Asean Summit, Malaysia on Nov 21, 1015

Asean Summit, Malaysia  on Nov 21, 1015
Asean Establishes Landmark Economic and Security Bloc
"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - Text version)

“….. Here is the prediction: China will turn North Korea loose soon. The alliance will dissolve, or become stale. There will be political upheaval in China. Not a coup and not a revolution. Within the inner circles of that which you call Chinese politics, there will be a re-evaluation of goals and monetary policy. Eventually, you will see a break with North Korea, allowing still another dictator to fall and unification to occur with the south. ….”

“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.

They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."
"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.)
(Subjects: Who/What is Kryon ?, Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" Managed Business, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)









North Korean defector criticises China in rare Beijing talk

North Korean defector criticises China in rare Beijing talk
North Korean defector and activist Hyeonseo Lee, who lives in South Korea, poses as she presents her book 'The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story' in Beijing on March 26, 2016 (AFP Photo/Fred Dufour)

US under fire in global press freedom report

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …

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Monday, February 28, 2011

South Asian countries evacuating nationals from Libya

BBC News, 28 February 2011


South Asian governments have begun evacuating nationals stranded in Libya, as the unrest across the country intensifies.

There are some 18,000 Indians in Libya
The Indian authorities organised two flights to bring back about 500 of some 18,000 Indians in Libya.

Hundreds of Nepali workers are also being evacuated. Sri Lankan workers are leaving the country via Jordan.

About 100,000 people have fled anti-government unrest in Libya over the past week, the UN estimates.

India has also sent three warships to help with the evacuation. Two flights operated by the state-owned airline Air India have brought back 530 passengers since late Saturday.

A passenger ferry has also arrived in the Libyan city of Benghazi and will take evacuees to Alexandria in Egypt, from where they will be flown home.

About 3,000 Indians are in Benghazi working for car companies and hospitals.

'Relief'

Mohammed Sali, the first Indian to make it back home, told the BBC that he was robbed of all his possessions at knifepoint as he reached Tripoli airport

Another passenger, Gigi John, said it was a "miracle" that the evacuees managed to "get out of Libya, safe and sound".

Many of the Indians in Libya come from the south of the country.

States like Kerala rely on the remittances sent back by millions of migrants working in Arab countries, and this is now an extremely anxious times for all their families.

Their relief at returning home was mixed with concern for those they left behind - some of whom they said were in remote industrial plants, where food and water was running out, says the BBC's Mark Dummett.


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Canada's ex-defense minister: U.S. knows how aliens can make us greener

CNet News, by Chris Matyszczyk

Somehow, freaky sci-fi movies don't seem to be favored by Oscar voters.

However, I think I may have found some subject matter that Peter Guber, the great Golden State Warriors owner and producer of "The Kids Are Alright," might want to get a budget behind.

Apparently, the United States already knows quite a lot about UFO technology. Apparently, there are secret "black ops" installations somewhere in--oh, I'm guessing Arizona--where new forms of energy have been created using technology that has been gleaned from those up there, rather than us down here.

Please, you know not to take my word for it. Hark the words of former Canadian defense minister Paul Hellyer. According to AOL News, Hellyer will be speaking this week at the International UFO Conference. (You will feel a chill to hear that this event is in Arizona too.)





Hellyer believes that humans have always fired on alien craft rather than attempt to approach their inhabitants and understand them. The aliens, he said in a previous speech in 2008, want to stop us from destroying ourselves.

In that speech, Hellyer declared: "Decades ago, visitors from other planets warned us about where we were headed and offered to help. But instead we, or at least some of us, interpreted their visits as a threat, and decided to shoot first and ask questions after," he told the conference.

Planes were lost, he said, either because of retaliation or stupidity.

Hellyer insists he has seen UFOs. In his book, "Light at the End of the Tunnel," he said he also believes that the U.S. has a "shadow government" that has black ops installations that have already created new forms of energy using extra-terrestrial technology.

"I do not have proof of that," he told AOL News. "But I believe that they have developed energy sources, and publicly I'm saying that if they do not exist in commercial form, that extraterrestrials would certainly give us that information if we would ask them for it and stop shooting at them."

I am fascinated. What kind of new alien-inspired energy sources might have already been created? Might they have something to do with San Francisco Giants' pitcher Brian Wilson and his strange, constant companion, The Machine?

