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November 22, 2024
 

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Gautaman Bhaskaran
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 21, 2001
Assault on India's symbol could fan new winds of war
T he Dec. 13 terrorist raid on India's Parliament in New Delhi has understandably drawn parallels with what happened in New York and the Pentagon on Sept. 11.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 18, 2001
Japan, India forging a counterbalance
India's explosion of a nuclear device in 1998 marred a fledgling relationship that New Delhi had had with Tokyo. Japan took the lead in condemning India at just about every world forum. This hit India hard diplomatically, and Tokyo's clamping severe economic sanctions against India had still greater...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 14, 2001
Sri Lanka's chance of ending conflict is bigger than ever
Ranil Wickremesinghe, the newly installed Sri Lankan prime minister, has been in a tense struggle to form a government of national consensus.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2001
Death penalty: an ineffective shortcut
A state-sponsored killing cannot be condoned under any circumstances. It is as barbaric and brutal as the one that an individual or a group of people may have committed. It is in this context that some U.S. doctors' willingness to help execute those prisoners condemned to die by giving them a lethal...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 7, 2001
Maoists try to undermine Nepal's ties with neighbors
T he latest Maoist turbulence in Nepal is yet another chapter in the Himalayan kingdom's recent history of bloodshed and carnage, which began with the palace massacre in early June.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 1, 2001
The looming specter of nuclear terror
The fall of Kabul merely adds to the woes of a world that is increasingly worrying about deadly nuclear weapons falling into the hands of desperadoes.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 30, 2001
Cheers for Bhutto in Delhi a reminder of region's shifty politics
Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan's former president, played the rights cards during her seven-year reign, endearing her to India while ensuring that she was not alienated from her own people.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 18, 2001
Dismal outlook for Sri Lanka's president
The political crisis is Sri Lanka appears to be worsening, and in the latest government's call for a ceasefire with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam -- fighting a long and bloody battle for the independence of the island's minority Tamil-speaking population -- one can sense a state of near panic,...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 9, 2001
Harassed leaders could play Kashmir card
T here is increasing concern that and the ongoing war in Afghanistan may well give India and Pakistan yet another reason to start a new war over Kashmir, a region they both claim as their own. In recent weeks, they have locked themselves deeper in their border conflict. Both countries, which have fought...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 24, 2001
Ideologues assault pluralistic curricula
Bitter controversies over history textbooks are not limited to Japan, where recent government approval of a new volume has provoked an uproar in South Korea and China, and, although with a more muted response, in Southeast Asia. In India, the government's effort to foist Hinduism on educational institutions...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2001
India's hardliners wait as pressures wear out premier
When the Agra summit between India and Pakistan failed last month, it was widely feared that its biggest victim would be the Indian prime minister: Atal Bihari Vajpayee might have to go.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2001
Shades of hubris in Kumaratunga's political offensive
NEW DELHI -- The July 24 rebel attack on Sri Lanka's only international airport at Colombo further underscored that peace cannot be easily achieved in the island nation that has witnessed an ethnic crisis for almost two decades now. The minority Tamil-speaking people have been demanding an independent...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 27, 2001
Jihad-inspired bloodletting in Kashmir stifles all peace moves
NEW DELHI -- Recent massacres in Kashmir share one feature: they are massacres of innocents, of men, women and children who have no political affiliations or aspirations. Their only crime was that they chose to live in Kashmir or happen to be passing through the state.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 29, 2001
Musharraf feathers military's power nest
NEW DELHI -- Everybody had expected Pakistan's chief executive, Pervez Musharraf, to appoint himself president. When that happened on June 20, most of the world -- barring the United States, which made a big noise -- accepted Musharraf's new title without batting an eyelid.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 22, 2001
Musharraf confronts the Kashmir folly
NEW DELHI -- Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's invitation to Pakistan's military ruler and now president, Pervez Musharraf, for talks -- after refusing to do so for two years -- is the best one could have hoped for in the volatile, nuclear-charged subcontinent.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 8, 2001
A prince who loved women and guns shatters course of a dynasty
NEW DELHI -- The massacre in Nepal's royal palace is intriguing to the core.
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 2001
BJP's bond with nationalists quietly eases
NEW DELHI -- India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has now begun to play a tune which is embarrassingly jarring to its much-touted Hindutva ("Hinduness") policy.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 27, 2001
India can't afford another border enemy
NEW DELHI -- India helped liberate Bangladesh from the tyrannical rule of Pakistan some three decades ago, but ties between the two neighbors have often been marked by suspicion, even hostility. This animosity have its roots in a boundary dispute and a smuggling issue, as well as illegal migration by...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2001
Indian politicians bought for a few good lakhs
NEW DELHI -- Time was when India's politicians never tired of bragging about their country's Internet revolution. But what happened the other week must have stopped them in their tracks and got them wondering whether such development was good for their political games and intrigues.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2001
Has cycle of peace begun?
NEW DELHI -- Sri Lanka's 18-year-old bloody ethnic crisis between Tamils demanding an independent homeland and the government has always been marked by hope. Even during some of the darkest days of the strife a little over a decade ago, there was always a glimmer of light. Then, New Delhi interfered...
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

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