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COMMENTARY / World

Sep 25, 2006

Pope showed bias in misguided moment

By Kevin Rafferty

HONG KONG -- What theological devil tempted Pope Benedict XVI earlier this month to make a byzantine reference to a long-forgotten Christian emperor who, under siege in Constantinople (now Istanbul) from Muslim forces, made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad's instruction to spread Islam by...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 25, 2006

What's in store for Thailand?

By Ramesh Thakur

During a conference in Bangkok in August, signs of a three-way tussle among Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, his political opponents and the military were already evident. For example, a former army chief who remains influential as an adviser to the king made a point of wearing the uniform while addressing...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 24, 2006

The art of making classical music fans

By Melvyn Krauss

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- September is traditionally the time when opera companies and orchestras return to their home cities from Aix, Salzburg, Tanglewood and countless other summer festivals. This is also marked (on both sides of the Atlantic) by the return of worries about how classical music is financed....

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 24, 2006

Japan needs a Willy Brandt

By Bernhard May

BERLIN -- Junichiro Koizumi will resign as the Japanese prime minister at the end of this month and be replaced by Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe. Koizumi became prime minister in April 2001. After more than five years as prime minister, Koizumi's political record is checkered: He achieved big successes...

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Sep 24, 2006

Japan's hordes of hoarders still look to their navel nest eggs

By Roger Pulvers

I have spent nearly 40 years writing about Japan, virtually all of the time trying to show how Japanese people are really no different from other nationalities. But, by God, there is one aspect of Japanese life that makes this country unique. I defy any reader to name a society that has a custom like...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 22, 2006

India's song of freedom creates a divide

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

MADRAS, India -- India has a national song, and a national anthem. The first, "Vande Mataram (Salute to the Mother)," signified the cry for freedom from British brutality. The song pushed the nation into a nationalistic frenzy that often caused fear and panic among the occupying British forces. The first...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 21, 2006

The next Palestinian struggle

By Ramzy Baroud

LONDON -- An expert in international law and an old friend of the Palestinian people wrote me with utter distress a few days after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh were reported to have reached an agreement Sept. 11 to form a national unity government. The content...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 21, 2006

The world's biggest mystery

By David Wall

LONDON -- In a recent opinion poll in Russia carried out by the Yury Levada Analytical Center, 58 percent of the respondents said they believe that "non-Russian nationalities are to blame for many of Russia's misfortunes"; 52 percent said they thought the government should restrict immigration.

COMMENTARY

Sep 19, 2006

Ugly finale to bogus pretexts

By Gregory Clark

The fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on New York's World Trade Center by Islamic militants has come and gone, leaving some glaring contrasts in its wake.

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 18, 2006

Chronically hungry children of America

By Cesar Chelala

NEW YORK -- While it is normal to expect high levels of hunger and poverty in a developing country, it may come as a surprise to observe such conditions in one of the richest countries in the world. The Food Bank for New York City recently reported that nearly 20 percent of children in the city rely...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 18, 2006

Weighing Israel's way of war

By Ramesh Thakur

There are two alternative models for examining conflicts. Model One assumes that there are at least two parties who disagree over facts, causes, consequenc- es and the best way forward. Both sides are wrong, with neither being entirely blameless. Both will have to live with each other, no matter how...

COMMENTARY

Sep 18, 2006

A sure-win guards his cards

By Keizo Nabeshima

It is a foregone conclusion that Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe will win the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election Wednesday. He is then likely to be named prime minister at an extraordinary Diet session a week later and to launch a new Cabinet.

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.

Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.

By Tomoko Otake

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