Asiatica Association

On the 14th-15th of July 2009 it will be held in London the 20th World Oil Forum 2009, a program designed for leading oil and gas executives from around the world. This forum focuses on critical world oil/gas matters, shifting geopolitics in energy, and the key strategy, commercial and business development issues impacting future exploration and development for corporate players and State oil companies involved in the developing worlds of Africa, Asia, Latin America, MidEast and Russia.

Here you can download the program divided into three sessions: World Oil Geopolitics: Global Potential; Corporate Players in World Oil & Gas; and Government & State Companies. This is the list of confirmed guests from all over the world, including Al Hegburg, Deputy Assistant, Secretary, US Department of Energy, USA; Jean-Arnold Vinois, Head of Energy Policy & Security Division, European Commission, Brussels; Jim Pearce, COO, Addax Petroleum; VK Sibal, Director General, DGH India; Richard Schmitt, President, Africa Oil Corporation; Joseph PILI-PILI Mawezi, Directeur Chef des Services des Projects, Ministere, Democratic Republic of the Congo, etc.

Dr. Michael Witzel, Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University (USA), will deliver a set of three conferences in India. A very proper event in the year of the commemoration of Charles Darwin (1809-1882), the famous scientist who was opposed by the Christian church for so long time.

Prof. Witzel is a well-known scientist whose thesis on the script of the Indus Valley Civilization raised a lively debate among radical Hindus. This is the calendar of his lectures:

• 8 July 2009, The Madras Sanskrit College, Chennai (organized by Indus Research Centre, Roja Muthiah Research Library, Chennai) (Jubilee lectures)
  
• 9 July 2009, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, or Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Advanced Study, New Delhi
• 10 July 2009, India International Centre, New Delhi

The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies (AJISS) has just published the AJISS-Commentary no. 69 by Matake Kamiya ([email protected]), Professor of International Relations at the National Defense Academy of Japan.

Strategic Implications for Japan of the Relocation of US Marines from Okinawa to Guam

On February 17, 2009, Japan’s Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed an accord on the planned relocation of US Marines from Okinawa to Guam. Currently, there are approximately eighteen thousand Marines (most of whom belong to the III Marine Expeditionary Force [MEF]) stationed in Okinawa. On May 1, 2006, in the “United States-Japan Roadmap for Realignment Implementation (Roadmap),” Tokyo and Washington agreed to transfer approximately eight thousand of these Marines to the US bases in Guam by 2014. The two countries also agreed that Japan would assume about 59% of the financial cost of the relocation. The new accord reconfirmed the willingness of the two countries to actually implement the relocation as stipulated in the Roadmap. On May 13, the Japanese Diet officially endorsed the accord.

The house of the archeologist Ramdas Sen (1845 -1887) in Baharampur, West Bengal, declared by the state government as a heritage building, will be demolished. This is the house where the famous Bengali writer, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhya, author of the national song of India Vande Mataram, organised a literary circle and first published his magazine, Banga-Darshan, with support of Ramdas. A shopping centre on the spot of the demolished portion of the building will be built. This is the full article.

A few days ago Enrica Garzilli published the paper Le elezioni dell'assemblea costituente e i primi mesi di governo della Repubblica Democratica Federale del Nepal [The Elections of the Constituent Assembly and the First Months of Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal].

It analyses the period before and during the elections and the madhesi revolt, wondering whether the elections were representative of people's will, and the two main problems of the democratic Nepal. The first one is the severe energy crisis, which brought the whole country to 16 hours of power cut every day. The second main issue is the destination over the 20,000 Maoist soldiers, who should be trained and resettled as ordinary Nepali citizens. On May 23, 2009 this situation brought Prachanda to quit as Prime Minister, after a conflict with the president over the dismissal of the army's chief of staff, and Madhav Kumar Nepal at the head of the government.

We have just received (on surface mail) the Newsletter for Research in Chinese Studies, 109 (February 2009 - vol. 27, no. 3), a hard copy quarterly published by the Center for Chinese Studies (CCS).

It is written in Chinese with subtitles in English. It contains articles, interviews, and regular updates on the happenings in the worldwide community of Chinese studies.

This issue includes: Summary of Research (papers by Tsai Jenhou and Wang Jian), Introduction to materials (Researchers of Chinese Studies Scholars (paper by Goran Malmqvist); International Sinology (paper by Jana Rosker); Research Institutes (paper by Ku Mei-chen and Xiong Huei-lan); Book Review; Conference Reports; News from Academia.

This is the complete catalog of the publications of the Center for Chinese Studies (in Chinese).

Tenzin Choezom from Dharamsala, the Indian town base of Tibet’s government in exile, has been crowned Miss Tibet 2009 at the beauty pageant Spice India Splendour.

The Dalai Lama has modernized the political Tibetan government introducing the elections; however, I don’t think that this kind of modernization, the beauty pageant, is a Western value, which will help preserve the endangered culture of Tibet.

The only good news is that the new Miss Tibet has won not only the right to wear the crown for one year, but also a scholarship cheque of 100,000 rupees (equivalent to some 2,105 USD).

I have just received a message from David Axelrod, Senior Advisor to the President of the USA Barack Obama, and I would like to report it. Here it is the link to the video of the full Presidential's speech at the University of Cairo on America’s relationship with Muslim communities around the world. The speech is hopefully inaugurating a new deal of US foreign policy, which apparently is moving towards the settlement of old problems, such as the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

The White House, Washington

Hello -

As a Senior Advisor to the President, I'm here in Cairo, Egypt where I watched President Obama deliver an unprecedented speech calling for a new beginning for the United States and Muslim communities around the world.

We all know that there has been tension between the United States and some Muslim communities. But, as the President said this morning, if all sides face the sources of tension squarely and focus on mutual interests, we can find a new way forward.