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James Stavridis
For James Stavridis's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2021
The U.S. Navy gets its drone fleet into the water
Drones, cyber and AI are still far too small in terms of the budget, and U.S. officials must continue to swing their focus away from the big contracts and toward the more-nimble systems
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2021
Afghans left behind need an underground railroad
Establishing an Afghan underground railroad would be easier than during the time of U.S. slavery because today we have vastly better methods of point-to-point communication.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2021
Cuba and how Biden can avoid another Mariel boatlift
The best way for the U.S. to move forward in response to the Cuban unrest may be to split the difference between the positions of the Democrats and Republicans.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 27, 2021
It’s now life or death for the U.S. military’s Afghan interpreters
Done Ultimately, given the small amount of time remaining, the military needs to conduct a full-scale evacuation.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 24, 2021
Keeping troops in Afghanistan makes America safer
The case for maintaining a small yet strong military presence in Afghanistan is sound, if not popular.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2021
Trump got a space force. Biden should get a cyber force.
To use a military analogy, the initial attack on SolarWinds was a carpet-bombing, which had immediate (if undetected) effects across the entire field of battle.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2021
Five books that explain the world
To comprehend Russia, including the mindset of Vladimir Putin, I've found more illumination in Pushkin, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and above all Gogol than in most CIA reports.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2020
War in the Caucasus will spread to Russia and Turkey
What is particularly dangerous in this latest flare-up is that Moscow and Ankara are strongly backing different horses.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 27, 2020
Selling advanced fighter jets to the UAE is all about Israel
The problem with providing the F-35 to Arab states is it might erode Israel's QME, a U.S. assurance that it will not sell its most advanced arms to Israel's opponents.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 10, 2020
Trump’s ‘ending’ the Iraq war is a gift to Iran
When I was supreme allied commander at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, we had a small training mission in Iraq. U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration was in the process of drawing down the massive U.S. troop presence there, which peaked at around 170,000.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2020
Military reasons to celebrate the Israel-UAE deal
This could be the first step toward a strategic coalition to check aggression from Iran.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2020
Can the U.S. and China cooperate? Sure.
There are several areas where both nations' interests align, including climate change and, believe it or not, the Arctic.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 22, 2020
Where there’s smoke, the U.S. Navy’s on fire
The inferno on the USS Bonhomme Richard caps off a dismal run for the service.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 19, 2020
Six ways the U.S. isn't ready for wars of the future
The new ABCs of combat: autonomy, biotech and cyber.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2020
Taliban bounties would be a new low even for Putin
Putting a price on American heads today is not at all like the U.S. arming anti-Soviet forces in Afghanistan.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 1, 2020
Turkey and Russia are at war, and Libya’s the loser
The failed siege of Tripoli is an opening for peace, but only if the outside players end their proxy war.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 24, 2020
A cold war is heating up in the South China Sea
U.S.-China tensions over trade and the coronavirus epidemic are playing out dangerously in contested waters.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2020
A NATO flotilla sails back into the Cold War
After months of Moscow's provocations, the U.S. and U.K. sent surface ships to the Barents Sea for the first time in 35 years.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2020
China wants to rule the waves; here's how the U.S. can stop it
It will take the right kind of 355-ship U.S. Navy to blunt Beijing's goals in the South China Sea and beyond.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 2, 2020
Turkey is a mediocre NATO ally, but Russia is enemy No. 1
The U.S. has to mend fences with wayward alliance members to avoid war with Russia.

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When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
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