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November 28, 2024

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COMMENTARY

Nov 22, 2003

World must denounce anti-Semitic terror

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- Istanbul sits astride the Bosphorus, a sophisticated, tolerant place that seamlessly mixes Occident and Orient. Now it has been stricken by the cancer of terrorism.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 21, 2003

Chen winning back respect for Taiwan's position

By Alexander K. Young

NEW YORK -- Chen Shui-bian, Taiwan's president, recently made a whirlwind international tour. During a three-day transit in New York three weeks ago, he received the 2003 award from the International League for Human Rights. He attended centennial independence anniversary celebrations of Panama, then...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 20, 2003

Exposing the roots of Islam

By George Sioris

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- The former dynamic leader of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, again made big waves, this time at his departing salvo. Most of the world's reactions focused on his remarks about Jews, but there were other interesting aspects in his comments regarding Islam that were perhaps overlooked....

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 20, 2003

Worlds apart: a tale of two Asian cities

By David Wall

LONDON -- I have spent most of the last two months traveling in the poor areas of western China (the mountain areas in south Ningxia, Qinghai and Gansu) and in Uzbekistan. What a contrast! You could describe the development process in western China as two steps forward and one step back, while in Uzbekistan...

COMMENTARY

Nov 19, 2003

China's social mores shift as economic growth soars

By Frank Ching

HONG KONG -- The profound economic changes that China has undergone in the last quarter century have resulted not only in dramatic skyscrapers in all its major cities and a marked rise in the standard of living, but also in changing social mores, with attitudes today contrasting sharply with those of...

COMMENTARY

Nov 19, 2003

Freedom of choice and the ACLU don't quite go together hand in hand

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- Nadine Strossen, president of the American Civil Liberties Union, has written to ask me to become a "card-carrying member" of the ACLU. She explains: "There is no higher calling, nor greater reward, democracy can offer an individual than the opportunity to stand up for fundamental freedoms...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 19, 2003

Islamic scholars: America's natural allies

By Amir Butler

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Since the tragic events of 9/11, millions of words have been written attempting to understand and explain the causes of Muslim terrorism and the extremist ideologies that underpin it. Many have suggested that terrorism is simply a reaction to social injustice, whereas others have...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 17, 2003

U.S. continues to stir Muslim resentment

By Eric Teo Chu Cheow

SINGAPORE -- In an Oct. 1 report to the U.S. Congress, titled "Changing Minds, Winning Peace," a high-level panel warned that "hostility toward America had reached shocking levels." It recommended that the administration overhaul and increase public-relations efforts to salvage its plummeting image among...

COMMENTARY

Nov 17, 2003

Japan's milestone election

By Keizo Nabeshima

Japan took a major step toward a two-party system when the opposition Democratic Party of Japan made big gains in the Nov. 9 Lower House election. The poll will be remembered as a milestone in Japanese political history for this reason and because it was the first Japanese election to be fought over...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 17, 2003

A weak dollar for a strong economy?

By Christopher Lingle

GUATEMALA -- Since mid-March, the dollar's value measured by a trade-weighted index against a basket of currencies has declined by 6 percent and by 9.6 percent for the entire year. Some economists, businessmen and politicians in America believe that a weaker dollar will be "good" for the U.S. economy....

COMMENTARY

Nov 15, 2003

Prospects for six-party talks

By Ralph Cossa

HONOLULU -- U.S. President George W. Bush's recent offer to provide Pyongyang with written assurances that the United States does not intend to attack North Korea and the North's willingness "to consider" this offer provide the basis, however tentative and contentious, for a negotiated solution to the...

COMMENTARY

Nov 15, 2003

Election heralds dawn of new political era

By Kenzo Uchida

The Nov. 9 election of the House of Representatives ushered Japanese politics into a new era in which two parties will dominate: the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan.

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.

Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat

By Greg Dvorak

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono

The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono

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