Welcome to The World As I See.Com!

The World As I See is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan and nongovernmental recent website manned by a small diverse voluntary group in the Philippines. It is a research based site devoted primarily to international relations(ir) for ir and political science students, academe, NGOs, IGOs, think tanks, foreign service, practitioners and the public via opinions, dialogue, commentaries, original articles, published materials, excerpts, reports and working papers.

The World As I See seeks likeminded global partners / affiliates / linkages and contributors. Our site materials can be used for educational purposes with prior consent and acknowledgement. Reactions are welcome from valued readers but regret we are unable to respond to all due to pressure of work. For inquiries, please contact us at info@theworldasisee.com

Vision

Think Global

Mission

To share and impart through knowledge and academic study of international relations (ir) for understanding, cooperation and peace.

Who We Are

Professor Valentine N. Anthony is the founder, managing director and contributing editor of The World As I See. International Relations (IR) is his cup of tea with research interests in ethnicity, ethnic conflicts and political development of states.

He has been a community worker, teacher, writer, author, journalist, resource speaker and academe. He was educated in Sri Lanka, Malaysia,Singapore and USA. He has an MA in International Affairs specializing in Southeast Asian Studies from the Center for International Studies, Ohio University and an MA in Comparative Politics and International Relations from the University of Kansas, US. He holds a diploma in International Politics of Southeast Asian Politics from the then University of Singapore. He graduated in Education with a History major from the former Singapore Teacher’s Training College. He performed protocol duties for visitng dignitaries of the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was one of the presiding offices in Singapore's national elections.

Professor Anthony has lectured in Western Civilization in the Universities of Kansas and Ohio, USA. He taught IR, Comparative Governments, Political Theory, Asia-Pacific Studies and Southeast Asian Politics in Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria, UK London School of Economics (LSE) of the University of London and Leeds University in their external degree programs in Singapore and Singapore Ministry of Defense. In the Philippines, likewise in the University of the Philippines, Saint Louis University and University of Baguio where he served concurrently as Assistant Director of R & D and Director of International Affairs. He was a Research Fellow at the Singapore Institute of Southeast Studies (ISEAS) in 2003.

He is currently President of his NGO and Consultant to Philippines HyperMedia Global. His book “Defines, Dictates and Divides: International Relations in an Uncertain World” is in manuscript form. He resides in Baguio City, Philippines.


Dr. Lloyd V. Orduña is a co-founder and editorial board member of The World As I See. Guided by the belief that the academe is the predominant agent for change, he has been a dedicated academician for more than 23 years pursuing research-based solutions to pervading problems in the local and international community. He specializes in educational research methods and quantitative analysis. He published several materials, action researches, and articles addressing pressing academic and community concerns.

Dr. Orduña is a consultant in various organizations such as the Regional Technical Working Group of Cordillera Industry and Energy Research and Development Consortium DOST-CAR, Highland Agricultural Research and Development Consortium Regional Sectoral / Commodity Review, UB Institutional Research Review Board, and Regional Team of Experts on deregulation and autonomous status of HEIs in CAR. He is a member of the Ethics Review Board of the Department of Health and Department of Science and Technology and a lifetime member of the Philippine Association of Graduate Education. He is a visiting professor in Rajabhat Mahasarakan University in Thailand. He is also a sought-after lecturer in research in local, regional, national and international organizations.

During his term as a Director of UB Research and Development Center, the institution received the Best HEI Research Program (2nd runner-up national) by Commission on Higher Education (CHED). Also, because of his contribution to education and research, he received several university-wide and national citations, honors and awards.

Dr. Orduña has a BSc in Biology, BSc in Education, MA in Education, Ed.D in Educational Management, and Diploma in Special Education. He had been a professor, principal, assistant dean and director before he became the current Vice President for Administration of University of Baguio. With his experience as an academician and researcher, it is a privilege to have him on board The World As I See. Dr. Orduña resides in Baguio City Philippines.


Allan R. Visitacion is the founder, owner and General Manager of HyperMedia Global specializing on web design solutions / applications and IT development. He has designed websites for various business organizations in the Philippines, US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Korea and China. He also serves as a Web and IT Consultant to the Development Academy of the Philippines and Eastern Regional Organization for Public Administration (EROPA) in the Philippines. He is currently looking at the impact of Web / IT on international relations (ir). Allan has a BA in Social Science with major in Poltical Science and Economics from the University of the Philippines. Allan is a co-founder and editor of The World As I See. He resides in Baguio City, Philippines.

