THE ROVING EYE
That rocky road to Damascus
As they examine the regional chessboard and formidable array of forces aligned against them, the Iranians must face, simultaneously, superpower Washington, bomb-happy North Atlantic Treaty Organization members, nuclear power Israel, all Sunni Arab absolute monarchies, and even Sunni-majority, secular Turkey. As Tehran sees it, what's going on over Syria is "humanitarian" cover for a complex anti-Shi'ite and anti-Iran operation. - Pepe Escobar (Nov 23, '11)

Lieutenant Pike, Li Gang,
and China's Internet dilemma
A video involving a University of California police officer, "Occupy" protesters and liberal use of a pepper-spray presented a relishing opportunity for the Chinese Communist Party to point the finger at the hypocrisy of American hectoring on democracy. The Internet judged the cop mercilessly, just as netizens poured the people's opprobrium on an errant princeling, the son of party official Li Gang, on a campus in that cyber-gulag behind the Great Firewall.
- Peter Lee (Nov 23, '11)

US muscle manifesto for Asia Making its presence felt at a string of high-level summits and official visits, the United States this week emphatically restated its commitment to re-engaging Asia - the Southeast in particular - with diplomatic machinations matched by ongoing military-to-military charm offensives. China's muted reaction suggests it's either been taken off guard or is wary of pushing South China Sea claimants further into Washington's arms. - Brian McCartan (Nov 23, '11) US-Myanmar: A convergence of interests Unprecedented progress in Myanmar-United States relations is the result of internal and external stimuli in both countries. While Naypyidaw has finally realized the importance of countering China's influence to balance its foreign relations, Washington has abandoned a failed, two-decade old strategy of regime change. Mutual interests can now overshadow antagonism, but only if reformers defeat their many opponents. - David I Steinberg (Nov 23, '11)

Pakistan's ambassador takes the fall
Hussain Haqqani, Pakistan's influential ambassador to the United States, has been forced out of office over an alleged memo delivered to Washington in which he is purported to have sought the US's help in preventing a possible coup against the civilian government in Islamabad. The broader lesson to be learned from "Memogate" is that the civil-military imbalance in Pakistan remains dangerously tilted. - Amir Mir (Nov 23, '11)

KORUS of disapproval on the peninsula
While Lee Myung-bak's administration has forced through the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement, the deal's benefits could be wiped out by financial woes in the US undermining its ability to back-up Asian allies against Chinese assertiveness. Meanwhile, North Korean rhetoricians - unused to their country not being the center of attention - are contradicting recent compromise signals by bragging about a new reactor.
- Donald Kirk (Nov 23, '11)

Aquino's reform promise fades
Justice remains elusive for 58 Filipinos killed two years ago in an allegedly politically motivated massacre in Maguindanao, a province in the southern Philippines notorious for its violence, with the entrenched position of the local dynasty linked to those accused of the killings. As the case is bogged down in technicalities, President Benigno Aquino's promise to stop a pervasive culture of impunity throughout the country looks increasingly shaky. - Carlos H Conde (Nov 23, '11)

SPEAKING FREELY Speaking Freely is a Front Page feature for guest writers to have a say on issues relevant to Asia. To submit to Speaking Freely click here.

America pivots toward ASEAN
Barack Obama's presence as the first American president to attend an East Asia Summit is emblematic of United States attempts to reverse the erosion of its standing in Southeast Asia, the brightest spot in a darkening world economy. As it also pivots towards the Association of Southeast Nations' decision to welcome Myanmar as the group's future chair, the US is closing the diplomatic distance.
- Donald K Emmerson (Nov 22, '11)

Proposed sale of Taiwan raises no laughs
A satirical op-ed advising United States President Barack Obama to abandon military support for Taiwan in exchange for China forgiving US$1.14 trillion of American debt appears to have roots in reality. While the island is conspicuously absent from the US's "return to Asia" plans, US liberal circles have touted the same idea to boost Obama's re-election campaign.
- Jens Kastner (Nov 22, '11)

Japan torn over US-led free-trade pact
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's decision to negotiate joining the United States-led Trans-Pacific Partnership has provoked fierce debate on whether the free-trade pact suits the national interest. While Noda says it sets high standards for trade and investment, opponents insist the agreement will "ruin" the healthcare sector and see Tokyo lose control over key sectors like agriculture.
- Daniel Leussink (Nov 22, '11)

