Word: asianized
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...Europe gorged on high-risk subprime lending and complex mortgage-backed securities in a quest for fat returns, Sands avoided toxic assets that got its competitors into trouble. Sands became even more cautious as the U.S. housing bubble began unraveling in 2007. Some risky borrowers - such as low-margin Asian exporters, which have been hit hard by the collapse of U.S. consumer spending - were asked to cough up more collateral when renegotiating loans, while other marginal customers were denied further credit. To strengthen the bank's financial position even more, Sands raised $2.7 billion in capital through a December share...
...contrast, East Asian economies have robust balance sheets, except for Japan. Unlike the U.S., China and South Korea do not need to print money to fund their stimulus packages. And their spending is geared toward the future rather than toward mopping up the excesses of the past, as the U.S. must do. Green projects account for 81% of South Korea's economic-stimulus programs and 38% of China's - the proportion in the U.S. is just...
...harass the army by other means, including ambushes." There is also the possibility that Mehsud's ranks have been fortified by some of the fighters who have fled the conflict in the Swat valley. South Waziristan is also home to assorted foreign militant groups, including Arab and Central Asian fighters. It has long been rumored to be a hiding place of Osama bin Laden...
...less obvious. The SCO, in particular, has been perceived since its founding in 2001 as a growing foil to U.S. interests in West Asia. Originally formed to develop dialogue on trade and security issues among nations with old histories of enmity, the SCO comprises China, Russia and four Central Asian states hovering within both Beijing and Moscow's spheres of influence - Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Tehran under Ahmadinejad had long petitioned to be part of this group but has settled for "observer" status alongside India and Pakistan. (See five reasons to suspect the results of the Iranian election...
Some Western analysts see the SCO's rise as a rival bloc to NATO, though these fears are, in the present climate, likely overblown. Beijing and Moscow regard each other with equal measures of warmth and distrust. The Central Asian countries tagging along are also keen to pit the Chinese and Russians against each other in a global scramble for the vast reserves of natural resources lurking beneath the region's rolling steppe and in the Caspian Sea. Still, in the U.N. Security Council, China and Russia have presented something of a united front when it comes to Iran. Their...