The headline in the book review in the Korea Times, a massive circulation Seoul-based newspaper, read: “Heart-felt talks reveal Ban’s leadership style, dreams.” The review, by Chung Ah-young, read: “The United Nations is often criticized for its bloated bureaucracy and inefficiency. The position of U.N. secretary-general is no doubt daunting,…
Category: Tom Plate
PAKISTAN: True Story in ‘Zero Dark Thirty’?
The new movie about the successful hunt to find and kill Osama bin Laden will surely cop a few Academy Awards. It is well done and worth seeing. But this is not intended to be a movie review. Rather, ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ raises difficult issues about the morality of America’s…
BOOK NEWS: ‘Conversations with Ban Ki-Moon’ Hits Singapore as #1Bestseller
Start the presses again! Officially published on November 5, ‘Conversations with Ban Ki-Moon: A View from the Top” opened up on Singapore’s retails shelves as the number one nonfiction bestseller, according to the list complied and made public by the prestigious Kinokuniya book chain in Singapore. The 240-page book, based…
LOS ANGELES: Asia Society Reports on Gala Book-Launch Event
By Asia Society Southern California Program Intern Ramsina Lazar: “Asia Society Southern California hosted an event for Tom Plate and the release of his new book: Conversations with Ban Ki-Moon. In a quiet library room, a group is eagerly gathered in anticipation with Asia Society Southern California’s latest event: Conversations…
THAILAND: Thaksin — On the University Lecture Tour!
It seems that Thaksin the Educator – a man reviled at home as a virtual political anti-Christ – has become something of a star celebrity everywhere else but in Thailand. This appears to be especially true among university students, by nature intellectually curious and open-minded. Fresh off of his recent…
THE DEMISE OF NEWSWEEK: When a Magazine Stands for Nothing
The Following Syndicated Column Is Reprinted from The Jakarta Post of Indonesia: One way or the other, a magazine needs to stand for something special — otherwise, who cares? As a once-young journalist I took in this maxim of magazining from the late Clay Felker, who in the seventies pushed…
NORTH KOREA: Wedding Gift for the ‘First Couple’ — a Modest Proposal!
(An opinion column) — I guess I am a sucker for old-fashioned romance. When I heard about the stunning marriage of Kim Jong Un, the young new leader of North Korea, to the lovely Ri Sol Ju, apparently a professional singer, I hurriedly buried the ideological hatchet and grabbed the…
UNPRECEDENTED INTERVIEW BY UNITED ARAB EMIRATES UNIVERSITY STUDENTS WITH H.E. SHEIKH NAHAYAN MABARAK AL NAHAYAN
EXCLUSIVE TO KHALEEJ TIMES It was quite the educational experience. On an early June afternoon in Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak al Nahayan sat down with a few students in the spacious Majlis room of his palace in Abu Dhabi. The lucky but nervous young women were enrolled at United Arab…
HONG KONG: Asia Society Gets “Leadership’ Briefing
Earlier this month a lunchtime assemblage of committed Asiaphiles (policy wonk division) convened to Tom Plate’s views on what makes leadership special and how Asia has sometimes benefited from exceptional leadership. Plate, who is a syndicated columnist and the Distinguished Scholar of Asian and Pacific Studies at Loyola Marymount University,…
MIDDLE EAST: An Example of Magazine Excellence
This month Asia Media is happy to spotlight for serious praise FOREIGN POLICY magazine. Its May-June issue takes on the extraordinarily relevant but ever-tricky question of the status of women in the Middle East. Not fearing a head-first plunge into the deepest of waters, the editors plaster their magazine cover…
PROGRESS REPORT: “Conversations with Ban Ki-moon”
“Conversations with Ban Ki-moon,” the fourth in the ‘Giants of Asia’ series, and the first book on the current UN Secretary General with which he has cooperated, is moving closer to publication, now scheduled for September by Marshall Cavendish International (Singapore, New York, London). Late last month, author Tom Plate…
CHINA: Media Star Uncle Wen – the Life of the Party?
Los Angeles– What was most amazing, to Westerners at least (and perhaps especially to the Chinese people), was that his comments were broadcast live on official China TV. After all, his official observations weren’t exactly pretty. Here is the back-story: In every historical movement and moment, there are good guys…
Why China resists Western intervention in Syria
LOS ANGELES — Intellectual precision is especially vital in times of geopolitical passion. The full totality of evil of the Syrian government is now on display for the entire world to see. The brutality of President Bashar Assad is beyond immense. And so the blame game has begun. The obvious…
PACIFIC PERSPECTIVES: Keep the Bickering in Private When Nurturing a Serious Relationship
Don’t get me wrong. Abject kowtowing is no way to forge an honest and productive relationship with anyone, including the People’s Republic of China. We have differences with Beijing ― and Beijing with us. Covering them up or ignoring them will allow them to fester. Relatively minor issues can become…
BOOK EXCERPT: The Enigma of Thailand’s Thaksin
The Following Excerpt from the New Book ‘Conversations with Thaksin’ Appeared First – and Recently — in The Japan Times daily newspaper in Tokyo. It is reprinted in its entirety below. CONVERSATIONS WITH THAKSIN OF THAILAND: PORTRAIT OF A PRIME MINISTER WHO BECAME THE PRIME SUSPECT IN HIS OWN LAND…
ASIA BOOK CORNER: In Review of the New Book “Conversations With Thaksin” by Tom Plate
Former Thailand prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, loved and loathed across his homeland, makes for a fascinating target of former Los Angeles Times columnist Tom Plate’s professional – and always gracious, although sometimes fawning – curiosity. Unsurprisingly, Conversations With Thaksin: From Exile to Deliverance – Thailand’s Populist Tycoon Tells His Story is unavailable in the kingdom, though not yet subject to an official ban.