International Relations: An Overview

by: Valentine Anthony

This is an introductory article on International Relations (hereafter ir / IR) which is about relations between and among states in peace and war. In this regard, ir is approached retrospectively through my childhood cum adult experiences and observations in Singapore, Ceylon now Sri Lanka and Malaya now Malaysia followed by a brief survey of the notion, nature and scope of ir from postwar to-date. read more...

For better or worse, wars remain with us

We remember and regret past wars but we repeat them well. Hence, the four-letter word "wars" haunts us.
Read more...
ANNOUNCEMENT

The World As I See is pleased to link / partner shortly with a UK based website http://www.e-ir.info hosted by a group of young British academics devoted to the study and understanding of international relations and international politics.

Managing Editor
Valentine Anthony


Dear readers,

As part of our project, The World As I See will be posting a series of selected articles from our valued Think Tank partners---The Stanley Foundation, Iowa.US; International Crisis Group (ICG), Brussels, Belgium; Refugees Studies Centre, Oxford Department of International Development, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK and Humanitarian Practice Network (HPN), Overseas Development Institute (ODI), London, UK. Their websites are in our website links.

Thank you.

Managing Editor
Valentine Anthony

INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP (BRUSSELS, BELGIUM )
China’s Myanmar Dilemma

Asia Report N°177,
Beijing/Jakarta/Brussels, 14 September 2009

Executive Summary

Each time global attention is focused on events in Myanmar, concerned stakeholders turn to China to influence the military government to undertake reforms. Yet simply calling on Beijing to apply more pressure is unlikely to result in change. While China has substantial political, economic and strategic stakes in Myanmar, its influence is overstated.Read more...

THE STANLEY FOUNDATION - THINK, SEPTEMBER 2009

By David Shorr
Making the "Gs" Work for the World: Principles for Summit Reform
How Leading Nations Lead. As more and more global challenges cry out for increased international cooperation, there is an urgent need for the leaders of the world’s influential nations to combine efforts for decisive action. The agenda is full for the upcoming Pittsburgh G-20 summit but, argues Stanley Foundation program officer David Shorr, world leaders should also update the process of summitry itself. Read the four main guidelines Shorr recommends for such a reform effort... Read more

Understanding the Challenge

by Gil Loescher and James Milner

The likelihood that those in protracted exile may spend significant amounts of time either in camp-like situations or unprotected in urban settings often has negative implications for their human rights and livelihoods as well as for states’ security... Read more

Myanmar or Burma?

Valentine Anthony

Long ago, as a History teacher, I used to refer to the present Myanmar as ‘Burma,’ to my students. But not after 1989 when Burma became the Union of Myanmar.

Today whenever the ruling Myanmar military junta takes the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to task, unfairly though, or crackdown on dissent, western journalists, media, commentators and scholars, except the diplomatic ASEAN, are quick to turn Myanmar into the old British ‘Burma’ leaving the new capital of Myanmar Yangoon, formerly Rangoon, intact. Read More...

What Happened to Mohamed al-Hanashi?

Naomi Wolf, Sept 09, 09, Project Syndicate.

NEW YORK – Mohammed al-Hanashi was a 31-year-old Yemeni citizen who was held at Guantánamo Bay without charge for seven years. On June 3, while I was visiting Guantánamo with other journalists, the press office there issued a terse announcement that al-Hanashi had had been found dead in his cell – an “apparent suicide.” Read more...
Commentary

“For Whom The Bell Tolls”

Baguio City, Philippines.
Oct 15, 2009

The World As I See could not see the world for nearly two weeks when tropical storm Parma (local name Pepeng) slammed Northern Luzon of the Philippines leaving 269 dead excluding hundreds of deaths when Ondoy struck Manila a few day earlier, leaving thousands hopeless, homeless and without food, water and personal belongings ravaged by heavy flash floods and landslides. Dams, dykes and canals played their sorrowful part. Destruction to infrastructures are not known yet. Communications--roads, telephone lines, television networks, internet and hand phone providers, all cut off. Read more...

