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November 28, 2024

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COMMENTARY / World

Nov 16, 2002

Indians starve while grain is exported

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

MADRAS -- Hunger still stalks India. Fifty-five years after the British gave the country its freedom, 200 million Indians -- a fifth of the population -- still go to bed hungry. What makes this situation even more tragic is the fact that the government plans to export million tons of rice and wheat....

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 15, 2002

Trade pact could trap ASEAN into state of irrelevance

By Brad Glosserman and Vivian Brailey Fritschi

HONOLULU -- Supporters of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) argue that numbers tell the story. And indeed, they do.

COMMENTARY

Nov 15, 2002

Economic foolishness deepens

By Gregory Clark

We knew that Japan's economic debate was fairly foolish when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told us that structural reforms such as privatizing highway corporations and the post office would somehow revitalize the Japanese economy. But even that looks sensible compared with the latest proposed "reform"...

EDITORIALS

Nov 15, 2002

Iraq's 'final opportunity'

The world has united against Iraq. Last week, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to give Baghdad a last chance to disarm. In response, the Iraqi government has opted for "the path of peace" and agreed to accept the resolution "without conditions." That is good news - no one wants war....

EDITORIALS

Nov 14, 2002

Is a mandate enough for Turkey?

The celebrations will be short for Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP), the winner of the Nov. 3 parliamentary elections. Not only does the AKP inherit an anemic economy, weakened by corruption, but its Islamic roots raise fears of military intervention in national politics. AKP leaders have...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 14, 2002

SEC's post-Enron reforms pose challenge for Japanese multinationals

By Aaron M. Cohen

NEW YORK -- As if Japan's corporate sector didn't have problems with long-term economic deterioration and deflation, the stock market disaster and nonperforming loans, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has added another headache. The issue at hand is the extent to which Japanese companies will...

COMMENTARY

Nov 13, 2002

Midterms heap accountability on Bush

By Brad Glosserman

HONOLULU -- U.S. President George W. Bush is basking in the results of last week's midterm elections. Bush's Republican Party increased its presence in Congress, an outcome that the president claims validates his policies and provides him with a mandate for the remaining two years of his term. Fears...

EDITORIALS

Nov 13, 2002

The media and a jury system

A government panel on judicial reform is working on a bill that would create a Japanese version of the jury system. The idea is to allow selected citizens to work together with professional judges in deciding major criminal cases. The worry is that the bill might impose undue restrictions on media contact...

EDITORIALS

Nov 12, 2002

ASEAN's last chance

Officially, economic matters topped the agenda at the annual meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, held earlier this month in Phnom Penh. In fact, the real issue was the organization's long-term survival. The summit produced the usual pledges of action on key issues, but the world is...

COMMENTARY

Nov 12, 2002

The realistic path to reform

By Takamitsu Sawa

In the mid-1970s, Keynesianism came in for criticism in the world of economics, and neoclassical economics -- which sees the market as almighty -- became the mainstream theory. One underlying reason for this was the economic decline of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries.

COMMENTARY

Nov 12, 2002

Chinese politics still a personality game

By Frank Ching

HONG KONG -- The 16th congress of the Chinese Communist Party, being held this week in Beijing, marks a pivotal period in Chinese history. For the first time since the Communists won the civil war in 1949, power is being transferred without bloodshed or a political upheaval.

COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE

Nov 10, 2002

The president lifts the GOP to victory

By Bob Keefe

WASHINGTON -- In 1992, the Clinton election team had a sign in its War Room that said, "It's the ECONOMY, Stupid!" That was the theme of that election.

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

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

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