The Cheonan assault has revealed to South Korea that the threat from North Korea is still ominous and capable of delivering unexpected damage.

The one country that has not condemned North Korea’s role in the sinking of the Cheonan is China, which has its own strategic and economic compulsions to back North Korea.

The fundamental ideological difference between the KMT and DPP supporters makes the debate on ECFA more complicated than it needs to be actually, with a peculiar intermix of politics and economics.

While the notion of Malaysia as an Islamic state appears almost unthinkable, this is exactly what has transpired since the early 1980s, posing serious challenges for the country’s internal and external politics.

Xi Jinping's attempt to dejargonise political language is timely. however, how it impacts the ideology is going to be important.

While the DPJ is not averse to the idea of revising the constitution, an unfavourable domestic situation and adverse reactions from neighbours are likely to force the Hatoyama government to limit the exercise to a debate.

The Cheonan incident came at a very inopportune time for North Korea, irrespective of the fact whether Pyongyang had any hand in it or not.

The central question is whether democracy or semi-democracy should be subordinated to the personal ambitions of a few leaders like Thaksin or should the rule of law prevail.

If freedom of expression was the issue then other American internet service companies like Microsoft and Yahoo! should have also exited China along with Google.

While China has shown eagerness for the Dalai Lama’s return to China, it has categorically refused to take back the exiled Tibetan population based in India.