A Sustainable Human Development Strategy in Somaliland

Have you ever heard of a college called Tokyo international University in Somaliland? This is an example of unique international assistance to a less economically developed country. 

Whenever a developed country supports less economically developed one, it usually provides infrastructure, shelters and primary education. However, the 25 year-old Japanese guy, who initiated the establishment of this university, had a different point of view. He concerned particularly with the importance of human developement. His idea was that young people with graduate degrees would be entrepreneurs and generate job opportunities for those with less educational qualifications. His innovative idea came as the establishment of Tokyo International University in Somaliland in which there was no graduate schools.

I find this strategy very innovative and effective. Development in infrastructure and supply of humanitarian aids are not sustainable as a country becomes more dependent on these supports. In the end, people within a country have to support themselves, which requires a high level of education and skills. But primary education is not enough. It is a tertiary and further education that makes leaders of a country. Therefore, in terms of sustainability, I think establishment of Tokyo International University is long-living and will initiate the human development in Somaliland.

We Need Lenses to Understand the Past

           I recently found out that "History" in a textbook could not tell everything. For example, my dad told me his personal experience when he was one of the Vietnamese boat people. His "history" is enormous that I always realize how much I can be proud of myself being his son.

            However, a history textbook summarizes my dad's history with only one sentence. It only says ,"After the Vietnam War, there were many refugees from Saigon called "Boat People", who immigrated to other countries.". This concise but superficial sentence does not give any insight about how these people suffered from the situation.

            I think we need both "History in a textbook" and "Personal History" whenever we try to understand the past. History in a textbook tells the overview of a situation; personal history tells a more focused and emotional response to a situation. Therefore, I think we always need different lenses to focus on different objects: a country, society, community or a person. 

Can North Korea be the Next?

            Recently, the United States and Cuba started working to re-establish their diplomatic relations. It seems that this initiative leads to looser economic sanctions and more foreign investment in Cuba.

            When I was looking at this news, I was thinking of Japan and North Korea. North Korea abducted several Japanese people over the decades. Some of them already died and some of them may be alive. We don`t know.

            If North Korea discharges these Japanese people, Japan can start re-establishing its diplomacy with North Korea. North Korea is economically, politically and socially isolated. Thus, it is crucial for North Korea to establish relations with neighboring countries other than China. I think it will take more than a decade to loosen the tensions between Japan and North Korea, but there has to be a different approach which both of countries should take.

Is the Japanese Politics really Effective?

Japan's snap election ended with the Liberal Democratic Party's landslide victory. The coalition exceeds 2/3 of seats in the Parliament, meaning the Liberal Democratic Party and other small parties can pass a legislation without worries. Prime Minister Abe regards the result of election as "a message from our citizens that Abe's Economics should keep going forward".

Even though I personally like Abe's Economics, I am not very sure about whether politics in Japan effectively works. Unlike the US, Japan has only one powerful party(Liberal Democratic Party). However, this does not mean the party has absolute supports from citizens, but means "There is no other party that citizens want to vote for."

Sometimes this situation can be effective in that many legislations are passed without complexities and disagreements. However, it means there is no competition among political parties, indicating Liberal Democratic Party might be reluctant to implement more thoughtful and effective policies.

Is Snap General Election Always Waste of Tax?

              Mr.Abe, the prime minister of Japan, called the snap general election several weeks ago because the GDP of Japan in recent months was lower than expected and the cabinet wanted to ensure the voice of citizens.

              I hear lots of complaints about this call. These opponents claim that snap general election will cost so much tax expenditure which Japan can use for other social benefits and that all the ongoing bills have to be thrown away, which will be time-consuming.

              Nevertheless, I still promote the snap general election. Even though it takes time and money, reflecting citizens' opinions is more important than anything else. There have been many controversial issues in Japan such as whether increasing VAT or not, so why do not we give our own voice and votes? I think this is the time when we can take advantage of democracy.

A National Anthem and its Meaning

Today, my younger brother talked about the Vietnamese national anthem. While discussing it, I found the difference between Japanese and Vietnamese anthem.

The hidden meaning in the Japanese national anthem is "to live longer". I find this theme very interesting because the government wants to emphasize longer life during the time of imperialism.

