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SPEAKING FREELY Chaos theory in action If Iraq is sliding toward chaos, as appears more the case as every strife-filled day passes, this is exactly where most Iraqis believe the United States wants them to be. - Mark LeVine Muqtada's Shi'ites raise the stakes To date, the US has gambled that as long as the main Shi'ite leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, refrained from depicting the US presence in Iraq as illegitimate and against Islam, it could withstand the fiery rhetoric of Muqtada al-Sadr. After the banning of Muqtada's newspaper, though, as is being violently demonstrated, the stakes have changed dramatically. - Ehsan Ahrari  EU turns to India's arms market With no sign of the European Union's ban on arms sales to China being lifted in the near future, the EU in the meantime is turning its attention to India - a willing customer and with the potential for all kinds of high-tech ventures. Russia is watching developments with growing anxiety. - Stephen Blank Roh's silence speaks volumes Though President Roh Moo-hyun remains silent while a court decides whether or not to uphold his impeachment, South Koreans, ahead of elections on April 15, are making all the right sounds for the beleaguered president. - Gerard Young Tensions turning US toward China Weakness and uncertainty after the impeachment of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Taiwan's disputed presidential election last month are causing Washington to deal more directly and constructively with China, a situation that benefits the US, but which leaves others in East Asia feeling worried. Logistical woes dog Indonesian elections The noisy and colorful campaigning by the 24 political parties vying for legislative seats in Monday's elections covered up a darker reality: logistical snafus by the General Elections Commission. Many Indonesians could not get their voter's cards in time; polling places were also plagued by a shortage of ballots, and even voting booths. - Tony Sitathan The UN's sinking law of the sea Rife with hazy legal definitions and conservative opposition in Washington, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea continues to drown in an ocean of misguided provisions, despite the ambitious nature of the treaty and its potential to settle disputes involving Asia's contested natural resources. - Alan Boyd  Afghanistan: Hekmatyar changes color again Ever since being ousted by the Taliban in 1996, veteran, and wily, mujahideen leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has aspired to a return to the political arena. Now come indications that he is prepared to forgo the gun - and leadership of a significant portion of the Afghan resistance - to achieve his ambitions. Hekmatyar's problem is, will Kabul and Washington trust him? So far, he has bitten all the many hands that have fed him, including Washington's. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Apr 2, '04) Terror in Thailand: 'Ghosts' and jihadis US anti-terrorism ally Thailand is scrambling to find the culprits behind a spate of deadly terrorist attacks in its Muslim south. There have been arrests and finger-pointing. But while there are suggestions the terror is home-grown - namely local separatists fighting for an independent Muslim state - an international hand in the troubles cannot be ruled out. - Julian Gearing (Apr 2, '04) US smarts over India-China ties The new mood in India-China relations has now been strengthened by the visiting Chinese defense minister talking about the two countries becoming "eternal good neighbors, good partners and good friends". And, above all, establishing defense ties. Delhi is delighted. Washington is worried. - Sultan Shahin (Apr 2, '04) Japan ready to rescue US forces  A real army for Japan? Proposed laws would skirt the war-renouncing constitution by allowing aid to US forces in Japan, the Taiwan Strait, the Middle East or anywhere else. Tokyo might become a full-fledged global US military ally. Critics moan but defense-types want to shed the image of Japan-as-military-laughing-stock. - Axel Berkofsky (Apr 2, '04) Xinjiang and China's Central Asia strategy The recent violence in Uzbekistan was promptly denounced as "terrorism" by Beijing, which fears separatism and violence in its own predominantly Muslim Xinjiang region. China bases its strategic and energy objectives on stability in Xinjiang, and Beijing's Central Asian policies grow out of its preoccupation with stability there. - Stephen Blank (Apr 2, '04) BOOK REVIEW In defense of the Stars and Stripes Anti-Americanism by Jean-Francois Revel, translated by Diarmid Cammell Thirty-four years after the publication of his first book in which he sought to portray a different picture to the one then widely portrayed in Europe of an "ugly America", Frenchman Revel once again tackles the issue of pervasive anti-American sentiment. This he does with a vigor and venom that would make any full-blooded American proud. - John Parker (Apr 2, '04) COMMENT US thought control of Middle East studies A band of neo-conservative pundits with close ties to Israel is waging a war against American scholars who study the Middle East. They are attempting to assert political control over teaching, research and public programs of study centers - claiming that they bear some of the responsibility for September 11. And now the Senate is involved.(Apr 2, '04) Tattle-tale texting sweeps Philippines Having sparked the People Power uprising that deposed president Joseph Estrada, texting - short messages sent via cellular phones - is being used extensively in this year's election campaign in the Philippines, where despite its ability to spread rumor, it has become so popular that the Catholic Church had to ban confessions by text. - Marco Garrido (Apr 2, '04) MAO AND LINCOLN Opinion by Henry C K Liu Part 2: Great Leap Forward not all bad Mao Zedong has been vilified over the Great Leap Forward, but 30 million people did not die. The numbers are wildly exaggerated, and Henry C K Liu argues that many deaths were caused by cyclical famine and a US embargo on grain imports. Today, globalization causes greater suffering. (Mar 31, '04) Ask Spengler Are Americans good enough to be Americans? An exchange with ATol readers. ... You [Americans] are in the first phase of a civilizational war with peoples and countries for whom no veil separates past and present. You must beat them or win them over. To do this you must know their history, by which they mean their poetry. Yet America cannot even find sufficient translators to read urgent dispatches ... - Spengler Readers may send queries to editor@atimes.com. When good banks go bad in Korea It's called the "Bad Bank", a new South Korean state consortium designed to deal with the growing mountains of unpaid consumer debt. It is the latest in a long series of stopgap measures that do nothing to address the underlying factors that have encouraged the debt crisis, while leaving the taxpayer to pick up the bill for irresponsible lending and borrowing. - David Scofield US-Japan: Back to the beef Love was in the air last week as cherry blossom petals fell amid celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the US and Japan. But after Japan rejected a proposal to end its ban on imports of US beef, not much else is blossoming between the two. - Richard Hanson E-wasting away in India Fast emerging as a dangerous byproduct of India's information technology boom, hazardous e-waste has sprung a lucrative industry in urban India - recycling. But with such weak environmental controls in place, this is one outsourcing phenomenon the sub-continent could do without. - Raja M Market Indices    Stock Market Report Daily Forex Report People move prices. Prices move markets. The jobs number blew away the consensus, bonds, and the euro on Friday. Which was good news for some.  Business in Brief Economics Infrastructure Banking Energy IT Autos Telecoms Aviation Company Briefs (Advertorial) WSI Internet's Asian franchise expansion soars WSI Internet continues its rapid Asian franchise expansion - amidst record levels of Internet use in Asia-Pacific.  FROM OUR MAILBOX By the time I had read John Parker's article In defense of the Stars and Stripes [Apr 3], I couldn't help but praise Asia Times Online for its virtue as a publication which is truly without agendas or allegiance to any group, in my humble opinion of course. I need the [types] of John Parker, Henry C K Liu ... Pepe Escobar, and others so I can be exposed to fresh new ideas. Zihan Go to Letters to the Editor WEEKEND CARTOON by Gavin Coates See Gavin's page for more.