The Korean paradox

When we speak about Korea, a paradox is immediately apparent: European public opinion is much more focused on North Korea, one of the most closed, isolated and secretive states in the international community, whilst the attention that its southern neighbor, South Korea is due, is rarely given. Below the 38th parallel there is a story of recent economic success and burgeoning international prestige.

Will China's rise lead to the decline of U.S.?

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently made a bold prediction that China will exceed the United States and become the world's largest economy as early as 2016 in terms of purchasing power parity. This prediction seems to add new evidence to the popular statements made by some western analysts who believe China's rise is the main cause for the decline of the United States.

PM praises cooperation between Vietnam and UN

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has spoken highly of contributions made by John Hendra, UN Resident Coordinator in Vietnam, to promoting and developing cooperative ties between Vietnam and the United Nations.

The cooperation is developing well, especially the smooth operation of the pilot model of One UN in Vietnam, PM Dung told John Hendra in Hanoi on April 26, during the UN Resident Coordinator’s farewell visit at the end of his term of office in Vietnam.

Reordering the world

Before he died in 323 BC, Alexander the Great had overthrown Darius III to conquer the Persian empire. The conquest included Assyria, Asia Minor, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia and the steppes of Central Asia. The 300 years that followed this conquest, the so-called Hellenistic period, are a good example of a multipolar political world. Macedonia, Syria, Pergamon and Parthia vied with one another for domination, but no single state could establish hegemony. In the end, all were left weakened, to be dominated by a surging Roman empire from the first century BC onwards.

Stratfor: China and the end of the Deng dynasty

Beijing has become noticeably more anxious than usual in recent months, launching one of the more high-profile security campaigns to suppress political dissent since the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989.

Journalists, bloggers, artists, Christians and others have been arrested or have disappeared in a crackdown prompted by fears that foreign forces and domestic dissidents have hatched any number of "Jasmine" gatherings inspired by recent events in the Middle East. More remarkable than the small, foreign-coordinated protests, however, has been the state's aggressive and erratic reaction to them.

Qatar Meeting World Environmental Energy Needs

Qatar's Minister of Energy and Industry Mohammed Bin Saleh Al Sada, has stressed Qatar's commitment to its leading role in meeting the world's needs of environment-friendly energy in a sustainable manner .

He told the Fourth Asian Energy Ministers Roundtable Meeting in Kuwait on Monday that Qatar will remain committed to investing in various energy sectors and was using latest latest technologies.

How we'll meet our 5m jobs goal - Jacob Zuma

Let me extend a warm welcome to all of you to this Presidential Labour Summit on Job Creation. In the State of the Nation Address in February this year, I laid out the broad outline of government's programme of action, which places the creation of decent work as the central priority for this year.

I was pleased that the labour movement responded positively to the programme. During the reply to the State of the Nation debate, I undertook to consult with the leaders of organised labour and business regarding government's programme.