A poem: To all the men and women who sing change change change Mee-ahn mar–we never heard of you before.
Vultures Over Burma
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Asia & Pacific
Overcoming ‘Strategic Suspicion’ — Goal of Obama-Xi Summit
This week’s relatively informal and unscripted summit between the presidents of the United States and China on a private estate in southern California is being welcomed by most analysts here as a virtually unprecedented opportunity for each side to gain a better understanding of the strategic aims of the other.
Empire, Capitalism, and Human Trafficking in Northeast Asia
The trafficking of North Korean women throughout Northeast Asia is a process whereby women are commoditized. They are sold to Chinese men as brides, or forced into prostitution to pay off debts accumulated while escaping North Korea. In many ways, North Korean women are inheritors of the suffering of Japan’s “comfort women.”
Let the People of Diego Garcia Return to their Homeland
Over a weekend of memorials, I was remembering a friend who died of a broken heart. Her death certificate may not say so, but she did. Aurélie Lisette Talate died last year at 70 of what members of her community call, in their creole language, sagren—profound sorrow. Madame Talate died of sagren because the U.S. and British governments exiled her and the rest of her Chagossian people from their homeland in the Indian Ocean’s Chagos Archipelago to create a secretive military base on Chagos’ largest island, Diego Garcia.
The Hashimoto Controversy and Japan’s Failure to Come to Terms with its Past
The words were so brazen that they have created a firestorm globally. Characterized as “outspoken” and “brash” in the international media, Osaka mayor Toru Hashimoto has claimed that “comfort women”—the thousands of Asian women who were forced to serve as prostitutes during the Second World War—were “necessary” for the morale of Japanese troops.
In Tehran, All Eyes on North Korea
North Korea’s nuclear weapons and Iran’s purported nuclear ambitions are the subject of constant speculation by Western pundits. However, the connection between the two is often overlooked. Although Northeast Asia and the Middle East are home to different geopolitical realities, the resolution of tensions on the Korean peninsula will almost certainly influence calculations made in Washington and Tehran regarding the Iranian nuclear program.
Infantalizing North Korea
Political Cartoonists love to portray North Korea as an irrational and infantile force. It’s either a baby with a nuclear rattle or a little truant in need of a timeout. The relative youth of the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, encourages such representations, but the practice predates his ascension to power. It’s time for us to grow up in our assessments of North Korea. Belittling North Korea, literally and figuratively, ultimately prevents us from developing our own mature alternatives.
Make Migrants, Not War in North Korea
Recent inter-Korean tensions have rekindled debate over methods for moving the North Korean government away from weapons development. If an upcoming United Nations human rights report can establish a framework and funding mechanism to assist refugees who have crossed the border into China, it might be more effective than either sanctions or traditional engagement.
Would Pakistan Respond to India’s Use of Conventional Weapons With Tactical Nukes?
Nuclear weapons have always had the power to cloud men’s minds.
U.S. Explores Military Engagement With Burma’s Brutal Military
The State Department’s official rationale is to encouraging “further political reforms.”