MARISA TORRE WRITES – Despite the flurry of major retailers halting business in Russia, the major Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo, with its 49 stores in Russia, has no plans to follow the trend. Tadashi Yanai, the CEO of Uniqlo’s parent company, Fast Retailing, maintains an anti-war stance but described clothing…
Full Article JAPAN: IS THE COMPANY ‘FAST RETAILING’ SELLING OUT ON HUMAN RIGHTS?
ARYANA KHALILZADEH WRITES-Social media has become a source of information, misinformation, and conspiracy theories on topics such as the pandemic, U.S. elections, and global insurrections. As Russia launched its full-scale military invasion in Ukraine, social media became flooded with various posts in the form of memes, photos, news, and heated…
Full Article CHINA: THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR HEATS UP ON SOCIAL MEDIA
KIANA KARIMI WRITES – Picture this: All of a sudden, Britney Spears spins around, dodging Russian bomb after Russian bomb. TikTok, a social media app, has entered your learning process. Videos depicting Ukraine’s state of siege cast an ominous shadow over all involved actors. Portentous cyberpunk music blasts as tanks…
Full Article UKRAINE/RUSSIA: A TIKTOK UNDERSTANDING OF AN INTERNATIONAL CRISIS
TOM PLATE WRITES — The Chinese tilt towards Russia is understandable enough. It is immensely satisfying to be able to tell American leaders that China will do what it wants to do, whether the arrogant West likes it or not. China is the big deal now – or so goes…
Full Article UKRAINE CRISIS: IS CHINA’S TILT TOWARDS RUSSIA IN BEIJING’S BEST LONG-TERM INTEREST?
TOM PLATE WRITES — Power is not always angelic. When the power to do something exists, it often gathers like a storm, ready to be unleashed. Power is also agnostic; it can be used for evil as well as for good. One thing is for certain. Without concentrations of power, not…
Full Article POWER GAME: UKRAINE’S FATE WILL BE SHAPED BY DECISIONS FROM RUSSIA, CHINA AND AMERICA
DMITRY KOLESNIKOV WRITES – Russia is getting ready to film the first ever movie in space. On October 5th, 2021 famous Russian actress Yulia Peresild, film producer Klim Shipenko and experienced astronaut Anton Shkaplerov traveled to the International Space Station in pursuit to film the first ever movie in space…
Full Article RUSSIA: BLAST OFF TO FILM THE FIRST MOVIE IN SPACE
KIANA KARIMI WRITES — A flickering light, screams of famished, sleep-deprived young girls inside tightly-packed crates, armed men ripping victims from each other’s arms, their innocence slowly stripped away in a twisted, torturous cycle of violence… A chilling rendition of Nirvana’s hit 90’s song “Teenage Spirit” creeps through the screen…
Full Article RUSSIA: MARVEL’S “BLACK WIDOW” PUTS A NEW SPIN ON FEMINISM
TOM PLATE WRITES — Marvellously, sharp streaks of sunshine are starting to break through America’s Covid-19 cloud cover, but the fog over US foreign policy seems heavy. It involves India, China and Russia. Let’s start with India and employ the British poet W.H. Auden’s words – “the gates of hell are…
Full Article US-CHINA RELATIONS: FOREIGN POLICY AIMED AT OBSTRUCTING CHINA WON’T SUCCEED
TOM PLATE WRITES — It is still true, even in this speed-freak era of AI and machine-learning, that international diplomacy needs governments to station quality representatives in foreign capitals, and for international organisations to listen and learn, soak up the ineffable atmosphere, and interact with real people, especially those with “issues”,…
Full Article US-CHINA RELATIONS: A GOOD-VERSUS-EVIL WORLD VIEW DOES NO ONE ANY GOOD
TOM PLATE WRITES — A re-released photo of Joe Biden, then U.S. vice-president, on the North-South Korean border, is being touted by some as evidence of embedded American imperial complacency. Yet it’s almost a required photo stop for American politicians who, as if some mountain-climbing Edmund Hilary, can never be happy…
Full Article US-CHINA RELATIONS: A SUCCESSFUL BIDEN PRESIDENCY NEEDS TO HEAL BILATERAL TIES AND RESPECT ALLIES
SARAH ALTUWAIJRI WRITES — This past Saturday, October 20, hundreds took to the streets in Santa Clarita, marching to bring awareness to the plight of Armenians and to raise funds for military purchases, infrastructure and humanitarian aid. One of the protesters, Anna Sarvkian, a 19-year-old student stated, “Armenia is on…
Full Article ARMENIA VERSUS AZERBAIJAN: WHY, SUDDENLY, THE SOUND OF SILENCE INSTEAD OF A TWEET FROM PRESIDENT TRUMP?
‘VICTOR B’ WRITES — How do clashes in Russia, between police and the public, look right now, when most other nations are struggling to maintain safe and healthy environments? Not good. Orwellian, in fact? The Russian government now requires issuance of a ‘QR’ code to every citizen wanting to walk…
Full Article RUSSIA UNDER COVID-19: FROM MOSCOW BUT NOT WITH LOVE
JACQUELINE DILANCHYAN WRITES – Jaws, as well as reputations, dropped after a second athlete from Asia was caught doping at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. After Japanese speed skater Kei Saito was sent home from the Olympic Village after becoming the first athlete at the 2018 Olympic Games to return…
Full Article RUSSIA: CURLING SCANDAL FLOORS WORLD OPINION MORE THAN SPEED-SKATER KAITO
SEBASTIAN SEGURA-ACOSTA WRITES – On September 20th, renowned actor, Morgan Freeman, became the recent victim of Kremlin criticism after making a video calling for an investigation of Russia’s confirmed cyber-meddling in U.S. affairs. Soon after the video went live, social media bots, paid trolls, and the uninformed public ravaged the…
Full Article RUSSIA: FACEBOOK PLANS TO RELEASE OVER 3,000 RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA ADS
ALEXIS CRUZ WRITES- Immune to accusations of bribery, human rights abuses, and having really hot weather, Qatar intends to host the 2022 World Cup as planned, come what may. Such immunity can make anyone cocky, and at a New York Times art conference in Doha, the Emir’s sister Sheikha Al…
Full Article QATAR: Bring It On, Critics
DYLAN FIELDS WRITES – For many years, Japan has been engaged in various territorial disputes such as the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands conflict with China, or the Takeshima/Dokdo Islands feud with South Korea. One such quarrel, which many non-Japanese are unaware of, is the ongoing Kuril Islands dispute between Japan and…
Full Article MOVIE REVIEW: Giovanni’s Island