Re: Asian Monetary Fund

["Charles Jannuzi" <jannuzi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The problems are:

1. anger over the recent depreciation of the yen (though even PM Mahathir
said he wouldn't think about devaluing the ringgit until the yen  reached
140 to the dollar)

2. the continuing recession in Japan which prevents it from leading on the
issue or being Mr. Moneybags for the region

The US hits point number 2 very hard because it doesn't want Japan
challenging it for domination of the region. This is about hegemony through
discourse, and no one has it down like the US government (which is why the
NSC is the ruling council and meets concerning everything under the sun, not
just military deployments).

I think a currency and trade bloc may well be the only way E. and SE Asia
can stand up to the US's NAFTA and the EU in a coherent fashion, but it
seems doubtful that the Japanese can do it. Still this bit of news might be
a step in that direction.

 If they can do it, it will be because Koizumi has jettisoned some of the
naive 'market reformers'. The problem is the old-style Japanese nationalists
stick their feet in their mouths as soon as they give any opinion at all
about the rest of Asia. If it happens it will be because of people most of
us know next to nothing about emerging and governing Japan. But then again,
maybe they don't exist.

Charles Jannuzi