In contrast, the theme in the Vietnamese national anthem is quite obvious. The song starts with "Soldiers of Vietnam. March Onward.". Which clearly indicates military strength of Vietnam. Even though it refers to the country and its people as a whole, military theme is definitely included in this anthem.

If you look for your country's anthem, you may find the history of your country!

An Issue Looks Different Depending on How You Look at.

              There is a gap in understanding history between Japan and Korea. The Korean government asks the Japanese government for compensation because of comfort women for Japanese military during Second World War. The Japanese government recognizes the issue as already solved by The Treaty on Basic Relations.

              The US government, often acting as arbitrator between Korea and Japan,  regards sex slaves as unethical actions and a country needs to compensate for its shameful history. I would not get into whether Japan should compensate or not, but explain how this issue looks different.

              Firstly, during the Vietnam War, many Korean troops raped local Vietnamese women, who eventually gave births. The Korean government does not compensate for this sexual violation as it was a part of the war in which many problems happen.

              Secondly, the US raped thousands of women in Japan immediately after controlling over Japan in the Second World War . Did the US government compensate for this incident?
              Of course, Japan did the same thing in more violent ways, but I guess you now see the issue of comfort women differently. I often think this is why we cannot be one-sided while judging which one is right or wrong. Though the government needs to seek benefits of its own citizens, it also has to consider other sides and compromise to some extent.

Rethink the History of my Country.

In my Japanese Literature class, we are reading a book called "The 20th Century For Me" written by Mr.Kato Shuichi. While reading this book, I often rethink the history of Japan in the 20th century.

The first thing I came across was Japan's rapid economic developement in post-world war. There must have been many factors which contributed to its development, but the book pointed out two factors, one of which was the Korean War.

Demand for many military supplies was dramatically increasing as Korean War started. As a result, the geographically closest country (Japan) prospered as it sold many military as well as food supplies to the US army.

Even though I am Japanese and of course stay on the Japanese side when a political issue occurs between Japan and Korea, I find this event very ironic. From 1910 to 1945, Korea was a part of Japan (Japan does not officially regard this as colonization, but I assume it was.) ,which generated many slaves in Korea. 5 years after its independence from Japan, Korea fell into a war; Japan started being economically developed because of its neighbour's war.

An Unbelievable Relationship Between Religion and Economics

Have you ever heard of a book called Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism? The lecture on the TV introduced this book and explained a central idea of the book in brief.

Overall, the book explains a relationship between religion and economics, more specifically between protestant and capitalism. The book says those who had economic prosperity in Germany were Protestant, particularly Clavinists.

Calvinists believe that God is so powerful that it determines their destiny regardless of their actions in their lives. Thus, because Calvin wanted to prove that they were born to be good and thus could go to heaven after their deaths, they worked so hard. This idea highly motivated Calvin to pursue as much wealth as possible and contributed the foundation of capitalism.

I was completely fascinated by this idea because I had never thought of  a relationship between religion and capitalism. If I have a free time (probably not till the graduation), I really want to read this book and stimulate my curiosity.

How can the US Get out from an Endless Loop

The US government announced that it would double the non-combat troops in Iraq to train Iraqi army, transport humanitarian aids and so on.

When I saw this news, I thought the US might start being in an endless loop. Even though the Iraqi government tries to be independent from the US in the near future, the IS gains greater military force at the same time. As a result, by the time the US leaves the Iraq, the IS can be ready for the anti-government attack.

In order to prevent this worst scenario from actually happening, the US and other European countries have to ensure that Iraqi government can control over its entire country by itself(providing more military equipment might be one of the options.), which probably takes several years to accomplish.

Japanese Views on Religion

I did not think much about Japanese views on religion, but as studying at an international school, I often think religions in Japan are very ambiguous.

We celebrate Christmas, listen Joyanokane(bell-ringing out the old year) and pray at shrines for our own success. Ironically, we sometimes discard people who follow unknown religions.

I know some multi-cultural countries such as the US have many religions. However, Japan mingles several religions and forms its own social life even though its population is very homogeneous.

So what do we believe in?

