Central Asia, Xinjiang, Islam

Turmoil in Central Asia - While the international community focuses on the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, it is paying far too little attention to the storm brewing just beyond the country's northern borders, in Central Asia , by Martha Olcott and Johannes Linn - WSJ

Central Asia: Islamic Group on the Rise - Diplomatic Courier

Hizb ut-Tahrir and U.S. allies in Central Asia - Eurasia Daily Monitor

Radical Islam stirs in China's remote west - In a backstreet of the old Silk Road city of Kashgar, Chinese authorities have been spray-painting signs on dusty mud brick walls to warn against what it says is a new enemy -- the Islamic Liberation Party. - Reuters

The reality of China's jihadist threat - The Chinese government is blaming the attack in Kashgar on Islamic terrorists. But there is very little evidence that al-Qaida is backing them , by Jason Burke - Guardian

Asia and the world order

When Asia Was The World

When Asia Was the World by Stewart Gordon

The Dawn of Global Trade — Part I - excerpt

The Dawn of Global Trade — Part II - excerpt

World Order

Where Is the World Headed? - A multipolar world must prepare for a relative decline in US power and the turbulence that may follow , by Immanuel Wallerstein - Yale Global

Facing a Post-American World , interview with Fareed Zakaria - NPQ

Here Comes the Second World , by Parag Khanna - NPQ

Asian Triumph

China and the Rest Are Only Joining the American-Built Order , by G. John Ikenberry - NPQ

Be Wary of Asian Triumphalism , by Anne-Marie Slaughter - NPQ

When Western Interests Trump Values , by Kishore Mahbubani - NPQ

The west is strategically wrong on Georgia , by Kishore Mahbubani - FT

India - international issues

India’s Search for a Foreign Policy -
Lack of a coherent foreign policy from quarrelsome politicians could threaten India’s long-term stability - Yale Global

Indian Investors Enter the Caribbean - Hungry for natural resources, firms from India begin to shape the Caribbean economy - Yale Global

India - China

Why India Will Beat China - An entrenched and vibrant democracy will ultimately drive India to outperform China socially and economically. - Businessweek

China and India: heartlands of global protest -
The waves of social discontent and insurgency in Asia's rising powers place them at the centre of questions about the world's dominant economic orthodoxy. - Open Democracy

Climate, energy

India: Worst polluter?
"India is the laggard on climate change challenges." So said a senior European personality at a high-powered meeting I attended in Berlin a few weeks ago. - by Kishore Mahbubani,
Hindustan Times

New Energy Frontiers Expand Global Connections - Lacking fossil fuels, fast-growing India must innovate with alternative energy sources - Yale Global

Climate-Change Challenge for the Poor - All nations have a responsibility to strive for lifestyles that are sustainable - Yale Global

More on Asian intellectuals

Meet Fethullah Gülen, the World’s Top Public Intellectual - Foreign Policy

New Star Rising - profile of Reihan Salam, an up-and-coming Bangladeshi-American thinker and writer - Daily Star Forum

India - domestic issues

Politics

Indians' worst fear: the honest politician - For Indian voters, news of a corruption scandal is a sign of a political system in ruddy good health. It's honesty we distrust - Guardian

A Daughter of India’s Underclass Rises on Votes That Cross Caste Lines - Kumari Mayawati, a daughter of so-called untouchables and India’s most maverick politician, stunned the nation last year when she won majority control of India’s largest state with an inventive political coalition that fused votes from up and down the ancient Hindu caste pyramid. - NYT

Violence runs through this 'stable' India, built on poverty and injustice - The country the west loves to call a peaceful, capitalist success has a terrorism death toll second only to Iraq.
- by Pankaj Mishra, Guardian

In India, idealism falters in the face of power -
The United States has always loomed large in the Indian imagination. - IHT


Economics

India: What Economic Reform? - As Indian inflation rises, Prime Minister Singh has little time left to push privatizing state companies and other financial reforms - Businessweek

Cost-Cutting in New York, but a Boom in India - Gurgaon. On the top floor of a seven-story building in this dusty aspiring metropolis, Copal Partners churns out equity, fixed income and trading research for big name analysts and banks. - NYT

In Fertile India, Growth Outstrips Agriculture - With the right technology and policies, India could help feed the world. Instead, it can barely feed itself. - NYT

Indian weavers sidelined by market forces - As traditional handmade saris go out of fashion, their makers resort to unskilled labor to make ends meet. - CSM

Miscellaneous

Gathering storm in the tea gardens of Darjeeling - As a Gurkha separatist campaign is relaunched, the region’s most famous export is hit by a strike and the eviction of tourists - Times

Decades Later, Toxic Sludge Torments Bhopal - Hundreds of tons of waste still languish inside a tin-roofed warehouse in a corner of the old grounds of the Union Carbide pesticide factory here, nearly a quarter-century after a poison gas leak killed thousands and turned this ancient city into a notorious symbol of industrial disaster. - NYT

