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November 25, 2024

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COMMENTARY / World

Nov 14, 2001

Taiwan deserves to be a U.N. member

By Alexander K. Young

NEW YORK -- The United Nations admitted Tuvalu, a tiny South Pacific island state, as its 189th member last fall, but not Taiwan despite the latter's efforts for the past decade. The U.N.'s action seems incongruous even by a simple comparison.

COMMENTARY

Nov 13, 2001

Japan must make the grade

By Takamitsu Sawa

In the last decade of the 20th century, Japan lost many of the tangible and intangible assets it had built up since World War II. In particular, there was a serious deterioration in the quality of human resources. The second half of the 1990s saw a sharp decline in university students' scholastic performance...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 13, 2001

'Peace initiative' offers nothing new

By Michael Dahan and Sam Bahour

The new Israeli "peace initiative" drafted by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is nothing more than a placebo. It is designed for internal Israeli consumption and consumption by the United States and Europe in response to their pressuring Israel for positive...

COMMENTARY

Nov 11, 2001

North Korea guards its antiterror card

By Ronald Meinardus

SEOUL -- The message conveyed in a newspaper interview was crystal clear: "The North Koreans are missing an opportunity to play a responsible role by not joining us," said Thomas Hubbard, the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea. "We'd like to see North Korea join in international concrete actions to stamp...

COMMENTARY

Nov 11, 2001

Unified war plan impossible

By David Howell

LONDON -- Giving parties is fun, but it also poses risks -- chiefly that of offending those who are not asked.

COMMENTARY

Nov 10, 2001

At last, Mori solution gets reconsidered

By Gregory Clark

The events of Sept. 11 have at least done some good. To bolster its war on "terrorism," the United States seems willing finally to put an end to its highly contrived legacy of Cold War, anti-Beijing policies. Meanwhile, Japan may be ready to end its highly contrived, 50-year Cold War dispute with Moscow...

COMMENTARY

Nov 10, 2001

Brace yourself for the new McCarthyism

By TED RALL

NEW YORK -- According to The Wall Street Journal I'm "probably the most bitterly anti-American commentator in America." The National Review calls me "a big fat zero, an ignorant, talentless hack with a flair for recycling leftist pieties into snarky cartoons that inspired breakfast-table chuckles among...

COMMENTARY

Nov 10, 2001

Pakistan's uncertain future

By Brahma Chellaney

NEW DELHI -- Much before America's declaration of war on terrorism forced Islamabad to turn against its own creation, the Taliban, Pakistan faced an uncertain future. During a four-hour stop in Islamabad in March 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton warned Pakistanis in a televised address about the "obstacles...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 9, 2001

Howard ahead as election draws near

By Alan Goodall

SYDNEY -- In these days of crisis -- as Australia sends troops to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan and thousands of boat people try to reach Australia illegally -- what more does Prime Minister John Howard need to win a national election this coming Saturday?

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 9, 2001

Harassed leaders could play Kashmir card

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

T here is increasing concern that and the ongoing war in Afghanistan may well give India and Pakistan yet another reason to start a new war over Kashmir, a region they both claim as their own. In recent weeks, they have locked themselves deeper in their border conflict. Both countries, which have fought...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 8, 2001

For many Arab regimes, the 'war on terror' begins at home

By David Hirst

BEIRUT -- The United States has long divided Arab regimes into two broad categories: the friendly, pro-Western "moderate" ones and the less friendly, "radical" ones. Since Sept. 11, two key "moderates' -- Egypt and Saudi Arabia -- have undergone a drastic change of status in American eyes. Only arch-villain...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 8, 2001

Taxing currency speculators

By Harlem Desir and Glyn Ford

LONDON -- The decision by European economy and finance ministers in Liege on Sept. 23 to commission a study of the effect of "Tobin-style" taxes on currency transactions indicates a new and surprising high-water mark of support for taxation on speculative capital flows.

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

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

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