How should the worth of a life be weighed? For when a phenomenon like Father John P. Daly, S.J., dies, that’s a question you start asking yourself. What is a life worth? In his own over-intellectualized Harvard way, T.S. Eliot used to tantalize around that question with this unforgettable line…
Category: Tom Plate
CELEBRATING A PRIEST WHO HELPED PUT ASIA ON THE AMERICAN MAP
How should the worth of a life be weighed? For when a phenomenon like Father John P Daly, S.J., dies, that’s a question you start asking yourself. What is a life worth? In his own over-intellectualized Harvard way, T.S. Eliot used to tantalize around that with this from The Love…
PACIFIC PERSPECTIVES: The Death of a Great American Professor: A Story of Scholars and Journalists
Scholars and journalists don’t always get along (right, call this Dept. of Understatement). But their need for each other is endless and often deep, even when each side bull-headedly refuses to admit it. Let’s put the matter this way: Journalists are generally scavenger birds of the moment, tweeting their view…
SINGAPORE: ‘PEOPLE’S CHOICE’ AWARD GOES TO BOOK ON LEE KUAN YEW
“Soft authoritarian” or not, Lee Kuan Yew, now 88, remains a figure of great interest in Asia. “Conversations with Lee Kuan Yew,” a 2010 book by Tom Plate, founder of Asia Media, was recently honored at a major Asian book festival as the English-language book of the year.
PACIFIC PERSPECTIVES: How to Better Understand Asia and the World
A book bag of contemporary gifts that show real smarts December 4, 2011 LOS ANGELES – It has finally hit Washington that Asia will be the major-league playing field for the foreseeable geopolitical future. But why should we complain when Uncle-Sam-comes-lately? Instead, we vow stay ahead of the great global…
PACIFIC PERSPECTIVES: Vietnam on the Positive side, Asia on the American Mind
16 November 2011 Los Angeles — Real-life diplomacy reveals, as Lord Palmerston, twice British prime minister (1855-8, 1859-65), famously put it: “We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.” Over the decades…
TAIWAN: Tang Fei Video Interview
The Asia Media Interview HOW DANGEROUS IS CHINA’S MILITARY BUILDUP? An Exclusive Interview with Tang Fei, former Premier of Taiwan and Career Air Force Officer. Interviewed by Tom Plate, Asia Media’s Editor in Chief [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/31936425[/vimeo] No one can be certain, of course, but Tang Fei’s guess may be better than…
Pacific Perspectives: An Asian Leader Receives Coveted American Award
They honored the controversial, though increasingly appreciated, Asian statesman Lee Kuan Yew at the historic Ford Theater in Washington recently, and frankly I wish I had been there.