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September 18, 2025

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COMMENTARY / World

Mar 15, 2008

Malaysia's opposition emerges reborn

By Tion Kwa

SINGAPORE — In Malaysia's recent elections, opposition parties managed their strongest showing since the country gained its independence from Britain in 1957, cutting the ruling coalition's parliamentary majority to below two-thirds.

EDITORIALS

Mar 15, 2008

Mr. Abdullah is battered

Malaysia's ruling coalition was stunned in elections last weekend. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his National Front (Barisan Nasional) lost the two-thirds majority in Parliament that they have held for nearly four decades. As the government tries to regroup, Malaysia appears headed toward...

COMMENTARY

Mar 14, 2008

Burma sanctions don't work

By Brahma Chellaney

NEW DELHI — Burma today ranks as one of the world's most isolated and sanctioned nations — a situation unlikely to be changed by its ruling junta scheduling a May referendum on a draft constitution and facilitating U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari's third visit in six months.

EDITORIALS

Mar 14, 2008

Disarray over BOJ appointment

The opposition-controlled Upper House has turned down the government proposal that Mr. Toshiro Muto, deputy governor of the Bank of Japan, become the next chief of the central bank. Since his nomination must be endorsed by both chambers of the Diet, the government will have to restart the nomination...

EDITORIALS

Mar 14, 2008

Second mission for astronaut

Japanese astronaut Mr. Takao Doi, together with six other crew members, was launched into space Tuesday aboard NASA's space shuttle Endeavour from Cape Canaveral, Florida. This is the 53-year-old astronaut's second space mission, the first being in November-December 1997. We wish him success.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 13, 2008

Good capitalism and bad capitalism

By Carl Schramm and William Baumol, Robert E. Litan

PRAGUE — Many people assumed that when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, "capitalism" had won the ideological cold war and that "communism" had lost. But, while "capitalism" — defined as an economic system built on private ownership of property — clearly has prevailed, there are many differences among...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 13, 2008

Taking the next step on Iran

By Bennett Ramberg

LOS ANGELES — The approval of fresh sanctions on Iran marks the third time that the United Nations Security Council has been galvanized to stem the Islamic Republic's feared uranium enrichment efforts. Unfortunately, the new sanctions are unlikely to be any more effective than the first two rounds....

EDITORIALS

Mar 13, 2008

Andes go to the brink and back

Tensions are on the rise in the Andes. Efforts by the Colombian government to battle leftist rebels have brought relations among it, Ecuador and Venezuela to the brink of war. Cooler heads appear to have prevailed, but problems have only been managed, not eliminated. The real problem is the enduring...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 12, 2008

Kosovo secession sets dangerous precedent

By Vuk Jeremic and Jonathan Holslag

BELGRADE — The international system that has brought unprecedented prosperity to the world since 1945 is based on rules that apply without exception. This system is supposed to protect the basic, legitimate national interests of every country, whether rich or poor, strong or weak. Its binding principles...

COMMENTARY

Mar 12, 2008

Still stalled in the Middle East

By Gwynne Dyer

LONDON — "Twenty-four hours a day of rolling news to fill," lamented the senior producer of an all-news radio station recently, "and only two hours of actual news to fill it." But his problem is minor compared to that of people condemned to cover the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where there is now...

EDITORIALS

Mar 12, 2008

The race goes on

The fight for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 U.S. presidential election keeps intensifying. Neither New York Sen. Hillary Clinton nor Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has been able to deliver a knockout blow, and the momentum keeps shifting from primary to primary. Clearly, Democratic voters have not...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 11, 2008

'Lower-intensity' discrimination persists

By Louise Arbour

NEW YORK — International Women's Day was celebrated March 8. Although progress has been made in achieving women's rights everywhere, we should not lose sight of the fact that widespread discrimination against women persists in law and practice, directly or indirectly, all over the world.

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

Tokyo Gas lights the way to carbon neutrality

Tokyo Gas lights the way to carbon neutrality

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