“The gap between rhetoric and reality is a persistent one when looking at the sustainability of commitments of Olympic Games hosts”. Martin Müller, European Urban and Regional Studies, 2015 The organisers of the Olympics have always been into appearances and grand theatre. And the International Olympic Committee has always been […]
Japan
Tokyo’s Pandemic Games Open
The auguries are not good for the Tokyo Olympic Games. Resignations have filled the ledger, including Japanese composer Keigo Oyamada, organising committee president Yoshiro Mori and the creative director Hiroshi Sasaki. Then there is the lamentable behaviour of the authoritarian International Olympic Committee and the obsequious conduct of the Suga […]
Vague Alternatives And G7 Summitry: The Build Back Better World Initiative
Summits often feature grand statements and needless fripperies. In Cornwall, the leaders of the G7 countries were trying to position and promote their relevance as the vanguard of democratic good sense and values. They, the message went, remained relevant, valuable and essential to the order of the earth, despite challenges […]
Suicidal Games: Tokyo’s Coronavirus Olympics
A pandemic crisis. A state of emergency. Overwhelming public opinion bristling with alarm. Notwithstanding these factors, Tokyo is still on track to host the Olympics that was cancelled last year in response to the global pandemic. The first sports team – Australia’s softball crew – has touched down. Is all […]
Eyes On China: The Quad Takes Scattered Aim
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue has had its fits and starts, but nothing encourages such chats than threats, actual or perceived. In 2017, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono felt that it was time that a strategic dialogue between Japan, the United States, Australia and India should be revived. The Quad, as […]
Catholics Against Nukes: Archbishop Wester’s Hiroshima Vigil
In what is a turn-up for the books, a senior voice of the Catholic Church made something of an impression this month that did not incite scandal, hot rage, or the commencement of an investigation. It did, however, agitate a few editors. Archbishop John C. Wester of San Fe, in […]
Covid-19: Propaganda And Manipulation
Returning to the Covid-19 epidemic and the way governments are reacting to it, Thierry Meyssan stresses that the authoritarian decisions of Italy and France have no medical justification. They contradict the observations of the best infectiologists and the instructions of the World Health Organization.
Russia Dials Back Peace Talks With Japan
The Russia-Japan territorial disputes surged at a meeting of the foreign ministers of the two countries, Toshimitsu Motegi and Sergey Lavrov, at Nagoya, Japan, on November 22 on the sidelines of a G20 foreign ministers’ gathering. Lavrov publicly threw cold water on the Japanese spin that Tokyo is engaged in […]
Hiroshima-Nagasaki 74 Years Later
Seventy-four years have passed since the atomic bombing of peaceful Japanese cities, and humanity’s horror at the nightmare of this weapon remains acute. That horror is now one of the reasons why no country in the world can employ nuclear weapons against anyone without being punished. In that sense, the victims of Hiroshima did not suffer in vain.
The Recent Japanese Elections Might Slow Down The US’ “Indo-Pacific” Strategy
Last month’s Japanese elections saw Prime Minister Abe’s ruling bloc lose its two-thirds parliamentary supermajority needed to change the country’s pacifist constitution, which could seriously slow down the US’ “Indo-Pacific” strategy, especially regarding the formation of an anti-Iranian naval coalition in the Gulf and the possible military expansion of the […]
Former Naval Officer Exposes Flaws In US Intel On Iran Oil Tanker Attack
The Trump administration has released a range of photographic and video evidence in support of its claim that intelligence proves how Iran attacked a Japanese-owned oil tanker near the Strait of Hormuz. But a Canadian military analyst and former Navy officer for nearly twenty years has called the evidence into […]
Why China Is Confident It Can Withstand US Pressure?
The main battle between the US and China today is for the position of global technology leader. Washington is using the technology sector to bully Beijing in the hope that it will undermine its economic position as the US once managed to do with Tokyo.
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