author

 
Menu
Search
 
November 09, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access
Brahma Chellaney

Meta

Twitter

@Chellaney

Brahma Chellaney
Brahma Chellaney, a longstanding contributor to The Japan Times, is a geostrategist and the author of "Asian Juggernaut" (Harper, 2010) and "Water: Asia’s New Battlefield" (Georgetown University Press, 2011), which won the 2012 Bernard Schwartz Award. He is professor of strategic studies at the Center for Policy Research, New Delhi.
COMMENTARY
Sep 26, 2005
China should face its own unsavory past
NEW DELHI -- The new foreign-policy subtleness that China has displayed in recent years is a far cry from the coarse image its earlier Communist rulers presented, especially when they set out, in then-Premier Zhou Enlai's words, to "teach India a lesson" in 1962, or when, to quote strongman Deng Xiaoping,...
COMMENTARY
Sep 4, 2005
Neo-emperor of evil genius
NEW DELHI -- History is replete with myths woven by victors. The myths about Mao Zedong, including his military exploits and triumphs over imperialism and capitalism, have helped keep the Chinese communists in power, even as a transformed China now practices capitalism and presents itself as a large...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2005
Neo-emperor of evil genius
NEW DELHI — History is replete with myths woven by victors. The myths about Mao Zedong, including his military exploits and triumphs over imperialism and capitalism, have helped keep the Chinese communists in power, even as a transformed China now practices capitalism and presents itself as a large...
COMMENTARY
Aug 10, 2005
No rationalization for Nagasaki attack
NEW DELHI -- History is written by victors and thus abounds in well-cultivated rationalizations for the winners' actions, however unjustifiable or gory they might be. Vanquishers are rarely burdened by guilt. Sometimes the rationalization stops with their first major slaughter in a war, as if their willful...
COMMENTARY
Jul 17, 2005
The international terror lab
NEW DELHI -- The July 7 London bombings, suspected to be the handiwork of British citizens of Pakistani origin, should serve as a reminder that major acts of international terrorism have first been tried out by Islamists in India before being replicated in the West. Such acts include attacks on symbols...
COMMENTARY
Jun 29, 2005
India: U.S. ally or independent power?
NEW DELHI -- The courtship between the world's most powerful and most populous democracies is in full swing, with a new international poll showing that at a time when anti-Americanism has spread across the globe more people in India have a positive view of the United States than in any other nation surveyed....
COMMENTARY
May 24, 2005
Power politics ensnare reform
NEW DELHI — Sixty years after its establishment, the United Nations is at a crossroads, its future direction and authority uncertain, even as it struggles with the diminution of its role in world affairs. Reforms are essential to revitalize the U.N.'s role, shore up its legitimacy and make it politically...
COMMENTARY
Apr 2, 2005
India-China rivalry sharpens
NEW DELHI -- When Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrives in India next week, the rhetoric of cooperation between the two Asian giants will intensify. But one has only to scratch the surface to know the extent of the embedded mistrust and competition between the two.
COMMENTARY
Mar 5, 2005
India's new double standard
NEW DELHI -- The growing warmth in U.S.-Indian relations is getting strangely reflected in India's adoption of U.S.-style dual standards on democracy.
COMMENTARY
Oct 25, 2004
China reconstructs past to chart future
NEW DELHI -- How folklore guides Chinese foreign-policy interests was brought out by Beijing's recent spat with South Korea over the ancient kingdom of Koguryo, which was founded in the Tongge River basin of northern Korea and, at its height, included much of Manchuria.
COMMENTARY
Sep 25, 2004
High-tech barriers to better ties
NEW DELHI -- Catchphrases like "enhanced engagement," "strategic partnership" and "sustained interaction" are bandied about to describe the new U.S.-Indian relationship. A novel, hyperbolic tag, NSSP, or Next Steps in Strategic Partnership, was added to the diplomatic lexicon when on January 13, 2004,...
COMMENTARY
Jul 30, 2004
Drawing the line with China
NEW DELHI -- India and China have held regular border-related negotiations since 1981 in the longest such process between two nations since the end of World War II. Yet, after 23 years of negotiations, the two Asian giants have not achieved the bare minimum -- a mutually defined line of control separating...