Laos`s Environmentally Sustainable Development

Whenever a country is economically developing, it always neglects environmental consequences. This is, of course, how Japan has developed as well.However, as the environmental issue is raised, some developing countries are hesitant to exploit their natural resources.

As the one of the least economically developed countries in South East Asia, Laos still shows rapid economic growth in a very sustainable way. Laos has about huge 20 hydroelectric dams; the abundant electricity supply will be a back born of the economy in South East Asia.

Laos harnesses 300,000 Kilowatts of electricity per year even though the domestic demand reaches only around 70,000 KWs. Therefore, the extra resource will be exported, solving the lack of electricity in those importing countries.

Laos is very different from many developing countries. Hydroelectric dams help Laos develop itself very sustainably and appropriately, which other countries have to follow.

Aids and Autonomy

From the lecture of Mr.Ikegami about "Global Citizens", Mr.Ikegami gave one example which was a Japanese NGO worker in Cambodia.

The worker held a meeting at a village in Cambodia and asked one question. "What is the most necessary in this village?" he said, so the people in the village discussed and worked out that a school would be the most necessary.

However, the Japanese worker did not build a school, which greatly disappointed people in the village. Because the people could not wait for the useless Japanese worker, they built and maintained a school by themselves.

The disadvantage of aids is that people tend to heavily rely on them; people cannot be independent from them forever. Thus, what the Japanese worker purposely did actually encouraged the people to be independent from the aids.

I found this person very intelligent, and if you again think of sustainable human development, this strategy worked well in a very innovative way.

Strong Connection between the EU and Azerbajian

Several days ago, I watched a TV program about Azerbaijan. Many of you may not have heard of the country, but it is a country located between Asia and Europe.

The country draws many attentions from developed countries as it has abundant natural resources. Not many people in general knew that Azerbaijan will act an alternative country for Ukraine.

Since the supply of natural gas is limited from Ukraine, the EU seeks alternative resource. Azerbaijan, already having a pipeline to Turkey, will extend its pipeline into European countries such as Italy.

As a result, the political gap between Russia and the EU will be much greater; however, the EU itself does not have to rely on natural gas from Ukraine and Russia, which will stabilize its energy supply in the EU.

Let's Bring an Issue to International Court of Justice

Japan and Korea have a sovereign issue over Takeshima/Dokdo. Last night, I watched a promotional video of Dokdo island provided by the Foreign Ministry of Korea. The video basically strengthens Korean claims and invalidates Japanese claims.

I would not say Takeshima/Dokdo is a Japanese island because arguments from both countries are logical and thus convincing. However, Korea should not take over its island without any negotiations with Japan.

So, why don't we bring this issue to the International Court of Justice at which none of bias is allowed? Although Japan sent requests to Korea to make a judgement at the court, Korea denied all the requests for some reasons.

Let's finish this issue at the International Court of Justice and move on to our bright future. We do not want to see endless arguments anymore.

Perceptions to an Enemy in the World War?

People around me are often surprised when I say Japan does not hate the US because of the World War Ⅱ.

Yes, there are some elderlies who detest the US, but most of them do not. If people ask me "but the US bombed Japan with atomic bombs in the World War Ⅱ ", I would say "It was an awful event, but there was no other way to stop the war".(I think most of my Japanese friends would answer like this as well)

However, many Korean people hate Japan so much mostly because Japan colonized the country in the 20th century.

So what is the difference between Japan not hating the US and Korea hating Japan? Yes, the colonization of Korea was much more awful and much longer period of time than two atomic bombs thrwon in Japan. However, I personally think the biggest reason is that Korea has been an independent country for thousands of years; it has its strong identity as being "Korean". Therefore, I would say it was almost loss of their own identities when Japan colonized the country.

(I often realize this difference when I see Korean football and baseball national teams. Players feel greater responsibility for being representatives of Korea rather than for being players, which I think shows its patriotic minds.)

Absolute Power but Representation of a Country

There is a huge movement in Hong Kong for democratic elections.

The protest for a democracy reminds me of a theory I read in my free time.
In my free time, I try to read "A Book of Politics" which I introduced in a previous post and one of the theories said "A government should have an absolute authority over a nation but has to represent all the aspects of all people in a nation".

