TOM PLATE WRITES – Begin with the unpretentious wisdom of the late Yogi Berra, a notably inarticulate Hall of Fame baseball player celebrated for memorable ‘Yogi-isms’: “It’s tough to make predictions,” one went, “especially about the future.” But the wish for the better can parent premature thoughts; the caring media…
Category: Tom Plate
LOS ANGELES: ‘HE WALKS AMID HISTORY’
ASIA MEDIA WRITES – On April 6, LMU had the esteemed honor to bestow an Honorary Degree of Humane Letters on United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon. The UNSG gave a keynote address on the morning of the degree conferral ceremony, wherein he gave a short policy speech. Afterward, Ban…
HONG KONG: THE ‘FOOLISHNESS’ OF ZUCKERBERG – AND THE TOM PLATES OF THE WORLD
TOM PLATE WRITES – They say some things have to be seen to be believed, which is probably why the sight of a jaunty Mark Zuckerberg social-networking through Tiananmen Square on a bicycle (of all things) was almost unbelievable — unless you were there. Am I saying that the chairman,…
BEIJING: THE QUESTION OF CHINA’S IMAGE
TOM PLATE WRITES – I have been traveling to Asia and writing about it in various newspapers and journals for two decades, and I have visited China enough times to know it closely. My observation about China is substantially different from most of the written accounts I read or video-view…
MALAYSIA: MAYBE MAHATHIR IS RIGHT?
TOM PLATE WRITES – When “Conversations with Mahathir,” the second of four volumes in the Giants of Asia series, was published a few years ago, some of my friends and colleagues were utterly aghast. How could you ― gullible American author ― dignify this vulgar man with such semi-reverential treatment?…
CHINA AND THE POPE: HEAVEN ON EARTH?
TOM PLATE WRITES — You don’t have to be a saint to be a great and effective leader, but you do have to be audacious. So when an audacious leader comes along that a good many admirers suspect to be a saint, you probably have got something special in front…
WASHINGTON: PRESTIGIOUS GEORGETOWN JOURNAL FOCUSES ON ASIAN LEADERSHIP
ASIA MEDIA WRITES – From one of America’s most prestigious universities, from one of our most prestigious foreign-affairs schools – and at a time when the U.S. is trying to decide on its own next new leader – comes an issue of a major journal devoted entirely to the issues…
CHINA: PLEASE DON’T SHORT US, SOROS!
TOM PLATE WRITES (in the South China Morning Post) — There are more than a few financial figures in PRC circles that no longer trust Western financial advice (or most advisers) any more than they have to. There is a rich, as it were, history, behind the mistrust. And in…
CHINA AND TRUMP: HOW HE USES IT
TOM PLATE WRITES (IN THE SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST) – At times China and its ways are viewed from America as if little has changed. One of those times is now. This is our quadrennial U.S. presidential campaign season. Sometimes it is our silliest season. One spurious claim about China…
LONDON: Putting a Bit of English Spin on China Policy
(This article appears in the South China Morning Post print editions as Dealing with China) TOM PLATE WRITES – Let us recall that almost two decades ago, a cocky William Jefferson Clinton, then president of a country but two-centuries-plus old, bluntly informed Jiang Zemin that his country, of many millennia,…
UNITED NATIONS: SECRETARY GENERAL HAILS NEW PRESIDENT TIMOTHY LAW SNYDER AND CHALLENGES THE LMU COMMUNITY TO NEW HEIGHTS
During the week of 5 October, Asia Media International’s sponsoring university inaugurated its 16th president with a series of gala events. Joining in the warm welcome of new president Dr. Timothy Law Snyder was United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who delivered a gracious video message of congratulations. Ban’s message…
LOS ANGELES, ASIA MEDIA: PUNDIT/PROF PAVIN DELIVERS PENETRATING PITCH ON THAILAND
The famous Southeast Asian, media commentator and political analyst “Pavin” visited LMU Friday (8 Oct.) to offer informal but deeply informed observations about the politics and government of contemporary Thailand. He was not optimistic that the current government could succeed; nor was he optimistic that a new government could easily…
LOS ANGELES: Don’t Be Fooled by Media’s Hype of Phony University Ranking Lists
THE FOLLOWING COLUMN BY ASIA MEDIA FOUNDER TOM PLATE COMES TO US COURTESY OF THE KHALEEJ TIMES NEWSPAPER IN DUBAI, WHERE IT FIRST APPEARED: You may have noticed that yet another one of those allegedly authoritative Top 100 rankings of world universities has managed to cut into all the heart-warming…
HONG KONG: DINNERS AND DEALS – THE SINO-U.S. RELATIONSHIP
See Asia Media Founder Tom Plate’s latest column in the South China Morning Post. Go to: http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1862046/dinners-and-deals-different-diplomatic-styles-china-and-us
A VERY SPECIAL JESUIT
Asia Media International Founder Tom Plate writes: The transcendent leader will offer real-life visions that rise well above the mundane without losing sight of the ground. Hunger is real; living without a roof over one’s head is real; feeling worthless as a human being is as real as it gets.…
CHINA: IS THE CHINESE DOLLAR REALLY READY FOR OPENING NIGHT?
TOM PLATE WRITES: The long march of the American campaign that ends in the crowning of our new president is well underway, as you have noticed. But I am not sure the great Chinese people should be allowed to watch. Former top U.S. national-security official Zbigniew Brzezinski, who, at a…