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November 26, 2024

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COMMENTARY / World

Mar 23, 2002

Democracy gains a foothold in Cambodia

By Catharin E. Dalpino

WASHINGTON -- Official returns have confirmed a broad sweep of Cambodia's ruling party, the Cambodia People's Party, in the country's first local elections. Critics in the U.S. policy community cite these elections as proof that democracy has failed in Cambodia. By their measure, elections are the sole...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 23, 2002

Target nonperforming loans, not deflation

By Christopher Lingle

While there is good reason to be concerned about the state of Japan's economy, analysts wrongly target deflation as the main villain in this tale. Contrary to received wisdom, Japan's economic slump is not the result of price deflation. Nor are aggressive expansions of fiscal and monetary policies the...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 23, 2002

A silver lining in Gujarat state's riots

By Ramesh Thakur

The death of around 800 people in the recent riots in Gujarat state was a sobering reminder of the primeval passions and tribal savagery that can be unleashed so ferociously at a moment's notice in India. They were an antidote to the unbridled optimism that saw only an emerging information-technology...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 22, 2002

Invest in the world's future

By Kofi A. Annan

In rural areas of Bangladesh, most girls marry at a very young age -- not because they wish to, but because their families cannot afford to send them to school.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 22, 2002

'Tommy' Suharto trial also tests judiciary

By Alexander Weissink

JAKARTA -- The youngest son of former Indonesian President Suharto went to trial for murder Wednesday. The case is probably the most important test yet of the credibility of Indonesia's legal system. Hutomo Mandala Putra, better known as Tommy, stands accused of masterminding the murder of a Supreme...

COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE

Mar 21, 2002

Americans continue to rally behind President Bush's war on terrorism

By Bob Keefe

WASHINGTON -- The last week began with ceremonies marking the six-month anniversary of the terrorist attack on the United States. President George W. Bush took advantage of the occasion to project his program for the next phase of the war on terrorism.

COMMENTARY

Mar 20, 2002

Uncertain future for Koizumi

By Kenzo Uchida

In politics, as the saying goes, all is darkness just a step down the road. How right they are. When the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was inaugurated at the end of April 2001, it enjoyed a stellar Cabinet support rating of 80 percent, and the prime minister himself was hugely popular....

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 20, 2002

Grim outlook for Asia's final frontier of biodiversity

By Cesar Chelala

NEW YORK -- Since brutally assuming direct power in 1988, the Myanmar military has been conducting a sustained assault on the environment in one of Asia's richest and least-developed lands. The country's ecosystem, which ranges from tropical reefs along the Bay of Bengal to the mountains of the Himalayas,...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 20, 2002

Drain the swamp that breeds terrorism

By Bruce Stokes

This week U.S. President George W. Bush meets in Monterrey, Mexico with 50 other heads of state to discuss financing for Third World development. Last week, the president announced that he would ask Congress to set aside $5 billion for a special development-aid fund. This aid will be on top of the 10...

COMMENTARY

Mar 19, 2002

Class struggle joins Marx in the dustbin

By Frank Ching

HONG KONG -- Last Wednesday, a top official declared that, as a result of the market economy, "people's jobs and status keep changing" in China today, and there are "differences and contradictions between communities, between industries and between regions." These remarks by Li Ruihuan, China's fourth-ranking...

COMMENTARY

Mar 19, 2002

Tough times await Musharraf

By Farhan Bokhari

ISLAMABAD -- In reaching out to Japan last week in his maiden visit there, Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf created the impression that he is genuinely trying to turn his country around. And during his recent visit to the United States, U.S. President George W. Bush hailed him as a visionary...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 18, 2002

Free trade carries a price

By Michael R. Czinkota

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President George W. Bush's decision to impose tariffs on steel imports into the United States has been decried as a politically motivated and economically ruinous move that marks the end of free trade and initiates a battle in the World Trade Organization.

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

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