Asiatica Association

There are two interesting exhibitions on the Jain art in New York city: Victorious Ones: Jain Images of Perfection, which runs through Feb. 15 at the Rubin Museum of Art, 150 West 17th Street, Manhattan; and Peaceful Conquerors: Jain Manuscript Painting, which runs through March 28 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For more info: Rubin Museum of Art ph. (212) 620-5000; Metropolitan Museum of Art (212) 535-7710.

The New York Times has written a review on the them, and published an online slideshow.

The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies (AJISS) has just published the AJISS-Commentary no. 78 by Naoto Nonaka, Professor of Comparative Politics at Gakushuin University.

The End of LDP Rule and its Meaning

The recent change of government in Japan was a clear indication that the historical mission of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) had come to an end. The party had ruled post-World War II Japan almost uninterruptedly by adapting to the special postwar environment, but its governance had stalled out on many fronts. The long-believed assumption about Japanese politics that there would be no change of government was finally abandoned.

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?

The first International Indology Graduate Research Symposium (IIGRS) will be held at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford University, 28th – 29th September 2009.

Please find the programme and contact me directly at nina.mirnig_at_univ.ox.ac.uk should you be interested in attending.

Nina Mirnig, on behalf of the Organizing Committee (University of Oxford)

G8/G7 summits held in Italy are prone to accidents despite the relatively low interest of international society: Japanese Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira died shortly before the 1980 Venice Summit, prompting Japan to send an acting prime minister, and the 1994 Naples Summit was held just after the death of North Korean leader Kim Il Sung. This year's summit in L'Aquila in central Italy was also plagued by an accident - riots in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.

Chinese President Hu Jintao hurried home, resulting in the absence of the central player in the summit's limelight. In other words, a primary theme of the G8 summit - whether China is really trustworthy - was revealed. However, the Uighur issue was totally skipped, not even mentioned in the Declaration. This is in stark contrast to the 1989 Paris Summit, which issued a political declaration after harshly condemning China for the killings of pro-democracy protesters at Tiananmen Square. Even the torch relay before the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing drew harsh international criticism due to China's handling of the unrest in Tibet.

An scary news published on France 24:

The presidents of seven ex-Soviet states are meeting in Kyrgyzstan to discuss implementing the first joint rapid-reaction force of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, a military alliance led by Russia, intended as a counterweight to NATO. (Continue)

It is clear that the Russian Federation is seeking a new, stronger international role after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Will we come back to the times of the Cold War?