making the NWO: easier said than done because -- tip -- people aren't monolithic & THANK GOD for that

1. E Asia, ASEAN cooperate for common good

Sixteen countries across Asia and the Pacific are cozying up to find their way out of the economic recession together.

At a weekend meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Premier Wen Jiabao said China said it would provide $15 billion in credit to other ASEAN countries and 270 million yuan ($40 million) in special aid to less developed members of the group.

China announced in April it would set up a $10-billion China-ASEAN fund for investment cooperation to support infrastructure development in the region.

Leaders also said they would jointly fight other major challenges such as global warming, food and energy crises, and disaster relief.

Analysts say deepening regionalization would empower Asia and Pacific countries at a critical time when the economic recession has yet to end.

...

"ASEAN's regional integration is going on, but the countries have too many differences, raging from political systems and culture to religion. That makes it more difficult for us to set up a EU-style group in the region," said Su Hao, director of the Center for Strategic and Conflict Management with the China Foreign Affairs University.

Kavi Chongkittavorn, former assistant to the ASEAN secretary-general, said the group is divided along "ideological and generational lines" that have left it polarized on issues like human rights, political intervention and territorial disputes.

"They have to catch up to new political concepts, or the whole thing will crumble," Kavi said.

Since opening on Friday, the 15th ASEAN summit saw disagreements among member nations that overshadowed the meeting's theme - enhancing connectivity - and raised questions on how unified the bloc truly is.

Poor attendance marred the start of the meeting, when leaders from some of the largest Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, did not show up for the opening ceremony on Friday, citing reasons ranging from weather disturbances to domestic obligations.

Despite its goal of creating a community, ASEAN's main challenge in recent months has been to dampen long-running conflicts and disagreements.

read more @ bizchina



2. ASEAN leaders back Japan's EAC

CHA-AM : Asean leaders have backed Japan's East Asian Community concept but cautioned that it will not become reality overnight.

The Japanese-proposed idea overshadowed the meeting of the East Asia summit yesterday which brought together 10 Asean leaders and their six partners from China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said after the meeting of 16 leaders that Asean agreed with Japan's East Asian Community (EAC) proposal but said it would not be realised in the next two or three years.

The EAC needed more study starting with a meeting of officials in early December in Australia to seek more details of the concept, a government source said.

An issue which remains to be debated is the role of the US in the EAC.

Under President Barack Obama, the US wants to play a bigger role in Asia. The new Japanese government has also made clear its position that its alliance with the US is the cornerstone of its policy.

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said on Saturday the EAC concept should have some room for the US to play.

But Mr Hatoyama reacted cautiously to the US involvement yesterday.

"It's not a matter of who will be included or not. There is no need to decide now whether we should include the United States or not," he said.

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Australian Prime Minster Kevin Rudd [NWO TOOL - ed.], who first presented his "Asia Pacific community" idea in June last year, told leaders on the sidelines of the summit that his plan centred on increasing regional cooperation in areas of the economy, security and the environment. [natch - ed.]

read more @ bangkok post


3. Japan PM pushes for 'equal' ties with US

TOKYO — Japan's centre-left Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama stressed in his first policy address to parliament Monday that he wants a relationship of equals with chief ally the United States.

Hatoyama, who took power last month, was speaking ahead of Barack Obama's first visit to Tokyo as US president on November 12-13 and amid a row about where to relocate a major US base on a southern island.

"The close and equal alliance between Japan and the United States is the foundation" of efforts to secure regional peace that would benefit Japan, Asia and the entire world, he said.

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In his parliamentary address, Hatoyama pledged closer cooperation with the United States in the fight against global warming and strong support for "President Obama's courageous proposal for a nuclear-free world."

Hatoyama also said he sought closer cooperation with Russia and vowed to solve a long-standing territorial row with Moscow over four islands which Soviet troops occupied in the closing days of World War II.

"I will position Russia as a partner in the Asia-Pacific region and will strengthen cooperative relations," Hatoyama said, without elaborating.

Pressing his vision of an EU-style Asian community, he also said he would promote cooperation with South Korea, China, the Southeast Asian nations and other Asian countries.

Domestically, Hatoyama spoke on his vision of a kinder, gentler society guided by the spirit of "fraternity" and said market forces are useful for a country but must be tempered to create a liveable society.

"It is self-evident that free economic activity in markets invigorates society," he said. "But it is also obvious that the idea of letting markets decide everything for the survival of the strongest, or the idea of 'economic rationalism' at the expense of people's lives, does not hold true any more."

read more @ AFP


4. Czech president Klaus still holding out over Lisbon treaty

Václav Klaus, the Czech President, who is the last hurdle to full ratification of the Lisbon treaty, has made a final attempt to derail the agreement.

In a submission to the Czech constitutional court, which will decide tomorrow whether the treaty is compatible with the country’s constitution, Mr Klaus has suggested that it should be subject to a referendum.

The President, who is the only head of state yet to sign the treaty, attacked the EU notion of “shared sovereignty” as a contradiction that effectively means a loss of national control. [CORRECT! - ed.]

President Klaus made his written statement in support of a case against the treaty brought by 17 Czech senators, who have asked judges to rule that the agreement is unconstitutional because it transfers powers to Brussels. He also asked for a ruling on whether the treaty changed the terms of the Czech Republic’s accession to the EU in 2004 so significantly that a new referendum should be ordered.

read more @ times online