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COMMENTARY / World

Apr 22, 2008

New Delhi's dilemma with the Dalai Lama

By Shashi Tharoor

PRAGUE — As the world reacts to China's crackdown in Tibet, one country is conspicuous by both its centrality to the drama and its reticence over it. India, the land of asylum for the Dalai Lama and the angry young hotheads of the Tibetan Youth Congress, finds itself on the horns of a dilemma.

COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE

Apr 21, 2008

Is Japan's bureaucracy still living in the 17th century?

The roots of both the Japanese and French bureaucratic systems can be traced to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who as controller general under "the sun king" Louis XIV was instrumental in ushering in mercantilism to Europe and exerted great influence over the government control of the private sector.

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Apr 20, 2008

'Bone Man' bears lifelong witness to the ugly brute of war

By Roger Pulvers

Tell me, where is the glory in war?

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 19, 2008

What shape is America's recession?

By Nouriel Roubini

NEW YORK — Now that it is clear that the United States is in recession, the debate has moved on to whether it will be short and shallow or long and deep — a question that is as important for the rest of the world as it is for the U.S.

COMMENTARY

Apr 18, 2008

A passport to peace in the Middle East?

By Cesar Chelala

TUCUMAN, Argentina — Daniel Barenboim, the noted Israeli musician, is no stranger to controversy. By recently accepting Palestinian nationality, although in itself only a symbolic act, he will only fuel the controversy about his role in the Middle East process.

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 18, 2008

Agricultural neglect leaves millions trapped in poverty

By Noeleen Heyzer

BANGKOK — In the last decade, developing economies in Asia and the Pacific doubled in size, growing over seven percent on average. This growth has garnered much attention and plaudits. Yet, 641 million of the world's poorest — nearly two-thirds of the global total — live in the Asia-Pacific region....

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 17, 2008

Have we finally achieved moral progress?

By Peter Singer

MELBOURNE — After a century that saw two world wars, the Nazi Holocaust, Stalin's Gulag, the killing fields of Cambodia, and more recent atrocities in Rwanda and now Darfur, the belief that we are progressing morally has become difficult to defend. Yet there is more to the question than extreme cases...

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 16, 2008

Caution still advised for resilient Brazil

By Glauco Arbix

SAO PAULO — Less than a decade ago, Brazil's economy faltered at the first sign of instability in international financial markets. Today, by contrast, the country seems immune from global market turbulence — or so Brazilian officials believe.

COMMENTARY

Apr 16, 2008

What China and the world must do now

LOS ANGELES — Absolutely no one in the Western media is showing any sympathy at all for China in the current roiling mess over Tibet and the Olympic Games. But somebody has to do it, if only to try to achieve some balance and maturity of perspective. So we might as well make the effort here and now....

COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE

Apr 16, 2008

Change sweeping North Korea

Drastic changes appear to be taking place in North Korea as its Korean Workers' Party (KWP) further strengthens its grip and its strongman Kim Jong Il tackles three major tasks: to pave the way for announcing his successor, to minimize whatever damage may result from the birth of a new conservative government...

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 15, 2008

Hope for Taiwan's future

By Hisahiko Okazaki

Even in democracies, if one party holds power for long enough, scandals can occur and popular support can fade. Nevertheless, the result of the Taiwanese presidential election was a landslide victory for the Nationalist Party (KMT) that far exceeded expectations. I felt, though conscious of the heartbreaking...

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Apr 13, 2008

Landmark case spotlights 'Japanese-style nationalism'

By Roger Pulvers

"The most critical thing for us Japanese in the 21st century is to free ourselves from Japanese-style nationalism, both politically and culturally." So said author Kenzaburo Oe to me in the autumn of 1995, a year after he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.

A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan

By Hanako Lowry

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Fujitsu crafts sustainable innovation for itself, society

Fujitsu crafts sustainable innovation for itself, society

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