A burial plot for India's most wanted terrorist
Persistent media reports putting Dawood Ibrahim, India's most wanted terrorist, in Karachi are making Pakistan uneasy. While former president Pervez Musharraf said recently that the prime suspect in the 1993 revenge attack for the massacre of Muslims in the Gujarat riots is held in high esteem, Pakistan's establishment denies harboring him. As the trail heats up, the ailing mafia don could have reason to need a shield from Indian crosshairs - and is reportedly looking for a burial plot. - Amir Mir (Nov 22, '11)

Turkey is 'biggest winner' of Arab Spring
Turkey played the "most constructive" role in the Arab Spring, according to a regional survey, while Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has emerged as the most admired leader by far among Arabs. President Barack Obama's popularity slightly rose, but less Arabs see Iran as a nuclear threat and America's desirability as the world's sole superpower was matched by Pakistan's. - Jim Lobe (Nov 22, '11)

Karzai skates on thin ice 
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has violated a sacrosanct tradition by convening a loya jirga (grand tribal assembly) to essentially endorse a pact with the United States for its continued presence in the country after most foreign troops leave in 2014. With the Taliban repeatedly stating opposition to such an accord and influential sections of Afghan (non-Taliban) opinion and key regional powers questioning the move, what does Karzai hope to achieve? - M K Bhadrakumar (Nov 21, '11)

Ex-inspector rejects IAEA Iran bomb claim
Former chief weapons inspector for the International Atomic Energy Agency Robert Kelley has rejected its claim that Iran built a nuclear test chamber, insisting the supposed vessel could never contain such a high-intensity blast. His rebuttal tallies with denials from the Russian scientist allegedly involved and evidence that Vyacheslav Danilenko's work on nanodiamonds wasn't related to nuclear technology. - Gareth Porter (Nov 21, '11)

SPENGLER
It might not be an
Asian century after all
Demographics, resistance to democracy and complacency about its visible success all risk taking the steam out of China's rising trajectory. If Beijing erroneously concludes from the United States's financial crash that a command economy is in its interests, and regards America as an enemy rather than as an unthreatening rival, it will decline. The greatest challenge is not American strength but American weakness. (Nov 21, '11)

THE ROVING EYE
Exposed: US press 'freedom'
Hypocrisy is writ large over the treatment of Sam Husseini, whose behavior as an actual journalist with tough questioning of the House of Saud got him suspended from the National Press Club in Washington. Husseini didn't play by lap-dog rules that dictate how corporate media should fawn to American allies and bear teeth at its enemies to keep tidbits dropping from the establishment table. - Pepe Escobar (Nov 21, '11)

BHP in front line as Marines take Darwin
China has made clear its likely responses to President Barack Obama and Premier Julia Gillard's deployment of US Marines to Darwin will involve areas beyond Australia's US protection - such as changing its sources of minerals and metals, Australia's principal trade goods. That could be good for Russia, and not beneficial for BHP. - John Helmer (Nov 21, '11)  

ASIA HAND
After the flood in Thailand
As Thailand's flood waters slowly recede, a new political crisis is emerging that could undermine Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's moves to put the establishment on the back foot. As Yingluck bids to regain momentum lost by her administration's erratic handling of the natural disaster, she will face rejuvenated royalists and more radical elements who are already threatening a backlash against her plan to secure an amnesty to rehabilitate her elder brother Thaksin from self-exile. - Shawn W Crispin (Nov 18, '11)

BOOK REVIEW
Revelations of a secret war
The Secret Army: Chiang Kai-shek and the Drug Warlords of the Golden Triangle by Richard M Gibson and Wenhua Chen

While it's known that thousands of Chinese nationalists settled in north Thailand after the civil war, as seen in thriving Chinese villages like Mae Salong, this book reveals how the United States re-equipped them to fight Mao Zedong's China and later Thai communist insurgents. It also constructs how US involvement helped created the narcotics production hub that is today's Golden Triangle.
- Bertil Lintner (Nov 18, '11)

Duqu returns to Iran
Duqu malware has reared its head again in Iran, where the government says it has the latest infection under control without confirming whether nuclear installations were again the target. As various affected countries hunt the perpetrator, the culprit appears to have a fondness for pop thriller culture.
Martin J Young surveys the week's developments in computing, science, gaming and gizmos.