More Commentary Articles - The Japan Times

COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE

Apr 27, 2009

Investigation into DJP aide raises many questions

Were the public prosecutors politically motivated when they arrested and indicted a top aide to the leader of the No. 1 opposition party for seemingly minor charges? Why were the actions taken at a time when Ichiro Ozawa, the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, is said to have a fair chance of leading...

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Apr 26, 2009

Like it or not, becoming bilingual involves being bicultural, too

By Roger Pulvers

Several weeks ago in this column, I wrote about some of the nonlinguistic aspects of raising a bilingual child. These can be social, financial and marital, involving the milieu the child grows up in, the necessity to move back and forth between countries, and even the periodic separation of husband and...

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 26, 2009

Why China will continue to back Pyongyang

By Jonathan Holslag

BRUSSELS — In another move to raise the stakes, the dictator of Pyongyang has just decided to restart his nuclear program. And who is going to stop him, now that his long-range rocket can hit parts of the American West Coast? At least in theory. During the recent test, it took him days to prepare the...

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK

Apr 26, 2009

Recalling 'the fall of the Yasuda Auditorium' and the end of Japan's student movement

By Hiroaki Sato

At a friend's Easter Sunday dinner party, I asked, "What do you think the student movement of the '60s in the U.S. accomplished?" One guest answered, "Obama's election." Unexpected but true: in this country, the opposition to the Vietnam war went hand in hand with the movement that culminated, in federal...

COMMENTARY

Apr 25, 2009

Pakistan's terrorist windfall

By Brahma Chellaney

Pakistan has long proven adept at diplomatically levering its weakness into strength. Now it is using the threat of its possible implosion to rake in record-level bilateral and multilateral aid.

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 24, 2009

New revolt of the masses

By Dominique Moisi

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...

COMMENTARY

Apr 23, 2009

U.S. shifting Mideast policy

By David Howell

It is almost possible to hear the tectonic plates grinding. The whole international landscape is once again on the move, tumbling old structures and turning old assumptions upside-down.

COMMENTARY

Apr 23, 2009

No place for doctors who torture

By Cesar Chelala

Physicians and other medical personnel were involved in the abusive interrogation of terrorists suspects held overseas by the CIA, according to a secret report by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The report was obtained by journalist Mark Danner, who has written extensively about...

COMMENTARY

Apr 22, 2009

Nuclear disarmament: too much, too soon?

By Ralph Cossa

There is no country on Earth more committed to global nuclear disarmament than Japan. Ever since experiencing firsthand the horrors of nuclear weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese government and people have been steadfast in calling for the total elimination of nuclear weapons from the planet....

COMMENTARY

Apr 22, 2009

A violent warning for Thailand's urban elites

By Tom Plate

Until recently (before all the rioting, violence and assassination plotting) Thailand would not have appeared to be a deeply troubled society. Generally speaking, Thais were, as endlessly advertised, scintillatingly smiley, and the country as a whole — vast rolling expanses of poverty notwithstanding...

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 20, 2009

Whispers of sanity in the frenzy of madness

By Shobha Shukla

LUCKNOW, India — It was refreshing to hear the views of Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer, a Right Livelihood Award recipient, on the politics of terrorism. He rightly believes that terrorism is not born of any religion, but is the outcome of political situations.

COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE

Apr 20, 2009

Looking for a new leader

David Cameron, the leader of the British opposition Conservative Party, is the envy of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which is in desperate need to find someone to replace or succeed Taro Aso, whose popularity remains low despite a political scandal involving the Democratic Party of Japan —...

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