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COMMENTARY

Nov 2, 2000

The changing face of nuclear deterrence

By Brahma Chellaney

MOSCOW -- The role of nuclear weapons is undergoing subtle but important changes in deterrence strategy. Although this transformation is a consequence of the collapse of bipolarity in international relations and the shift in military threats from the global to the regional context, the trend is becoming...

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

Nov 2, 2000

Kim's diplomatic slam dunk

By Constantine Pleshakov

Good news from North Korea. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright presented North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il with a basketball autographed by Michael Jordan; the dictator treated the diplomat to a spectacular theatrical performance. Rejoice: Peace in East Asia is at hand.

COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE

Nov 2, 2000

The closest U.S. presidential election in 40 years

By Bob Keefe

WASHINGTON --The latest polls show that the U.S. presidential candidates are very close, with a slight edge for Texas Gov. George W. Bush. The Electoral College is also evenly divided, although Vice President Al Gore had maintained a small advantage for weeks. Now it is also within the statistical margins...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 2, 2000

Cooperation is key to ending Northern Territories impasse

By Mark J. Valencia

Russia and Japan appear to be creeping toward an interim solution to the Northern Territories imbroglio. There are two possibilities being discussed -- joint administration and control of some or all four islands, and a two-stage agreement in which Russia gives up or shares Shikotan and the Habomai group...

EDITORIALS

Nov 1, 2000

Japan's new disarmament offensive

At the current meeting of the disarmament committee of the United Nations millennium assembly, Japan has presented a draft resolution calling for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. The proposal, which lays out a timetable for total nuclear disarmament, marks a step forward from previous appeals...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 1, 2000

Russia's back window onto North Korea

By Russell Working

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- In the Davydova neighborhood in the northern part of town, one apartment block after another has been under construction for years. Thus, there are always North Korean laborers around.

EDITORIALS

Oct 31, 2000

A medical advance fails in its promise

Some desperately ill children in Japan are dying because the smaller organs they require for transplant surgery are unavailable here. When their families can afford it, children needing such operations must travel to the United States or other countries where the use of organs from brain-dead donors...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 31, 2000

Japan's visionless politics

By Takeshi Sasaki

Many Japanese watched on television at least part of the face-to-face debates between U.S. presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush. Both candidates are said to be more or less middle-of-the-road types,with no defining differ ences in political philosophy. In my view, however, Bush showed himself...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 31, 2000

A lonely voice calls for shared values

By Brad Glosserman

It is one of the ironies of our time that the very process that is tying the world's disparate peoples together is at the same time generating friction between them. Globalization may be spinning a vast web of relationships as it builds a single world market, but as it does so, citizens are accentuating...

EDITORIALS

Oct 30, 2000

Mr. Fujimori fights back

Peru's President Alberto Fujimori may be fighting for his political life, but he maintains his flair for the dramatic. Last week, he personally led a manhunt for Mr. Vladimiro Montesinos, the former head of the National Intelligence Service, who returned to Peru after fleeing the country on the heels...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 30, 2000

West Papua: Indonesia's next East Timor?

By Gwynne Dyer

LONDON -- The biggest single taxpayer in Indonesia is the U.S. firm Freeport McMoran. The money comes mostly from its Grasberg mine in the mountains of West Papua, which sits on the largest gold deposit in the world. That is why Jakarta, which used every dirty trick in the book to hang onto East Timor...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 30, 2000

Team effort beats polio in Western Pacific

By Shigeru Omi

Over the centuries, polio has crippled and killed millions of victims, most of them children. Today there is hope that no more children will be stricken with this debilitating disease.

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.

What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

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