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COMMENTARY / World

Jun 21, 2003

A breakthrough for Thaksin

By Michael J. Montesano

BANGKOK -- Nearly 2 1/2 years after his Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party's unprecedented electoral victory, recent weeks have seen Thailand's Premier Thaksin Shinawatra score an unmistakable psychological breakthrough. The change has nothing to do with Thaksin's own psychology; his supreme self-confidence seems...

COMMENTARY

Jun 21, 2003

Isolation strategy working

By Ralph Cossa

HONOLULU -- Washington's strategy of applying international pressure to further isolate North Korea appears to be working, thanks in large part to the actions of one country in particular.

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 20, 2003

Foreign aggressors target N. Korea again

By David Wall

CAMBRIDGE, England — The war of words goes on. U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz has warned the North Korean government that any aggressive activity on the Korean Peninsula sponsored by North Korea would be met by a "devastating response."

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 19, 2003

Arab 'democrats' vie against nationalists in wake of Iraq war

By David Hirst

BEIRUT -- Ever since the Anglo-American armies went to war against Iraq, the Arabs have been wondering whether the conquest of one of their major states will lead to success or the most catastrophic of failures. Can the Americans really make Iraq into a platform for a strategic, economic and cultural...

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 19, 2003

History will credit Shinseki

By Michael O'Hanlon

WASHINGTON -- As he stepped down from office this week as the U.S. Army chief of staff, Gen. Eric Shinseki probably breathed a big sigh of relief. He had been put through the meat grinder in his job, particularly during Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's tenure.

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 18, 2003

Blair may be down but he's far from out

By Jonathan Fenby

LONDON -- Since the European community of nations began to take shape 52 years ago, Britain has taken an ambivalent view of the Continent's moves toward greater unity. It did not join the coal and steel community that began the process in 1951, and, six years later, did not sign the Treaty of Rome that...

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 18, 2003

U.S. occupation of Iraq recalls failure in Korea

By John Barry Kotch

SEOUL -- The spectacle of political confusion in Iraq today provides a window into the past. Rather than emulating the successful occupation of Germany or Japan as originally envisaged by U.S. policy planners, it is increasingly a carbon copy of the occupation that failed in Korea. And as Yale historian...

COMMENTARY

Jun 16, 2003

They impeach murderers, don't they?

By TED RALL

NEW YORK -- U.S. President George W. Bush told us that Iraq and al-Qaeda were working together. They weren't. He repeatedly implied that Iraq had had something to do with 9/11. It hadn't. He claimed to have proof that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein possessed banned weapons of mass destruction....

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

Jun 16, 2003

St. Petersburg may rule again

By Constantine Pleshakov

MOSCOW -- St. Petersburg, the former capital of Russia, has turned 300. Founded in a Baltic swamp at a frightening cost by the only outstanding Romanov reformer, Czar Peter the Great, it remains the architectural wonder of the nation. The "Venice of the North," as St. Petersburg was labeled in the 18th...

COMMENTARY

Jun 16, 2003

Averting a nuclear disaster

By Keizo Nabeshima

The international community is joining forces to prevent North Korea from escalating its nuclear threat. The Group of Eight summit (June 1-3) at Evian, France, adopted a declaration on the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, criticizing North Korea and Iran for its development of WMDs.

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 15, 2003

Different strokes for different war critics

By Eric Teo Chu Cheow

SINGAPORE -- One of the most notable moments at the Group of Eight summit (June 1-3) in Evian, France, was the bilateral meeting between U.S. President George W. Bush and his French counterpart, Jacques Chirac, the first such encounter following their dramatic falling out over Iraq.

COMMENTARY

Jun 15, 2003

'Propaganda' effort reflects U.S. image

By Brad Glosserman

HANOI -- I just wrapped up a 10-day speaking tour for the U.S. State Department after participating in the department's Public Diplomacy (PD) program, which sends folks to speak to universities, think tanks and public forums. The trip took me to the Russian Far East (Vladivostok and Sakhalin) and Hanoi,...

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

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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