Asiatica Association

To make sure we're spending our defense dollars wisely, we're cutting tens of billions of dollars in waste and projects that even the military says it doesn't need — money better spent on taking care of you and your families and building the 21st century military that we do need. (IBN)

Wise speech of Barack Obama before signing the defense bill this week. The bill, which funds Pentagon operations, had authorized a few unnecessary programs. Mr Obama allocated "only" USD 560 million this year.

Once signed the bill, the law will raise military pay by 3.4 % and assign USD 6.7 billion for mine-resistant armored vehicles. Another USD 7.5 billion will be used for the Afghan army. Apparently, Obama has not planned to solve the Afghan situation by political means yet.

The book by Ropharat Aphijanyatham Perceptions of Borders and Human  Migration: The Human (In)Security of Shan Migrant Workers in Thailand (Irasec – Observatoire - Occasional Paper n°1, September 2009, 84 pp), is freely available from the IRASEC, the Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia, and the Observatoire des Trafics Illegaux Transfontaliers dans la Sous-region du Mekong.

China plans to spend billions of dollars in the next few years to develop media and entertainment companies that it hopes can compete with global giants like the News Corporation and Time Warner (The New York Times).

Apparentely, China wants to backup its rising status and power worldwide creating entertainment, news and culture companies market-oriented, giving less voice - at least a public voice - to the government.

The way to capitalism and imperialism is paved by entertainment: any big difference between China and the "bread and circuses" of the Roman Empire?