By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — The timing of the annual descent on South Korea of the United States defense chief was uncanny. Here the people of the South Korean capital had just elected an anti-American, anti-bases, anti-everything protester as their mayor, and here was Leon Panetta, the defense secretary, talking about the North Koreans’ non-stop “threat” […]
Lev Navrozov In 1949, Mao named his country the “People’s Republic of China.” Historically, China had practically no foreign visitors, just as practically no Chinese had visited the outside world. While Lenin and many other future “Soviet leaders” had been living a great deal in free Western countries, Mao was a pure product of China, […]
Special to WorldTribune.com from east-asia-intel.com Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told Congress last week that U.S. military strategy under budget cuts will lead to a lessening of emphasis in areas of the world where Al Qaida is emerging as a growing threat. Panetta said in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee Oct. 13 that smaller […]
Special to WorldTribune.com from East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — North Korea is abbreviating the grooming period for 28-year-old Kim Jong-Un, the youngest son of current leader Kim Jong-Il, a lawmaker said. As part of efforts to shorten the learning curve, Kim Jong-Un practiced controlling the military during his father’s overseas trips, Hwang Jin-Ha from the Grand National […]
By Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com The just-ended plenary session of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee provided little information about the 18th Party Congress, except to say that it will be held in the second half of next year. However, party insiders said the 370 full and alternate members spent a good part of their […]
Lawmakers in the Taiwan legislature fight over a contentious trade pact with China late last year. / Wally Santana/AP TAIPEI, Taiwan – Taiwan’s parliamentary speaker has said he will consider opening the legislative floor to Chinese tourists so they can learn from the island’s freewheeling democracy. Lawmaker Wu Yu-sheng of the ruling Nationalist Party proposed […]
Chinese troops in Tibet streets during the violent crackdown in 2008. China is stepping up security measures throughout ethnic Tibetan areas following a crackdown on unrest around a monastery in Sichuan province, in a sign of growing tension in the region. Residents of Gannan Tibetan autonomous prefecture reached by telephone on Sunday reported that armed […]
By Lev Navrozov How did I learn British English in Russia? When I was a child, German was taught in Soviet schools. But I asked my parents to invite a private teacher of English — an English lady who made her living by teaching English. As I grew up, I continued to be an “Englishman […]
It’s become the cliché of clichés that Washington’s effort to stem the return of jihadists to power in Afghanistan and their seizing power in nuclear-armed neighboring Pakistan is The New Great Game. That is, it is successor to the extended and complex struggle between the Russian and British Empires in Central and South Asia throughout […]
Japan may be moving toward nuclear armaments as a result of the acceleration the Obama Administration has given to failures of American policy toward its principal ally in Asia. In a world where relatively minor powers such as North Korea and Iran — and perhaps even Syria and Myanmar [Burma] — are trying to get […]