Asia Times

A long handshake between President Hu Jintao and Kim Jong-il in Jilin province explicitly placed China's Korean Peninsula eggs in the North's basket. The idea that Beijing will acquiesce to the collapse of the Pyongyang regime and reunification under the aegis of South Korea is a discounted commodity. China has called South Korea's bluff - and the United States is ill-equipped to respond. - Peter Lee (Sep 2, '10)

The incident on Wednesday night in Lahore, the capital of Pakistan's Punjab province, in which at least 35 people were killed and more than 250 injured after three bombs exploded during a Shi'ite procession, is not an isolated attack. Al-Qaeda has set its sights on spreading the tribal-based insurgency to main urban centers. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Sep 2, '10)

A decade ago it was a sad sight at the University of Kabul to witness a group of eminent professors at what was once one of the best centers of learning in the world being subjected to the sermons of a mediocre madrassa student who never finished the equivalent of primary school. This was Baudrillard's degree zero of culture, remixed by the Taliban. - Pepe Escobar (Sep 2, '10) This is the second article in a three-part report

The United States and Russia have a key role to play in Kyrgyzstan’s fragile attempts to become the first functioning democracy in Central Asia. Many Kyrgyz still suspect, however, that the US is merely continuing its obsessive pursuit of strategic assets in the region, while for Moscow securing the former-Soviet space against religious extremists takes priority. - Yong Kwon (Sep 2, '10)

With the 50,000 United States troops left in Iraq serving mostly as a deterrent against large-scale violence, many Iraqis are ill at ease. The nation still has no government, and there are concerns that Iraqi troops and police may fail to hold sectarian peace together as insurgents tied to al-Qaeda continue to launch attacks. - Heather Maher and Charles Recknagel (Sep 2, '10)

While each year Japan solemnly marks the thousands killed by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II, there is no shrine on Okunoshima Island, which lies a short distance from Hiroshima. Here the Imperial Army produced chemical weapons that reaped a deadly harvest. - Peter J Brown (Sep 2, '10)

India's latest stunning headline growth figures are raising hopes of a 9% economic full-year expansion. Unfortunately, while production charges ahead, demand for factory goods is less strong, and the government is not plugging the gap left by reluctant consumers. - Kunal Kumar Kundu

Flood-battered Pakistan, which wants the International Monetary Fund to ease terms for an already obtained multi-billion dollar loan, may impose special taxes to make up washed-out revenue while facing reconstruction bills that can only keep mounting. - Syed Fazl-e-Haider

Economic reforms instituted by Najib Razak after he took over as Malaysian prime minister less than 18 months ago appear to be paying off. The stock market is driving ahead, exports of oil and electronics have soared, and domestic spending is on the rise. If there is a downside, it isn't showing yet. - Robert M Cutler

The great secret to being poor is to believe that a money-creating government like the present one in Washington is going to preserve the value of your income, pension and savings. The secret to being rich in such circumstances is steadily but surely to accumulate gold!!