The United States: Republican Senator Dick Lugar is calling for the U.S. to create a free trade agreement with ASEAN. Lugar stated that sanctions on Myanmar should not negatively America’s economic relationship with the rest of the region. Further:
“China, India, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea have already finalized FTAs with Asean and are sharpening a competitive edge over the U.S. in Southeast Asia,” Lugar said. “The United States should proceed to develop a comprehensive strategy toward engaging ASEAN in serious FTA discussions.
This blog suggested a few months ago that a FTA with ASEAN would greatly increase America’s soft power in the region. Although politically difficult to do in the tail-end of a very damaging recession, if the Democratic Party can afford to buck the labor unions in some sectors, it would be worth it for the Obama Administration to get behind a strong bi-partisan trade deal. In any case, this type of agreement will be years in the making, hopefully in an off-election year.
Japan: It appears that Japan’s new Hatoyama Administration is not wasting time shoring up relations with Southeast Asia. In Jakarta on Oct. 13th, the Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, announced that Japan intends to strengthen ties with Southeast Asia after years of stagnation. He promised Japan would be providing much larger amounts of investment and aid to the region than previously seen. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhyono was quite receptive to this message. Hopefully, there will be a detailed strategy coming from the PM’s office in the near future.
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 […]
