Chinas Tragic Earthquake LOS ANGELES The American news media, for many good reasons, has been much under attack. The list of its shortcomings is almost too extensive to be contained within a short column like this. We won't even mention its generally limpid illumination..
Campaign Stop on Myanmar Road LOS ANGELES - How much suffering must a nation and its people go through before everyone says enough is enough?
Japans Old Political Magic LOS ANGELES I wish more people understood Japan better. In point of candid admission, I wish I understood Japan better.
Grand Asian Master Los Angeles The Grand Asian Master, no more than a few thousand years old, appeared to me yet again the other night. He does this from time to time when my frustrations with Asia go through the ceiling _ and up to the stars.
China vs CNN LOS ANGELES A noisy trans-Pacific storm has blown up, starring the Chinese Foreign Ministry and CNN. That's a superpower squall if there ever was one. But it's hard to know for whom to root!
Asia and US Election LOS ANGELES One early sign that a run of optimism may be on the way is the point at which the utility of continued pessimism is seen as utterly dysfunctional by all concerned.
Vote Heard Around Asia HO CHI MINH CITY Sure, the election of the next President of the United States will be the most closely watched election in Asia or anywhere else this year. America, for all its stumbles, is still the number-one superpower: So whoever the Americ..
Another Kennedy or Bush Jr.? LOS ANGELES Admirers of Barack Obama who glibly and favorably compare the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Presidency to John F. Kennedy always assume that they are doing the former a favor. But there's a whole other way to look at it and it..
New Day for Pakistan LOS ANGELES The central nervous system of the Bush administration's ``war on terror" may now be frayed beyond recognition or repair.
Hill Deserves `Oscar for NK LOS ANGELES For much of the first few years of the new millennium, North Korea was viewed as the most probable nation-state aggressor in Asia.
When Snow Falls on China, Japan LOS ANGELES Snow has been falling on two of the world's greatest cities lightly on Tokyo, brutally on Shanghai. Whether anything can or should be made of this comparative weather differential is questionable, of course.
Dream About Asia The Grand Asian Master, no more than a few thousand years old, appeared to me the other night (as he does from time to time) and asked what I wish for these days. This was a dream, of course, but it was a very nice dream, and I didn't want it to en..
Cutting Down on Lust LOS ANGELES It appears that many mainland Chinese movie-goers are traipsing over to Hong Kong in droves to view the uncensored version of Ang Lee's latest blockbuster, ``Lust, Caution.'' With their feet, in effect, they are voting for lust an..
A Lady Is Murdered LOS ANGELES Perhaps it was the ever-present white scarf, wrapped around her head, as if shouting to us that a woman in her particular culture might not have it so easy, especially if she wanted to change things.
Asian Quartet LOS ANGELES I constantly tell my students that if they only come to understand one area of the world fully, make it Asia. Why the emphasis on Asia, they ask?
Shameful Practice of Torture LOS ANGELES There are times when, from a moral standpoint, men and women simply should not remain silent. In such times, seemingly fine lines need to be turned into unequivocal hard lines.
Merry Christmas, Kim Jong-il! LOS ANGELES And so the New York Philharmonic, one of the greatest ensembles on planet earth, is to play a gig-for-peace in Pyongyang.
