Beyond quake, Japan's political aftershocks - Japan's unprecedented "triple disaster" on March 11, 2011 – a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor meltdowns – presented the government with its largest crisis since the end of World War II: issues with public confidence, difficult decisions with its economy, and a leadership problem with a serious disconnect between public needs and the national government's responsiveness - Council on Foreign Relations (2012/03/08)
Japan: Get ready for a rightward shift - the exploitation of nationalism by politicians is not unique to Japan, or for that matter, to Asia; it was Samuel Johnson in 18th century England who famously remarked that "patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel" - CNN (2012/09/03)
Japan's action on U.S. beef encouraging - U.S. senator - Japan, which was once the largest importer of U.S. beef, and a number of other countries banned imports from the United States in 2003 when bovine spongiform encephalopathy was first discovered in the U.S. cattle herd - Reuters (2012/09/05)
Japan's crisis of democracy - the Democratic Party of Japan's rise to power in 2009 promised a new day, breaking the old ruling Liberal Democratic Party's five-decade near stranglehold on Tokyo yet the country is now headed for a new era of political turbulence, party splits and realignments, and economic uncertainty - Wall Street Journal (2012/09/11)
Japan finds another gap in its disaster readiness - Mount Fuji - no plan in place to deal with a disaster in which an earthquake sparks a volcanic eruption at the country's most famous landmark; the volcano is active (and has been silent since 1707) but if an eruption was to occur it would potentially threaten a vast area including Tokyo, 100 km (62 miles) away - Chicago Tribune (2012/09/15)
Former Japan PM (2009-2010) Yukio Hatoyama: Free trade can lift Japan and Europe - free-trade talks are never easy; but like in Count Coudenhove-Kalergi words: "All great historical ideas started as a utopian dream and ended with reality. Whether a particular idea remains as a utopian dream or becomes a reality depends on the number of people who believe in the ideal and their ability to act upon it" - Wall Street Journal (2012/10/18)
Conservatism in Japan - a resounding landslide victory for conservatives in a vote driven by economic anxiety - Boston Globe (2013/01/30)
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For those you who don't have time
to read all our news excerpts about the Asian island
disputes (links above), you may find the following video,
"The economic impact of a war between Japan and China",
very enlightening.
Oh, please do not get me wrong.
This new section is not about computers, electronics or
any engineering stuff, but rather I am currently constructing
a new corpus based on Spectrum, the monthly publication
from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers USA,
from July 2007 to date. Having been a member for
over 20 years since 1992, I am always fascinated by
some of the terms scientists use when they talk about or
envision their new inventions or methodologies. How many of
them eventually come into practice? Could there be
some insights we could possibly derive, from
the linguistics perspective?
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Click here to read my full disclaimer
• 
12:12pm
Hongkong Time
Others •
BY AREA OF INTEREST 
I am honored
to have obtained Professor Sidney Gluck's (right) permission
to allow me to repost here some of his work and interview
related to China and socialism.
Professor Gluck is professor emertius at the New School University in New York.
A classical Marxist, Gluck has been studying China for 60 years
in history and modern development. He has lectured all over
the U.S. and still welcomes engagement at the age of 94 – photo © Sandi Bachom
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