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November 25, 2024

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COMMENTARY / World

Nov 3, 2001

U.S. policy crucial to stability

By Steven C. Clemons

U.S. President George W. Bush has injected potentially destabilizing dynamics into the domestic political arenas of many nations by pressuring all countries essentially to swear loyalty oaths to the United States and to work with him in going "after terrorism wherever we find it in the world . . . getting...

COMMENTARY

Nov 2, 2001

Removing blinkers on trade

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- The tragic events of Sept. 11 have exacerbated the economic position of every country. New stimulus measures have been instituted in the United States and interest rates have been cut elsewhere. But these are not enough to put growth back on track. An expansion in world trade would bring major...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 2, 2001

U.S. courts move forward on POW claims

By Eric Johnston

A ruling by a California judge late last month is a major defeat for U.S. State Department and Japanese government officials who argued that former American POW slave laborers cannot sue Japanese firms for compensation because of the 1951 Peace Treaty, and a major victory for the ex-POWs and their growing...

COMMENTARY

Nov 1, 2001

Is China the odd man out?

By Ralph Cossa

HONOLULU -- China seems very pleased with the outcome of the George W. Bush-Jiang Zemin presidential summit held Oct. 19 in Shanghai on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' meeting -- not because a great deal was accomplished, but because Jiang's definition of what constituted...

Japan Times

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 1, 2001

Constituents mattered most to Soichiro Ito

By Steven Vogel

BERKELEY, California -- For the people of Miyagi Prefecture's 4th district, the generational shift in Japanese politics has just arrived. On Oct. 28, Shintaro Ito was elected to represent Miyagi's 4th district in a special by-election to replace his father, Soichiro, who passed away on Sept. 4.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 1, 2001

A Palestinian state is key to Mideast peace

By Cesar Chelala

NEW YORK -- As the son of a Lebanese immigrant to Argentina, I feel a strong connection to what is happening in the Middle East, and at the futile attempts at reaching a peaceful solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict in that region. To me, the way my father conducted his life -- and attempted to bridge...

COMMENTARY

Nov 1, 2001

Policing peace in the next Afghanistan

By Farhan Bokhari

ISLAMABAD -- If the United States and its Western allies follow up on their promise to help rebuild Afghanistan when the military campaign ends, the establishment of a new political order backed by the flow of billions of dollars in fresh assistance will be necessary.

COMMENTARY

Aug 31, 2001

New approach for N. Korea

By Ralph Cossa

HONOLULU -- It's time for Washington and Seoul to try a new approach with North Korea. It's time to do . . . absolutely nothing!

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 30, 2001

Fish stocks may resolve whaling debate

By Dan Goodman

The International Whaling Commission recently completed its 53rd annual meeting. For the media, highlights included: false accusations of vote buying; the illegal withholding of Iceland's right to vote, decided by a majority when by international law it should not have been a subject for the commission...

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 30, 2001

Economic might of overseas Chinese does not necessarily translate into political power

By Phar Kim Beng

Numbering slightly less than 60 million people, the overseas Chinese form a far-flung network that extends from San Francisco to Singapore. With an estimated wealth of more than $1.5 trillion, this group constitutes what could arguably be the third largest economy in the world, following the United States...

COMMENTARY

Aug 30, 2001

A bleak forecast for France

By Andre Fontaine

PARIS -- As always at this time of year in France, planes and trains are overcrowded and the highways are blocked by traffic jams. The French, who enjoy the longest vacations in the world -- an average of five weeks per year -- have begun returning home from their summer holidays.

COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE

Aug 29, 2001

A bearded Gore and the shrinking surplus

By Bob Keefe

WASHINGTON -- At long last, Al Gore has reappeared! He is pursuing the political training school program that he had floated in a more full-blown way last spring. Al, sporting a full beard, is working with his fellow Tennessee loser, Republican presidential wannabe Lamar Alexander, training young people...

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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