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Chung-in Moon and David Plott |
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We devote a large proportion of this edition of Global Asia to the complex and wide-ranging security issues that will be front and center at the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit that takes place March 26-27. The hope is, as South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Sung-Hwan Kim writes in our pages, that this summit will build on the achievements of the first Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC, in 2010. In a sign of the seriousness with which the international community is taking this endeavor to improve nuclear security and ultimately create “a world free of nuclear weapons,” 58 world leaders will attend the summit in Seoul.
The challenges are enormous, and so too are the risks if those challenges are not met. Ensuring nuclear security, which hinges so much on keeping fissile and radiological material out of the hands of the wrong ...
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A Bumpy but Better Road Lies Ahead
By Philip Bowring |
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No one can doubt that Burma has moved forward over the past 18 months,
and however skeptical one may reasonably be about the motives and goals of those behind the changes,
there is still momentum towards reform.
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The Certainty of Uncertainty
By Aung Zaw |
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Despite moves toward reform, there are many vested interests in Burma that could derail the process — the army, the government bureaucracy, moneyed cronies, and so on. The one thing that is certain is that things remain uncertain.
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Indian Foreign Policy in the Wake of the UN Human Rights Council Resolution on Sri Lanka
By Vikas Kumar
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At the March session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), India voted in favor of a resolution criticizing the Sri Lankan government’s handling of post-insurgency rehabilitation of minorities. The vote has, however, divided India. On the one hand, many think that India’s vote was the minimum expected of a democratic country and argue that India has not lost much because Colombo was anyway brazenly ignoring India’s quiet diplomacy over the matter. On the other hand, a vocal group feels that in casting the vote, India’s central government committed a blunder under pressure from its Tamil coalition partners and the United States. According to this latter group, India’s losses are threefold. First, China will be able to consolidate its influence in Sri Lanka, while India and the West will be further marginalized. Second, India has estranged itself from neighboring countries that supported Sri Lanka. Third, the Indian government has set a bad precedent by allowing provincial politics to affect foreign policy.
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On page 87 of the print edition of the Spring 2012 issue of Global Asia, we incorrectly referred to Chung-in Moon attending a conference in New York "as an advisor to the Institute for Foreign Affairs and National Security." We regret the error.
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Why Pick a Fight With China?
By Walter C. Clemens, Jr
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US policymakers note that China in March announced plans to raise its defense budget by 11.2 percent, while Chinese officials maintain that defense spending has declined as a share of GDP in the last three years. People’s Daily says Washington’s ‘return to Asia’ strategy is ‘causing disturbance in..
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Sizing Up Taiwan’s Election
By Yun-han Chu
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The fierce presidential election in January was watched closely by much of the world for signs whether Taiwanese voters would endorse the island’s policy of closer economic integration with mainland China. Yun-han Chu examines the implications of President Ma Ying-jeou’s re-election.
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| LONG REVIEWS |
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Seeking Harmony in the Middle Way
Reviewed by Gibung Kwon
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Everywhere we turn, we see bewilderment over the meaning of universal rights, human dignity and progress. As people witness human suffering caused by natural and man-made calamities, how do we reconcile the values of humanity with the fact that the marginal and the poor still suffer from discrimination and oppression?
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| SHORT REVIEWS
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Nuclear Safety Is Everyone’s Business
Reviewed by Taehwan Kim
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The ominous alarm rung by the Fukushima nuclear accident, however disastrous, is unlikely to reverse the longer-term dramatic increase in global demand for civilian nuclear power. Skyrocketing global electricity demand and increased concerns over energy security and greenhouse gas emissions, among other factors, are enough to validate this projection.
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In Defense of Dictatorship
Reviewed by John Delury
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Although couched in the sometimes clinical language of political science, Tuong Vu’s basic argument in Paths to Development in Asia, is brutal: Asian leaders who destroyed internal opposition from rival elites and the public should get credit for building states with the capacity for rapid economic development.
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Spain beset by bank crisis, recession, bond pressure
Posted: May 18, 2012 00:27
MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's borrowing costs shot up at a bond auction on Thursday, after economic data confirmed the country is back in recession and reports of an outflow of deposits from nationalized..
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Jobless claims steady, mid-Atlantic factories sag
Posted: May 18, 2012 00:02
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New claims for jobless benefits last week held at levels suggesting sluggish growth in hiring and factory activity in the mid-Atlantic region contracted in May, worrisome signs ..
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Strong Wal-Mart profit trumps bribery probe concerns
Posted: May 18, 2012 00:35
(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc's quarterly profit and sales surpassed expectations on Thursday as more people shopped its established U.S. stores and spent more, pushing its shares up more than 5 per..
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Obama says to retain US investment sanctions on Myanmar
Posted: May 18, 2012 01:23
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has decided to extend for another year certain U.S. sanctions on investment and trade with Myanmar, saying Washington supports the reform process but rema..
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Defiant Greek leftist refuses to back austerity
Posted: May 18, 2012 00:12
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's surging leftist leader predicted on Thursday his party would sweep next month's election and refused to stop demanding an end to "barbaric" austerity policies he said were ..
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Europe's New Normal
Posted: May 18, 2012 00:00
It's Here, It's Unclear, Get Used to It
May 17, 2012
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Mitterrand, Hollande, and France's Socialist Legacy
Posted: May 18, 2012 00:00
On the New President's Agenda
May 15, 2012
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Bitter Frenemies
Posted: May 18, 2012 00:00
The Not-Quite-Alliance Between Saudi Arabia and Turkey
May 15, 2012
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Dangerous Doses
Posted: May 18, 2012 00:00
Fighting Fraud in the Global Medicine Supply Chain
May 14, 2012
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Israel's New Kind of Coalition
Posted: May 18, 2012 00:00
What Netanyahu Can Do With Three-Quarters of the Knesset
May 11, 2012
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