KISHORE MAHBUBANI WRITES — “Ask not what America can do for you! Ask rather what you can do for America.” If US President Joe Biden were in a position to send a sincere and honest message to the rest of the world in his recent inaugural address, these are the…
Full Article ASIAN PERSUASION: THE US NEEDS HELP
REI KITAGAWA WRITES – Japan Rearmed, authored by the renowned Sheila A. Smith (and recently published by Harvard University Press), offers an extensive and intimate account of U.S.-Japan relations, arguing that the Japanese government is reconsidering its dependence on the United States amidst increasing threats from North Korean missiles and…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: THE POLITICS OF JAPAN REARMED
TOM PLATE WRITES — It’s embarrassing. Like some televangelist preacher caught with his pants down at an out-of-town house-of-pleasure, America has been caught with its democracy down. Point one: a scary but also confused and confusing coup d’etat – another to come? Point two: A Republican president who should never…
Full Article US-CHINA RELATIONS: HOW BEIJING CAN LEAD AFTER THE CAPITOL CHAOS
Here is a clip of Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky’s comment on the current U.S.-China relations on the @CSIS panel: A Conversation with Former USTRS. Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky served as United States Trade Representative (USTR), the country’s top trade negotiator, from 1997 to 2001. She was the Deputy U.S. Trade Representative from…
Full Article SINO-U.S. RELATIONS: WE ARE NOT AT THE END OF HISTORY WITH CHINA
SOPHIA JARAMILLO WRITES — In a tweet that sent shockwaves through the internet, conservative commentator and author Candace Owens jabbed at British singer/songwriter/actor Harry Styles, who donned a dress on the cover of American Vogue- the first male to appear on its cover. Specifically, the tweet reads: “There is no…
Full Article EAST ASIA: EAST DOES NOT MEET WEST WHEN IT COMES TO CANDACE OWENS’ LATEST TWEET
TOM PLATE WRITES — You have to wonder how well (if at all) General Secretary Xi Jinping and President Joseph Biden are going to get along. Imagine such a splendid scene as this! With TV cameras broadcasting live around the world you see the leader of the Peoples Republic of…
Full Article TENSE CHINA-US RELATIONS: DO BIDEN AND XI HAVE THE ANSWER?
MATEO VALLES QUINTANA WRITES — In the previous article SOUTH KOREA: WHY KOREAN WOMEN DOMINATE THE LPGA, I explained how the cultural and structural aspects of South Korean society have created a national junior golf system that produces professional players (gets results). However, their golf system is not perfect and…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: HOW GOLF BECOMES A PRESSURE COOKER — PART II
ELLA KELLEHER WRITES — Many are already aware of how the Uyghur people are interned at “reeducation” camps in Xinjiang, the Western province of China. Few realize, however, that ethnic Kazakhs have also been subjected to the same mass extermination and forced labor. Mainstream media propagates that both ethnic Uyghurs…
Full Article KAZAKHSTAN: ETHNIC KAZAKHS IN XINJIANG
MONICA KELLY WRITES — On average, a woman spends eight years of her life menstruating – yet the topic of periods remains taboo and is stigmatized in China. This November, in a bid to end ‘period shame,’ women attending Chinese universities set up free sanitary pad dispensers in bathrooms. These…
Full Article CHINA: STOPPING THE BLAME AND SHAME GAME AGAINST WOMEN
TOM PLATE WRITES — The filling of key policy positions in the incoming Biden administration proceeds apace. But so far, none of the announced or expected top-level appointees proffer particular savvy or expertise about Beijing. The designated Biden secretary of state is Antony Blinken, whose dedicated career competence and sensible style…
Full Article US-CHINA RELATIONS: BIDEN’S AMERICA & XI’S CHINA MUST EVOLVE BEYOND MUTUAL DEMONISATION
MATEO VALLES QUINTANA WRITES — Since the early 2000’s South Korean female professional golfers have been a dominant force on the LPGA tour and are repeatedly found at the top of the money list. In 2017, South Korean nationals Sung Hyun Park and So Yeon Ryu were first and second…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: WHY KOREAN WOMEN DOMINATE THE LPGA — PART I
TIA CARR WRITES – Over 90% of Chinese citizens say they are willing to take a vaccine for Covid-19. Russians come in at less than 55%. Why? Surveys show that only around 70% of the global population would be “very or somewhat likely to take a COVID-19 vaccine.” They say…
Full Article CHINA: IS PUBLIC READINESS FOR A COVID-19 VACCINE SCIENCE-BASED, OR A SHOT IN THE DARK?
KATHLEEN STEPHENS WRITES — It was only a couple of Saturdays ago that I was walking, masked of course, on a gorgeous autumn day along a Washington street lined with gingko trees aflame in gold, four days after the Nov. 3 general election, when I heard the news that Joe…
Full Article US-SOUTH KOREA RELATIONS: BUILD BACK BETTER
TOM PLATE WRITES — The truth about the swelling importance of the People’s Republic of China in the Asia-Pacific is that without America’s corresponding help, unintended as it was of course, the reversal of position would not have happened as quickly. Perhaps it all began in 1997, with the collapse…
Full Article US-CHINA RELATIONS: BEIJING CAN BE A CONTRIBUTOR TO PEACE AND PROSPERITY
ELLA KELLEHER WRITES — Grave of the Fireflies, one of those works of art that will never die, nonetheless is a film that lacks concrete resolution – there is no main lesson to be learned at the end. The audience is instead left with the understanding of the ephemerality of…
Full Article CLASSIC FILM IN RE-REVIEW: IN LIGHT OF THE FIREFLY