Japan

IPEF

IPEF Will Be A Hard Sell In Indo-Pacific

A new economic bloc comprising twelve countries of the Indo-Pacific region and the United States was unveiled on Monday in Tokyo on the sidelines of President Joe Biden’s visit. Christened as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), it is conceived as the economic correlative of the US Indo-Pacific Strategy. The Biden […]

Biden In Tokyo

Biden In Tokyo: Killing Strategic Ambiguity

Could it have been just another case of bumbling poor judgment, the mind softened as the mouth opened? A question was put to US President Joe Biden, visiting Tokyo and standing beside Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida: “You didn’t want to get involved in the Ukraine conflict militarily for obvious […]

Kuril

Asian Fault Lines Of Biden’s War On Russia

The tremors of the United States’ tensions with Russia playing out in Europe are being felt in different ways already in Asia. The hypothesis of Ukraine being in Europe and the conflict being all about European security is delusional. From Kazakhstan to Myanmar, from Solomon Islands to the Kuril Islands, […]

Morrison in USA

Our Man In Washington: Morrison’s Tour Of Deception

It was startling and even shocking. Away from the thrust and cut of domestic politics, not to mention noisy discord within his government’s ranks, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison could breathe a sign of relief. Perhaps no one would notice in Washington that Australia remains prehistoric in approaching climate change […]

Tokyo

Cultivated Delusions At The Tokyo Olympics

Australia’s Channel 7 team was all about ignoring history as its selected commentators went into describing, poorly, the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. The trio was poorly equipped culturally, geographically and totally (the Japanese component was barely credible: “We want to make things warm for you,” she chirped), to […]

Sun Yang TO

Why Is The Top Chinese Swimmer Not At The Tokyo Olympics?

Primary players and acronyms: FINA – Fédération Internationale de Natation (International Swimming Federation). Established 1908. WADA – World Anti-Doping Agency. Established in 1999. Based in Montreal, Canada. CAS – Court of Arbitration for Sport. Highest court for adjudicating international sport. Established in 1984. Based in Lausanne, Switzerland. IDTM – International […]

Japans White Paper

Japan’s Defence White Paper 

 In mid-July, Japan’s Ministry of Defence issued a White Paper that attracted the close attention of officials and experts from neighbouring countries as well as the US. The document contains a number of features indicating dynamic changes in the country’s military and political planning, which, along with Washington’s incitement and […]