“Asia” on The Daily Caller

America’s competitive nature and its obsession with digesting annual reviews is no secret. From the best of 2010 to the worst, everyone with some media exposure gets a chance to be reviewed. However, the White House’s much-anticipated Afghan war review received no accolades. Some even called the review a product of crowd-sourcing rather than an astute summary. (more)

As President Obama prepares to give the nation a status update on the war in Afghanistan Thursday, some in Washington are calling on him to “own” the conflict in a way they say he has not, and to articulate a clearer long-term commitment to the region than he has so far. (more)

How’s this for a provocative start of an article: the Tech Guys advocate attracting 100 million new immigrants to the United States in the next 20 years. Why? For three simple reasons: to expand the economy, to remain the world’s strongest country and to be consistent with American values. (more)

When the results of an international education assessment put Shanghai and several other Asian participants ahead of the US and much of Western Europe, many Americans were shocked. “Top test scores from Shanghai stun educators” read the headline in The New York Times. (more)

Li Keqiang, head of the Communist Party in northeastern Liaoning province at the time, was unusually candid in his assessment of local economic data at a dinner with then-U.S. Ambassador to China Clark Randt, according to a confidential memo sent after the meeting and published on the WikiLeaks website. (more)

MUSCAT, Oman (AP) — Defense Secretary Robert Gates is predicting the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays in the armed forces will be around for a while longer. (more)

Baghdad’s literary elite took to the streets on Friday to protest a government order shutting one of the city’s few places where people can drink liquor freely, striking a blow to the alcohol-inspired conviviality poets and artists so value. But drinkers face a much more fundamental threat to their freedom to imbibe, as the city’s Christians free. (more)

As Secretary of Defense Gates noted, any question about North Korea has only one response: “I don’t know.” There is indeed so little we know about this barbarian kingdom with nuclear weapons. Hence almost anything one does say is speculative. (more)

According to North Korean official statements, the Korean Peninsula is tottering on the precipice of disaster — yet again. Having just attacked a South Korean island, killing two military personnel and two civilians, Pyongyang has reverted to its incendiary form by declaring that South Korea is driving it “to the brink of war.” Such virulent threats would have more ferocity if they were not issued with such regularity. (more)

With his country on the brink of war, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il spent today reinforcing stereotypes about his own eccentricity: He took his youngest son and heir apparent on a tour of a soy sauce factory. (more)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Thousands of people stampeded during a festival in the Cambodian capital Monday night, leaving more than 330 dead and hundreds injured in what the prime minister called the country’s biggest tragedy since the 1970s reign of terror by the Khmer Rouge. (more)

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran has set a Feb. 6 trial date for three Americans arrested more than a year ago along the Iraqi border and charged with spying. (more)

It seems as though every single peace process must begin and end with Israel.  At least that is the position of the Obama administration, the EU and the UN.  But this narrative is why the peace process has failed after more than seven wars and countless peace agreements and UN resolutions. The idea that Israel has all of the cards and that it is up to Israel to deliver peace shows that the international community and the US still fundamentally do not understand the roots of the conflict and why peace can only be achieved under specific circumstances. (more)

YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) — President Barack Obama appealed to Asian leaders Saturday for greater access to fast-growing markets, proclaiming “the United States is here to stay” and saying its prosperity is tied inextricably to the success of its Pacific trading partners. (more)

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has decided to begin publicly walking away from what it once touted as key deadlines in the war in Afghanistan in an effort to de-emphasize President Barack Obama’s pledge that he’d begin withdrawing U.S. forces in July 2011, administration and military officials have told McClatchy. (more)

This is vile even by UN standards. (more)

NEW DELHI — By endorsing India for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, President Obama on Monday signaled the United States’ intention to create a deeper partnership of the world’s two largest democracies that would expand commercial ties and check the influence of an increasingly assertive China. (more)

U.S. Military leaders are prepared to back Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s timeline for U.S. troop withdrawal, saying in roundtable meeting with reporters Monday that Afghan security forces should be able to handle the country’s security on their own by 2014. (more)

NEW DELHI (AP) — Followed by the politics of home, President Barack Obama on Sunday acknowledged that he must make some “midcourse corrections” if he is to win over a frustrated electorate and work with resurgent Republicans. (more)

President Obama left for a 10-day trip to southeast Asia Friday with a statement on the most recent jobs report that gave no indication he is willing to compromise on his intent to let the Bush tax cuts expire for high earners. (more)