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  Why Did the Bush Administration Really Decide to Invade Iraq? 12 July 2003 Three months after US military forces smashed the last major Iraqi resistance to the US invasion and captured Baghdad and in view of the fact that no weapons of mass destruction have yet been found, Americans are starting to wonder what really motivated the Bush Administration to take the nation into a war against a country like Iraq. This is particularly the case since it has become increasingly clear in retrospect that Iraq did not pose anything resembling the imminent threat to the United States that...

The world's next superpowerChina is growing with bewildering speed, but it is undergoing social upheavals on the way to becoming an economic superpower     By Jonathan FenbyTHE OBSERVERWednesday, Jul 23, 2003,Page 9 ILLUSTRATION: MOUNTAIN PEOPLE Conventional wisdom insists that nations ruled by communist parties are regimented, unimaginative failures. Yet nowhere on earth is changing so fast and on such a scale as in China, where market economics and rampant consumerism meet the remnants of Maoism, throwing up paradoxes with profound implications for its 1.3 billion people -- and for the rest of the world. It is not clear, however,...

KOYANG, South Korea - Here's a pop quiz about the United States. 1) The world's leading arms-exporting country. 2) The world's most heavily nuclear-armed country. 3) The world's leader in chemical weapons research. 4) The world's most peace-loving country that never once was at war with other countries. The above question was part of a supplemental teaching package on the war in Iraq that was distributed in March by the Korea Teachers and Educational Workers Union.

How to win in North Korea - without firing a shot BY TOM PLATE FOR THE STRAITS TIMESHAVING the capability to do something doesn't necessarily mean one should do it. At almost any time, United States forces could be deployed quickly - for example, to Taiwan - should the Bush administration aim to implement some zany version of its announced philosophy of 'pre-emption'.But a war with China is an exceptionally bad idea, not because America would necessarily lose but because the cost of winning would be so great. In fact, one might wish to champion the value of not doing...

Russia Ready for a War in the Far East 07/22/2003 20:40 Pyongyang has declared a war on the USA, a psychological one so far with a view to resist American propagandaThe North Korean population will be taught to hate America with the help of propagandists and Korean War veterans. Meanwhile, the Russian government doesn't rule out that the situation on the Korean peninsula may develop according to the worst scenario. Testing of the civil defense resources has been already started in Russia's Far East, in the districts bordering North Korea. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov overseeing the Korean...

Blair: China is Living up to 'One Country, Two Systems'   British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday that it's evident that China has been living up to the "one country, two systems" concept since Hong Kong was handed back to its motherland six years ago. Blair made the remarks on his flight to Hong Kong, the final leg of his Asian tour, according to local news report. Blair has just finished his three-day visit to the Chinese mainland, during which he met with Chinese leaders in Beijing. In his meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday, Blair said...

When the US gets cold, the world pays more for oil Americans' voracious appetite for fuel, coupled with the decade-long shrinking of the US energy industry, is putting massive demands on an already stretched supply system By Timothy GardnerREUTERSTuesday, Jul 22, 2003,Page 9 ILLUSTRATION: MOUNTAIN PEOPLE Last January, the cold was so bitter north of the New York Harbor oil hub that icebreakers in the Hudson river had to smash free a heating oil barge. Consequently, dozens of fuel shipments to New England were delayed. Energy analysts dubbed the winter "The Perfect Storm". The cold, combined with the build-up to war...

Beijing fears democracy in southDISCONTENT: Authorities fear the recent street demonstrations in Hong Kong could trigger bolder action by the many discontented groups in ChinaNY TIMES NEWS SERVICETuesday, Jul 22, 2003,Page 5 Hong Kong and adjacent Guangdong Province, both centers of Cantonese culture and commerce, are tightly bonded, in sickness and in health. Hong Kong money has powered Guangdong's robust economic growth since the early 1980s. Shortly after SARS emerged in Guangdong late last year, it surged into Hong Kong as seamlessly as the 40,000 tourists and businesspeople who pass daily through Lowu, the world's busiest border crossing. So it...

Symposium: Bush’s Decision to Go to War. Was it Justified?By Jamie GlazovFrontPageMagazine.com | July 4, 2003 As the controversy over the missing Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq escalates, so does the criticism of President Bush and his decision to go to war. Was the liberation of Iraq by American forces a legitimate course of action? FrontPage Symposium is pleased to host a debate on this issue. To criticize the war, we are joined by Peter N. Kirstein, a professor of history at Saint Xavier University in Chicago and a specialist on the atomic bomb and current nonproliferation issues. He wrote "American...

Where Is Mandela's Apology?By Myles KantorFrontPageMagazine.com | July 22, 2003 It’s disgusting to see people apologize for doing nothing wrong, especially to wrongdoers. On July 14, Miami-Dade County mayor Alex Penelas spoke at the NAACP’s national convention in Miami Beach and apologized for protests of Nelson Mandela during his June 1990 visit to Miami.  Why did these protests occur? Maybe it had something to do with the former South African president’s affection for mass murderers. Sentenced to life imprisonment in June 1964 for armed resistance to the apartheid regime, Mandela was released in February 1990.  In May he visited Libyan...

