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COMMENTARY

Nov 20, 2006

Time for U.S. to change course on Cuba

By Cesar Chelala

NEW YORK -- The changed political landscape in Washington offers a unique opportunity to right a wrong foreign policy decision that has been maintained for almost half a century, the embargo against Cuba.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 20, 2006

Thaksin poses dilemma for Thai leaders

By Kevin Rafferty

Thaksin Shinawatra, in exile in London, has given notice that he is still alive and very much kicking. Indeed, the deposed leader is playing a devilishly devious and clever, but potentially deadly, game for himself and for Thailand.

COMMENTARY

Nov 20, 2006

Know the goals of military intervention

By Ramesh Thakur

In a Washington Post article reprinted in these pages on Oct. 10, "The humanitarian war myth," Eric Posner writes: "If the United Nations were to have its way, the Iraqi debacle would be just the first in a series of such wars -- the effect of a well-meaning but ill-considered effort to make humanitarian...

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Nov 19, 2006

When in Rome, do hug granny as the Romans do

By Roger Pulvers

Last night, at Theater X (Cai) in Ryogoku, Tokyo, we finished a short season of plays I'd written, and eight of us -- Japanese cast and staff, with myself as director -- leave tonight on an adventure to present stagings in Sydney and Adelaide. I call this tour an adventure because doing the two plays,...

COMMENTARY

Nov 17, 2006

Tough advice from a friend

By David Howell

LONDON -- Embattled U.S. President George W. Bush has asked for new ideas to help him on Iraq and on how to disentangle from the Middle East morass. He will of course get plenty, but he needs to be very careful over what he chooses.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 17, 2006

Islamic extremism threatens Bangladesh

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

MADRAS, India -- Bangladesh is the latest South Asian flash point where democracy stands threatened. Bloody street battles between two rival political parties -- led by two women who hate each other -- and other violence have swept the small country northwest of India in recent weeks. The military is...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 16, 2006

Two views of Hugo Chavez

By Oscar Raul Cardoso

BUENOS AIRES -- Hugo Chavez's nearly eight years in power in Venezuela -- which he will seek to extend in presidential elections next month -- seem to defy economic analysis. Indeed, any and all economic examination of Chavez's Venezuela confirms Edgar R. Fiedler's quip that if you "ask five economists...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 16, 2006

Soothing the Aussie drought

By Alan Goodall

SYDNEY -- Two old friends and customers, Japan and Australia, have come closer to putting the finishing touches to a historic deal that will firm up one of the world's most successful business partnerships.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 16, 2006

Al-Jazeera media revolution turns 10

By Daoud Kuttab

JERUSALEM -- From its first appearance, the new satellite channel broadcast from Qatar lived up to its name. Al-Jazeera -- Arabic for "the island" -- represented a haven of professional, independent, current-affairs programming in a sea of one-sided, government-controlled Arab media.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 15, 2006

Wasted chance as Taiwan's president

By Sin-ming Shaw

PRINCETON, New Jersey -- Taiwan's public prosecutor has indicted the wife of President Chen Shui-bian for embezzling public funds. Chen, as a sitting president, cannot be indicted even though the prosecutor says he has evidence to prove his guilt. But Chen's legacy was already in tatters.

COMMENTARY

Nov 14, 2006

What are Kim's objectives?

By Keizo Nabeshima

North Korea has agreed to rejoin the six-party nuclear talks on its nuclear-weapons program before yearend following hard bargaining with the United States and China. The breakthrough resulted from mounting international pressure, especially the U.S. financial crackdown and the United Nations Security...

COMMENTARY

Nov 12, 2006

Time-warp fantasies about Nicaragua

By Gwynne Dyer

LONDON -- "Ortega is a tiger who has not changed his stripes," warned U.S. ambassador Paul Trivelli before the former revolutionary leader won back the presidency of Nicaragua in Monday's election. Retired U.S. Marine Col. Oliver North, who took the fall for President Ronald Reagan's administration in...

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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