Re: new wars and old wars

At 9:47 PM -0400 22/9/02, Threehegemons@aol.com wrote:
>Finally, East Asia is virtually absent from the text.  If it is part 
>of the international community that is going to address these 
>crises, it is very much the junior partner.  Yet the core of the 
>'East Asian miracle'--Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore--are 
>significant in that ethnicity is highly important yet nothing much 
>like the new war syndrome is visible (not true of either the US or 
>Western Europe).

I don't quite follow this. Japan, S Korea and Taiwan are amazingly 
homogeneous for the contemporary world. Singapore is more 
heterogeneous, but with an overwhelming majority in one ethnicity 
which is both politically and economically dominant. Recent 
developments there, in the wake of the WTC attacks, suggest some of 
the minor strains.

In many ways, the most interesting of E Asia, given the topic under 
consideration, is Malaysia. And it is now subject to 'interesting' 
stresses from 'globalisation'. A close study may also support your 
point that Kaldor's denunciation of identity politics may be too 
simplistic under the present dispensation in the world.

kj khoo