And is it possible that, some day, somehow, the aliens might be able to bypass our government's alleged reluctance to go public with its knowledge of our friends out there? Why, indeed, haven't these clever aliens spoken to us directly?

I see Liam Neeson as the scientist who finally persuades the government that aliens are friendly and want to help us become, well, greener. I see Maria Bello as his love interest, a fellow scientist who lures the president to a secret location (in Arizona) to affect a summit with a friendly alien being.

But who might play the leader of the aliens? My first instinct says Charlie Sheen. Boyish, friendly, vulnerable.

Perhaps you have other suggestions.


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One of the first of many UFO photographs taken by Carlos Diaz-Mexico.

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Sunday, February 27, 2011

Iraq PM gives ministers 100 days to shape up

CNN News, From Mohammed Tawfeeq, February 27, 2011

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • There will be an assessment in 100 days, and "changes"
  • Nuri al-Maliki says cabinet members could lose their jobs if they don't deliver results
  • The emergency cabinet meeting follows protests that left 13 dead

Baghdad (CNN) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki gave government ministers 100 days to deliver results and eliminate corruption or be fired, the government announced after an emergency cabinet meeting Sunday.

The announcement follows weeks of demonstrations across the country by protesters angry about unemployment, poor basic services, corruption and a lack of freedom. At least 13 people died in protests Friday.

The prime minister said Sunday there would be investigations into the deaths to determine who started the violence.

The work of every ministry will be assessed after 100 days, al-Maliki vowed.

"Changes will be made based on these assessments," he warned.

Since early February, thousands of protesters have participated in a series of demonstrations across the country, apparently inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.

On Saturday, protesters in Samarra defied curfew to attend the funerals of two people killed during protests there, chanting "God is great" and "Down with the government."

Security forces battled some of the protesters and later opened fire to disperse the crowd, wounding at least eight, police said.

Demonstrators attacked the city council building and set it on fire in Kubaisa, a small town in Anbar province west of Baghdad, police said.

In Basra, mourners also held a funeral procession Saturday for a protester killed the day before.

Ali Ghaim al-Maliki, the head of Basra's security council, told reporters Saturday that at least 71 people were wounded in Friday's clashes -- including 51 security forces and 20 anti-government protesters.

Most of the injuries in the city, located about 550 kilometers (342 miles) south of Baghdad, occurred during fighting with stones and batons, he said.

In several cities, police said security forces fired at crowds of protesters to disperse them. In Tikrit, police said two protesters were killed and 17 others were wounded during the clashes. In Samarra, two people were killed and seven protesters were injured, police said.

Police said five other demonstrators were killed in the cities of Mosul and Hawijah. Unrest also flared in Baghdad, Falluja, Ramadi and in two towns in the province of Salaheddin.

In a statement released Friday, Human Rights Watch called on Iraqi authorities to investigate the deaths of demonstrators.

"The Iraqi authorities need to rein in their security forces and account for every single killing," said Tom Porteous, the organization's deputy program director. "The security forces need to use the maximum possible restraint in dealing with protesters."

Prime Minister al-Maliki had urged citizens not to participate in Friday's planned massive protests, claiming former members of Saddam Hussein's regime and terrorists were plotting to take advantage of the demonstrations to create chaos in the country.

The Iraqi government was formed in December, nine months after an inconclusive national election. This is the second elected government in the nearly eight years after a U.S.-led invasion toppled Hussein.



ASEAN still struggling to close development gap

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Vientiane | Sun, 02/27/2011

Standing along the Mekong riverbank in Vientiane, Laotians can clearly see Thailand’s blistering prosperity compared to their own, with high-rise apartment buildings coupled with concrete housing standing along the river on the other side.

For many Laotians, it’s like watching others enjoy rising prosperity just a hundred meters across the river, but not being able to partake of it themselves, often leading to feelings of frustration.

“It’s just an everyday fact of life to look across the river to see what the Thai people have achieved,” Thongkham, who owns a shop along the river bank, said.

While both countries are members of ASEAN, the regional grouping of 10 Southeast Asian countries, nowhere across the region is the prosperity gap so wide.

While Thailand’s per capita income shot above US$4,700 in 2010, Laos registered only $980. Neighboring both states is Cambodia, with a per capita income of only $700, while the most developed ASEAN state, Singapore, has a per capita income of more than $37,000.

