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November 30, 2024

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COMMENTARY / World

Jan 5, 2004

Contrived problem resists quick solution on Peninsula

By David Wall

LONDON -- In late autumn I attended a conference on the slopes of Mount Fuji. The focus of the conference was security issues in Northeast Asia, addressing the so-called nuclear threat from North Korea. It was a high-level conference with participants, including a minister of defense, from many countries...

COMMENTARY

Jan 5, 2004

Pro-U.S. stance on the line

By Takamitsu Sawa

U.S. political scientist Francis Fukuyama once predicted that the end of the Cold War would usher in an age when economic power would be the source of national strength. It seems his prophesy was off because of the policy stance of the Bush administration.

COMMENTARY

Jan 5, 2004

Tokyo, Seoul owe more than symbolism

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- Deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is in custody, but the struggle to suppress Iraqi insurgents remains. Washington needs allied help to lighten its burden. The most generous aid should come from nations that the United States has defended for decades, particularly Japan and South Korea,...

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 5, 2004

What a liberal/conservative view means

By John Rouse

MUNCIE, Indiana -- The new year is a good time to examine current applications and definitions of liberalism and conservatism. Writers to the letters section of newspapers often pen their missives in absolutes with few illustrations of what their ideological pronouncements mean or imply for citizens,...

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 5, 2004

As axis turns, Pyongyang feels the squeeze

By John Barry Kotch

SEOUL -- It turns out that the construct of the "axis of evil" was more than an applause line in the 2002 State of the Union speech by U.S. President George W. Bush. What it really has come to convey is the interaction between axis members, which was little appreciated by Bush speechwriters at the time....

EDITORIALS

Jan 4, 2004

Ten words that mirror a year

It's the time of year when people try to make sense of the past 12 months by coming up with lists -- the best this and the worst that, what was in and what was out and, above all, Top 10 Everything. Some of the latter lists are so familiar and expected that New Year's wouldn't be the same without them:...

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 4, 2004

Myanmar doesn't need new constitution

By Nyunt Shwe

Myanmar (also known as Burma) is celebrating what could be the most auspicious anniversary in its 56 years of independence, which was declared at 4:20 a.m. on Jan. 4, 1948. Interestingly, the British government had agreed to grant independence on Jan. 1, but superstitious elements within the newly formed...

COMMENTARY

Jan 4, 2004

No East Asian card too wild

By Brad Glosserman

HONOLULU -- The National Intelligence Council, which does strategic analysis for the U.S. government, recently published parts of its "2020 project" (www.cia.gov./nic/NIC_home.html), examining forces that will shape the world through 2020, region by region. The East Asia analysis posits three "broad...

EDITORIALS

Jan 3, 2004

Vote buying saps democracy

On the face of it, the much-touted drive for political reform in Japan appears to be going almost nowhere. On Monday, a Liberal Democratic Party legislator was arrested on charges of violating the Public Offices Election Law. Indeed, Japanese politics is locked in a never-ending cycle of corruption....

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 3, 2004

Chance to defuse Kashmir

By Glyn Ford

LONDON -- The last dispute left from the end of the British Empire -- the Kashmir question -- may finally be en route to resolution. The unilateral cease- fire declared by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in November along the de facto border, the Line of Control (LOC), and then seconded by India,...

EDITORIALS

Jan 1, 2004

Year of tests for Asian democracy

For those who argue that democracy is alien to Asian society and culture, 2004 will provide the litmus test. The year will be thick with elections, challenging both voters and political systems throughout the region. Every campaign introduces volatility to domestic politics, but the sheer number of elections...

COMMENTARY

Jan 1, 2004

Fantasy of the final solution

By Sarah Benton

LONDON -- WMD: a new acronym for a new century and what a terrible augury of the century. If weapons of mass destruction are ever used for their intended purpose -- to annihilate mankind -- this century will be mankind's last. Perhaps the flippancy of the new century's young adults should after all be...

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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