Asia
Asia
Fair Observer provides insightful and informed analysis of the important issues, events and trends in the unique nations of Asia.
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Afghanistan / Asia / Asia Briefing / Central Asia / China / Chris Devonshire-Ellis / Economics / India / Iran / Kazakhstan / Kyrgyzstan / Nepal / Pakistan / Politics / Russia / Silk Road / Tajikistan / Turkmenistan / Uzbekistan / Economics / Focus Article / Central & South Asia / Asia PacificThe Great Game takes another twist in Central Asia. By Chris Devonshire-Ellis Chinese President Xi Jinping has recently been busy in Central Asia, on a trip that coincided with a meeting in Kyrgyzstan to attend the 13th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). While many China observers concentrate on the nation’s political and trade dynamics with the United States and Europe, for me, the key to really understanding China and its position in the world is how it is influencing, and being influenced by, countries closer to its borders (i.e. Central Asia and the ASEAN bloc). While on his Central Asian tour – which included visits to Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan,...
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Gateway House / GDP / George Wyeth / India / Indian Manufacturing / Labor / Manufacturing / Mumbai / Tata / Focus Article / Business / Central & South AsiaCompetitive pressure is forcing a transformation of Indian manufacturing. By George Wyeth As China turned itself into the manufacturing center of the world over the past decade, many expected India to follow – but it never happened. The Indian economy did take off, but largely in services such as software development. For years, manufacturing’s share of GDP has been flat at 15-16 percent, and has actually declined slightly in recent years. Now, with the economy in trouble, manufacturing output is stagnating. Many of the factors usually blamed for this are beyond the manufacturers’ control. Infrastructure is still weak. Financing is difficult to get, with high inflation...
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Best of the Month / brazil / Espionage / Fair Observer / France / Germany / Hollande / Iran / Merkel / North America / obama / P5+1 / Politics / Putin / Rouhani / Rousseff / US / US Spying / Washington / Wikileaks / Europe / Focus Article / Middle East & North Africa / Latin America / Africa / Central & South Asia / Asia PacificFair Observer's five best articles of October. The US has long seen itself as “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” The Statue of Liberty has long been an icon that has defined the country. Yes, there are warts in this myth. The Native Americans were subjugated; African Americans began life as slaves; Japanese Americans were interned; the Philippines was colonized; McCarthy took a leaf out of Stalin in denouncing renegades who did not worship at the altar of capitalism; and the US overthrew elected leaders from Chile to Iran during the Cold War. However, despite its warts, liberty is a cardinal value for the US. Therefore, revelations this...
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360° Analysis / Buddhism / Buddhism and science / Buddhist / China / Chinese / Dalai Lama / Nilanjana Sen / Occupation of Tibet / Tibet / Tibet-China / Tibetan / Tibetan traditions / Culture / Central & South AsiaTibet’s spiritual strength remains indomitable despite repression. According to Will Durant, the success of religion lies in the “persistent power over the human soul.” Religion helps us connect with reality in a different way; it focuses on experience and enables us to comprehend its transcendental nature. Much inquiry in the world today suffers from judgments based on narrowly construed interpretations of the experiential reality. Meerten Ter Borg distinguishes between “power of religion” and “religious power.” The former refers to the institutional nature of power, whereas the latter is concerned with the source of power. This source of power may...
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360° Analysis / Anwar Akhtar / Balakot Project / British Pakistanis / Civil society / development / Edhi Foundation / Elections / Pakistan / Pakistan Calling / Pakistani Diaspora / PK Calling / RSA / The Samosa / Europe / Global Change / Central & South AsiaBy Anwar AkhtarWhat is the biggest challenge facing Pakistan? This is the last of a two part series. Read part one here. In a conversation with Fair Observer's Nishtha Chugh, the Director of The Samosa, Anwar Akhtar, discusses the origins of Pakistan Calling: a film project in collaboration with the Royal Society of Arts that shows links between civil and cultural organizations in Pakistan and the UK. Nishtha Chugh: So your program is, for example, going to go to Pakistan, collaborate with role models like Asma Jahangir, Hina Jilani, and then where is the filming going to take place? Anwar Akhtar: We work with Karachi University film school; we work with SZABIST University film school; we work with...
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360° Analysis / Anwar Akhtar / Balakot Project / Civil society / development / Edhi Foundation / Elections / Nishtha Chugh / Pakistan Calling / Pakistani Diaspora / PK Calling / RSA / The Samosa / Europe / Global Change / Central & South AsiaBy Anwar AkhtarWhat is the biggest challenge facing Pakistan? This is the first of a two part series. In a conversation with Fair Observer's Nishtha Chugh, the Director of The Samosa, Anwar Akhtar, discusses the origins of Pakistan Calling: a film project in collaboration with the Royal Society of Arts that shows links between civil and cultural organizations in Pakistan and the UK. Nishtha Chugh: Nawaz Sharif is the new prime minister of Pakistan. What kind of changes are you expecting to take place, or what will happen in his leadership — he's a changed man, of course — with respect to your initiative? Anwar Akhtar: I think the most important thing about the recent Pakistani...
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360° Analysis / Education / Education in Pakistan / Islam / Karachi / Madrassa / Maria Khwaja / Pakistan / Pakistan Calling / RSA / Secularism / Global Change / Central & South AsiaBy Maria KhwajaIn Pakistan, low-fee private schools are steadily growing. Several years ago, I visited al-Fattah School in one of Karachi’s underdeveloped areas. During the day, children sat at their desks in neat rows, crisp in their collared shirts, learning English from their Oxford University Press texts. Hours later, benches replaced the desks and little girls donned white headscarves to join the boys, weaving back and forth while reciting the Qur’an. The morning teachers were mostly young women, but all of the afternoon staff was men. “We try to give them a solid grounding in Islamic education and in Western education,” the headmistress explained. “It’s important...
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anti-corruption strategies / Arab Spring / Brazil Protests / bribery / corruption / Egypt / Global corruption / John T. Noonan / malaysia / North America / Qatar / Robert Klitgaard / Singapore / Taksim Square / Europe / Focus Article / Middle East & North Africa / Global Change / Latin America / Africa / Central & South Asia / Asia PacificOne day, corruption will be as unthinkable as slavery. Corruption is the misuse of a trusted position for illicit private ends. Corruption ranges across phenomena, including bribery, extortion, fraud, nepotism, and outright theft. Corruption is difficult to measure, of course. In perceptions of people around the world, corruption is closely related to administrative efficiency, rule of law, and ethics in the private sector. We can spend days or even academic lifetimes debating definitions and the deeper causes of corruption and weak governance. Let’s instead focus on a separable, practical question: What can be done to reduce corruption? Here there is good news. Even in...
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Francois Gautier / Gardiner Harris / India / Modi / New York Times / Politics / Focus Article / Central & South AsiaForeign correspondents often reinforce prejudices when covering India. I have had the privilege to live for more than 40 years in India. It has long been my opinion that India is a very difficult country to grasp for a foreign correspondent, as it is so different from the West — full of contradictions, paradoxes, and baffling parameters. Thus, for Westerners, who share more or less the same religion (Christianity), more or less the same ethnic origins (Caucasian), more or less the same food habits (meat), and more or less the same dress code (ties and dresses), India can be a very enigmatic country. Yet not only do we find that Western correspondents are generally posted for only...