All ASEAN leaders have come to realize the significance of the issue and the lack of efforts to close the gap as the grouping’s economic ministers start their two-day meeting in Laotian capital Saturday.

During the meeting, Indonesia, which this year chairs ASEAN, openly underlined the need for the grouping to do something to lift the region’s poorest nations higher. The plan has the support of other members, especially Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

“Indonesia views that we need to do more to create an equitable ASEAN and closing the development gap between developed members and less developed ones. This is one of Indonesia’s focuses during the meeting and its chairmanship,” Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu, who chairs the ministerial meeting, said.

She expressed optimism that the meeting would result in concrete projects to close the gap.

Indonesian deputy trade minister Mahendra Siregar, who heads the Indonesian delegation, warned that if ASEAN failed to close the gap, those who could not benefit from the grouping’s integration would look for other alternatives to ASEAN.

“Indonesia has the duty of ensuring that everybody benefits from ASEAN. We have proven in the past that not only do we deal with our interests but also help others. How can we become a community if the gap is too large, and if not Indonesia, who else would pursue the issue?” he said.

Many observers have warned that if ASEAN neglected its poorest members then other countries would take advantage, pointing to the dependence of Myanmar and Laos on China, which has invested aggressively in both countries.

One effort that has been launched in improving the economic level of ASEAN’s poorest is the building of roads and railways as part of enhancing the grouping’s connectivity.

“We hope that opening access to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam can raise the standard of living in those countries,” Indonesian Foreign Ministry director for ASEAN economy Rahmat Pramono.

China has been quick to help finance the building of railways from Kumming to Singapore, which will pass through Laos and Cambodia, but many have warned that China’s help was not free, raising concerns that China would obtain economic benefits and political influence in those two countries.

Connectivity is also expected to boost trade among ASEAN members. The ASEAN Secretariat estimates that trade among member states is valued at $400 billion, while ASEAN trade with the world market is worth $1.7 trillion.

ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said that after regional integration and connectivity to non-ASEAN states, the grouping’s trade with the world market should reach $3 trillion by 2015.

Malaysia police detain dozens of Indian protesters

The Jakarta Post, Sun, 02/27/2011

Malaysian police arrested dozens of ethnic Indians on Sunday in a clampdown on a protest against a high school literature book that was slammed for denigrating the minority community.

Police set up roadblocks in the country's biggest city, Kuala Lumpur, amid tight security around the landmark Petronas Twin Towers, where the protest was to be held.

The main protest leader, lawyer P.Uthayakumar, was among those rounded up early Sunday as he was leaving home, said his colleague S.Jayathas, who also was detained. He said more than 100 Indians were believed to have been picked up.

Some 50 protesters who managed to escape the police dragnet gathered at a temple in the city, holding banners and shouting "Ban Interlok" and "Don't insult the Indian community" before dispersing.

"We want a stop to racism against minority citizens, especially the Indian poor, and a ban on Interlok, which is sowing the seeds of racism in schoolchildren. We are not asking for special rights but equal opportunity," Jayathas told The Associated Press from police detention.

Police could not be immediately reached for comment. They earlier refused to issue a permit for the rally on grounds that it could jeopardize security and public order.

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein has accused protesters of trying to stir anti-government rallies similar to those in the Middle East, ahead of general elections widely expected to be held this year.

The Malay-language novel "Interlok" was assigned as a literature textbook for 17-year-old students this year. First published in 1971, it tells the stories of three families - Malay, Chinese and Indian, reflecting Malaysia's main ethnic groups - in British colonial times.

Some Indians complained about a portion of the book involving a poor man from India's "Pariah caste" who migrates to the country to find work and is surprised at the absence of a caste system. They say it unfairly depicts Indians, who make up about 8 percent of Malaysia's 28 million people, as coming from inferior communities and contributes to ethnic tension and discrimination.

Under the Indian caste system, Hindus are divided into four main castes according to their line of work.

Although the system is banned in India, it is still practiced in villages. Malaysian Indians continue with most traditions of their ancestors, but the caste system is largely obsolete here.

Chinese premier to chat with Internet users


BEIJING, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will hold an online chat with Internet users across the country and overseas on Sunday, the third time the leader has participated in the event prior to the annual session of China's top legislature.

