Pacific Views

Happenings in Asia

A conservative might point to the story of an internet essayist being arrested in China and tell us that we should be glad we live in a country where we can criticize Dear Leader and get away with it.

But Chinese wages are going up in foreign owned firms. With luck, they'll end up with a middle class at some point in the not too distant future. With exceptional luck, that middle class will be a democratizing force, and not look for new ideas to people who would point out that they're way better off than the poor blighters in Sudan.

Japan and North Korea discuss the abductee issue in preparation for multilateral talks with North Korea that will include four other nations.

India and Pakistan have resumed peace talks, which is great news for anyone not eager to find out if they'd really use those nukes they've been stockpiling. This article explores possible US intentions regarding Kashmir.

In an item that seems like both good and bad news, India's space program is using satellites to track fish shoals. I mean, it's great about the space program, but the article noted that the satellites are necessary because the fish have become scarce. What happens when there aren't many more fish to find?

Indians are currently reeling from the story of a financially desperate man who threw five of his children off a bridge, and would have jumped himself. A sixth child was spared by being too young for his mother to part with for what was claimed to be a family outing. The father would have jumped himself, but was pulled back.

An anti-Maoist leader in Nepal is assassinated. The current conflict was set off by the 2002 dissolution of parliament by Nepal's king, who came to power in 2001 after the bizarre deaths of the previous royal family. The then Crown Prince is alleged to have shot his parents and other members of his family, and then himself, after fighting with his parents about who to marry. A Maoist journalist was charged with treason for accusing the current king (and brother of the murdered one) of having arranged the massacre.

Iran is studying more advanced centrifuges. Meanwhile, Khatami urges dispirited voters to go to the polls anyway, even though many Reformist candidates have pulled out after others were banned from running.

A friend with family connections to people living in Iran says that Khamenei is being derisively referred to as Shah Khamenei (presumably in the privacy of people's homes.) As noted by the Head Heeb, Khamenei at one point urged the Guardian Council to reinstate the candidates who are already incumbents. But Khamenei appoints the Guardian Council, and loves to get political mileage out of trying to 'reason' with them. Probably not going over so well, lately.

A columnist wonders whether Arab nationalism is dead, as Iran holds a summit on creating a common market for developing Islamic countries. Will history pin the blame for the rise of Islamic nationalism on the same powers that worked to destroy the credibility of Arab nationalism?