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November 22, 2024
 

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Leonid Bershidsky
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2014
Give Putin's peace a chance to aid Ukrainians
Following Russian President Vladimir Putin's seven-point plan would at least stave off the defeat of Ukraine's ragtag army at the hands of crack Russian troops and bring some order to eastern Ukraine. The U.S. and Europe should back the plan.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 3, 2014
The West must decide whether Putin is Hitler
The West faces a dilemma now that Russian President Vladimir Putin has demonstrated his willingness to win at any cost in Ukraine: Does it, too, go all in, or does it admit Putin's de-facto sovereignty over Russia's post-Soviet neighbors?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 2, 2014
Moscow views world as war theater
Even if Ukraine is defeated militarily, that's just one small battle won in an eternal, multi-modal war that Russia is fighting against the West because Russia's leadership is convinced the West is waging one against Russia.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2014
Russians change game in Ukraine
Anecdotal information about troops' funerals and reports from the Russian Soldiers' Mothers' Committee indicate that the second front opened by Russian troops against the Ukrainian army comprise elite airborne units.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2014
Putin's bluff in Ukraine has become untenable
Despite increasingly surreal disavowals from Moscow, it is now apparent just how invested Russian President Vladimir Putin is in the outcome of the eastern Ukraine conflict. That investment terrifies Europe and the U.S., which have no desire to match it.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2014
Watch women win more mathematics prizes
Stereotyped notions of what men and women should study at university may be about to change. A U.S. education report shows that — between 2003 and 2009 — men had a higher rate of dropping or changing their majors than women in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2014
A Wi-Fi router could flood your house
Pretty much all home Wi-Fi routers can be hacked, which is a problem if you've already adopted connected light bulbs and faucets.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 9, 2014
A Russian bureaucrat rebels on Facebook
President Vladimir Putin's standoff with the West, which has turned Russia into a corporate state in defensive mode, makes the rebellion of a lone bureaucrat in the Economics Ministry all the more impressive.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2014
Why emerging world leaders are so like Putin
The leaders of some of the biggest developing nations — China, India, Turkey, South Africa — are increasingly acting like Russian President Vladimir Putin. It may be that the West will have to compete with a new strain of authoritarianism.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 5, 2014
Putin's friends want to build fortress Russia
If anyone expected Western sanctions against Russia to give President Vladimir Putin pause or to damp his imperialist fervor, they hadn't counted on Russian elites acting like a hedgehog when threatened: roll into a ball and stick out quills.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 4, 2014
Russia sanctions will hurt innocent companies
For all the West's efforts to punish companies close to Russian President Vladimir Putin with financial sanctions, it's the blameless private companies that will probably suffer the most.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 29, 2014
Russia will pay a steep price for Putin victories
Russians may not yet understand that they are going to have to pay for Vladimir Putin's confiscations and annexations, starting perhaps with the $50 billion that the Permanent Court of Arbitration has just ordered Russia to pay to shareholders of the dismantled oil company Yukos.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2014
Putin might have just killed Russia's brand
Has the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 put Russia on its way to taking on the Soviet Union's one-time status as an object of fear and hatred?
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2014
Airline deaths won't end conflict in Ukraine
Thanks to a perverse kind of geographical bias, the downing of MH17 won't put an end to the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 18, 2014
Flight MH17 and the role of Ukraine's rebels
The Ukraine crisis is an emotional, dirty, ad-hoc war and a major accident waiting to happen. The only solution is for professionals to intervene, separate the sides and oversee their disarmament.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2014
Kremlin's expensive trip down memory lane
Moscow is preparing to spend billions of dollars to restart construction on the storied and ill-starred Baikal-Amur Mainline railroad. Sadly Vladimir Putin's nostalgia will come at great cost to the country's pension system.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 11, 2014
Germany's triumph in Brazil was no surprise
Everything about the 7-1 German victory over Brazil in a World Cup semifinal was logical and even overdue. The entire German soccer system has been working toward this moment since 2001.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2014
Shevardnadze's lessons for the West
Eduard Shevardnadze, the former Soviet foreign minister and Georgian president who died Monday at 86, was not an effective leader, but if Western leaders had paid closer attention to what he said when he was alive, they would have been better prepared for today's crisis in Ukraine.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2014
U.K.'s David Cameron loses and so does the EU
The U.K. and the EU may well part ways simply because that's the way the tide is going. Like Jean-Claude Juncker's selection to lead the European Commission despite British Prime Minister David Cameron's objections, it's beginning to look like predestination.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 27, 2014
Putin ready to go to stealth mode in Ukraine
President Vladimir Putin's cancellation of his mandate to send troops into Ukraine pushed up Russian stocks and bonds this week. Now he is ready to enter the quiet phase of his Ukraine operation.
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.
Russia launched intercontinental ballistic missile during attack on Ukraine, Kyiv says
A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile is launched during a test from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in Northern Arkhangelsk region of Russia, in this still image captured from video released on Oct. 29.
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.
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.

Podcast

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

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