East-West Center: East-West Wire

U.S. Has Limited Options on Iran

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:43:26 -0500

By Toufiq Siddiqi (Note: A shorter version of this commentary originally appeared in The Honolulu Advertiser on June 28, 2009) For the last several weeks, Americans have been observing the scenes from Iran of demonstrators protesting peacefully against the allegedly rigged results of the national elections, and the rough tactics adopted by the paramilitary to suppress them. A number of lives have been lost, and uncounted additional ones have been injured. Many in the United States, including p...

Economic Shifts Critical for North Korea Sanctions

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:55:40 -0500

By Marcus Noland and Stephan Haggard Note: This commentary is excerpted from the East-West Center Working Paper The Political Economy of North Korea: Implications for Denuclearization and Proliferation. HONOLULU (June 12) -- Most analyses of North Korea�s nuclear ambitions have viewed them through the lens of high politics. Recent statements, for example, suggest that North Korea may be trying to �break out�: to secure a deterrent and gain de facto recognition as a nuclear weapons state. Alter...

U.S. Ambassador: Elections, Fair Constitution Key to Restoring Fiji�s Democracy

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:06:48 -0500

HONOLULU (June 11) -- Instability in Fiji following the 2006 military overthrow of the government should be resolved through democratic elections and the adoption of a constitution granting equal rights to the country�s two largest ethnic groups, according to a U.S. diplomat in the region. Speaking at the East-West Center, Steven McGann, the U.S. ambassador to Fiji, said that one factor in the government takeover was longstanding tensions between ethnic and Indo-Fijians that also helped fuel th...

U.S. Needs New Approach to Burma, Former Embassy Chief Says

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:14:01 -0500

Burma�s prosecution of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the face of international condemnation underscores the need for the United States to employ a new tactic to help transform the country�s oppressive military regime, according to a former U.S. diplomat in the region. In a report published by the East-West Center in Washington in May, Priscilla Clapp, who headed the U.S. embassy in Burma from 1999 to 2002, says the United States has reached �a policy conundrum� in its efforts to push...

Indian Voters Opt for Continuity Over Change

Wed, 27 May 2009 20:29:44 -0500

By Toufiq Siddiqi (Note: A shorter version of this commentary originally appeared in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin on May 23, 2009.) Last Friday, Manmohan Singh was once again sworn in as India�s prime minister, the first time in a quarter-century that an Indian PM who served a full five-year term will continue in that role. Prime Minister Singh enters his new term with a solid mandate resulting from the emphatic victory by his ruling Indian National Congress Party and its allies in the recent n...

Rubber Plantations May Have Devastating Environmental Effects in the Uplands of Mainland Southeast Asia, Scientists Warn

Fri, 22 May 2009 16:09:00 -0500

HONOLULU (May 22) � The unrestricted expansion of rubber plantations in the uplands of mainland Southeast Asia could have devastating environmental effects, according to an article in the May 22 issue of Science, the influential weekly journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.amp;nbsp; Written by Alan Ziegler of the National University of Singapore, Jefferson Fox of the East-West Center in Hawaii and Jianchu Xu of the Kunming Institute of Botany, the article notes that...

Pakistan, Afghanistan and the U.S.: Shared Concerns and Concerted Responses

Wed, 20 May 2009 16:20:52 -0500

By Toufiq Siddiqi At the conclusion of his recent meeting with the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan, President Obama made an important speech that identified the common goal of the three countries to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda and its extremist allies. �Our strategy reflects a fundamental truth,� he said. �The security of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the United States are linked.� A part of the speech that has received special attention in Afghanistan and Pakistan was when the...

Fiji�s Conundrum

Thu, 07 May 2009 21:25:24 -0500

by Gerard A. Finin (Note: This commentary originally appeared in the May 2009 edition of the Far Eastern Economic Review.) HONOLULU (May 7) - In recent weeks Fiji�s political turmoil has taken an ominous turn, with a harsh crackdown on all forms of political dissent. What began on Dec. 5, 2006 as a preannounced and generally peaceful military takeover led by Commodore �Frank� Bainimarama is fast becoming a more complex conundrum for Fiji�s military, citizens and the international community. Mo...

Indonesia�s Young Democracy Thriving, But Challenges Remain

Mon, 04 May 2009 21:31:31 -0500

Indonesia is drawing praise from the United States as it emerges from decades of authoritarian rule as a promising democracy, but the country with the world�s largest Muslim population still faces challenges ranging from government corruption to election problems and weak political representation of women. That was the assessment of Indonesia�s maturing democracy during a daylong Indonesia conference and cultural event held at the East-West Center on April 24 under the banner, �1999-2009: A Dec...

Public Health Systems Have Come a Long Way in Pandemic Readiness

Fri, 01 May 2009 21:44:52 -0500

By Nancy Davis Lewis This week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency in response to the outbreak of a new strain of Swine Flu (now called H1N1 Influenza A) in Mexico that it is feared could lead to a pandemic, or widespread contagion. The World Health Organization also raised its pandemic threat level to Phase 5, which is characterized by verified human-to-human transmission of a virus in two or more countries, giving a strong signal that a pandemi...