A tale of two Indias
From The Caravan, a special issue on India in Afghanistan: Nation building or proxy war; and a cover story on how forty-five years ago, a joint Indo-US espionage mission lost five kilograms of plutonium in the Himalayas — it’s still missing, but the government has decided to ignore the ongoing threat. India's is a love-hate relationship with America — its democracy, culture, universities hold us in thrall; its bullying repels us. India has been grappling with a heightened threat perception on its borders with China, and complex preparations for a war that may not happen. An interview with Arundhati Roy: Is she a traitor to India or a fearless freedom fighter? VK Shahikumar sounds an early warning on a new kind of Muslim fundamentalism taking root in Kerala, a once secular state. A look at how archaeology and tourism have become handmaidens of Hindutva. An article on the afterlife of Subhas Chandra Bose, India’s fascist leader. Behind the rise of Mahatma Gandhi was a little-recognized team of followers he carefully recruited. A tale of two Indias: The hope that economic success would somehow transform old mindsets and lead to real changes in social behaviors is far from being fulfilled. A review of Mahabarata in Polyester: The Making of the World's Richest Brothers and Their Feud by Hamish McDonald. A rash of medals at the Delhi Commonwealth Games may create an impression that India has become a sports power — not so soon. The NBA awaits Satnam Singh Bhamara from India, so big and athletic at 14.
A new issue of Inside Indonesia is out. Rumi Sakamoto (Auckland): Pan-pan Girls: Humiliating Liberation in Postwar Japanese Literature. Fan Gang on China’s Great Migration. Tiger Girls on the loose: Burma gets its first girl band. The Wang Saen Suk Hell Garden: Walk through depictions of the torture inflicted on those who go to Buddhist hell. What do young Cambodians think about their country? An excerpt from East Asia Before the West: Five Centuries of Trade and Tribute by David C. Kang. For now, Bhutan conforms better than any other modern state to criteria for national greatness: a sane way of life, a thriving ecology, civilized aesthetic and ethical principles, an absolute prohibition on strip malls, and general harmlessness. In China, as tourists come, culture goes. What comes to the minds of a young population that didn’t live through a bloody civil war, a hellish genocide, the Vietnamese invasion of the late 1970s, or American bombings a decade before that? Pankaj Mishra on a new Cold War in Asia? Opportunistic speculators are eying Nepal’s burgeoning hydropower potential; does wealth or woe lie ahead for the poverty-stricken nation? Hong Kong’s rising temperatures have created a pervasive dependence on A/C, but some are trying to break the habit. Though junta leadership changed Burma's name in 1989, debate continues to be divisive (and more). The Japan syndrome: The biggest lesson the country may yet teach the world is about the growth-sapping effects of ageing. From Lapham's Quarterly, Ross Perlin on China’s instant cities, thirty years on. After 500 years of Western predominance, Niall Ferguson argues, the world is tilting back to the East. Jakarta's Capital Idea: Indonesia may move its capital out of Jakarta but it won't solve the city's problems. How to negotiate with North Korea: Reaching an accord on nuclear-weapons development was a difficult proposition even before the recent revelations.
