Rising concern about China’s foreign policy plans continues to reshape the political geometry in Asia.  Japan’s announcement that it is reducing limits on arms exports is yet another sign that Japan is moving toward a more assertive regional role in closer cooperation with the US.Japan has been steadily if cautiously raising its defense and political […]

In the theater of the absurd that is Pakistani politics, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has denied published reports that he was threatening to fire the heads of Pakistani’s military and of the ISI.  As the NY Times solemnly reports, Gilani announced that rumors of a split between civilian and military leaders in Pakistan were […]

We are taking a brief break with posts this week. I’d like to wish all my readers all the best for this holiday season and in the new year. Regular posting will resume next week.

So: they ‘wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.’  What is that supposed to be about?Manger is the French word meaning “to eat”; a manger is a place where you put hay and similar things for the animals in a barn to eat. The swaddling clothes were used to wrap up […]

Combined intervention by the world’s central banks and an open door policy by the ECB to European banks wanting to borrow lots of money fast calmed the world’s markets this month.  We are no longer having to think about whether the international financial system might melt down over a long weekend, and the relief plus […]

Just three weeks ago, Via Meadia lamented the appointment of a South African crony as the head of the anti-corruption agency called the Special Investigating Unit (SIU). William Heath was part of now-President Zuma’s advisory team when he himself battled accusations of corruption over a huge arms deal, and Heath’s appointment to the SIU raised concerns […]

It is not quite the most controversial verse in the Bible, but Luke 1:35 comes close. Mary has just replied to the angel Gabriel’s statement that she will be the mother of the Messiah with a question of her own: “How shall this be,” she says in the words of the King James Version, “seeing […]

Following six weeks of big pro-US moves by Japan, Tokyo is also signing deals with China.  As the Wall Street Journal reports, last week saw a package of economic agreements that could help ease the Chinese yuan into a more international role and make life easier for Japanese companies doing business in China.Declinists will want […]

The Panda Lobby, the pundits and policy wonks who want the US to imitate China’s state capitalism, has long celebrated what it claims to be China’s far sighted and effective approach to industrial policy.  China, the Panda pundits tell us, will own the future because of its courageous subsidies to green technology and high speed […]

[The traditional Via Meadia Yule Blog continues today with the third of the Thirteen Posts of Christmas.  From Christmas Eve through to Twelfth Night (the feast of the Epiphany), we explore the Christmas story and the ideas behind the celebration.]In Matthew, the Christmas story and its immediate sequel runs from Chapter One, verse one through […]