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COMMENTARY

Jun 29, 2007

Chief executive who serves two masters

By Tom Plate and Jonathan Cable

This is the first in a series of columns on the political and economic status of Hong Kong. On Sunday, the former British crown colony will mark its 10th anniversary as a special province of China.

COMMENTARY

Jun 29, 2007

Hope for six-party talks lives

By Ralph Cossa

SEOUL — It's not exactly clear what Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Hill told (or promised) North Korean officials during his surprise visit to Pyongyang last week — or if the mere continuation of the long sought after one-on-one direct dialogue was sufficient — but the DPRK has finally...

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 28, 2007

China, Russia in the new world disorder

By Dominique Moisi

WARSAW — Can Kosovo achieve independence from Serbia without the tacit consent of Russia, and can there be a humanitarian and political solution to the tragedy in Darfur without the active good will of China? The two crises have nothing in common, but their resolution will depend in large part on whether...

COMMENTARY

Jun 28, 2007

Put yourself in China's shoes

By Gwynne Dyer

LONDON — The United States is off the hook: last year China overtook the U.S. to become the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide. "The tall tree attracts the wind," and from now on China will be the main target of the criticism that used to be directed at the U.S. for refusing to accept binding...

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 28, 2007

Just who is Gordon Brown?

By Ian Davidson

BRUSSELS — At long last, Gordon Brown is taking over from Tony Blair as Britain's prime minister, thus attaining his lifelong ambition, as if by right. That is his first problem. He has not been elected by anyone — not by the Labour Party, and not by Britain's voters; he has merely come into an inheritance...

COMMENTARY

Jun 27, 2007

Battle for the European Union's identity

By David Howell

LONDON -- The latest battle of Brussels is over and news of the outcome is circulating through the capitals of the European Union. But unlike the ferocious battles of past centuries on European soil, this appears to be an engagement that everyone has won.

COMMENTARY

Jun 26, 2007

China aims for bigger share of South Asia's water lifeline

By Brahma Chellaney

NEW DELHI — Sharpening Asian competition over energy resources, driven in part by high growth rates in gross domestic product and in part by mercantilist attempts to lock up supplies, has obscured another danger: Water shortages in much of Asia are beginning to threaten rapid economic modernization,...

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 26, 2007

Lions and tigers and the foibles of men

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

MADRAS, India — The Chinese now appear to be turning to Indian lions since a terrifying number of tigers have been killed for their body parts, which are sold to make medicines and even aphrodisiacs.

COMMENTARY

Jun 25, 2007

Ways to steer public opinion

By Kiroku Hanai

Since last year, moves by the government to sway public opinion in favor of its policies have come to the fore one after another. On June 6, the Japan Communist Party revealed that the Ground Self-Defense Force's intelligence security unit had gathered information on the activities of organizations and...

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 25, 2007

Tobacco watch on public health policy

By Bobby Ramakant

BANGKOK — A powerful consensus is emerging among health advocates and public officials around the world that the tobacco industry should not have any influence on public health policies.

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK

Jun 25, 2007

Haiku appreciation at the United Nations

By Hiroaki Sato

NEW YORK — This month I was judge of the Japanese division of the haiku contest sponsored by the United Nations International School (UNIS). John Stevenson, editor of Frogpond, the magazine of the Haiku Society of America, judged the haiku written in English.

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Jun 24, 2007

Maj. Gen. Okada: a rare leader who took the blame

By Roger Pulvers

How do you make an anti-war film? I don't mean those gore-driven "war is hell" spectaculars that often seem like a sub-genre of horror movies. I am referring to a work that prompts people in any country to say, "We must never allow this sort of thing to happen again — not to our own people and not...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.

The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan

By Johan Brooks

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BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)

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