Asia

Coca Cola making health policy in China

In the midst of the obesity epidemic that plagues China, Coca-Cola has managed to influence the health policies of the country to avoid the establishment of a 20% tax on sugary drinks and other measures recommended by the World Health Organization, according to new research from Harvard University (USA). China is already the third largest global market for Coca-Cola. In 2011, 42% of Chinese adults were overweight or obese, ...Read full article...

China: The Largest Cheap Labor Factory in the World

Wages are exceedingly low, productivity is high. These are the social realities of commodities “Made in China”, marketed Worldwide. China is an advanced capitalist economy integrated into the World market. Wages for non-skilled labor in Chinese factories are as low as 100$ a month, a small fraction of the minimum wage in Western countries. The factory price of a commodity produced in China is of the order of 10% of the ...Read full article...

Korea and the United States: Negotiating a Peace Treaty

The pathbreaking April 27 Panmunjeom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula signed by Chairman Kim Jong-un and President Moon Jae-in constitutes an expression of solidarity and commitment. It reaffirms that there is only one Korean Nation. It lays the groundwork for cooperation, reunification and demilitarization of the Korean peninsula. While the inter-Korean dialogue initiated prior to the winter Olympic games has set the stage for an era of cooperation and reconciliation between ...Read full article...

North Korea and the Dangers of Nuclear War

Instead of Nuclear War, demilitarization of the Korean Peninsula goes on towards a Peace Agreement. Fire and Fury” was not invented by Donald Trump. It is a concept deeply embedded in US military doctrine. It has characterized US military interventions since the end of World War II. What distinguishes Trump from his predecessors in the White House is his political narrative. We are nonetheless at a dangerous crossroads. Foreign policy miscalculation ...Read full article...

South Korea Is Key to Peace on the Peninsula

A warrior US president, along with hawkish generals in charge of administration geopolitics and neocons infesting Washington risk unthinkable nuclear war on North Korea by design or accident. The president of South Korea, Moon Jae-in wants peace, not conflict with the DPRK. There’s much he can do toward achieving it by acting responsibly. In July, he said “(t)he current situation where there is no contact between the relevant authorities ...Read full article...

US to Terror-Bomb the Philippines?

ISIS terrorists operate wherever America deploys them, most recently in the Philippines. In response, President Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao, imposed military rule, and threatened to extend it nationwide. Earlier he called Obama an SOB, “announced (his) separation from the United States,” said he ended joint military exercises with America, indicating he’s open to holding them with China and Russia. Meeting with Rex Tillerson during the Asean Regional ...Read full article...

Is a war between the United States and China inevitable?

If your answer to the questions is “The United States and China are already at war”, you are right. The US and China are at war in different ways and at different levels. Another more appropriate question could be: Can America and China avoid the trap of a greater more open war? Should the current course continue, the chance of a war between the two countries in the coming ...Read full article...

What the North Korean “Crisis” Is Really About

The North Korean “crisis” is a Washington orchestration. North Korea was last at war 1950-53. N. Korea has not attacked or invaded anyone in 64 years. N. Korea lacks the military strength to attack any country, such as South Korea and Japan, that is protected by the US. Moreover, China would not permit N. Korea to start a war. So what is the demonization of N. Korea by the ...Read full article...

Korean Peninsula Brinksmanship

For a day at least, Washington and Pyongyang stepped back from the brink. The DPRK refrained from conducting an expected sixth nuclear test, likely postponed, not cancelled. Trump showed restraint by not belligerently reining on North Korea’s Day of the Sun commemorative parade, honoring its founder Kim Il-sung’s 105th birthday. All quiet on the eastern front held on Saturday, fireworks perhaps coming later at a time of Trump’s choosing. ...Read full article...

Trump’s America won’t be under a ‘One China’ Policy

“I do not know why we have to be forced to a ‘One China’ Policy, unless we make an agreement with China that has to do with other things, including trade,” Trump says. US President-elect Donald Trump has questioned his country’s protracted “One China” policy in an interview broadcast on Sunday by Fox News. Trump said that he fully understood the US policy of recognizing only one China, but ...Read full article...

Regime Change In The Philippines

When will the neoconservative chant begin: “Duterte must go”? Or will the CIA assassinate him? President Rodrigo Duterte has indicated that he intends a more independent foreign policy. He has announced upcoming visits to China and Russia, and his foreign minister has declared that it is time for the Philippines to end its subservience to Washington. In this sense, regime change has already occurred. Duterte has suspended military maneuvers ...Read full article...

China and Syria change the balance of International Relations

Although we don’t know the details of what was agreed between China and Syria, the existence of an agreement between them has modified both the battle-field and the balance of international relations. Last year, the Anglo-Saxon secret services broadcast a number of hair-brained interpretations of this same subject – today, Thierry Meyssan gives a precise analysis of the important points. Although the visit to Syria by Admiral Guan Youfei ...Read full article...

Russia Foils Terrorist Attacks by US-Supported Ukraine Putschists

On August 10, Tass said Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) foiled terrorist attacks in Crimea (initiated) by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s main intelligence directorate.” An FSB statement said the plot “target(ed) critically important infrastructure…to destabilize the socio-political situation in the region as preparations for (parliamentary) elections of federal and regional authorities are underway” – scheduled nationwide on September 18, including in the Republic of Crimea and federal city of ...Read full article...

America’s Pivot to Asia Passes through Vietnam

Lifting the military embargo on Vietnam has nothing to do with good politics or a desire to help a country that the U.S. helped destroy. In 2013, Kurt Campbell and Brian Andrews, from the Asia group, wrote a piece on the United States so-called pivot to Asia. In their article, the authors explain that America’s pivot to Asia is a balancing game. Parties participating in that game include Japan, ...Read full article...

Population 2.0: Poor and Unhealthy into the 21st Century

Over 40 million Children Reach Extreme Levels of Obesity. Childhood obesity is not just a problem of rich countries. In fact, it is much less so in wealthy nations. According to the World Health Organization, of the 42 million children under five who are overweight in the world, 35 million, or 83%, are part of middle and low income families. “It’s an explosive nightmare,” says the World Health Organization ...Read full article...