COMMENTARY
Jun 21, 2004
'Kanazawa Process' pays off
KANAZAWA, Ishikawa Prefecture -- The "Kanazawa Process," a unique initiative sponsored by the United Nations for promoting peace and stability in Northeast Asia, is now celebrating its 10th anniversary. During the decade, this region and the wider world have been radically transformed.
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2004
Gandhi a double winner
NEW DELHI -- The upset election result in India has come with an unparalleled spectacle of the winning alliance leader deciding, on second thoughts, to be the kingmaker rather than the king.
COMMENTARY
May 19, 2004
Why India accepts a foreign-born leader
NEW DELHI -- The world's largest-ever election in India has produced the biggest upset, bringing to power a foreign-born woman leader, Sonia Gandhi, and radically transforming Indian politics.
COMMENTARY
May 9, 2004
Democratic model for developing nations
NEW DELHI -- At a time when international terrorism has intensified debate on the potential role of democracy in moderating extremist trends, the world's largest-ever election in India is a reminder that democracy and freedom are not luxuries but central to the building of stable, pluralistic and prospering...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2004
Bush's blinkered nonproliferation policy
NEW DELHI -- Terrorism and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) have emerged as the two most pressing issues in international relations. Since 9/11, the United States has used the two to advance its strategic interests, linking them to reinforce international concerns about a terror-WMD nexus. This has...
COMMENTARY
Mar 22, 2004
Put global war on terror back on track
NEW DELHI -- One year after the invasion of Iraq, the U.S.-led global war on terror stands derailed, even as the scourge of terrorism has spread to more nations. The U.S. occupation of Iraq has proved divisive in international relations, splitting the world and fracturing the post-9/11 global consensus...
COMMENTARY
Sep 13, 2003
Get war on terror on track
NEW DELHI -- Violence-extolling Islamists target the United States, Israel and India as their principal enemies. Yet these three democracies are no more secure against terrorism today than before U.S. President George W. Bush launched his global war on terror. In fact, terror at home compelled Ariel...
COMMENTARY
Jul 8, 2003
Vajpayee kowtows to China
NEW DELHI -- Seeking to placate longtime rival China, India has subtly shifted its stand on Tibet in a way to clearly recognize the Chinese annexation of "the roof of the world," delighting Beijing but raising questions about New Delhi's diplomatic game-plan and spurring concern among Tibetan exiles....
Toyoko Kids: The lonely street children of Tokyo
Many young people who feel neglected at home flock to the Toyoko area to find a community where they can fit in.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
Japan unveils new overtourism countermeasures
The majority of tourists in Japan tend to stay in Tokyo, Osaka or Kyoto, resulting in overcrowding in popular tourist spots and a strain on transportation systems.
South Korea couple beat same-sex barriers to parenthood
South Korean lesbian couple Kim Kyu-jin (left) and her wife, Kim Sae-yeon, pose with a "pregnant woman" badge during an interview in Seoul last month.
Opportunities await the bold in the Year of the Wood Dragon
2024 marks the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac, with the year predicted to be a good time for fresh starts.
These are the hottest lower-division rikishi to watch right now
Fukazaki (right) grapples with Enho at the IG Arena in Nagoya on July 13.
Across borders and screens, Tokyo film festival finds humanity in migration
“Mother Bhumi” takes place in a multiethnic rice-farming community where Chinese, Thai and Malay lineages intertwine.
Takaichi’s balancing act: Supporting Taiwan and stabilizing China ties
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi shakes hands with Lin Hsin-i, Taiwan’s presidential adviser, on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea, on Saturday in this image posted to Takaichi's official X account.
From 1973 to 2025: A Japanese American skater’s long ride to recognition
Judi Oyama at Winchester Skatepark in San Jose, California, in January 1979. The Skateboarding Hall of Fame inductee and Guinness World Record holder still skates and hopes to inspire older women.
More Japanese universities pushing toward teaching in English
Waseda University in Tokyo

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons
Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER