Early in October 2024, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the award of two major prizes: the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize to the Japanese grassroots peace organisation Nihon Hidankyo (Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organisations), and the literature prize to the Korean novelist, Han Kang. From both winners came messages addressed to our troubled Continue reading »
Asia
Half the 280 million people in Indonesia are women, though not in the 48-member ministry; just five were drafted this week by the fresh president Prabowo Subianto. It’s a Cabinet fuelled more by testosterone than talent. Continue reading »
In a just world, Prabowo Subianto should not be Indonesia’s new president. He ought to be facing the full strength of the law in court, if not serving time. The closest he’s come to justice is being banned from the US by three presidents, Clinton, Bush and Obama, and from Australia and presumably other jurisdictions. Continue reading »
It is difficult to reconcile new Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s expressions of concern for the security of his country with his advocation of an Asian version of NATO. The two ideas are contradictory to say the least. Even without mentioning China, it is clear that the alleged threat to Japan’s security emanates from China. Continue reading »
While the world looks on with trepidation at regional wars in Israel and Ukraine, a far more dangerous global crisis is quietly building at the other end of Eurasia, along an island chain that has served as the front line for America’s national defence for endless decades. Just as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has revitalised Continue reading »
South Korean novelist Han Kang has won the Nobel Prize for Literature, beating short-listed literary heavyweights like Thomas Pynchon, Haruki Murakami, Salman Rushdie, Gerald Murnane, and the all-odds-favourite, Chinese author Can Xue. Han Kang was as shocked as anyone else after receiving the call notifying her that she had won. When asked what she would Continue reading »
In Asian media this week: Europe’s China business chief says conflict unavoidable. Plus: US lacks strategy for China confrontation; Japan’s new PM calls snap election; Junta’s election “census” a counter-insurgency ploy; America’s Gaza failure shakes confidence in rules-based order; Seoul has no answer for Pyongyang’s dirty campaign. China and the EU are shaping up for Continue reading »
Before debating with Democrat VP candidate Tim Walz, the Republican
nominee JD Vance said the contestants’ views matter little because voters go for the top of the ticket, not the bottom. Continue reading »
Launching Cold War 2.0 against a reluctant Beijing while enabling Israel to set fire to an entire region is now official American foreign policy. The premier journal Foreign Affairs is advertising big time about a coming essay by outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken – on “Biden’s Foreign Policy Legacy”, or in other words, Continue reading »
Japan’s new prime minister, Ishiba Shigeru, has called for an
Asian NATO. But salivating hawks should restrain the glee. Continue reading »