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COMMENTARY / World

Dec 1, 2005

China juggles growth, stability

By Eric Teo Chu Cheow

SINGAPORE -- As China's annual Central Economic Conference gets under-way in Beijing early this month, Beijing looks set to sustain the new social-economic shift that was laid out by the 5th Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CCP) in mid-October. The plenum signaled the...

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 1, 2005

U.S. English-only laws harm immigrants

By Domenico Maceri

SANTA MARIA, California -- The Latino population has increased 500 percent in the past 15 years in State Rep. Courtney Combs' district, located between Cincinnati and Dayton. That has created a communication problem between residents and government officials, according to Combs, a Republican.

COMMENTARY

Nov 29, 2005

The pebble in Russia's shoe

By Keizo Nabeshima

At their meeting in Tokyo on Nov. 21, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to produce a joint statement on stalled peace treaty talks. The reason, of course, is that the two nations remain at odds over possession of the Northern Territories. It is unusual that...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 29, 2005

Sharon's rebirth as 'centrist' overrated

By Ramzy Baroud

KUALA LUMPUR -- Most of what has been written or said to depict Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's departure from the Likud party is parable to an "earthquake," or the "eruption of a volcano," and has, without a doubt, turned the Israeli political map "topsy-turvy," to borrow Ha'aretz Gideon Samet's...

COMMENTARY

Nov 28, 2005

A ray of hope for Chinese progressives

By Frank Ching

HONG KONG -- The recent political rehabilitation of former party chief Hu Yaobang, whose death in April 1989 triggered massive student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, is encouraging to the progressive wing of the Chinese Communist Party, even though there is little indication that the current leadership...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 28, 2005

We can pay now or pay later

By Michael R. Czinkota

WASHINGTON -- International terrorists attack businesses far more than any other target, and when they strike, they aim to disrupt the flow of supply and demand and to destroy our way of life.

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK

Nov 28, 2005

Ishihara fails to measure up to his image

By Hiroaki Sato

NEW YORK -- Earlier this month Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara gave a speech in New York City, and I went to hear him. That's one thing you do in this city: go hear or see some of the more famous visitors from your home country.

COMMENTARY

Nov 28, 2005

Yasukuni impasse cracking

By Kiroku Hanai

Since Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi took office in 2001, Japan has faced diplomatic spats with China and South Korea over his visits to Yasukuni Shrine. On Oct. 17, Koizumi made his fifth Yasukuni visit as prime minister, as Japan's relations with the two neighbors soured.

COMMENTARY

Nov 27, 2005

Seoul not the ally that Washington deserves

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- During his Asian trip, U.S. President George W. Bush met with South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun to highlight the two nations' alliance. The next day Roh's government announced that it was withdrawing a third of its soldiers from Iraq. Never mind.

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Nov 27, 2005

Democracy's foes are both within and without

By Roger Pulvers

When I was traveling around the Soviet Union way back in the summer of 1964, people were talking about a mummy that had been found in a cave in Dagestan, in the northeast of the Caucasus. It wasn't long before scholars were debating how old it was, with two opinions coming to the fore: either it was...

COMMENTARY

Nov 24, 2005

Time for U.S. to leave Korea

By Robyn Lim

When U.S. President George W. Bush was in Pusan last weekend for the APEC summit, he and South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun agreed upon a "strategic dialogue" at ministerial level on security issues.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 24, 2005

Desertification on the march

By Ramesh Thakur and Zafar Adeel

To the average person, "desertification" likely conjures up images of sandstorms sweeping across the Sahara. While this is one manifestation, desertification is a global process that persistently reduces the benefits people get from nature -- collectively termed "ecosystem services." This happens as...

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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