Monthly Archives: May 2011

Rising food prices increase squeeze on poor BBC 31 May 2011 Rising food prices are tightening the squeeze on populations already struggling to buy adequate food, demanding radical reform of the global food system, Oxfam has warned. By 2030, the … Continue reading →

Feds now target execs, not just companies, in health frauds By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar Associated Press May 31, 2011 WASHINGTON — It’s getting personal now. In a shift still evolving, federal enforcers are targeting individual executives in health care fraud cases … Continue reading →

China Takes Back Seat on IMF By Antoaneta Becker Inter Press Service May 29, 2011 LONDON – The sex scandal in the top couloirs of the International Monetary Fund and the power struggle to find a successor to now former … Continue reading →

Bringing Pain to State Bankruptcy by Martin Hutchinson The Bear’s Lair PrudentBear.com May 30, 2011 In the endless negotiations about Greece’s approach to bankruptcy, EU leaders suggested last week that a “fund of experts” might take over $200 billion or … Continue reading →

France BRICS up emerging economies By M K Bhadrakumar Asia Times June 1, 2011 Former United States secretary of state Henry Kissinger once complained that Europe didn’t have a single telephone number. He didn’t know who to turn to as … Continue reading →

India’s oil-price folly By Kunal Kumar Kundu Asia Times June 1, 2011 Moves by the Indian government to reduce fuel subsidies remain more a paper fiction than hard reality as it continues to prevent state-controlled oil suppliers charging prices that … Continue reading →

Humpty Obumpty and the Arab Spring By Spengler Asia Times June 1, 2011 I’ve been warning for months that Egypt, Syria, Tunisia and other Arab oil-importing countries face a total economic meltdown (see Food and failed Arab states, Feb 2, … Continue reading →

Egypt opens a new front By Victor Kotsev Asia Times June 1, 2011 AVIV – Many hailed Egypt’s opening the Rafah crossing into Gaza on Saturday as a historic move. Such it may well be, but its real significance is … Continue reading →

Taiwan subs plan tests the waters By Jens Kastner Asia Times June 1, 2011 TAIPEI – To help speed up a long-awaited arms deal, Taiwan has decided to accept a United States proposal that Taipei buy four diesel-electric submarines instead … Continue reading →

Democracy roots spread in Southeast Asia By Michael Vatikiotis Asia Times June 1, 2011 Fifteen years ago I published a book on political change in Southeast Asia. I gave it the title Trimming the Banyan Tree. The book, rather controversially … Continue reading →