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November 26, 2024

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COMMENTARY

Jul 21, 2001

Campaign reform illusion deserves to die

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Congress appears to have killed so-called campaign reform. Despite all of the wailing, legislators did the right thing. Campaign reform is an illusion which would only rearrange who has political influence.

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 21, 2001

Two victories for international justice

By Myint Zan

Slobodan Milosevic has again made history: this time as the first former head of state to be brought before an international tribunal to be tried for crimes against humanity and other violations of international law. It should be pointed out, though, that The Hague tribunal, where the former Yugoslav...

EDITORIALS

Jul 20, 2001

Cloistered ways breed corruption

The Foreign Ministry is embroiled in another fraud scandal. Earlier this week police arrested two ministry bureaucrats on charges of receiving illegal refunds from a limousine company during last year's G8 summit in Kyushu and Okinawa. Investigators say most of the money — which was obtained through...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 20, 2001

Genoa: the recession summit

By Gwynne Dyer

LONDON — Only a dozen streets from Genoa's Ducal Palace, the protesters will be assaulting the barricades this weekend like medieval siege engineers. Inside the palace, the eight men who rule the world's richest economies — well, seven of the world's richest economies plus Russia, which is there...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 20, 2001

'Field of Dreams' schemes bleed taxpayers

By Eric Johnston

A good deal of discussion on Japan's economic problems emphasizes the need to trim wasteful public works projects. Critics are quick to zero in on "hard" schemes such as bridges, highways, airports and dams that eat up huge chunks of tax money and are rarely used.

COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE

Jul 19, 2001

Campaign finance reform bill continues to dominate a divided U.S. Congress

By Bob Keefe

This was "the week that was" for campaign finance reform. The stakes were high. The votes were close. You could cut the tension around the Capital with a knife. And when it was over, just like all the years in the recent past, there was no result. The only winner may well have been U.S. President George...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 19, 2001

Washington's 'satellites' scupper Kyoto

By Gwynne Dyer

LONDON -- "If nothing moves forward in Bonn then we will lose momentum and the process will sink," said Olivier Deleuze, the energy minister of Belgium, which holds the European Union's rotating presidency at the moment.

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 19, 2001

Biased history helps feed U.S. fascination with Pearl Harbor

By Charles Burress

SAN FRANCISCO -- Why does America continue to nurture a deep preoccupation with Pearl Harbor, 60 years after the Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base in Hawaii? The makers of Disney's blockbuster $135 million film "Pearl Harbor" said the movie is primarily a love story, but its title, climax and cinematic...

EDITORIALS

Jul 19, 2001

Kashmir claims two more victims

Hopes for a breakthrough in South Asia were dashed this week, when the summit between Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf broke off without an agreement. A peace accord was always beyond reach. But there were signs during the three-day meeting that the...

EDITORIALS

Jul 18, 2001

A bull's-eye over the Pacific

U.S. plans to develop a missile defense system got a boost last weekend with the successful test of an interceptor over the Pacific Ocean. The challenge of "hitting a bullet with a bullet" was met, and while substantial technological obstacles remain, the test results will embolden proponents of MD....

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 18, 2001

Nation better off if Kawashima remains

By Hisahiko Okazaki

I am probably the only person in Japan who will say this at the moment, and I suppose that what I am going to say will fall on deaf ears. But I will say it anyway: Administrative Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Yutaka Kawashima should not be removed from his post. If he is, the sacking is sure to be...

EDITORIALS

Jul 17, 2001

An Olympic win for China

China exploded in celebrations last Friday night when the International Olympic Committee awarded Beijing the right to host the 2008 Games. The rest of the world's reaction was more reserved. While millions of Chinese rejoiced, human rights advocates voiced concern that the Games would be used to put...

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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