So, hoseannas and hallelujahs -- North Korea returns to the fold.Frankly, I think any celebration of the resumption of the six-party talks is premature, as Chris Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, admitted: "We are a long way from our goal still. I have not broken out the cigars and …
Month: October 2006
Slippery Abe
David Pilling, the FT's Tokyo correspondent, conducted an interview with Abe Shinzo that is perhaps remarkable only for its lack of firm commitment to anything other than constitutional revision -- which Abe has already voiced his enthusiasm for on previous occasions.And even on constitutional revision he is noncommital. He is long on ideals, short on …
North Korea returns to the table
Of course, just as I posted, news broke that China announced that North Korea would return to the six-party talks.Until it becomes clear what conditions, if any, Pyongyang accepted before agreeing to retun to the table, it is difficult to judge how big a diplomatic victory China appears to have won. Besides, as I've said …
Cooperative Asia, Cool Japan
As if on cue from my last post, the BBC reports that the US has voiced its approval of Chinese initiatives to strengthen military-to-military cooperation with ASEAN countries. Exactly right. The US has nothing to lose from China's cooperating with its Southeast Asian neighbors. After all, ASEAN nations aren't exactly natural allies of China, given …
Everybody’s talking
My first reaction to North Korea's nuclear test was that it couldn't come at a better time -- for North Korea's opponents. As a Japanese bureaucrat purportedly said, the nuclear test was a "gift." Coming just as Abe Shinzo took office and embarked on reconciliatory visits to Beijing and Seoul, Kim Jong Il pushed irksome …
Around the Asia-Pacific region
To start, Patrick Porter of Oxblog posted an interview with Christopher Hitchens that dissects fascism, among other topics. Hitchens made an interesting point about the innate irrationality of fascists:Another [characteristic] is its irrationality. With the Soviet Union there was a degree of predictability, it was essentially rational. There were certain things we knew they weren't …
Vive le Koizumisme!
Everyone seems to be talking about France this weekend.Christopher Caldwell, in the FT this weekend, discusses how French Socialist Segolene Royal is dangerously courting populist opinion (subscribers only).In the Economist, meanwhile, this week's survey is about France's decline; Sophie Pedder, the survey's author, argues, as I did yesterday, that political will is the key to …
"The French can reassure themselves that it is not just theirs but the whole Western model which is disintegrating"
The quote cited in the title of the post is by the French post-modernist philosopher Jean Baudrillard, noted in an article in The Nation by Sunil Khilnani (via Arts and Letters Daily). Khilnani explores the "malaise" evident in French society and the widespread disaffection with France's governing class -- "If trust in France's political leaders …
The Diet’s diet
In the current special session of the Diet, the most contentious subject under discussion is Prime Minister Abe's proposed revision of the 1947 Fundamental Law on Education. Abe's move has drawn fire from all opposition parties, as he has indicated that any education reform must include greater emphasis on patriotic education. Of course, of all …
Japan’s urban blur
I'm back in the saddle again after a couple days of riding around on trains.Yesterday I went up to Kanagawa Prefecture to inspect apartments. The Shinkansen I was scheduled to take was delayed two hours because of this incident. Be sure to check out the picture -- unbelievable. Shinkansen service was affected the entire day. …
Tobias S. Harris 