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 Ramesh Thakur

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Ramesh Thakur
Ramesh Thakur is Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University; adjunct professor, Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law, Griffith University, and editor-in-chief of Global Governance from Jan. 1, 2013. He began writing for The Japan Times in 1998 as Vice Rector of the United Nations University.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 17, 2016
Secretary-general for the world
Incoming U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres possesses a rare combination of background, skills and experiences highly relevant to leading the United Nations.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2016
Pathways to a catastrophic India-Pakistan nuclear war
While neither side wants to start a nuclear conflict, miscalculations, rogue launches, misinformation and jihadist provocations could spark one.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2016
Holding Pakistan to account
Pakistan's military must be brought under full civilian control and its links to all Islamist militants — including those directed against India and nurtured as such by the military-intelligence complex — severed.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 6, 2016
Australia's gulag of shame
It's sometimes horrifyingly easy for decent people to allow inhumanity to be inflicted by refusing to see what is before their eyes.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 22, 2016
A 'no first use' policy' is safer
A 'no first use' nuclear policy lowers nuclear temptations, deepens strategic stability and reduces nuclear threats.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2016
Reform elected membership of the U.N. Security Council
Expanding the U.N. Security Council's elected membership and increasing their terms could make the body more effective.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2016
Refusal to nominate Rudd betrays Turnbull's weakness
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's rejection of Kevin Rudd's quest to lead the U.N. is a sorry reminder of the creeping U.S.-style partisanship of Australian politics.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 20, 2016
China takes lesson from U.S.
China is proving just how good and diligent a pupil it has been in internalizing U.S. lessons on how a great power should conduct itself internationally.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2016
Lessons of the Chilcot report
The Chilcot report demolishes Tony Blair's sham justifications for embroiling the U.K. in possibly the most disastrous war of the modern era.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 28, 2016
Quo vadis, Little England?
The economic wreckage of globalization has generated a massive backlash and claimed its first casualty.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 13, 2016
Aim for growth and fairness
Like all countries, Australia needs both economic growth overall and the benefits of that to be shared equitably by all.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 20, 2016
Obama has an opportunity to inspire in Hiroshima
Barack Obama's visit to Hiroshima will be pregnant with deep symbolism that will resonate not just in Japan and America but the whole wide world.
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2016
Canada's thorny arms deal
An arms deal with Saudi Arabia brings into sharp relief the collision between Canada's self-righteous national identity and a self-interested foreign policy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 1, 2016
Jobs help sink Japan's sub bid
In the end the government was not prepared to pay the biggest political cost of all, which is domestic electoral consequences of any decision that laid waste to still more manufacturing jobs in the state of South Australia.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 6, 2016
Taking stock of the final Nuclear Security Summit
Although the final Nuclear Security Summit has concluded, efforts to combat the threat of nuclear terrorism must continue.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2016
Drawing the right lessons from wars and interventions
Multilateralism may have its imperfections and shortcomings, but like old age it is still better than the alternative.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 14, 2016
Australia's defense in the age of a rising China
If the U.S. and Australia want China to respect rules-based regional and global orders, they had better learn to do so themselves.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 8, 2016
Donald Trump's secret? Stick it to the snobs and scolds
Fed up with the status quo, millions of Americans are ready to vote for an in-your-face champion who will stick it to the elites and political correctness warriors.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 20, 2016
No nation should fight atrocities alone
The doctrine of the responsibility to protect (R2P) does not guarantee the world will act when atrocities occur, but the chances of a better outcome increase when it is used.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2016
The eight deadly nuclear sins
Nearly 46 years after the Non-Proliferation Treaty went into effect, the international community is no closer to the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons.

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