* CIA base attack shows Taliban have developed capacity to disrupt US intelligence efforts * Qaeda keener to kill Western spies than infiltrate them * In need of sources, West to retain spy link with Jordan LONDON: The killing of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employees in Afghanistan by a suicide bomber lauded online as a militant James Bond suggests Al Qaeda’s south Asian allies have developed an unprecedented capacity to disrupt the West’s spy efforts. The attack by a Jordanian double agent also shows militants are keener on killing Western spies than infiltrating them, underlining the daunting challenge for Western … Continue reading Bomber’s betrayal shows spy challenge for West

By Henry C K Liu Merely two years before the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the post-Cold-War world economic order found itself facing its most serious crisis under the weight of unsustainable deregulated debt capitalism created by dollar hegemony. There are clear signs that out of this current crisis a new world economic order will emerge. China is in a promising position to influence this development toward a sustainable, balanced and cooperative world order of global fairness and universal justice. The root cause of the current crisis can be traced to the dismantlement of the Bretton … Continue reading China and a new world economic order

By Kaveh Afrasiabi Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say. Please click here if you are interested in contributing. The idea of a second United Nations may seem both idealistic, impractical, and even out of tune with the contemporary needs of the global community, that has vested so much energy in the existing UN, deemed as the preeminent world organization responsible for maintaining global peace and security. Theoretically, the UN provides a unique forum for peaceful resolution of conflicts and conflict-prevention, a splendid mechanism to avoid anarchy in international affairs. But … Continue reading The case for a parallel UN

By Amantha Perera COLOMBO – Call it a novel election propaganda ploy. On January 1, millions of mobile-phone users in Sri Lanka received an unusual text message amid the flood of New Year’s wishes. The sender’s name read simply as “President”. This was no joke by a prankster; it was a message by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. It wished millions of Sri Lankans the very best for the new year and noted that he had kept his promises to the nation. Rajapaksa is heading into three pivotal weeks of his four-decade political career. He will battle his former army commander, retired … Continue reading Sri Lanka cracking in heat of polls

By Syed Fazl-e-Haider KARACHI – Local authorities in Pakistan have canceled an agreement with an Australian company for the exploration of copper and gold in the Reko Diq area in southwestern Balochistan province at a time when a feasibility study for the project was near completion. Australia’s Tethyan Copper Company (TCC), a joint venture between Canada’s Barrick Gold and Chile’s Antofagasta Plc, had an exploration license for the copper mine at Reko Diq, which has an estimated four billion tonnes of low-grade copper and gold, in the district of Chagai. Last month, when the Balochistan government passed a motion to … Continue reading Balochistan halts $3.5bn copper project