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COMMENTARY

Dec 31, 2008

Good riddance to a bad year

By Gwynne Dyer

If U.S. President-elect Barack Obama can walk on water, then change really is coming to the United States and the world. If there are no more big unexploded bombs buried in the world's financial systems, then this may be just an ordinary recession. But the most telling image of 2008 was Iraqi journalist...

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 31, 2008

China flexes naval muscle

By Michael Richardson

SINGAPORE — Two Chinese destroyers and a supply ship are on their way to join other foreign warships on anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somalia. This is a milestone for a navy that has long focused on coastal defense and lacked the capability to project power overseas.

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 30, 2008

Making nice in Asia during a global slump

By Michael Richardson

SINGAPORE — Global financial dislocation and the economic slump are putting Asian regional cooperation to the test. They also appear to be shaping somewhat different responses in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia. The latter, which formed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations way back in 1967,...

COMMENTARY

Dec 30, 2008

No sign of a 'peace agreement'

By Hisahiko Okazaki

More than six months have passed since the presidential election in Taiwan. After a hiatus of eight years, the Kuomintang is in power. This actually represents the restoration of the mainland-lineage forces for the first time in 20 years — if you count the Lee Teng-hui era as rule by non-mainland-lineage...

COMMENTARY

Dec 29, 2008

New Afghan strategy will compound U.S. problem

By Brahma Chellaney

Even before U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has been sworn in, the contours of his new strategy on Afghanistan have become known: A "surge" of U.S. forces, not to militarily rout the Taliban but to strike a political deal with the enemy from a position of strength.

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 29, 2008

Deng legacy after 30 years

By Rodolfo C. Severino

SINGAPORE — The approaching close of 2008 should remind us of the day 30 years ago that marked the onset of a chain of events that was to alter the course of Asian — and human — history.

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK

Dec 29, 2008

Suppressing more than free speech

By Hiroaki Sato

I recently read a book that, a decade ago, created a controversy in Japan about homosexuality. In it the prize-winning writer Jiro Fukushima described his sexual relationship with Yukio Mishima dating from 1951.

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 29, 2008

Will Europe rise to the Obama opportunity?

By Dominique Moisi

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Will 2009 and the beginning of Barack Obama's U.S. presidency mark the beginning of a new era in trans-Atlantic relations, or will the old divisions linger, nurtured by the depth and gravity of the economic crisis? Will the crisis lead to nationalistic and selfish attitudes on both...

COMMENTARY

Dec 28, 2008

China destined to be America's best friend

By Tom Plate

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — When the holiday season ends and Barack Obama takes the U.S. presidential oath of office next month, will he notice that life has become less merry and more naughty and un-nice? This brilliant American politician will soon become aware that suddenly everyone wants to be his...

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 28, 2008

Hope for Thai democracy

By Kevin Rafferty

HONG KONG — Abhisit Vejjajiva seems the least likely person to rescue Thailand from what commentators claim are the death throes of democracy. He is boyish-looking, physically slight, has no commanding military or police connections, no reputation for wheeling and dealing, and was foreign born and...

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Dec 28, 2008

'The noise of time' ensures that art's unbowed spirit is heard

By Roger Pulvers

We live apart from our land Our words dying at 10 paces And anything put edgewise Concerns the Kremlin backwoodsman His coarse fingers are thick, like worms His statements trusty, like the weights on a scale Cockroaches smile on his upper lip And the rims of his shoes blind He is surrounded by a flock...

COMMENTARY

Dec 27, 2008

Is the end of oil in sight?

By Gwynne Dyer

Worried about "peak oil?" The International Energy Agency's annual report, "The World Energy Outlook 2008," admits for the first time that "although global oil production in total is not expected to peak before 2030, production of conventional oil . . . is projected to level off toward the end of the...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Passengers that were on a morning train attacked by members of the Aum Shinrikyo group wait for medical assistance outside Kasumigaseki Station on March 20,1995.

The day a religious cult brought terror to Tokyo

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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Cainz enriches lives and communities through DIY

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