How to understand the recent spate of impassioned protests in China, officially against the Japanese ownership of some small islands, but clearly signifying more than just that? It is turmoil at least as significant as what’s occurring in the Muslim world, as it has political machinations . . . . Continue Reading »
Well I couldn’t resist (ineptly) posting that photo of the reef-rock that China and the Philippines both claim, but doing so perhaps made the topic seem more humorous than it really is. Bottom line 1: you gotta watch China on every geo-strategic front, and the “spontaneous” . . . . Continue Reading »
The causes of hostility among nations are innumerable. Alexander Hamilton, Federalist #6 Words to ponder as Chinese protesters , and then Japanese protestors occupy the various rocks that make up the Senkaku Islands. The second of those links is to a Telegraph story that shows why this latest . . . . Continue Reading »
Ampontan has some nice juxtapositions, jumping off Victor Davis Hanson among others, highlighting the culture-and-mores-rooted FACT that Greece, Southern Italy, Detroit, and urban Britain are simply more difficult and troublesome places to live than Germany, Northern Italy, Switzerland, and of . . . . Continue Reading »
So what are your favorite blogs for keeping up with events in a particular area or nation? Probably the best one I know of is Ampontan , about Japan. With the year anniversary of the Triple Disaster (i.e., Fukushima) coming up next week, there will be plenty of vacuous Economist -grade quick . . . . Continue Reading »
Twenty-five years ago when there was still a Communist East Germany, I interviewed several boys from Leipzig’s Thomanerchor, the choir once led by Johann Sebastian Bach. Many of those children came from atheistic homes. “Is it possible to sing Bach without faith?” I asked them. “Probably . . . . Continue Reading »
Japan: In the Land of the Brokenhearted by michael shapiro henry holt & company, 254 pages, $19.95 In recent years writing on Japan has become a veritable cottage industry. In the slew of literature promising to reveal and explain the secrets of that mysterious “and economically . . . . Continue Reading »
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