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August 15, 2024
 

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George Sioris
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2003
Encouraging signs from the Chinese world
CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- If one focuses on the totality of the Chinese world, there have been several positive signs recently. With international media attention generally fragmented, it perhaps would be worthwhile to try to compile a synthesis of what we have witnessed lately.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2003
No symmetry in annexations of Sikkim and Tibet
CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- In my last column, and in the aftermath of the recent high-level Sino-Indian talks in Beijing, we dealt with the issue of Tibet from a historical perspective. A parallel analytical exercise with regard to Sikkim would perhaps prove equally interesting.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2003
A Tibetan history lesson for China
CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- With India's recognition of the Tibet Autonomous Region as a part of China -- a corollary result of the recent talks in Beijing between Chinese and Indian leaders -- the region has ceased to be viewed as a historical buffer state between two Asian giants. This is of tremendous...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 2003
An offer Yangon's generals can't refuse
CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Two elements could become the basis of further efforts toward a Myanmar solution: an emerging uneasiness -- if not outright division -- among the generals in power over how to handle the growing following of the "the Lady" (democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi), and the long-awaited...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 22, 2003
A lifelong need for university reforms
CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- The chorus of university critics in general keeps increasing, both in numbers and intensity. In a way, the debate is natural -- as every institution seems to need adjustment in this cataclysmic era of globalization -- as well as beneficial for correcting eventual shortcomings...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 14, 2003
The Korea issue viewed from a distance
CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Far from being a Korean-issue pundit, the present writer would like to add some brief thoughts as he notices growing anxieties even further from the crucial zone of tensions.
COMMENTARY / World
May 25, 2003
Imagine there's convergence of religion
CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- In these turbulent times, when the term "religion" is so often hijacked by the proponents of its very antithesis -- namely, conflict and strife -- an academic initiative to discuss religious topics in the framework of globalization feels like a refreshing breeze. This welcome...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2003
From polarization to U.N. reconstruction
CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- A future historian will almost certainly view the current tragedy in Iraq more calmly than so many of today's analysts and commentators. As the drama is screened from sophisticated command rooms to the remotest television-equipped hut in a far corner of the world, emotions prevail...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 13, 2003
Siam's Greek Faulcon
FALCON: At the Court of Siam, by John Hoskin. Bangkok, Asia Books, 2002, 275 pp., 425 Baht (paper) Constantine Phaulkon, a famous Greek adventurer of the 17th century, who had a meteoric rise in King Narai's Siam (former name of Thailand) and an equally dramatic end, seems to continue attracting the...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 9, 2003
Glimpses of Indochina life 330 years ago
CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Against the current drama of the Iraqi issue, other national and regional developments seem to fade out of focus. One such "minor event" that is heading toward oblivion concerns the tiny landlocked country of Laos. At the beginning of the year, unexpected news from there made...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2003
Restructuring the U.N. Security Council
CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Although we live in an era of sad comparisons between the current status of the United Nations and the demise of the old League of Nations, let us hope and assume that the U.N. will survive its immense test without being relegated to "irrelevancy" and substituted by new formations...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2003
Ancient voices, timeless tales brought back to life
CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- "Thai" or "Tai"?
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 26, 2003
U.S. pursuit of a second ASEAN track
CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Analysts tend to classify U.S. policies toward Asia -- and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, in particular -- according to two irreconcilable stereotypes: the "unchangeable pattern," in which administrations come and go while fundamental American perceptions remain the...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2003
Thais create Buddhist studies landmark
CHIANG MAI -- Against a background of terror, conflicts and violence worldwide, during times when consumerism and materialism have been elevated as never before on pedestals surrounded by a divine aura, a small group of modest but dedicated Thai scholars, monks and nuns have worked quietly and efficiently...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2002
ASEM painfully short on substance
CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- ASEM, the Asia-Europe meeting process, was born in a climate of general euphoria in 1996 in Bangkok. The idea to bring together the combined potentials of the European Union and of several important Asian players looked promising and, fundamentally, it is still valid today.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2002
Blocs should transcend members' shortcomings
CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- As long as regional cooperation develops in various parts of the world, it is only natural that some concerns are voiced from time to time, especially about the composition of these groupings.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2002
Peacemaking efforts deserve applause
CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- International public opinion seems focused almost exclusively on the issue of Iraq these days while other important regional developments are relegated to the back burner. Among the developments that deserve greater attention are the moves toward peace in Sri Lanka.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 8, 2002
Let time bridge the China-Taiwan gap
CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Recent complications with regard to visits, or planned visits, by Taiwanese politicians to Indonesia and Thailand serve as new reminders of a most sensitive lingering East Asian issue. The purpose of this article is not to deal with the pluses and minuses of the visits but to...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2002
Managing Foreign Ministry's fault lines
CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- The drama at the Japanese Foreign Ministry is still unfolding with a multitude and variety of acts, inviting continuous comment and debate. I believe that certain aspects should be clarified before proceeding to a postmortem of the crisis or to estimates about the future. First,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 27, 2002
Prospects improve with Megawati at helm
CHIANG MAI, Thailand-- With President Megawati Sukarnoputri at the helm, the amount of sensational news coming out of Indonesia has somewhat subsided. This is a welcome development as too much media interest usually points to trouble.
Japan to revise consumption tax exemption for overseas tourists
Tourists walk through Nakamise shopping street near Sensoji Temple in Tokyo in April
Japan's tourism industry hit by cancellations after megaquake alert
A beach closed due to a megaquake alert in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, from Friday to Thursday.
Focus shifts to incoming typhoon as Tropical Storm Maria dissipates
Newly formed Tropical Storm Ampil, which is forecast to approach eastern Japan this weekend, is seen on the left side of this satellite image.
Kishida to step down in September in bid to show ‘LDP has changed’
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
Publisher finds surprise audience after translating history textbooks
Yamakawa Shuppansha president Takeshi Nozawa holds the publisher's textbook on Japanese history — used in high schools across Japan — alongside the new English version in Tokyo on May 23.
Economic security is about strengthening and sustaining growth, former minister says
Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi says changes in the international balance of power, along with deepening economic interdependence, have led some countries to attempt to use their economic power to impose their will on others.
Ice bandanas, convenience store breaks: Running under Japan’s summer sun
Blistering heat is becoming a fixture of summer in Japan, but a few tweaks to your routine can make your outdoor runs bearable — if not enjoyable — until cooler temperatures return.
Japan issued its first-ever megaquake alert. What does that mean?
Naoshi Hirata (center), chairman of a committee tasked with evaluating the risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
France brings down the curtain on its Olympic party with Tom Cruise and Leon Marchand
Fireworks are set off during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics at Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday.

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