Mr Wen was taking part in an online Q&A with internet
users in what has become an annual event
Wen will answer questions posted by Internet users at www.xinhuanet.com, the official website of Xinhua News Agency. The chat is scheduled for 9 a.m. (Beijing time) and will be shown live on the central government's website (www.gov.cn) and www.xinhuanet.com.

Three hours after the news was announced, nearly 7,000 questions about hefty housing prices, inflation, wealth gap and other social issues have been posted for the chat on www.xinhuanet.com

"Premier Wen, the housing prices have been increasing. I've waited for five years, yet the longer I wait, the less able I am to afford an apartment. I hope the government can take decisive measures to let the masses have their own homes," said an Internet user who goes by the name of "a household without an apartment."

The concern over high housing prices are shared by many Internet users living in large cities like Beijing and Shanghai, where property prices are so high that even the lifetime savings of an ordinary worker would not be enough for an apartment.

But one Internet user from central China's less-developed Anhui Province expressed concern about house prices in small and medium-sized cities.

"In a place as under-developed as ours, apartment prices have risen to over 5,000 yuan (769 U.S. dollars) for one square meter," the comment read.

Many other queries were about key livelihood issues such as employment, education, medicare and corruption. Some also cared about economic development, energy security and environmental pollution in the country, which has the largest number of Internet users in the world.

Sunday's chat will be the third time the premier has held such a discussion before the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, convenes its annual session in March.

Wen held his first online chat on February 28, 2009 at the two websites, receiving questions from nearly 300,000 Internet and mobile phone users about issues such as unemployment, wealth gap, social justice and democracy.

In last year's chat on February 27, Wen pledged that the government would step up efforts to rein in soaring property prices and manage inflation expectations.


Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (L) holds an online chat with Internet users at two state
news portals in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 27, 2011. The two portals, namely
www.gov.cn of the central government and www.xinhuanet.com of the Xinhua News
Agency, jointly interviewed Premier Wen on Sunday with questions raised by
netizens. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

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Saturday, February 26, 2011

KPK to Take a Leaf Out of Malaysia's Antigraft Center

Jakarta Globe | February 26, 2011

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Malaysia appears to be doing something right in terms of battling corruption because Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is adapting one of its ideas.

The Corruption Eradication Commission plans to set up an
anti-corruption learning center modelled after the Malaysian
Anti-Corruption Academy. (Antara Photo/File)
Firman Yudiansyah, the head of KPK's training and education, said in Kuala Lumpur that the Indonesian antigraft agency would establish an anti-corruption learning center modelled after the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Academy, according to Malaysian state news agency Bernama.

“Based on facts we gathered, we believe the MACC has professional experience in dealing with the problem of corruption and KPK would like to emulate this and take it back to Indonesia,” he was quoted as saying.

Firman also told Bernama they had visited other countries such as South Korea, Austria and Hong Kong, but “while some of the countries we visited were very good in the prevention of corruption, MACC is more experienced not only in prevention, but also combating corruption.”

MACA’s stated objective is to enhance the competency and professionalism of MACC officers by equipping them with knowledge in fields such as investigation, prosecution, intelligence and corruption prevention.

The new center in Indonesia is expected to be completed in May.

“MACC and KPK also have things in common as both carry out activities in intelligence and investigation, and educating the public on the plague of corruption. These similarities are very beneficial to KPK,” he was quoted as saying.

He also said KPK would like to emulate MACC’s investigation model in that “MACC has its own investigation team while KPK has to depend on other agencies like the police department to carry out investigations.”

Friday, February 25, 2011

Removing a Dictator Does Not Make Indonesia a Model for Egypt

Jakarta Globe, Jamie Morgan - Straits Times Indonesia | February 25, 2011

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On the day of Hosni Mubarak's resignation as president of Egypt, I sat in a coffee shop in Indonesia with a friend who had helped to bring about a similar resignation of Indonesia's former strongman, Suharto, just 12 years ago.

Former President Suharto saluting after announcing
his resignation in a nationwide television address in
Jakarta in 1998. (AP Photo)
Today, Indonesia enjoys what many Western diplomats have praised as a thriving democracy. Yet my friend looked at me and said: "Our biggest mistake was thinking all we needed was Suharto's resignation. We hope Egypt can strive for better."