Michael J. Green (Georgetown): Japan’s Confused Revolution. Japan surrenders: James Fallows returns to his old Tokyo neighborhood and finds an inward-looking country that has lost its ambition. A review of Nihonjin no Otoko wa Motenai ("Japanese guys aren’t popular") by Meiko Mochizuki Swartz. An interview with Ian Buruma on books on Japan. A review of Contemporary Japan: History, Politics and Social Change Since the 1980s by Jeff Kingston (and more). Practical lessons in world hegemony, as Japan’s attempt to strike an independent course is cut down by the Obama Administration. Jeffrey Kingston on the untapped potential of Japanese civil society. Japocalypse Watch: The latest entry in the increasingly popular genre of Japanese decline-watch stories in the U.S. media. Wada Haruki on resolving the China-Japan conflict over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. China's teetering on the verge of its own lost decade, and a meltdown in Beijing would make Japan's economic malaise look like child's play. A review of As China Goes, So Goes the World: How Chinese Consumers Are Transforming Everything by Karl Gerth. A review of When a Billion Chinese Jump: How China Will Save Mankind — Or Destroy It by Jonathan Watts. Beijing is paying for Chinese-language schools all around the world, including scores in the US — should we be concerned? The World's fairs have always existed to entertain the West — the Shanghai World Expo, however, has its own ideas. The Next China: An interview with Stephen Roach, author of The Next Asia. China also rises: Will China seek revenge for its century of humiliation at the hands of the West? Beyond East vs. West: China's frictions with the modern, liberal world don't conform neatly to old binaries. It is not quite true that China is rejecting Western values such as democracy — rather, it is fighting over them. Religion in various forms is burgeoning in the PRC today, and the ruling Chinese Communist Party cannot decide what to make of it — or do about it. Can you give my son a job? Slavoj Zizek reviews The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers by Richard McGregor.
Wendy Nicole Duong (Denver): From Puccini’s Madam Butterfly to the Statue of the Awaiting Wife in North Vietnam: Where is Portia in the Vietnamese American Experience? Sangmi Lee (ASU): Searching for the Hmong People’s Ethnic Homeland and Multiple Dimensions of Transnational Longing. Old wars never die: An article on the unhappy fate of the Hmong. From Irrawaddy, a review of Than Shwe: Unmasking Burma’s Tyrant by Benedict Rogers; an interview with James Ross of Human Rights Watch on efforts to bring Burma's generals to justice; and Burma’s despised despot is on track to face some earthly justice, if the divine variety doesn’t catch up with him first. Mechai Viravaidya on how Mr. Condom made Thailand a better place. The Buddhist Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University allows English-language speakers the opportunity to study with monks in Thailand. The New York Times profiles Lee Kuan Yew, the man who defined Singapore. From Inside Indonesia, a special issue on the killings of 1965-66; who’s to blame for Papua’s tragedy? A review of An Act of Free Choice: Decolonisation and the Right to Self-Determination in West Papua by Pieter Drooglever; and critics say it’s just a fad but some young upper middle-class Indonesians are rediscovering forgotten histories. Up until 2005, Indonesia seemed sure to succumb to a wave of Islamist terror, but, in the post-Suharto era, even political Islamists seem intent on democracy, tolerance and keeping the peace. An interview with Wulan Mei Lina on what it’s like to take sexy pictures in Indonesia. Southeast Asian nations seek a peaceful end to South China Sea disputes.
India refuses to utter its name
A new issue of The Caravan is out. From Himal Southasian, a special issue on the caste system. A republican agenda: If democracy in India is to survive, it must move away from the paternalism of its founders. A review of Post-Hindu India: A discourse in Dalit-Bahujan, socio-spiritual and scientific revolution by Kancha Ilaiah. Global fashion was chasing an Indian dream — the dream is now over. From Outlook India, "development is a contraceptive": An interview with Ashish Bose, India’s foremost demographer, on how India ended up with the world’s largest population despite 60 years of family planning (and a review of Headcount: Memoirs of a Demographer); Hindu terror is a reality, yet India refuses to utter its name; and intellectuals want change, but not without the freedom to disagree. A think tank report warns that India is poised on the brink of anarchy, that we could hurtle very fast into an ungovernable mess — the signs are all around us. More and more and more on Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India by William Dalrymple. India asks, should food be a right for the poor? A look at how mobile phones are transforming Indian agriculture. A review of Mother Pious Lady: Making Sense Of Everyday India by Santosh Desai. Is India the world’s worst place to die? Real India: Historian Ramachandra Guha cautions the use of “the Indian Century”. Zahid Rafiq is a pacifist — but he wants to be a stone-pelter. A. Revathi's The Truth About Me is a much needed introduction to hijras' lives and their community (and an interview). Comic realism: Classical Indian comics basically train young minds to suck up to the stereotypes of the status quo.
