is still undeclared, a poll out June 5 has him running a close second among Republican voters nationally for the nomination (Rasmussen Poll: Giulinai 23-Thompson 17) and surging in many southern states such as Florida.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
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Japan's Prime Minister Abe is in Germany for his first G-8 summit, which this year will focus on climate change, as well as U.S.-Russian disputes over missile defenses. He met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel June 5, holder of the EU's rotating presidency, and in a joint statement they said Japan and the EU will lead efforts to develop a new UN plan to combat global warming when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. This comes as U.S. officials say their policy on climate is changing.
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| Posted: |
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As the Presidential race heats up -- unbelievably, a full year-and-a-half before the election -- new polls show that Fred Thompson, the former senator and actor has surged into second place for the Republican nomination. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is still ahead but the gap is closing.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
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Congress is again getting heavily involved in the automobile issue, seeking to legislate more effective Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. Senate legislation under consideration by four different committees would require cars to average 36 mpg, and trucks 30 mpg by 2020. Today's standards are 27.5 for cars and 22.2 for trucks.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
China has been all over the Washington Policy map in recent days. First the positives, according to U.S. diplomats: The fourth round of the U.S.-China Senior Dialogue concluded June 21. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Executive Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo co-chaired the extensive discussions. In this report:
• SENIOR DIALOGUE MEETING
• PROGRESS ON KOREA
• STRATEGIC ECONOMIC TALKS; TAX INCENTIVES
• IMF REFORMS ON CURRENCIES; COUNTERVIEWS
• EXPORT CONTROLS; POLLUTION THREAT
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| Posted: |
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The controversial immigration bill is dead at least until after the 2008 election. As the U.S.population grows exponentially, the issue of immigration has become crucial to the world’s largest economy. It was center-stage today in Washington where the proposed legislation failed to pass by 14 votes of 60 required in the Senate.Few issues have been so divisive here. Some see immigration as a positive, others as an invasion.
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| Posted: |
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Trade is clearly going to play a major role in the 2008 Presidential election, with an important impact on all American trading partners. The Council on Foreign Relations has done a new breakdown on the whole field of candidates on the issue. Most call themselves free traders, but their voting records indicate that they are anything but that, and that America may be headed for a more protectionist future. Here is a synopsis of their views, in alphabetical order, to file away as the campaign plays out. First the Democrats.
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| Posted: |
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Congress is again getting heavily involved in the automobile issue, seeking to legislate more effective Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. Senate legislation under consideration by four different committees would require cars to average 36 mpg, and trucks 30 mpg by 2020. Today's standards are 27.5 for cars and 22.2 for trucks.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
TERRORIST ATTACKS IN THE UK
RAISE NEW CONCERNS IN WASHINGTON
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
CANDIDATE McCAIN IS STRUGGLING TO RAISE MONEY,
BUT HAS A GOOD DEAL TO SAY ABOUT FOREIGN POLICY
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
FORMER UN AMB. BOLTON BLASTS THE ADMINISTRATION
FOR LETTING NORTH KOREA OFF THE HOOK
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
NUCLEAR POWER, ITS PROS AND CONS, IS BACK IN
THE NEWS THIS WEEK AS THE ISSUE KEEPS HEATING UP
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
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The ongoing dustup with the Pentagon notwithstandingMany political analysts believe that former First Lady Hillary Clinton has an excellent chance to win the Democratic nomination and become the first woman to hold the Presidency. She is currently running 14 points ahead of the rest of the field (Clinton, 37 percent, Obama, 23, Edwards, 11, Gore, 15). In the Oval Office she can be counted on to rely heavily on Bill Clinton -- and that means a strong emphasis on foreign policy. In recent appearances she has given some indication of where that policy might go.
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
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The economic noose around Iran may be tightening, U.S. officials say. The demand that Japan pay for the oil it buys in yen is designed to limit future U.S. economic leverge -- but it also appears to be part of a much wider problem. Domestically, the government’s plan for gas rationing, in one of the world’s largest exporters, has sparked widespread public protests. Congress is taking action designed to make matters even more difficult for Tehran, which would also target foreign corporate investors in the Islamic Republic’s oil or nuclear sectors.
