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COMMENTARY

Dec 30, 2003

Loose threads of democracy

By Ronald Meinardus

MANILA -- After analyzing the transition of some 30 countries from nondemocratic to democratic systems in the late 20th century, Samuel Huntington wrote "The Third Wave." Asia had emerged as a significant player in the tide of global democratization that began with the overthrow of the military dictatorship...

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 30, 2003

China, like Japan, using wrong antidote

By Christopher Lingle

GUATEMALA CITY -- Just when it seems that China was escaping the economic disasters typical of the bad old days of communism, it is succumbing to the theories of warmed-over Keynesianism. Beijing is giving up class struggle and central planning for discredited tools designed to manage aggregate demand....

COMMENTARY

Dec 29, 2003

Much ado about head scarves

By Andre Fontaine

PARIS -- The United States is proud to call itself a nation of immigrants. The descendants of Indian tribes that were living on its soil when Christopher Columbus first arrived on America's shores now represent only 0.7 percent of its 290 million inhabitants.

COMMENTARY

Dec 29, 2003

Japan eyes penalty options

By Keizo Nabeshima

Resumption of six-party talks aimed at halting North Korea's nuclear-arms development, originally planned for December, has been postponed to sometime beyond January. Since the United States and North Korea remain deadlocked over the wording of a joint statement on the abolition of North Korea's nuclear-arms...

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK

Dec 29, 2003

Cutting an ancient myth down to size

By Hiroaki Sato

NEW YORK -- The myth of the Japanese sword, which Quentin Tarantino plays to the hilt in the film "Kill Bill," has several origins: There was a religious connection. The manufacture of the blade was linked to Shugendo, a form of nature-worship that held that rough physical training is essential to enlightenment....

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 28, 2003

A firmer Japan in the tussle with China

By Eric Teo Chu Cheow

SINGAPORE -- The ASEAN-Japan Summit in Tokyo on Sept. 11-12 came at a crucial moment in ties between Tokyo and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi met with the ASEAN heads of state just as Japan is bottoming out from a decade of economic doldrums....

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 28, 2003

U.N. voice for 'civil society'

By Ramesh Thakur

In his opening address in Beijing to the U.N. conference on the question of Palestine on Dec. 16, China's Deputy Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo paid particular at- tention to the role of civil society -- academic and business communities, nongovernmental organizations and others -- in appealing for peace...

COMMENTARY

Dec 28, 2003

Making U.S. voters happier, not safer

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- "The capture of Saddam Hussein has not made America safer," declared Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, and denunciations have rained down upon him. But Dean obviously was correct: "The capture of Saddam does not end" the coalition's difficulties in Iraq.

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 27, 2003

A chance for Europe to stand on its own

By Glyn Ford

LONDON -- Disneyland, the Kennedy Space Center and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush were all on the agenda during the NATO Parliamentary Assembly's visit to Orlando, Florida, this month. Missing were members of the U.S. Congress. They weren't in Istanbul 12 months ago -- apparently because of problems with their...

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 27, 2003

Shedding light on Kissinger's dark legacy

By Cesar Chelala

NEW YORK -- Recently released documents from the U.S. National Security Archive shed important light on former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's role in Argentina. These documents indicate that Kissinger approved of the Argentinian military junta's ruthless tactics to eliminate any opposition to its...

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 26, 2003

The image of Japan in ASEAN's dream

By George Sioris

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- The Japan-ASEAN Summit on Dec. 11-12 has already been broadly analyzed and generally hailed as a kind of embryonic con- ceptualization of the long-term goal of creating an "East Asian Community." So what could one possibly add to this debate by comparing the reactions between...

COMMENTARY

Dec 26, 2003

Blair's overcast breaking up

By David Howell

LONDON -- As the old year turns, life is looking a little brighter for the besieged British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his team, thanks to a few lucky breaks.

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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