While anti-Japanese sentiments continue to brew across China due to the unseemly scrum over the Senkaku, called the Diaoyu by the Chinese, islands, some celebrities in the region have spoken out against the tension. Notable amongst them is Sora Aoi, a former Japanese pornography actress, who has helped China, or…
Month: October 2012
THAILAND: Critique Me Not
(This is written by new staff writer Gabriella Castro — welcome aboard, Ms. Castro!) — It seems no person, or company, is free from the lèse-majesté laws of Thailand. Google recently released its transparency report for 2012, giving the public a look into what governments around the world are trying…
PHILIPPINES: Freedom of Speech Gets a Criminal Record
The Philippines has introduced yet another law restricting freedom of speech, causing the Human Right Watch (HRW) to call for an appeal. The Cybercrime Prevention Act, which was signed into law by President Aquino earlier this September, drastically increases punishment for criminal libel, raising the minimum sentence twelve-fold, from six…
FROM TOM PLATE: America’s New Emotional Isolationism
American columnist Tom Plate writes: Foreign policy has suddenly surfaced, like a leviathan sea monster, crawling onto the beach of the U.S. presidential campaign. If I were an incumbent American president seeking re-election, I might be worried. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet…
MALAYSIA: Romeo & Juliet Gone Very Wrong
Talk about a messy relationship – and she’s got the scars to prove it. “Ling,” a 16 year old, performed sadomasochism in hopes that she might save her boyfriend’s life. Ling heard from her boyfriend’s uncle, Alex Leung, a supposed royal or “datuk” and a sultan, that by depriving herself…