People on the move is one theme this week, although it might be more accurate to say people on the run. Pakistan has been inundated with 200,000 refugees from Afghanistan since last year. The refugees are fleeing the bizarre country that Afghanistan has become under the tender mercies of the Taliban. The surrounding region is more concerned with the Taliban drug trade than with its exporting its very particular brand of Islam. I can't imagine that it would have much market appeal. Millions of workers cross China each year in search of work. A report from Asia Timew details their experiences.

And then there are people to keep an eye on including Paul Wolfowitz, the number two man in the Bush State Department and Dr. Mahathir, the Prime minister of Malaysia. Dr. Mahathir is no fan of the West, and may be best known for his vehement dislike of George Soros.

He is primarily concerned, however, about the influence that the West has over Asia politically, militarily and economically. Globalization has reinforced Western hegemony according to him. The liberaization of capital has fostered a "generalized money speculation", with the result of reinforcing Western supremacy. In this he finds himself in the same camp as such divergent thinkers as Noam Chomsky and Lyndon LaRouche. World history is nothing other than "a series of conquests and subjugations by the strong over the weak". He is also no ideaogue taking the position that all systems have been regarded as faith and all are in fact flawed, and finally all fail. What if Dr. Mahathir is right?

This week we start out with a series on ancient China. There was no business like show business in ancient China because there was no show business. It was unlike ancient Rome, whose rulers felt that if you could keep the people happy, you could keep them distracted, and get on with the business of ruling. China concerned itself with zhi, or order, and felt that a preoccupation with amusement took valuable time away from work. Today's China is an unstable society partially because the transition from the past was as incomplete as it was abrupt says the writer of Another China. Francesco Sisci takes a long look back at the deep cultural differences between China and the West and how they play out in today's China.

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