Kaz Ross (Tasmania): An "Army of Bachelors"? China’s Male Population as a World Threat. From New Left Review, an assessment of Wang Hui’s landmark Rise of Modern Chinese Thought: Can the seeds of an alternative, non-Western modernity be located in the worldviews of earlier thinkers? From Beijing Review, can "mixed living" connect the rich and the poor? A Breakfast Solution: How to lift millions of China's rural poor out of destitution? What kids eat is crucial, and Beijing is taking action. Chicago on the Yangtze: Welcome to Chongqing, the biggest city you've never heard of (and more). China's state capitalism poses ethical challenges: When state-owned companies go abroad, they can do business with a high level of secrecy. China's Potemkin Cities: Vacant skyscrapers, empty malls — the surreal fruits of a nation's obsession with growth. China's looming 2019 deadline: Is there a 70-year deadline for political parties? One set of shoulders: Mark Lilla on China's hidden revolution. Waiting for WikiLeaks: Perry Link on Beijing’s seven secrets. Rivalry grows between China's top leaders Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, as both are nearing retirement and go different ways on reform. The People's Republic is becoming a technological superpower, but who's checking the facts? Sam Geall seeks out the Chinese science cops. A review of Sovereignty at the Edge: Macau and the Question of Chineseness by Cathryn H. Clayton. Two hundred members of a Chinese family are reportedly changing their surname because the character used to write it is so rare computers do not recognise it.
A new issue of Chay Magazine: Sex and Sexuality Pakistan, South Asia and Abroad is out. From Himal Southasian, a cover story on God and the gospel of globalisation: The complex nexus of market, religion and the state behind secularism's failure in the region; the idea of Punjabiyat: Despite fragmentation for centuries, the Punjabi identity today is engaged in a remarkably active attempt at consolidation; beyond Indology: The 18th-century "discovery" by Western academics of Sanskrit allowed a whole new branch of science-minded researchers to delve into the mysteries of the Subcontinent; a review of books on Bhutan; and internationalising Lanka: The idea of Southasia after the war. The Afghanistan War is mainly about Pakistan and India — actually, it's about the whole region. Being forced to choose between supporting the Indian or Pakistani team is now a thing of the past for cricket-crazy Afghans. Nepal is waiting for a constitution and a proper democratic election, but the country’s squabbling political parties have been blocking progress, allowing human rights abuses to continue. From Tehelka, madrassas are the cornerpiece of Muslim community life; in a disturbing twist, some of them are being used as transit shelters for child trafficking — or worse, doubling up as sweatshops themselves; and Sansar Chand is India’s deadliest poacher — here is how he has escaped legal traps for 40 years.
Asia is playing a crucial part
From IMF Survey, a look at how Asia is playing a crucial part in reshaping the global economy. A review of Illusive Utopia, Theater, Film, and Everyday Performance in North Korea by Suk-young Kim. Drukonian Moves: Bhutan is swearing by happiness — but is it such a good thing? A review of Unfinished Revolution: Indonesia Before and After Suharto by Max Lane. From Asia’s mountainous heart flow rivers on which half the world’s population depends: Kenneth Pomeranz on the Great Himalayan Watershed. China, Russia and the United States are the main competitors, and the match is particularly intense in Kabul, Islamabad and Teheran; the Great Game, however, is also played in the five “stans” — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kirghizstan. Singapore's business-friendly climate has seen the country grow by leaps and bounds but it's all based on a murky, billion-dollar illegal trade in sand. Social alientation, Thai-style: Finding the “essence” of a nation in the package of cultural archetypes presented to tourists — for a price. Mao Zedong and All That: A telling battle over China’s history curriculum. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia on the "democratic instinct". With the July Sumo tournament over, Japan has a champion but is left with many bitter memories surrounding the national sport. Burma's emerging nuclear weapons program is met with an ambiguous international response (and more).
