| Publication |
2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
PERHAPS ONLY A TRUE BELIEVER in the alleged Mayan forecast of an end of
the world on December 21 could be truly enthusiastic about the past year.
Estimated economic (gross domestic product, or GDP) growth in Asia
dropped beginning in late 2011and continuing into 2012; the World Bank's
latest estimate forecast 7.2% for developing East Asia, the lowest rate for the
region since the 1997-98 Asian Financial Crisis. The economies of Central
and South Asia grew even more slowly. Politically the region was on tenterhooks as con?icting territorial claims, staunchly upheld by their respective
advocates since (at least) 2009, unleashed nationalist riots and escalating
bilateral brinkmanship. Meanwhile, the region's high-tech arms race against
unnamed threats continued, headlined by China's launch of its ?rst aircraft
carrier, the Liaoning(nee´ Varyag), and by North Korea's successful launch of
a satellite into polar orbit-although the so-called weather satellite apparently
failed to function, the obvious point was not weather but to demonstrate
Pyongyang's ability to hit North America with a nuclear payload. Pakistan,
albeit deeply immersed in Afghanistan's 10-year war on terror (reportedly on
both sides), is busy constructing a full-?edged nuclear deterrent-despite
a third year of devastating ?oods.
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