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In response to police brutality, students of a northern Sri Lankan university have begun a two-day boycott of classes. Southeast Asia has been in the news a lot lately, maybe because of the ASEAN summit that President Obama attended; and while a good portion of the recent news has been optimistic, it's important that when issues such as this one arise, that they are appropriately covered and discussed.

Last year's nuclear disaster in Japan has caused a lot of controversy within the country about whether to continue using nuclear energy or not. There seems to be some miscommunication between government officials and the common citizens too. I personally think nuclear energy should be studied and used more than it is already, but with last years events I can understand why some people would be wary of this technology.

Hopefully, for the sake of the future of nuclear power, they do not abandon their nuclear plants but I agree with the idea that it's a political move made by the current office to avoid the loss of votes. I wonder what their ultimate alternative to nuclear energy would be if they did abandon the plants? Maybe they would resort to more solar power use as is becoming popular in Southeast Asia according to an above article.

I agree that Japanese officials are being conservative when it comes to the issue of nuclear energy or any type of energy. I think going away from nuclear energy is not a great idea. I remember we talked about France in class about how they have nuclear energy and there wasn't much nuclear waste or pollution. I know France was ranked 15 but I assume Japan would be ranked higher since they said "Japan has to import most - around 96 percent - of its energy, primarily in the form of fossil fuels. That is expensive as well as harmful to the environment." in the article. In addition going away from nuclear energy will leave Japan behind in energy programs. Like we talked about in class the planets natural resources are becoming scarce. So if Japan thinks about the future I believe they would try to improve their nuclear energy programs.

I remember discussing in class the immense amount of nuclear power we have especially when compared to other nations. Also, I remember us considering the fact that our government believes it is acceptable for us to possess nuclear power and not acceptable for other nations to possess nuclear power because we feel that as a whole, our morals are more honorable. If China is leading the cyber war, then can our nuclear power keep us safe when they can potentially access our launch codes in the future?

It is a bit disconcerting how the government tries to cover up and not discuss the fact this severe of a breach happened, and when it was brought to light, they seem to very shyly admit to the fact it happened. Even though they say the success rate of the cyber attacks is rare, the fact that China, or potentially any other nation with enough willpower, may hack and access the codes is daunting. Hopefully, the U.S. will do more to develop stronger forms of security and technology to protect this information.

This is pretty interesting. I follow politics fairly close and even I was unaware of this most recent attack. I agree with Sana, they very shyly admitted the downfall. These attacks should not be taken lightly, and it seems like more precautions need to be taken as well. Perhaps, they should install Norton Anti-Virus.

Today in class we talked about robots or machines with artificial intelligence, AI, and how it is going to be a reality soon. This article is about China's military advancements in unmanned aerial vehicle or UAV for short. The drone is similar to the Predator drone used by the US military but is cheaper at $1 million. The drone is called "Yi Long" but called Wing long in English. The editor of Kanwa Defense Monthly stated, "They know that in future wars unmanned warfare will be very important." Now with this new technology; choices are going to be harder to make when it comes to casualties. It is very easy to be objective when you are sitting in a room far away from the action, but if you are on the field doing the work its another story.

The quote from the Chinese president about having to win the war in an "information age" is really interesting. It is becoming more and more apparent that advancing military technology during this time makes a significant impact on warfare today and the future.

This article describes a case the US is planning to file against China for subsidizing cars and car parts, mostly in developing countries. The reporter does mention that the rise in automation and the global recession of 2008 probably have effected employment numbers as well. International economics and business is pretty fascinating (ok, maybe, not to everyone), and it's worth noting that increased revenues for Chinese companies will allow China to pursue broader areas of research and development, as well as specilization in a lucrative market: auto sales in developing countries. Once a company has a market, it can give quite the fight to keep it, which provides the country and company a long term source of R&D funding. The article also raises the question of the timing of the case against China, and whether it's filing by the incumbent Obama administration is politically motivated. This question is more fully explored in an article from today's New York Times that goes well with the discussion from class today about government action on science and technology issues, and when it takes that action. Here's the link if anyone's interested in incumbent electoral advantages: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/us/politics/obama-exploits-familiar-junction-of-policy-and-politics.html?pagewanted=all

China's economical growth is slowing down. Many economists predict that China'a 10% growth will reduce to 7% or worse. In order for China to fight back they have lowered interest rate in hope of getting people to spend more money. When China lowers their interest rate it is cheaper for people to borrow money from the banks; but the money that isn't used and is stored in the bank will suffer from inflation. This slump might cause a chain reaction that hurt China's economic standing.

It's interesting that though China's economy is slowing down, it still has more growth than many other countries. Since China has more of a manufacturing-centered economy, I wonder if this slump may mark the transition to a possible service-oriented economy. In addition to that, maybe the leadership transition in the upcoming months will spur a more dynamic economy in China; thereby preventing a prolonged declining economy.

I remember discussing in class the fact that the world economy did not used to be so dependent on individual regions and countries doing well economically so that other countries could also do well economically on a global scale. It makes you wonder if an international economy is a good thing or not. To me, this is proof that we are not prepared for a multi-polar world. The United States is used to being THE world power rather than A world power. If at all possible, maybe it would be smart to learn how to coexist as more of an independent nation econonomically once again. Or on the other hand, perhaps that could create a situation where America could potentially be left behind by the other up and coming world powers.