The feeling of simultaneous regret for his own country's situation and hope for that of countries protesting in the Arab world is not unique to my friend; it is one that has been echoed at food stalls, in universities and on social media outlets across Indonesia.

If senior US policy experts are touting Indonesia as one of the key models for emerging Muslim-majority democracies in Egypt and potentially elsewhere in the Arab world, why have so many Indonesians said that Egypt should learn from their country's failures rather than its supposed successes?

In the years following Mr Suharto's downfall, legalistic and institutional reforms were in many areas broad and thorough. But many Indonesians said those who praise the country's free elections and institutional reforms are missing the point.

The reforms that matter - those that would stem the pervasive corruption, improve social service delivery and stop violent mobs from being able to harm and kill minority groups at will - may have been enacted, but in many cases they have not been implemented. Essentially, Indonesians said they have not yet seen the fruits of democracy in their daily lives.

Without proper polling data it is difficult to determine how reflective these sentiments are of the Indonesian population as a whole. But the extent to which such sentiments have been expressed on social media outlets and in the three regions of the country where I have done fieldwork is striking. When compared with the praise that has been heaped on Indonesia by US foreign policy experts and senior officials, it is startling.

In fact, the contrast points to a much larger problem in the approach to democracy promotion among the most senior levels of US policy making, particularly as it fits into diplomatic relations. By focusing too heavily on the procedural indicators of democracy to judge a country's democratic "success," such as free and fair elections or legal reforms, policymakers as well as commentators risk missing many of the issues that contributed to civil unrest in Indonesia 12 years ago, and they are doing so across the Arab world today.

In fact, by heaping too much praise on governments that continue to fail in the basic fundamentals of liberal democracy and universal rights - such as minimizing corruption or protecting minorities - the US government risks accelerating the frustration and disillusionment with democracy in these societies.

Indeed, Dr Robin Bush, The Asia Foundation's country representative in Indonesia, has written on multiple occasions over the past two years about the threat that ongoing corruption and poor social service delivery present to the Indonesian democracy. She has noted the small but rising nostalgia in some communities for the stability of the Suharto era.

Indonesia was ranked 110th out of 178 countries on Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index last year. Thus, for Indonesians, hearing that their country is a beacon of democracy has seemed to create questions about the applicability of democracy more than anything else.

"This is it?" people wondered.

No one is saying that Indonesia is going to erupt into a wave of regime-change protests tomorrow, or that its citizens' problems are anywhere near those of protesters in many countries now. The fact that I am able to write this is a testament to that fact.

However, if US policymakers hope to promote governments that are truly going to address many of the frustrations creating instability in the Middle East and other parts of the world, it is important that they look soberly at the shortcomings, as well as successes, of countries like Indonesia.

Indonesia's fate is yet unwritten. To sell the country as a wholesale democratic success is to undersell democracy and the sentiments of many of its citizens.

After all, if there is anything that the beginning of the 21st century has shown the world, it is that neither the US government nor any other government can afford to ignore the voice of the individual.

The writer has been in Indonesia for the past year via a grant from the US-Indonesia Society, doing research on US engagement with Muslim communities in the country.

Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 2553 5055.


China evacuates 12,000 from Libya, sends frigate to help

Reuters, by Royston Chan and Tom Miles, Thu, Feb 24 2011

SHANGAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - China has so far evacuated 12,000, or about a third, of its citizens from turmoil in Libya, many of them workers for Chinese-run projects and businesses in the oil-rich nation, official media said on Friday.

The mass evacuation effort, supported by a Chinese naval frigate, is the latest test for a government that has encouraged companies to seek business across the developing world, often in conditions considered too dangerous, difficult or poorly paid for Western firms.

In 2010, Chinese trade with Libya was worth $6.6 billion, a rise of 27 percent on the level in 2009.

Relieved workers arrived on a charter flight to Shanghai on Thursday, and some told Reuters they were working at a university construction site in the eastern city of Tobruk that was attacked by armed looters.
Local staff told them to leave the increasingly dangerous conflict pitting opposition forces against long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The Chinese workers stayed at a Tobruk hotel for two nights before the local staff and embassy officials arranged for cars to ferry them to the Egyptian border.

"We were lucky because we managed to rent eleven cars and all 83 of us got in with our luggage. Then we made our way to the Egyptian border," said 33-year-old construction worker Mao Yanjun.

