The Collapse of the East Asian Order

Posted by on Sep 26, 2019 in Articles, Asia, Featured | 0 comments The United States is losing its status as a Pacific power. It can no longer control developments in East Asia. It still maintains a large military footprint in the region. But that military presence no longer translates into an ability to achieve the outcomes that Washington wants. For better or worse, the post-World War II order in East Asia is coming to an end. China has become the dominant...
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The World’s Most Dangerous Divide

Posted by on Apr 13, 2019 in Articles, Asia, Featured | 0 comments In the beautiful and terrifying novel The City of Devi, communal hatreds escalate in India and Pakistan until the two countries feel compelled to threaten each other with nuclear weapons. At least, it starts out as a threat. Pakistan vows to take out Mumbai, and India will level Karachi. But everyone involved knows that nuclear war doesn’t really work that way. “Nuclear bombs are like potato...
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Trump’s Majoritarian Dream

Posted by on Apr 8, 2018 in Articles, Asia, Featured, Human Rights, Russia and Eastern Europe | 0 comments Washington and New Dehli are having a mutual lovefest these days. Donald Trump is popular in India — where only 17 percent of the population considers the president “intolerant,” compared to a global average of 65 percent — and he has warmly welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the White House. Both leaders are eager to bump up bilateral security cooperation to the next...
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Walking Back War in Korea

Posted by on Mar 2, 2018 in Articles, Asia, Featured, Korea | 0 comments In talks this week at the DMZ, South Korea welcomed the participation of North Korea in the upcoming Winter Olympics. The two countries also discussed restarting reunions of divided families and reducing tensions on the Korean peninsula. Earlier, both sides reestablished their hotline. All of this adult conversation is a welcome change from the war of epithets between the “dotard” president...
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Building On The Good News From Asia

Posted by on Dec 29, 2017 in Articles, Asia, China, Featured, Korea | 0 comments There’s been precious little good news from Asia these days. Washington and Pyongyang continue to trade threats of war. Right-wing nationalist Shinzo Abe won reelection as prime minister in Japan last month. Major storms have hammered several countries in the region, most recently Typhoon Damrey in Vietnam. And now, in the wake of those typhoons comes a mighty wind from the United States....
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The Rohingya and the Responsibility to Ignore

Posted by on Oct 7, 2017 in Articles, Asia, Featured | 1 comment They were Muslims, and they were leaving the country in droves. Their homeland, a remote corner of a multiethnic country, had become a warzone. Militants had taken up arms to fight for their rights, and the central government retaliated in force. Human rights abuses, mostly by the government, were rampant. Caught in the gunfire, hundreds of thousands of people became refugees. The central...
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