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Dominique Moisi
For Dominique Moisi's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2010
Unlike China, wariness marks India's ascent
PARIS — Some countries are naturally at ease with the concept and the reality of strategic power. Such was clearly the case of France under Louis XIV, the Sun King in the 17th century, and such is the case today of China, whose leadership is comfortable with the balance-of-power games of classical Europe.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2010
Wishful thinking fuels Kremlin's temptation
PARIS — What is the significance of France's recent sale of four powerful Mistral-class landing assault ships to Russia? Was it business as usual or an irresponsible move contributing to a dangerous shift in the balance of power in the Baltic and Black Seas?
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 20, 2010
The West's final decline?
PARIS — In 2040/2050, will demographers speak of "the white man's loneliness" in the way historians once referred to "the white man's burden" to describe the so-called "imperial responsibilities" of some European nations?
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 21, 2010
Anxiety fuels the rise of European nativists
PARIS — A referendum in Switzerland forbids the construction of new minarets. Racial violence explodes in the southern Italian region of Calabria. An intense and controversial debate takes place in France on the issue of national identity. These events have little in common, yet they all point to a growing European trend.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2009
Recognizing confident India as indispensable
PARIS — "Do not forget India." That warning made sense 10 or 15 years ago; not any longer. India is now impossible to ignore, much less forget, owing not only to its rapid economic growth but also to the country's increasing geopolitical stature.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 20, 2009
The difference is in the will to destroy a wall
PARIS — Walls designed to keep people in or out — whether they are in Berlin, Nicosia, Israel or Korea — are always the product of fear: East German leaders' fear of a mass exodus by their citizens seeking freedom and dignity; Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders' fear of continued war; Israelis' fear of terrorism; or the North Korean leadership's fear of "abandonment" by their martyred people.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 2009
Painful past must be put to rest for good
PARIS — A nation's relationship with its past is crucial to its present and its future, to its ability to "move on" with its life, or to learn from its past errors so as not to repeat them. This includes the past that isn't dead and buried — "in fact, it is not even past," as William Faulkner famously said. Such a past obsessively blocks any possible evolution toward a necessary reconciliation with oneself and a former or current foe.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 17, 2009
Foreign policy and the democratic paradox
PARIS — Elections stolen in Iran, disputed in Afghanistan and caricatured in Gabon: Recent ballots in these and many other countries do not so much mark the global advance of democracy as demonstrate the absence of the rule of law.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 8, 2009
The return of Franco-German leadership
PARIS — Regardless of who wins September's parliamentary election in Germany, the time has come once again for a major Franco-German initiative.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2009
One Europe in one confusing world order
PARIS — G8, G-5, G20, G-2, G3, and now the G-14 (Group of Eight plus the Group of Five plus Egypt): Never have the "mathematics" of world order seemed more complex and confusing.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 29, 2009
More European hope, less American fear
PARIS — Since the arrival of President Barack Obama in the White House, there has been an undeniable rapprochement between Europe and the United States. But on the deeper and more fundamental level of emotions and values, is it possible that the gap between the two sides of the Atlantic has widened?
COMMENTARY / World
May 25, 2009
Iran rules the hierarchy of Israeli emotions
PARIS — "It is reasonable to believe in miracles," David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, once said. Today's Israelis do not seem to believe in miracles. Instead, more than ever before, they are obsessed by nightmares, foremost among them, the prospect of a nuclear Iran.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2009
New revolt of the masses
PARIS — Is the current economic crisis uniting the democratic world in anger as much as in fear? In France, with many factories closing, a wave of executive hostage-taking — "boss-napping," as this newfangled crime is called — is agitating board rooms and police. In the United States, big bonuses given to executives from firms receiving billions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts — the insurance giant AIG, in particular — has infuriated public opinion, with a populist press and Congress fueling popular rage.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2009
Lots of blame to go around for 'losing' Turkey
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — "Who lost Turkey?" That question, often raised in the past, has been heating up in the aftermath of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's emotional outburst during the recent World Economic Forum 2009 in Davos, when he abruptly left a panel he was sharing with Israeli President Shimon Peres.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2009
Sarkozy's Western banner
PARIS — From the Caucasus in August 2008 to the Middle East in January 2009, is France under President Nicolas Sarkozy attempting to incarnate what might be called "the West by default," making maximum use of the window of opportunity opened by America's presidential transition?
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2008
Will Europe rise to the Obama opportunity?
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Will 2009 and the beginning of Barack Obama's U.S. presidency mark the beginning of a new era in trans-Atlantic relations, or will the old divisions linger, nurtured by the depth and gravity of the economic crisis? Will the crisis lead to nationalistic and selfish attitudes on both sides of the Atlantic, stymieing the long-awaited rapprochement, if not a full reconciliation?
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2008
Europeans back Obama, Asians like McCain
PARIS — Could Europe be categorized as a U.S. Democratic Party "blue state" and Asia, a Republican Party "red state"?
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2008
Russia's neurotic invasion
At the very moment China was getting a "gold medal" in diplomacy for the success of the opening ceremony in Beijing, Russia earned a "red card" for the extreme and disproportionate violence of its military intervention in Georgia.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 2, 2008
The hollow heart of the West
WARSAW — It is tempting to compare NATO and the European Union to the French and Italian football teams in this year's Euro 2008 competition. What unites them, above all, is a process of "competitive decadence." The EU and NATO may see themselves as potential rivals or complementary partners in the field of defense. But what their leaders say in private reveals a sense of common frustration.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2008
Israel eyes post-American multipolar world
Israel is one of the only places in the world where U.S. President Georges W. Bush can be greeted with real enthusiasm and even affection. The most unpopular American president in recent history thus relished his recent triumphal welcome in Jerusalem, where he was the guest of honor of the International Conference planned and devised by Israeli President Shimon Peres on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the creation of the Jewish state.

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