I find this theory very interesting because I thought absolute power and representation of all citizens seemed extremely opposite (they actually are in reality), but it exists as an ideal political leadership.

Of course, it is nearly impossible to reflect everyone's opinions to form a national government; however, at least a government, especially one having absolute control over citizens, should aim to reflect what its citizens think.

Can we Look Around to See How Rich are we?

Three years ago, Japan had a huge earthquake in Tohoku region, which brought catastrophe to its people and economy.

Some politicians, especially those at the left wings, claim that the recovery from the earthquake is poorly conducted by right wing politicians who have control over the Japanese parliament.

I will not say Japan did not face severe consequences from this earthquake, but I really want Japanese people to look outside their own country.

Even though their houses were destroyed by the tsunami, they still receive temporary houses which are way better than normal houses I see here in Hanoi.

Since I was not involved in this earthquake, I cannot say how stressful and mournful it is to lose my own houses; however, I am pretty sure Japanese people will completely realize how prosperous our country is when they look outside their country.

General Assembly opened 69th session

General Assembly recently held a 69th sessioin at which world leaders discussed many world issues such as climate change, Ebola, IS and so on.

I am so impressed by many of the MDGs will be expected to meet their initial goals. However, according to some articles, inequalities, lack of sanitation and AIDS&Malaria have still remained problems.

On the other side, Obama gave an impressive speech about how the US initiated actions for the greater use of renewable resources. Even though the US increases the production of shale gas, I am pretty sure Obama took his leadership to enhance renewable energy productions.

On the other side, many countries have started to involve in intervening Syria and Iraq; I am worried the greater involvement of many countries will lead to long-term conflict with ISIS.

I just threw up several topics, but it should be worthwhile to check out how world leaders give opinions on many world issues which we face right now.

Geopolitics

Everyweek, I watch 30mins TV program called "Ikegami Akira's Economic Lecture". Several days ago, the topic of the lecture was "Geopolitics"

I already knew what geopolitics was from my geography class, but Mr.Ikegami's lecture was even more fascinating.

The story goes on like this...
1-The US relies less on supply of oil from the Middle East due to its increased supply of shale gas.
2-Thus, there is a discussion coming as "Do Americans need to protect Persian Gulf? They can hand over the job to China."
At the same time....
3-There has been increasingly high tensions between Russia and EU, so the supply of natural gas is limited.
4-Instead, EU could import oil from the Middle East.
5-Russia tries to export natural gas to China and Japan(Pipeline has been already constructed between China and Russia)

It is very interesting that the increased supply of shale gas in one country affects many countries!

Media's Manipulation

There has been a movement in Scotland to be independent from the United Kingdom. Prime Minister of the UK asserted that he would follow the result of the vote which will come up next week.

The Japanese TV program said only 10 % of politicians in parliament represent Scottish; thus, Scotland's opinions have been dismissed. As soon as I hear this news, I thought the current movement was understandable.

However, I checked out how much the population of Scotland took up in the entire UK. The population of Scotland was actually only 8%, which indicates that the ratio of Scottish politicians in the British Parliament is almost proportional to that of the Scottish population in the UK.

I do not why the Japanese TV program encourages Japanese people to agree with the Scottish independence, but it is always better to check out the facts behind the news.

American Intervention to Iraq

Yesterday, I had a MUN CCP at my high school. When I brought the topic about current humanitarian interventions to Iraq by the US, everyone said "the US is a liar." or "Obama never keeps a promise".

I found their comments on this topic very biased. Yes, the US brings its army to Iraq, but what it does is actually to push ISIS outside Iraq and to get back an oil supply in NE Iraq.

From knowing the US in more details, I think Obama does try to bring a peace to Iraq by helping to unite several ethnic groups in a political regime.

I am so excited to know how my friends will change their perspectives next week after I talk about the positive aspects of the intervention.

Immigration

Recently President Obama announced that he would postpone the immigration reform.

Immigration is one of the most controversial issues. It can be both right and wrong whether a country allows large immigrants or not. For example, because of a decline in birth rates, Japan is considering to accept a large number of foreigners who can potentially work, and thereby support its economy.

However, at the same time, there might be some people who just want to issue Japanese passports, retire their current jobs in Japan and receive welfare public assistance, which is often given to extremely poor citizens.(which is actually happening nowadays)

Whether welcoming international immigrants really depends on how much a country will benefit from these immigrants. If the economic benefit from immigrant workers outweighs the cost of illegal welfare public assistance, Japan had better issue more passports to those foreigners.

China and Russia Launch Gas Pipeline

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29011092

Not only European countries but also Japan put severe economic sanctions on Russia, so the Russian government and Chinese government(new importer) agreed on construction of new pipelines from Russia to China.

In history, if countries had a diplomatic issue, they would take out weapons and declare a war. However, I found out that the diplomatic strategy has changed. Now a nation is more likely to take economic sanctions before taking weapons; sanctions have been more effective since a country is economically more dependent on the other.

But in this situation, Russia mitigates its implications of economic sanctions by exporting natural gas to a new buyer(China). What would happen if economic sanctions were no longer effective?

National Holiday in Vietnam.

Today is the National Holiday of Vietnam, the day when Vietnam declared an independence from French colonization. Today in Hanoi is much quieter than normal days probably because everyone is spending time with her or his family at home.

I am quite proud of Vietnam when it comes to the topic of war. Vietnam protected its nation from France, China and the US, all of which had (even now) strong militaries. Not only this fact, but also the fact that Vietnam did not ask these nations for compensation is impressive.

Unlike Japan, Vietnam only pursued its independence and democracy. Even now, Vietnam is fighting against China over the territory of South China Sea. But today, let's just celebrate the independence of my another mother country. :)

Innovation!!!!

http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_pritchard_invents_a_water_filter#t-16649

This is the old news, but I just found out from my geography class.
I always thought that clean water had to come from big filtering machines, which many people in LEDCs cannot afford to implement. Even when the clean water is filtered, it has to be packed and transported to the place where people need.

Instead of taking so much money and time on man-made water, why cannot we just have this portable and innovative water bottles? I know water is used not only for drinking, but I think this bottle is one of the most innovative products which will act as a pioneer to improve quality of life.

The World Bank in the Loess Plateau, China

Today, I learned the World Bank's strategy to solve the severe land degradation in the Loess Plateau, China.

In short, what this organization has done was to bring greens back to the desert. The transformation from desert to green land was just impressive.

I often talk about international peace in this blog, but I realized that unsustainable environment should be also the big issue which human face today.

We should check out more about environmental issues!

What is Wrong with Having Vacations?

This is a coincidence,but there is nothing to complain about the US president and the Japanese Prime Minister.

A few days ago, Hiroshima had a huge landslide in which some citizens are still  missing. However, the critic's focus on this incident was that the Prime Minister of Japan, Mr.Abe, was playing golf on his vacation when the landslide just occurred.

On the contrary, Mr.Obama has a similar situation in which some people criticize him for playing golf after he showed heartbroken feeling in his speech about the execusion of an American journalist.

In my opinion, we are all humans and need a rest. Of course, they are the leaders of big nations and need to be responsive to any crisis, but it does not mean they cannot have vacations during their presidencies.

End of the World War and Japan's Responsibility

For Japanese people, 15th of August is when our emperor announced the Japan's defeat in the World War Second.

When this day comes, I always think how devastatingly Japan took over its neighbouring countries. I can admit that Japan was wrong even though it was the time of the World War.

However, nowadays, it does not mean we can always look back and regret what our ancestors did;because we are the ones who invaded the countries and the only one who was bombed by nuclear bombs, we should know what peace is supposed to be and how we can bring a peace for the present and even future generations.

We cannot change history, but I believe we can change the present and the future, depending on how we act.

As a country which experienced the severe wars, I think Japan can or should take further actions to contribute to the world security.

Summer Books!

Although I did not have enough time to engage in something so new in this summer break(had many preparatory works for the senior year), I started reading some interesting books.

The first book is called "Ikegami Akira's World Religion" written obviously by Mr.Ikegami Akira, my favorite Japanese journalist and professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. This book talks the fundamental knowledge regarding influential world religions:Islam, Christiananity and Judaism.

What encouraged me to learn about religion was that many current affairs including the conflict between Israel and Gaza involves religion; thus I realized that religion plays large parts in international affairs, which suggests having some knowledge will be important!