From Tehelka, can India and Pakistan mend the rifts? Yes, and here are a few good tips to make sure we get there. With Pakistan, being consistent is key. Pakistan’s leader Asif Ali Zardari is seen as a distant president, giving the impression of caring little for the plight of his country’s people and failing to live up to his early promise. From Asia Sentinel, an article on why Pakistan is not a nation. From Guernica, some Pakistanis have begun blaming Afghan immigrants for bringing “their” war into Pakistan — one Afghan baker’s story of harassment, corruption, and exile. An interview with Imtiaz Gul, author of The Most Dangerous Place: Pakistan’s Lawless Frontier (and more). What is state failure? Designating Pakistan a failed state renders invisible the multiple and diverse democratizing forces that have evolved there over the last decade. Walter Russell Mead on the roots of Pakistan’s rage. From Geocurrents, a look at the geography of extremism in Pakistan (and more and more). OMG, it's Muhammad's footprint: Pervez Hoodbhoy on a miracle in Pakistan. A look at how hard-line Islam is filing the void in flooded Pakistan. The Boston Globe's The Big Picture takes on Pakistan's floods (and more). From UN Dispatch, just how dire is this crisis in humanitarian terms? The Pakistan floods are the worst humanitarian disaster in recent history. July was a cruel month for Pakistan, and more seem certain to follow.
From Interpersona, a special issue on relationship research in India and South Asia. Rush Hour for the Gods: As India modernizes, mystical traditions are giving way to standardized, commercialized and sometimes fundamentalist modes of faith that do not bode well for the stability of South Asia. Was Nehru just a woolly-headed philosopher or, indeed, a realpolitik player? Buried under the self-rebuke is the moving story of an Indian football team that once reigned over all of Asia; Novy Kapadia recounts the glory years. Is the national census an attempt to dismantle the caste system, or simply a restatement of colonial manipulation? In India, there is a hierarchy of brown — from the lighter, more desirable shades, to the darker, supposedly less desirable shades. Guitar Heroes: Can a battle of the bands help end a brutal insurgency in India? More and more on William Dalrymple's Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India. Will there be an Indian Harvard? Some in India are hoping that inviting in foreign universities will solve the country's higher education crisis. The steamy side of Sonia Gandhi: A hot-and-heavy book has political India in an uproar. Stardom is martyrdom: India arrives in the American imagination. A new Detroit rises in India's south: Car makers are lured by Chennai's port, educated workers and limited hassles. Meet India's tampon king: Critics called A. Muruganantham a "psycho" and "pervert" — who's laughing now?
Asia is moving
From Finance and Development, a special section on Asia's growing influence: Asia is moving into a leadership role in the world economy. From Beijing Review, China's aspiration to build the best universities in the world will take a long time to come to fruition; and is China repeating Japan's mistakes? Economists disagree over whether foreigners should be allowed to invest in stock index futures (and more and more). Christopher Buckley takes a stroll around Hanoi, a buzzing city coming to grips with its war-torn, colonial past, its Communist present, and a whole lot of oncoming traffic. Temp Nation: A series on the demise of "lifetime employment" in Japan. A review of Everything Is Broken: A Tale of Catastrophe in Burma by Emma Larkin (and more). Speak Korean, the language of love: Foreigners in South Korea take language lessons for many reasons, among them to meet a mate. A review of The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia by James C. Scott (and more at Bookforum). The introduction to Japan Transformed: Political Change and Economic Restructuring by Frances McCall Rosenbluth and Michael F. Thies. Should you teach your kids Chinese? While China’s rise is real, Chinese is in no way rising at the same rate. In the cause of happiness: In a nascent democracy like Bhutan, the media is perceived as having a very different role to play, one that is socially committed. NLD and the Politics of Boycott: How the decision by Burma's main opposition party will affect the country's political process. An article on exploring Japanese popular culture as a soft power resource. A federal resettlement program for Burmese Karen sees 4,000 refugees starting new lives in Canada. From 3:AM, Ronald Kelts on why "Cool Japan" is over.
