Okinawa and American Colonialism

Abstract

The Ryukyus, surrounded on three sides by major powers of East Asia, are the most strategic outpost of freedom in the Far East. Known as the “Keystone of the Pacific,” Okinawa, the most important island is 800 nautical miles southwest of Tokyo, 325 nautical miles northeast of Taipei, 750 nautical miles northeast of Manila and 700 nautical miles northeast of Hong Kong.     

冲绳自由贸易区观感

笔者有幸对日本经济特区的先行者--冲绳自由贸易区进行了参观访问.冲绳自由贸易区的过去和现在给本人留下了深刻的印象.     

Document: Arab Peace Initiative

This inititative was drafted at the Arab League Summit in Beirut, Lebanon, on March 27-28, 2001. Source: The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia.     

America and the Peace Talks

Abstract

During the ‘cleaning house’ period of a new administration, we are usually barraged with predictions of how all the changes will affect policy. New appointees and their past records are carefully scrutinized by the prognosticators. Such is the case with the newly chosen implementers of American Vietnam strategy. Henry Cabot Lodge is noted for his unbending anti-Communism. Henry Kissinger comes through as the hard-nosed intellectual with new, realistic solutions for the Vietnam dilemma. Ellsworth Bunker is the behind-the-scenes diplomat deferring punctiliously to Saigon's grievances. And yet what is most striking after two months of transition and new faces added to or replacing the old, is that the political climate in Washington and Paris and the traditionally defined objectives of American policy in Asia are basically unchanged. Looking at the resumption of the Peace Talks in Paris, it is already clear that basic American assumptions — and not personalities — will determine the American position in the months ahead.     

Sport for Peace: A New Era of International Cooperation and Peace through Sport

“O Sport, You are Peace!

You forge happy bonds between the peoples

by drawing them together in reverence for strength

which is controlled, organised and self disciplined.

Through you the young of the entire world

learn to respect one another,

and thus the diversity of national traits becomes a source

of generous and peaceful emulation!”

Pierre De Coubertin (The founder of the modern Olympic Movement)

Sport is an excellent and powerful tool to promote peace, tolerance, and peaceful coexistence. Sport can bring together people of different ethnicities, nationalities, race, skin color, culture and religion. Sport promotes values, such as respect, honesty and cooperation. Sport has the power and ability to overcome the intercultural and political barriers. Sport can be the significant component of social integration. This article brings into the discussion the theme of sport for peace and a positive role of sport for international cooperation and peace. There is a limited amount of research and literature on the theme of sport and peace or sport for peace. The unique and positive power of sport for bringing about peace and peaceful solutions is not well researched and understood. Therefore, the reason for this article is to try to fill the gap in the existing literature on the theme of sport for peace and broaden the discussion about it. The article focuses on sport for peace initiatives implemented by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the United Nations (UN) and its agencies, like UNESCO, UNICEF, UNHCR and non-governmental organizations and international sport federations. The article also examines the sport for peace initiatives from Japan, in the example of the Sport for Tomorrow (SFT) Programme of the Japanese Government for Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games and contribution by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in promoting and fostering friendship, cooperation, and peace in the world.     

Jordan and The Peace Process

The following speech by HRH Crown Prince Hassan of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was delivered by Jawad Anani, Minister of State for Prime Ministry Affairs, in Washington, D.C., on September 26,1994, at a meeting sponsored by the Middle East Policy Council.     

中江兆民的和平思想——以《三醉人经纶问答》为中心

作为近代日本自由民权运动的重要领袖,中江兆民的思想向来倍受研究者们的关注。有关其代表作品《三醉人经纶问答》的分析文章亦数不胜数。兆民的和平思想以小国主义为特征,是近代日本和平思想的主要来源之一。在他的和平思想中,不仅能看到西方近代的人权观念,还能找到东方传统的和平观念。本文从近代日本和平思想发展轨迹这一角度重新审视兆民的思想,以《三醉人经纶问答》为中心浅析其和平政治思想的特征。     

Why Peacekeeping Does Not Promote Peace

Peacekeeping, and the conflicts to which it is applied, have evolved since the United Nations began these operations in 1948. Today, the UN has 90,000 peacekeepers deployed around the world in 12 operations that cost the international community $6.5 billion a year. Half of these missions have been going on for a combined total of three centuries, with no solution in sight to any of them. Five of the remaining six are in response to violent extremism. In those missions, a steadily growing number of peacekeepers are being killed despite the fact that they are unable to make any significant contribution to successfully combating the extremists. UN peacekeeping has therefore become either endless or impossible, and the peacekeepers have neither the carrots nor the sticks to effectively promote peace or punish those who are preventing it. It is time for the international community to rethink how it strives for international stability in conflict situations. To have a serious discussion, however, would require the UN member states to place a higher priority on peace than on their individual national interests.     

