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December 22, 2024
 

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Hal Brands
A truck pulls the head of a toppled statue of late Syrian President Hafez Assad, the father of ousted-President Bashar Assad, through the streets of Hama on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2024
Assad’s fall shows Russia, Iran and Hamas made a bad bet
That’s not to say the Middle East is entering a bright new era of peace. The collapse of Assad’s regime could cause a revival of the Islamic State.
A newly elected Donald Trump will encounter a changed Middle East where he will be forced to challenge Iran's influence and curb its nuclear ambitions — a path that is fraught with complications.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 15, 2024
Iran is much weaker than the last time it faced Trump
Today, Israel has crippled Hamas in Gaza, and in Lebanon, Hezbollah can still fire rockets, but Israel has decimated its leadership.
U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington on Sept. 26. There is increasing pressure in the U.S. for a negotiated settlement, but finding a viable peace solution amid Ukraine's deteriorating conditions is complex.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 30, 2024
Trump, Harris, Zelenskyy — no one’s plan will end the war
There is increasing pressure in the U.S. for a negotiated settlement, but finding a viable peace solution amid Ukraine's deteriorating conditions is complex.
Vladimir Putin is expected to continue using asymmetric tactics, such as covert operations, sabotage and cyberattacks, to destabilize Europe.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2024
Putin’s 'shadow war' against Europe is intensifying
Vladimir Putin is expected to continue using asymmetric tactics, such as covert operations, sabotage and cyberattacks, to destabilize Europe.
Iran holds its National Army Day parade in Tehran in April 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 25, 2023
U.S. must press its advantages over Iran or war will spread
The Hamas attack on Israel was a geopolitical earthquake. The aftershocks will reverberate for years to come.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 4, 2023
What Ukraine needs most — ammo
Fighter jets and high-tech missiles get the headlines, but the U.S. is on a global scavenger hunt for old-fashioned howitzer shells.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2023
Ukraine’s future is not in NATO
Ukraine won’t become a party to the NATO treaty, but it can expect a close and continuing partnership with Europe and the U.S.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2023
Big Ukraine war lesson: There’s only one superpower
The effort against Russia has illustrated what a world without American power would look like — and what it looks like when America uses its unmatched power well.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2022
Zelenskyy seeks victory. Will the U.S. pay the price?
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy was greeted in Congress with standing ovations. Yet even as his country's needs grow, the prospects for U.S. assistance will inevitably become less certain.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2022
Ukraine’s victories may become a problem for the U.S.
Washington has been a big winner from Moscow's fiasco in Ukraine — but a lengthy stalemate could become a huge burden.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2022
Take Putin’s nuclear threat seriously, but not too seriously
Few think the Russian leader would be foolish enough to escalate radically, but there's also a strong argument to be made that he's not bluffing.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2022
Russia’s war in Ukraine has echoes of the Soviet Union’s end
Empires like Russia — especially the biggest ones — don't end quickly or peacefully.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2022
Al-Zawahri killing was a great success of a bygone era
After 9/11, the U.S. built a man-hunting machine without parallel in human history. But today, its priorities lie elsewhere.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2022
The West must move east for NATO to survive
No matter what happens in the Ukraine war, the U.S. must persuade allies to move more troops and equipment permanently into states on Russia's borders.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 6, 2022
As Putin gets desperate, the world should remember Pearl Harbor
Economic sanctions are working now against Russia as they squeezed Japan before its war with the U.S. But the historical lesson is that they don't make adversaries less aggressive.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2022
What happens in Russia if Putin can’t win in Ukraine?
Russia has now been subjected to an isolation more sudden and total than that experienced by any major power in recent history. What that leads to may not be pretty.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2022
A losing and desperate Putin could be terrifying
By taking U.S. intervention off the table, the Biden administration may tempt just the sort of Russian escalation the world fears, especially if Putin becomes desperate.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2022
How Putin destroyed the three myths of America’s global order
Putin's gambit is producing an intellectual paradigm shift, a recognition that this war may be a prelude to more devastating conflicts unless democratic states respond.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 2, 2021
The Afghanistan war wasn’t a cynical misadventure
When once-good wars go bad, Americans tend to conclude that there was never anything redeeming about them in the first place.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 28, 2021
The Cold War playbook won’t help Alexei Navalny
That Navalny ended his hunger strike and his life isn't in imminent danger — for now — doesn't remove the underlying issue.
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.
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.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Mother hopes for reunion with daughter ensnared by Tokyo host clubs
The Kabukicho district in Tokyo, where the daughter of a woman in her 60s fell deeply into the host club culture.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
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.
Curiosity didn’t kill the meme: Why cats still rule Japanese YouTube
A screen shot from YouTube user @lagelda shows the simplicity of going viral in Japan in 2024: A cat dancing to EDM in front of a green screen.

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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