Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan stepped down today under pressure from the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, factions within his own Democratic Party of Japan, and low approval ratings. In announcing his resignation in a televised speech, Kan said: “Under the severe circumstances, I feel I’ve done everything that I had to do. Now I would […]
A son of Salmaan Taseer, the liberal governor of the country’s powerful Punjab province who was shot dead by his own security guard in Islamabad in January, has been kidnapped by masked gunmen in Lahore. Taseer’s loss did not end the family’s miseries nor did the tragedy dissuade them to speak up for liberal values […]
Civil society in Cambodia is typically a very contentious issue. A few months ago, I attempted to dichotomize the diverging opinions on this subject by highlighting the urgent need for NGOs in the developing world whilst pointing out that many of these institutions are fatalities of their own benevolence. The problem, of course, is rooted […]
Two days ago a mob of villagers stoned to death a Taliban commander and his body guard in the Nawa District of Helmand Province. The news had gone under-reported for some time even though the New York Times picked it up. Today a few more outlets ran the news. No doubt the Pentagon and the […]
Moody’s downgraded Japan’s credit rating one step to AA3 Wednesday, citing the country’s massive debt, weak growth prospects and constant political uncertainty. The downgrade came as no surprise to analysts, and bond markets remained relatively calm. A rating of AA3 is regarded as a very low risk, but somewhat susceptible to long-term risks. Standard & […]
American Vice President Joe Biden, near the end of his Asian tour, met with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan for an hour Tuesday. Biden is the highest ranking U.S. official to visit Japan since the March 11 quake and tsunami. “I am honored and truly humbled to have an opportunity to visit this place, to […]
The fireworks celebrating India’s Independence Day on August 15 illuminated shifting political terrain. Appropriating the motifs of the anti-colonial struggle against the British Raj, the anti-corruption movement that has been gathering momentum for months erupted in full force, staging the most widespread popular demonstrations in decades. The protests presented Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s seven-year-old government […]
Historian Brett Walker, in his disturbingly important new book, Toxic Archipelago: A History of Industrial Disease in Japan, draws important historical linkages between economic development, industrial pollution, pain, and the body in service of the nation-state. Though singularly focused on the toxic ramifications of Japan’s modern developmental state, his treatment holds important lessons for societies […]
Last night I attended the New York premier of Amigo (trailer above), the independent film and brainchild of John Sayles about the Philippine-American War. The film supplements Sayles’ novel A Moment in the Sun (McSweeney’s Books, 2011), which details a small chapter in American history but also one of utmost significance as a comparison to […]
Given the recent developments, it was difficult to avoid commenting on the India Against Corruption (IAC) campaign led by Anna Hazare. Let me clarify at the onset that I don’t support Anna’s version of the Jan Lokpal Bill and the intransigent campaign through which he seeks to get the proposal implemented. However, I support the […]
Washington officials thought no one in the Japanese government took charge during the early stages of the nuclear crisis in Fukushima, former envoy Kevin Maher said Thursday. Maher said that Naoto Kan’s administration treated the crisis as the plant operator’s problem, not the government’s. “There was nobody in charge. Nobody in the Japanese political system […]
Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara accused Prime Minister Naoto Kan, along with his cabinet, of being “not Japanese” for not visiting the controversial Yasukuni Shrine on Monday to honor Japan’s war dead. Kan and his cabinet visited a different, non-controversial shrine instead. Ishihara went on to comment on Japan’s current political turmoil, saying: “The Japanese race […]
Much of the commentary about India’s elimination of the Boeing and Lockheed Martin bids from its hotly-contested, highly-lucrative Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition has focused on its meaning for U.S.-India relations. The air force is the largest beneficiary of the country’s burgeoning military budget and a number of foreign companies were looking to snap […]
More than 50 members of Japan’s conservative opposition party, the Liberal Democratic Party, including leader Sadakazu Tanigaki and former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, visited Yasukuni Shrine Monday. The August 15 visit marks the 66th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II, and by coincidence is the beginning of the Obon, a Buddhist festival that […]
This past week, Umar Patek, the Jemaah Islamiyah militant responsible for assembling the explosives used in the 2002 bombings in Bali, was extradited to Indonesia after being captured in Pakistan in late March. Patek is also believed to have been behind the attacks on Christian churches in cities across Indonesia on Christmas Eve, 2000. His […]