The second book I read is called "The Politics Book" written by an English professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science. This book also talks about fundamental knowledge of politics. 

What encouraged me to read this was that I like reading news articles, especially those about international politics, so I thought having some background knowledge will enhance my understanding of current political affairs.

I have not finished these books yet and will not probably finish within year since I will be busy with my school works. However, I will try to learn new things just piece by piece.

Finally, Israel Left from Gaza Strip.

I assume most of people already know that Israel army left from Gaza strip, and the number of reported deaths has reached almost 2000.

Overall, I find this incident quite ridiculous and immoral because Israel attacked anywhere war-related equipments were potentially hidden.(a school established by the UN)

More noticeably, ceasefires were always temporal even though the UN strongly condemned what Israel was doing; thus, I find the UN's negotiations for a halt ineffective. Eventually, Israel did not stop until it achieved its initial goal.

From this attack, I often wonder what the best way to resolve any wars is. Mr.Ikegami, a Japanese journalist, said war is something that people can easily get into and cannot easily get out, with which I totally agree. Perhaps, the best way is to prevent a war rather than to stop. Then how do we prevent a war?

Japan took a side of the US and the EU

After the Malaysian airplane crash, the US and the EU took further economic sanctions on Russia. As a result, Russia now has started to switch the direction from Europe to some Asian countries, especially China and Japan.

In order to export its products to Asia, Putin was supposed to visit Japan this autumn; however, the Japanese government announced today that it will carry out economic sanctions on Russia and Ukraine, which makes unclear whether Putin will really visit or not.

In my opinion, there is no doubt that Russia will either have better relations with China or suffer from the severe sanctions imposed by the Western countries. And I do think that Japan took the better choice:going against Russia, but at the same time, the Japanese government has to be aware that it should not impose too restrictive penalties to Russia.

Japan imports abundant natural gas from Russia and still has territory issues of islands with the country. Therefore, in my opinion, keeping as much neutral  position between Russia and the Western countries as possible will be the primary task for Japan.

Free Hugs for Korea-Japan Peace

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXqWJNOAX8M

     Japan and Korea have had conflicts regarding the understanding of our history. I can see, even living in Vietnam, that diplomacy between Korea and Japan is getting worse even though people in general do not know each other in persons.

         While thiking this, I found this video whose link is attached above this post. His courage should be appreciated by all, regardless where you are from. This video reminded me of importance of "real friendships" and of possibility that "WE" can overcome the hatred that has been created over the centuries.

         Perhaps, his actions might not be as influential as diplomatic actions, but I believe that these small pieces will add up to a magnificent relationship, which our governments could not establish for a long time.

Changes in Brand Images of Fast Food Restaurants in Developing Countries.

Nowadays, I see many fast food restaurants in Hanoi such as Burger King and Baskin Robbins. For people like me from developed countries, a fast food restaurant has been a business which provides cheap and quick food.

However, as living in Vietnam, I can see that that their brand images have changed here. Each burger costs about 5 USD at the Burger King in Vietnam, which seems same price for most of the Burger King restaurants in Japan. However, what would happen if people here can buy great street food with 2 USD? This is what is exactly happening here in Vietnam.

Fast food restaurants such as Burger King have started to expand their chains throughout the world;however, they are no longer recognized as cheap restaurants in such developing countries where people get cheper food easily. Instead, they are more recognized as expensive Western restaurants.

Brand is a business`s valuable asset, which requires long time to be built up;therefore those fast food businesses need more time and efforts if they want to keep their original brand images:cheap and quick restaurants.

Me and a Homeless Guy in Barcelona

For most of Western countries, seeing homeless people is not rare;however, it is uncommon in Japan and Vietnam, in which I have lived.

So giving something to those people on streets is somehow scary for most of us in my country,but I have realized that sharing our wealth to those without anything is never unethical.

My family and I went to Barcelona during this summer break and I saw many street people begging for a penny.

Today, I accidentally kicked the homeless person's cup filled with with a few coins. So I put them back and added some coins from my wallet as a means of the apology.

