ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

By  Toshi Yoshihara , Special to CNN Editor’s note: Toshi Yoshihara is John A. van Beuren Chair of Asia-Pacific Studies at the U.S. Naval War College. The views expressed are his own. The Imperial Japanese Navy’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor remains a popular, if somewhat tired, metaphor for the dangers of unpreparedness and overexposure to risk. For years analysts and policymakers have warned Americans about all kinds of new Pearl Harbors in space, cyberspace, the global financial markets, and even the earth’s climate. But the real possibility that U.S. bases in the western Pacific could once again be vulnerable to a bolt-from-the-blue military attack has occasioned little publicity or debate. Yet it should take no stretched metaphors to appreciate this emerging threat. This time, China – armed with a large and growing arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles – is poised to reprise Pearl Harbor. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) now possesses the means, the motives...

December 8, 2012 -- Updated 1655 GMT (0055 HKT) Morsy: I will not allow murder, sabotage STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW:  Islamic Alliance rejects any postonement in December 15 constitutional referendum Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy has called for talks to bridge a political divide An opposition leader has called for a boycott of the talks Egypt's military leaders say they are keeping an eye on the political upheava l Cairo (CNN)  -- Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy is pushing forward with talks Saturday in an attempt to end a political crisis that threatens Egypt's stability, despite calls by the opposition to boycott the meeting. Morsy's call for talks is an attempt to end a political divide that has spilled into the streets, pitting the president's supporters and opponents against one another and raising questions about his ability to lead the fragile democracy. Egyptian authorities said at least six people were killed in violent cla...

Ethnic Kachin people sit in the doorways of shelters at a temporary camp for people displaced by fighting between government troops and the Kachin Independence Army, or KIA, outside the city of Myitkyina in the north of the country, February 22, 2012. REUTERS/Soe Zeya BANGKOK (AlertNet) – The United Nations humanitarian urged donors on Saturday to fill a $41 million funding shortfall to help thousands of people displaced by sectarian conflict in western Myanmar, describing conditions at their camps as among the worst she has seen. The UN has received only $27 million out of $68 million needed over the next nine months for some 115,000 people displaced by two waves of violence between Buddhist Rakhines and Muslim Rohingya in Rakhine State, said Valerie Amos, the U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, at a news conference in Bangkok. Inadequate funding “is seriously limiting our capacity to respond,” said Amos after a six-day trip to Bangladesh and Myanmar. ...