TIMES OF CHALLENGE AND CONTROVERSY

By: Lloyd V. Orduña, Ed.D

Dr. Martin Luther King once said, “The ultimate measure of persons is not where they stand in times of comfort and convenience, but where they stand in times of challenge and controversy.”

When the Filipino community is on heightened alert with the hostage and other insurgency crisis brought by Abu Sayaf Group (ASG) and other militant groups, the internal wrangling in Congress, the politics of deception and broken promises, the destabilization moves, the economic depression, and other disturbing developments, where do we stand?
Read more...

STILL FIGHTING THE COLD WAR

Passion for Reason
By Raul C. Pangalangan
Philippines Daily Inquirer, November 13, 2009

FOR US IT'S AS IF THE COLD WAR HAD NEVER ended. We Filipinos are caught in a time warp and are still righting a war that has long been over. For us, the main threat to national security remains the communist rebellion. It is time we joined the rest of the world in recognizing that the main threat to our way of life is the rise of religious fundamentalism and its terrorist zealots. Why have we been so slow in doing so? Read more...

THE PARADOX OF DEMOCRACY

All---prime ministers, presidents, politicians, presidential, parliamentary, socialist, communist political systems, monarchies, military, colonialists, post colonialists (neo), rebels, insurgents and secessionists---claim they are democratic, some in the name of values, ideals, constitutions,god or whichever and some without any. And the ‘chosen few,’ whoever, abuse, torture and or kill their fellow citizens / beings in the name of whatever stripe of religion and democracy.

The World As I See will post few pieces on the paradox of democracy in due course to provoke our thoughts before 2010 dawns.

Managing Editor

WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO DEMOCRACY?

Of Nearsighted Progress, Feral Howls, Consensus, Chaos, and a New Cold War in Kashmir by Arundhati Roy (copyright, 2009).

This post "What have Done to Democracy" is by courtesy of TomDispatch.com, September 28,2009. It is an introduction to "Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers" by Arundhati Roy published by Haymarket Books (2009). This article also appeared in the US--The Nation, Huntington Post, Washington Post and New York Times and UK The Guardian.

While we're still arguing about whether there's life after death, can we add another question to the cart? Is there life after democracy? What sort of life will it be? By "democracy" I don't mean democracy as an ideal or an aspiration. I mean the working model: Western liberal democracy, and its variants, such as they are. So, is there life after democracy?Read more...

DOES OBAMA BELIEVE IN DEMOCRACY FOR ALL?

by Matthew A. Hill in http://www.e-ir.info/?p=2000

I have been running a few ideas through my mind and with a colleague about President Obama’s attitudes to democracy promotion and I think I have reached an understanding that I want to share with you. The paradox that has been taunting me is this dilemma between the idealistic tenets of the mission that dictates America and its political system should be replicated around the world and the realism of accepting your neighbours for who they are not what you want them to be. Read more...

Democracy, the Worst Form of Government Ever Tried

by Bevin Chu in LewRockwell.com


Executive Summary: As the preceding quotes suggest, Winston Churchill was deeply ambivalent about democracy. On the one hand, he was not about to regurgitate the civics class twaddle we all ingested about Democracy with a capital D. On the other hand, he could see no better alternative. Read more...

Obama’s Vietnam Syndrome

Jonathan Schell
Copyright: www. project-syndicate.org

NEW HAVEN – There can be no military resolution to the war in Afghanistan, only a political one. Writing that sentence almost makes me faint with boredom. As US President Barack Obama ponders what to do about the war, who wants to repeat a point that’s been made thousands of times? Is there anyone on earth who does not know that a guerilla war cannot be won without winning the “hearts and minds” of the people? The American public has known this since its defeat in Vietnam. Read more...

THE LEADERSHIP QUAGMIRE IN IRAN

by Reza Molavi on January 5, 2010 in http://www.e-ir.info/?p=2000

The government of Mr. Ahmadinejad remains unwilling to acknowledge any culpability in the destruction of any property or the killing of more than ten or so protestors in the last few days of mourning processions, including the shooting of one of the opposition leader’s nephew. “The killing of Musavi’s nephew in the Ashura incidents is being investigated and the result will be announced soon,” Tehran police chief Azizollah Rajabzadeh told the ILNA news agency. The official line is that anti-regime terrorists carried out the killings in order to discredit the regime. Read more...