The homeless guy gave a smile to me, shook my hand, and said "Gracias!". At that moment, I felt as if I did a something extremely benefitial for him.

I used to have some offensive perspectives on those without proper home, but I have realized that helping someone even a little bit is a huge benefit to them.

The UN Has Started the Action

Israel strikes hit Gaza security HQ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28281880

In a previous post, I talked about the UN's failure in the Rwandan Genocide; these days, Israel's attack toward the Hama militants in Gaza has been intensified.

Yesterday, the Israel strikes hit Gaza security HQ. Even though the Israel tends to attack the Hama militants, over 70 % of the victims are innocent civilians.

Now the UN has started to call for a ceasefire. Needless to say, I do hope the UN's action for a ceasefire will contribute the half of the intensity between Gaza and Israel.

However, I do sometimes wonder whether Israel will listen to the UN's suggestion. Israel, as we know, has some historical backgrounds in which it ignored the UN such as sovereignty of Jerusalem.

So, it will be interesting to see how the UN will react to those countries which ignore its requests.

Reactions to the Japanese Government's Decision to Allow Selectively Collective-Self Defence.

NYTimes: Japanese Foreign Minister Speaks Out Against Chinese Newspaper Graphic http://nyti.ms/1rMcElA

Because I think the newspaper has freedom to release its expressions, I do not criticize the picture uploaded to this article.

However, what I do criticize is some people's reactions to the collective-self defence in Japan. Once hearing Mr.Abe's announcement,  some anti-government Japanese, China and Korea assume that Japan will have a war in near future.

It seems like they could not hear the term"selectively" even though the Prime Minister emphasized. How could "selectively collective self-defence" directly lead to a war?

To me, their reactions sound like a country thinks to attack Japan or the US;therefore, that country disagrees with the idea in which both of Japan and the US will give a military response, as a means of collective self-defence, all of which are very unlikey to happen.

It is too idealistic that having no military prevents a war. Like Switzerland, a country should have military or something(to some extent) that acts as a deterrent to a war.

Is Democracy Always a Right Way to Make a Decision? The United Nations and the Rwandan Genocide

Two days ago, I finished my extended essay regarding the UN's
peacekeeping operations in the Rwandan Genocide.

As most of us know, the UN literally failed to halt this atrocity.
Many factors cause the failure;one of them was democracy in the UN.

In modern politics, democracy is considered the best way to decide something; however, is it really true in a decision making that requires a quick action?
This dillemna exactly happened in the Rwandan Genocide.

The genocide lasted only 4 months, in which 800,000 people became victims.
In such short term period, the UN would not have enough time to discuss every single step with the Member States.

Even the United States, traditionally following the concept of decentralization, followed more autocratic styles in World War ll which required the government to give immediate actions.

In my opinion, even in the world of politics, democracy is not always an apprpopriate way to decide something. The most important thing is that we have to apply the most effective leadership style to achieve the goal- which was to halt the genocide in the UN's case.

Piracy in Somalia and Dubai＝what's the next?

The map above shows the area where piracy was active around Somalia from 2005 to 2010.Obviously, the piracy descouraged many countries to transport their products around that area.

What about from Dubai's perspective?
If you hear a word "Dubai", you will probably imagine the huge fancy city with many skyscrapers. However, the Dubai's rapid development is initially attributed to its great location, where Dubai can be a middleperson between Europe and Asia.

Thus, active piracy around Somalia decreases the demand for Dubai's ports, which would be a disadvantage for Dubai, Europe and Asia.

Now, the piracy is dramatically suppressed by African and Middle East countries.

In last April at Counter-Piracy Conference, the world leaders emphasized the significance of Somalia's reconstruction as a country.

Military to Keep the Peace

Yesterday, Mr.Obama annouceed that the government would send about 300 military advisers to Iraq in order to help the quell its raising insurgency and secure the U.S. embassy.

I can see that some media and political parties criticize Mr.Obama's decision since he was the one who said to finish its intervention in Iraq.

In my opinion, however, flexibility in decision makings is necessary. Though Mr.Obama promised to leave Iraq, the US still has to act as the most powerful peacekeeper in the world.

Therefore, I assume he was right that he made the decision that tries to adopt to the changing situation.

