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COMMENTARY / World

Apr 10, 2005

Intervention based on rules

By Ramesh Thakur

According to the U.N. High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, "The maintenance of world peace and security depends importantly on there be-- ing a common global understanding, and acceptance, of when the application of force is both legal and legitimate."

COMMENTARY

Apr 9, 2005

School kitchens need a nanny

By Sarah Benton

LONDON -- Turkey twizzlers once divided the nation; now they appear to have united it in a surge of national purpose for reform. This is thanks to a new political hero, chef Jamie Oliver, who, from one of the most despised backgrounds in Britain -- white working-class boy from Essex -- has shown imagination...

COMMENTARY

Apr 9, 2005

Can John Bolton save the United Nations?

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- The United Nations is a mess. Often corrupt and venal, always inefficient and wasteful, frequently captured by the worst political interests, and commonly motivated by the most extreme ideological impulses, the organization is anything but "the last great hope of mankind." If anyone can...

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 9, 2005

Palestinian struggle: reality vs. rhetoric

By Ramzy Baroud

DOHA, Qatar -- No other national struggle in the world has assimilated itself, or has been inadvertently assimilated, to symbolize so many things to different people as has the Palestinian struggle. And yet, despite the intricate layers of sense and understanding that have sought to encapsulate the Palestinian...

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 8, 2005

Drive toward reconciliation

By George Sioris

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- It seems rather awkward for outsiders to comment at this time on the tragic developments in the "deep South" of Thailand. Yet even Thai public opinion at large does not appear sufficiently informed of the extent of the events occurring there. One aspect of the drama that should...

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 6, 2005

U.S., Vietnam draw closer

By Richard Halloran

HONOLULU -- An American warship steamed slowly up the Saigon River last week to mark the gradual forging of normal political, economic and even military relations between the United States and Vietnam 30 years after the end of their long and bloody war.

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 6, 2005

Rise of Spanish does not predicate decline of English

By Domenico Maceri

SANTA MARIA, Calif. -- Three major American television networks have been facing stiff competition for viewers from cable television and the Internet. One network that seems to be thriving without any serious competition, though, is Spanish language Univision.

COMMENTARY

Apr 6, 2005

Security quest curtailing vital freedoms

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- Since 9/11, the United States and other democratic countries have given priority to security, often at the expense of freedom, justice and human rights. Governments reckon that if they fail to take all possible steps to defend their citizens they will be rightly accused of dereliction of duty....

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 5, 2005

Russia wastes time as AIDS crisis builds

By Cesar Chelala

NEW YORK -- In recent years, HIV/AIDS infection in Russia has been spreading at the fastest rate in the world. Several experts estimate that more than 1.5 million Russians are HIV-infected at present. According to World Bank estimates, that number could total 5.4 million to 14.5 million by 2020 unless...

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 5, 2005

A dicey hypocritical streak

By David Wall

LONDON -- I am glad that March is over. The problem with the month is that it begins with the release of the U.S. State Department's annual reports on human rights violations worldwide (except in the United States, of course). Just as you come to terms with that, in the middle of the month, the six-week...

COMMENTARY

Apr 4, 2005

Unstable bond unraveling

By Keizo Nabeshima

South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun's March 23 statement denouncing Japan for its colonial past is bound to seriously damage Tokyo-Seoul relations that have been improving in recent years. The statement reverses positive diplomacy Seoul has pursued on the basis of a 2003 agreement between Roh and Prime...

COMMENTARY

Apr 4, 2005

Wild card in Filipino politics

By Ronald Meinardus

MANILA -- Ideally, in a democracy the military is subordinate to the political leadership, which enjoys a popular mandate through universal elections. In reality, civil-military relations often have a different quality.

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

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

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