[SeaGypsy]

ASEAN leaders considers EU-style bloc
Posted 2 hours 36 minutes ago

Asian leaders are considering rival plans from Australia and Japan for an EU-style economic and political bloc, as they wrap up the East Asia Summit in Thailand.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd presented his counterparts with his grand vision for an Asia-Pacific Community, possibly by 2020, in a bid to boost the region's global influence.

Mr Rudd said that member nations needed to work more closely together, in particular on security.

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is also pushing his own plan for an East Asian community, a day after saying the region should aim to "lead the world."

Massive security and better planning allowed Thailand to stage a trouble-free Asian summit, after a meeting last year ended in fiasco when protesters storming the venue and foreign leaders fleeing by helicopter.

[Crazy_Dad]

I will happily fight this. It is just a last grab at any remaining natural wealth for the rich.
This Keven Rudd guy HAS TO GO!

The natural wealth is only wealth while it is natural. Once it becomes Armani or Sony, animals, plants and humans die.

[SeaGypsy]

Rudd is very important to Australia's position in the inevitable. Fluent in Cantonese and Hokien, his job is to get the richest in Singapore and Hong Kong to shift financial services to Australia. He must also regularly fellate the other regional leaders and pay for the privelege.