Will Mr.Obama's Decision be Successful?

I know it is a bit old topic but last month Mr.Obama announced that by the end of 2014 the U.S. would reduce its troops in Afghanistan to less than 10.000.

His decision to reduce the troops is quite understandable since situation in Afghanistan has been bogged down. Especially for Mr.Obama who has been acclaimed for his commitment to the world security, keeping thounsands of troops in Afghanistan may sound contradictory.

In my opinion, I am concerned about the further terrorism in MIddle East as the U.S. will leave the place where peace is yet ensured. Although we have had the great number of victims in this war, I clearly notice that the U.S. has been taking the responsibility for the peacekeeping measures in Middle East and wonder who will take the responsibility instead of the U.S.

So the point is "Will Mr.Obama's Decision turn out well? or Lead to More Catastrophic Situations in Middle East?"

To me, the latter one is more likely.

Personal Experience in Greece

It seems like demonstrations in Greece are not still alleviated.
I just saw a news article about demonstrations in Greece, that came from depressed state of its economy.

When I stayed in Greece during the Chinese new year, I encountered the demonstration for the first time in my life. The sprays thrown by the demonstraters had hurt my eyes so that I got very scared.

And it is still sad that the demonstrations like what I saw are still going in the beautiful country. Hope there will not be any extreme actions going on.

What can I do for the Future of Korea and Japan?

Yesterday, I had a talk with my Korean friend about history of Japan and Korea.

From that talk, I learned how bad the relation between Korea and Japan has been over the years. However, at my school, Korean and Japanese have similar natures so that they are often good friends and I love Korea.

Though there are still many people who hate each other, what I can do is just to spread a story through my Japanese friends that "Korean and Japanese can be good friends. They are not bad people as you guys think." .

Many countries have favourable and unfavorable countries. But we do not know unless we actually get direct contact with those people.

I hope Korea and Japan will have the best friendship in the future!!

Atomic Bombs in Japan; Atrocities? or Nuclear Deterrents?

Of course, I cannot say that these atomic bombs in Japan were right actions since they made too many victims. However, if I talk about nuclear deterrents, the answer might be different.

Because of these bombs, many countries understood how devastating these atomic bombs were. Therefore, even though there were high possibilities of nuclear wars in the time of Cold War, the US and the Soviet Union could not determine to take these actions because they knew how awful these bombs were!

I know a quote "We Learn From History". As it says, we learned the destructive consequences from these atomic bombs in Japan. Can these atrocities turn out to be "nuclear deterrents" and perhaps "right actions for future generations" ?

US Military Bases in Japan:Remove or Stay?

http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/japan/anti-war-protesters-start-3-day-march-to-okinawa-military-bases-1.283375


Yes, there are some protesters from all the places of Japan to be against the existence of the American military bases in Okinawa.

However, in my opinion, our country needs the US army bases in Okinawa to protect not only Japan but other East Asian countries.

There is a fact that China aggressively took over the Phillipine island right after the US removed its army base from there. Surprisingly, China has been insisting that Okinawa should be a part of China, which tells us clearly why we need the powerful American bases in Okinawa.

Everything in the world has both positive and negative sides. That is why we need to evaluate every case and decide which option is more benefitial for ourselves.
In this case, the options are:
-Removing the American military bases to stick to the principal of pacifist
-Allowing the bases to secure the peace of Japan and East Asia.

To me, the latter option is more practical and realistic.

Collective Self-Defence in Japan?

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/collective-self-defense-japans-future-10491


This is a very hard topic to decide which one is right.
Traditionally, many Japanese citizens think not involving in any conflict is the idea of pacifist and that idea can be still right even now.

However, to me, the current situation is too unbalanced becase the US can carry out its collective self-defence for Japan but Japan cannot do it for the US. From that perspective, Japan would be so selfish that it cannot create good relations with the U.S..

I hope the Japanese government will do a right choice to protect ourselves and establish trustworthy relations with the US.

China Has Increased Its Trade Surplus

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27753079

Less imports sound like China produces products by itself within a country and becomes more independent from other countries.

Still, China and other countries must be greatly interdependent each other. How will this tight economic interaction affect other areas such as geography politics?(e.g.China and Vietname)