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ANALYSIS
Baghdad: Outside in and inside
out
After
being written off by many as a failure when the US
advance on Baghdad paused, General Tommy Franks, the
University of Texas drop-out and "muddy boots" soldier
who never made it to West Point, appears to have carried
out a maneuver to outflank the Republican Guard on the
outskirts of Baghdad that military historians will write
about for years to come. - Marc Erikson
In the pipeline: More regime
change
Israel, with apparent US support, wants to revive
a pipeline that once carried oil from the Iraqi city of
Mosul to Israel's northern port of Haifa. Such a link
would not only secure Israel's oil supplies, it would
also go a long way to easing the United States' as well.
For it to work, though, there would have to be compliant
administrations in both Iraq and currently hostile
Syria, through which the oil would pass. -
Hooman Peimani
Changing
gears
After a short period in low gear, brought about
by unexpected ground realities rather than by any change
in strategy, the US has moved into a higher gear as the
march on Baghdad proceeds. Given the nature of war,
though, one should not expect the campaign to remain in
top gear at all times. - B
Raman
THE ROVING
EYE
Cluster bombs liberate Iraqi
children
Reports from the Hilla region of Iraq, 80
kilometers south of Baghdad, say that scores of
civilians, many of them children, have been killed and
hundreds more injured by cluster bombs. Gruesome images
of mutilated bodies are being shown on Arab television
stations. But for Western viewers, this ugly side to the
war has been sanitized. - Pepe
Escobar
Kirkuk: A disaster waiting to
happen
Turkey and the United States have taken a step
toward patching up their relationship, with Ankara
agreeing to the transit through Turkey of fuel and other
supplies to US armed forces stationed in northern Iraq.
But it is in this sensitive region that urgent issues
need to be tackled if catastrophe is to be averted. -
K Gajendra
Singh
Iranian reformists fall in line with
hardliners
As a part of its "active neutrality" policy, Iran
has encouraged its people to demonstrate against the
US-led war in Iraq. And the rallies have thrown up a
surprise - the strong participation of reformists, who
are taking the same position as many of the country's
hardline Islamists.
ANALYSIS
Rumsfeld under three-pronged
attack
US
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is under fire on
the home front over three issues: the military conduct
of the war; his plans for the postwar occupation of the
country; and his resistance to any meaningful role for
the United Nations, with the latter being potentially
the most dangerous. - Jim Lobe
For France, Dr Strangelove comes to
life
Freedom fries and toast. Cheese-eating surrender
monkeys. Comparisons of President George W Bush's
administration to fictitious figures in Stanley
Kubrick's Dr Strangelove. What has happened to
the trans-Atlantic alliance?
KASHMIR IN FOCUS
Massacre exposes 'healing
touch'
The massacre of 24 Hindu Pandits in
Indian-administered Kashmir has put the brakes on the
state's attempts to woo back those Pandits who fled the
region in the face of a terror campaign more than a
decade ago, and has also placed in serious doubt the
"healing touch policy" of the local government. -
Sudha Ramachandran
 As the snow melts, militaries mobilize
Japan's local politicos eye national
spotlight
As Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's popularity
plummets and Japan's economy lags, governors and local
politicians - such as Shintaro Ishihara, the hawkish
governor of Tokyo - are positioning themselves for the
opportune moment to be catapulted into the national
arena. - Purnendra Jain
Detecting disinformation, without
radar
 How does one tell genuine
reporting from an article manufactured to produce the
desired propaganda effect? Take a recent item claiming
that Shi'ites in Basra were staging a revolt against the
Saddam regime ... - Gregory
Sinaisky (Apr 2,
'03)
Iran stakes its Iraq
claim
Officially, Iran and Iraq are in a state of
no-peace, no-war, and there is certainly little love
lost between the neighbors. But since the conclusion of
the eight-year war between them in 1988, Tehran has
desisted from advocating a regime change in Baghdad.
This week that changed - and the United States had
better take note. - Hooman Peimani (Apr 2,
'03)
Tehran tests the military
waters
Pentagon squares off against Powell,
Europe
The issue of who will be in charge of the
post-Saddam Hussein occupation of Iraq pits the Pentagon
against Secretary of State Colin Powell and the State
Department and its allies in Europe, notably British
Prime Minister Tony Blair. And like the fighting in
Iraq, the battle promises to be a protracted one. -
Jim Lobe (Apr 2,
'03)
Pakistan prepares for the
worst
Pakistan, increasingly concerned that it
might be on the US hit list, is not standing still
waiting. President General Pervez Musharraf is
attempting to put a more acceptable stamp on his
government with overtures to former premier Benazir
Bhutto, and he's also ringing the changes among the top
brass of the armed forces. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Apr 2,
'03) | |
There's no business
like
war business
To date, the US has rained
more than 8,700 bombs, including more than 3,000
missiles, on Iraq and has also fired millions of
rounds of ammunition at military and
civilian targets. These will have to be replaced
at some stage, and they don't come
cheap.
Malaysia: Mismanagement under
fire
As Kuala Lumpur braces for a backlash
from a United States angered by Malaysia's
opposition to the invasion of Iraq, critics are
pointing to home-grown economic problems. Even
the normally compliant Malaysian press is
speaking out against poor economic management.
- Arun Bhattacharjee
Market Indices
Stock Market Report
Business in
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Company
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WSI
Internet?s Asian franchise expansion soars
WSI
Internet continues its rapid Asian franchise expansion -
amidst record levels of Internet use in
Asia-Pacific.
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SPEAKING FREELY
An
occasional column in which guest correspondents
have a say.
Superpower politics:
National
interest first
When push comes to shove, international politics
comes down, regrettably, to national interest, not moral
ideals. And it is decidedly in South Korea's best
interest to show its unflinching support to the United
States in order to reaffirm the faltering ROK-US
alliance and to forestall any North Korean adventurism.
- Sung-Yoon
Lee
(Please click here if you are interested
in contributing.)
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FROM OUR
MAILBOX
You guys are so far out in left field you must
have not heard the dinner bell. Disinformation abounds
on your site. Saddam [Hussein] is a murdering child
killer. Any excuse to rid the world of his DNA is
appropriate.
RLS
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REFERENCE
