JONATHAN MANTHORPEMarch 5, 2014 One has to wonder if American Secretary of State John Kerry, Canada’s Foreign Minister John Baird and all the preened diplomats of the European Union know a colonial, expansionist power when they see one. The sound and fury
JONATHAN MANTHORPEJanuary 31, 2014 As the contest for influence in Asia between China and Japan spills over into a scramble for trade, resources and political support in Africa, Beijing has gathered into its camp one of the world’s most famous mercenaries. Erik
International affairs columnist Jonathan Manthorpe examines the echoes of the first World War in the arms race underway in Southeast Asia. Excerpt: As China has become wealthy it has also become an expansionist power. Beijing portrays its territorial ambitions as merely the
JONATHAN MANTHORPEJanuary 1, 2014 The hundredth anniversary of the start of the First World War is hardly upon us and the air is already thick with speculation it might happen again. At one level, this is completely understandable. The First World War,
JONATHAN MANTHORPEDecember 20, 2013 The Japanese and Indian navies are in the second of four days of joint exercises in the Bay of Bengal, an event which neatly demonstrates the gathering storm of military preparations rumbling over Asia. The exercise is small
JONATHAN MANTHORPENovember 29, 2013. Even though China’s unilateral declaration of control over airspace off its eastern shores has spurred an unusually united push-back by the United States and its Asian allies, Beijing will be well pleased with the result of its imperial
By Jonathan Manthorpe November 27, 2013. With China’s imposition of an air defence identification zone over disputed territory in the East China Sea, the imminent arrival of 2014 is beginning to look disturbingly like the months leading up to 1914. In the
By Jonathan Manthorpe November 22, 2013. When aid arrived this week in the Philippines’ Capiz region devastated by typhoon Haiyan, some of it came in tasteful blue bags decorated in prominent white letters with the name of Vice-President Jejomar Binay and adorned
JONATHAN MANTHORPEPublished: October 23, 2013 Piracy and ship hijackings have spawned a worrying boom in largely-unregulated security companies offering armed mercenaries to protect merchant ships plying dangerous waters. However, the perils of having freelance guns-for-hire roaming the high seas have been again