The Paris Peace Conference and the Armenian arguments on Garabagh

The South Caucasus, which includes Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, is one of the most challenging regions in the world, owing to its long-lasting and ongoing conflicts. One of these conflicts is between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the current stage of which has continued for 25 years without any prospect of a settlement in the near future. For a better understanding of this conflict it is necessary to go back to 1918 and 1919, which witnessed the emergence of the first Azerbaijan and Armenian Republics. The article examines and assesses the ethnic, historical, economic, geographical and security arguments submitted by the Armenian government to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 to substantiate its vision of territorial delimitation between Armenia and Azerbaijan regarding Garabagh. The article argues that Armenian nationalism was ethnic nationalism and that the Armenian government constructed politically motivated arguments to substantiate its claims to Garabagh, which were part of its nationalist aim of constructing an Armenian ‘ethno-nation’ in the area from the Mediterranean to Garabagh.     

The Business of Peace: Raiding and Peace Work along the Kenya-Uganda Border (Part II)

Peace work is big business along the Kenya–Uganda border.Each year, new groups are created thanks to the generosity ofmajor donors while others disappear due to corruption and mismanagement.This cycle has continued for decades and, despite an absenceof tangible results, millions of dollars continue to flow intothe bank accounts of peace groups in the North Rift. As thefirst part of this article suggests, the focus on the so-called‘root causes’ of violence may well be responsiblefor the dismal performance of the peace industry. However, thebehaviour of peace NGOs in the field has been appalling. Peacemeetings are often only held so NGOs can display an engagementwith the conflict, despite the dangers created by such events.Other groups are dominated by politicians who use money earmarkedfor peace work to fund their political ambitions. Better monitoringis the obvious solution, but local groups have been able toavoid this by exaggerating the security risks of visiting theregion. Others argue that offloading peace work responsibilitiesto CBOs might lead to better results, but in the highly ethnicizedNorth Rift smaller groups are rarely able to transcend theirlocal roots. This article concludes that the peace industryis deeply flawed, and requires a complete overhaul in orderto have a beneficial impact on the region.     

The Business of Peace: Raiding and Peace Work Along the Kenya Uganda Border (Part I)

Peace-building NGOs are frequently at work along the Kenya–Ugandaborder. But in this desolate region, results have been extremelysparse. This article contends that this is due to the inadequaciesof contemporary understandings of cattle raiding. Most NGOsand many academics ascribe cattle raids to a familiar arrayof factors such as resource scarcity, small arms proliferation,and generational conflict. While each issue is obviously ofsome relevance, such explanations are too cumbersome to reallyenhance our knowledge of cattle raiding. This article proposesa new approach to the problem by utilizing popular conceptionsof ethnicity and criminal responsibility for raids. Given thatmost major raids originally stem from seemingly insignificantthefts, the process of retaliation is seen as crucial to understandingwhy violence escalates in certain situations and defuses inothers. The failure of NGOs engaged in peace work to addressthis important issue in a meaningful way is the reason theyhave failed to achieve much success along the Kenya–Ugandaborder. This is in turn responsible for the widespread cynicismand corruption that has crept into their work, and is the subjectof the second part of this article. The author would like to acknowledge the Killam Trust, the SocialSciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and DalhousieUniversity for their generous support during the writing ofthis article. Special thanks are owed to Andrew Juma, MilcahAchola, Rachel Andiama, Kelly-Jo Bahry, Rob Blunt, MichelleBourbonniere, Kim de Vries, Gary Kynoch, Mark Longole, GabrielleLynch, Friederike Mieth, and Danielle Walters, as well as twoanonymous reviewers.     

Introduction: The Territory of Identity and Remembrance in Okinawa

In the wake of the 1997 regional economic crisis, but before 11 September 2001, many Southeast Asian governments were besieged by formidable challenges to their legitimacy These challenges have been arguably mitigated by the political capital provided by the September 11 event as many regional governments have joined forces with the United States in its “war against terror.” These governments have uncovered the existence of regional terrorist organizations, such as Jemaah Islamiah, with alleged links to the al-Qaida network. With the ostensible routing of the al-Qaida network in Afghanistan, Southeast Asia has been postulated as the new front line and base for Islamic militants. While international forces have undoubtedly contributed to the rise of political and militant Islam in Southeast Asia, this article will highlight the importance of localized sociopolitical and economic sources of Muslim grievance and the vexed issue of authoritarian governance. It is imperative that these issues be seriously addressed if the ideological appeal of radical and militant Islamists is to be effectively mitigated.     

日本修改和平宪法问题

近几年来 ,随着日本军事力量的不断增强 ,日本国内又出现了新一轮的修宪浪潮。日本右翼势力、政界、普通民众的推动以及国际势力的鼓励是促成日本修改宪法的几个重要因素。本文着重从这几个方面来分析日本修改宪法的可能性。     

Sadat Peace Lecture: Negotiating Hard Cases

Senator Mitchell is a former member (D-ME) and majority leader of the U.S. Senate. The following is the text of his lecture sponsored by the Sadat Chair for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland on June 13, 2001. (The text of the "Mitchell Report" is reprinted in this journal.)     

Symposium: Reexamining The Arab-Israeli Peace Process

The following is an edited version of the proceedings of a symposium sponsored by the Middle East Policy Council on March 9, 1995, in the Capitol Building in Washington, DC. Former Senator George McGovern, president of the Middle East Policy Council, introduced the panel. The organizer and moderator was Thomas R. Mattair, the council'S director of research and policy analysis.