Doug Bandow - The Japan Times

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Doug Bandow

For Doug Bandow's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 16, 2015

The worldwide reality of religious persecution

While good judgment tells us not to express every thought we have, as moral agents responsible for our actions, we must be free to assess the world and express ourselves in vibrant public debate. Attacks on this freedom is spreading from Third World dictatorships to First World democracies.

Japan Times

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 24, 2014

Obama administration loses its collective mind

America can't fix the Middle East. It's time to give up trying to do so.

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 12, 2014

Let the neighbors take care of Islamic State's ambitions

President Barack Obama is channeling George W. Bush in launching a new war in the Middle East. Why is Washington involved? Let Iraq's and Syria's neighbors take care of Islamic State's ambitions.

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 30, 2014

Stop trying to reorder the Mideast

U.S. military intervention has broken pottery all over the Middle East. It is time for Washington to practice humility and to stop trying to micromanage the affairs of other nations.

COMMENTARY / World

May 23, 2014

Opportunity for U.S. to extricate itself from Korea

The U.S. should reduce the possibility of impoverished, remote North Korea interfering with its own peace, stability and prosperity by simply going home: Terminate the defense treaty with South Korea.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 9, 2013

Enough of America's hypocritical foreign policy

Every new White House administration, irrespective of party, ignores the reality that the U.S., although wealthy and powerful, still cannot micro-manage the globe.

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 3, 2013

France takes notice, the Yanks aren't coming

The realization that Europe can no longer rely on America to fill the military gap has given France pause. It is taking its security responsibilities more seriously.

COMMENTARY / World

May 15, 2013

U.S. defense cuts: An ax is needed, not a scalpel

The fact the U.S. government devotes too much to Social Security is no argument for spending too much on the military. The defense budget could use a meat-ax.

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 30, 2013

Stalin's reputation not so monstrous 60 years on

The reputation of Josef Stalin, a moral monster by any standard, has nevertheless enjoyed a bit of a revival in Russia, 60 years after his death.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 16, 2013

With Hugo Chavez gone, will Chavismo die as well?

Venezuela is better off with Hugo Chavez gone, but the country will prosper only if the opposition offers a vision that makes 'Chavismo' disappear.

COMMENTARY / World

Feb 28, 2013

Leon Panetta: a legacy of the conventional wisdom

Leon Panetta's failure to accommodate a rapidly changing world will be his most important, and disappointing, legacy as U.S. secretary of defense.

COMMENTARY / Japan

Feb 13, 2013

Japan as a normal country

The U.S. should reject the notion of preparing for war in the Pacific, and let Japan and its neighbors cooperate to counter Beijing's geopolitical ambitions.

COMMENTARY

Sep 10, 2011

U.S. now less secure, less free

It has been a decade since that beautiful September day when terrorists brought down the World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon, and killed thousands of Americans. Unfortunately, in important ways the terrorists have won.

COMMENTARY

Sep 5, 2011

Revolution no boon to the Copts

Ugly reality has dashed the high hopes of the "Arab Spring." In Egypt the fall of Hosni Mubarak has encouraged religious intolerance and persecution, especially against the Coptic Christian community.

COMMENTARY

Aug 24, 2011

Squaring the U.S., China, Taiwan triangle

Nothing causes greater discord in relations between the United States and China than the status of Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China.

COMMENTARY

Mar 7, 2011

U.S. foreign aid hinders more than it helps

SEATTLE — The United States will run up a record $1.65 trillion deficit in 2011. Yet Washington keeps subsidizing foreign governments. House Republicans have targeted foreign aid. This year the State Department would lose 16 percent of its budget; humanitarian aid would drop by 41 percent.

COMMENTARY

Jan 5, 2011

Lost religious liberty worldwide

WASHINGTON — Many of us take religious liberty for granted. Unfortunately, this most fundamental freedom is not protected in many countries around the world.

COMMENTARY

Nov 2, 2010

U.S. hurts itself sitting on South Korea FTA

WASHINGTON — How have the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress responded to the twin challenges of continued high unemployment and China's displacing America as the No. 1 trading partner with leading East Asian states? By retreating economically from Asia.

COMMENTARY

Oct 17, 2010

Time to let the neighbors deal with the North Korean problem

PARIS — North Korea has officially unveiled the youngest son and heir apparent of "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il. Yet again the impoverished dictatorship has captured the world's attention. But the United States should leave the problem of dealing with Pyongyang to the North's neighbors. The so-called Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the world's first communist monarchy, poses no threat to America. North Korea's economy is a wreck.

COMMENTARY

Jan 28, 2010

It's better to help arm Taiwan than defend it

The Obama administration is preparing a new arms package for Taiwan. Ironically, selling weapons to Taipei may be the best way for Washington to get out from the middle of one of the world's potentially most volatile relationships, between China and Taiwan. Relations between China and Taiwan are improving. Yet the former continues to point more than 1,300 missiles at the latter. The threat of military force remains a backdrop to expanding economic and tourist contacts across the Taiwan Strait.

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