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COMMENTARY / World

May 3, 2009

World's biggest shock absorber

By Hans-Werner Sinn

MUNICH — Since last autumn, Germany has been accused by a number of Anglo-American economists, above all by the 2008 Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, of not doing enough to combat the world economic crisis and of free-riding on other countries' stimulus programs.

COMMENTARY / World

May 3, 2009

Peaceful nuclear hazards are bad enough

By Shobha Shukla

LUCKNOW, India — In the early hours of April 26, 1986, the world experienced one of its worst nuclear disasters. Reactor No. 4 of Chernobyl power station, near Pripyat in Ukraine, exploded. Two explosions blew the dome-shaped roof off the reactor, causing its contents to erupt out.

COMMENTARY

May 2, 2009

Mideast and cheaper oil

By David Howell

LONDON — Back in the golden bubble days when stock markets were riding high and a barrel of crude oil sold for more than $140, there was no doubt which countries were getting richest quickest.

COMMENTARY

May 2, 2009

Jackie Chan wears a political jester's hat, too

By Tom Plate

LOS ANGELES — You might have already known that kung fu comic and actor Jackie Chan was crazy, but is he certifiably insane? Just the other day this legendary does-his- own-stunts man asserted that the Chinese people do not need Western-style freedom and democracy.

COMMENTARY / World

May 1, 2009

Shape of Sri Lanka's future

By Harsh V. Pant

LONDON — One of the world's longest running insurgencies might be coming to an end with the Sri Lankan government close to overrunning the last remaining holdouts of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) forces. The Sri Lankan military says that only 500 fighters remain in a narrow patch...

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 30, 2009

Food crisis still plagues Asia

By Noeleen Heyzer

BANGKOK — For 583 million people across Asia and the Pacific the financial crisis has become a food crisis. While food prices have fallen from last year's spike, they remain high. Rising unemployment and falling incomes are putting additional pressure on poor and vulnerable groups. More worrying still...

COMMENTARY

Apr 28, 2009

Politicians on the make

By Hugh Cortazzi

The image of members of Parliament (MPs) in Britain has been damaged by recent revelations about the way in which MPs — including ministers and some senior members of opposition parties — have taken advantage of the rules about expenses to feather their own nests. Some MPs have also been accused...

COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE

Apr 27, 2009

Investigation into DJP aide raises many questions

Were the public prosecutors politically motivated when they arrested and indicted a top aide to the leader of the No. 1 opposition party for seemingly minor charges? Why were the actions taken at a time when Ichiro Ozawa, the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, is said to have a fair chance of leading...

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Apr 26, 2009

Like it or not, becoming bilingual involves being bicultural, too

By Roger Pulvers

Several weeks ago in this column, I wrote about some of the nonlinguistic aspects of raising a bilingual child. These can be social, financial and marital, involving the milieu the child grows up in, the necessity to move back and forth between countries, and even the periodic separation of husband and...

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 26, 2009

Why China will continue to back Pyongyang

By Jonathan Holslag

BRUSSELS — In another move to raise the stakes, the dictator of Pyongyang has just decided to restart his nuclear program. And who is going to stop him, now that his long-range rocket can hit parts of the American West Coast? At least in theory. During the recent test, it took him days to prepare the...

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK

Apr 26, 2009

Recalling 'the fall of the Yasuda Auditorium' and the end of Japan's student movement

By Hiroaki Sato

At a friend's Easter Sunday dinner party, I asked, "What do you think the student movement of the '60s in the U.S. accomplished?" One guest answered, "Obama's election." Unexpected but true: in this country, the opposition to the Vietnam war went hand in hand with the movement that culminated, in federal...

COMMENTARY

Apr 25, 2009

Pakistan's terrorist windfall

By Brahma Chellaney

Pakistan has long proven adept at diplomatically levering its weakness into strength. Now it is using the threat of its possible implosion to rake in record-level bilateral and multilateral aid.

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Wealthier women in the prewar era had been the targets of various media-related health campaigns that mistakenly encouraged them to avoid everything from riding bicycles to reading novels when their monthly cycles came around.

Menstruation in Japan: Breaking the silence, slowly

By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Supporting women’s social participation is Cartier’s commitment

Supporting women’s social participation is Cartier’s commitment

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