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Jonathan Schell
For Jonathan Schell's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2011
Baiting like revolutionaries
NEW YORK — Whenever I hear people on America's Republican right call themselves "conservative," I experience the mental equivalent of a slight electric shock.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2009
Obama's Vietnam syndrome
NEW HAVEN — There can be no military resolution to the war in Afghanistan, only a political one. Writing that sentence almost makes me faint with boredom. As U.S. President Barack Obama ponders what to do about the war, who wants to repeat a point that's been made thousands of times? Is there anyone on Earth who does not know that a guerrilla war cannot be won without winning the "hearts and minds" of the people? The American public has known this since its defeat in Vietnam.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2009
Remembering McNamara
NEW YORK — I first met U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who presided over the U.S. buildup in Vietnam, in the summer of 1967. I had just returned from a trip to South Vietnam, where, as a reporter for The New Yorker, I witnessed the destruction, by American air power, of two provinces, Quang Ngai and Quang Tinh.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2007
Tehran's 'less is more' nuclear policy
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The recent United States National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), which reports that Iran once had a "nuclear weapons program" but suspended it in 2003, means that there will probably be no American attack on Iran during the Bush administration. How could America's president explain to the world why he was bombing nuclear weapon facilities that his own intelligence services have said do not exist?

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores