President Obama’s first move in his speech at the State Department on U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East was to address directly and immediately the hunt for and death of Osama bin Laden. He argued, forcefully, that bin Laden was not a martyr. Indeed he was anything but. The president reminded his domestic and international […]
Not too long ago, the Tehrik-e-Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that claimed the lives of at least 80 paramilitary cadets at a military training center in Charsadda, in Northern Pakistan. The Taliban announced the bombing was an act of revenge for the killing of Osama bin Laden. It had taken out elements of […]
Echoing my post from Tuesday, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Wednesday Japan would continue using nuclear energy while reviewing the industry and pursuing more renewable sources of energy. Kan told a news conference, “I believe that the manner in which the country’s nuclear power has been administrated over the years must be fundamentally reviewed.” […]
Greenpeace Japan members Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, known as the Tokyo Two, have been found guilty of stealing 23 kilograms of whale meat (worth 59,000 yen, or $725) from a depot in April 2008. They were sentenced to a suspended one-year prison term Tuesday. They stole the meat in order to bring publicity to […]
It is a debate that invariably rears its head in parts of the world which have been scarred by the horrors of war, ethnic conflict, or genocide. Every government which assumes control of a country that suffers from the unfortunate reality of such a dark and tragic past must eventually confront how best to direct […]
“Revenge is history, change is victory. The target is not to just overthrow CPM. It is to get Bengal back its glory.” Going by these comments of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mamata Banerjee, her victory in the recent West Bengal Assembly elections is just the beginning. She has been successful in unseating the CPM for […]
No. But it should definitely reconsider how it uses it. The big news this past week was that Chubu Electric Power Co. shut down the Hamaoka nuclear power plant in Shizuoka following a request by Prime Minister Naoto Kan. The Hamaoka plant was considered dangerous because of its age and the likelihood of a major […]
Japan’s largest crisis is neither the ongoing disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant nor the recovery from the March 11 earthquake/tsunami. The Japanese will eventually overcome and move on from both these problems. The crisis Japan is facing is one of demographics. Japanese women are obsessed with fashion. I commented last week that […]
It has been a little more than one year since the street protests which rocked Bangkok and resulted in at least 50 deaths took place in the heart of the Thai capital. After stalling for months since the unrest when he had announced a reconciliatory roadmap for the main political parties with elections to follow […]
Has U.S. military aid to Pakistan over the past 50 years helped that country in any desirable way? Or is U.S. aid partly the cause of Pakistan’s dire security and development situation? Has aid to the military, and the ill-advised redistribution of that aid to other, less savory agents, fundamentally crippled governance and social and […]
Miyu Uehara, a Japanese celebrity known locally as a “tarento” (talent), hanged herself early Thursday morning. (Some news sources are mistakenly reporting her name as Miyui or Miyuki.) She had just turned 24 on May 2. Uehara was a model who had been “discovered” when she was 18 working at a hostess club (a pricey […]
History seemingly repeated itself as a mini-Ramayana played out this week – except of course, Rama was a steely Indian-born prosecutor, the location was a Manhattan courtroom, and the charges against the Sri-Lankan born defendant – a.k.a Ravana – were more serious than an abducted wife: he was accused of orchestrating “the largest hedge fund insider trading scheme in history.”
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