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May 18, 2024
 

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Ramesh Thakur

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Ramesh Thakur
Ramesh Thakur is Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University; adjunct professor, Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law, Griffith University, and editor-in-chief of Global Governance from Jan. 1, 2013. He began writing for The Japan Times in 1998 as Vice Rector of the United Nations University.
For Ramesh Thakur's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2014
The charge of the lightweight brigade
Would America's late right-wing hero and former President Ronald Reagan have confronted a heavily nuclear-armed Russia's move to retake Crimea — 'gifted' to Ukraine by Nikita Khrushchev in 1954 — any differently than U.S. President Barack Obama? Not a chance.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2014
U.S. media losing credibility
The U.S. media's reduction of the recent diplomatic row between New Delhi and Washington to India wrong, America right, is an indictment of their professional integrity.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 10, 2014
Abe should visit Nanjing instead of Yasukuni
If Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivered a war apology with sincere contrition and humility in Nanjing, it might ease his goal of shifting Japan toward a 'normal' country in foreign policy and defense.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2014
Concerns of G-20 leadership
Having assumed the presidency of the Group of 20 nations, Australia should identify one core concern for each summit beyond economic matters.
COMMENTARY
Jan 19, 2014
Criminal envoy or rogue state?
If Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade's alleged offenses in New York City were criminally outside the norm, Washington should have worked with India to file charges in the U.S. or in India. If Delhi proved noncooperative, Khobragade could have been expelled persona non grata.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2014
India's sex laws contradict tradition of tolerance
It is surprising that India's Bharatiya Janata Party would privilege the social morality of Victorian England above both precolonial indigenous social practices and the constitutional morality of independent India.
COMMENTARY
Dec 27, 2013
America's one-sided application of diplomatic law
The entire Indian foreign service bureaucracy has been antagonized by the arrest and search of a colleague in New York. As U.S. relative power wanes, is diplomatic trust worth breaking with a growing number of friends and allies?
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 20, 2013
Diplomat's arrest sparks clash of political cultures
The escalating diplomatic spat between India and the U.S. over the treatment of an Indian deputy consul-general who was arrested in New York highlights a clash of pathologies of two political cultures.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2013
Curbing Tehran's ambitions
A sober second look at the deal on Iran's nuclear program signed in Geneva on Nov. 24 suggests that it is neither a historic breakthrough nor a historic mistake. It is welcome, though, because it suspends Iran's march toward weapons and the West's march to another war.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2013
Mandela's final step to freedom
Nelson Mandela's life had many parallels with that of Mahatma Gandhi. Above all, Mandela was an eternal optimist who believed in the possibility of improvement and progress by appealing to the better angels of our nature.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2013
Underlining the horror of nuclear arms
Given the stalled nuclear disarmament agenda, the most productive way forward to generate political momentum for the cause may be to emphasize the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 18, 2013
New Delhi's foreign policy 'own goals' mount
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh scored yet another foreign policy own goal when he boycotted a Commonwealth meeting in Sri Lanka.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2013
A Chinese version of 'responsible protection'
The 'responsibility to protect' principle is a challenge for China, which seems to view humanitarianism as good, interventionism as bad, and 'humanitarian intervention' as marrying good to evil.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 21, 2013
Nuclear arms wake-up call
Nuclear policymaking in Asia, as elsewhere, is trapped in the Cold War mindset in which too much reliance is placed on the utility of nuclear deterrence and not enough on the risks.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2013
Tale of two crises: connecting the dots from Iran to Syria
The twin crises involving Syria and Iran demonstrate the continuing utility of the United Nations as the Security Council remains the cockpit for addressing geopolitical upheavals.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 10, 2013
Right way to send a message
It's harder for the U.S. to claim legitimacy for circumventing U.N. paralysis, it has used the veto more often than China and Russia combined since the end of the Cold War.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2013
Labor's crushing defeat ends a five-act political tragedy
For the Australian Labor Party, a crushing defeat on Saturday night was the finale of a tragedy in five acts.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 3, 2013
Is America now becoming an international outlaw?
When Barack Obama succeeded George W. Bush as U.S. president, the world heaved a collective sigh of relief. How ironic then that Obama risks making the U.S. the biggest international outlaw of our times.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2013
Once again, U.S. rushing to attack without facts
Assertions that Syrian President Bashar Assad is guilty of chemical weapons use without hard evidence presented to the international community will not do, not after the dodgy dossiers fiasco on Iraq in 2003.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2013
Global threat of nuclear deterrence
lmost half a century after the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty was signed, the world is still perched precariously on the edge of the nuclear precipice.
Japanese stripper bids to have her porn movies taken off internet
Plaintiff Miyuki Ariga (left) speaks at a news conference along with her lawyer, Yoshitomo Morohashi, after filing a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Monday.
Japan passes bill to introduce 'blue ticket' fines for cyclists
A new system under which bicycle riders pay fines for minor traffic violations to escape criminal punishment is expected to be introduced in Japan no later than 2026.
Japan changes law to allow joint custody after divorce
Legislation that allows the option of joint custody of children after divorce is passed at the Upper House plenary session on Friday.
U.S. envoy to Japan makes landmark visit to front-line island near Taiwan
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel meets with members of the Self-Defense Forces stationed on Yonaguni, Okinawa Prefecture, on Friday.
Japan to review romanization system for first time in 70 years
An advisory panel to the education ministry will consider how the Japanese language should be transcribed into the Latin alphabet, including unifying different romanization styles currently in use.
Can AI-generated inventions be patented? A Tokyo court says no.
The Tokyo court's ruling comes amid ongoing debates on how to regulate generative AI and is part of a transnational class action lawsuit.
A new initiative rethinks old Tohoku crafts
The colored patterns of Tsuguru "nuri," made in Aomori Prefecture, are achieved by applying multiple coatings of lacquer, which are later polished down to reveal layers of colors beneath.
Xi and Putin mark ‘new era’ amid efforts to counter U.S. ‘containment’
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend an event in Beijing on Thursday. During Putin's visit, the leaders showed off their growing alignment amid efforts to push back against the U.S.-led world order.
Unraveling the Japanese prose of Yukio Mishima
Author Yukio Mishima accepts the Arts Festival Award in the drama category at the 20th Arts Festival Award Ceremony on Jan. 22, 1966.
New Taiwan president to set tone for ties with China at inauguration
Taiwan President-elect Lai Ching-te arrives at the CyberSec 2024 Exhibition in Taipei on Wednesday.

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