foreign affairs                                                            

       

Trigger Point: Burma's Uneasy Standoff
(Newsweek)  The junta and the democracy movment are in an angry war of wills, in which neither side trusts the other --  nor seems to be able to defeat or engage the other ... more >>


In Cuba, Life on the Edge
(Insight)  "You steal something from the factory, you buy your ration of cigarettes and resell them," says a  diplomat in Havana. "It's how people get by" .... more >>
 

For China, Getting Rich is Glorious -- But Slow
(Insight)  Is Mao Zedong turning in his casket?  China is going through its biggest revolution yet -- toward full-throttle capitalism ... more >>

 

The Next War in Vietnam
(Insight)  Vietnam's shift to a free market has drawn in global investors expecting an economic boom. But American business, warn some advisors, is getting shut out … more>>


Haiti:  Near the Brink ... Or Already Over?
(Insight)  Rule by the gun is nothing new in Haiti, and installing a democratic regime there may be impossible -- even with the most skillful diplomacy ... more >>

 
Much Smoke, Little Fire in US War on Drugs
(Asia Times)  "The US was providing about 80 percent of the funding for fighting drugs," says one expert. "So when that money dried up, opium production increased. But rather than admit their error, the US is blaming the junta" ... more >>

Imelda Marcos, Back On the Warpath
(Insight)  Acquitted of corruption charges, former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos is quietly plotting her return to the political stage ... more>>