The latest evacuation figure reported by China's Xinhua news agency means around two-thirds of the 36,000 Chinese who live in Libya may still be there, where a nationwide wave of protests against Gaddafi has met a fierce response from his security forces. Some European governments say thousands of people have been killed.

China's Ministry of Commerce has said 75 Chinese companies have operations in Libya, including the state-owned energy giant CNPC, parent company of PetroChina Co Ltd.

"China has suffered large-scale direct economic losses in Libya, including looted work sites, burned and destroyed vehicles and tools, smashed office equipment and stolen cash," the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

CNPC has said some of its project camps and operating sites were attacked, without giving details. The ministry said some Chinese had been injured but there were no reports of deaths.

Vice Foreign Minister Song Tao gave the latest update on the number of Chinese evacuees as he prepared to welcome 224 Chinese off the first chartered plane sent to pick up stranded citizens, mainly engineers and technicians working on oil and railway projects and their families.

Workers said they were thankful their local staff were alert to the dangerous situation and said things could have been much worse for them if they had not left Libya.

"I was frightened. The local staff helped us make our way out," construction worker Lu Xuedi, 46, told Reuters. "We would have been afraid to get out (on our own)."

Nearly 1,000 Chinese crossed over into Tunisia on Wednesday, and a Maltese ship capable of carrying more than 2,000 people arrived to evacuate Chinese nationals from the Libyan port of Benghazi on Thursday. It is expected in Malta later on Friday, Xinhua said, citing the Chinese ambassador to the island state.

Chinese nationals have also been evacuated from Libya to other countries in the region, including Greece and Egypt.

China has also sent a frigate to provide support and protection for ships involved in the evacuation, Xinhua cited China's Defense Ministry as saying.

The frigate was previously part of the "Xuzhou" fleet, which is escorting ships in the Gulf of Aden, where shipping is vulnerable to attacks from pirates.

(Writing by Tom Miles; Editing by Ken Wills and Miral Fahmy)


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Deutsche Bank gets 1bn won fine after Korea market fix

BBC News, 25 February 2011

Big Banking

Deutsche Bank has been fined 1bn won ($887,000) after South Korea's regulators said its staff manipulated the country's stock market.

Deutsche Bank has said it will cooperate
with Korean authorities
The fine is the largest ever handed down by Korea's stock exchange, KRX.

On Thursday, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) said Deutsche Bank staff colluded to force down the value of the stock index so that they could profit illegally.

Deutsche Bank said it was "disappointed" with the FSC's findings.

Closing rush?

The FSC started its investigation into Deutsche Bank's staff after the main KOSPI stock index fell 2.8% in the last 10 minutes of trade on 11 November.

That drop earned the staff profits of about 44.9bn won, the regulators claim.

According to the FSC, Deutsche Bank employees had built up large positions in derivatives that allowed them to influnce the market.

The regulators say Deutsche Bank employees pushed through $2.2bn (£1.4bn) worth of trades during the last 10 minutes of trading on the KOSPI

Prosecution

On Thursday, the FSC banned Deutsche Bank from trading certain securities and derivatives.

It now also wants five Deutsche Bank employees prosecuted.

The FSC said the employees are based in the company's Hong Kong, New York and Seoul offices, but did not give their names.

Deutsche Bank said it would cooperate with South Korean authorities.

Scent of freedom in North Korea

Asia Times, By Sunny Lee , Feb 25, 2011

BEIJING - "The riots are expanding even into North Korea. Hundreds of protesters have collided with the authorities," said South Korea's largest-selling Chosun Ilbo newspaper on Thursday, as top news on its website. Now finally, the global cascade of "Jasmine revolutions" in the Middle East and North Africa appears to have entered North Korea.

"Jasmine Revolution" - Opposition supporters wave roses
during an anti-government protest in Sana'a, Yemen.
Photograph: Khaled Abdullah / Reuters
Chosun posted a North Korea map with large red circles around multiple cities to mark "riot zones", adding more drama to the report.

One of the circles is the town of Sinuiju on the border with China. "Hundreds of people clashed with security forces ... The military

was deployed to quell the demonstration, leaving some protesters wounded," said Chosun. While the protest was sparked by a crackdown in a market, it was "an eruption of long pent-up discontent", it said.

