Newspapers forever This is an age when digital media of all sorts are more and more the predominant news source and their childlike energy, as if pulsating for constant attention, and their unapologetic insouciance, especially for facts and realities, can make newspa..
Stop playing the same old game LOS ANGELES In his recent sprint up to North Korea, former pro basketball star Dennis Rodman may have come across to the world as totally ridiculous in the role of a self-appointed emissary for peninsular peace. But somehow his effort did make s..
Now is the time but China is not the crime LOS ANGELES For the U.S. and Asia, now is the time, if ever there was a time. As President Barack Hussein Obama moved officially into his 2nd term, presumably the historic pivot to Asia in U.S foreign policy will proceed briskly apace. That w..
Third way exit LOS ANGELES Crusty but brilliant Lee Kuan Yew, for decades modern Singapores founding leader, is on record as admitting he is anything but a religious believer in one-citizen, one-vote democracy. He thinks the world can do better. He puts it t..
Torture in the plot LOS ANGELES The new movie about the successful hunt to find and kill Osama bin Laden will surely cop a few Academy Awards. It is well done and worth seeing.
America's Lone Ranger culture LOS ANGELES It would not be hard to convince many of us who live in the West Coast of the painfully obvious need for severe gun-restrictions laws and attendant gun-control law-enforcement. Were easy. California is just that way. Why recently..
`Asia pivot' and Islamic challenge LOS ANGELES President Barack Obama is now visiting Southeast Asia and this is a very good thing. The region is becoming more significant by the month. U.S. policy is said to be in the process of ``pivoting to Asia after decades of preoccupati..
Sad and unnecessary death of Newsweek By Tom PlateLos Angeles One way or the other, a magazine needs to stand for..
By Tom Plate
Los Angeles One way or the other, a magazine needs to stand for..
I was right — unfortunately Los Angeles This column probably will get obnoxious. At least I hope so.
Thaksin seems to be everywhere LOS ANGELES Thaksin Shinawatra is undoubtedly the most controversial politician ever to become prime minister of Thailand, an oft-ignored country in Southeast Asia with a population and landmass greater than Britain or Italy. (But who besides a..
Wedding present for N. Koreas first couple LOS ANGELES I guess I am a sucker for old-fashioned romance. When I heard about the stunning marriage of Kim Jong-un, the young new leader of North Korea, to the lovely Ri Sol-ju, apparently a professional singer, I hurriedly buried the ideologi..
Americas Tiger Moms Los Angeles High up in the category of news thats too familiar to be newsworthy is the latest poll that finds Asians are the most-educated and highest-earning population in the United States.
Bowing out with notable farewell LOS ANGELES What was most amazing, to Westerners at least (and perhaps especially to the Chinese people), was that his comments were broadcast live on official China TV. After all, his official observations werent exactly pretty.
China on Syrian intervention LOS ANGELES Intellectual precision is especially vital in times of geopolitical passion. The full totality of evil of the Syrian government is now on display for the entire world to see. The brutality of President Bashar al-Assad is beyond immen..
Quiet diplomacy better than public airing LOS ANGELES Dont get me wrong. Abject kowtowing is no way to forge an honest and productive relationship with anyone, including the Peoples Republic of China. We have differences with Beijing and Beijing with us. Covering them up or ignori..
Thaksin wants to return to Thailand DUBAI Despite the blockbuster election of his sister Yinglick Shinawatra as Thai prime minister last summer, her much-older brother Thaksin, himself prime minister from 2001-2006, is still in exile in a luxury townhouse in Dubai, isolated and re..
2 ladies work together to get one big policy right LOS ANGELES Perhaps a democratic system of government will not prove the final answer for Myanmar. Just take a look at the Philippines if youre crazy about another possible for-sale democracy in Asia.
.jpg)
By Tom Plate
