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COMMENTARY

Mar 20, 2012

TV tactics win Putin new term

By Tina Burrett

On March 10, thousands of Muscovites took to the streets for a fourth time in as many months to protest against fraudulent elections. Protesters held placards demanding "Russia without Putin." But this rally was smaller and quieter than previous anti-Putin protests.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 20, 2012

Mistaken presumptions about Assad's Syria

By Roger Owen

Syria's uprising against President Bashar Assad, which began peacefully in Damascus a year ago, has become increasingly brutal and splintered. As the death toll nears 9,000, calls for international intervention have increased — but what worked in places like Libya won't necessarily succeed in Syria....

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 20, 2012

Testing times for U.S.-South Korean alliance

By Lee Byong Chul

The United States is now wrestling with the nuclear fears of two close allies — Israel and South Korea. Israel's alarm at the prospect of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon is existential in nature. The same is true of South Korea, whose capital sits only 40 km from the border with the North.

COMMENTARY

Mar 19, 2012

Chief executive falls on Hong Kong's reputation

By Frank Ching

Chief Executive Donald Tsang, chastened by the disclosure that he had accepted favors from Hong Kong and mainland tycoons, was on the verge of tears when he appeared March 1 before the Legislative Council and pleaded: "No matter whether you still trust me or not, don't lose faith in Hong Kong's institutions."...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 19, 2012

Whose sovereignty is it anyway?

By Javier Solana

Despite the huge sums expended to write down Greece's foreign debt, there has been an outcry of censure against "interference" with the country's national sovereignty.

COMMENTARY

Mar 19, 2012

Color GDP growth green

By Takamitsu Sawa

It is often said that the 21st century is the "century of the environment." This means two things: One is that the environmental problems of this planet, especially climate change and global warming, have become so serious that they are attracting more people's attention; and the other is that environmental...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 19, 2012

Syrian crisis shadowed by outcome in Libya

By John J. Metzler

As the conflict in Syria churns out a ghastly human carnage, diplomatic efforts to halt the violence are shadowed by last year's intervention in the Libyan conflict, which resulted in a six-month-long military operation to topple a tyrant.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 19, 2012

Authoritarian democracy looking less Asian

By Sergei A. Karaganov

The world is being shaken by tectonic changes almost too numerous to count. The economic crisis is accelerating the degradation of international governance and supranational institutions amid a shift of economic and political power to Asia.

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Mar 18, 2012

There may be no time like the present — but the present's no time at all

By Roger Pulvers

"Japan is so small: What's the hurry?" This catchphrase, from a road-safety campaign in 1973, was created to help Japanese people slow down. In those days it was common to see drivers racing up to lights, people sprinting through a station to catch a train, or running and dodging down a sidewalk so as...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 17, 2012

U.S. soldiers consumed by wars without end

By Robert H. Scales

I guess I knew it would eventually come down to this: Blame the U.S. Army's institutions in some way for the horrific and senseless slaughter of 16 innocent Afghan civilians in Kandahar, allegedly by an infantry noncommissioned officer (NCO). In their search for a villain, the media seems to be focusing...

COMMENTARY

Mar 17, 2012

Nuclear agenda after 3/11

By Ramesh Thakur

A year after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11, 2011, all but two of the country's 54 nuclear reactors are shut down. The Japanese people remain confused, apprehensive and distrustful of government statements and reassurances. The future of the nuclear power industry...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 16, 2012

Is Burma's reintegration with the West for real?

By John J. Metzler

In a world beset by war, ethnic conflict and humanitarian disasters, Burma (aka Myanmar) seems one of those rare places where diplomats can say they are making a positive difference.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.

That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

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