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September 17, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Jul 25, 2007

Democracy wins in Turkey

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed a second five-year term last weekend. His government's record since 2002 should have made victory a given, but fears that it would drift toward more Islamic fundamentalist rule had tempered enthusiasm for his Justice and Development Party, or AKP. The...

COMMENTARY

Jul 25, 2007

The death of Iraq's Christian community

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON — Although Islam long has been in the ascendancy in Iraq, the so-called Assyrians, who speak a neo-Aramaic language, predate the rise of Islam. Today, however, the Iraqi Christian community faces possible extermination.

EDITORIALS

Jul 24, 2007

New front on the battlefield

Warfare entered the 21st century earlier this year when Estonia came under assault by activists who attacked the country's computer systems. The prospect of war in the digital domain is a sobering one for security establishments that are still unprepared for it. The proliferation of networked systems,...

COMMENTARY

Jul 24, 2007

When democracy goes bad

By Gwynne Dyer

LONDON — "We do not want to go back to an elective democracy where corruption becomes all pervasive," Lt. Gen. Moeen U Ahmed, chief of the Bangladesh army, told a conference in Dhaka in April.

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 23, 2007

The trouble with Poland

By Dominique Moisi

WARSAW — "We are only demanding one thing, that we get back what was taken from us. If Poland had not had to live through the years 1939-1945, it would be a country of 66 million." Thus spoke Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski on the eve of the last European Union summit, when he sought to gain...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 23, 2007

Pollution fouling a legacy of eternal love

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

MADRAS, India — The Taj Mahal has always been considered a wonder. As India's best known monument, this white-marble icon is now ranked among the "New Seven Wonders of the World," along with the Great Wall of China and Rome's Colosseum.

COMMENTARY

Jul 23, 2007

U.S. owes A-bomb apology

By Kiroku Hanai

Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma recently got himself into trouble by saying the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of Japan toward the end of World War II "couldn't be helped." He made the gaffe ahead of the Aug. 6 anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Kyuma was forced to resign, despite Prime Minister...

EDITORIALS

Jul 23, 2007

Containing the spread of guns

The government's project team for studying measures to prevent the spread of guns has submitted a report to the state minister in charge of such measures, Sanae Takaichi. She says the government will push the necessary measures with determination to revive the nation as the safest country in the world....

EDITORIALS

Jul 23, 2007

Ruling for fair trading

The Tokyo District Court on Thursday sentenced Mr. Yoshiaki Murakami, a former maverick fund manager, to two years in prison for insider stock trading. The prison term, without a suspension, shows that the judiciary is determined to deal severely with illegal trading activities to ensure sound and equitable...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 22, 2007

Video crime peril vs. virtual pedophilia

By Peter Singer

PRINCETON, New Jersey — In a popular Internet role-playing game called Second Life, people can create a virtual identity for themselves, choosing such things as their age, sex and appearance. These virtual characters then do things that people in the real world do, such as having sex.

EDITORIALS

Jul 22, 2007

Passing of the JCP architect

Mr. Kenji Miyamoto, who died Wednesday at the age of 98, embodied the history of the Japanese Communist Party both before and after World War II. The charismatic leader put the party on a realistic policy path, helping the party gain some influence in Japan's politics.

EDITORIALS

Jul 22, 2007

Progress toward denuclearization

The latest round of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons programs failed to set a deadline for the North's completion of next-phase commitments in its denuclearization process, specified in a Feb. 13 deal. Although the parties confirmed that they will indeed proceed from the initial to the...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.

Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

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