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November 25, 2024

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EDITORIALS

Mar 18, 2001

A hole in the sky

Sometime this week, space station Mir -- the brightest star in the once mighty Soviet and Russian space program -- will flicker out. After circling the planet for 15 years, at least three times its planned life span, the massive, aging station is scheduled to finally "deorbit" on Tuesday, "give or take...

COMMENTARY

Mar 18, 2001

Solving the democracy deficit

By David Howell

LONDON -- Transparency and accountability are the buzzwords of the age. No gathering of policy experts or seminar on public affairs is complete without demands all round that the institutions of modern government, both national and global, especially global ones, should become more accountable and open...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 18, 2001

'Zapatour' gives hope to Mexico's poor

By Rick Mercier

Seven years after stunning the world, the leaders of the Zapatista rebels have come out of hiding in the Lacandon jungle and traveled to the concrete jungle of Mexico City to promote indigenous rights and work toward a just and peaceful resolution to the simmering conflict in Chiapas state.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 18, 2001

Torture continues to be big business

By Cesar Chelala

Recent events highlight the importance of the torture-weapons trade and the role that private companies in some countries, notably the United States and Britain, have in it. Their role was stressed in a recent Amnesty International document, "Stopping the Torture Trade," which calls for a stop to the...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 18, 2001

Confucius rescues China's communists

By David Wall

CAMBRIDGE, England -- Sometimes it takes a while for the significance of statements made by Chinese leaders to sink in. At a propaganda conference organized by the Communist Party Central Committee on Jan. 10, President Jiang Zemin said that the rule of law alone is not enough; there must also be rule...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 17, 2001

An opportunity for the world's poorest

By Kofi A. Annan

Roughly one-fifth of the world's population currently lives -- or tries to -- on less than $1 a day. That is a crude measure, but it translates into a daily grind of hunger, misery and disease that no human being should have to endure.

EDITORIALS

Mar 17, 2001

Go, Mr. Mori, and soon

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has apparently acknowledged what the media have been saying of late: His days are numbered. But he has left everyone guessing exactly when he will step down. One thing is certain, however: The Liberal Democratic Party will select a new leader in a presidential election later...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 17, 2001

Sadly, conflicts make sense

By Ramesh Thakur

Conflict is sometimes said to be the normal condition of human society; peace is the exception that requires explanation. Many of today's conflicts are peculiarly resistant to efforts at resolution because a set of contradictory logics tilts the balance toward their perpetuation. For example, while most...

COMMENTARY

Mar 17, 2001

Two old allies, two visions

By Tom Plate

LOS ANGELES -- Remember how the senior George Bush, when he was president, admitted to having trouble with "the vision thing." Has that deficiency been passed on to his son?

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 17, 2001

Taliban fanaticism is not typical of Islam

By Gwynne Dyer

LONDON -- The problem is that the world is actually a very provincial place. Most people in the non-Muslim parts of the world have never been in any Muslim country, so if Muslims anywhere in the world do something really stupid, they will readily believe that those actions are typical of Islam -- and...

COMMENTARY

Mar 16, 2001

Pointless summits as Mori clings to power

By Minoru Tada

I have worked as a political journalist for over half a century. I started out covering Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida's Cabinet for a Japanese newspaper. As a rookie reporter, I befriended the late Shintaro Abe, who shared the same beat with me. Later he turned to politics when he became secretary to...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 16, 2001

Has cycle of peace begun?

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

NEW DELHI -- Sri Lanka's 18-year-old bloody ethnic crisis between Tamils demanding an independent homeland and the government has always been marked by hope. Even during some of the darkest days of the strife a little over a decade ago, there was always a glimmer of light. Then, New Delhi interfered...

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

The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono

The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono

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