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COMMENTARY / World

May 29, 2005

Peer review of human rights

By Ramesh Thakur

The spread of human rights norms and conventions, and the extension and diffusion of international humanitarian law, were among the truly great achievements of the last century. The United Nations was at the center of that effort.

COMMENTARY

May 28, 2005

The serious side of Britain

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- The takeover of the Manchester United soccer (ManU) club by American businessman Malcolm Glazer dominated the news in Britain for some days this month. By May 16, Glazer had managed to purchase more than 75 percent of the shares by paying £3 (£1 equals approximately 200 yen) per share, a...

COMMENTARY / World

May 28, 2005

Jakarta and Beijing cozy up

By Eric Teo Chu Cheow

SINGAPORE -- During Chinese President Hu Jintao's recent visit to Jakarta and Bandung for the Golden Jubilee Commemoration of the 1955 Bandung Conference, Indonesian organizers underscored China's place at the conference and Hu stayed an extra day to sign a Strategic Partnership Agreement between Indonesia...

COMMENTARY / World

May 28, 2005

Leaders, not geography, decide destiny

By Michael Penn

During their recent visits to Washington some prominent Japanese lawmakers were promoting an uncomfortable message: China is a long-term threat to Japanese security, and a future conflict between Japan and China is virtually inevitable.

COMMENTARY / World

May 25, 2005

Too soon to let computers replace university libraries

By Michael R. Czinkota

at Houston has announced that it is removing almost all the books from its undergraduate library to provide space for a digital learning center, where students can use computers to access a wide variety of information. University officials are proud to be leading a trend. It is good to see academia catching...

COMMENTARY

May 24, 2005

Power politics ensnare reform

By Brahma Chellaney

NEW DELHI — Sixty years after its establishment, the United Nations is at a crossroads, its future direction and authority uncertain, even as it struggles with the diminution of its role in world affairs. Reforms are essential to revitalize the U.N.'s role, shore up its legitimacy and make it politically...

COMMENTARY

May 23, 2005

Getting doctors off the habit

By Kiroku Hanai

In February, the framework convention on tobacco control came into force, marking another milestone in the international antismoking movement. Japan has ratified the convention but is making only halfhearted efforts at tobacco control, frustrating antismoking activists ahead of No Tobacco Day on May...

COMMENTARY / World

May 23, 2005

Chinese protests stiffen Japanese resolve

By Richard Halloran

The Law of Unintended Consequences has been at work again, this time in the intense Japanese reaction to the Chinese demonstrations last month against Japan, some of them violent. In a word, the eruption in China has backfired in Japan.

COMMENTARY

May 23, 2005

Don't rely solely on America

By Robyn Lim

NAGOYA -- For more than 400 years, Great Britain played the role of global offshore balancer. Believing that it had neither permanent allies nor permanent enemies, but only permanent interests, Britain avoided entanglement on the Continent. Shifting its weight as required to prevent any potentially hostile...

COMMENTARY / World

May 22, 2005

Betting on World War III

By David Wall

LONDON -- U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick has a way with words. On a recent trip to Europe he tried to persuade European Union politicians not to lift the arms embargo that they had imposed on China after the Tiananmen massacre in 1989. If the EU lifted the ban, he said, the Europeans...

COMMENTARY

May 20, 2005

The right leader for Britain

By David Howell

LONDON -- British politics is now in a fluid state. The May 5 general election, which should have settled things, at least for four or five years, has unsettled everything in a very puzzling way.

COMMENTARY / World

May 20, 2005

Battling the windmills while Iraq burns

By Ramzy Baroud

DOHA, Qatar -- Cast aside the nonsensical rhetoric about U.S. President George W. Bush's ostensibly successful efforts to bolster democratic tendencies "sweeping" the Middle East, and you'll discover that the facts are not so rosy, with Iraq remaining the most horrific reminder.

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.

What comes after 100?

By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

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