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East Asia
N. Korea: player in the Gwangju Democratic Uprising?
Korean history as seen in South Korea is deeply contentious. It is not incidental that many school textbooks prefer to stop their narrative around 1960, quietly assuming that what happened after is too controversial for anything resembling an impartial judgment to emerge. Most of the prominent historical events and figures…
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Central Asia
G8 leadership remains divided on Syria conflict
Deep differences over Syria’s fierce civil war clouded a summit of world leaders Monday, with Russian President Vladimir Putin defiantly rejecting calls from the U.S., Britain and France to halt his political and military support for Syrian leader Bashar Assad’s regime. But there were also fissures among the three Western…
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West Asia
Iranian President urges greater nuclear transparency
Iran’s newly elected president showcased his reform-leaning image Monday by promising a “path of moderation” that includes greater openness on Tehran’s nuclear program and overtures to Washington. He also made clear where he draws the line: No halt to uranium enrichment and no direct U.S. dialogue without a pledge to…
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Central Asia
Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan establish bilateral ties
Uzbek President Islam Karimov (R) shakes hands with visiting Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev at a press conference in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, June 14, 2013. Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan established strategic partnership on Friday, pledging to boost bilateral cooperation. <Xinhua/NEWSis/Dong Longjiang>
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West Asia
Turkish riot police occupy Taksim Square
Riot police cordoned off streets, set up roadblocks and fired tear gas and water cannon to prevent anti-government protesters from converging on Istanbul’s central Taksim Square on Sunday, unbowed even as Turkey’s prime minister addressed hundreds of thousands of supporters a few kilometers away. The contrasting scenes pointed to an…
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East Asia
North Korea proposes senior-level talk with US
After months of threatening to wage a nuclear war, North Korea did an about-face Sunday and issued a surprise proposal to the United States, its No. 1 enemy: Let’s talk. But the invitation from North Korea’s National Defense Commission, the powerful governing body led by leader Kim Jong Un, comes…
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West Asia
Moderate candidate Rowhani elected as Iranian President
Iran’s newly elected reformist-backed president said Sunday that the country’s dire economic problems cannot be solved “overnight,” as he took his first steps in consulting with members of the clerically dominated establishment on his new policies. Hasan Rowhani’s surprise victory in Friday’s elections puts him in charge of an executive…
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West Asia
Turkish PM Erdogan meets protersters to end Gezi Park sit-in
Turkey’s prime minister was meeting with anti-government protesters early Friday, hours after giving them his “final warning” to end their occupation of a central Istanbul park that has become a flashpoint for the largest political crisis of his 10-year rule. If the talks break down, an eventual police intervention to…
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West Asia
Iranian reformist leaders unite behind moderate presidential candidate
Iran’s presidential race lost one more candidate Tuesday but gained a new script: reformist leaders uniting behind relative moderate Hasan Rowhani to boost his once-improbable shot at victory. Former presidents Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani fell behind Rowhani after a rival moderate bowed out in attempts to consolidate reform-minded…
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West Asia
Iraq and Kuwait sign agreements to strengthen economic ties
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, background right, and his Kuwait counterpart Sheikh Jaber Al Mubarak Al Hamad Al Sabah, background left, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, foreground right, and Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheik Sabah Khalid Al Hamad Al Sabah, foreground left, sign agreements in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, June 12, 2013.…
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