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Andreas Kluth
For Andreas Kluth's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
U.S. President Joe Biden welcomes Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during an arrival ceremony at the White House on Wednesday. The two leaders are also meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, where defense ties between the three nations were set to be high on the agenda. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 11, 2024
Hail to the minilateral chiefs: Biden, Kishida and Marcos
This week the U.S. keeps building NATO 2.0 in the Indo-Pacific, even as it prepares to improve NATO 1.0 in July.
During a rally in New York on Nov. 6, protesters call for a cease-fire in Gaza. U.S. President Biden should ensure that Israel abides by a March 25 U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2024
Biden must show Netanyahu that enough is enough
How can the U.S. president take the moral high ground if he allows Netanyahu to continue disregarding civilian life in Gaza, while arming Israeli soldiers?
Activists opposed to lethal autonomous weapons, or so-called killer robots, protest in Berlin in March 2019.
COMMENTARY
Mar 27, 2024
Don’t fear AI in war, fear autonomous weapons
It’s not the algorithmic intelligence in our weapons and nukes but automaticity that poses an existential risk.
U.S. President Joe Biden (right) is welcomed to Israel by the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. The relationship between the two leaders has since soured.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2024
Biden and Netanyahu are going from frenemies to enemies
President Biden has warned the Israeli prime minister about crossing a red line, but that may cause more trouble than good, as history teaches us.
A law making its way through the U.S. Congress would authorize the confiscation of billions of dollars in frozen assets owned by the Russian central bank, that would then be handed over to Ukraine as compensation for the war.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2024
Seizing Russia's central bank funds is illegal and unwise
A big question about giving Ukraine seized Russian funds is would such an asset grab break international law?
The International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2023
International law, warts and all, is still better than no law
However imperfect, international law makes life for many people less nasty, brutish and short than it would otherwise be
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield addresses an emergency session on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the United Nations headquarters on Oct. 27.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 3, 2023
Where’s the United Nations in all this? Oh, right, nowhere.
In times of crisis, the United Nations turns into a Babel in which everybody distrusts everybody else and finding common ground becomes impossible.
A demonstration in support of Ukraine in Tel Aviv in March 2022
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2023
Israel and Ukraine are linked, and the U.S. must stand with both
Ukraine and Israel are at the forefront of the battle between freedom and tyranny.
Israeli soldiers examine the remains of a police station where a battle took place following a mass infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip in Sderot, Israel, on Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 8, 2023
Hamas torches Biden’s deal to remake the Middle East
In a surprise attack, Hamas fired thousands of rockets from Gaza into Israel, killing dozens and and leaving some areas looking like war-torn Ukraine.
Ukrainian and Russian forces fight for control of the city of Bakhmut in May. Elon Musk asked why so many American lawmakers care more about what happens in Ukraine than the migrant crisis at the U.S. border.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2023
Message for Elon: We must keep supporting Ukraine
Elon Musk asked, "Why do so many American politicians from both parties care 100 times more about the Ukraine border than the USA border?”
Supporters of Niger's National Council of Safeguard of the Homeland wave a flag of the private Wagner military company during a protest near the capital Niamey on Sept. 16.
COMMENTARY
Sep 30, 2023
If the U.S. exits Niger, the terrorists and Russians win
What transpired in Niamey was obviously a coup. Nonetheless, the U.S. has global responsibilities that require it to stay in Niger.
A makeshift memorial in Moscow for Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin who is presumed to have died in private plane crash earlier in the week
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 26, 2023
If Prigozhin is gone, where does that leave Wagner?
What’s been said about President Vladimir Putin’s reign can also be applied to Prigozhin’s Wagner Group: "Nothing is true and everything is possible.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has since the start of the Ukraine invasion destroyed the norms that developed during the Cold War to prevent a nuclear arms race or the eventual use of such weapons.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 2023
Russia outnumbers the U.S. 10-to-1 in tactical nukes. Now what?
Never mind that Vladimir Putin is breaking all nuclear taboos and China is beefing up its arsenal. U.S. nuclear doctrine is still fundamentally sound.
Ukrainian Olga Kharlan (left) and Russian Anna Smirnova compete during the women's sabre senior individual qualifiers at the FIE Fencing World Championships in Milan on Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2023
Don't ask Ukrainian athletes to shake hands with Russians
In fencing and tennis as in life, responsibility is individual, not collective. All the more reason why Olga Kharlan did the right thing.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 25, 2023
The West must offer the 'Global South' a new deal
Countries in Africa, Asia and South America should support Ukraine against Putin. But the West could help by being less hypocritical.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2023
Russia’s dam-busting is another war crime
Are dams fair game in warfare? Nuclear power plants? It’s not as if Vladimir Putin would care.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 2023
The existential question about Putin’s mercenary boss
Why does Russian President Vladimir Putin tolerate Yevgeny Prigozhin, the uppity boss of the private army called Wagner?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2023
Should Ukraine take the war into Russia?
The better way to fight Vladimir Putin is to divide Russian forces inside Ukraine and cut off Crimea.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2023
The International Space Station is a model for a better world
As the Russians just reminded us, the science lab in the sky run by them, the Americans and others is the alternative to nationalism and war.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2023
The danger in hyping Ukraine’s spring offensive
Western governments should not base their support for Kyiv on the outcome of the expected offensive, but rather on the long-term strategic and moral stakes of the war.

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on