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November 22, 2024
 

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Andreas Kluth
While some theorize that U.S. President Joe Biden's authorization for missile strikes in Russia is an attempt to "Trump-proof" U.S. policy but the more likely intent is responsible statecraft, providing the president-elect with a stronger hand in upcoming geopolitical dealings.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 21, 2024
With U.S. missile approval, Trump inherits a stronger Ukraine
U.S. President Biden’s permission for Ukraine to use ATACMS was long overdue but by itself won’t make a decisive military difference.
Feeling overshadowed by U.S. elections, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un might conduct a nuclear test, fire missiles, annul the Korean War armistice or demand territorial concessions.
COMMENTARY
Sep 23, 2024
Kim Jong Un will have his October surprise
Feeling overshadowed by U.S. elections, Kim Jong Un might conduct a nuclear test, fire missiles, annul the Korean War armistice or demand territorial concessions.
The scariest aspect of America’s recent debate is that Trump’s over-the-top comments revealed a serious risk that needs global attention, not just in the U.S.
COMMENTARY
Sep 15, 2024
Trump is right about WWIII, wrong on the analysis
The risks of nuclear war go beyond campaign hyperbole. What, though, should the U.S. do? Prepare for World War III? If it’s coming anyway, that would seem prudent.
The deepening rift and growing geopolitical divide between the United States and Europe threatens the trans-Atlantic alliance.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 13, 2024
The U.S. will abandon Europe. But when and how?
The deepening rift and growing geopolitical divide between the United States and Europe threatens the trans-Atlantic alliance.
Instead of secretly arming against the combined nuclear forces of China, Russia and North Korea, the U.S. must launch a global campaign to restart arms control.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2024
Why is the U.S. fighting nuclear threats behind closed doors?
Secret armaments or doctrinal shifts without public messaging will only make adversaries more paranoid and a full-on arms race all but inevitable.
The U.S. will no longer view itself through the lens of exceptionalism, regardless of whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden wins the next election.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2024
American exceptionalism is dead no matter who wins the election
The U.S. will no longer view itself through the lens of exceptionalism regardless of the presidential election's outcome, focusing instead on its narrow self-interests.
This proliferation of American alliances is not tangential, but central to the foreign policy of U.S. President Joe Biden.
COMMENTARY
Jun 12, 2024
America has many allies. Maybe too many.
This proliferation of American alliances is not tangential, but central to the foreign policy of President Joe Biden.
Even if the ICC issues arrests warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the leaders of Hamas, there’s little risk of them being detained as neither the U.S. nor Israel are signatories to the Rome Statute that established the court.
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2024
Biden's defense of Netanyahu undermines the ICC — and hurts the U.S.
If the U.S. scorns the court it helped create in the 1990s, it will undermine the international regime of law and order that it claims to defend.
Palestinian women in Gaza sit amid the rubble of a residential building they once lived in, which was destroyed by an Israeli raid earlier this month.
COMMENTARY
Apr 25, 2024
Biden must prove he doesn't have a double standard for Israel
If the U.S. wants to convince the world that it doesn't have a double standard, it should condition military aid to Israel on its use of American weapons.
U.S. President Joe Biden welcomes Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during an arrival ceremony at the White House on Wednesday. The two leaders are also meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, where defense ties between the three nations were set to be high on the agenda. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 11, 2024
Hail to the minilateral chiefs: Biden, Kishida and Marcos
This week the U.S. keeps building NATO 2.0 in the Indo-Pacific, even as it prepares to improve NATO 1.0 in July.
During a rally in New York on Nov. 6, protesters call for a cease-fire in Gaza. U.S. President Biden should ensure that Israel abides by a March 25 U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2024
Biden must show Netanyahu that enough is enough
How can the U.S. president take the moral high ground if he allows Netanyahu to continue disregarding civilian life in Gaza, while arming Israeli soldiers?
Activists opposed to lethal autonomous weapons, or so-called killer robots, protest in Berlin in March 2019.
COMMENTARY
Mar 27, 2024
Don’t fear AI in war, fear autonomous weapons
It’s not the algorithmic intelligence in our weapons and nukes but automaticity that poses an existential risk.
U.S. President Joe Biden (right) is welcomed to Israel by the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. The relationship between the two leaders has since soured.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2024
Biden and Netanyahu are going from frenemies to enemies
President Biden has warned the Israeli prime minister about crossing a red line, but that may cause more trouble than good, as history teaches us.
A law making its way through the U.S. Congress would authorize the confiscation of billions of dollars in frozen assets owned by the Russian central bank, that would then be handed over to Ukraine as compensation for the war.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2024
Seizing Russia's central bank funds is illegal and unwise
A big question about giving Ukraine seized Russian funds is would such an asset grab break international law?
The International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2023
International law, warts and all, is still better than no law
However imperfect, international law makes life for many people less nasty, brutish and short than it would otherwise be
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield addresses an emergency session on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the United Nations headquarters on Oct. 27.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 3, 2023
Where’s the United Nations in all this? Oh, right, nowhere.
In times of crisis, the United Nations turns into a Babel in which everybody distrusts everybody else and finding common ground becomes impossible.
A demonstration in support of Ukraine in Tel Aviv in March 2022
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2023
Israel and Ukraine are linked, and the U.S. must stand with both
Ukraine and Israel are at the forefront of the battle between freedom and tyranny.
Israeli soldiers examine the remains of a police station where a battle took place following a mass infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip in Sderot, Israel, on Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 8, 2023
Hamas torches Biden’s deal to remake the Middle East
In a surprise attack, Hamas fired thousands of rockets from Gaza into Israel, killing dozens and and leaving some areas looking like war-torn Ukraine.
Ukrainian and Russian forces fight for control of the city of Bakhmut in May. Elon Musk asked why so many American lawmakers care more about what happens in Ukraine than the migrant crisis at the U.S. border.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2023
Message for Elon: We must keep supporting Ukraine
Elon Musk asked, "Why do so many American politicians from both parties care 100 times more about the Ukraine border than the USA border?”
Supporters of Niger's National Council of Safeguard of the Homeland wave a flag of the private Wagner military company during a protest near the capital Niamey on Sept. 16.
COMMENTARY
Sep 30, 2023
If the U.S. exits Niger, the terrorists and Russians win
What transpired in Niamey was obviously a coup. Nonetheless, the U.S. has global responsibilities that require it to stay in Niger.
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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