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EDITORIALS

Dec 11, 2009

Expanded stimulus package

The government Tuesday announced a ¥7.2 trillion emergency stimulus package, some 2.7 times more than the originally planned ¥2.7 trillion, to buoy the Japanese economy. Apart from the rather questionable economic impact of the package, confusion in the Cabinet and lack of leadership on the part of...

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 11, 2009

Central bankers must finesse money supply

By Edin Mujagic and Sylvester Eijffinger

TILBURG, Netherlands — The current economic crisis highlights the need for major changes at central banks. It is time for a return to some form of moderate monetarism — but in a 21st-century mold.

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 11, 2009

Aussie revolt over climate

By Alan Goodall

SYDNEY, Australia — Even before the Copenhagen talkfest opened this week, a climatic wrangle cost an Australian political leader his job. Even before the expected international fallout from Copenhagen, Canberra is on alert for national electoral turmoil.

EDITORIALS

Dec 10, 2009

The climate in Copenhagen

The U.N. Climate Change Conference is under way in Copenhagen with more than 15,000 participants, including delegates from 192 countries, attending. Its original goal was to conclude a new treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol and to set a global framework to curb greenhouse gas emissions between 2013...

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 10, 2009

Turkey aims to reconnect with its neighbors

By Suat Kiniklioglu

ANKARA — Nowadays, the international media are obsessed with the question of who "lost" Turkey and what that supposed loss means for Europe and the West. More alarmingly, some commentators liken Turkey's neighborhood policy to a revival of Ottoman imperialism. Recently, a senior Turkish columnist went...

COMMENTARY

Dec 10, 2009

Asia's new strategic partners

By Brahma Chellaney

The recently concluded India-Australia security agreement has come at a time when tectonic power shifts are challenging Asian strategic stability. Asia has come a long way since the emergence of two Koreas, two Chinas, two Vietnams and a partitioned India. It has risen dramatically as the world's main...

EDITORIALS

Dec 9, 2009

At last, an Afghan strategy

After months of deliberation, U.S. President Barack Obama has announced his plans for Afghanistan. As anticipated, Mr. Obama decided to send an additional 30,000 troops to the embattled country over the new few months. And as expected, that decision has not satisfied anyone. His supporters want U.S....

COMMENTARY

Dec 9, 2009

Doom and gloom scenarios for lifeboat Japan

By Gwynne Dyer

Japan is a lucky country. When the global average temperature has gone up by 2 degrees Celsius and most of mainland Asia is ravaged by famines, when civil wars and failed states and waves of climate refugees are the norm from Tehran to Hanoi and from Madras to Beijing, Japan will still be at peace and...

EDITORIALS

Dec 8, 2009

Focus on facts in Copenhagen

One factor has been overlooked throughout the controversy surrounding the release of e-mails that allegedly show that leading climate change advocates tried to manipulate data and silence opposing views: the timing. The hacked e-mails were released just days ahead of the Copenhagen climate conference,...

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 8, 2009

Inside Thailand's hidden separatist war

By Duncan Mccargo

LEEDS, England — Thailand's former prime minister, Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, recently ignited a furor when he proposed that the separatist campaign in his country's Muslim-majority southern provinces might be solved politically, with a form of self-rule. Thailand's ruling Democrat Party immediately called...

COMMENTARY

Dec 8, 2009

Sexual liberation taking tragic turn in India

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

CHENNAI, India — As sexual freedom sweeps across India, women are increasingly finding that the price they have to pay in this euphoric atmosphere is very heavy.

COMMENTARY

Dec 8, 2009

A hint of hedging on Afghanistan

By Gwynne Dyer

LONDON — It couldn't have taken three months to write the speech that President Barack Obama gave at West Point last week (Dec. 1), but clearly much thought went into his decision to send 30,000 more American troops to Afghanistan. Some aspects of his strategy even suggest that he understands how little...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.

The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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