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Marc Champion
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 14, 2022
Russian troops risk repeating blunders if they try for May 9 win
Ukraine's allies see a two-week window before Russia unleashes an offensive designed to declare some sort of victory by the May 9 anniversary of Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 13, 2022
Russia faces hard-to-verify claims of chemical weapons use in Mariupol
U.S. and European officials have said that any Russian use of banned substances in Ukraine would be met with an immediate reaction.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 12, 2022
Europe moves to arm Ukraine as sanctions fail to sway Putin
The shift partly comes as European nations accept that sanctions have done little to crimp Russia's ability to fund its military operations.
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Apr 8, 2022
The race is on to rearm eastern front that may decide Ukraine war
As Russia refocuses its invasion of Ukraine on the east, recognition is growing in Kyiv and allied capitals that the window to prevent a long war of attrition may be narrow.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 30, 2022
Chemical weapons a high risk, low gain Ukraine option for Putin
Despite remote possibility, NATO has activated chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense elements as part of its defense plans.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 24, 2022
Zelenskyy’s virtual world tour proves a new weapon in Russia war
Badly out-gunned by Russia on land, in the air and at sea, the information war is the one arena in which Ukraine is clearly winning.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 23, 2022
Ukraine is changing the world order, just not how Putin hoped
From Berlin to London and Baltic capitals like Tallinn, the metrics of defending Europe have been torn up.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 18, 2022
Russia’s ruined game plan for Ukraine is visible in the south
Mariupol risks acquiring the totemic status of Vukovar or Sarajevo during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, sieges whose destruction and cruelty sparked indignation around much of the world.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 5, 2022
How Ukraine’s rail network threw Russia’s military off track
While Ukraine's forces have done a lot to foil the Kremlin's plan for a quick victory, so too have logistics, and in particular a lack of access to rail transport.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 2, 2022
Ukraine faces more brutal form of war as Russia regroups
After early failures, officials from the U.S. and allied nations expect more indiscriminate tactics as Russian forces seek to suppress resistance.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Feb 27, 2022
Putin races against clock as fast military advance is ‘frustrated’
Russia's plans for Ukraine face rapidly rising costs due to delays caused by tougher-than-expected resistance from forces on the ground, even as its military retains overwhelming advantages.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 26, 2022
Ukraine’s TV comedian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy finds his role as wartime leader
Zelenskyy may be among the least likely wartime leaders the world has known, yet he's winning praise in the role just when his political fortunes had been dwindling.
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Feb 3, 2022
A journey across Ukraine shows invasion would come at high price
The potentially ruinous cost of occupying a part of one of Europe's poorest countries explains why many Ukrainians believe Russia won't do it.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 16, 2022
Putin’s troops wouldn’t get cheers in this once pro-Russia city
When people in Mariupol imagine a future under Putin's rule, they no longer see a wealthier, more comfortable one in Russia, 48 kilometers away.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Nov 26, 2021
Mud could help decide timing of any move by Russia against Ukraine
The condition of terrain could create a window of diplomacy to steer President Vladimir Putin away from a war, analysts say.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 29, 2021
Russia has abandoned climate denial and that may prove awkward
However sincere the Kremlin's engagement may be, some initiatives lack detail, while others could drag wider geopolitical disputes into negotiations.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 8, 2021
Superpower rivalry and vaccine envy set stage for climate talks
U.S.-China tensions loom over COP26, as does the inequality between rich and poor countries in both COVID-19 response and climate finance.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 14, 2021
Taliban ‘conundrum’ forcing strange bedfellows on Afghanistan
World leaders one after another have called for international cooperation even as they jockey to gain influence in the great power vacuum that the U.S. departure has left behind.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 18, 2021
What countries will fight over when green energy dominates
Some experts predict that the end of an era defined by uneven access to fossil fuel deposits will produce a security dividend, similar to the one after the end of the Cold War.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2020
A virus to kill populism, or make it stronger?
Will the pandemic makes or break the populist leaders that the last global crisis gave rise to?

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals