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COMMENTARY / World

Feb 21, 2004

Stop exploitation of indigenous knowledge

By Alphonse Kambu and W. Bradnee Chambers

KUALA LUMPUR -- Threats to our way of life come in many shapes and forms -- degradation of the Earth's ecosystems, disease, social unrest. Indigenous peoples must face all of these, and now confront additional, equally serious, pressure on their livelihoods.

COMMENTARY

Feb 21, 2004

Once again, the East is rising

By David Howell

LONDON -- The other day a British businessmen, recently having visited Japan, recounted the words of a leading Japanese ship-owner. "Our ships" said this individual with a sigh, "are going fully loaded to Europe and America but these days coming back empty."

COMMENTARY / World

Feb 19, 2004

No sugar, but FTA still sweet

By Alan Goodall

SYDNEY -- The cheering has died. Hardheaded businessmen are taking a second look. Suddenly the newly agreed Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement is looking distinctly one-sided -- and not in Australia's favor.

COMMENTARY / World

Feb 18, 2004

War erodes Bush support

By Richard Halloran

HONOLULU -- After the victory of the U.S. over Iraq in 1991, U.S. President George H.W. Bush proclaimed: "The Vietnam syndrome is buried forever in the sands of the Arabian Peninsula."

COMMENTARY / World

Feb 18, 2004

Currency depreciation won't spur growth

By Chris Lingle

UBUD, Bali -- In a fruitless and pointless exercise, economic policymakers and businesses fret endlessly over the international value of currencies. This is because interventions to guide foreign-exchange valuations tend to be costly and may have only a temporary effect at best.

COMMENTARY

Feb 17, 2004

U.S.-British naivete unmasked

By Gregory Clark

With the United States bringing out new rules of international relations regularly, it is important to take stock from time to time. One of them, spawned by the Iraq conflict, is the uncertainty doctrine. This says that whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) or not does not matter. What is...

COMMENTARY

Feb 15, 2004

Japan jumping headfirst into the future

By Tom Plate

The Japanese "get no respect, no respect at all." That trademark line from American comic Rodney Dangerfield certainly applies to the government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Last August when I interviewed Koizumi in his official Tokyo residence, I asked him point-blank if Japanese troops really...

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

Feb 15, 2004

Don't tease the Russian bear

By Constantine Pleshakov

MOSCOW -- In this election year for both Russia and the United States, a major conflict is under way in Russo-American relations: the debate over the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Created to contain the Soviet Union during the Cold War, NATO had to redesign itself following the...

COMMENTARY

Feb 15, 2004

Afghanistan risks becoming narco-state

By Farhan Bokhari

ISLAMABAD -- The United Nations' office on drugs and crime has warned recently that Afghanistan risks becoming a narco-state, dependent largely on the flow of illegal drugs. The production and shipment of narcotics in an otherwise shattered and bankrupt economy not only add to the aggravation within...

COMMENTARY

Feb 14, 2004

The fallibility of intelligence

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- The Jan. 28 report of Lord Justice Brian Hutton's inquiry into the death last July of British government defense scientist David Kelly was highly critical of the behavior of the British Broadcasting Corp. and a BBC reporter who had accused the government of "sexing up" intelligence for the...

COMMENTARY / World

Feb 13, 2004

Bird flu lessons highlight change in Asia

By Eric Teo Chu Cheow

SINGAPORE -- Avian flu has spread across 10 countries in Asia -- from China and Pakistan to Indonesia. A meeting in Bangkok at the end of January highlighted the flu's "regional dimension" as well as the necessity for a regional approach to eradicating it.

COMMENTARY

Feb 12, 2004

China creeps toward a culture of openness

By Frank Ching

HONG KONG -- Last month, in a small but significant move toward greater openness and transparency, China for the first time made available to the public a portion of materials from its diplomatic archives for the period between the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 and 1955.

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.

Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.

By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Fujitsu crafts sustainable innovation for itself, society

Fujitsu crafts sustainable innovation for itself, society

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