[Why the U.S. is] Discarding War's Rulesby Daniel PipesNew York PostJuly 22, 2003 German version of this item "Since the events of 9/11," observes Lee Harris, America's reigning philosopher of 9/11, "the policy debate in the United States has been primarily focused on a set of problems - radical Islam and the War on Terrorism, the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and weapons of mass destruction in the hands of Saddam Hussein in Iraq."We sense that these three problems are related, Harris notes in an article at TechCentralStation.com, but we can't quite figure out how. He proposes a...

Saddam's sons killed in US raid MOSUL -- The two sons of Saddam Hussein, Uday and Qusay, were killed in a massive US military raid in northern Iraq on Tuesday, the US military said. Qusay (left), touted as Saddam's intended successor, and elder brother Uday, 'barricaded themselves in the house' and 'resisted fiercely' before they were killed in the US raid. -- AFP They were killed in a raid on a building in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, US Army Lieutenant-General Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of US-led ground forces in Iraq, said at a news conference in Baghdad. He...

Why Male Leaders Cannot Have a Female Secretary? Sichuan Province in southwest China has recently formulated a new regulation forbidding male leaders to employ female secretaries, which has sparked heated discussions in various newspapers. An article in Nanfang Metropolitan Daily says the new regulation has significant meaning and can be taken as a reference by other local governments. The author of the article believes there are a few disadvantages of male leaders and female secretaries working together. In today's China, quite a few corruption cases are blamed to have been connected with female secretaries who've won the favour of...

Post-Sept. 11 security laws have colleges scramblingTOUGHER REGULATIONS: American college officials are struggling with a system they say is flawed to register all foreign students with the federal authorities by Aug. 1APMonday, Jul 21, 2003,Page 7 US college officials are struggling to meet an Aug. 1 deadline to register all foreign students with federal authorities under post-Sept. 11 security laws, but they complain many innocent foreigners could be denied an American education or even be deported due to computer glitches in the registration system. Campus offices that deal with foreign students are cutting back day-to-day services and working 14-hour days,...

`Arrogant behavior' comes back to haunt USAfter thumbing its nose at the UN, the Bush administration is finding it hard to enlist international support now that it needs help in stabilizing IraqDPAMonday, Jul 21, 2003,Page 9 US President George W. Bush's determination to act on Iraq without broad international support may be returning to haunt him as the US military struggles to secure and stabilize the country, and few nations appear willing to help out. India last week rejected a US appeal for 17,000 troops, and key allies like France and Germany say they won't send troops without backing from...

Refusing China's visa demandsSunday, Jul 20, 2003,Page 8 In a surprising but encouraging turn of events, the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Thursday that it will not accept the demand of Beijing to exclude the designation of "Taiwan" as the birthplace on the passports of any of its passport holders and to use the designation "China." The announcement came as a surprise because Beijing said that Canada will follow China in this regard, a fact which was confirmed by a spokesperson of the Canadian Passport Office only last week. What prompted this sudden and abrupt change of attitude...

Americans rethink death penaltyJuries are far more fearful of putting an innocent person to death, and prosecutors are being more carefulREUTERSSunday, Jul 20, 2003,Page 9 ILLUSTRATION: YU SHA In the midst of a noisy debate over capital punishment in the US, a quiet change may have occurred -- the number of new death penalty sentences being imposed each year has dropped by nearly half. Juries, perhaps fearful of putting an innocent person to death, are looking more closely at life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors heedful of the cost death penalty trials entail and the minefield...

China: US Dreams of Asian NATO   With the United States stepping up its largest military strategic redeployment since World War II, the voices in that country backing the establishment of an Asian version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) became recently particularly loud. Under the Pentagon's military programme, the United States is preparing major shifts in the deployment of its forces in the Asia-Pacific region, including the movement of US marines from bases on the Japanese island of Okinawa to Australia, and the use of new basing facilities in Singapore and the Philippines. Washington also plans to withdraw...

23 Dengue Fever Cases Reported in S. China Province South China's Guangdong Province had reported 23 cases of dengue fever by July 16, according to sources with the Guangdong Provincial Health Department. All of the cases were reported in Guangzhou, capital of the province. The main symptoms of dengue fever, a disease transmitted by mosquitoes, are high fever, muscle pain and headache. Local government and health departments have adopted a series of measures to eliminate Aedes mosquito breeding grounds and publicize methods for preventing the disease from spreading in the region. Questions?Comments? Click here

China Reform Monitor No. 503, July 17, 2003American Foreign Policy Council, Washington, DC Editor: Al Santoli BEIJING FEARS SPREAD OF HONG KONG DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT;ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY: CHINA'S BID FOR REGIONAL DIPLOMACY July 15: Recent mass street demonstrations in Hong Kong demanding democratic elections and the temporary withdrawal of a stringent internal security bill have put China's leaders on the defensive, reports the Washington Post. With the rigid Chinese political system straining to contain rising discontent across the nation, communist leaders are worried that activists will use Hong Kong as a base to undermine their monopoly on power. "What they fear is...