APAC Insider

Some interesting post election news today. First up is Afghanistan, where President Hamid Karzai has agreed to a run-off following the controversial August election. This seems like the only credible thing to do with a UN-backed commission having sai

An interesting piece in The Hindu newspaper this week about the perils of tying your policy toward a country (in this case India toward Iran) too closely to a close ally (the United States).  The writer argues that India should have seen wh

One of India’s leading commentators on its regional relations has an interesting piece out on Rediff.com, looking at recent tensions between India and China over the disputed border area that I mentioned last month.  I felt, and still do, t

As Barack Obama kicks off a reconsideration of US policy in Afghanistan, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has waded into the debate on troop numbers. On Facebook. Unsurprisingly, she called on the US to stay the course and, again perhap

The climate change talks going on in Bangkok close tomorrow. But so far there’s little sign of a breakthrough in negotiations ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference being held in Copenhagen in December, where a successor to the Kyoto Protocol is s

Before (and since) coming to power, the Democratic Party of Japan promised that policymaking would become more transparent. This was a welcome pledge, and shining a light on the cosy ties between politicians, bureaucrats and business should have myri

Following on from my post yesterday on the apparently gloomy prospects for the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan following their recent thumping at the polls, I asked our India correspondent Madhav Nalapat about how things are shaping up for the main