USGS topographical map. “Japan, Korea, and Northeast China.” 2006. Image Source: koryostudies.com. What leads men and states to the path of war? For centuries thinkers and strategists of the Western tradition have turned to Thucydides and his history to find answers to this question. The great historian speaks of Athenian envoys rising up in hostile […]
The famous “nine-dash line” that marks China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea Source: “Q&A: South China Sea Disputes.” BBC News. 15 May 2013. Earlier this afternoon The House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific held a hearing devoted entitled “America’s Future in Asia: From Rebalancing to Managing Sovereignty Disputes.” […]
A collection of articles, essays, and blog post of merit. TOP BILLING “‘The standard of living in ancient societies: a comparison between the Han Empire, the Roman Empire, and Babylonia“ Bas van Leeuwen, Reinhard Pirgruber, and Jieli van Leeuwen-Li. Working Papers 50, Utrecht University, Centre for Global Economic History. The global and long-term development of […]
Image Credit: Washington Post, Interesting things happen in Asia. Over the last few months a lot of interesting things have happened. Yet as 2013 rolls forward I find myself increasingly dissatisfied with the standard explanations American commentators rely on to explain Asia’s great power politicking. This post presents a few themes neglected by many analysts […]
A collection of articles, essays, and blog post of merit. This collection is a large one. TOP BILLING Our Internet Surveillance StateBruce Schneier. Schneier on Security. 25 March 2013. The Internet is a surveillance state. Whether we admit it to ourselves or not, and whether we like it or not, we’re being tracked all the […]
What impact does culture have on cognition? Psychologist Richard Nisbett has conducted dozens of studies to find out the answer to this question. Presented in The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently, the results of his study are fascinating – and their implications far reaching. “Perception: How Germans and Chinese See Each Other” from […]
I consider it a great blessing to live in an age where it is possible to read within minutes of their publication the words of men and women who live thousands of miles away. The internet allows the unparalleled opportunity to understand the narratives of peoples world over – and in real time. I pity […]
…but then I found my way to the Financial Times. Within a day of the story breaking they have published ten quality articles on the subject and collected them all into one “FT in Depth” special feature. Consider me impressed. I had planned on writing a post concerning the intervention’s relationship to Japan’s internal politics […]
Japan has a new ruling party. In a landmark election the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) gained a majority in both houses of the Diet for the first time in its history. Yet the significance of this election has much less to do with the DPJ and much more to do those whom they knocked […]
Notes From All Over: A collection of recently published articles, essays, reports, or blog posts of merit. Life shall require my attention for the nest week, so please do not expect much in the way of new posts. In order to meet my readership’s desire for important world news updates and intelligent analysis, I have […]
