Tag - politics

 
 

POLITICS

COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2014
Australia flirts with messed-up American dream
It was fascinating to hear American economist Joseph Stiglitz take on Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott for trafficking in the same economic ideologies threatening to turn the American dream into a nightmare of permanent haves and have-nots.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 20, 2014
Red-yellow scrum moves beyond the border
As the U.S. hosts the largest number of Thai immigrants — about 250,000 — it stands to reason that Thailand's color-coded politics would land on its shores. Both camps are trying to lobby the U.S. government.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 19, 2014
Politician Nonomura weeps and the world laughs
"Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone. For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth, but has trouble enough of its own."
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2014
At some point, U.S. progressives must stand
You would think that, at a certain point, liberals in the U.S. with any dignity would get sick of being used and abused by Democratic Party candidates. Don't expect the dysfunctional relationship between liberals and Democrats to get any better for 2017.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Jul 7, 2014
Future leader shows promise with African aid work, British schooling, and Japan politics in sight
When Doga Makiura arrived in Rwanda in 2012, the 18-year-old was amazed to find not the stains of the 1994 genocide, but a tidy airport, impressive high-rises and welcoming people.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 1, 2014
Japan's status quo crumbles with an apology to a woman
When Tokyo city assemblyman Akihiro Suzuki bowed to assemblywoman Ayaka Shiomura and apologized for publicly heckling her over her unmarried status, some people caught their breath, convinced that they were witnessing something epochal in Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 29, 2014
Beijing's struggle to control a military district
China's ability to bring North Korea into line may depend on the outcome of an epochal struggle to bring the Shenyang Military District, which borders North Korea, under central authority.
COMMENTARY / Japan / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 28, 2014
Abe's nuclear renaissance ignores stiff opposition
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's nuclear renaissance involves downplaying risks, restarting reactors, building new ones, and exporting reactor technology and equipment. A number of hurdles remain before he can rev up the reactors, but the summer of 2014 will probably be Japan's last nuclear-free one for decades...
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2014
Harassment rife in local assemblies
The sexist taunting of a female politician during a session of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly is part of a long-running problem and victims often suffer in silence, some assembly members say.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 23, 2014
Tea party hangs on to its seat at the kids' table
Despite its recent big win, the tea party wing in the U.S. Congress has no more than the ability to say no, to wreak havoc and to generally make House Speaker John Boehner's life miserable. Insiders still set the agenda.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 20, 2014
Americans should be worried about polarization
Americans should worry about a new Pew report on political polarization not because there's too much genuine ideological competition, but because our most energetic citizens appear to be dividing every more coherently into factions that can't stand each other.
EDITORIALS
Jun 19, 2014
Political earthquake in Virginia
The primary election defeat of the second-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives by an unheralded economics professor upends the conventional wisdom that the tea party had slid into oblivion.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 17, 2014
A requiem for technocracy
Now that science's postwar charisma has faded, politicians are debating the safety of genetically modified foods, the hazards of extracting shale oil and gas, and the impact of global warming without regard for scientific evidence — as if the issues were morality plays.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2014
Polarization in U.S. keeps getting exaggerated
A new study on political polarization in the U.S., conducted by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, uses large sample sizes and impressive graphics, but its interpretation is exaggerated.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2014
Urge to declare a quick win threatens security
The American urge to declare victory when nobody has won, to divide factions into fast friends and evil enemies, to ground complex decisions into simple, overriding principles rather than complex trade-offs poses a security risk.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2014
The blame for Iraq can wait
American efforts to assign immediate blame for Iraq's unraveling carry with them a whiff of the can't-do spirit — as if, unsure how to proceed in the world, we turn on each other instead.
EDITORIALS
Jun 9, 2014
Creeping Orwellian angst
Legislative attempts to criminalize the act of 'conspiracy' to commit some crimes as well as other government moves are enough to cause anxiety that Japan may be inching toward an Orwellian society.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2014
Why Malaysia is riskier than India, Indonesia
From missing airplanes to jail-bound opposition leaders, Malaysia has recently made international headlines for all the wrong reasons. Will the nation's economy be next?
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2014
Circus may visit Bangkok, but it can't stay on
The generals who now control Thailand are making a big show of shifting their attention from guns to butter. They would have better luck if they could communicate their ultimate intentions to the rest of the world.
EDITORIALS
May 27, 2014
A coup by any other name
Last week's military coup in Thailand may have been a reluctant coup, but the inclination should have been resisted. The longer it takes Gen. Prayuth Chanchoa to produce a civilian government, the greater the risk that soldiers will turn their guns against the people.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?