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COMMENTARY / World

Nov 20, 2007

An Asia-Europe partnership

By Frank Walter Steinmeier

BERLIN — Asia's rise as an economic and political player exemplifies what globalization is all about. By the decade's end, China's economy will be larger than Germany's. By 2040 three of the world's five largest economies — China, India and Japan — will be in Asia.

COMMENTARY

Nov 20, 2007

Robbed of childhood, bereft of a future

By Cesar Chelala

NEW YORK — Looking at photographs of Iraqi children maimed by the war makes the conflict unforgettable. Reflecting on the causes that led to that war makes it unforgivable. New information is steadily coming out on the effects of the war on children, and how it has affected not only their health but...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 19, 2007

March of the South American caudillos

By Roberto Laserna

LA PAZ — The re-election for unlimited periods that Presidents Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales have sought in Venezuela and Bolivia, respectively, reflects a phenomenon — caudillismo — that has, sadly, never been far from the surface of Latin American politics.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 19, 2007

Containing the Mideast fires of reform

By Mai Yamani

LONDON — The recent meeting in the Vatican between "Custodian of the Holy Places" King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Pope Benedict XVI was a seminal event, particularly as it comes at a time when radical Muslims are decrying the role of "Crusaders" in Middle East politics. It was also the clearest sign...

COMMENTARY

Nov 19, 2007

Feasible cuts in emissions

By Takamitsu Sawa

Debate is raging over the pros and cons of the proposed target of halving global greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050. The goal, initially proposed last June by then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, was supported by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders at the Group of Eight summit at Heiligendamm,...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 19, 2007

New Rumsfeld of Europe

By Nick Popescu and Mark Leonard

PRAGUE — Russia's Duma elections this December are almost certain to cement the power of forces loyal to Vladimir Putin. That outcome is likely to confirm Russia's emergence as the most divisive issue in the European Union since former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld split the continent into...

COMMENTARY

Nov 18, 2007

Stoking democracy in a Muslim giant

By Tom Plate

BALI, Indonesia — Do you like big-time success stories? There may be a quiet one in the making here that almost no one knows about, aside from the neighbors. And it's an important story at this early stage, even if the political tale's ending cannot honestly be forecast.

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Nov 18, 2007

How well do you really know Japan?

By Roger Pulvers

Well, dear reader, it's time for our annual How Well Do You Know Japan? quiz.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 18, 2007

What the Kaczynksi twins taught Poles

By Leszek Balcerowicz and Isabel Woodford

WASHINGTON — The defeat of the Kaczynski twins' Law and Justice Party (PiS) in Poland brought sighs of relief across Europe. But, as Donald Tusk's new government assumes office, it is important to learn the lessons that their defeat holds for all of us.

COMMENTARY

Nov 17, 2007

Is the democracy image losing its glow?

By Tom Plate

BALI, Indonesia — There's no guarantee that an intellectual counter-revolution will last any longer than a major monsoon. But there is in the works in this region growing disenchantment with the views of what one might call democracy fundamentalists. These are the people who insist that the democratic...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 17, 2007

Soft touch with Myanmar

By Shibly Nabhan

It was far from a perfect crime and far from a perfect coverup: a shooting in broad daylight, hundreds of witnesses, scores of video cameras recording the crime from many angles, audio recordings of the shots fired, clear photos of a man brandishing a murder weapon, an insignia identifying the suspect's...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 16, 2007

Aussies eye painless change

By Alan Goodall

SYDNEY — A conservative coalition that has governed Australia for over a decade under Prime Minister John Howard faces a severe test ahead of next week's national election.

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

Supporting women’s social participation is Cartier’s commitment

Supporting women’s social participation is Cartier’s commitment

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