Gandhians with a gun? Arundhati Roy plunges into the sea of Gondi people to find some answers. A review of Reservations for Women, India: Issues in Contemporary Indian Feminism. Why are we uncomfortable about wearing Indian clothes to the workplace? The Web has been a liberating medium for online literary journals, freed as they are from production and distribution constraints. David Mekelburg on a river of shit and other public health concerns noticed in India. David Mekelburg on lost soul spiritualism and other thoughts in India. Anne Applebaum on the Indian way of patriotism: It's not nationalistic, not imperialist, not aggressive, but rather self-critical. India’s latest statehood movement reveals a crisis at the heart of the country’s globalising ambitions. A review of Power and Contestation: India since 1989 by Nivedita Menon and Aditya Nigam. Pankaj Mishra on Kashmir, “the world’s most dangerous place”. Sex and the Swami: Why India’s gurus can’t keep it in their loincloths (and more). A review of War and Peace in Modern India: A Strategic History of the Nehru Years by Srinath Raghavan. A review of Becoming Indian: The Unfinished Revolution of Culture and Identity by Pavan K. Varma. Nationalist, anti-nationalist or beyond nationalist?: An article on Tagore as a thinker for the world. Katherine Hill reviews Dreaming in Hindi by Katherine Russell Rich. From The Hindu, a review of books on Indian secularism. Sex, Lies & Homework: While adults turn a blind eye, urban schoolchildren are playing high-stakes games inside a super-sexualised world. A review of The Wrongs of the Religious Right: Reflections on Science, Secularism and Hindutva by Meera Nanda. Beware India: The principle cog in the food and ecological cycle, with every tiger gone, the entire country's survival is at stake.
What we mean by Asia
Chris Burgess (Tsuda): The "Illusion" of Homogeneous Japan and National Character. From Irrawaddy, Aung Zaw examines the undistinguished military career of Snr-Gen Than Shwe, Burma's absolute ruler; and advising Burma’s generals on how to run the country’s economy is a risky business. An interview with Dilip Hiro, author of Inside Central Asia. The Party's Over: Gordon G. Chang on China's endgame. The political trends behind Malaysia's recent "Allah" controversy could undermine the delicate sociocultural balance in one of the Muslim world's most developed nations. The mother of all dictatorships: To understand North Korea, look not to Confucius or the Soviet Union, but to fascist 1930s Japan. Kellie Schmitt on the 11 foreigners you meet in China. How not to run an empire: Ignoring human rights in favor of stability is backfiring not just in Kyrgyzstan, but all over Central Asia — big time. A review of “If You Leave Us Here, We Will Die”: How Genocide Was Stopped in East Timor by Geoffrey Robinson. A review of Where There Are Asians There Are Rice Cookers: How National Went Global via Hong Kong by Yoshiko Nakano. If there is one major country where history is a political instrument, it is China. Unsettling the slums: John Gravois reports from Phnom Penh, where a new prosperity is transforming what was once a city of squatters. Can Asians resolve global problems? Simon Chesterman and Kishore Mahbubani investigate. They’re not brainwashed, they’re just miserable: What North Koreans really want. New Silk Roads: Roads, railways and pipelines are redefining what we mean by Asia. Jonathan Taylor reviews Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory by Peter Hessler. A review of Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times by Barry Wain.
