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Peter Beaumont
For Peter Beaumont's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 2, 2014
Moscow keeps ex-Soviet states firmly in line
Russian President Vladimir Putinu2019s ex post facto request to use military forces in Ukraine should not really have come as a surprise. The big question is: What does he want?
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2014
Netanyahu's talks with Kerry will be critical
Support for an independent Palestine alongside the state of Israel is not a constant. An odd tension in public opinion exists on both sides: The desire for the two leaderships to negotiate a settlement is set against a much weaker conviction that they are capable of doing it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jan 19, 2014
'Pilgrims' flock to site of death in Alaska's wilds
The old bus in which Chris McCandless died in 1992 in the interior of Alaska — made famous in Jon Krakauer's best-selling book "Into the Wild" and later in the Sean Penn film of the same name — long ago lost its windows to souvenir hunters.
WORLD
Jan 19, 2014
'Living suicide bomb' returns to wage jihad
Ahmed al-Shayea was known as the "living suicide bomb" — the young Saudi driver of a fuel tanker bomb in Iraq who survived to renounce violence and warn his countrymen of the dangers of jihad.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 12, 2014
In Fallujah, al-Qaida fails to learn from its past
The details were barely reported at the time by the world's media: the killing on Dec. 21 in the west of Iraq's Sunni-dominated Anbar province of 24 Iraqi Army personnel, including the commander of the 7th Division.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 22, 2013
All bets off as Syrian rebels fracture
The Bab al-Hawa crossing post sits under a low ridge on the Syrian-Turkish border, not far from the Turkish town of Reyhanli. There is a concrete canopy and a handful of buildings. It is important because of what lies not far away in the village of Babisqa — one of the main storage depots for the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Nov 24, 2013
Can Christie lead GOP back to White House?
Since Chris Christie's landslide re-election as governor of New Jersey earlier this month, which has seen him confirmed as an early favorite for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, the question of the precise nature of his political personality, and its appeal, has loomed as large as the man himself.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Sep 20, 2013
Putin: arch manipulator on a mission to check U.S. will
In novelist Victor Pelevin's pungent satire on contemporary Russia, "The Sacred Book of the Werewolf," its narrator, a 2,000-year-old shape-shifter, kisses Alexander, a brutish but alluring officer with the FSB, the Russian security service — who is a werewolf, like all his colleagues. In doing so, she unwittingly transforms his inner animal from that of a sleek grey wolf into a black dog that is at first rejected by, and then finally returns to, his former FSB employers.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Aug 16, 2013
Alexei Navalny: firebrand bidding for Russia's soul
Last week, Alexei Navalny, the recently convicted Russian opposition blogger, lawyer and candidate for the post of mayor of Moscow, posted a provocative item on his site.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 17, 2013
Can Snowden cite rights and still applaud Putin?
It's easy to admire Edward Snowden for what he has revealed about U.S. and U.K. spying, and still feel deeply uncomfortable about his praise for Russia, of all places.
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Jul 3, 2013
Mandela family battles over ailing icon's legacy
A convoy of cars and buses decked with balloons streamed into Qunu on Saturday as the childhood home of Nelson Mandela hosted a wedding and enjoyed a moment of respite from the deep uncertainty caused by the health of its most celebrated son.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 29, 2013
America and Britain team up on mass surveillance
Twelve years ago, in an almost forgotten report, the European Parliament completed its investigations into a long-suspected Western intelligence partnership dedicated to global signals interception on a vast scale. Evidence had been taken from spies and politicians, telecommunications experts and journalists.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Jun 29, 2013
Global protest grows as citizens lose faith in politics
The demonstrations in Brazil began after a small rise in bus fares triggered mass protests. Within days this had become a nationwide movement whose concerns had spread far beyond fares: more than a million people were on the streets shouting about everything from corruption to the cost of living to the amount of money being spent on the World Cup.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 6, 2013
Urban shift aided PM but brought corruption
The protests triggered in Turkey by plans to redevelop a park into a shopping mall at first seem an unlikely cause for public anger. In reality, the demonstrations over Taksim Square's Gezi Park go to the very heart of Turkey's modern discontents.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 27, 2013
Gene-sequencing breakthrough may save koalas
Last year the koala, Australia's iconic marsupial, was officially listed as a threatened species in large parts of the country following two decades of devastating population losses.

Longform

A statue of "Dragon Ball" character Goku stands outside the offices of Bandai Namco in Tokyo. The figure is now as recognizable as such characters as Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man.
Akira Toriyama's gift to the world