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November 29, 2024

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COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Jul 31, 2005

Only the names change as U.S. policy blunders on

By Roger Pulvers

Don't blame it on the neo-cons.

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 31, 2005

Believe what you will in the new Tibet

By Glyn Ford

BRUSSELS -- Any visit to Tibet is liable to leave you breathless. At Tibetan altitudes, oxygen is only 60 percent of what it is at sea level, with the result that it takes several days to acclimate. Yet it is clear from the start that Tibetan reality, at least on the surface, is very different from its...

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

Jul 31, 2005

Nature never tries to be nice

By Constantine Pleshakov

MOSCOW -- Planet Earth, aka Mother Nature, is a sturdy killer. Preachers, environmentalists and sunset lovers keep trying to persuade us that it is as benevolent and fragile as a loving aging parent. Not at all. The environment we live in is hard-nosed and violent -- hardly a mother figure but rather...

COMMENTARY

Jul 30, 2005

China: how threatening, and to whom?

By Tom Plate

LOS ANGELES -- Nations tend to act like alcoholics when it comes to military arms: The more, the merrier. What's more, they do not generally tend to adopt a healthier lifestyle and drink less as they become wealthier. Instead, they just consume a better quality of booze.

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 30, 2005

Africa: moving beyond chronic emergency

By Cesar Chelala

NEW YORK -- The current crisis in Niger, where 3.6 million people are at risk of starvation, shows how badly prepared the country is to respond to the emergency. The food shortage is affecting 800,000 children under age five in some 3,815 villages. Acute malnutrition rates have risen to 13.4 percent...

COMMENTARY

Jul 30, 2005

Chirac sees his fortunes slip

By Andre Fontaine

PARIS -- After a majority of French voters handed President Jacques Chirac a defeat by voting no in a referendum on the proposed EU constitution, he kept his fingers crossed in the hope that Paris would be chosen to host the 2012 Games. You can imagine his disappointment when the International Olympic...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 30, 2005

Balancing security and rights

By Ramesh Thakur

On July 23, Jean Charles de Menezes, a young Brazilian legally living and working in Britain, was killed at Stockwell Underground Station in a tragic case of mistaken identity. Police have confirmed he had no links whatsoever to terrorism. But he had come out of a house under surveillance by antiterrorist...

COMMENTARY

Jul 28, 2005

Whining won't ease 'burden'

By Robyn Lim

Why should the U.S. ambassador to Japan have to spell out how much Japan benefits from its alliance with the United States? The reason is that Japan's leaders remain incompetent in explaining vital security issues to the Japanese public, and so take the easy way out by bleating about the so-called burden...

COMMENTARY

Jul 27, 2005

Philippine crisis simmers

By Ronald Meinardus

MANILA -- One and a half months after audio tapes surfaced allegedly showing President Gloria Arroyo cheated her way into office, the Philippines' political crisis is far from settled. There is a general feeling that the country has entered a period of political stalemate. While Arroyo's supporters declare...

COMMENTARY

Jul 27, 2005

Calculating the costs of climate change

By David Howell

LONDON -- People who arrive at parties that are in full swing, and then ask who is paying and how much the party costs, are usually regarded as party poopers who should either keep their views to themselves or withdraw.

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 26, 2005

New Delhi and Washington grow closer

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

MADRAS, India -- It seems that India and the United States are finally on the same side. After years of mutual suspicion during the Cold War -- when New Delhi veered toward Moscow and Washington played the China card -- Indo-American relations appear set to follow a mature path and agenda.

COMMENTARY

Jul 26, 2005

Cutting butter with a saw?

By Takamitsu Sawa

The 2005 government white paper on the Japanese economy and public finances, which the Cabinet cleared earlier this month, has a chapter titled "From Public to Private: Restructuring the Government Sector and Its Challenges." It makes the following points:

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.

Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat

By Greg Dvorak

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono

The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono

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