SE Asia: The NY Times has an article discussing East and Southeast Asian economic integration. Thai prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, believes that the regions should be looking for a new growth model, one that is less reliant on the consumption of Western nations. This would mean increasing domestic demand and increasing aid between Asian nations. Both Japan and China have put forth vague regional economic bloc outlines, that Japan has compared to the European Union, however; it is doubtful that there would be open borders, easy movement of labor, common security police, or a binding extra-national political authority.
One key point of contention is the role of the U.S. For obvious reasons, China does not want U.S. involvement. Japan, on the other hand, would like U.S. involvement or at least are paying lip service to American concerns. As this blog has discussed before, the U.S. squashed an Asian forum in the past due to the fact it felt it would be excluded, but eventually it morphed and resurfaced at ASEAN+3. In the end, it is doubtful that the U.S. will be sidelined as many nations in the region want a stronger U.S. presence to counter China’s growing power. Japan might be a useful proxy for America interests in this regard. As the Thai PM said in the article, ASEAN sees itself as a abalancer of great power politics in the region – Japan and US vs. China – let the games began.
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
