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April 20, 2024
 

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William Pfaff
For William Pfaff's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2015
A shift in U.K. foreign policy?
The British election in May could produce dramatic outcomes in trans-Atlantic and trans-channel relations.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2015
France, U.K.'s right bark louder than they bite
France and Britain's nationalist parties attract great attention because of their dramatic character but are hard to take too seriously.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2015
Obstacles and opportunities in the Lausanne agreement
The framework agreement reached last week on Iran's nuclear program points the way toward an isolated and disempowered U.S. depending on the choices it makes.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2015
Putin and the neoconservatives
The national ambitions harbored by Vladimir Putin and American neoconservatives are troublingly similar.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2015
U.S. foreign policy founders on ignorance and arrogance
If it's true that President Barack Obama is unable to dominate the neoconservative faction in the State Department and the Pentagon, it makes the political nonsense involving Mideast myth-addicted members of the U.S. Congress pale in comparison.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2015
U.S. alienating European allies
Trans-Atlantic relations are worse than they have been in some years, as Europeans widely attribute the new jihadism, the chaos in Iraq, Syria and Libya, the newly proclaimed Islamic State group, tension with Iran, and the sinister turn of events in Israel/Palestine to American irresponsibility and adventurism.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2015
Ukraine is worst of Obama's many foreign policy disasters
If U.S. President Barack Obama is to be blamed for errors with Libya, the Mideast and especially Ukraine, it is also true that his foreign policies have reflected a consensus in the U.S. governing class and popular opinion alike that America must always be 'first.'
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 10, 2015
Stepping back from the edge
There is a solution to the crisis in Ukraine, which is to leave well enough alone before something really bad happens.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 27, 2015
Netanyahu tars Europe for anti-Semitism of terrorists
As he beats the drum for his Likud's Party re-election in mid-March, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu falsely asserts that anti-Semitism is responsible for growing European and American hostility toward Israel.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 20, 2015
Uses, and abuses, of history in the Middle East conflict
There remains in the U.S. an incorrigible conviction that it is the 'indispensable' nation, and that it alone can bring peace to nations. And that's done by more intervention and war, splitting nations in civil, tribal and sectarian battles in which the U.S. chooses sides and nominates the leaders.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 6, 2015
Time for EU and U.S. to step back from Ukraine conflict
For the first time since 1990, nuclear war is considered a possibility, all because of the conflict in east Ukraine. The U.S. and its European allies have been the aggressors in this confrontation with Russia, and they are the ones who can call it off.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2015
Eroding language of austerity
After years of trudging through an economic slough of austerity, guarded by German warders, that left southern European states near to despair, the EU can see a ribbon of the light of dawn upon the horizon.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2015
Damping the hysteria fanning Islamic alienation in the West
Much of the American reaction to the Charlie Hebdo episode has been fixed on launching an even larger military intervention in the Middle East, as if that could do any good addressing a problem inside the Western countries themselves.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 16, 2015
France defies the jihadists
To one who witnessed the transformation fear exacted from America's governing elite by the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the jihad killings last week in France seemed to produce a colossal reaction that was not one of fear at all.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 9, 2015
Br'er Rabbit and Br'er Fox
Today's crisis in Islamic society dates from its loss of unity in the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in World War I. Foreigners will never achieve peace and unity for them.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2014
Is Israel headed for 'an abyss'?
Settlement policies, military actions and now the Israeli national election in March and the U.S. elections in 2016 threaten to isolate Israel totally from the world of democracies.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2014
Broken U.S. moral compass
The most disturbing and basic question with regard to the maintenance of Guantanamo and any one of the so-called Black Sites in recent years is why American officials seemed to want so badly to torture when to do so was known — even to the CIA — to be so unprofitable.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 12, 2014
A rude awakening for America
The American pivot to Asia was the product of people in Washington who only think in terms of military power — as in trying to annex Ukraine and Georgia to NATO and the EU. There are new ways of thinking in China and even Russia.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 28, 2014
Hagel leaves a Cabinet adrift
Former U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's real problem seems to have been to support too many wars for President Barack Obama and not enough for the Pentagon.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 21, 2014
Obama is wrong on Ukraine
U.S. President Barack Obama needs to recognize that the crisis in Ukraine must be resolved in a manner that respects the dignity, and national concerns and interests of both sides.
No link to Nankai Trough quake seen after temblor in Shikoku
Satoshi Harada from the Meteorological Agency explains about the magnitude 6.6 earthquake during a news conference early Thursday.
Tehran signals no retaliation against Israel after drones attack Iran
A reported strike against Iran by Israel on Friday came against the backdrop of Iran's support for the Palestinian Hamas militant group, whose assault into Israel on Oct. 7 triggered Israel's invasion of Gaza.
In a first, Japan doctors sue Google over negative reviews on firm's map app
One of the lawyers representing a group of doctors suing Google told a news conference that the main purpose of the lawsuit is not to seek compensation but instead to raise awareness over various problems with the Google Maps system.
Former No. 1 Kento Momota retires from international badminton at 29
Badminton star Kento Momota leaves a news conference after announcing his retirement from Japan's national team, in Tokyo on Thursday.
Thousands evacuated as Indonesia volcano erupts
Indonesia's Mount Ruang spews hot lava and smoke as seen from Sitaro, North Sulawesi, on Wednesday.
'House of the Owl' brings Hollywood values to Japanese TV
In the new Disney+ series “House of the Owl,” Min Tanaka (left) plays a powerful political fixer, or “kuromaku,” who has a troubled relationship with his adult children, particularly his idealistic son, played by Mackenyu.
Benefits and risks: AUKUS looks to take gamble on Japan
U.S. President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British leader Rishi Sunak deliver remarks on the AUKUS partnership, after a trilateral meeting, at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego in March last year.
Kyoto’s demon night parade lives to haunt another day
In a Kyoto long past, the "hyakki yagyō" (100 demon night parade) haunted a sleepy corner of Kyoto. Now, one enterprising monster enthusiast has won a small batttle to keep the march alive.
U.S. deploys midrange missile system in Indo-Pacific for first time
A U.S. Army Mid-Range Capability (MRC) Launcher arrives as part of the capability’s first deployment into theater on Northern Luzon, Philippines, April 8.
Unpacking the chaotic by-election in a scandal-hit Tokyo district
People listen to a campaign speech in Tokyo's Koto Ward on Tuesday.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

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
By Lance Henderstein

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