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| Posted: |
CANDIDATE ROMNEY HAS A BROADER FOREIGN
POLICY OUTLOOK THAN MOST OF THE FIELD
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney first gained national attention for his role in turning around the 2002 Winter Olympics. Son of a former Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney was a successful businessman before entering public life. He founded Bain Capital, one of the nation's most successful venture capital and investment firms. Bain Capital helped launch hundreds of companies, and employs more than 2,000 people in 25 offices worldwide. He has visited Japan many times and has put a greater focus on foreign policy than most others in the field.
ASIA AND TRADE: Romney (who is now running fourth in the Republican field with 10 percent) says that the U.S. must “reach out to China and to chart out a course that is consistent with a free economy and a free society,” according to National Review. Romney, who traveled to China at the end of 2006, says that the U.S. must ensure that Chinese markets are open to U.S. goods, and that the Chinese enforce intellectual porperty rights just as they enforce their own. “Try to counterfeit an Olympic T-shirt in Beijing, for instance, and see how long it takes for them to find you,” he adds.
“China and the rest of Asia are on the move economically and technologically,” he says. “They are a family oriented, educated, hard-working, and mercantile people. We must be ready and able to compete. This means ensuring our children are educated to compete in this new market, our trade laws are fair and balanced, and our economy and tax laws welcome new investment. If America acts boldly and swiftly, the emergence of Asia will be an opportunity. Trade and commerce with these huge new economies can further strengthen our economy and propel our growth. If America fails to act, we will be eclipsed.”
He continues: “At the same time we have to make sure that the rules of free trade are fair. It's time to make sure China's markets, for instance, are open to our goods. Fair trade has to be fair in both directions; it's good for all of us.”
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
VSLIM PROGRESS BEING MADE IN
DEALING WITH BURMA’S JUNTA
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
BOEING-AIRBUS DISPUTE TAKES NEXT WTO STEP,
WITH RESOLUTION STILL A LONG WAY OFF
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
STRANGE DYMANICS AT WORK IN THIS
ELECTION, MEAN GEOPOLITICAL UNCERTAINTY
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
THE ISSUE THAT WON’T GO AWAY;
THE ISSUE THAT WON’T GO AWAY;
HOUSE ACTS ON “COMFORT WOMEN”
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
IS THE U.S. IGNORING ASIA AT ITS PERIL?
MANY SEEM TO THINK THAT IT IS
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
CONGRESS CONSIDERS NEW TEETH FOR
IRAN DISINVESTMENT MEASURES
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
CANDIDATE BIDEN IS A LONG SHOT; BUT HE’S
AMONG THE BEST PREPARED ON FOREIGN POLICY
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
WHEN CONGRESS RETURNS, FREE TRADE, IMMIGRATION,
AND GLOBALIZATION WILL ALL BE TIED TOGETHER
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
OIL SECTOR DODGES FIRST SEASONAL BULLET;
BUT STRUCTURAL PROBLEMS STILL RUN DEEP
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
BUSH, HARPER, CALDERON SUMMIT CAN’T
KEEP NAFTA OFF OPPONENT’S TARGET LIST
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
SECURITY TOPS AGENDA AS BUSH STOPS
SECURITY TOPS AGENDA AS BUSH STOPS
IN IRAQ, HEADS FOR APEC IN AUSTRALIA
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
IN THE RUSH TO ETHANOL, THE DRAMATIC IMPACT
ON FOOD IMPORTERS HAS BEEN LARGELY IGNORED
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
AMERICAN VOTERS INCREASINGLY MOTIVATED BY
FOREIGN POLICY IN POLARIZED CAMPAIGN
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
NORTH KOREAN, IRANIAN NUCLEAR DEVELOPMENTS,
PUT A NEW EMPHASIS ON NON-PROLIFERATION
-- Read More >
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| Posted: |
IRAN PREPARES TO FILL THE VACUUM IN IRAQ,
AS THE U.S. FACES DISMAL POST-WAR OPTIONS
-- Read More >
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