Japan construction companies have a long tradition of exploiting government budgets for public works in order to construct structures which citizens do not want and cannot afford. This tradition has found new expression in tunnels for underground highways being excavated in the Tokyo region with little public knowledge or input, and in spite of demonstrable safety concerns.
Appearing on Face the Nation on CBS Sunday, US Senator Bernie Sanders discussed a number of issues he covers in his upcoming book, It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism, including his proposal to ensure that the news media acts in the interest of the general public and not wealthy corporations and powerful interest groups.
Ivan Parker Hall, author of landmark book Cartels of the Mind: Japan’s Intellectual Closed Shop, died in Berlin on February 1, 2023, at age 90.
Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro appears to be plotting a comeback, but his prospects for a return to power–should he not be willing to wait four years until the next election–will very much depend upon who occupies the White House in the years ahead and how deep his support runs within his country’s military.
Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador vowed over the weekend to lead a worldwide movement to end the 61-year US embargo of Cuba.
Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau this week announced that her city is cutting ties with Israel and ending its symbolic 25-year-old “twin cities” relationship with Tel Aviv over the Israeli government’s violent anti-Palestinian policies, in particular its “crime of apartheid.”
As the trial of sixteen pro-democracy figures began yesterday in Hong Kong, the global human rights group Amnesty International blasted what it called the “politically motivated” charges against the defendants, urging authorities to drop the case.
For years the internationally-recognized government of Somalia, based in Mogadishu, has been in a running battle with the Al-Shabab insurgency, but recent advances by the Somali Armed Forces, backed by the US military, as well as division within the Islamist movement itself, appears to have put Al-Shabab on the back foot.
Western experts and military officials continue to issue dates for a prospective China invasion of Taiwan. The latest such example is a prediction by US Air Force General Mike Minihan that a war will occur between the United States and China over Taiwan in 2025. This was written in a memo which was obtained by the news media.
