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EDITORIALS

Sep 17, 2003

High hopes for Ms. Ogata and JICA

Japan has updated its policy guidelines for official development assistance -- concessionary aid to developing countries -- for the first time in 11 years. ODA has long been considered a key instrument of Japanese diplomacy, but its effectiveness as such has been admittedly less than satisfactory. The...

COMMENTARY

Sep 17, 2003

Moscow must walk a fine line as Tokyo and Beijing compete for Russian oil

By Frank Ching

HONG KONG -- Russia is in the enviable position of being wooed simultaneously by Asia's two main powers, China and Japan. At the same time, it has to walk a fine line because it is unlikely to be able to please both countries.

EDITORIALS

Sep 15, 2003

Looming specter of tax hikes

The government's budget deficit continues to swell at an ominous pace. According to an estimate by the Finance Ministry, the total amount of bond issues in fiscal 2004 may exceed 41 trillion yen -- a sum roughly half the size of the budget. The figure could be revised downward, possibly to less than...

COMMENTARY

Sep 15, 2003

Wanted: a U.S. exit strategy for Iraq

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- The number of American combat deaths in the Iraq war has surpassed the number in the Persian Gulf War. Even U.S. President George W. Bush has acknowledged that the U.S. faces a "security issue in Iraq," a "massive and long-term undertaking." The conflict will soak up a large share of U.S....

COMMENTARY

Sep 15, 2003

U.N. force key to Iraqi peace

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- The news from Iraq over the last month has been bleak, with U.S. and British forces continuing to suffer significant casualties. Bomb blasts last month at the U.N. headquarters and a Shiite mosque left many dead and wounded. Acts of sabotage have hindered the resumption of electricity and water...

EDITORIALS

Sep 14, 2003

Tracking lost art of the Holocaust

Last Monday marked the launch of a Web site designed to help people find out whether American galleries and museums hold art that was, or could have been, stolen by the Nazis -- and if so, which institutions hold what. It was an occasion that, like the comparable moment more than three years ago when...

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

Sep 14, 2003

An evening like any other at the Bolshoi

By Constantine Pleshakov

MOSCOW -- Already the environs of Bolshoi are very telling. Downtown Moscow recently got a cheap face lift, and all its one-time numerous kiosks that supplied the Russian capital with the mercurial atmosphere of a grand bazaar are gone or, rather, have been displaced into dark alleyways and underground...

COMMENTARY

Sep 14, 2003

Shy man performs historic balancing act

By Tom Plate

HONG KONG -- Because Hong Kong's leader tends to view the news media (local or otherwise) with the enthusiasm of a swimmer greeting a school of sharks, Tung Chee-hwa has scant hope of receiving his due as the historically pivotal man he is. His public image is generally terrible, and he is often portrayed...

EDITORIALS

Sep 13, 2003

Mr. Arafat flexes his muscles

Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat has been sending a message to the world over the past few months: Despite being confined in his destroyed headquarters for a year and a half, he is still the only person that can make peace between Palestinians and Israelis. U.S.-led attempts to sideline...

COMMENTARY

Sep 13, 2003

Get war on terror on track

By Brahma Chellaney

NEW DELHI -- Violence-extolling Islamists target the United States, Israel and India as their principal enemies. Yet these three democracies are no more secure against terrorism today than before U.S. President George W. Bush launched his global war on terror. In fact, terror at home compelled Ariel...

COMMENTARY

Sep 13, 2003

Can the U.N. handle Iraq?

By David Howell

LONDON -- Everyone wants the United Nations to play a greater role in Iraq -- the Americans included.

EDITORIALS

Sep 12, 2003

A 'peaceful' parade in Pyongyang

A parade of military hardware was conspicuously absent from North Korea's 55th anniversary celebrations on Tuesday. That seemed to reflect its present external position. Perhaps the country was trying to send a dual message to the world: It wants to reconcile the political imperative of maintaining a...

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

Fujitsu crafts sustainable innovation for itself, society

Fujitsu crafts sustainable innovation for itself, society

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