It's time to see what's what amongst Asian blogs.

Richard and Crooked Timber show the kind of idiocy that passes for political discussion in Hong Kong. Another good reason the Liberals are destined for oblivion if universal sufferage ever arrives in HK. Is there any other place in the world where business has its own political party? Richard also points out another gem of Chinese hypocracy. DLT also points out a nasty piece of work on fear and freedom of speech in HK. Kamelian x-rays points out a bit of US law about Hong Kong. UPDATE: Conrad responds.

The Sassy Lawyer wonders who really wins in the Philippines elections. Durian Nation notes a potential split in Taiwan's KMT.

ALN points to some interesting economic research (yes, it does exist) and shows how the weather can influence perceptions of China (via T-Salon, which with the whole Sinosplice group is now blocked at workplace for no apparent reason).

Conrad rightly sees Giles' Best Blogs in Asia as part of Hong Kong's long tradition of intellectual property theft. There's little doubt that Phil's original Asia Blog Awards remain the widely-accepted benchmark by those that matter, namely bloggers and their readers. If Giles manages to gain exposure for sites, then all well and good. However I can't help but feel there were better ways to go about it than this.

I've already asked him, but what is it with Shaky and webcams? Harry gets Love Hotels, mirrored ceilings, round beds, TV and ninjas all into one post. Plus it's a handy way to see if the new Blogger links work.

Marmot suggests the setting up of a Living in Korea blogazine. Kamelian x-rays isn't convinced on the benefits, is experiencing a serious case of beal. The whole "Living in" series are a great blogging tool and Living in China is a good example of a blogazine and aggregator. For example look at the interesting article on the interaction between the English language and Chinese blogospheres.

Overall it seems like things are slow around Asian blogging at the moment. And it doesn't help I can't see any of the Sinoplice blogs. To make it worse, unipeak is blocked too...any other similar proxy servers around?