The cult of the dabbawala - Business-school gurus take lessons from an unexpected source - Economist

Yeti in Meghalaya

'Yeti hair' to get DNA analysis - Scientists in the UK who have examined hairs claimed to belong to a yeti in India say that an initial series of tests have proved inconclusive. - BBC

British scientist hopes for 'yeti hair' breakthrough -
A British scientist said Monday he was anxiously awaiting the results of DNA tests on hair claimed to be from a yeti after initial examinations showed it had human and ape-like characteristics. - AFP

Losing the yeti in forgotten nation of Bhutan - He remembers the darkness of the pine forest, and the footprints, and his terror when the creature began to howl. He remembers the stories of his childhood, of a beast that stalked the upper reaches of the mountains, and how fear spread through the village every time it was spotted. - AP

In the footsteps of the yeti: the hunt for Mande Burung - The discovery of two unidentifiable hairs in the far north-east of India has fuelled the belief that the yeti is more than a myth. Andrew Buncombe ventured to the Garo Hills to get to the bottom of the mystery - Independent

Creatures that inhabit our guilty conscience - As more and more real-life creatures face extinction, mankind is fascinated by the possibility of finding imaginary ones - Times

Culture, Religion

Hindus - heritage, tradition

The Arrow and the Poem - Sanskrit Comes Alive! On The Wonders Of Ancient Indian Literature
by David Shulman - TNR

Selling yoga to India - Swami Ramdev caused uproar when it was claimed he could cure Aids. Now, however, India's government has recruited him to help halt an obesity epidemic
by Andrew Buncombe - Independent

Serving the Goddess - The dangerous life of a sacred sex worker
by William Dalrymple - New Yorker

Rush hour of the gods - India's middle classes are becoming increasingly pious
by Meera Nanda - New Humanist

Christians

Vatican hopes Indian Bible will translate into surge of converts - A new version of the holy text depicts Virgin Mary in sari and Joseph in a loincloth and turban
by Jeremy Page - Times

Sisters and goddesses - Legend has it that it was the apostle, Thomas, the doubting one, who brought Christianity to Southern India - and now, aside from the odd jealous spat, the Virgin Mary and goddess Bhagavati are worshipped with equal fervour
by William Dalrymple - Guardian

Muslims

Preaching peace and tolerance in the face of persecution - The leader of a pacific but controversial branch of Islam explains why his sect continues to grow
by Carla Power - Times

India's Moderate Muslims See Peril In Growth of Stricter Form of Islam
by Rama Lakshmi - WP

G. M. Banatwala: Indian Muslim leader , obituary - Times

Successful protest gives Kashmiris in India a sense of freedom - Many youths in the Indian-held part of Kashmir remain disaffected. But a surprisingly strong uprising over a land transfer has revived hopes of self-rule
by Henry Chu - LAT

Media - issues, critiques, polemics

Musharraf’s Monster - In Pakistan, independent TV is young, powerful, and biting the hand that fed it
by Shahan Mufti - CJR

Uncomfortable Truth - P. Sainath reminds us that India is still a poor country
by Naresh Fernandes - CJR

The Land of a Thousand Bad Newspaper Articles - Isn't there anyone who can write about India with some complexity?
by Samanth Subramanian - TNR

'The Hindu' as a Chinese Communist Mouthpiece

Its founding fathers and the giants who served in it must be shedding tears in heavens over the way their child has been reduced to being the "People's Daily" of Chennai.
Raman's Strategic Analysis

Chennai rejects - Some opinions just can’t make it to the People’s Daily of Chennai
The Acorn

What's Wrong with The Hindu? The Hindu has found a Beijing-based news-agency to fetch stories - The Xinhua - world's biggest propaganda agency belonging to the Chinese Communist Party
'Save The Hindu' Campaign

Afghanistan, Pakistan

Behind the Indian Embassy Bombing , by Robert D. Kaplan - The Atlantic

Inside the Pakistan-Taliban Relationship , interview with Ahmed Rashid - Harper's

Militancy will not run out of steam , interview with Ahmed Rashid - BBC

Afghanistan's Missed Opportunity , review - WP

Central Asia - blogs, news

Ferghana.ru - information agency

Registan.net - Central Asia News — All Central Asia, All The Time

New Eurasia - blogging Central Asia

The Roberts Report on Central Asia and Kazakhstan - Analysis on the Political Economy of Greater Central Asia

Central Asia - Foreign Policy Association

Beyond the River - Culture and Politics of Central Asia

Central Asian Borders - young… mined… dangerous… unnatural… militarised… not fully demarcated… etc.

The Oil and the Glory - A Blog on Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Joshua Kucera - a freelance writer and journalist

Window on Eurasia - Paul Goble