NELLY CARRILLO WRITES — Earlier this year, the Borgen Project, a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating poverty and hunger, published an article on the harmful effects of fast fashion. What is fast fashion and why is it a harmful way of thinking about garment manufacturing? Fast Fashion is defined as “an…
Full Article BANGLADESH: LET’S SLOW DOWN ON FAST FASHION
FRANCESCO FIMIANI WRITES — Recently, the Africa and Middle East Regional Forum on Conflict Prevention and the Protection of Human Rights of Minorities concluded its 2021 meeting. Hosted on a virtual platform by The Gambia, the goal of the two-day meeting was to provide “regional insights” to feed into the…
Full Article MIDDLE EAST: CAN CULTURAL DIVERSITY BE PROTECTED IN THE CRADLE OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION?
TOM PLATE WRITES — Given the relentless Western media verdict about “China’s increasing assertiveness,” it might seem surprising that across Asia doubts about America’s own continental conduct proceed apace. Yet this goes little reported back in the U.S. Nonetheless, within some government and policy circles in Indonesia, Japan and Singapore –…
Full Article AMERICA’S KNEE-JERK REACTION TO CHINA: JUST SHOOT THE BAD GUY
The career of former Asia Media International staff editor and highly regarded LMU ’20 student Michelle Nguyen continues to proceed apace. The U.S. Congressional Office of Rep. Katie Porter – the nationally known law professor and attorney, serving as the U.S. Representative for California’s 45th congressional district since 2019 –…
Full Article FORMER AMI STUDENT STAFFER JOINS OFFICE OF REP. KATIE PORTER (D-CA)
KISHORE MAHBUBANI WRITES (Reproduced from a copy of The Straits Times and courtesy of the author) — Dear Friends, Many Western minds believe that Western societies are inherently peaceful while East Asian societies (including China) are more belligerent. There’s some realistic basis for this assumption: prospects of war between any…
Full Article ASIA: SAY NO TO NATO
ANGELINE KEK WRITES — To read The Sunflower Cast A Spell To Save Us From The Void by Jackie Wang is to return to familiarity delivered through mystifying means. Within the surreal landscapes that are conjured up by the speaker, we are shown a world largely fabricated by an unhinged…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: THE SUNFLOWER CAST A SPELL TO SAVE US FROM THE VOID (2021) BY JACKIE WANG
EXECUTIVE EDITOR ZHI JIAO DANIELLE GOH WRITES — Legend has it that an apple a day keeps the lie away. That was the slogan of Apple Daily, the most vocal pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong. But what happens when the apple tree falls? On Thursday, Apple Daily printed its last…
Full Article HONG KONG: UPROOTING THE APPLE TREE
Asia Media International’s first annual Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra Graduate School Fellowship has been awarded to Zhi Jiao Danielle Goh, described by AMI Founder and President Clinical Prof. Tom Plate as “our most outstanding Asia Media student staffer over the past two years.” Zhi Jiao Danielle Goh, born in Singapore,…
Full Article LOS ANGELES: ASIA MEDIA EDITOR HEADING FOR GRADUATE SCHOOL WINS AWARD
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…
Full Article SINO-U.S. RELATIONS: WHY AMERICA CAN’T AFFORD TO OVERHYPE THE CHINA THREAT
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…
Full Article THE PHILIPPINES: HUNGRY FOR POLICIES THAT ADDRESS FOOD INSECURITY
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…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: SOUL LANTERNS (2021) BY SHAW KUZKI
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.…
Full Article SINGAPORE: PRIME MINISTERS LEE AND MORRISON HAVE A SERIOUS CHAT
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…
Full Article US-CHINA RELATIONS: AN AMERICA ALL TOO EXPERIENCED IN WAR MUST TAKE STOCK
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…
Full Article MIDDLE EAST: CAN THE PLIGHT OF BEDOUINS TURN UP THE HEAT ON CLIMATE CHANGE?
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…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: AT THE END OF THE MATINEE (2021) BY KEIICHIRO HIRANO
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…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: PRESIDENTS BIDEN AND MOON ASK, “CAN’T WE ALL GET ALONG?”