Senate Asian Geopolitics

hong kongolese lol. im using that from now on

 

Hey, Iran declared war on Bart Simpson, and Iraq declared war on Rambo... Par for the course

 

"Canada has bombed the Baldwins..."

 

North Korea gives CNN brief access to detained Americans for on camera interviews.

 

WE NEED MONEY - MAYBE CAN RELEASE PEOPLE AGAINST THE PURPOSE OF TOURISM? HMMM?

 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/30/china-hong-kong-future-protesters-cry-democracy

Good perspective on the Hongkong situation.

 

North Korea has released American Jeffery Fowle.

 

North Korea has now also released Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...ual-apathy-is-endangering-the-global-economy/

Ender Sai

Curious your thoughts on this...

 

If Japan is really so desperate to counteract the low birth rate...why not just increase immigration?

 

Well Alpha raised a good point, however culturally the Japanese are quite - oh, let's be frank here, racist - and therefore are adverse to the idea of granting citizenship to someone who is not "ethnically Japanese". It's unlikely therefore that anything would reverse this trend.

The point at which this becomes crucial is the level of US debt they own. The reason Japan can't retire off quietly into the sunset is not anything innately Japanese; it's because America needs Japan too much. Economically, and politically too - Japan as counterweight to China. Whereas Japan could still provide useful input to the global economy contracting down to a more manageable 5th on 6th on the list, it is not in the interests of the US for this to happen.

 

The long term story is insatiable and growing Chinese demand for all things. Whether you are busy offloading your fossil fuel reserves to China, or shipping over every pig you can slaughter, or poaching those last pockets of wild elephants, all things move increasingly and inevitably China-ward.

 

http://m.smh.com.au/world/china-scr...eople-in-yunnan-province-20150314-1442x9.html

So a Myanmar jet bombed southern china today, killing four civilians. So far, the PRC has not militarily retaliated, which is a good thing. This looks like it may have been an error, as Myanmar was bombing rebels nearby, but somehow thus bomber got a little too far of target.

 

Lee Kuan Yew has, sadly, passed away at age 91.

Few leaders have so indelibly left their mark on their state.

 

Weren't he and Singapore fairly illiberal?

 

He did have a fairly large authoritarian streak, yes.

 

Economically, Singapore was one of the freest.

 

Economics isn't the only thing. I've read about press freedoms not being that great, and the ruling party's dominance resembles PRC levels of authoritarianism.

 

Indeed it is not and indeed it does.

It almost has its own kind of legalism.