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August 13, 2026
 

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Thomas O. Falk
British and Japanese flags are displayed ahead of a welcome ceremony as the HMS Prince of Wales, flagship of the U.K. Carrier Strike Group, arrives at Tokyo International Cruise Terminal in August.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 29, 2026
Time for a revamped Japan-U.K. strategic architecture
Pax Americana imposed order through dominance. The system that succeeds it will not be hegemonic but networked ¡ª a lattice of partners capable of collective action.
Battle damage in the frontline town of Kostiantynivka in Ukraine's Donetsk region on Nov. 15.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 25, 2025
Turn Russia¡¯s frozen assets into incentives for peace
The West is not a spectator to this. It is the custodian of the one pressure point Putin did not foresee: His own frozen wealth.
The Eagle S oil tanker is seen near a Finnish border guard ship and tugboat off the Porkkalanniemi Peninsula in the Gulf of Finland in December. Finland seized the Russian-linked vessel on suspicion it damaged undersea cables amid growing concerns over sanctions evasion and maritime security.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2025
Braving the storm: It¡¯s time to board Russia¡¯s shadow fleet
European sanctions against the Kremlin¡¯s oil vessels are futile without actual enforcement.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick speaks in the Oval Office after President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with the U.K. on May 8. The agreement is far from a win for London, which has chosen deference over strength in dealing with Washington's bullishness.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2025
Lessons from the U.S.-U.K. trade deal: Don¡¯t appease a bully
The tariff agreement signed between London and Washington does little to boost the U.K. economy and, despite appearances, is a diplomatic defeat for Prime Minister Starmer.
Sinovac, a Chinese COVID-19 vaccine, is administered in Bangkok in 2021. The recent U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization has further opened the field for Beijing to assert its role in global health, including through vaccine diplomacy.
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2025
If China triumphs, America has itself to blame
While Trump¡¯s policies bite at home, Beijing is stepping in to fill the void left by the U.S. retreat from global leadership in areas ranging from trade and investment to health.
Canada is standing up to American tariffs and territorial threats. The ¡°Buy Canadian¡± movement has erupted and the country is brimming with expressions of patriotic zeal that are reshuffling the deck in an upcoming election for the next prime minister.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2025
Is this Canada¡¯s moment?
Washington¡¯s tariffs and territorial threats have ignited Canadian unity and resolve, reshaping the upcoming vote to choose who will lead Ottawa through the geopolitical storm.
A National Rally demonstration in Paris on Sunday following party head Marine Le Pen's conviction for embezzlement. The far-right leader and her supporters have decried the ruling as political.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 9, 2025
Le Pen ruling unleashes wave of hypocrisy on populist right
Across the globe, far-right populists have gained popularity as protectors of law and order, but Le Pen¡¯s conviction in France reveals the shaky foundations of this commitment.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Moscow in 2022. The war in Ukraine will eventually come to an end and Europe needs to come up with a unified strategy to be a formidable adversary in the Kremlin's eyes.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 4, 2025
Europe must set the terms for postwar Russia engagement now
Past trade with Russia didn¡¯t work to limit Moscow, but isolation isn¡¯t the way forward either. In an eventual postwar scenario, Europe should opt for deterrence, not dialogue.
If Russia emerges victorious from the Ukraine war, nuclear proliferation will ensue as states view armaments and not agreements as the only way to protect their sovereignty.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 12, 2025
Lessons from Ukraine: Allies are fickle, nukes are forever
If Russia emerges victorious from the Ukraine war, nuclear proliferation will ensue as states view armaments and not agreements as the only way to protect their sovereignty.
The co-leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, Alice Weidel (left) and Tino Chrupalla (right), deliver a statement after the first parliamentary group meeting of their party on Tuesday, two days after Germany's general elections.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 26, 2025
Far right lurks in the shadow of Germany¡¯s coalition dilemma
As victor Friedrich Merz tries to build a coalition, Germany could find itself in a vicious cycle where the compromises required to govern deepen the divisions that plague it.
Gut bacteria may be behind many of Â鶹´«Ã½ colorectal cancer cases
A Japanese research team found that a toxin produced by certain E. coli strains, colibactin, caused genetic mutations in nearly half of colorectal cancer cases studied
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
She is Russia¡¯s richest woman. Her business empire is going up in flames.
Tatyana Kim, the head and co-founder of Wildberries, speaks about Ukrainian drone attacks on the company's warehouses in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, at an unidentified location, in this still image from a handout video released on July 31.
Severe tropical storm Chan-hom makes landfall near Tokyo
Severe Tropical Storm Chan-hom made landfall around Ibaraki Prefecture, near Tokyo, on Tuesday night.
What Â鶹´«Ã½ language rules for permanent residency should look like
Potential health care workers hoping to find work in Japan take Japanese language instruction in Jakarta. Not all applicants for permanent residency should be expected to reach this level of proficiency.
Forty-five meters down, a diver races to record a fleeting moment of WWII history
Kingo Wakasa photographs the kamikaze plane wing section he discovered at the USS Emmons wreck site.
Ikarigata closer to emulating older brother Fujinokawa than many think
The future Fujinokawa (third from left) and Ikarigata (right) compete against each other at ages 5 and 3, respectively.
Where do foreign residents in Japan want to die?
The Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery is one of the few cemeteries in Japan that allows burials, albeit with conditions for the deceased, including foreign nationality and permanent residency in Kanagawa Prefecture.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Disaster relief workers Taichi Kato (left) and Seiji Yoshimura enter the collapsed living quarters at Kyuganji temple in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture.
What Kumamoto revealed about Â鶹´«Ã½ earthquake readiness
By Alex K.T. Martin

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