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COMMENTARY / World

Jul 29, 2006

Getting tough on terrorism

By Ramesh Thakur

Now that some time has passed since the seven serial blasts on Bombay's commuter trains on July 11 that killed almost 200 and wounded another 700, it is possible to take a more dispassionate look at the tragedy. In particular, while not absolving terrorists and their external backers of the main blame...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 29, 2006

Sunni-Shiite divide widens in the Mideast

By Mia Yamani

LONDON -- Is the Sunni-Shiite divide in the Middle East now deeper than the antagonism between Israel and the Arabs? You might think so given the response of some Arab governments to Hezbollah's decision to attack Israel. Even as Israeli bombs fell on Beirut and Tyre, Saudi Arabia, perhaps the most conservative...

COMMENTARY

Jul 28, 2006

North Korea's waning respect for China

By Frank Ching

HONG KONG -- Strange as it may seem, there was an unofficial American group in Pyongyang on July 5, when North Korea conducted a series of missile tests. Stranger still is that a key North Korean official spoke to them quite frankly about what he thought of China, ostensibly Pyongyang's ally.

COMMENTARY

Jul 27, 2006

Pols undermining Britain's civil service

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- The British civil service has prided itself on being politically neutral in providing unbiased advice to ministers. It has also largely avoided being corrupted by political cronyism. Sadly these traditions are being undermined by British politicians.

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 26, 2006

Adolescent suicide: a serious problem in every country

By Cesar Chelala

NEW YORK -- It happens every day, and with alarming frequency. Adolescent suicide is a serious problem in every country, and Japan is no exception. An estimated 30,000 Japanese of all ages kill themselves each year.

COMMENTARY

Jul 25, 2006

Fitting memorial for war dead

By Kiroku Hanai

With the governing Liberal Democratic Party set to elect its new leader in September -- when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi step downs as LDP president (and hence as prime minister) some LDP lawmakers are proposing ways to solve the ongoing row over Koizumi's repeated visits to Yasukuni Shrine. Visits...

COMMENTARY

Jul 24, 2006

Pyongyang opts for isolation

By Keizo Nabeshima

Never had security over the Korean Peninsula attracted so much international attention until the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously July 15 for a resolution denouncing North Korea's ballistic-missile tests. Two days later, the Group of Eight summit held in St. Petersburg, Russia, issued...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 24, 2006

Tories need to do more than pick on EU

By Glyn Ford

BRUSSELS -- All the focus groups in Britain demonstrate that people do not care about Europe. Or at least they certainly don't treat it as a priority. The economy, health and education, as well as quality of life and security issues, con- sistently rate higher. Yet David Cameron's Tories are still falling...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 24, 2006

Containing chemical weapons

By Ramesh Thakur

Recent events from the Middle East to Northeast Asia have once again highlighted the unsatisfactory state of affairs with respect to the tool kit available to the international community for responding to the challenge of weapons of mass destruction. This makes it all the more curious as to why more...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 24, 2006

Iran's attempt to score a preemptive strike

By Edward N. Luttwak

WASHINGTON -- Iran's quarreling and competing leaders have decided, by their acts, to reject the offer by Europe and the United States of a nuclear reactor, aircraft spare parts, economic cooperation and more in exchange for giving up uranium enrichment.

COMMENTARY

Jul 23, 2006

Downhill path from fear to proliferation

By Robyn Lim

Why have some of Japan's leaders been talking about the need to acquire the ability to attack North Korean missiles on the launchpads? It's because they know that the United States, despite its overwhelming air and maritime power, cannot credibly threaten North Korea. That is because North Korea holds...

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Jul 23, 2006

Dark chronicler of a dubious Jewish uniqueness

By Roger Pulvers

Who are the Jews? What do Jewish writers have in common with each other? What, strictly speaking, is a "Jewish" writer . . . and, for that matter, what is meant by "strictly speaking"?

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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