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December 23, 2024
 

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Shlomo Avineri
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2019
The roots of right-wing dominance in Israel
There are important structural reasons for Likud's durability in power, and a strong economy is just the start.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2016
The death of Turkish secularism
Will President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continue to pursue his authoritarian path or will he reach out to his opponents and attempt to bridge the deep fissures in Turkish society?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2015
Where Barack Obama went wrong on Iran
The 'success' of President Barack Obama's approach to the Iran nuclear problem has left the future of the region blurrier than ever.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 18, 2015
The future of Netanyahu and the Jewish state
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared politically unassailable until the abrupt resignation of two Cabinet ministers and the inconclusive war in Gaza.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2014
The Middle East crack-up
The horror stories emerging from northern Iraq, as well as the continuing slaughter in Syria's civil war, point to the unraveling of the state system established after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire almost 100 years ago.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 9, 2013
The great American losing streak in the Mideast
Western statesmen are right to congratulate themselves on averting an immediate major crisis with Iran, but they are wrong to believe that they have resolved the nuclear threat.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 18, 2013
The remaking of the Middle East
It is the state system established by the European imperial powers, not merely regimes, that is unraveling in the Middle East.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2012
Is it an Arab spring for new borders?
Two things stand out in the Middle East since the Arab Spring began — one that happened, and one that did not. What happened was that for the first time in modern Arab history, authoritarian regimes and rulers were toppled, or seriously challenged, by popular demonstrations, not — as in the past...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2011
Neighbors warily eye a more muscular Turkey
The recent surge in Turkey's military actions against the Kurds in northern Iraq is an indication that, somewhat surprisingly — but not entirely unpredictably — Turkish foreign policy has undergone a 180-degree turn in less than two years. The Turkish offensive is also an indication that these changes...
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2011
The long road to Arab democracy
During the turmoil of the French Revolution, a popular saying arose: "How beautiful was the republic — under the monarchy." The revolution aimed at achieving liberty, equality and fraternity. Instead, it wrought for France Jacobin terror, rightwing counterterror, decades of war and then Napoleonic...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 9, 2010
Actions belie Turkey's 'zero conflict' policy
JERUSALEM — A few months before he became Turkey's foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's chief adviser, met with a group of Middle Eastern academics and policy experts, including Arabs and Israelis. With his academic background and immense erudition, he succeeded...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 13, 2010
Palestinians preparing for 'independence'
JERUSALEM — Although the crisis over Israel's naval interventions to defend its blockade of Gaza is gaining all the headlines around the world, something of far more historic importance is taking place in the Middle East. The Palestine National Authority is preparing to issue a unilateral declaration...
COMMENTARY / World
May 25, 2008
Recognizing the limits of American influence
JERUSALEM — Israel's 60th anniversary has come and gone. So, too, has President George W. Bush's final visit to the Middle East. Amid the celebrations and the soul-searching, no meaningful breakthrough in the deadlocked Israeli-Palestinian negotiations is visible.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 19, 2007
Palestinians still paying for past failures
PRAGUE — Every week, it seems, brings another backward step for Palestine. President Mahmoud Abbas' failure to convene the Palestinian Legislative Assembly, due to a Hamas boycott, may lead inexorably to the final breakdown of the political structures created under the Oslo Accords.
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 2007
Will Ehud Olmert survive?
JERUSALEM — After Israel's inability last summer to achieve a conclusive victory over Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, public pressure forced Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government to appoint a commission to examine the causes of this surprising failure. How could a small militia, numbering less than...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 22, 2006
Putting Lebanon back together again
LONDON -- Today's crisis in Lebanon is a crisis of the Lebanese state. It is this structural crisis that must be addressed if the violence is to stop.
Bankruptcies and suicides rise as Japanese struggle with mounting debt
Lawyers estimate that personal bankruptcies in Japan are on track to reach the highest since 2012 this year.
Honda and Nissan consider mutual production of vehicles, report says
Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe at the Japan Mobility Show 2023 at Tokyo Big Sight in October 2023.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Nippon Steel alleges undue White House influence on doomed deal review
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Dec. 10.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
By Alex K.T. Martin

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