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Jackson Diehl
For Jackson Diehl's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2013
2013, a year of angry elites
The crowds who called for revolution in Cairo, Istanbul, Bangkok and Kiev in 2013 were not the impoverished losers of globalization. They were mostly the economic winners: middle-class, educated, English-speaking. So why were they rebelling?
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2013
Eurasian nations pressured by Putin's Russia
Ten years after Mikheil Saakashvili, then a 35-year-old U.S.-trained lawyer, led a march on the parliament of Georgia that overturned a corrupt regime and inaugurated a liberal democratic surge in Eurasia, the wave has receded.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 12, 2013
John Kerry's Mideast dream world
Imagine a world in which the Mideast is not descending into chaos but is on the brink of a monumental series of breakthroughs. This is the magical world of the U.S. secretary of state.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2013
U.S. Mideast policy based on fantasy
In his zeal to extract his administration from what he sees as a regional quagmire, Barack Obama has adopted a narrow and high-altitude approach to a complex set of Mideast conflicts.
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2013
Putin's hand in radicalizing a secular rebellion
It was Vladimir Putin's refusal to distinguish legitimate Chechen demands for independence from terrorism that created the jihadist movement in the North Caucasus.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2013
Chavez will haunt Venezuela's future
Hugo Chavez may die in time to shift the blame for Venezuela's social and economic disasters onto his successors, and to go on haunting the country.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 6, 2012
Where Obama and Romney differ on foreign policy
This presidential election will likely determine whether the United States and Russia undertake a major new reduction of nuclear weapons; whether U.S. arms are supplied to Syrian rebels; whether more U.S. troops are withdrawn from Afghanistan next year; and whether Washington renews pressure on Israel to accept terms for a Palestinian state. It could significantly lower the threshold for a U.S. military strike against Iran.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 9, 2012
Candidates want you to forget the Afghan war
Here's some news that both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney would like you to ignore: Tens of thousands of American soldiers are at war this summer in Afghanistan.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 27, 2012
Obama shares the blame for Arab Spring mess
A year ago Barack Obama described the epic wave of revolution that had begun in Tunisia and Egypt as "a historic opportunity" for the United States "to pursue the world as it should be." He said America must promote "change that advances self-determination and opportunity." And he asserted that "we can make a difference" in how the uprising turns out.
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 2012
Anxiety growing in China about the road ahead
The worrying news from China is that the country appears headed toward an economic and political crash sometime in the next five years, if current trends continue. The somewhat better news is that a large part of the elite grasps that danger, and is talking fairly openly about the far-reaching change that will be needed to prevent it.

Longform

High-end tourism is becoming more about the kinds of experiences that Japan's lesser-known places can provide.
Can Japan lure the jet-set class off the beaten path?