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April 28, 2024
 

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MIDDLE EAST

Japan Times
COMMENTARY
Nov 21, 2014
Islamic State's planned currency is so 7th century
Islamic State has announced plans to start its own currency, an essential building block for their larger goal of restoring an ancient Islamic empire.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 12, 2014
UNHCR official: 13.6 million displaced by wars in Iraq, Syria, and world not responding as winter looms
About 13.6 million people, equivalent to the population of London, have been displaced by conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and many are without food or shelter as winter starts, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Tuesday.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 7, 2014
Did Islamic State call a convention of nuts and have 15,000 show up?
If an estimated army of at least 15,000 violent, crazy people — many carrying U.S. passports or passports from countries where they don't need visas to come to the U.S. — have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight along Islamic State and similar extremist groups, shouldn't everyone start thinking outside the box for ways to track them?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY
Nov 3, 2014
Friendly backer of jihadists
Tiny Qatar, the world's richest country in per capita terms, has leveraged its natural gas wealth to emerge as a leading backer of Islamist causes.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 31, 2014
Western nations' mastery
A British scholar and former wartime army intelligence officer will tell you that there's nothing new about Islamic State, that it is in no way integral to the Islamic religion, and that it is a phenomenon that will pass.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2014
Sykes-Picot drew lines that blood is washing away
The highly centralized authoritarian rule of Syria and Iraq has broken down, probably irrevocably. That doesn't mean both states will disappear; they are likely to stumble on for some years.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 24, 2014
Why the world shouldn't write off Iraq's army
There is little reason to think that the Iraqi army that the U.S. trained and equipped was professionally incompetent or unable to fight Islamic State forces recently. It simply chose not to fight.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 24, 2014
The U.S. has done enough damage in the Middle East
The notion that Iraq will 'destroy' the Islamic State at American behest is an illusion, and so is the notion that the U.S.-formed coalition can do it. Only Muslims themselves can resolve the Islamic crisis overtaking the Middle East.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 10, 2014
The war against Islamic State
History says an asymmetric war has never been won by air power alone. So who does U.S. President Barack Obama think is going to fight Islamic State?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2014
Obama is no 'reluctant warrior'
When it comes to killing members of the Islamic State, U.S. President Barack Obama is anything but a reluctant warrrior. To the contrary, he makes former President George W. Bush look like a dirty peace hippie.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2014
Turkey seeks a broader solution to Islamic State
Turkey basically disagrees with the U.S. on the threat the Islamic State poses. While the U.S. is approaching the Islamic State as the Middle East's most pressing problem, Turkey views the group as a symptom of deeper pathologies.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 28, 2014
Iran has its dissenters on intervention in Iraq
Iran — already struggling to manage a decrepit economy and tricky nuclear negotiations with the international community — now worries about getting in over its head by intervening in Iraq.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 19, 2014
Alliance invites a hollow laugh
A U.S. senator has gone on record touting Syria and Iran as having, together, the means, ability and motivation to wipe out the Islamic State. But President Barack Obama and State Secretary John Kerry — as well as both parties in the U.S. Congress — are not interested.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 19, 2014
Obama picking targets while missing the point
Even if President Barack Obama cobbles together a plan to destroy the Islamic State, the problems bedeviling the Persian Gulf, and the greater Middle East more broadly, won't be going away anytime soon.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 19, 2014
Obama must get Congress to approve conflict
Today's issue for the U.S. is not whether the president should declare war but only whether he should even seek congressional authorization, for the protracted use of force against the Islamic State.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 19, 2014
Parliaments need a say on war
Democracies urgently need to modernize procedures and structures for going to war with parliamentary debate and sanction, instead of by government fiat based on the instincts of a strong-willed prime minister or president.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 12, 2014
Ted Cruz booed for praising Israel at Christian gala
Sen. Ted Cruz abruptly walked off stage at a gala for Middle Eastern Christians after he was booed for urging the audience to stand behind Israel and Jews.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2014
Can Palestine win the peace?
The tremendous sympathy and support Palestinians received from international observers because of the high price they paid during their 51-day war with Israel will be useless if the leaders of Hamas and Fatah fail to maintain a united front.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 8, 2014
New sanctions on Iran to hurt peace prospects
New U.S. sanctions recently announced against Iran are aimed at making life difficult for Mahan Air and other entities. But the limitations are unlikely to move Iran to freeze its nuclear program and will instead damage prospects for peace.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2014
The Middle East crack-up
The horror stories emerging from northern Iraq, as well as the continuing slaughter in Syria's civil war, point to the unraveling of the state system established after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire almost 100 years ago.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
In Japan, regional revitalization fails to halt population decline
Sakiyama elementary school in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, in March .Over the past decade, the government has directed efforts toward policies designed to give young people incentives to base themselves in rural areas.
Number of homeless in Japan hits record low
Homeless people sleep on the street in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward in August 2021.
Ukraine is far from doomed
When comparing Ukraine’s military situation in 2024 to Europe’s in 1941, Russia’s defeat seems entirely possible.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Tokyo's Koto Ward by-election a race unlike any other
Natsumi Sakai, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan’s candidate and one of four female candidates running in the by-election, touts her experience as a cancer survivor and midwife as having prepared her to tackle issues that women currently face.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.

Podcast

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[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability
Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability

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