South Korea's online newspaper Daily NK reported on Wednesday that North Korea had created a special mobilization force to prevent any demonstrations similar to the recent uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa.

Another daily, JoongAng Ilbo, said on Thursday that the authorities had begun purging elites who had studied abroad in Russia for fear of a possible coup by people "who were exposed to a Western lifestyle".

Yet another vernacular newspaper, Donga Ilbo, on Thursday ran a piece on the "dramatic increase" of North Korean females choosing prostitution amid worsening economic hardship, linking it to the growing social instability of the country.

Indeed, hopes of a Jasmine revolution in North Korea are rising amid coverage of increasing pockets of resistance across the country, including the cities of Jongju, Yongchon and Sonchon, to mention a few.

Citing several South Korean sources, the Korea JoongAng Daily in Seoul on Thursday said Meng Jianzhu, China's minister of public security, made a trip this month to North Korea to discuss ways to prevent the wave of democracy protests in the Middle East from spreading to China and North Korea.

A high-ranking government source in Seoul told the newspaper that Meng discussed with Dear Leader Kim Jong-il ways to prevent public protests based on information gathered on the tumult in Tunisia and Egypt.

"North Korea and China had a common understanding as they have been nervous that the demands for democracy from the Middle East could spread. They are likely to have discussed means to prevent a mobile [telephone] revolution from happening in North Korea by using Chinese technology to trace phone calls made by North Koreans who communicate with the world," said the source in the piece.

Meanwhile, the United States government-funded Radio Free Asia (RFA) said resistance against the government in North Korea was growing. A North Korean resident in Chongjin, North Hamgyong province, told RFA that an unidentified group of assailants stoned the city's former inspection chief to death this month, amid an increasing level of food thefts and anti-government acts. In a most telling sign of the breakup of social control, Chosun said even solders, hungry for food, were joining the protests.

Despite the raft of reports, North Korea experts in China remain nonplussed. "No, no, no. I don't think a revolution similar to the ones in the Middle East can happen in North Korea," said Zhu Feng, a professor of international studies at Peking University in Beijing. "North Korea has been the most deeply locked country in the world. I don't think the news in the Middle East is likely to penetrate into North Korea. And I am pretty sure few North Koreans actually know what's happening out there."

Liu Jiangyong, a professor of international relations at Tsinghua University, agreed. "Not a big chance for North Korea," he said. Liu also warned against overstating Meng's visit to North Korea, saying that North Korea was just one of the countries on Meng's itinerary.

Liu Ming, a North Korea expert with the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, also rejects the view that North Korea is vulnerable to what's happening in the Middle East. "The Arabian countries under trouble are all linked to each other. On the contrary, North Korea is very much isolated. And its probably only channel for interacting with the outside world is through China. Therefore, unless big unrest occurs in China, North Korea will be intact," said Liu in Shanghai.

Kim Jong-dae, a frequent TV commentator on North Korea who heads the military magazine D&D Focus, in Seoul, believes China will play a crucial role in propping up North Korea. "China will come up with a plan to absorb the shock in case North Korea becomes unstable," he said.

On the surface, there are some similarities between the Arab countries of Tunisia and Egypt and North Korea, such as decades of dictatorship and economic hardship. But analysts point out there is another key ingredient for the situation to lead to a revolution.

"It's the presence of anti-government factions and a good networking among them," said Lee Woo-young, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. "This is not present in North Korea. So, the news reports in South Korean media about a possible coup in the North are wishful thinking at this moment." Kim agrees: "The late North Korean leader Kim Il-sung said the biggest enemy is not the US, but the enemy within."

Lee said that the North's leadership, having witnessed the collapse of the socialist eastern European bloc, will be naturally worried about the situation in the Middle East and launch harsh crackdowns on even slight signs of civil discontent. This would give outside observers the wrong impression that the country was breaking down, when the reality is not the case.

To know whether the situation inside North Korea amounts to major instability or not, Kim suggests the world should turn its attention to the US and China, not North Korea. In other words, "the writing on the wall" is outside North Korea, not inside. "If there is any true sign of instability in North Korea, China and the US will have an emergency meeting first to discuss the matter. That's the sign," said Kim.

Sunny Lee (sleethenational@gmail.com) is a Seoul-born columnist and journalist; he has degrees from the US and China.


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