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January 28, 2025

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COMMENTARY

Mar 13, 1999

LDP strategy hits and misses

By Minoru Tada

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka, the government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are pursuing a political strategy for 1999 with these objectives:

COMMENTARY

Mar 13, 1999

GOP backs off as taxpayers' champions

By Doug Bandow

The Republican Party may be the majority political party, in control of Congress and the vast majority of state governorships. But U.S. President Bill Clinton controls U.S.' political agenda.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 13, 1999

To cure Asia's ills, get the diagnosis right

By Christopher Lingle

On a recent whirlwind tour of Asian capitals, peripatetic U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Larry Summers offered some advice on how to cure the region's economic ills. Despite his stature as an economist, he sounded more like a politician spouting protectionist platitudes. Implicit in his commentary was...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 10, 1999

Taiwan's strategic options

By Gary Klintworth

Following the return of Hong Kong in July 1997 and the return of Macau in December 1999, Beijing's attention will logically turn to Taiwan. The island's survival depends on preserving its technically advanced air force and enlisting the help of the United States.

COMMENTARY

Mar 10, 1999

Clouds looming on the Diet's horizon

By Kenzo Uchida

The situation in the Diet looks calm for now. The debate on the fiscal 1999 government budget, the most important item before the Diet, is proceeding smoothly. The budget bill has already cleared the Lower House and is expected to pass the Upper House around March 20, well before the start of the new...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 7, 1999

Violence: The Americas' new pandemic

By Cesar Chelala

NEW YORK -- From Argentina in the south to Canada in the north, violence is becoming an increasingly serious problem in the Americas, affecting all nations in the hemisphere. What makes this phenomenon especially worrisome is that children and adolescents are among its main actors, and victims. Violence...

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

Mar 7, 1999

Is patience a Russian virtue?

By Constantine Pleshakov

Amid the apocalyptic news about Russian pensioners being unable to afford any medicines beyond traditional folk remedies, Russian workers not paid salaries for months and Russian children in the on the verge of starvation, one piece of news is conspicuously missing: reports of mass protests. It is true...

COMMENTARY

Mar 4, 1999

Sunshine alone isn't enough

By Ralph Cossa

South Korean President Kim Dae Jung's announcement of a proposed "package deal" with North Korea, put forth once again on the first anniversary of his inauguration, represents a valiant attempt to save two very important initiatives: his own constructive engagement policy with the North (also known as...

COMMENTARY

Mar 3, 1999

Japan's other big Year 2000 problem

By Gregory Clark

For over 40 years now, the ritual has been the same. Each new Japanese administration resolves firmly that it will solve Japan's festering territorial dispute with Moscow, once and for all. Delegations and prime ministers visit Moscow. And each time the results are zero.

COMMENTARY

Mar 2, 1999

A world bereft of leaders?

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- Hardly a day goes by without someone deploring the lack of political and economic leadership in our world. Commentators bemoan that with the departure of politicians like former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl the world is bereft of political leadership....

COMMENTARY

Feb 28, 1999

Constitution unfit for a sovereign nation

By Ryuichiro Hosokawa

Most Japanese do not realize that the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty is a military alliance pact. Unlike a conventional military alliance treaty, however, the pact is not based on reciprocal obligations. For the U.S., the treaty is unfair and is not really bilateral.

COMMENTARY / World

Feb 28, 1999

Avoiding a N. Korean crisis

By Scott Snyder

Will 1999 bring the second North Korean nuclear crisis in five years, perhaps leading to a military confrontation similar to the recent U.S. attack on Iraq, or can such a confrontation be avoided? Although heightened tensions may be inevitable in the coming months, the ability of policymakers in Washington,...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Ayumi Matsuki, a priestess at Yoshiwara Shrine, shows off some "o-mamori" charms. She says visitors to the shrine have increased since the NHK drama “Unbound” began airing this month.

Tracing Tsutaya Juzaburo, Edo’s media maverick

By Alex K.T. Martin

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