SINO-U.S. RELATIONS: WHY AMERICA CAN’T AFFORD TO OVERHYPE THE CHINA THREAT
TOM PLATE WRITES — A new report from a respected US think tank at least tries for a fair and sensible analysis of the China challenge. For this alone, given the almost rancid mood in the US about China these days, President Xi Jinping and his government are not going to…
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THE PHILIPPINES: HUNGRY FOR POLICIES THAT ADDRESS FOOD INSECURITY
NELLY CARRILLO WRITES — Food insecurity – as defined by the FAO, the inability to access nutritional and safe food that is essential to maintaining a healthy body and lifestyle-is nothing new to the Philippines. In a 2016 report, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization found that at least…
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BOOK REVIEW: SOUL LANTERNS (2021) BY SHAW KUZKI
ELLA KELLEHER WRITES (latest in her review series of new Japanese books) – How does a global war affect regular people caught in its wake of devastation? How long do those effects linger on and how should a society react to them? Shaw Kuzki’s heart-wrenching tale, Soul Lanterns (2021), aims…
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SINGAPORE: PRIME MINISTERS LEE AND MORRISON HAVE A SERIOUS CHAT
AIDAN SMITH-FAGAN WRITES — Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison met with his Singaporean counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong, in Singapore on June 10- marking the sixth Australia-Singapore Leaders’ Meeting, an annual conference between the two countries – and the first in-person meeting between Lee and Morrison since pandemic travel restrictions began.…
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US-CHINA RELATIONS: AN AMERICA ALL TOO EXPERIENCED IN WAR MUST TAKE STOCK
TOM PLATE WRITES — We patriotic Americans usually call it Memorial Day weekend, but sometimes the barbecues and beer throw memory off base, as if the holiday on the last Monday of every May signifies no more than the winding down of a 72-hour party. On the Saturday of Memorial…
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MIDDLE EAST: CAN THE PLIGHT OF BEDOUINS TURN UP THE HEAT ON CLIMATE CHANGE?
FRANCESCO FIMIANI WRITES — Climate change continues to prove its catastrophic force. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), every year since 2014 has experienced record breaking heat, with 2020 the second hottest year on record and the 44th consecutive year during which global land and ocean temperatures were…
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BOOK REVIEW: AT THE END OF THE MATINEE (2021) BY KEIICHIRO HIRANO
ELLA KELLEHER WRITES (latest in her review series of great new books from Japan) – Many are already well aware of love’s fragility, but At the End of the Matinee (2021) proves that love can also be incredibly resilient. Based on a true story, Keiichiro Hirano’s book depicts an agonizing…
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SOUTH KOREA: PRESIDENTS BIDEN AND MOON ASK, “CAN’T WE ALL GET ALONG?”
AIDAN SMITH-FAGAN WRITES — President Joe Biden hosted South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the White House last Friday. After a day that included a medal of honor ceremony and a long, private discussion between the two heads of state, Biden and Moon held a joint press conference at which…
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CHINA’S RISE: US MUST BE A BETTER VERSION OF ITSELF TO ACCOMMODATE THE RE-EMERGENCE OF A MAJOR POWER
TOM PLATE WRITES — It was quite a good romp. There in square five was Elliott, who helped run the college student newspaper way back then, now a professional psychotherapist. A few zoom squares away was lifelong friend, author and noted screenwriter Aaron. Then there was John, zooming in to the…
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BOOK REVIEW: FIRST PERSON SINGULAR (2021) by HARUKI MURAKAMI
ELLA KELLEHER WRITES (latest in her review series of new Japanese books) – This imaginative and captivatingly ambiguous recent release by Murakami reads like a game of two truths and a lie (in this case, seven truths and a lie). First Person Singular (2021) presents its audience with eight entrancing…
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US-CHINA RELATIONS: FOREIGN POLICY AIMED AT OBSTRUCTING CHINA WON’T SUCCEED
TOM PLATE WRITES — Marvellously, sharp streaks of sunshine are starting to break through America’s Covid-19 cloud cover, but the fog over US foreign policy seems heavy. It involves India, China and Russia. Let’s start with India and employ the British poet W.H. Auden’s words – “the gates of hell are…
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CORONAVIRUS CHRONICLES: THE SUITE LIFE TURNED SOUR
ALEXANDER SMITH WRITES — I found myself on a plane home just two days after LMU announced it was closing down campus and moving to virtual learning. However, home for me was not the usual house or apartment, it was a hotel in downtown Houston. My dad has been in the hospitality business…
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VIDEO: BIDEN ADMINISTRATION AND A NEW APPROACH TO DENUCLEARIZATION OF KOREAN PENINSULA
EVENT — The Loyola Marymount University Center for Asian Business, in collaboration with the Center for International Business Education, presented a special webinar on April 22th 2021 with Victor Cha, Senior Vice President and Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. Dr. Cha holds…
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KUWAIT: WOMEN’S RIGHTS FACE AN UPHILL BATTLE
LAMA ALTAHER WRITES – On April 19, 2021, the brutal murder of Farah Hamza Akbar offered a watershed moment to grapple with the country’s discriminatory laws against women. A Kuwaiti woman was killed by a man against whom she had previously filed two cases for harassment which followed her family’s…
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JAPANESE MANGA: DEMON SLAYER – MUGEN TRAIN STEAMROLLS INTO THE THEATERS
JONAR COWAN WRITES — It has been little longer than a year since the start of the pandemic and the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. As vaccines are given out, the world seems to be slowly returning to normal, especially for moviegoers. Movie theatres are…
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NORTH KOREA: WHAT’S NEXT UNDER THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION?
VALERIA GURROLA WRITES — April 30th, 2021, marks US President Biden’s first one hundred days since taking office in January at the height of the Coronavirus pandemic in the United States. He has wasted no time setting the tone for the future of North Korean relations. North Korea must denuclearize—or…
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