Aid to Myanmar Revitalizes ASEAN

June 18 (EIRNS)—Addressing the Fifth ASEAN Leadership Forum at Singapore on June 18, ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said: "We are being baptized by Cyclone Nargis (the cyclone that wrought havoc in Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta killing thousands). We have been able to open the humanitarian space."

The 10-nation bloc has often been criticized by Britain, the U.S., and the EU for not dealing firmly enough with the junta, but Surin said nearly 300 ASEAN assessment team volunteers were now in the Delta working "with full support, collaboration from the government of Myanmar."

"With 2.4 million people teetering between survival and death," ASEAN became the mechanism for getting aid to the worst-hit areas such as the Irrawaddy Delta in the South, helping sort out objections to helicopters and sending in nearly 300,000 volunteers, Surin told government and business leaders, in addition to civil society groups.

"That's a new ASEAN ready to take on responsibility," Surin added. Aid workers said thousands of survivors of the storm are yet vulnerable to sickness, and many are without adequate food and supplies.

India To Enhance Land Links with China, Myanmar, SE Asia

June 19 (EIRNS)—Opening a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) secretariat in Guwahati, in India's northeast, on June 16, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee stressed the need for improving connections with the Southeast Asian nations through Myanmar. Guwahati is the end point of the under-construction Kunming-Guwahati road which would link India's northeast with China's southern Yunan province.

"Economic development in the northeast will depend on how quickly we can build up connectivity with the ASEAN [Association of South East Asian Nations] and other neighboring countries. There are lots of opportunities now and we shall have to build up connectivity as fast as possible. Private and government investments are not enough, we need foreign investments," Mukherjee said.

"We must have good relations with Bangladesh and China. Whatever problems are there, we must resolve them through discussions and dialogues on mutually acceptable terms," he said, and pointed out to the Western nations who would like India to renounce the military junta in Myanmar, that, "it is not [India's] job to determine what kind of government there is [in Myanmar].... Economic development and peace should go side by side."

Behind the U.S. Missile Strike on Pakistani Military Post

June 20 (EIRNS)—The U.S. missile attack on a Pakistani military post along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border June 12 that killed 11 Pakistani soldiers and further soured Washington-Islamabad relations, was a retaliatory action, but not because the Pakistani soldiers were harboring militants, according to one source. The Pentagon had said earlier that the attack was justified because the Taliban militants were sheltered in that post by the Pakistani security personnel.

But according to EIR's source, the real reason is that Pakistani militants based in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) have begun to disrupt the U.S. and NATO supply line that passes through the Khyber Pass. Seventy percent of the occupying troops' supplies land at the Karachi Port and travel to Afghanistan under the protection provided by Pakistani security officials. Washington claims that the Pakistanis are not providing adequate protection, and as a result, the supply line has been endangered.

What has really hurt the occupying forces, is that over the past month, the militants seized a number of crates which contained disassembled parts of Cobra, Chinook, and Black Hawk helicopters. The Taliban had seized a number of these crates, photographed them, and sent the photos out to potential buyers, which include China and Iran, the source claimed. The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad neither denies nor confirms the story.

Since the seizure of these crates, Washington has been pressuring the Pakistani troops to move inside the FATA and seize them, but the army has refused to do that. The source claims this disregard of U.S. demands by the Pakistani military was the reason for the attack.

Brits Wage Financial Warfare Against Vietnam

June 16 (EIRNS)—In a move which closely parallels the 1997 attack on the Thai baht and other Asian currencies by George Soros and his fellow hedge-fund speculators, the British locusts have launched an assault on the Vietnamese dong, driving the currency down by 29% on the futures markets, and planning to break Hanoi's frantic effort to defend their currency. Vietnam Finance Minister Vu Van Ninh announced that they would defend the dong, while they are also trying to slow the runaway inflation, now at 25%.

As in the 1997-98 so-called "Asian crisis," the speculators have more money than the target governments, and plan to wait until Vietnam runs out of foreign reserves defending the dong, then collect a fortune on their futures contracts when the dong collapses. Vietnam's only recourse is to impose currency controls, as Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir did in 1998.

At the forefront of the locust horde are Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank AG, which have "forecast" that the dong will be devalued, with forward contracts betting on a 29% drop over the next year. The "hit men" from the rating agencies have joined the criminal attack, with Standard & Poor's, Moody's, and Fitch all lowering Vietnam's credit rating to negative.

Hanoi has resisted lifting fuel subsidies, retaining a safety net for its population and thus so far preventing the kind of social explosion taking place across Asia and the world. But this is a huge drain on its budget and currency reserves. The trade deficit tripled in the first five months of the year, from $4.25 billion a year ago to $14.42 billion.

Korean, Malaysian Leaders Warn of Worst Crisis in Years

June 16 (EIRNS)—South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, speaking to an audience of Asian and European finance ministers at the Jeju Island, Korea ASEM meeting, warned that, "It's not too much to say that world economies are facing the worst crisis since the oil shock in the 1970s following a surge in oil, food, and raw material prices."

"Each country faces a different situation, but we should share recognition of the difficulties and strengthen international policy cooperation," he said.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has warned of a "real disaster" unless bold steps are taken to tackle the global inflation crisis.

Abdullah told the World Economic Forum on East Asia in an opening address late yesterday that the prospect of a global recession loomed as the prices of food and fuel spiral upwards.

"About 100 million or more people have descended into poverty worldwide while low- and middle-income groups everywhere are feeling the strain of increased food prices on their budget," he said. "Mass protests over food have erupted in several countries, and more instability awaits those societies which fail to alleviate their problems.

"It seems that we have yet to awaken to the enormity of the problem and its potential for creating a real disaster," he said, adding that measures taken by Asian countries have had only a limited effect.

Abdullah urged developed nations to think again on issues like much criticized farm subsidies, as well as a shift towards biofuel, which is soaking up vast amounts of grain production. He also criticized Western governments for allowing speculators to drive up the price of oil. "If our own financial institutions were involved, I have no doubt that we would have been subject to vociferous criticism," he said.

Vietnam Exports Rice Again; 600,000 Tons to Philippines

June 19 (EIRNS)—Vietnam has lifted its ban on the signing of rice export deals, which was put into place earlier in the year, but will cap exports at 3.5 million tons of rice for the first nine months of the year, as compared to a previous volume of 4.5 million tons.

Companies can sign new deals for "several thousand tons," with a minimum price of $800 per ton, a Vietnam Food Association official said, citing a directive from the Industry and Trade Ministry.

The Philippine government was the first to take advantage of the reopened export facility. It agreed to buy 600,000 metric tons of rice from Vietnam through a government-to-government deal June 17, bringing to 2.3 million metric tons its total rice imports for 2008—a total which they have had difficulty buying at any price. Manila paid an average of $940 a ton, including freight.

At its last successful rice tender in April, the Philippines paid an average of $1,136 a ton, up 60% from a tender in March.