Obama in Malaysia: Pressing times for Asia in conflict
As published in The Malay Mail today. Being Frank By Frankie D’Cruz TODAY, Barack Obama will become the first sitting US president to visit Malaysia in 47 years. He was five-years-old when Lyndon B. Johnson made the last presidential tour, a 21-hour stopover on Oct 30, 1966. (Pic: The VH-3 "Army One" which carried Johnson flies over Sendayan while a crowd gathers - Picture courtesy of malaysiaflyingherald.wordpress.com) The visits of the two US leaders differ vastly: Obama’s four-nation Asia tour is calculated to demonstrate his undertaking to pivot US influence towards the Asia-Pacific region, an economic powerhouse. His trip comes as America’s Asia-Pacific allies are facing threats to stability and are shaken up by historical disputes. The allies are also guardedly watching the situation in Ukraine and wondering how Obama’s response to Russia’s occupation of the Crimean Peninsula might affect Beijing’s ...