Posted in Asia, tagged China, Tibet on March 28, 2008 | No Comments »
The situation in Tibet is disheartening but not without hope. Realistically, I think the best chance Tibet has is for the emergence of a Chinese Gorbachev or de Gaulle, a member of the ruling elite who recognizes the need for granting autonomy to colonized regions within the empire. What are the chances of that? Better than [...]
Posted in Arts and Aesthetics, Asia, Environment, Philosophy on February 18, 2008 | 1 Comment »
We’re not supposed to compare apples and oranges – or so the saying goes. But as H.P. Glenn, erudite author of Legal Traditions of the World points out, we can compare apples and oranges: “[t]here are obvious criteria of roundness, acidity, colour, sweetness, price and so on. “ As Glenn goes on to ask, “Why [...]
Posted in Asia, Foreign affairs, History, Japan, Personalities on February 2, 2008 | 5 Comments »
Hatoyama Kunio, Japan’s Justice Minister, gave an interview in the magazine Weekly Asahi last October that has been reprinted on Japan Focus, (a peer reviewed electronic journal and webzine on Japan), and reported recently in the Japan Times. The interview has some fascinating nuggets, but none so interesting as Hatoyama’s explanation for why Japan should continue to uphold the death penalty [...]
Posted in Asia, Foreign affairs, Japan, Philosophy, U.S. Politics on December 26, 2007 | 3 Comments »
The touchdown at Osaka airport by night is rather enchanting: there is even a lit up ferris wheel visible from the air. Enter the customs area at the airport, however, and the mood is somewhat less magical. Behind the row of customs officers processing visitors is a massive yellow sign, perhaps more than 30 metres across, with [...]
Posted in Asia, Foreign affairs, tagged Africa, development on November 15, 2007 | 8 Comments »
There’s an interesting article comparing the development of Asia and Africa in The Liberal, a new UK magazine. It suggets that Africa once set the standard for Asian countries to aspire to:
IN 1962, when the World Bank extended its first development loan to South Korea, the bank’s directors famously asked their researcher whether there was [...]