The terms of engagement in Central Asia
From Armed Forces Journal, Dan Greenon the Taliban’s political program; and can any nation cost-effectively battle jihadist networks in dozens of the most remote, austere and hazardous regions on Earth? Sucking up to dictators is harder than it looks: Simon Shuster goes inside the failed attempt to turn Turkmenistan, Central Asia's most insular regime. Lloyd Richardson reviews Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present by Christopher Beckwith. Sea slaves in Asia: Human traffickers kidnap men to work on fishing vessels. From Publishing Perspectives, an article on Turkmenistan’s tragicomic publishing revolution; and a short history of Turkmen literature. Reality-TV shows like Afghan Model are rewiring Afghan culture — for better and for worse. From Marx to Mohammed: A review of books on Central Asia. A look at how China is resetting the terms of engagement in Central Asia (and more). Riches in the near abroad: The West’s recession spurs China’s hunt for energy supplies in its own backyard. An interview with Kanat Saudabayev, Kazakhstan's foreign minister, on his country's unlikely new role as Europe's democracy watchdog. A review of In The Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan by Seth G. Jones. Pattern and process among pastoralists: A review of books on early Eurasia. In Karakalpakstan, an obscure corner of central Asia where the waters of the Aral Sea have turned to desert, Jack Shenker finds a nation fleeing ecological disaster and authoritarian rule. Dictator-lit: Historically spurious and spiritually confused, Emomalii Rahmon's presidential history of Tajikistan plays fast and loose with notions of national identity.
In India, where 4,000 year-old stories still inspire death threats, historians, mathematicians and nationalists are going to battle over an ancient civilisation’s script. A review of The God Market: How Globalization Is Making India More Hindu by Meera Nanda. The rise of Hindu nationalism is a major threat to intellectual freedom, but it's also time to confront a climate of implicit censorship that leads to its own pathology. In the name of the people: The politics of an imagined "people" is anti-democratic because it can so easily slide into direct fascist action against perceived "enemies". A review of India's Foreign Policy: The Democracy Dimension by SD Muni. A look at India's controversial new war doctrine — preparing for a "two-front" war with Pakistan and China. Can Bollywood heal the India-Pakistan relationship? An ordinary man and a nobody: An excerpt from The Great Divide: India and Pakistan. The pluralism and diversity that has defined spiritual life on the Indian subcontinent for centuries continues to transcend the divisive politics of religion. Meet Shireen Mazari, the Ann Coulter of Pakistan. Waziristan, headquarters of Islamist terror, has repelled outsiders for centuries; now the Pakistani government is making a determined effort to control the place. Why does Pakistan hate the US? Because it is dependent on it. Will there always be a Pakistan?: Fissures within the military could tear not just the army but the entire country apart — it's coming sooner than you think. An interview with Syed Ashfaqul Haque on books about Bangladesh. The first few weeks of the year may finally witness the execution, 35 years after the fact, of the killers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founder of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. From Dissent, Sumedha Senanayake on Sri Lanka's post-war crisis (and more).
In China, ancient human sacrifice has given way to modern tomb-tending ceremonies, but the dead still make demands. A look at how China is using art (and artists) to sell itself to the world. From Asia Times, Henry C K Liu on China's Revolution, 90 years on (in 5 parts). Robert Fogel on $123,000,000,000,000, China’s estimated economy by the year 2040 — be warned (and a response). A brave new world: Is there a good response to China's "resilient capitalist authoritarianism"? Tom Scocca reviews When China Rules the World by Martin Jacques (and more). Peter Savodnik travels to Arunachal Pradesh, the Himalayan state whose contested border marks the front lines of the increasingly combative rivalry between India and China. Himalayan histrionics: Asia's two giants China and India still cannot agree where one stops and the other begins. A hostile diplomatic battle has erupted in recent months between China and India; do tensions over visas and the two countries' shared border pose a threat to one of Asia's most formidable partnerships? Barbara Crossette on how India gives global governance the biggest headache (and a response). Sandwich theory and Operation Green Hunt: It is the duty of middle India to "rescue" the hapless Adivasis and rural poor from armed Maoist "terrorists" and a militarised Indian state. Raped by the law: A controversial case shakes India's faith in the rule of law. One woman's hunger strike, in protest of India's Armed Forces Special Powers Act, proves that the spirit of Gandhi lives on. India could be an ancient "motherland" of Thailand and Asia in a more literal sense, according to a new study.
