AIDAN SMITH-FAGAN WRITES — After 20 years of war, the Biden administration finally ended the US presence in Afghanistan. And by the end of this year, the US role in Iraq – the second of the America’s 9/11 wars- will be reduced as well. Last July, President Biden announced that…
Full Article UNITED STATES: AS AMERICA ENDS COMBAT OPERATIONS IN IRAQ, WILL BIDEN MOVE TO A FULL MIDDLE EAST WITHDRAWAL?
NATALIA FALCHI WRITES — Months of energy shortages and power cuts to households in northeastern China have caused outages in factories across the nation. With this, while energy demand is soaring, so is the demand for Chinese exports, all of which affect the supply chain. The situation is expected to…
Full Article CHINA: WILL AMERICA’S ‘BEAT BACK’ ACT PUSH FORWARD OUR SUPPLY CHAIN?
BENJAMIN BARRETT WRITES — While United States immigration stories are frequent, it is rare that we are able to read about them in a fictional, entertaining, and emotionally evocative way. However, in his book Afterparties (2021), Anthony Veasna So does just that. Before his book was even released, So’s life was…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: AFTERPARTIES (2021) BY ANTHONY VEASNA SO
AIDAN SMITH-FAGAN WRITES – As I walked out of Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, I couldn’t help but note a few of the similarities it has with 2018’s Black Panther: a Marvel hero breaking ground for a historically underrepresented minority, a fictional secret paradise, and a…
Full Article SHANG-CHI REVIEW: CRAZY QUICK ACTION
Disclaimer: To protect the privacy of the subjects of this article, the names of the interviewees have been changed. AIDAN SMITH-FAGAN WRITES — “It was a very atypical afternoon soccer game.” Will remembers the hushed tones in the voices of parents on the sidelines. It was unusually quiet and “parents…
Full Article AFGHANISTAN: THE STORY OF THE FOREVER WAR, TOLD BY MEN WHO SERVED THERE
TOM PLATE WRITES — According to newspaper reports, on arrival in Washington Mr Qin Gang’s public tone seemed sort of chipper; and further, in the wake of his initial greet-and-meet with US officials, there surfaced simmering new communications between the US and China. Given the alarm with which many westerners…
Full Article SINO-US RELATIONS: IS THE EUPHORIA OVER CHINA’S NEW WASHINGTON AMBASSADOR JUSTIFIED AMID THE DREARY DIPLOMATIC REALITIES?
ANDREA PLATE WRITES — Forget about Naomi Osaka, for a moment. For all the whining-and-dining out by the press on the tennis superstar’s mental health struggles, and her difficulty facing their not-so-friendly post-game fire, she is, after all, just one international superstar. One. Forget, too, about Britney Spears, if you…
Full Article JAPAN, KOREA, AMERICA: CAN YOUNG SUPERSTARS THE WORLD OVER EVER BE HAPPY?
TOM PLATE WRITES — The agony in Afghanistan makes for many sorrows. Beyond the scenes of chaos at Kabul airport is the unseen anguish of all those US veterans back home who are dealing with various psychological and physical traumas and are now especially unproud of their country; of families…
Full Article AFGHANISTAN AND BEYOND: CHINA MUST LEARN FROM US HUBRIS AND BLUNDERS
AIDAN SMITH-FAGAN WRITES — By now, the stories have become almost familiar: elderly Asian Americans shoved to the ground, Asian students subject to racist harassment, xenophobic epithets shouted in public. According to the nonprofit Stop AAPI Hate, Asian Americans have reported over 9,000 incidents of hate since the COVID-19 pandemic hit…
Full Article ASIAN AMERICANS: FACED WITH RISING API HATE, CALIFORNIA CITIES RETHINK PUBLIC SAFETY
KISHORE MAHBUBANI WRITES (Reproduced from a copy of The Straits Times and courtesy of the author) — Dear Friends, Many Western minds believe that Western societies are inherently peaceful while East Asian societies (including China) are more belligerent. There’s some realistic basis for this assumption: prospects of war between any…
Full Article ASIA: SAY NO TO NATO
KATIE SHIEH WRITES — On the evening of March 16, 2021, a 21- year- old Caucasian man named Robert Long murdered 8 people: Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Soon Chung Park, Hyun JungGrant, Yong Ae Yue and Suncha Kim, in a mass shooting. This happened…
Full Article ASIAN AMERICAN ACTIVISM: THE AFTERMATH OF THE ATLANTA SHOOTING
SHAE KUROKAWA WRITES — In response to the recent shooting rampage in Georgia, in which three Asian spas were targeted and six Asian women were killed, investigators have begun to theorize that the massacre was not motivated by rising hate towards Asian Americans generated by the coronavirus. Instead, they say,…
Full Article ASIAN AMERICANS: UNDERSTANDING THE SEXUALIZED HISTORY OF ASIAN WOMEN
SOPHIA JARAMILLO WRITES – Chinese American fashion designer Sandy Liang has designed the ‘quarantine collection’ of a lifetime for Spring-Summer 2021—overflowing with childhood and familial nostalgia and bringing the designer back to the not-so-basics of her signature styles. Sandy Liang was raised in Queens, New York, and graduated from Parsons…
Full Article FASHION: SANDY LIANG AND HER NOSTALGIC SS21 COLLECTION
NATALIE CHRISTENSEN WRITES — On February 27th, I held a Black-Asian Solidarity March in Playa Vista. Prior to the march, LMU’s Saisei Taiko gave a drum performance at Central Park. We then marched down Millenium Avenue to The Lawn. Speakers included Reggie Watkins, the co-founder of the Valley of Change,…
Full Article ASIAN AMERICANS: BLACKS AND ASIANS UNITE OVER RISING VIOLENCE
JONAR COWAN WRITES — I am a 23-year-old Asian American raised in San Francisco for the majority of my life. San Francisco felt safe and accepting while I was growing up because I rarely experienced racism or anything that insulted my Asian heritage. In fact, I grew prideful of my…
Full Article ASIAN-AMERICANS: HOME DOES NOT FEEL LIKE HOME TO AN ASIAN AMERICAN YOUNG MAN
VALERIA GURROLA WRITES – Nuclear Orientalism deeply permeates US media. In December 2019, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un warned the US of a “Christmas gift” dependent on the outcome of nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration. Days after the announcement, satellite images uncovered new activity at the previously dormant Sohae…
Full Article NORTH KOREA: NUCLEAR ORIENTALISM AND THE HERMIT KINGDOM